The thing about waking up from the depths of unconsciousness is like falling through a black void; it gets old.

Fast.

“Rook! Rook!”

When I was finally shaken awake, I saw several faces looking down at me, concern clear as day.

“Rook! We thought we lost you.”

“What- ack.” I coughed, my throat hurting like hell and my mouth dry with sand. “What happened?”

“You tell us that.” Dayvin was off to the side, trying to look unconcerned, but his shifting eyes said otherwise. “You conjured some serious magic back there, slammed it into the ground, and then passed out after bleeding from areas I didn’t think a person could bleed from.”

Right, the magic.

I probably shouldn’t have tried to test it so soon, but I reached out for the mana around me the same way I had done within the strange off-shoot dimension.

Nada.

Looks like I’m back to normal then.

“After that magic cracked the ground, we were suddenly falling through that black void again, and shortly after, we landed out here.”

“Where exactly is here?” I questioned, still lying down in the sand.

“About a half a day out from Kar’anza. We ended up closer to Kar’anza than even the next closest Ring Gate. Not sure I’d say it was worth it, though.” Veronika was looking at me with concern. “Besides, are you in any shape to continue with the commission?”

“I’m-” I was about to lie and say I was fine, but with each passing second, I realized something.

I really was feeling fine, far more than I should have.

I looked down at my wrist covered in its wrap, knowing that just beneath would be a tiny thin line denoting the start of my first Sage ring.

Is this because of that?

The ring was only just barely starting to form. It was still a long way off from being a proper ring, so it made no sense for it to be influencing my body already.

But.

But there was the chance that my body formed in part through the reincarnation magic of a Sage; just manifesting the barest traces of the first ring was causing the natural processes of my body to accelerate, such as my regenerative state.

Questions I can try to figure out a different day.

For now, my main concern was the fact that we were near Kar’anza. Pushing myself up, the ache in my body was already all but forgotten.

But the thirst had remained.

“Water.” I coughed out, and Zet handed me his waterskin a second later. I unscrewed the cap, throwing my head back as the liquid flowed past my lips.

And oh, did it flow. It was as if the heavens above had been distilled. Utopia contained all within those droplets of water. It was only a few seconds, but I managed to finish the entirety of that waterskin in that time, finally exhaling with a satisfied sigh.

“Better?” Veronika asked me.

“Better.” I confirmed. “So, what’s the plan now?”

“Well, if you really are feeling okay.” Veronika seemed unsure whether she wanted to believe me, but after seeing the stunt, I’d pulled off in the Slip dimension, she finally seemed to figure she would trust what I said. “We are planning to make our way towards Kar’anza now. It’s only half a day of walking, so we should be there shortly.”

“Perfect.” I answered, happy to be back to following orders rather than figuring things out for myself. “Anything else we should go over?”

The group shared a look before finally shaking their head.

Is it me, or are they acting weird around me now?

I ignored the feeling as Zet reached down, offering me his forearm to clasp as he pulled me up, the older boy filled with the rugged strength capable only through a life of adventuring out in the wilderness.

“I take that as a no.” I muttered to myself after no one spoke up. “So, should I pretend that I don’t notice you guys acting differently around me?”

“How could we not?” Zet admitted. “It’s one thing to see someone younger than us fight better than us. It’s another to see him throw spears of magic that look like they could blow apart a castle wall.”

“I-” I sighed before I shook my head. “That was a one-off; I’m serious. That place was so filled with mana that I could do things I normally wouldn’t be able to.”

“Well, we’d prefer if you still could. It’s just a bit much to take in. Never seen a tried-and-true mage in our last few years, except maybe the passing one in an adventure guild, but that doesn’t count.” Veronika eyed me as if making sure I got that before giving me a light thump in the chest with her fist. “C’mon now, wizard boy. Let’s get to Kar’anza already.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It took six more hours of walking through the dunes and sands as the sun began to dip low before Veronika raised a fist, signaling us to stop.

“Do you guys see that?”

“See what?”

“Anyone else feeling déjà vu right now?” I questioned before Dayvin gave me a glare.

“Focus kid. Look, now isn’t the time to be joking.”

I followed where the man was pointing, towards several rising and falling dunes ahead of us.

“What about ‘em?”

“What do you see?”

“I don’t see anything- wait a minute. Is that smoke?”

“That’s what it looks like from here.” Veronika confirmed.

“What is smoke doing out in the desert?”

“Take a guess.” Veronika whispered.

“Kar’anza?”

“Yes.”

“Meaning?”

“Use your head kid.” Dayvin said, stomping the heel of his foot into the sand. “It’s burning.”

“Burning!?” I stared between them in confused shock. “How?”

“If I had to guess, raiders.” Dayvin shook his head angrily.

“Raiders? I thought they weren’t that common?”

“Yeah, lots of thinking during this commission, isn’t there?” Veronika sounded angry as well, but not at us. “Something is most definitely off.”

“What do we do then?” I questioned.

Veronika looked at the twins before looking toward Dayvin, who gave her a single slow nod.

“We have to go there.”

“But wait, weren’t you the one who said you didn’t want to put your group in undue danger?”

“There is a difference between choosing not to accept a commission which may be risky, and ignoring a burning village when we are already here. Go for it if you want to back out now, but we can’t.”

“Why would I back out after coming this far?”

Veronika looked at me sadly, as if regretting what she was about to say.

“Because this is raiders, not monsters or magical beasts.”

“Meaning?”

“Have you ever killed someone before?”

Oh. I see.

Still, I couldn’t just run away, especially if there was a raider attack.

“I’m not leaving.” I said firmly.

“You’re a good kid.” Veronika turned back toward the direction of the burning village before she spoke next. “Well, if that is the case, here is our plan….”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He really is a good kid.

I’d known Rook for only a short bit, but there weren’t many kids who could take being told that not just where they about to run right into the line of danger, but there was a good chance he may end up killing someone for it as well.

That’s a kid who’s already lost some of his innocence.

It was only in short bursts, but there were times I saw something in him, a strength, no, a resolve that didn’t match with a fifteen-year-old.

What was I doing at fifteen?

I’d been studying, looking to see if I could entice a patron to sponsor me through higher education.

Focus Veronika. Now isn’t the time.

I had my part of the plan to play, and I couldn’t afford to get complacent now.

“You ready?” I whispered quietly under my breath.

“Just like old times.” Dayvin whispered to me, my loyal traveling companion. He had never left my side since we’d set out as adventurers.

It’s too bad.

The memory replayed through my mind as if of its own volition.

“Veronika. We’ve been traveling together for some time, so I’ll be blunt. How would you feel about settling down with me?”

The question had startled me, feeling as if it had come out of nowhere. I still remember desperately looking around for something to use as an excuse to avoid answering, but it was just myself, Dayvin, and the crackling fire under the night sky.

“Look, Dayvin.” I remember sighing deeply, trying my best to figure out my own words. “I love you, but not like that.”

“Oh.” He had looked so hurt, eyes turning down and away from me.

“It’s not a ‘you’ thing.” I laughed quietly. “It’s a ‘me’ thing.”

“Don’t.” I still remember how hurt he sounded, offended I would try to make him feel better after everything we’d been through.

“No, I’m serious.” I answered. “One day, when you settle down, you’ll make someone very happy, but that won’t be me. I… I don’t feel that way. Not to you, nor to anyone. I love friends and family, but I don’t love.”

“Hmm.” Dayvin grunted, looking up to face me again, ensuring I wasn’t pulling a fast one on him. “I see.”

“I’m serious!” I laughed once more. “There is one that I do love, though.”

“And who’s that?”

“Not who.” I looked up at the stars. “What. And it’s this.” I waved my arms about. “I love being free. To go about and travel. After spending so much of my life cooped up, learning how to learn, then how to make little brats learn, this, this freedom, it’s everything to me.”

It really is too bad.

I shook the memory away. Occasionally, it came back to me when we were about to do something dangerous, even more so than our usual standards.

It wasn’t guilt. I still stood by what I said, and Dayvin and I had come to terms with it. What it was, was regret. Not for myself, but that such a loyal friend as he would choose to follow me when he could have chosen another path.

“Here they come.” Dayvin hefted his hammer as we waited.

“That’s a lot of them.”

“It was your plan.” Dayvin reminded me.

“Well, without knowing their exact numbers, this is the best we could do.”

“Admit it.” Dayvin half-smiled. “You just didn’t want to put those kids in danger.”

“Hah, give ‘em another year, and they’ll already be better than us.” I snorted, watching as a group of men and women came towards us from the village currently half up in flames.

“And yet you still baby them.”

“I’m not babying them.”

“You are.” Dayvin cracked his knuckles, hefting his weapon once more. “Otherwise, you would have them up here with us.”

“Oh, don’t cry about it.” I did a quick headcount before turning to look at Dayvin. “What, a group of seven untrained raiders scaring you that badly.”

“You hope they’re untrained.” Dayvin corrected me.

“Well, we survived Carrion Gulch. We’ll make it through this.” I touched the flat of my blade softly at the mention of that cursed place.

“Yeah, and then we vowed to become adventurers so we would never have to experience something like that again. And yet, here we are, trying to play hero to some random village.”

“What, and you want to leave?”

“No.” Dayvin shook his head instantly. “That I don’t.”

Then the seven raiders were upon us. They wore the usual assortment of raggedy clothes you would expect from those who made raiding their livelihood.

Don’t think of them as people.

That did it; the kill switch flicked in my mind as I shut down any feelings of remorse.

Just like what they taught you back in training.

I settled into my stance engrained into me through countless beatings by the overseeing drill sergeant of our old boot camp.

“You’re a Foil ‘Ron! So by the gods above, act like it!”

“A foil ‘Ron.” I whispered to myself as my sabre flicked up, knocking aside a hasty swing by one of the raiders. “Act like it.”

Keeping myself several paces in front of Dayvin, I swept my sword out whenever an assaulting weapon attempted to reach out for him. Even though I used a sword, I was his shield. A Foil would fight defensively, ensuring that the Maulers, what Dayvin had been when we had still been enlisted, could swing their large, heavy weapons without worry that they would be stuck in the side mid-swing.

By the gods above, act it.

The words bounced around in my head as we fought. I’d once been told by a drill instructor from my time enlisted that everyone’s mind was different in a fight, that they either went void of anything or fixated on a single thought like an anchoring presence.

Move!

I stepped to the side, years of training kicking in as a hammer crashed down where I had just been standing. One of the raiders had taken a greedy lunge toward me, only to have his head horrifically crushed under the momentous weight of Dayvin’s hammer.

Six.

I stepped forward, taking my place back in front of Dayvin in time to intercept another raider who attempted to hack at him with an ugly-looking ax. Our weapons met, and I felt my arms struggle to hold back the man.

Damned biology.

He had about a head and a half of height worth on me and maybe twice my weight, but there was another thing he had. Something that I didn’t that I could take advantage of.

Two, to be exact.

My leg snapped up, my foot catching him square in the groin as he let out a sudden pained gasp, only to have his head knocked clean off by a hammer whipping through the air like a wild swing of a bat.

Five.

Rather than come at me one at a time, they bunched up a group of assailants at the same time.

Uh oh.

I’d been taught the defensive sword style of the southern capital, the generic version they taught all potential Foils, so I knew I had a good defense.

But five on one was still five on one, and it wasn’t as if I was exceptionally gifted.

I was just an ordinary person in all regards. Sure I’d spent time enlisted and being an adventurer, but that didn’t change that down to my cells; I was normal.

And ordinary people didn’t fight off five attackers at once.

He’s a good kid.

I wasn’t sure why, but the faces not of the twins but of Rook came to mind, of the way he had moved even before we had learned he had magic.

Now, that’s someone who is anything but ordinary.

I swept my sword arm as fast as possible, but eventually, I missed. Too many weapons swung at me or stabbed forward at the same time. I could distinctly feel when the first dagger buried itself into my side.

I wish I could have seen them all and seen what they will become.

My sword lashed out a lucky strike that sliced through the carotid artery of the raider who had stabbed me.

Four.

I heard an angry shout as yet another raider met their grizzly end under the mighty hammer.

Three.

I had fallen over at some point, watching as the last three raiders closed in on Dayvin, reminding me uncomfortably of a cornered bear backed down by a pack of wolves.

It really is too bad.

I couldn’t let Dayvin die with me.

Now is not the time to be ordinary Veronika.

I summoned all my strength, rising to my feet, unbeknownst to the raiders who had drawn blood from Dayvin as a hooked half-sword-looking weapon bit into his calf.

“You’re a Foil ‘Ron! So by the gods above, act like it!”

I screamed out, my sword, which only ever defended, going on the offensive for once. I thrust forward, stabbing it through the back of one of the final three.

Two.

The two raiders who had assumed me dead whirled around, but they were too slow, my sword cutting through the second to last raider’s ribs.

One.

I tried to swing my sword out, but it was knocked away, the second wind of strength failing me already.

Damnit.

I had no weapon, but I could see Dayvin bleeding on the ground only a bit away.

So be it.

I lunged forward like a possessed cat from hell, ignoring the pain of his weapon stabbing into me as I latched onto the man. My fists beat down on his face, and mistakenly, he recoiled, just enough so that with what little I had left in me, I shoved my hands forward.

Forward and directly into his face, clawing at his eyes as I tore them from his head.

Zero.

The now blinded raider and I dropped to the ground, my body feeling unimaginably cold and heavy.

“You’re a Foil ‘Ron! So by the gods above, act like it!”

“I love being free.”

It really is too bad.

My eyes began to close, and choking on my own blood, I could only laugh from within my own mind as the world faded to blackness.

It really is too bad.

------------------------------------------------

“You think ‘Ronika and Dayvin will be okay?”

“Of course.” I puffed my chest up so that my sister would see the full effect of my faith in our guardians. “Veronika and Dayvin the Great. Survived Carrion Gulch as well as the rebellion of Oxent. You think they’d struggle with a few raider chumps?”

“I don’t think either Veronika or Dayvin would want to be called something so dramatic.” My sister shook her head at me, rolling her eyes.

Good. Get her mind off the worst of it.

My sister rarely admitted it, but I saw how she often looked at Veronika and Dayvin. To her, they had become the next best thing to our new parents. The thought of anything happening to them scared her.

As it did me as well.

“You think this will go as smoothly as she planned?”

“No.” I answered honestly. “I bet somewhere, one of us will get screwed. I just hope it isn’t us.”

Our part of the plan was simple. After we had gotten close enough to see Kar’anza without being spotted from the top of a nearby dune, we had determined that Veronika and Dayvin would draw as many of the raiders out towards the front of the village as they could. At the same time, Tez and I wrapped around the side, looking for hostages.

Judging by the crying just ahead, we found them.

As for Rook, he was sent to the back, Veronika said he needed to cut off a potential retreat, but I could guess the real reason.

She wanted to keep him away from the worst of the fighting.

Softy.

He was stronger than the rest of us, and yet here she was trying to keep him from getting blood on his hands just yet.

“Hey, you two. Stop right there!”

Ahh. Busted.

We had been sneaking past the small village huts and houses so far with surprisingly good luck, never being noticed by some of the raiders who remained within the village, but it would appear our luck had finally run out right as we had reached were what looked to be most of the villagers were being kept. Their wrists were bound behind their backs as they sat on the ground, tears streaming past their gagged mouths.

“Tez.” I murmured as she nodded.

“I know.”

We reached into the folds of our clothes, in synch with each other as we had often been teased for.

Blame it on being twins.

Tez pulled out a small metal canister, giving it a quick jerk of her hand, causing it to spring to its full length, the spring staff with its bladed end twirling in her hands as I pulled out my own chains.

Still haven’t gotten over this part yet.

“Back off.” The raider snarled, pointing a scimitar at the head of one of the villagers. “Or she gets it.”

Shit.

I raised my hands, putting the chain back into my clothes as I began to walk closer to the man.

Please catch on.

“Good, nice and easy.”

I continued walking forward, turning around so the man could bind my wrists together.

“Who sent you?” The man finally asked, giving a sharp kick to the back of my knees as I dropped to the ground.

“No one.” I grunted. “We are just passing adventures.”

“Hmm.” The man seemed to think about it before facing Tez. “Alright, you next.”

“Wait!” I shouted, catching my captor’s attention.

“What?” He spit, literally spit¸ onto the back of my head.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Huh? Why do you care?”

“Because I’m an adventurer.” I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Hmm, well, hell if I know anyways. Boss just said something about ‘Helena’ and ‘Blood connection.’ I’m just here ‘cuz we get to do what we want with y’all afterward.”

Blood connection? Helena?

“Alright, now no more delaying. You, girly, come here.”

He was talking to my sister, the entire time never paying me attention as he ushered her forward, his weapon still pointed at the woman’s neck. Tez complied, walking along to let herself be taken captive, but not before she sprung her staff back into capsule form, tossing it forward to show the man she was unarmed.

Perfect.

My sister took one, two, three steps before I began to nudge forward like a caterpillar on the sandy ground.

Squirm.

Pause.

Squirm.

Pause.

By the time my sister had her wrists bound, I had squirmed forward enough.

“Alright, now get in with the rest of - huh?”

The man finally noticed I had squirmed some bit away, but his reaction only got better as my sister suddenly lashed out, slamming her forehead into his face as he staggered back and away.

And, more importantly, away from the captives.

“Gods damn stupid girl.” The man yelled in pain, his nose bleeding. Clutching at his face, he blocked his own line of sight as I clenched my hips, powering my body up and forward with all the strength and momentum I could gather, hopping to my feet without using my hands.

“What the?” The man saw me jump to my feet, and he stared at me in disbelief before he started to mutter to himself.

“Damn kids. Why do I get stuck dealing with this?”

The raider began to walk towards me, but pausing, he abruptly turned around, swinging his weapon as he struck my sister with the flat of his weapon directly in her face.

I sucked in a breath of sudden panic, but as she dropped, I could see her chest rise and fall.

Alive.

“Now then.” The man turned back to face me, my hands still bound. “Since you’re not a girl, I won’t go as easy on you.”

Vile. I felt sick at the implication, but I held still.

Waiting.

One step closer.

Two steps.

Three.

Now!

Raising his arm to cut me down with his scimitar, I ducked out of the way, but not before I slammed my foot down.

Directly on top of my sister’s spring staff.

One moment the man had been about to slice through me; the next, he looked like a fish trying to suck in a breath. Piercing directly through his chest, the bladed end of the spring staff stabbed through his heart.

Knew it wasn’t a waste to learn that trick.

I’d once bet with my sister that I could spring her staff forward and off the ground with just a kick of my foot. Weeks of practice later, I’d finally managed to do it.

Who knew it would come in useful here of all places?

I sank to the ground, the adrenaline leaving me as the raider remained dead on his feet, my sister’s staff protruding from his chest and gouging into the ground, the only reason he hadn’t fallen.

Now, time to go see if Tez is alright- oh.

Doing my best to stand up, as I’d been about to put weight on my left leg, when I collapsed once more. Staring down the length of my leg, my eyes locked onto my calf.

When the hell did he get me?

The tendon of my leg had been cut, the adrenaline making it so that I somehow hadn’t noticed it. I wasn’t even sure when it had happened, but the fact was that it had.

Crap.

I’d be okay. Judging from my inability to move my leg, it was just my tendon, but I would be no help like this, and Tez was currently working on her beauty sleep.

Sorry Rook, but it looks like the rest is on you.