“Hey Renka!” I happily greeted my odd little human friend as I glanced behind me. Down the hall I’d just hurried through were my friends. Old and new ones. Mapple was standing with Fizz and an adorable little duckling that for some reason seemed to absolutely detest me, which was hilariously adorable since she kept trying to be mean but whenever she did it fell flat. As if she didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

I’d left them behind since Fressi, the adorable young duck, had been summoned by her mother. I was going to join them, and planned to later, but had seen Renka at a distance… who was staring up at me with an odd frown. One that looked cute, thanks to all the freckles on her face. The many little dots reminded me of the little doodles I’d made a few days ago, when I had drawn lots of little squiggles and circles absentmindedly while talking through the night with Vim about little unimportant stuff.

“You hadn’t needed to abandon your friendly chat, Renn, I could have waited,” Renka said gently.

Oh…? “I know… but I’ve been told we might leave any moment, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to talk to you again,” I said, relieved a little. I had been hoping to see her again on this visit, and so had been on the lookout since I had arrived. I had been worried I’d miss her, since last time after parting I had felt… a bit awkward, since I had felt as if things had gone unsaid between us. Though I wasn’t sure why I felt so… I did know for a fact that she was obviously human. Especially now that I was able to better tell my own kind apart, and thanks to the fact I didn’t sense her at all. She didn’t make me tingly in any way, which meant she was both human… and thus would likely not live very long.

It had troubled me that I would not get to see her again before she disappeared or died, and thus I’d end up forever remembering the odd little girl who had spoken to me and left me feeling anxious. It was the kind of worry that would have kept me up at night even a thousand years from now.

“Off to Lumen are you?” she asked.

I blinked, and for the tiniest moment wondered how she had known… but she had likely just overheard my conversation with Fressi and the rest just now. we had been talking about it not long ago. “Yep. At least for now… then likely elsewhere,” I said. From what I could gather after we went to visit Light we were going to head eastward again. Since Vim had a few requests now, especially in that region and they were starting to pile up. Not only did he have to go handle ghosts at the Crypt, he also now had the ducks to worry about and on the way here he had also mentioned Narli and her family. He wanted to check on them.

And… since Vim was now very adamant that we would be staying together for the foreseeable future, well… that meant I was to join him. And although a tad upset over it, since it meant it could be months before I return north to my new home, I was also excited for the trip. I looked forward to seeing familiar faces and places again.

“Always busy,” Renka said.

I nodded slowly… and wondered if I had actually heard the sadness I thought I had in her voice, or if I was mistaking it. It almost felt as if she had an accent… yet at the same time she didn’t. It was odd, but it made sense. She herself was odd, what with her slightly pointed ears and all those freckles.

I wonder where she was from? Did all people from her homeland look like her? Did different people have different freckle patterns, or…

“What are you thinking about?” Renka then asked.

Blinking, and smiling a little awkwardly as I felt caught bare handed… I gently nodded at her. “Well… you?”

The countless freckles furrowed at me. “Excuse me?”

Oh? Oh! “I uh… I meant you in general. Did everyone have so many freckles like you? Back where you’re from?” I asked with a point at my own face. Thanks to the mirrors in the Society I’ve used over the years I knew I only had a few freckles myself. Compared to her I was a single snowflake and she the blizzard.

For a long moment the young girl just… stared at me… and then she gave me an ever so soft smile. One that somehow made her look a lot older. As if suddenly she had matured a decade or two. “No. In fact where I’m from us women typically hid freckles. With make-up and such,” she said.

“Make up…?” They hid them…? Why? They were so adorable! Without them she’d not be half as unique and…

Renka though seemed to want to change topics for she gestured lightly at me. “Can we walk and talk?” she asked with a point behind me.

I slowly nodded with a frown as I glanced behind me; to the hallway I’d just come from… and found it empty. Of not just random people but my friends, too.

Had they abandoned me so readily? I knew that Fressi’s mother had summoned her so had likely hurried obediently but still… Now I’ll have to find them. I wasn’t sure where the ducks were staying here in the church, and it was bigger than one thought. It might take me a long moment to track them down, even with their very obvious scents…

“Do you live here, Renka?” I asked as I went to join her. She was already walking away, with a bit of a pace too for her size.

“No. I just visit,” she said.

So she must live outside of the church. I wonder if she was a noble or something? She was younger, but obviously well-mannered and…

Glancing at her clothes, which looked normal here in Telmik, I knew better than to think them so. They looked pristine. Flawless. Not a single stain or tear, as if freshly made this morning… and not made as in recently from laundry, but from the tailors. Her clothes might be something a more common individual would wear in Telmik, but a commoner would definitely not be wearing something so perfectly new. Even new clothes on commoners typically had small blemishes.

“We’re lucky we run into each other so often then,” I said as I thought about it.

“Hm… How is Angie doing?” she asked.

Ah! “So you do know each other! She must have been teasing me then, she had said she hadn’t recognized your name! She’s fine. She’s up north, though she had been getting a tad upset that we’d not set up the orphanage just yet she was fine,” I said. Actually, at this rate the orphanage might be done and open by the time I got back up there…

“That’s good,” Renka said simply.

How nice! But really, Angie should have said something… I wonder if that meant she was one of the kids that came here to go to school? I had been told that not all of the students were orphans. Some nobles did send their kids here, I think I had once been told…

“It is… do you want to write a letter to her? I’d be happy to deliver it for you if you want,” I suggested. Even if Angie had not wanted to admit they were friends I bet she’d feel very happy if she got a letter from her. Angie really liked children.

Renka though chuckled at me. “I’m fine… thank you though.”

Oh…? Maybe they were their relationship was like the one Rapti and Sharp had? Maybe they had gotten into a fight or something?

I decided to let it be then, as to not pry too deeply. Instead I focused on something a bit more important, maybe, and also the main reason I had been on the lookout for her. “By the way… last time we met you had been about to ask something. Do you remember what it had been?” I asked, hopeful.

“I do. But I do not think you’re ready for it,” Renka said.

Hm…? “What do you mean?”

Renka then slowed to a stop… and stared up at me with an odd look. One that almost made me wonder if she was teasing me or something. Was she playing a prank on me or something? She had that mischievous look that kids sometimes got… likely the same one I sometimes got when teasing Vim. As one who wore it often, I knew it well.

Then, out of the corner of my eye… I noticed something weird. Or rather, I felt I did.

Hm…?

I glanced around, and realized where we were.

Wasn’t this… the center of the church?

Yes. It was. Down that hall led to the huge auditorium. Where they held the bigger sermons. Vim had taken me to a few of those when I had first joined and got here, and then recently I’ve gone alone or with friends… but… how had we gotten here so quickly? This was nearly on the other side of the Cathedral from where we’d just been… there was no way we’d been walking this long, nor had come this far…

Glancing around some more, I felt a bit uneasy as the hairs on my ears and tail stood up a bit.

“What is it?” Renka asked.

“I… well…” An uneasy feeling filled me as I slowly realized what was wrong. It hit me like a river fish’s tail slap to the face, and once it did I nearly panicked.

There were no people here.

In the middle of the day.

In the dead center of the church, where the public was allowed to roam.

No one but us.

“What’s…?” I was about to step towards her. To protect her. Since the situation was odd… and Vim had told me to be careful during such moments. Especially now.

She was just a human, so I needed to be careful. Especially since I wasn’t entirely sure if she was a member or not. I didn’t feel like she was, yet.

But… why was there an odd cold feeling in the air…? As if… as if no one else had been in this area for a long time. People left heat. It was unnoticeable usually, but… the complete lack of it wasn’t. It was very obvious that this place was cold. Too cold. As if a tomb.

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“I…”

“Should I praise you for noticing, or should I question your bloodline? I’d think a cat would be a tad more perceptive.”

My mouth went dry as I stepped back a step… and stared at Renka.

She had crossed her arms behind her back, standing straight up as she did… and had a look on her face that made my eyes narrow at her.

“What are you doing…?” I asked with a whisper as she raised a hand. She pointed a single finger upward, and I followed it up… and found only the ceiling. A decorative, stone décor littered ceiling, but a normal ceiling all the same.

Looking back down, I found her swinging her finger downward… and then she swiped her hand, as if flinging something downward. The way I would to snap a wet towel, or something.

And as she did, something shimmered in the air. I stepped backward again as I watched a wave of blue wash down from above her. As if someone had just dumped a huge bucket of the bluest water I’ve ever seen over her, a thick and seemingly wet looking layer of blue… stuff ran down from above and onto her. And as it did, it seemed to expand. It started to grow outward, making me step back again in worry as all of my senses told me to panic.

I had no idea what I was seeing. Nothing made sense. The world around me was acting weird… and someone I had just trusted was the cause of it all… and…

Then I wasn’t alone.

Flinching as something huge and heavy rushed past me, I let loose a yelp as a burst of wind exploded before me. My hat flew off my head from a wall of air that rushed towards me, and as it hit me and knocked me back and nearly to my butt I winced as I recognized the feel of it.

I’d felt it twice before. It was unmistakable.

Once when Tim had died.

Another when the bear had.

“Vim…!” I shouted through my ringing ears as squinted through the whirlwind that was whooshing all around us… and found Vim’s fist and forearm were punched through the blue stuff surrounding Renka. With wide eyes, I held my breath as I watched him pull his arm back and out of the blue stuff. A visible hole was left behind, and white cracks were spread out all around the hole… and now with the blue stuff solid and unmoving, no longer like water but now looking like glass, I found it kind of looked like an egg. A large egg, all around… Renka? Who Vim had just punched?

For a tiny moment I expected him to pull out her head. Or maybe she herself by her neck… but instead only his fist emerged from it.

“As strong as ever, Vim,” Renka’s voice said from within the blue egg.

“Renka,” Vim said her name with a growl, one that made my spine go stiff.

He knew her…! She knew him!

Then, before anyone could say a thing more… Vim kicked the blue egg. Hard.

Another burst of hard air flew at me, but this time I was ready. I lifted my arms and ducked behind them, shielding me from the main blow of the wind… but my ears began to ring again as the burst of air whistled loudly between and around my limbs. After a few moments the wind dissipated, and I peeked around my arms and found the blue egg in pieces. All over the floor… and Renka was nowhere to be found.

I panicked for a moment, since the egg was everywhere! There were bits and blue pieces not just around Vim, where it’d been and where Renka had been, but practically everywhere else too. There were bits near me, down the hall, on the walls and I knew if I looked up at the ceiling I’d find them there too.

“Vim…!” I groaned. Hopefully she wasn’t in pieces everywhere too!

“I’m fine, Renn.”

My heart thumped as I quickly found the source of her voice. I yelped as I stepped to the right, away from Renka who was suddenly standing right next to me.

I got a few feet away, barely, before Vim put himself between me and her. For a tiny moment I expected him to attack her again, but this time he remained still.

“Took you long enough, Vim. We had been talking for some time,” Renka then said, as if taunting him.

“Are all of you alive? Do I need to start grinding you all into bits and pieces or something?” Vim asked back, as if he hadn’t even heard her.

My tail squirmed wildly beneath my pants as my heart understood what my mind didn’t want to. From his words alone.

“I assume your accusation is thanks to your recent encounters. Havoc and Stance, right? If you must know, Havoc having survived your wrath the first time was pure happenstance. I on the other hand… have never allowed you to kill me,” Renka said with a small frown, and as she did so I realized I might not find her freckles cute anymore.

“I distinctly remember crushing your head,” Vim said.

“My sister’s, Vim. My sister’s head. Not mine.”

My heart writhed.

Vim’s shoulder’s visibly relaxed… and I nearly threw up as even from behind him I saw his utter relief. “That so?” he said, and sounded utterly happy as he did.

Gods, Vim…!

Renka stared at him for a long moment… and I knew she had seen it too. Since it had been so clear, as day and night. The implications both behind her statement, and his relief, was telling.

It seemed all this time Vim had utterly downplayed his hatred. For them.

Then, Vim stepped forward.

As he did Renka raised a hand, again with a finger pointed upward. “Ah! I’ll disappear the moment you come closer,” she warned.

“That just makes me want to try harder,” Vim responded.

“I’ve no doubt. But, before you try…”

“Another warning I’ll not heed, is it?” Vim asked with a spat, interrupting her.

Renka scoffed. “Hardly. Havoc was stupid to try. But what do you expect from someone stupid enough to try and negotiate in good faith with you?”

It was Vim’s turn to scoff, and he took it.

Renka didn’t seem to mind… as she then swiped her hand through the air. Again there was a shimmer in the air, but this time not above or around her… but instead right in front of her. Above her now outstretched hand.

Then before I knew it, something was in it. Something golden. Small. And…

It jingled.

“Do you know what this is Vim?” Renka asked as she lifted it a bit, displaying it between her fingers.

“One of my mother’s bells. Yes. You actually think I’d not recognize it?” Vim asked with his voice thick with disgust.

My stomach twisted alongside my tail as I bit back a groan. What a conversation! And I don’t think I’d ever heard such utter vehemence in his voice before! If pure anger and rage alone could kill, she’d already be dead!

Renka though didn’t seem to notice, for she just smiled and nodded. “She had been my friend, Vim…”

My eyes shivered and started to blur.

“Such good friends, I’m sure,” he said sarcastically.

The bell jingled again. The note it let out was… pure. Loud yet not. It sounded as if it was right next to my ear, yet at the same time distant. It also almost sounded as if it was echoing around me, and it likely should since we were in the center of the church near the auditorium… but I heard no such echo at all.

“She’s not like her at all. I had expected you to fall for someone similar, more like her, honestly… She’s too passive. Too gentle. Too many gray lines in her belief system,” Renka said.

My ears fluttered as I became the topic of the conversation, even though Renka’s eyes never left Vim’s.

“You’re testing my patience,” Vim warned.

“Hmph.” Renk then tossed the bell upward. My eyes immediately followed it, locking onto it as if it was a bird and I stepped forward and reached out as it flew my way.

Catching the bell was easy, but realizing something else was now happening wasn’t.

Renka had swiped her hand through the air again, and Vim had stepped forward. For a tiny moment I had expected the throwing of the bell, and my catch of it, to be the ignition. The start. The beginning of the end… yet instead Vim had gone still. Right as the world began to shimmer again… though this time, instead of around or above her… it did so to her right. A few feet from her.

I tensed up at the sight of it, expecting something terrible or unbelievable… but instead something a tad more understandable appeared.

A person.

One tied up.

Kneeled on the ground.

“Do you know who this is, Vim?” Renka asked with a gentle wave at the person who was blindfolded, but had obviously heard Renka’s words.

The ropes around the person, one that seemed to be a woman but it was hard to tell with how they were kneeling and tied up, were glowing a faint blue. Much alike the earlier egg, nearly the same color and shade. And…

“What… is this…?” Vim asked as he clenched his fist, as if to attack. His hands made terrible sounds as they clenched. Had he just torn skin? And muscles? I didn’t dare to look.

“The only one, Vim,” Renka then said.

What had felt like hot air around me went cold as something changed. I glanced around for its source, but couldn’t look long enough. My eyes kept going back to the person tied up on the ground. They looked like they were trying to wiggle free… as if to escape the ropes, or the blindfold, but it also looked as if their very body was keeping them from doing so. The glowing ropes didn’t look that tightly bound, or even tied at all for that matter… how were they so stuck?

Renka stepped over to the person, who must be tall because even on their knees they were nearly eye to eye with Renka. She reached over and patted the person on the shoulder, as if to display a trophy or something. “The only one, other than me now with Havoc’s death… that knows of Renn’s existence. You might not remember her, but,” Renka began to speak, but Vim interrupted her.

“Casper.”

The tied up woman went still upon hearing her name.

Renka blinked… and then slowly smiled. “Your hate really has no limits, does it? You can barely remember the names of those alive and around you yet remember our names even almost two millennia later.”

For some reason I hated hearing one of Vim’s words from her mouth. Especially since… well…

I gulped as the scary idea of it not even being his word, but instead hers, made me want to run away.

Vim glanced at me, likely thanks to the noise I just made by gulping, and then he looked back at Renka. “What games are you playing, Renka?” he asked, a tad calmer than before. Had looking at me calmed him down?

“I’m playing to win. Even if the rest aren’t. My gift, Vim… a peace offering. And a promise,” she said as she gestured at Casper.

Vim’s shoulders drooped again, and the hot air came back.

“After you kill her, I’ll be the only one who knows of Rennalee’s existence… and I’ll keep sure of it. I’m the one the rest trust to keep an eye on you, as I’ve done since the beginning. I’m the watcher, Vim. And I use my illusions to keep it that way,” Renka said, and then pointed at me. For the first time since Vim had appeared she had finally taken her eyes off him. “I’m her lifeline. I’m all that keeps her safe from them. And as such… I’m now yours too,” she said with a smile.

Cold realization washed through me as she snapped her fingers, and the air around her shimmered again. This time though instead of something appearing around her, or near her… she instead seemed to be the one who shimmered. She herself, not the world around her. As if I was now looking at her through a window of water.

“We’ll speak again, once you have a moment to clear the mind,” Renka said… and as she did her voice started to distort. It gained an echo, a real one, and then it… like her, simply faded away.

I blinked and found her gone. Completely. Without even a shimmer in the air.

Then another blink brought the rest of the world back.

I startled, since I suddenly found myself surrounded. Dozens of people were all around us, and nearly all of them looked like normal people. Not a single Society member was around… and as such…!

Hurriedly reaching up to cover my ears, I began to panic and was about to scream… no one seemingly had noticed our sudden return but I knew they would any moment. And once they did… But my panic changed into an odd mix of panic and confusion as I felt something. Other than hair and fur. On top of my head. I felt it at the same time I heard and saw the golden bell fall a few feet to my left, near Vim. I had dropped it in my panic.

I had a hat on!

My heart thumped wildly as Vim took in a deep breath and sighed it out as he glanced back at me… and gave me a sad look. “She put your hat back on, Renn. You’re fine,” he said as he bent down to pick up his mother’s bell.

“I’d thank her, but it looks like she left something even more dangerous…” I groaned as I glanced past him… and to the woman still tied up a few dozen feet from us. still tied up by the glowing ropes, too.

“You have no idea.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep