The inn was unusually quiet, the other wayfarers were off doing who knows what, probably earning money for the inn. I glanced at the bag of coins on my dresser, my payment for helping Kael last week. He was still bedridden, stuck in his room while his body healed. Apparently even though blue gems could heal people I'd done a shit job and know nobody better than me could heal him without hurting him again. But in the end he still paid me. After we got back Kael went to this guild place and sold the information about the cave and the monsters inside it, he said it wasn't worth going back there.

  Getting out of bed I put the coins into the dresser where I kept all my stuff. The robot, the bag of gears and bullets, my few clothes, my gun, and most of all the figurine I was able to bring into Ennath. My figurine was only with me because I was holding onto it, maybe I could've brought more stuff if I was luckier. I thought back to that day when I woke up on the streets of Rosurnan over a month ago, the day that I first met Kael.

  —

  Something was battering me awake, light taps all across my body. With a disgruntled moan I forced myself to wake up. My surroundings were dirty and I could spot a few rats chewing on some mystery meat. Had I gotten drunk again? Probably, and now I was somewhere I didn’t recognize, great. The walls were made of cobblestone, like those hundred year old buildings in downtown. I tried to move my body but I was so cold from the rain pouring down on me. Dark Grey clouds loomed overhead and it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

  I'd probably need to call one of my co-workers to pick me up, I'd owe them a favor, but it was better than being stuck here. Patting down my pockets I realized how oversized my clothes were. How'd I get clothes big enough to feel oversized? After a minute of searching I realized I'd probably forgotten my flip phone at home, the only thing I found was that toy I'd gotten as a kid. I must've been really drunk to have taken that of all things. The last thing I remembered was faceplanting onto my bed while holding the toy.

  I tried to get up to go find a payphone but my body refused to move with how cold I was. My teeth were chattering as the rain battered even harder against me. I did my best to yell, to get anyone to notice me trapped in this alleyway, instead all that came out was a useless squeak. The next thing I tried was moving my hands to my head hoping that the heat would stop my teeth from chattering but I was only able to slightly brush my hair.

  My vision must've been terrible in the rain because as long strands of hair came into view I realized it was black, hell even some of it was green. It was nothing like my dirty blonde hair. What had I done to myself? I tried to bring my hands back up to get a better view of the hair but I'd used up all my energy already. All I could do now was hope that somebody would find me out here and wouldn't just think I was some crazy homeless guy. I nodded in and out of consciousness as I tried my best to keep myself from passing out. If I did I'd either end up paying a thousand dollars for staying in the hospital or six feet under.

  Just as I was about to succumb to the cold I saw a figure appear at the end of an alleyway. They were tall and in some weird black leather clothing like some costume for the Renaissance fair. As he walked closer to me I realized how much taller he was than me, or rather how low I was right now. He was muttering something to himself and I could barely hear anything through the rain besides the words cycle and wayfarer. Maybe he was here to rob me, well the jokes on him I don't have my wallet.

  When he tried to reach for me I flinched away from his large hand on impulse which seemed to have deterred him because he pulled back his hand. Instead of trying to reach with his arm again he took off his cape or cloak thing he had on his back and began wrapping it around me. The residual heat on the cloak warmed by and I began to actually feel myself again.

  “Are you alright kid?”

  “M- m'not a kid…” I barely got the words out through my chattering teeth. My voice was strange, higher pitched, I must've gotten a cold being out in the rain.

  I hated how everyone at work always called me kid despite me being just as good as any of them. Just because I was twenty while they were all in their thirties didn't mean they were better than me. The man just looked at me with this depressed face, as if I was actively ruining his mood. With a sigh he put his hands around me and unexpectedly picked me up. I tried to wriggle out, to escape from this man seemingly kidnapping me but I was too weak to even push myself away from him.

  Now that I was in his arms I realized how big everything was now, as if the world suddenly grew twice as large. The buildings around us all looked like they were from medieval times with stone walls and wooden windows. Everyone was wearing those clothes peasants would wear in movies I'd watch and they were all staring at me and the man. I quickly realized what was actually happening, I was dreaming.

  “I'm dreaming?” I muttered to myself the question as if I didn't already know the answer.

  “Yeah, this is all just a bad dream kid.” The man's words were comforting even if his face told me he was lying.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Instead of confronting the man on his lie I chose to lean into his arms. His body heat transferred to me and I felt myself quickly feeling better. It was strangely calming to let myself be taken care of by someone else, but I couldn't control my dream so I just let it happen. The heat began to grow as I stayed in the man's arms longer and longer. Soon I felt sleep pounding against me and I wasn’t going to resist its temptation, I gave in and fell asleep in the man's arms. It was just a dream after all.

  —

  Kael's body ached the worst it had in the decade since he'd stopped adventuring with his party. The pain reminded of those days with the others, how Amaryllis would heal him, if she were here then he'd already be completely healed. These days she was too busy running Rosurnan to come help an old friend, maybe if her husband was still alive he'd have convinced her to at least visit him. Kael remembered him fondly, the face of the group even more so than Amaryllis. He was the kind of man to hold his head high even though he didn't have a spark, even when faced with insurmountable odds he'd somehow pull through. And of the four of them there was-

  “Kael!” The door slammed open and in walked a woman just barely shorter than Kael.

  She wore similar armor to Kael's except in a light beige tone while being more uniform in shape. Above her breast was the crest of the Karizin family, a sword surrounded by light blue frost covered flowers. Her long brown hair complimented her similarly colored eyes. She stared down at him with exhaustion, the scars on her face barely perceptible to those that didn't know where to look. A face he couldn't help but admire.

  “Hey Diantha.” Kael couldn't help but smile at his former party member.

  “Hey? Is that all you're going to say? I return from an expedition and find out you're half dead and all I get is a ‘Hey’?” Diantha was justifiably angry at Kael, he left for a job he'd thought would take at least a week which he should have told her about and vastly underestimated its danger.

  “Nice to see you too.” And that was the truth, Kael was happy to see her alive and well.

  The last time the two of them met was nearly two months ago when the cycle changed and all the wayfarers started showing up. Diantha had been too busy helping those that appeared outside of Rosurnan while Kael helped those inside. They'd agreed that with Diantha's noble connections and resources she'd be better suited outside the walls of Rosurnan. Kael meanwhile was always a street rat even if Diantha refused to believe that, he knew the city better than most of its residents. Together they did their best to mitigate the damage of thousands of people showing up near the city’s gates and all throughout Rosurnan's borders.

  “Gods Kael, can't you at least try not to make me worried about you?” Diantha let out an exasperated sigh.

  “You know I can't.” Finally Diantha smiled back at Kael, she couldn't hold it back any longer before hugging the man she once loved.

  “So, how's my brother been?” Despite being only twelve years younger than Diantha Damian had been forced to stay with Kael instead of going on her expedition. Damian was twenty-one and Diantha didn't let him join her even though there were plenty of men younger than him with her.

  “Damian's fine, he could learn to use less armor when he's stronger but he's confident and knows when to run. Though he's too much of a bootlicker.” Kael thought back to all the times Damian had talked as if Kael was better than him.

  “He gets that from our father. He always made us refer to him as Sir, just tell him to stop. He was always harsher on Damian with him being the heir.” Diantha thought back to how harshly her father treated Damian, he called it discipline but it was just cruelty in her eyes.

  “So long as he's here your father won't be able to touch him, he's an important member of the inn after all.”

  “In your condition I doubt you would be able to do anything to stop him.” Diantha was right that Kael couldn't do anything in his current state, however.

  “We both know it'd be too much of a hassle for him, he wouldn't waste his time.” Kael knew Diantha's father liked to be succinct and dealing with either of them just to get to his son wasn't something he would do.

  “Well then, now that I know you're not on your deathbed I have better things to do than talk to an old man like you.” Diantha jabbed at Kael who was only a month older than her.

  “So long as you don't get into any trouble, little girl.” The two of them laughed at their jokes as Diantha left with a smile on her face.

  Diantha wandered through the empty inn’s courtyard, all its residents were off doing gods knows what, hopefully making money for the inn though. As Diantha turned a corner something or rather somebody bumped into her. She looked down to realize she bumped into a poor Cambionite girl around Damian's age that had the misfortune of running into her. Her red face was even redder with what Diantha could only assume was a blush.

  “Sorry there, are you alright?” Diantha offered a hand to the woman who just stared at her like a doe at a predator.

  “You're hot.” Diantha gaped at the woman before she finally took her hand and awkwardly she lifted her up.

  —

  Scarlet couldn't help but hate herself for blurting out those words to Diantha earlier. Apparently being trapped underground without anybody to talk to for over a month really hampered her ability to talk normally, well it's not like she was normal even before then. She'd heard all about Diantha from Damian, how amazing she was, how strong she was, and most importantly how she could use magic like Scarlet without one of those gem thingies. Scarlet basically had to beg Diantha after realizing who she was to teach her more magic. They didn't call it magic here but it was to her.

  The two of them sat on a bench in the courtyard while Diantha talked about constellations and Steilae and gem types and all sorts of things while Scarlet wrote as much as she possibly could into her new journal. Apparently you could make actual honest to God spells using strings and looms, that with enough practice you could make fireballs from red threads and balls of water from blue ones. Scarlet was ecstatic to finally learn more about magic in this world, nobody in the inn knew much about it, not even Kael or Michael, but Diantha did.

  “And- and these looms, you use them to draw constellations?”

  “Yes, but at a certain skill level you realize constellations don't need a loom as you already have ten prongs already.” Diantha extended her fingers and Scarlet furiously wrote down how fingers can be used as prongs.

  “That's amazing! Why don't people just use their fingers instead of looms?” The more Diantha talked the more questions popped into Scarlet's head.

  “Well looms are just easier to hold onto and aren't limited by merely ten points, beginners usually can't even wrap a thread around their fingers without hurting themselves.” The thought of wrapping any kind of thread between her fingers made Scarlet wince as she realized how dangerous it could be.

  “Fascinating! So then what-” Before Scarlet could finish her sentence she was interrupted by Diantha.

  “Before you keep asking questions you should know that I'm not the greatest source of information. If you really want to learn more about weaving you should attend the Rosurnan Academy. It's a college of sorts, I can give you a recommendation but you'd need money, and lots of it too.”

  “A magic academy…” Scarlet couldn't believe her ears, an actual magic academy existed in this world!

  This was her dream come true. All she needed to do was get money, enough money to go to college. It was like all those isekai anime she'd seen, she didn't care if she wasn't anybody special but now she was able to live a life she didn't hate! She resolved herself to get into the academy no matter what.

  Diantha just stared at the Cambionite now staring into the distance as if she hadn't just been talking to her and shrugged it off. It was an interesting conversation after all.