"Are you sure this is going to work?" the farmer asked as he looked at eight metal buckets filled with water stacked neatly next to each other in the middle of his field.

"Trust me, this is work. Scalders can physically feel nearby water. By gathering as much of it as we can right here, we can lure it out into the open," the hunter assured him.

"Will this be enough? The lady inside the house said that these are the last buckets they have," Alma called out to Glavas. The farmer's eyes nearly flew out of their sockets as he saw the fragile-looking beanpole of a child carry two full buckets in each hand with seemingly no issue.

"It should be enough. Go join Surdi on guard duty. I will be with you shortly." She saluted the hunter and went to join her friend atop a small hill nearby.

"Damn, she's hella strong! You're training her to be a hunter too?" the farmer asked.

"No, unfortunately, she doesn't wish to become one. But it is a shame, I won't deny it. With her... extraordinary strength, she could really be a fantastic huntress. Oh well, I won't force her."

The two men chatted for while before Glavas told the farmer to rather hide and wait. Should the creature arrive while he was just standing there, he could get injured in the scuffle.

"So, what have you two been talking about?" Glavas asked as he reached the hill and sat down on the grass right beside the two children.

"Nothing really. Just watching the nature around us. It's nice here."

"Nice enough for you to stay?"

"Are you kidding? No! The countryside is nice but the city is so weird. Bizzare local laws, the strange shops, selfish ruler. Not really my cup of tea."

"Yeah, that's understandable. Those who are not used to living here often find it an odd place. Where are you two from anyway?"

"Nowhere. Just wanderers."

"I meant before... well, the whole demon encounter. Where were you born?"

Surdi's claws dug into the ground. Part of him wished to look away while the other simply wanted to see what they would be talking about.

"Gris. You know where that is?"

"Gris?! But, oh... yeah, I know where it is. I've... actually visited the ruins once."

"Yeah, those ruins were our home."

"So it wasn't an accident with fire magic that decimated it, was it?"

"No."

"I am sorry. I'm sure that was a great loss. The town was a historical monument. One of the oldest human settlements on Ezma. Which... actually makes me wonder, what brought dragons to such a human-centered town? I don't think I'd find a place farther from any dragon hive. Where were your parents from?" Glavas turned his attention to Surdi. The young dragon could not bring himself to respond. Almost instinctively, his legs bent towards his chest and he hugged his knees with both arms. A quick: "haa..." escaped his mouth, almost like a painful exhale. Then his breathing accelerated. Each breath he took was quickly overtaken by the next. His fingers were digging into the fabric of his pants. He hid his face and his feet started to slightly tremble soon after.

Alma didn't waste a single moment. She stood up and ran over to the young dragon. "Idiot!" he said to Glavas along the way and slapped him across the back of his head so hard that his hat fell off. She then kneeled beside Surdi and started to gently pat him on the shoulder. "Come on... it will be okay," she tried to assure the dragon, even though there was no chance he would hear her. It took a moment before he snapped out of the worst. He realized who is standing beside him and without thinking, he wrapped his arms around Alma, pulling her closer. She did not resist his sudden lunge. Instead, she embraced him as well and slowly ran her hand over the back of his head.

Glavas picked up his hat off the ground and put it back on. He needed a moment to fully process what was happening. Just a few moments earlier, Surdi seemed to be his usual self. Now, the dragon appeared to be just a shell of his former self.

"What's going on? What did I do? Is he okay?" Glavas asked and carefully approached the sobbing reptile.

"He will be fine. Give him about five minutes and he'll get through the worst," Alma replied.

"Did... Did I do that?"

"Yeah. Dumbass!"

"Because I talked about your home?"

"Yes. It's a... sensitive topic for Surdi."

"I'm sorry. I just... you both seemed so okay with it. I didn't know it could trigger... well, this."

"We are not okay. And you wouldn't be either. Especially if you went through what he did."

"Well, no offense, but you seemed to have gotten the shorter stick. You don't have a soul. That seems like a much worse fate than being deaf. Besides, I'm pretty sure some wizard could heal the damage. Or at least offer a hearing aid or something."

"It's so much worse than being deaf." Alma took a moment to think. "Surdi?" she asked, testing whether or not could the dragon find out what they were talking about. After she saw that calling out his name provoked no reaction, she returned her attention to Glavas.

"When I got captured by the demon and my soul got taken, it wasn't exactly... well, as bad as you would probably imagine. I just remember the pressure in my chest, then the cold feeling, and how I couldn't hold my eyes open. I was unconscious for most of it. But Surdi saw the whole thing. He saw everyone get killed. Presumably even me. And most importantly, his parents. You see, Surdi was adopted. Humans raised him. His hive got torn down by a hurricane when he was just a few years old. His real parents died as a consequence of the injuries they received. He lost everything but started off anew. And then again, somebody took it from him while he watched. He fought the demon and got himself badly hurt as well. Went deaf because of it. When he woke up, he was at the place where they dumped the bodies. Just piles of corpses. Among what was left of them, he could barely recognize anyone, but he found me. Carried me out of the ruins and into the nearby woods. He wanted to bury me there. Dug the grave with his own claws. Just desperate to at least have some closure with someone."

"But you survived."

"Yeah. Nearly gave him a heart attack when I climbed out of that hole. But that's not really everything."

"Don't tell me he went through more than that."

"No, he didn't. But I... I don't remember any feelings from before I lost my soul. I remember my parents but... I don't love them anymore. I feel nothing towards them. It was as if I was a new person after I woke up, only with memories of someone I used to be before. Every time I tell him that I know what he's going through... I just lie. My feelings are not the same. The family I used to have are just memories of people I can barely remember. The childhood we spent together? Those fun evening and summer games we used to play? I remember them, but it was as if I just read about them in a book. Like I wasn't there. Heh, am I making sense, or just babbling?" she smiled but couldn't hide the tear that slid down her face.

Glavas didn't say anything. He approached both the children and gently pulled them closer. "It's okay. Let's not talk about it anymore. You've got a new life now. A fresh start. Let's leave the past behind us. At least for now."

The trio stayed silent after that. Only Surdi's faint cries accompanied the sound of the whistling wind and rustling leaves. Eventually, the final tear was shed. The dragon sat up straight again and wiped his eyes.

[Sorry. I lost my...] he took a moment to look for a suitable word, but Glavas interrupted him.

"It's okay. Nothing ever happened. Let's just leave this be, okay?"

Surdi nodded. He was quite relieved that the elf didn't want to dig around his past.

"Key kiddos? We've got company." Glavas pointed to the woods just on the opposite side of the field. The trees there were moving and bending and a large, octopus-like creature was pushing its way through them. "Here's our Scalder. Okay. The plan is simple. Once it gets to the field, I will play some tunes and try to seal it, just like before. You just wait here and come help me after it is trapped. It will try to break free, but Alma, if you hold the sealing scroll..."

"I know. It won't stand a chance. Leave it to me!" she replied and gave the hunter a wide grin.

Glavas quickly checked his equipment. The Gun was sitting firmly in its holster. He quickly pulled it out and popped it open. Then, he reached into his bag and swapped the crystal sitting inside the magazine with a new yellow one. With a satisfying click, the ammunition got secured in place. Next up, the hunter slid his hand along the hurdy-gurdy's shoulder strap. It was secure and the chance of the instrument breaking free during combat was minimal. All was perfectly ready. The elf rolled up his sleeve and gently tapped one of the runic rings tattooed on his arm. In a sharp blow of pain and a shower of blood, a scroll popped out of the symbol. The wound left after it sealed itself almost instantly. Before the roll of paper could hit the ground, Glavas caught it with his other hand. "Fuck, I hate this," he mumbled and set off downhill towards the approaching creature.

His dark clothing stood out against the green grass of the field. The Scalder could see him from miles away. It was obvious to the animal that whoever this person was, he was not scared of it like everyone else. The man wasn't running away or calling for help. Instead, he was calmly approaching, as if there was no giant monster coming toward him.

The Scalder, obviously, took that as a threat. The water gathered in the buckets at the center of the farm was its much-desired prey and there was no way it would let some mere elf threaten that. So the creature picked up speed. Its tentacles swirled around as they pushed and pulled the large body forward. Glavas recognized the creature's intention. It was trying to intimidate him. After all, one would have to be insane not to want to dodge out of the way of this boulder-sized cephalopod. Insane or Glavas.

The hunter responded to the creature's threat with one of his own. He broke into a sprint rushing towards the animal without a speck of fear in his heart. The Scalder wanted to do the same, but something strange happened to its body. It felt as if moving was suddenly harder. The many tentacles it previously used to propel itself forward now felt heavy and hard to move. "The elf must've done something!" the creature thought, not paying attention to the music coming out of the string instrument on the hunter's back.

Unable to threaten Glavas into retreat, the Scalder raised its many limbs and swung them towards the hunter. The previously long tentacles stretched themselves even further, extending far beyond what a normal person would consider natural. The very tip of the limb then hardened, turning the appendage into a dangerous blunt weapon with a terrifying reach.

Glavas did not show any signs of surprise. After all, none even existed in his mind. The amount of Scalders he had faced in his long lifetime couldn't be counted on all fingers and toes combined. He knew how they fought, how they thought, and how to beat them. This was going to be just another day at the job. As the tentacles approached him, he moved out of their way. When it was possible, he simply nudged his body to the side. If it was more dangerous, he jumped over them or leaped to the side, but he never stopped moving forward. Once he got close enough, he crouched and slid across the mud, right under the incoming strike. As it missed him, he reached into his holster, yanked out his gun, and with the barrel aiming high into the sky, he pulled the trigger.