An angry growl escaped me, as I smashed the vial of Manticore-Blood I had been working with on the floor, the destructive act helping me vent my feelings. Working with the blood had been a bit of a headache, the connection between the blood I had and what I thought were the others of the same bloodline tenuous, difficult to follow and zero in on. If not for my recent exploration of Blood Magic in regards to ancient Bloodlines, I would likely have failed, which somehow made my annoyance only worse.

Failure would have been one thing, but succeeding after hours of effort with absolutely nothing to show for, that had managed to really annoy me. All that time, all that effort and what had I learned? That the other Manticores of that bloodline were roughly South-West of us, the distance impossible to determine. They could be a kilometer away, they could be a hundred kilometers away, I had no idea. Similarly, the direction wasn’t really accurate either, the directional wedge almost covering ninety degrees between south and west, though slightly more shifted west.

The problem with that? Even without the magic, without the effort and the headache, I had that information, as it simply covered their native habitat, the ruins of the Ancient Empire.

“Everything alright, love?” Sigmir asked, having heard the noises from her perch on a nearby rock. I had left the shelter we had prepared earlier, allowing Adra, Rai and Olivia to relax without having to worry about disturbing my work, which, in turn, had caused Sigmir and Ylva to follow me, so that I could concentrate, without having to worry about getting eaten.

“Yes, it worked. And gave me nothing but a headache.” I grumbled, getting a soft chuckle and gentle hug.

“It was a long-shot, wasn’t it? Just like it is a long-shot to use our own bodies to empower Ylva, yet you do your best. Don’t think I don’t notice you spacing out as you focus on that, you haven't experimented with those connecting patterns since she has asked you, pouring almost everything into her request.” she consoled me, her fingers tenderly rubbing my temples, trying to soothe my aching head.

“But I want to help you, both of you.” I admitted, before continuing, “If I manage to help her to cross the second Divide, it makes the two of you safer, gives you something that we don’t have to risk our lives for.”

“Does power really matter? There will always be another mountain to climb, always be another bend in the road, always another challenge. And, you know, I’m fine with that.” she explained, speaking quietly, her tone musing, a little as if she was lost in thought.

“Back then, I had given up, had accepted that I couldn’t run any longer and my path had ended.” she added, catching me by surprise for a moment, before I realised that she was talking about our original meeting.

“Now, I’m just following along on your path, and I’m enjoying it. And I’ve accepted that it is your path, and my part of it will end at some point.” she continued and I felt a heavy grip seize my heart. I wanted to disagree, but the calm look of acceptance on her face stopped me. Resting my head against her chest, I thought about her words, her conviction.

The path we shared, what sorts of endings could it have. What sort of endings could any path have, really, even ignoring the circumstances? Unless we took different paths at some point, an idea she had discarded, our shared path would end when the life of one, or both, of us ended. With her protectiveness, her willingness to shield me from harm and the quiet conviction to keep me from harm, it was unlikely that the first one to perish would be me. And even if it was me, I somehow doubted that she would continue on any path other than the path towards whatever had ended me, throwing herself into a final battle, hoping to die in it.

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“It is not my path.” I quietly told her, looking up as a few tears trickled down my cheek. “We share the path, and we’ll share it to the end.” I added, knowing that my own path on the Road to Purgatory would come to an end, shortly after Sigmir’s journey on that path ended. A Mundus without her was not something I wanted to experience.

For a few minutes, we simply stood in the night, embracing each other, the connection between us filled with nothing but harmonious contentment. But neither of us was willing, or able, to simply stop on our journey, it wasn’t in our nature.

“I just have one thing I want you to remember.” I told Sigmir quietly, breaking the shared silence. “If I ever fall, remember that it doesn’t mean my path has come to an end. Remember that you’ll have to keep going on our path, and I’ll catch up to you.” I tried to impress on her, knowing that otherwise, she might go out in a blaze of glory, trying to avenge me, if I was ever sent to respawn.

“And that might mean I’ll have to take a risk to keep you and the others safe. Simply because I won’t die, not permanently.” I added, getting a growl in response that made me look up, into her frowning face. When she opened her mouth to disagree, I quickly pressed a kiss to her lipe, before placing a finger on them to keep her from talking, as I continued.

“I know, it goes against everything you believe in. But if I ever have to choose between sacrificing myself and taking the temporary inconvenience death means to me in this World, and never seeing you again, I will take the inconvenience every day of the week, without a moment of hesitation.” I could see that Sigmir didn’t like my words, wisps of red aura escaping her, shrouding her in a hazy outline. It looked almost like a jagged cloak, or maybe a mane.

“I don’t know if I can do that. I simply don’t know.” she admitted, shaking her head almost sadly. Maybe she was trying to imagine the situation and ran into the same wall I mentally ran into if I tried to imagine what would happen if our path came to an end. Could I go back to my previous, solitary existence? It had been comfortable, there had been challenges, there had been success and pleasure, even if the physical kind only came self-administered.

Could I go back to that, knowing just how much more there was to life, with the right being at my side?

Finding Sigmir, finding the connection with her, however that worked, had been like a lightning strike, out of the clear blue sky. Would there ever be a second one? Could there be such a strike outside of Mundus, or was it some strange interaction between the Capsule’s reading of my physical properties and the wonky way my brain worked? Some bug in the system, a ghost in the machine? To be fixed with some future patch?

Shaking my head, almost in a mirror of what Sigmir had done moments earlier, I pushed those thoughts away once more, into the far reaches of my mind, where I wouldn’t have to worry about them. If there was ever such a bridge to cross, I’d blow it up when I got there. Maybe Mrs. Wu could give me some further instructions on demolition.

There were no more words for a while, as we shifted and looked out, into the darkness of the night. The soft starlight only gave a vague idea what was out there, vague, indistinct, uncertain, just like our future. But maybe, if we managed to grasp enough power, we could look through the darkness, without needing to worry what might be out there.

“Let’s head to bed.” Sigmir suggested, after quite some time.

“Yeah, let’s.” I agreed, knowing that while sitting with her in the silent darkness of the night, enjoying that there was no need for words, was wonderful, the path we were on was a dangerous one and we would need our rest. Would need each and every tiny piece of power we could get our greedy little fingers on.

“Lenore, do you think you’d be able to use some of the power contained in a Manticore?” I mentally asked my other companion, the one who had watched over us, allowing us to relax without worries. Maybe we’d be able to work something out to use the Wind-Magic present in the Manticores to our advantage, even if it was only a minor element for them, allowing them to fly. If it gave us a little more power, a small advantage, I would happily drain the lifeblood from an incapacitated body, if we ever came across another one.

There were few things I wasn’t willing to do, to keep wandering on the path Sigmir and I were on. If there were any.