The main street, Tomar’s body, and random passersby greeting us happily. I was overflowing with nostalgia as Riala and I made our way to Tomar’s house. I hadn’t made this trip in... never, I came to realize. Back when we regularly walked this path, I only controlled Tomar at night, and I never left the south-east area of Alarna. My feelings would then have to be based either on me remembering him, waving at people, or I was literally feeling what he felt.

“God, this is so weird...” I said under my breath.

“What’s wrong?” Riala asked curiously.

Should I bring him up to her? Though we are literally on the way to his house. Or... should I consider it my house now? This feels so wrong.

“I miss him,” I said quietly. “And being alone in here is... awkward.”

“Yea...” She averted her gaze and hung her head a little. “I miss him too.”

Well, great. Now we’re sharing feelings. What should I say?

I was utterly useless when it came to emotional situations, and I had given up on ever improving myself in that regard. Clueless on what to do and how to act, I just walked on, relieved when Riala broke the silence instead.

“Is he really gone forever?”

We already talked about that... Does she not want to believe it? If she’s holding up hope, it’s probably best to just let her.

I was careful not to say too much in public. “Well, you know what we believe happened. If that’s the case, he would have to be gone. But technically we don’t have any definitive proof.”

“And you went away as well!” she said, hopeful.

“You’re right, I did. If you look at it that way... it’s not impossible.”

It’s just very, very unlikely. Actually, let’s add that to the list of things I need to ask Gallas about if I see him again. What exactly happened to me back then? But there was nobody to send Tomar away, and I did take over aspects of his being.

Riala nodded as a smile returned to her lips. Tomar was gone, but I just wanted her to be happy. Figuring that a little bit of hope might help, I smiled back at her. The belief that he was going to come back one day would fade with time and she would simply move on.

Eventually we arrived at the familiar path leading to the homes of Tomar and Riala, as well as the water source further down the road. With considerably fewer people around, we started speaking more freely.

“When are you going to explain why you’re not scared of Arax anymore?” Riala asked.

“Not scared... Huh, is that what it looks like?”

“Berla said you have a plan, and that’s why you’re not scared anymore.”

I doubted that Berla honestly believed I wasn’t afraid of Arax at all. You’d have to be insane not to be wary of something that killed you once. It was very possible that she had wanted to reassure Riala though.

Coming to a stop, I briefly checked our surroundings to make sure we were alone, before crouching down and looking her in the eyes.

“I’m terrified,” I admitted. Just like that, she looked at me with worry again, but I felt that this was important. “It’s good to be scared. It can protect you from making stupid mistakes. However, it’s also important to not let yourself be dragged down by your fear. We have a limited amount of time until we will see her again, one way or the other. I can’t change that, so I focus on what I can do: prepare and come up with contingency plans.”

“What’s that?”

“Hm... It’s things you can do if your other plans fail.”

“Did you have that last time?” she asked doubtfully.

“No. And that was a mistake on my part. I misunderstood our situation and underestimated our opponent. We all did... Well, except for Berla and Reurig.”

A sad chuckle escaped my lips. Had we listened to them, or my instincts, we might not have gone to the meeting at all. Then again, that would’ve been the worst option for Alarna as a whole.

“But that’s not going to happen again,” I stressed.

“Do you promise?”

“I promise. And I’m going to explain my idea soon as well.”

We shared another smile and resumed our walk. I realized once more that Riala did not take all this as well as it appeared when she grabbed my hand, as if trying to prevent me from leaving. She had never done anything of this sort before, she didn’t comment on it, she simply walked on—her usual bright smile plastered over her face.

I couldn’t disappoint her. Unfortunately, I had just one idea and one contingency at this point. I’d either beat Arax to a pulp with a new script or get the fuck out of there. I would keep my promises though. I was not going to fight her unless I believed in my chance to beat her, regardless of what it meant for Alarna. Dying a second time wouldn’t help anyone...

It didn’t take long after that until Tomar’s house came into view. The relatively simple wooden building that was currently home to the “fake” divine messenger Aelene Alys. After falling from grace in the eyes of the people, and even her own parents, Tomar offered her to stay there for the time being. The good boy that he was, he even went home every day to keep her company, talking about books and our plans for a new school.

I hadn’t seen her in over a week, but she was apparently doing much better by now. This also became evident when we saw two women chatting happily right outside the house, one being Aelene and the other...

Oh shit... Zara.

It hit me that Riala had stayed with us after fighting in the dungeon, and to my knowledge nobody had gone and told her that her sister was okay.

She’s going to be pissed when she sees us, isn’t she? God, my brain might not be quite there yet if I’m forgetting something as elementary as this.

The first to notice our approach was Aelene. Raising an arm, she waved at us happily. “Tomar! Riala! Good Morning!”

As Zara’s head turned in our direction I thought, Here comes the thunder, but to my absolute astonishment, she had a smile on her lips as well. It was a rare look for her.

“Hey, sis!” Riala said as we got closer.

“There you guys are,” she said somewhat admonishingly, but still smiling. “Konnor told me that you’re okay, but I’d appreciate it if I didn’t have to hear about it from others next time, okay?”

“Okaaay,” Riala said, sounding annoyed.

Hm? Who’s Konnor? Is he Zara’s boyfriend that Riala mentioned before?

“Tomar?” Zara prompted.

“Uh... Yea, sorry about that. We’ll do better next time.”

Nodding, she turned towards Aelene again. “Seems like you have visitors, and I should get to work. Will we see each other later?”

“Sure,” Aelene said. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Zara said, repeating it once more as she walked past us and stroked Riala’s hair.

I blinked in surprise, looking after her. Was I missing something? Did someone brainwash her? Had I added aliens to this world who swapped people with less aggressive versions of themselves?

Something had very clearly happened here over the past week, while I had been focused entirely on work. Things that Tomar apparently didn’t tell me much about.

“It’s good to see you,” Aelene said while I was still baffled by Zara. Being talked to, I turned back around and suddenly found myself face to face with Aelene, who promptly hugged me in greeting.

What is happening here!?

She let go of me after just a second or two, but it was enough to thoroughly confuse me even more than I already was. Tomar had evidently made progress on his relationships with both Zara and Aelene while we were separated, and it seemed like he either didn’t find this noteworthy or didn’t want to tell me about it. On one hand, I was happy that he had apparently started to make closer friends outside of our group, but I was now in uncharted territory.

“I was worried when I heard that you were at the clinic,” she said. “Are you feeling better? I guess we missed each other at the dungeon.”

She seemed genuinely concerned, not knowing what was going on with me.

She already knows about the clinic... I could make use of that, in case there’s more Tomar didn’t tell me.

“Yea, I’m feeling alright. I’ll admit, I was a little out of it after waking up. And I might still be just a little bit hazy,” I said with a wry smile. “How about you? You fought as well, right?”

“I’m fine, I was only inside for a short time until Captain Grym pulled me right out again. I understand why he asked for me, but honestly, I’m happy he realized I’m not made for fighting beasts.”

She looked down, a somewhat deprecating smile on her face. I wasn’t sure why she had put it like that. Not wanting to fight beasts was natural, but that was very different from not being made for it.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, more than helping, I was getting in the way of the guards.”

Getting in the way? Did nobody tell you what to do?

“Hm... Who were you in there with?”

“Uhm.” Her head raised in contemplation, she tried to recall the details. “I don’t remember their names, but it was squad A3.”

“Just a bunch of guards then?”

“Yes. The captain said we needed to spread out our firepower.”

“Ugh... That idiot.”

Aelene looked surprised. “Huh?”

“It’s no wonder you felt incompetent if he just paired you up with a random squad and sent you in. You have no experience. That’s why I— why Lilana told you what to do in the previous fight.”

Aelene was the definition of someone reaching the maximum level in a game without doing any actual leveling. She had the power, but absolutely no idea how to use it. And if you can’t use your character properly, you believe yourself hopeless and quit. It was funny to me how well this comparison worked.

“I get that I can theoretically do the same things as you guys, but it’s like you said, Tomar. Not everybody needs to become a beast hunter, right?”

“Right...”

I guessed that Tomar had gone for calming, telling her that nobody was expecting for her to fight beasts, and that she wouldn’t have to do any of this unless she wanted to. It was a nice sentiment, but it ran somewhat counter to what I needed from her.

“Although, don’t you think you should at least understand your powers?” I continued. “I’m not saying that you need to fight beasts, but there’s so much more to it than that. Not to mention how they can protect you, should it ever be necessary.”

“Hm...”

“And it can also be incredibly fun.”

“That I know,” she chuckled. “Oryn and I spent hours breaking apart logs with water when we first started.”

“I can imagine. For us it was a cliff face out in the Wildlands I guess.”

Riala and I smiled at each other, remembering our first night out there, and the holes we had punched into the solid stone wall at our camp. Fun for the whole family. Well, except for Tomar, who was asleep at the time.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said. “It’s too bad there are no books about it anymore, ever since Oryn ruined them all.” She rolled her eyes.

“I’m glad that you’re open to it. Honestly, there’s a reason I’m here. I was hoping you could help us with something. And in the process, we could teach you a few things.”

“You’re so cute for worrying about how to bring that up,” she said, laughing lightly. “Of course I’ll help you. What do you need?”

Oh. That was easy. Now I just—... Uh... Did she just say cute?