Emilia felt V’s life snuff out, his mind spiralling back to the real world as the force of the {Blood Tattoo}’s power bared down on him.

  It was fine.

  She was fine.

  It wasn’t like she had actually killed her friend—like he had actually given up his life to save this world.

  It was fine.

  She was fine.

  It—

  Hyr’s arms wrapped around her, warm and safe, their energy seeping through her and pulling her back to the strange reality of the raid. Across her vision, the twenty minutes left in the raid ticked by. Twenty minutes, and while they may have stopped the god, the cavern under them feeling strange and locked away even to her, they still had no idea how to end the blood curse.

  They had solved a problem that hadn’t existed before their arrival—although a small part of Emilia did remind her that the god of Clarity had been a problem before their arrival, just not as big a one as it had become during the visitation—but the biggest problem was still there, and this time, they had no unactivated blood weapon for the gods from without to mess with.

  They had nothing.

  No hope, and—

  “Hatrav,” Hyr breathed into her ear, tugging her around and hoisting her into their arms. “Hatrav.”

  Emilia tried to breathe, but mostly, she just wanted to cry. ?I don’t know what’s wrong with me,? she whispered into his neck— Well, it wasn’t really whispered into his neck because of the whole aethervoice thing, but there were vibes. ?My emotions are just so… hot.?

  The syn hummed as they moved back to the others. Part of Emilia wanted to be embarrassed at being carried like a child by the northerner, her arms looped around their neck and legs clasped around their waist. Hyr was younger than her—less than half her age—and yet at the moment, she felt like the younger one. Broken, sad, shattering.

  ?I just… I wanted to help the people here. Instead, I let that god loose, and now, we’re out of time.?

  ?Time must end for the blood curse to end,? Carne—or perhaps Ash, Emilia really didn’t care about which persona they were wearing anymore, having come to the conclusion they were both big fat jerks.

  ?What does that even mean?? she asked, turning her head to glare at the man.

  He was no longer sitting beside Boundary, who was now being tended to by Phino, who had apparently found her inner leader and was now discussing Nur’tha healing methods with several locals. The Risen Guard was sitting up, shirtless, and blinking rather unevenly into the abyss. Across his chest, his wound continued to close, as did the burn marks from his blood. The man smiled weakly at her, a message sliding into her, telling her she’d done a good job. If only she believed him.

  ?Everything has a time and place,? Carne told her, his voice holding enough condescension that yeah, that was Carne again. Apparently, without Boundary’s life in danger, Ash had once again fallen under Carne’s overpowering personality.

  Nearby, Gale sat next to Rin and Key. She didn’t look happy, neither with her two new companions nor the man who constituted Carne and her brother. Of course she wasn’t happy: Gale now knew Ash was in there. Worse, Ash had come out when Boundary's life was in danger. There had been so many times when Gale’s life had been in danger, and yet…

  And yet, even when Emilia had come across him, evacuating the homeless children, Ash had done nothing for his sister. Gale had been missing, and yet in Ash’s mind, their stories likely hadn’t been meant to meet yet. Perhaps that was the curse of being so closely connected to the aether: that knowing meant a loss of at least some free will. Even when travelling with Hyr, there had been so many moments where they had followed the path laid out for them by the universe and the {Blood Glass}. If what they had wanted to do something that had contradicted the path it was directing them down…

  Emilia didn’t know what they would have done, especially now that she believed—now that she knew that following that path had led them to V and the kids, plus Key. Shooting Key an apologetic look—although she couldn’t hear them and was polite enough not to purposefully read what they were saying, Gale was clearly taking out her frustration on him, and Rin seemed perfectly happy to go along with the teenager’s whims—she turned her attention back to Carne, who out of all his unfortunate personality traits was also just so… patient. A consequence of that whole time and place thing, she supposed.

  ?You’re saying that the blood curse is meant to be broken near the end of the raid? How??

  The man smirked. Asshole.

  ?Not near the end. In the last seconds of the raid.? He turned towards Boundary, asking if he was able to move. ?You, too, little boy,? he added, startling Key out of his moaning about being bullied by mean girls.

  Gale glared at Carne, the man barely sparing her a glance in return. Emilia… didn’t think it was cruelty, but rather a kindness. Just as Ash had told her, Gale knowing Ash was alive but unable to be her brother any longer was painful. Ignoring Gale, putting a firmer wall between them… it was a shitty solution, but if neither Carne nor Ash had a solution to the situation—no idea of how to allow Ash and Gale even the smallest of relationships—Emilia was inclined to believe they were right.

  Even if they weren’t, going against either of those two’s opinions on the matter was a lost cause. Gale was better off returning to viewing her brother as dead. Certainly, the Ash who could be her brother was gone. What remained wasn’t the Ash she had known—or, if he was, it wasn’t likely to be an Ash worthy of Gale’s love, not when he wouldn’t fight against the will of the universe, trying to find her.

  Although, they’d all done the same thing, hadn’t they? Their group had accepted that leaving V and the kids to die might be inevitable—might be required to save the world of the raid. Then, they had largely given up searching for Key after he was taken by Ajarni, knowing his life wasn’t worth the risk of losing even the potential of an opportunity to end the blood curse.

  That was life and war, and Emilia couldn’t really fault Carne or Ash for it, especially if they were capable of seeing the future and—

  And it was all so complicated and sucked. At the very least, Gale shouldn’t have been forced to watch Ash prepare to rip Phino apart if she didn’t help Boundary, all the while knowing he had done nothing to save her.

  “Emilia?”

  Emilia hummed into Hyr’s neck, a physical sound that vibrated through them, the syn’s energy vibrating softly in return.

  “Do you still have the {Blood Marbles}?”

  If Hyr was asking… she’d clearly been zoning out. That wasn’t helpful. The syn was just too comfortable and warm and soothing.

  Sighing, she let herself slip off them, their hands guiding her back to the ground and then swiping up one of her hands once she had pulled the little bag of marbles off her hip.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  ?I don’t get it,? she said as she handed the bag over to Carne, who proceeded to hand each of the five {Blood Marbles} off to Boundary, Key, Hyr and herself, the last remaining in his possession. ?What’s so special about those??

  ?Nothing. There is nothing special about these, other than that they were created through a sacrifice. The boy whose blood created the first—?

  ?Kelly,? Emilia said testily. As much as Kelly hadn’t been a homeless child, she doubted Carne didn’t know his name and wasn’t just being an ass.

  ?The boy whose blood created the first,? Carne continued, still not using Kelly’s name; if they’d had more time, Emilia might have fought him about it, alas, ?lost his arm through sacrifice and bravery. There is nothing particularly special about that, but it created a blood item with no purpose.?

  ?No purpose?? Boundary asked, spinning the marble and looking through it. ?All blood items have some use.?

  ?Not these. As payment for his sacrifice, the original {Blood Marble} was useless. My best guess is that it was a kindness from the gods from without. If the demon who attacked him had used that first {Blood Marble}, it would have done nothing,? Carne told them, eyes shooting to Emilia when she snorted.

  ?Lot of good that would have done the kids, given that dude was carrying around a weapon of mass destruction.? Then again, Conrad’s brother had been a sadist ass. Using a weapon created from Kelly’s blood in an attempt to kill the kids definitely seemed like the sort of shitty thing he would have done. Too bad he hadn’t—seeing the look on his face when he realized it was useless would have been pretty good, especially if it had been followed up with his death.

  ?Regardless, each of the marbles contain no power,? Carne continued, tone testy like he really didn’t like talking with her. Well, he never had liked her much, had he? Something about her seemed to irk him—it had only been once she’d been able to use her aethervoice and Ash had been in control that the two had finally talked, after all. ?I suppose that is their power: they render the holder unable to create new blood items, instead stacking more useless marbles upon them. As a result, these offer another opening for the gods from without.?

  Well, that explained why when it had been her alone killing people and creating blood weapons, all she’d gotten in return were more marbles.

  “They are empty—even less claimed than the {Blood Tattoo} was,” Hyr noted, peering at the {Blood Marble} through the {Blood Glass}. “Just one should have been enough, I would think?”

  Carne shook their head, telling them that the gods from without liked spectacles.

  ?Yeah…? Emilia agreed, sighing long and hard. ?People from our world are kinda shitty. They like things having symbolism behind them. I think it's even worse in raids? They want to have stories behind things. While they could just use one to randomly end the blood curse…?

  ?They won’t,? Boundary finished, scowling. It was unclear if the scowl was because all the people involved in raids were annoying, or because Phino was now poking at his wound and it hurt.

  ?So… what do we do?? Key asked, looking awkwardly between everyone.

  ?I have seen the future, the places we need to go,? Carne said, his voice even and authoritative. ?Five points for the five of us. There will be symbolism, although I will only tell it to you.?

  ?Me?? Key squeaked. He might have bolted, except Rin had appeared beside him and appeared to be holding him in place, her own expression hard as she eyed up the god. Right, as a Risen Guard, she’d been told to stay clear of him.

  ?It is only meant for our ears. Not the visitors. Not the Risen Guard or?—Carne motioned with a lazy gesture to the people gathered around them, curiously watching as their group discussed how to break the blood curse—?them. I will tell you where to go. Bid your goodbyes.? With that the man turned and wandered away. He didn’t go far, just enough that he was out of sight—away from Gale and Boundary’s occasional glances, perhaps.

  ?Goodbye, indeed…? Emilia said, smiling at her friends and noting the way Hyr politely stepped away, giving them some privacy, their energy gently tethering them together. ?We already said goodbye. No doubling up,? she told Key, smiling when he rolled his eyes and instead pushed Rin forward, moving to grab Gale, who was still seated against a building, glaring at the ground.

  ?You gonna stay with them for a bit?? Emilia asked her friend—perhaps her first friend in this world, regardless of how bumpy that friendship had been.

  Rin nodded, glancing towards Key and Gale, who had somehow ended up arguing as Gale refused to be hauled off the ground, her body gone limp as Key struggled with her. ?I do not know how long I will last.?

  Emilia nodded back, muttering that that was fair before pulling the local girl into a hug. Perhaps she should thank her, tell her she’d miss her, that she’d been imperative to their success and hadn’t fucked up her career—not to mention her friendship with Harmony—for nothing. No words—no words worth saying—came to her, however, and instead they just held each other for a long moment. Not too long! They had places to be! Curses to end!

  ?Take care of yourself,? Rin said as they pulled apart.

  Emilia opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly Gale was being thrust in front of her and Rin was vanishing along with Key.

  The local teen wouldn’t look at her, and it broke Emilia’s heart. Out of everyone still living, Gale had it the worst. She was a child, in the end, and yet had no one. No friends. No annoying children hanging off her. No adults she trusted to take care of her. Gale was alone, and that wasn’t fair.

  ?They’re good people, you know?? Emilia asked, tilting her head in the direction of Rin and Key, who were now arguing over… something. It was unclear what, even her ability to read private conversation just coming back… confused.

  ?I know…? Gale said, foot scuffing over the dry ground. She still didn’t have shoes, likely having ditched them during her captivity. Hopefully someone would be able to get her some soon.

  ?Then, what is it??

  The girl glanced at her, away. ?I’ll just… be a burden. They’re barely even adults. They shouldn’t have to be responsible for me.?

  Emilia laughed—she couldn’t help it! ?Gale,? she said, ignoring the way the teenager turned a glower on her, ?I think you’re more responsible than Key.?

  To the side, Key yelled that he had heard that and Rin questioned if he thought Emilia was lying—she was, a little bit. Key was just inexperienced with the world. He’d learn and grow and hopefully remain the same, loving person he was now. Sweet and kind, his heart too big for his own good—something she told Gale.

  ?Don’t worry, Gale,? Emilia said, pulling the girl into a semi-consensual hug. Eventually, the local’s stiff posture relaxed, and her hug was returned, the squeeze tighter than Emilia had expected. ?You’ll be okay. They’ll make sure you’re okay. Do you trust me??

  It took a long moment, but eventually Gale nodded into her, her body sagging when Emilia assured her that if she thought the three of them wouldn’t work as a strange friend-family unit, she wouldn’t have asked Key to take care of her.

  ?It will be okay. You’ll all take care of each other. You’ll hate each other and care for each other, and you’ll be okay.?

  When they separated, Gale still didn’t look entirely convinced, but after sending one more, sad little glance in the direction Carne had disappeared, she relented and wandered over to Rin and Key, arms crossed and a scowl falling over her face.

  Then, it was just her and Boundary… and Phino.

  ?I’m glad you didn’t die.?

  ?Me, too,? Boundary said, flinching when Phino poked his wound again. ?Aren’t we done??

  ?Almost.? The northern teen didn’t sound particularly convincing, but time was running out, and at least Boundary wasn’t dead.

  ?Will you tell Emile about me??

  ?Yes.? The answer was so fast—so final—that all the teasing words Emilia had stored up for her once-babysitter vanished.

  Instead, she just nodded and shooed Phino away after confirming that Boundary really wouldn’t die if the jur stopped healing him. For a long moment, she buried herself against him. There was nothing to say, no apologies to be given or need for last parting words. Rather, when she pulled back, she instead conned Hyr out of his jacked again, letting her {Blood Armour} contract and handing it and all her other blood item—save the {Blood Marble}, of course, as well as Caro’s gifted {Blood Hairclip}, which she just couldn’t bring herself to part with—over to him.

  ?For the next visitation, perhaps, assuming they still work after the blood curse is gone. Maybe Emile, or his child, will meet someone just as annoying as me.?

  The fact that she wouldn’t be returning to this world went unsaid. Part of her wanted to come back—wanted to try and learn the fates of her friends when the next raid occurred, decades of in-game years from now. Another, much bigger part, knew she wouldn’t. As much as curiosity would eat at her, all she would do is trap herself in a never-ending cycle of curiosity over more lost friends, and she wouldn’t do that.

  Whether Boundary would keep the blood items for his descendants or not went unsaid as well. Perhaps he would keep them, if they retained their power—hide them away, just in case. Perhaps he would be a good Risen Guard, and hide them away from everyone, even himself and his future family.

  ?Done?? Carne asked, like the asshole he was. Abrupt and demanding. Emilia wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt—believe that it was just that this was when he’d been destined to interrupt them—but she was pretty fucking sure he was just a jerk.

  ?Yup,? she said, glaring dangers at him as he directed each of them where to go, people being recruited from the crowd to move her and Hyr to their destinations.