Shadowbane

I opened my eyes but made no move to sit up. The water inside the pool was so clear that I could see Lunaria looking down at me. I ignored her and stayed where I was for a bit longer.

{Are you okay...?}

... I know I'm mostly healed now, little fairy. I just want to relax in silence for a bit. I need it after what we just saw.

{I-I see... I'm sorry, I know I'm stupid...}

Ahh, there it is. Not just scared of combat, but you think low of yourself as well. We'll work on that another time. For now, leave me alone.

Luna shut up after that, allowing me the much-needed downtime I needed to meditate and relax.

As I lifted my torso out of the water I could feel Lunaria immediately begin to rub my back.

"Feeling better?" She asked.

"Not entirely, but I've accepted it." I looked over at the other ponds and watched the fairies playing with one another as the Lords channeled onto a strange-looking colorful rock. "I assume you were watching his memories as well? Through Luna, I mean."

"I was, and it showed me one very important note of information. I really need to apologize to Aresa. She's going to be insufferable after this, but there's no denying that I was in the wrong for doubting her, so I'll accept the consequences."

I looked back at Lunaria, "Wrong about what?"

"She's been telling us for months now that Rai'ga was here. There were no sightings of a three-headed Eldritch God, nor were there any signs of something that powerful lurking anywhere in our nation. And we already have a thousand other problems in Termia, so everyone including me told her that she was imagining things." Lunaria sighed, "She is going to be so annoying after I apologize to her..."

"I don't remember her being annoying at all? Naive sure, but that just made her all the more cute."

Lunaria began laughing while slapping my back. Once she was done she just shook her head at me. "Oh boy, are you in for a surprise. I won't ruin it for you though. Just head on to Telebron and see her for yourself. She doesn't know you're here yet, but I'll tell her when I warp back after you leave. But before you go, is there anything you want to talk about? Some of the things Rai'ga showed Seifer were, well... I hate to say it, but I can see why he wanted to kill you."

Seifer's memories cleared up any confusion related to his decline and actions. It went in a direction I hadn't quite expected... One part of my history I've tried to forget about, while also drudging up the name of a God that has played little role in my life while also being an ever-present threat in the background.

It went like this. While we were staying in Viseux after our return from Kellog, Rai'ga had reached out to Euphemia in an attempt to win her over. It failed, but he knew it would. Not that it was clear from Seifer's memories, but I could tell right away that Rai'ga had only done it to lure Seifer there. Aresa had no influence outside of her controlled regions, so she couldn't stop Rai'ga from speaking to him directly. Which also meant that nobody had any idea that it had happened at all.

Seifer had initially denied the telepathic link that would allow them to talk, but Rai'ga dropped a couple of names in his conversation with Euphemia which immediately made Seifer change his mind. The names of his late Father, Mother, and Brothers. Sadly for him, that's the exact moment his fate was sealed. And it was all thanks to me...

Seifer went into Rai'ga's soul realm, where time was almost immovable, so he had all the time in the world to corrupt him. Not literally corrupt as in his soul, but his mind. He showed him the exact moment his family was captured by a unit from Xelba. A unit that had a girl with white hair and red eyes in it. Apparently Rai'ga's ability to see far into the distance was much more powerful than I had imagined. I only vaguely remembered this exact instance of a carriage we had attacked, but I did recognize the area around the road itself. It was really fucking far from his domain. Over several hundred miles away easily.

It wasn't much of a surprise what happened next. Seifer was devastated seeing what had happened to his family. However, his next reaction truly was shocking. He declined Rai'ga. The God had offered to help him attain his revenge against me, but Seifer saw that his place now was by Euphemia's side, and turning me into an enemy would have created a whole shit storm of problems for everyone there. We were already struggling to overcome Rai'ga's grip on Viseux, so something like this would have guaranteed our loss.

He saw the past as the past, and nothing more. He thanked Rai'ga for showing him and asked to leave his soul realm. Surprisingly, Rai'ga agreed and let him out right away. No time had passed in the real world, so he waited for Euphemia's conversation with the God to finish before they headed back to the chateau. All that really happened after that was a few moments of intense disgust and anger he felt towards me when he saw me, but it would quickly dissipate. And when I had 'died', he was overjoyed but kept it to himself. So for him, that chapter of his life had closed with my death. In other words, everything was fine for him from there on out. That is, until a few years had passed after they arrived in Telebron.

Two things had happened in that time. One, the scythe's corruption was finally taking hold of him. You see, it's a cursed weapon. It slowly erodes the soul of its user, turning them into a puppet for the scythe, but it also taught him all of his fighting skills and the materialize ability as well. So it wasn't one-sided.

The problem is that his soul was starting to destabilize when he overheard Aresa, Alicia, and Tyra talking about me. Aresa was adamant that Alicia had to keep returning to the chateau to check for me, which he found really strange, so he stopped in his tracks and continued to listen in, which led to him learning about my ability to return to life. And that is the moment when his final defenses against the scythe had fully cracked. The Eldritch soul in the weapon had seen the prime chance it was just given, and obviously it didn't hesitate to act upon it.

He was willing to let the past die with my death, and he probably would have ignored it anyway had I never died in the first place. But when he thought I was gone and he was able to put it all behind him, that's exactly what he did. Unfortunately for him, as he had just learned, I wasn't going to stay dead. So between that and his corrupted soul, he practically changed overnight.

Normally he could ignore the scythe's craving for more souls, but those days were over, so he needed a new hunting ground. Telebron for whatever reason was deemed unsafe for him. He wasn't specific in his thought process, but he was positive he'd be caught there stealing souls, so he spent the next month convincing Euphemia that he wanted to be sent out as a spy. They had needed people to watch Viktor's activity after he had begun to expand into Aetheria, so she eventually caved and allowed him to go.

From there I didn't see much of a value. He actually did do his job, and even sent back some interesting reports about Viktor's nation, but in the meantime he was killing people all over the place. Feeding souls to his scythe had become his real mission.

I looked over at the scythe as it rested inside the pool of water. Lunaria followed my vision and chuckled, "He's quite angry you know? My waters are like poison for him, and he also hates you with a passion. Not only did you take his pawn from him, but he can't corrupt you. So for now, he's literally just a weapon with no agency."

"Do artifact weapons and armor normally have wills like this? I thought they lost those in the refining process. That's what I was told in Xelba anyway. In fact, it was Viktor who told me that."

Lunaria shook her head, "Not always. Most of the time, yes. But every now and then the will of the Eldritch is too powerful and it survives the process. You shouldn't blame the creators though. I have it on good authority that they don't actually know if the Eldritch's wills survive or not. For any Eldritch that powerful, it's immediately going to act as if it doesn't have one. None of them are stupid enough to give away the game, which would result in them being dismantled and absorbed."

I motioned toward the scythe, "It was a weapon his Father had in their storage. There were three artifact weapons they were planning to sell, and he did sell two of them after he took over his Father's business. But this one, he kept this one, and even accepted its deal to teach him how to fight while also giving him the ability to send items into his soul realm. However, the items in question needed to have a strong link to him, so he couldn't just do it with anything."

Honestly, Seifer wasn't anyone I was really concerned with. He was just some nice guy from Kellog who had assisted us quite well while we were there. And he was also competent as Euphemia's aid. Past that, I didn't know shit about the guy, nor did I even want to know anything about him. Was that a mistake...? Now that I think back on it, I never make any attempts to understand people I meet.

The only reason I know about Lindon's past is because he told me directly. I suppose I... I don't know. I feel like I should try and talk to people more. Especially when I think about the fact that I didn't know much of anything about Shana's past either... It kills me that all I can do is ask Aresa about her now, and even she will only have limited information.

But at the same time, it's not like we've had plenty of time to relax and talk about our pasts. The only time would've been in Aresa's chateau. Except, even then, we were constantly trying to figure out how to expand Aresa's control of Viseux. It was all in vain and looked quite hopeless from the start, but I didn't want to let Aresa down like that. Although, I do know that I could've tried to talk her into leaving, and now I'm really regretting that I didn't.

"So what are you going to do about Rai'ga?"

Lunaria sighed, "I don't know. I really don't know... We're stretched too thin as it is, and I can't ask Belfos to look into it. He almost never listens to me. He just wanders around doing his own thing, but I can't complain too much since all of his actions are done to protect Termia. Oh, speaking of which, the 'Insectoids' you saw attacking that Xerathian Hive, was his forces. That was one of his Lords that came crashing through the wall. And before you ask; no, I did not know he was going to be there. Keeping tabs on him is difficult these days."

So he just patrols around all of Termia wiping out enemy bases? He reminds me of a certain righteous Tengu.

"Well, let's dive deeper into Seifer's memories before I leave. We'll see what he's been up to here, and maybe he'll know where Rai'ga's base of operations is."

"Are you sure, Rei? I don't know anything about how your soul works, but it's feeling strange right now. While you were watching his memories in your soul realm, I could feel my cleansing pools being repelled by something inside of you. I thought it was the scythe taking hold of your soul at first, but that can't be it. I think it's Seifer's soul. You should get rid of it while you can."

"It's that bad? I could feel something creeping around inside of me, but I didn't think it was something that serious. The problem is that I've already absorbed it, so there's nothing I can do at this point. It's like that time I absorbed a man's soul that had been corrupted by the Tengu, which led to him..."

Oh shit, what if it's exactly like that?

"Lunaria, I'm going to try and reach out to the Tengu God. I need to ask him something. Do you know of him?"

Lunaria shrugged, "Only through word of mouth. He's a boogeyman for distant worlds, but he hasn't bothered us at all. If anything, he's mostly a thorn in the Xel'nethra's side. I've heard many reports of massive crow-like Eldritch attacking cities belonging to Viktor. I'd offer to support him if my little Aresa wasn't so adamant that the Tengu wants to capture her too."

Capture... That's right. He does want to capture her, doesn't he? And at the time I didn't really connect the dots, but what if Rai'ga wasn't interested in Viseux itself? It could have been nothing more than a means to an end. With that end being Aresa. The fact that he's here near Termia where Aresa now lives makes it all the more suspicious. There are a hundred different moons and several planets he could have relocated to. But instead he's here?

"It's really bizarre that several Eldritch Gods are trying to capture her. Do you know the reason why?"

It was only for a moment, but the emotions disappeared on her face as she looked at me. But her smile returned in no time as she replied with "You'll have to ask her."

Well that wasn't suspicious at all... The hell is going on with---You know what, whether she answers me or not, it doesn't matter. I'll ask the Tengu, and if I still get no answer, I'm sure Aresa will tell me. Although I feel like I asked her before and she said that she didn't know...? I swear I asked her, but I can't remember when it was.

I laid down in the water again, letting it wash over me as I entered my soul realm. And just like that time on Veca, I prodded the connection to the Tengu. Within moments he appeared before me as he dug his claws into the ground. There was however, one little difference. One I wouldn't have picked up on without Markus pointing it out to us the last time I saw the Tengu. Most of his legs were gone before, but now they're stumped at around his knees. Is he slowly regrowing them? His soul must be severely damaged for him to be needing this much time to heal himself.

{BACK AGAIN... NIGH MADNESS...}

"Yeah---"

My response was cut off as the Tengu suddenly started to whip his head around in different directions.

{YOUR AGE EVER INCREASES... BUT YOUR BRAIN DOES NOT...}

Now that was harsh... I needed Seifer's memories though. It was a risk I had to take.

"So it's true, my soul is being corrupted by something right now, isn't it?"

{CORRUPTED... YOU? IMPOSSIBLE... THERE IS A NEW CONNECTION FORMING... CAN FEEL HIS EYES... YOU MUST STOP IT NOW BEFORE IT IS COMPLETE.}

"How? I know it's there but I don't know the first thing about soul magic. All my skills in this realm are related to viewing memories."

{THE SAME CONCEPT... FOCUS ON THE ENTITY LIKE A MEMORY... MAKE YOUR SOUL AWARE OF IT... RIGHT NOW IT IS DISCREET... INVISIBLE... SEA OF TREES...}

Oh, so it's masked itself in a way that makes my soul think it's made of the same matter as it? I can still sense it, but it is extremely vague. So it's not clear enough for the soul to recognize it as a threat huh?

I sat down and emptied my mind, the same as I always do for meditating. Over the next thirty minutes a long game of cat and mouse played out as I attempted to focus on the foreign invader, but it slipped away time and again. However, whatever I was doing was still working apparently, because suddenly all at once the entity vanished. And in that final moment I could see Rai'ga staring back at me.

{WELL DONE...}

I stood up and walked over to the couch, laying down on it as I looked up at the Tengu. I'm mentally exhausted after that... It was kind of fun in a way, but by the end I was beyond fed up with it.

"How much do you know of Rai'ga? That was him, by the way."

{I KNOW... ONE OF MOTHER'S PROUDEST... ALL HE DOES... HE DOES FOR HER...}

An image popped into my head. One of a Tengu Lord's remains after he was blasted by the railgun. I replicated the memory in my soul realm, showing it to the Tengu.

"How is he doing?"

{STILL IN CREATION... ANOTHER TEN YEARS MINIMUM...}

So he's still being reborn... I wanted to apologize to him, but looks like that's on hold for now.

"One last question. Why are you trying to capture Aresa?"

{SHIVA'S DAUGHTER...? LONG SINCE ABANDONED... NOT WORTH THE EFFORT...}

"Glad to hear it, but why? Rai'ga is still after her apparently. I can't think of another reason he'd be here."

{SHIVA WAS A CONDUIT FOR THE CORE... SHE RULED VISEUX... SURELY YOU UNDERSTAND THIS? YOUR 'VIKTOR' KNEW THIS...}

"No, I don't know what that means at all. The core is referencing the core of the planet, right? So Shiva---"

All of a sudden the Tengu vanished. I looked around in confusion, and even prodded his connection again, but it was dead silent. The only clue I had worried me greatly. Right before he disappeared, I felt the subtle aura of ether creep its way into my soul realm. The very same signature of the pond my body was resting in. Did that cunt cut the connection and block it...?

Suddenly I felt much more vulnerable and exposed inside the Fairies Domain than I did outside with the Xerath and Crotians. However, I knew I couldn't let her know that, so I exited my soul realm and sighed as I looked at her.

"Something went wrong, I lost the connection. I'll just have to talk to Aresa about it... I need to see her anyway. It's been way too long."

Lunaria smiled, "Are you ready to leave then? I have no more desire to be here if you're taking a break from looking for the main hive, and I really should be heading back anyway. There's a multitude of other problems I need to deal with."

"How long will it take me and Petey to run there again? Luna said about four days, I think?"

"She was correct, but that's only if you're running to the capital. There are outposts and even cities along the way you know? I can have someone pick you up in the closest city. It should only take you a day to get there. You revived at a pretty good location. I'm very curious as to how it works... Aren't you interested to know why you just so happened to revive so close to us?"

I stood up and looked over at Petey as I picked the scythe up. He had just finished repairing himself and was walking toward the exit. "Of course I'm 'Interested'. So far all I know is the vague shit I saw down in the Abyss Realm." Wait... The Abyss Realm! "Oh shit, that's right! I forgot to ask about that place. Have there been uh, well fuck, there's like thirty different questions I have related to it."

Lunaria chuckled as she exited the pond, "Yes there have been problems related to those disgusting creatures. A few of their Gods have popped up here and there, and we've even had one of them harassing us for years. But we've talked enough for now. Go on to Telebron, I'm sure Aresa will be more than happy to tell you all about it."

And with that said, she walked toward the second level of the cave and disappeared behind a curtain made out of some kind of transparent material.

Alright then, that's our cue, Petey. But uh...

I focused inward on the little fairy who was still inside my soul for some reason.

Aren't you going to rejoin your companions here, Luna?

{But Mother told me to go with you? Remember?}

So it wasn't temporary as I scouted the local region? Hmm... My first thought is that I want her gone. I don't want a spy for Lunaria following me around everywhere. But for now, I'm going to leave her be. As it is she should be under the assumption that I didn't realize it was her that had cut off the Tengu and blocked him. I'll leave the Fairy for now until I can talk to Aresa. If she cut off the Tengu but plans on letting me see Aresa, then I have a feeling that she won't know the answer either. Which will be disappointing, but I'm sure there are other ways to find the answer. Plus, there's a chance Cera or Euphemia might know too.

This is...

I searched and searched, but no matter how much I scoured the Xerath's bodies, there were no souls inside any of them.

What the fuck is this? I've never met a Xerath that didn't have a soul before.

Luna, are all of the Xerath attacking your region soulless?

{No... Only the ones born from the ooze.}

So then that means the one over there should have one.

About ten minutes ago we ran into a large group of Xerath running across the plains. They were almost entirely of the same type, the ones that I saw back in the hive being created through the ooze. However, there is a larger, much more powerful-looking one staring us down right now. It was off to the side eating a dead animal as we ambushed the group. Petey and I made quick work of the ten grunts, which left only the unique one to deal with. It's about ten feet tall with Human-like appendages. And weirdly enough, the only way I can describe its body is 'Ripped'. The damned thing looks like it's been lifting weights every day for ten years.

The Xerath began to circle around us as it continued to stare at me. Every time its foot hit the ground I could feel the weight of the creature reverberate under my own feet. I activated the Halo and circled to the right as Petey held fast with his greatsword at the ready. He was waiting for the creature to attack me so he could hit it from behind. Assuming it's stupid enough to leave its back exposed.

The claws on the end of its toes dug into the ground in preparation. And as it charged at me the ground itself practically exploded behind it. It was fast, but only a little faster than I had expected it to be. Which still made the creature really damned powerful, but within reason given my current strength. Fighting two or more of these would be out of the question though.

I ducked under its initial attack, a quick snap of its right fist at my face. I had barely evaded its first attack when it raised its right foot toward my exposed torso. I leaped back at an angle while swatting away his leg. The strength with which he kicked had sent tremors through my arm as I hit his leg. He didn't follow up after that though, as he was too busy evading to his left. Petey's angled vertical slash had missed, but he immediately pivoted for more follow-up attacks as I dashed to the other side of the creature.

The Xerath, clearly aware of what we were doing, attempted to kick away from both of us in another direction, but an ethereal fist shot out of my chest and grabbed him, locking him down in place. The spell wasn't strong enough to hold him for long, but it didn't matter. That split second was enough for Petey to cut the creature in two from the head down. The two halves of it both fell to the left and right as blueish blood sprayed everywhere. It reminds me of Aresa's blood, strangely enough.

I walked over and pulled the soul out of both halves of its body. Good work little fairy, that was some great support. I said to Luna as I gulped down the soul. I could feel Luna radiating brightly from the compliment.

Whoa, this one alone was about twenty percent the strength of the Chimera. Which may seem small, but that monster was an outlier. This is actually huge... When I get the chance I'm going to prowl around the countryside and look for more of these Xerath. Luna, if this one wasn't born from ooze, where was it born?

{Weird sacks. Some others are born from those big purple fleshy things you saw too. It's all so gross...}

Sacks... So probably eggs? I've seen Xerath born from those, so that part is more inline with what I'm used to.

So this is the city closest to all of this madness... Okay Luna. Show me where the vehicle is.

{Wait at that street right there. Mother is sending them to pick you up. They look weird. You'll know it's them.}

I have pure white hair, red eyes, a black full-body suit made out of blood, and I'm currently covered in dried blue Xerathian blood. I'm pretty sure I'll be the weird one in their eyes. Whoever they are.

{Hehe, true!}

Petey and I removed our invisibility as I sat down on a nearby bench. The street we were on had a few people here and there, but only one of them saw me and a massive armored skeletal Crotian appear out of nowhere. He freaked out and ran off down the street while yelling for help.

Is that going to be a problem?

{No. Mother told the Mayor you were coming. He should have put out a general warning over the speakers, but not everyone listens to them...}

She's becoming more talkative during this last stretch of our journey. I think that little bit of combat she experienced is exactly what she needed to break out of her shell.

A large armored vehicle pulled around the corner and stopped right in front of us. It looks like Viktor's vehicles. I suppose there's no point in changing what already works. The man in the gunner's seat spun around so the gun and shield weren't in the way. "Are you Miss Reimia?"

"Yes! Are you who I'm waiting for? I was told they'd be weird looking, but you just look like a regular soldier."

"Hah! I'll take that as a compliment. Whoever told you they were weird looking wasn't wrong, you'll see soon enough. We're just here to make sure nothing goes wrong while they pick you up."

To calm the citizens basically. I should've met the people picking me up in secret, but I suppose the citizens in this region should get used to me. Especially if I end up using this city as a base of operations.

Five minutes later an abnormally long vehicle pulled up behind the armored vehicle and stopped. It was pure black, and even the windows looked black. This is new... I can't see inside the windows at all. And why is it so long??

The doors in the back both opened up as two people stepped out of the vehicle. Immediately, I knew what Luna and the soldier meant by weird.

The duo approached me, a lady and a man wearing the strangest clothing I had ever seen up until this point.

"Hello, Miss Necromancer~." The lady said with a warm smile.

"Necrowhat? I've never heard that word before. And what are those outfits?! I don't even know how to describe them in my own head."

The man laughed and looked at the lady, "Looks like I win." In response the lady sighed as she handed over some coins to the man.

So they bet on whether that'd be my first question? The odds seem high in his favor. Who the hell wouldn't ask that?

Once she was done paying her colleague, she looked back at me. "This is a dress where I come from. It's a continent on the west side of Zhegu." She then pointed to some type of threads hanging off her waist. "You see these? They're called 'Tassels'. And these?" She pointed toward the metal sticks holding her elaborate pink ponytails up. "They're known as 'Ji hairpins'. But it would be best if I explained all of this on the ride home, yes?"

"Yeah, that's fine. The sooner I'm in Telebron the better too. But why was a couple of people from another planet sent to pick me up?"

The man had short black hair and was wearing a greenish-black outfit that matched the unknown style of the woman. He turned around and opened the back door before motioning for me to enter. "Because we volunteered. We've been stuck in this lovely place for a few years now. Lady Aresa is one of the few people worth speaking to here, and she's spoken of you multiple times, saying that we'd meet you one day.." He said as I walked toward the vehicle and entered it. I sat down in the back and placed the scythe on the table in front of me.

The inside is nice... Maybe even something people would consider luxurious. But it's so nice that it's weirding me out. It even has a fucking mini-bar and TV inside of it. Plus I can't see the driver! Why is there a black window in the way?!

"Hey, you. Pretty lady. Why can't I see the driver? This vehicle is suspicious as all hell." I asked the lady as she sat down in the seat across from the TV.

She put her hand up to her mouth as she giggled. "This is called a 'Limozine'. It's one of Aresa's personal vehicles. She let us use it to pick you up. Unfortunately, she isn't allowed to leave the capital, and she's quite busy today, so she wasn't able to come with us. You should have seen how upset she was. It was so cute~!"

Limozine... I know that word. I think I even told Aresa about them in the past. But I only knew that they were 'Very long vehicles.' It just didn't click with me after seeing it in person.

Petey unfortunately couldn't fit through the doors, so they had to open the windows on top of the vehicle(it was called a 'Sunroof' the lady said) and let him in through there. He lowered himself inside and laid down on the opposite side of me in an extremely awkward-looking position. Good thing he's a skeleton, that would be so fucking uncomfortable for a living being.

The man sat down in the back with me, but he stayed on the other side next to the other door. He then pushed a button on the side of the door which led to the vehicle moving. Did that button alert the driver that we're ready? Such a strange system.

"What are your names?"

The lady motioned toward herself and then the man. "Xi Liao, and Kai Han."

"... Very unique names to fit your pretty but weird attire."

Xi giggled again while pointing at my armor, "So true~. If only I could find a pure black one-piece covered in blue blood. Ahh, such a dreamy aesthetic~."

"Hey now, this armor is pretty strong for how flexible it is. Petey's is way stronger, but much too heavy for my liking. Even if enhancing yourself takes care of the weight issue, you're still increasing the load on yourself by quite a bit."

"Petey...?" They both said as they looked at the skeleton. Petey, from his awkward position, lifted his left hand up and waved to the two of them. The woman broke into laughter while wheezing about how stupid his name was. The man however, was staring at him emotionlessly.

"I want to duel this creature when we arrive at our destination." Kai eventually said.

"Ugh, here he goes again..." Xi said as she turned the TV on.

"Can I decline? If he cuts you in two then I don't even want to know what kind of fallout that will lead to. I'm already going to have enough on my plate when I arrive at our destination."

"Hahahaha she said it's going to cut you two! Oh Rei, if only he stayed that way..."

Kai looked at me, "Fear not, lovely Necromancer. I cannot die."

"......."

He doesn't appear to be joking. So is he like me then?

"You've confused the poor girl, explain your ability idiot. Don't just sit there stone-faced." Xi said before she threw a piece of chocolate in her mouth.

"Ah, apologies. Explanations would indeed be appropriate here." Kai nodded, "My ability allows me to set an immovable shade of myself nearby, and if I were to die within a certain radius of it, I would be sent back through time to shade, returning to my current state at the time of the shade's creation. However, my shade can be destroyed. So it is important that I hide it in a safe location."

"That is one hell of an ability to have. But uh, should you really be telling me about this?"

Kai nodded again, "It is not a problem. Lady Aresa is the reason the two of us are still alive and living a good life. We may not care for this nation, but we've chosen to live out our lives in her service all the same. So if she says you are trustworthy, then we will also trust you."

Whoa, I didn't expect them to be that important to Aresa.

"I'd love to hear about how you two came to be in her service, but first things first. What is a 'Necromancer'?"

The two of them shared a confused look before Xi looked at me, "Um, Aresa called you that term. She said that it was written in a book she read---Oh! She read it here in Termia. So it would have been after your, uh..."

Ahh, so that's why they're calling me this term I had never heard of before. It's Aresa's little bookworm habits that led to this. I'm fine with it though, it's a pretty interesting title. 'Necromancer' huh?

"And you trailed off at a pretty important part. Can you elaborate? I want to know how much she's told you."

Xi's eyes lit up with a fervor I hadn't seen yet, "You die, and then you're reborn somewhere else! A fantastical ability that makes Kai's look weak in comparison. Yours is guaranteed, which is, dare I say, marvelous. I thought Aresa was delusional when she first told us, but Cera and Euphemia said that she was telling the truth, which even then it was still hard to believe. But here you are, alive, after your death by the Xel'nethra!"

"Xi Liao," Kai said sternly, making Xi shake.

"Ah... I'm sorry, Rei. I got carried away." Xi said, looking down.

"What? Why did you yell at her and why is she sad?"

Kai looked at me with a pained face, "Was I mistaken? Then allow me to be the one to apologize instead. I thought her fervor related to the reason your comrades have perished, was uncalled for."

"Oh... Well, she didn't mean it like that, so it's fine. If anything, I find her excitement over someone else's abilities to be really interesting. Normally these kinds of discussions are bland or done in haste for an upcoming threat. To just sit in a nice vehicle like this and discuss abilities happily is very new for me... I'd bet anything that Shana and Ishar would have loved this as well."

The two of them went silent after that. The other questions I had for them left my mind as I sat back in my seat and just stared at the TV in silence. The news was covering a mass influx of drugs in Termia that the 'Phoenix Initiative' was struggling to contain. I mindlessly watched the program for the next few hours as my two new companions discussed the drug epidemic.