Despite of how tired she was, Sanora’s sleep was still uneasy that night. Plagued by nightmares she cant quite remember, but ones that nonetheless leave a bitter aftertaste once she opens her eyes the next day. She slowly sits up with half lidded eyes. Her hair is all over the place. She pulls a strand out of her mouth that found itself in there somehow.

  “Ughh.” She just makes a noise as she looks out the window. Judging by the light its likely already close to noon.

  “How did I sleep so long and still feel like shit.” She mumbles, leaning her face into her hands. After taking a moment she gets out of bed. Mari is still sleeping soundly. But after everything that happened she probably really needs it, so Sanora decides to let her sleep in.

  After getting dressed and fixing her messy hair she heads down into the main room where she spots Tor and Flux eating at one of the tables where she joins them.

  “Well, good mo-… damn, you look like shit.” Tor starts but shifts her tone when she gets a closer look at Sanora.

  “Yeah good thing they don’t have any mirrors here.” Sanora mumbles as she sits down.

  “I think you’d shatter them all with that gloomy expression anyways.”

  “Tor please don’t make me regret getting out of bed.”

  “Nah nothing like some humor to get you out of a bad mood- ouch!” Tor yelps when Flux flicks her ear with a scolding glare. She gets up and sits down next to Sanora, gently patting her shoulder. Sanora never really noticed before with Flux never talking and thus keeping attention off herself, but now that she thinks about it she’s always been the more serious one of the two. Even though she cant speak, the gentle look in her eyes say more than a thousand words ever could. Her compassionate smile is soothing almost unnervingly so, and for a moment she feels like Flux’s eyes say ‘It’s gonna be alright, take it easy ok?’

  “Mh, I will.” Sanora nods. “Thanks.” She says and musters a tired smile.

  “You actually understood that huh. I’d be careful if I was you. That look is exactly what made me fall for her.” Tor winks.

  In return both of the girls slowly turn at Tor, giving her a look.

  “Tor don’t get me wrong, I like you and you’re a nice girl, but sometimes you really have no tact.” Sanora sighs.

  Flux glares at her with yet another expression that says more than some people manage to with words. But for her that was not nearly enough to drive her point home, so she promptly freezes Tor’s leftover bowl of stew. She lift the whole bowl with its now frozen solid contents up and looks at it.

  “Uh yeah I guess I deserved that.” She sets down the bowl again. A moment later a waiter shows up, setting down lunch in front of Sanora.

  “Uh, thanks.” She says a bit confused as he walks to the next table.

  “I figured you’d be hungry.” Tor has finally taken on a more serious look as well.

  Sanora looks at her with raised eyebrows.

  “I am not all jokes. You’ve been through a lot. Tomb’s, even I never died before.”

  “Yeah, really don’t need to go through that again. But how’d you know I was about to come downstairs?”

  "You’re not the only one keeping tabs on your surroundings by sensing flesh.” She winks at Sanora.

  “Oh right, flesh mage.” Sanora nods, but before they can continue the conversation her stomach interrupts, reminding Sanora that its emptiness in unacceptable. She starts to eat while Tor and Flux go back to their usual banter.

  ‘Using flesh sense to make sure I have something to eat on time. I guess she is really considerate too below all the silly jokes.’ Sanora thinks with a smile as she eats lunch for breakfast.

  ============================================

  Sanora left the room a while ago. She tried to be quiet to not wake up Mari, and had she actually been asleep she likely wouldn’t have woken up. It does come off a bit scary to Mari how quiet that girl can actually be when she puts her mind to it. But it didn’t matter. Mari had been lying in bed for a while before Sanora woke up. But even as the sun came out she just felt too tired to actually get up and do something. The last days were a lot to digest. Truth be told she is just now finally processing that she actually held Sanora’s corpse in her hands only four days ago. It all slowly started to sink in on the ride to Southvalley. For a moment she lost Sanora, she was gone. If it wasn’t for sheer stupid luck she still would be.

  A cold shiver runs down her spine at the thought and she grips the blanket. Ever since that day she had no time to process this. And if it wasn’t enough she also had to suffer through being rejected by her own family. Her one greatest fear ever since she realized she is into girls finally came true. Although loosing Sanora might have taken that place now. But that only made things worse. It seems like the universe just decided to dump it on her all at once.

  As her thoughts spiral her stomach starts to turn and her eyes start tearing up as her breathing grows fast and ragged.

  ‘Calm down. Its in the past. She’s fine, she is fine.’ But its useless. Her heart is beating a mile a minute. Her head feels like its spinning and her stomach is revolting. She throws the blanket aside and tumbles out of bed falling onto her knees and covering her mouth with one while steadying herself with the other. But she cannot calm herself down and what little contents are in her stomach make their way up. A few drops of vomit spill through her fingers. She breathes through her nose, but despite her breathing like she sprinted a mile Mari cant seem to get enough air in her lounges, like she is suffocating. The taste of half-digested travel rations and acid seeps into every corner of her mouth. She tries to swallow it but the taste only makes her insides revolt even more. She has to steady herself with both hands as she vomits onto the wooden floorboards. Her vision is blurry, and her arms shaky as she looks down at the puddle.

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  ‘Whats wrong with me?’

  She cant recall ever feeling like this before in her life. She’s been sick before, just as she has been fearful before but nothing so far has ever been anything like this. She can hardly even hold herself up as the smell of vomit cuts into her nose. She has no energy to move but at the same time the smell is about to make her barf again. She can already feel it rising up her throat but just the door swings open. Mari barely registers what’s going on, only two strong arms gently lifting her up and sitting her onto the bed.

  With her body quivering she looks down at the mess, trying to regain her bearings. The world around her seems like a blur. Someone is talking to her for a while, then getting up from the bed and moving around the room, cleaning up as Mari just sits there as things move around her. Her thoughts race so fast, it feels like a blinding light shutting off everything on the outside.

  After a while Mari blinks before looking around the room. The Puke is gone, there is a bucket with a rag resting on its edge standing in its place. Something warm is resting on her hand, squeezing it gently. She turns to her side. Sanora is sitting next to her, holding Mari’s hand in hers. Her gaze is fixed onto the floor, her eyes red and her cheeks wet.

  “Sanora.” As Mari mumbles Sanora’s ears twitch and she looks up before turning to Mari.

  “Mari, thanks gods.” She whispers. “I felt something was off so I-“

  “Sanora.” Mari whimpers as the gates break and tears roll down her face. Sanora doesn’t even have time to react as Mari throws herself at her, throwing them down onto the bed. She sobs uncontrollably as she holds Sanora as tight as she can.

  “I w-was so ‘orried about you.” She stammers between sobs. “I-I-I- was sure I lost you, that you were gone.”

  Sanora’s heart feels like it’s wrapped between threads so tight they are about to cut it into pieces. She hugs Mari tight.

  “It’s alright, I’m here, I’m okay.”

  “No!” Mari wails, her throat so tight she barely manages to press out the words. “You didn’t feel what I did! I was holding your body while it was getting cold, you have no idea how horrifying that was.” She presses her face onto Sanora’s chest.

  “I could feel your live leaving your body.” She says with her voice barely above a whisper. “I felt how you died in my arms.”

  The room falls silent. Nothing besides Mari’s quiet sobs can be heard anymore. Sanora doesn’t have the slightest idea how she should respond. Mari is right after all. What Sanora did was reckless to no end, and in the end, it even cost her life. She grits her teeth, looking Mair quietly sobbing into her chest. She wants to scream, cry and tear her hair out. The pain of having hurt a person she cares so much about is worse than anything else she has gone through so far.

  With no words to say she just wraps her hands around the girl and hugs her tightly.

  And as they lie there entangled, Sanora makes a promise to herself.

  ‘I don’t care what happens, who or what stands in my way, I will always return to this girl, come what may. And if I the whole world turns on us then I will burn it all to the ground.’

  ============================================

  The echo of hard shoes clacking on stone resound through the hallway. A tall woman veiled in a black cloak marches through the building. People hastily make way for her and stand aside as she comes through, none of them daring to even remotely stand in her path. Her movements are fast and firm, her black hair is tied into a flawless ponytail. Her hands are hidden in gloves as black as the rest of her attire, and in one she is carrying a small stack of papers. As she walks up the stairs of the building and ascends the floors there are less and less people around. Finally, as she reaches the topmost floor there is not a soul to be seen but her. Her steps are silenced by a dark red carpet on the floor. The wall to her left is lined with huge windows and the setting sun is painting the hall in a gentle orange. The town outside is a sight to behold from this position at this time of day, but the woman doesn’t even glance outside. She walks in a straight line to the door at the end of the hallway where she comes to a stop. She carefully pushes down the handle and the door opens without even the faintest creak. A strong smell of smoke wafts at her as she enters the room. Unlike the hallway there is not a single window. The room is extraordinary large, so large that it even has a small walkway right on the walls halfway up. The only sources of light are candles on holders fixed to the wall. And in between them are bookshelves reaching all the way to the ceiling, filled with countless grimoires, some of which even emitting a faint glow. Some are locked in glass cases. And in the top shelf there are a select few that are even chained down. Whether as a countermeasure against thieves, or something else. The woman pays them no mind and keeps walking to the far end of the room where a pale man with long, ash-grey hair sits behind a lonely desk. His eyes are half closed, seemingly staring into nothingness. Half of a cigar rests in his hand, smoking lazily. The woman looks at the towering figure standing right next to the desk. He is clad entirely in black as well, though not in a cloak but a thin narcium plate armor. Even is face is covered by a thin mask made of the same metal, along with a hood pulled onto his head. Save for holes to see and breathe, it is entirely featureless. The woman nods at him, which he returns.

  “Master, I have something to report.” Her quiet, soft manner of speaking entirely betrays her thorny appearance.

  The room remains silent for a moment, some ash falls off the burning cigar. After a while the pale man blinks slowly before looking at the woman.

  “Anessa.” His voice is so deep it almost feels like the air is vibrating as he speaks. “What brings you here?” He speaks slow, and a little slurred. He sounds and looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks.

  “I have news.” Anessa says with her head lowered as she hands the man the paper. “The red-haired elf with the pierced ears and her friend have returned to the city.”

  The man takes a long draw of his cigar before setting it down into an overflowing ashtray on the desk. He lets the smoke out through his nose lazily as his tired eyes skim over the pages. Anessa eyes the ashtray, letting out a silent sigh.

  “At long last Flux has returned. I assume you already forwarded an invitation as per usual.”

  “Of course.” Anessa nods.

  “And I assume she has declined again, as per usual.”

  “I am afraid she has. Please forgive my incompetence.” Anessa lowers her head.

  “Anessa, we have been over this. Stop the groveling.”

  “I- forgive me master. I cannot help but feel like I have been failing you. Every time we try to get that elf in here she turns us down.” Anessa clicks her tongue.

  “What did I tell you about loud noises.” The man grumbles. “And we have also talked about that before. We cannot force Flux to come here. Curse bearers are too much of a wild card.”

  “Yes, of course master. Please forgive-“ Anessa starts but the man gives her a soul piercing stare and she stops herself.

  “However, there is one more thing. Flux and Torkastra didn’t come alone this time. They arrived at the gates with a middle-class merchant from the north, the Bozengan family. They parted after entering the city, but two women stayed with them.” As Anessa speaks the man flips through the papers, and his eyes get ever so slightly wider.

  “Interesting. So, Sanora the Kingslayer has finally decided to pay Southvalley a visit. And as company of Flux no less. That mage, Mari Braustein. That is the outcast daughter of Frieda and Markus Braustein, yes? Anessa, get a surveillance team on those two as well. I want to know everything that could be useful, no matter how insignificant it seems.”

  “I already went ahead and sent group twelve out, they should be watching them as we speak.”

  “I expected nothing less.” The man nods satisfied. “Good work, Anessa. Take the rest of the day off, Shakan can handle it. And don’t even try to argue, this is an order.”

  “As you command, master. You have my deepest gratitude.” Anessa bows before quietly making her exit.

  The man takes another draw of his cigar after setting down the papers.

  “Finally, the anomaly has come to visit us. Sanora the Kingslayer. I wonder if she will live up to her title. What do you think, Shakan?”

  The man just remains standing perfectly still without a word.

  “Neither do I. However, I would be lying if I said I’m not curious.”