************Emily POV************

Emily felt excited as her energy releasing technique helped her see into an ability she had been trying to learn. She already knew how to combine the light and dark elements, but she had been wanting to try and work with them separately but at the same time.

It was easy enough for the combination effect, but when it came to working with the two in different ways, it was a bit more difficult. It wasn’t until she was releasing the energy built up that she realized the energy was releasing in separate ways. Emily immediately stopped releasing it and sat down to think about what she had just realized.

As she finally started to work on what she had just learned, she continued to release the rest of the built up energy. If it wasn’t for the fact that she heard footsteps coming near her, she wouldn’t have been able to stop it in time to save Fliour.

“Ouch, damn it what the hell just happened?” She cried. Emily quickly jumped to her feet and ran to Fliour and Ron. He had his arms wrapped around her and was lifting her to her feet as Emily reached them.

“Where the hell were you, and what’s going on? We thought you were in trouble!” Ron groaned as he lifted Fliour up into his arms. Emily ran over and wrapped her own arms around Fliour’s legs and helped Ron carry her out of the special forest area, then carefully set her down.

“I was trying to work on my energy build up. It’s dangerous to go near when I’m working on it, but you’ve just caused Fliour damage to her insides,” Emily explained as she quickly started to work on Fliour’s body.

Blood bubbled out of Fliour’s mouth as she fought to breathe. Emily quickly tipped her on her side and let it drain from her lungs as she healed the wounds that had been caused on the warrior’s insides. She carefully examined how deep and deadly they were, and when she was satisfied with her healing Fliour had passed out.

“Come, carry her back to the cabin and lay her on my bed. I want to keep an eye on her.” Ron nodded and did as he was told. He picked up Fliour and carried her to the house. Emily opened the door and shoved Ron out of the bedroom.

“What are you doing? Why do I need to leave?” Ron complained in annoyance. Emily stood in the doorway and crossed her arms.

“I’m changing her into some of my own clothing, and even though she does seem to love you I’m positive she doesn’t want you to see her naked just yet,” Emily growled as she gave Ron a slight shove so she could have enough room to shut the door. Ron’s face went bright red and he immediately turned away, an expression that made Emily giggle.

She shut the door and turned back to Fliour. She was peacefully laying on the bed in deep sleep, and she seemed to be more built than Emily but there was clothing in her room that would fit her. Emily went to work and went through her dresser until she found the nightgown she was looking for before she turned back to the woman sleeping on the bed in front of her.

It was a bit difficult to remove the armor off Fliour, but once Emily realized just how it was clipped to her body it didn’t take long until Fliour was finally undressed. There didn’t seem to be any gashes on her body from when she had walked into the danger zone Emily had created, but there were scars all over.

It was a shock to see the purple, jagged scars etched all over Fliour’s body. They seemed to cover her from head to foot, but since her body was normally fully clothed in armor Emily never knew. Emily covered her mouth in pain and shock as the words ‘bitch’ and ‘slut’ were carved into permanent scars over her chest.

It took a moment for Emily to realize there were tears streaming down her face at the sight. She quickly wiped them away before she lifted Fliour up and pulled the gown over the woman’s body. She laid the armor and weapons on the chair in the corner of the room before gently sitting on the bed next to her.

“You poor, poor girl. I can only imagine the pain you went through,” Emily whispered as she pulled the blankets up over her body. When she had sat next to her for a few minutes, Emily finally stood up and left the room.

Ron had gone to bed by the time she had left the bedroom. She didn’t realize she had been in there so long, but since she was alone Emily decided to go visit Cahal. She walked out the door to where the old cage was. In its place was a clean, beautiful cage made out of what seemed to be gold and silver. Cahal was awake and looked like he was waiting for Emily.

“You look horrible. I honestly don’t blame you, I saw what happened to that woman Ron carried back. Why are you not sleeping?” Emily smiled and walked to him before she knelt down and sat on the ground.

“I don’t feel tired. Too much on my mind,” Emily sighed as she laid back and looked up. She could see stars glistening through the branches and felt her heart calm at the sight. Cahal gave a small shiver before he laid next to Emily. He tucked his head under his wings and fell asleep after ten minutes or so.

The only sound to be heard was the wind rustling through the leaves. After hours of staring at those trees above her, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep without her sleeping pills she had brought. Annoyance ran through her as she thought about how Ron had hid them from her, but she knew the cabin enough now to know where he had put them.

Emily stood up and brushed herself off before she walked back into the cabin and walked to where the loose floorboards were. She lifted them up and reached in until she felt the cold, glass vial against her fingertips. Emily grabbed it and looked at the pills inside it. She didn’t want to take them, but she was becoming desperate.

Two pills were all she needed, and once she had swallowed them the floorboards and vial was replaced in its spot. Emily laid down on the floor and closed her eyes, but it still took her about half an hour to fall asleep.

Arms were lifting her up from the ground. The pills were strong enough to make it so she couldn’t open her eyes and see what was happening. She didn’t recognize the hands that were on her, but she recognized the sound of her bed squeak as she was placed down on it. It was warm, but empty. Fliour.

“Sleep, little abnormal. Whatever it is you took to make you sleep in such a way is dangerous, a warrior must never damper their slumber at times such as these,” Fliour whispered in her ear. It seemed like she hesitated to move, but she finally laid down next to Emily and turned her back to her.

When Emily managed to wake up completely, Fliour was gone. She heard voices in the kitchen, Ron and Fliour talking amongst themselves.

************Ron POV************

“You should tell her what happened, you know she’s going to be curious,” Ron whispered. Fliour sighed and buried her head into her arms before she shot back.

“She shouldn’t have changed me from my armor. I understand why she did so, but it’s….shameful. My body is torn and ugly to behold, the past behind it is worse,” she hissed. Ron could detect the pain behind her words.

“Your body isn’t ugly, Fliour. It’s beautiful, and I myself think the history makes it even more so,” Ron said. Fliour blushed and kept her gaze at the table.

“W-well that doesn’t change the fact that it’s torn up! I have scars…” she trailed off as Emily stepped out of her bedroom.

“What happened?” She asked bluntly as she walked over and poured herself some tea. Fliour quickly turned her head from Emily and glared at the floor.

“Do you truly want to know?” Fliour whispered. Emily sat down in the chair next to her and nodded.

“Fine, but you have to promise never to speak of it to anyone.” Emily smiled warmly and agreed. Fliour sighed and waited a few minutes before she began.

“Where I was raised, it was common to raise children in the way that you would consider child abuse. In a way, I suppose it was. It would leave us with deep scars if we would even look at something we weren’t allowed to have. My parents expected me to become a knight when I was born, so they were even more harsh.

That was only the beginning of the scars. When I went through training at the age of fifteen, it was natural for the women to be used for the men’s own pleasure. I didn’t think twice about it the first time I was taken from my bed. I only changed later. When I had turned seventeen I had had enough.

One night, when I was four months away from gaining knighthood, I was taken once more. This time, it was the nightguard’s captain, Mariun. He had started off kind when he had come into my bed, but it didn’t take long until I learned his true heart.

When I was two months away, I realized I was pregnant. Women were not allowed to be pregnant as knights, so in my panicked state I had gone to Mariun to ask for help. That was my mistake. He found it humorous, so in anger I lashed out at him and cut him with a knife that had been on his table that day.

If you could guess, I suffered for that. In the light of day, I was dragged from training and pulled into the middle of the punishment ring. My peers watched as I was laid bare in front of them, Mariun carving those words you saw on my chest with that very same knife I had used on him.

The beating I was given that day gave me the majority of the scars covering my body. It also killed the unborn child in my chest. Either way, I was devastated in more ways than I thought possible. I was about twenty one or so the day I decided to strike back.

The day I met Ron, I had killed Mariun. He had taken another woman and was beating her, but unlike me in the sense that I was a soon-to-be knight at the time, the woman was a slave the king had in his castle. I had snapped and killed him, then decided to set the slaves free that were trapped in the dungeons. Ron had gotten there the same time I did, and saved me as well.”

Emily didn’t seem to be able to speak. She only stared at Fliour in a state Ron could only describe as turmoil. Fliour herself had spoken of the past to Ron only, so the silence coming from Emily was hard for her.

“I watched my parents murdered in front of my eyes. I was in the dining room, and we had just celebrated my father’s birthday. The memory is still as clear as day, how my mother smiled and laughed at my father’s jokes. The happiness shattered like broken glass in matters of seconds.

My mom had just placed the dishes in the sink when my father stood up with his sword in his hands. As if on instinct, my mother picked me up and ran to the bedroom. My dad followed and blocked the door as he whispered to my mother. I was pushed under the bed and covered with the heavy comforter that had been on their bed.

The door was ripped off it’s hinges I believe. It sounded like it, wood off wood. My mother had crawled under the bed with me and had her arms around me. I kept quiet as my father yelled and metal rang. Scratching sounds surrounded us, and then the clanging stopped suddenly. The loud thump of my father falling to the ground is still clear in my head.

Then my mom was dragged out from under the bed. That’s when I saw the goblins, the ugly creatures as they scratched my mother as she fought against them. I saw a woman in red standing above her directing the creatures, and my mother looked at me one last time before her eyes were gouged out of her head,” Emily hiccuped.

Fliour herself could only stare at Emily. Then she did something that shocked Ron, and it seemed to have the same reaction on Emily.

She had wrapped her arms around Emily and started to cry with her. Ron didn’t know how to react as the two women finally broke into tears together, like sisters who had found each other after years of being apart. Their cries rang in his ears as their pasts entwined into each other and created mutual understanding and love.