Standing in the Mid Realm, his eyes closed, Celeth scanned Erinn. “It’s starting,” he said. “I see five dungeons across both continents so far, but at least they are all low-level.”

“That’s good news,” Gallas said.

Celeth opened his eyes and turned towards the other god. “Are we sure this is a good idea though?”

The magic system starting up again would change the world, but whether this was positive or negative was up for debate. Life down there wasn’t always ideal, and it wasn’t what their master had envisioned, but things had leveled off, and everything had kind of worked for a very long time.

“Don’t you think we should give the original plan a try?” Gallas asked. “Thanks to Saharl, we never even got to a point where the Inner Realm could have run as intended. And the magic users aren’t alone this time. Master is down there.”

“You’re idolizing Miles and his work. I’ve been thinking. I know you don’t want to acknowledge all the problems, but we still need an army of monsters just to deal with the anomalies. The black stones are still spawning as well. And monsters elevating themselves to bosses outside of dungeons was never intended either. The world had more than enough bugs without the magic system... It’s going to be rough.”

“Yes,” Gallas acknowledged. “That’s unfortunate. But we only need to make it to the other side once. And in the meantime, Miles will surely fix at least some of the issues.”

“You’re expecting too much of him. He’s just a human now, and he doesn’t even remember being an architect. If he had a few years, he might be able to get up to speed, but you know that he won’t have that much time.”

“Unless we help him,” Gallas said enthusiastically. “After all, that’s our job.”

Celeth let out a long sigh. “You’re helping with the clean up if the world gets chewed up like last time.”

“Deal.”

***

Riala hadn’t been back at the office for long when the warning bells started ringing. Hati was confused, it being a new sound to him, but she quickly explained what it meant, and the two sprang into action once again to meet up with Berla.

For Hayla, this was an unfamiliar situation. The Rulers rarely left their villas, and a network of guards would inform them about everything that was going on in and around town. Now, the town’s leaders and their entourage were rushing out the door the moment anything happened, and there weren’t enough guards to keep unimportant people up-to-date. As such, she quickly made the decision to follow them, wanting to learn about the current situation. Although keeping up with them was no small task.

After a minute of hunting their shadows through various corridors, she rounded a corner and finally found them standing a few meters away, talking to Berla in the middle of a hallway. She slowed and tried to catch her breath, when the group already made to keep going.

“Berla!” Hayla said. “What’s wrong?”

“We don’t know yet!” she shouted back. “Go back to the office and wait!”

“What about Tomar? How is he?”

“He’s still at the clinic, but I believe he’ll be okay! Sorry, I gotta go!”

Hayla was left behind alone, without any new information to speak of. Neither about the alarm, nor her fiance. Initially, she turned back around, in the direction of the office, but then reconsidered. If this was how things were going to be for the moment, she would do the same as the others and find her own answers.

Her mind made up, she continued down the hallway. She wasn’t familiar with the layout of the temple’s upper floors, but just following the noises of priests fleeing to their quarters to seek shelter was enough to find the staircase leading down to the ground floor. From there, she knew the way to the clinic well enough, and calmly walked there as dozens of priests passed her, many running and bumping into her.

Geez. I know beasts are scary, but they’ve never breached the temple even once. There’s no need to trample over each other.

Ducking behind a corner, she waited for them to pass before continuing to walk through the now empty corridors. When the door to the doctor’s office came into view, she unconsciously put a hand to her stomach, where a scar reminded her of her one and only encounter with a beast, and the weeks spent recovering from it.

Nym was checking up on Tomar when she heard the door open behind her. Turning around, she saw a familiar face.

“Hayla! What a nice surprise,” she said.

“Hello, Nym,” Hayla said, closing the door behind her.

“Did they let you go? I hope you aren’t running around alone out there during an attack again.”

“No, no. I actually just started working here, helping the new leadership,” she said, her gaze shifting to Tomar, lying on the bed.

“Really... This day is full of surprises. But I assume there’s more behind it.”

Nym studied her expression. Hayla was difficult to read, but she had spent enough time with the ambitious young woman to know that she wouldn’t do this for free.

“That’s my fiance,” she said, and looked at Nym again. “Can you tell me how he’s doing?”

“Your fiance? Surprises, surprises...” Nym said under her breath. “Unfortunately I can’t tell you much. Physically he’s healthy, but it seems like Sourcerers might require special care that I’m unable to provide at this time. The girls who were with him seemed convinced that he would be fine though.”

“Hmhm, that’s what they told me before rushing off. I hope it’s true, this is currently my only play.”

Nym chuckled. “You haven’t changed at all I see.”

“Why would I?”

“Well, you can sit by his side if you’d like. Seeing a familiar face when waking is always comforting. But I must ask you to not get in the way if more patients come in later.”

“Of course. Thank you, Nym.”

The doctor walked away and made room for Hayla to approach the bed. For all the rumors and the stories, Tomar looked like a perfectly ordinary boy right now. He was younger than her, he wasn’t well built, and he didn’t have the frightening aura he had supposedly possessed once. He was entirely defenseless...

You are kind of cute though. Come on, you can make it. This town does need you guys, she thought as she sat down at his side.

***

It was late in the evening when a patient in the doctor’s office slowly opened his eyes, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Slowly coming to, he looked to his left, surveying the room he was in. Dimly illuminated by candles on the walls, he saw rows of beds, six of them occupied by other people. A few had openly visible bandages wrapped around different parts of their bodies, which led him to the conclusion that he was in a hospital. Logic dictated that something must have been wrong with him as well, so he looked down at his own body, but unlike the others, he didn’t seem to have any injuries. When he tried to move, to inspect his arms, however, he noticed his sore muscles all over. Something had definitely happened to him.

“Ugh... Fuck me...” he spat, greeted by headaches, while he attempted to prop himself up to extend his view range.

Taking a gander in the other direction, he saw more patients, on more beds, and a young woman sleeping soundly in a chair next to him. Her upper body rested on the bed’s edge, using her arms as a pillow.

Huh. He lowered himself back into a horizontal position and stared at the part of her face that wasn’t buried in her sleeves. Why is she lying there?

“Mhh...” Her sleep disturbed by the bed moving, she soon looked up and their eyes met. “Oh. You’re awake,” she said in a low voice as she raised her head and rubbed her eyes. “How are you?”

“I guess I’m okay. A bit sore. Light headache. What happened to me?”

“You suddenly collapsed earlier today, but we don’t know why. Well, Berla knows something, but she hasn’t been back yet. Beasts appeared outside town and it seems to be a major affair.”

He looked around the room again, reevaluating the situation. Hospital... Beasts... Injured people... And... “Who’s Berla?” he asked, focusing on the young woman again.

“Huh? Berla, my cousin,” she said, confused.

“Ah, okay,” he said and looked up at the ceiling. So she knows what happened to me? Earlier today...

His face contorted into a frown as he tried to recall what had happened and why he might have landed here. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember what he did today though. Or yesterday. Or the day before. Or...

“Tomar, are you really okay?” she asked.

He slowly glanced at her again. “Tomar?”

Staring into each other’s eyes, both of them realized what was wrong.

“Do you know who you are?” she asked, scrutinizing his rapidly shifting facial expressions.

“No, I do, I’m... Yes, Tomar sounds right. But I thought my name was... something different.”

“And me? Do you know who I am?”

Oh. So she’s not a doctor or something? Okay... think. Cute girl, sitting by my bedside in the middle of the night... She has a cousin, but she didn’t say our cousin...

“My name is Hayla. We’re engaged, you and me. A holy marriage.”

“I have a fiance?” he asked in surprise.

Hayla frowned. “Maybe I should get the doctor. I’ll be right back,” she said and made to stand up, but she was stopped by Tomar grabbing her arm.

“Wait. Can I see?” he asked, sitting up with a groan. He expectantly raised his other hand and pointed its palm her way.

“Sure.”

She sat back down and pressed her own hand against his. When he snapped his fingers, a script appeared in mid-air above their hands.

“That’s a marriage contract, alright...” he said, letting his hand glide down hers, crestfallen. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I don’t remember you.”

“Well, it is still fresh. What do you remember?” she asked, a certain glint in her eyes.

“That’s a good question... It’s foggy up there...”

“Hm. You knew how to check the contract though.”

“Well, yea. Obviously I would know how to... Wait. Did I get my Calling?” he asked excitedly.

“Uh, kind of. But your ritual was almost three months ago.”

“That’s longer than expected. But I became a magic user, that’s good.”

“A Sourcerer you mean?”

“Sourcerer... Right, right,” he said, nodding. “What else...”

Hayla waited patiently as he tried to remember more, but his expression soured. Rather than remembering facts, it seemed more like he was going along with things that sounded familiar to him.

“Give it some time,” she said. “I’m sure your memories will return. But now I really am going to get the doctor. I want to hear his opinion, okay?”

“Yea... makes sense. Thank you, Hayla.”

She smiled at him as she stood up, and he watched her intently as she left the room. Certain things sounded very right in his mind, such as him being a magic user. Other things did not, however.

I recently got my Calling, and I’m... engaged? She seems nice enough, but... why a holy marriage? he pondered as he laid back down. “Tomar... To-mar... Mar... Ma...?”