Vina turned to face the broken door and hallway. She could see a woman walking down the hallway she had never seen before. The woman was very tall, easily six feet or more. She wore a loose sleeveless red dress that went down to her ankles. She had black hair cut so short, Vina would call it a pixie cut. Her face was so perfect, Vina could only assume she had extremely high vitality. Above her head glowed a fiery crown that moved with her as she walked and her heels tapped on the stone floor.

As she approached she called out, “Good evening Vina. I’m afraid you’ve disturbed a party I was hosting. That is bad manners.” Her bright gold colored eyes flicked to the body on the ground, “Even worse. You’ve created more work for me tonight.”

Vina stood stunned at the vibrance of the woman’s blood. It was even brighter than Ebba’s. She had never seen someone this bright before. “You’re Haco”, she said aloud. Etana’s description was a perfect match. “Another of the twelve…” she whispered softly.

Haco smiled, “Ah you have heard of me. I figured with you being new here, you might not know us by name.” Haco moved past Vina and squatted down beside Ebba’s body, balancing on her heels without trouble. Vina noticed she did her best to stay out of the small pool of blood around Ebba’s body.

“How in the world did you manage this… completely bled out.” Haco said, mostly to herself. She pulled a glove from her dress, slipped it on, and reached into Ebba’s armor. “To the victor go to the spoils I suppose. I am sorry, dear, but I must keep the Aspect of Truth. It’s a real one, you see, and the twelve do not like losing the originals. You may keep the others. Despite being a traveler, there are ways for you to bond with them.” She walked back to Vina and handed her two blood red stones. Vina examined them.

Fake Aspect of Life Artifact This is a fake aspect of Life. This is a good copy of the Aspect of Life.

Fake Aspect of Might Artifact This is a fake aspect of Life. This is an excellent copy of the Aspect of Might.

Vina held the stones in her hand, and hesitated, “You aren’t upset that Ebba is dead?”

Haco looked at her consideringly, “Well isn’t that some self distancing language. Do you mean: am I upset that you killed Ebba?”

Vina swallowed hard and nodded.

Haco smirked, “You hold in your hand an aspect of life. One of the exact ones I am also bonded with. If you decide to use it, you’ll live for hundreds of years. How many people do you think I’ve seen bond with The Aspect of Truth, in my lifetime?”

Vina shrugged, unsure how to answer Haco, but she placed the aspects into her backpack.

“No, I am not upset that you killed Ebba. I have endless replacements and infinite time to find them. It’s unfortunate for you perhaps, but for me, it makes my life a little easier. Ebba wanted to rehabilitate you. I want to use you.” Haco returned back to Ebba’s body and fished around again.

“Ebba was always so entertaining with her enchanted armor storage. She always pulled out the craziest stuff from within here. You know one time she pulled out another set of steel armor from her armor? Oh how we laughed. Ah here they are.” Haco withdrew her hand and pulled one book after another. “One of the greatest things that a bonded Aspect of Truth can generate is information, and Ebba was a vast source of knowledge. I think I’ll be keeping all of these though. They’re just chock full of trade secrets.”

“What do you mean you want to use me?” Vina asked nervously.

Haco moved her hand to her chin as if considering her, “Well Ebba thought you had experienced so much trauma, you needed treatment. I told her you came from another world and your experience was invaluable. I told her that in no time at all, you’d be just as capable as me. You just needed a little push. Also, I have so much work to do and I’d love to offload some of it to you.”

Haco stepped forward and crouched ever so slightly to rest her hands on Vina’s shoulders, “Vina, you have an advantage the rest of the people here don’t. You grew up in a world where you were powerless from birth to change anything. This world has no such restrictions. Once you see what you can become here, you will no longer feel the same helplessness.”

“You know about Earth?” Vina asked.

“I know about many worlds”, Haco said.

She stood and stepped back. She began weaving her hands in front of her and a red hot liquid dropped to the ground in a lump in front of her.

“What are you doing?” Vina asked. As if in answer, the lava lump coalesced into a mass and rolled out of the room.

“As I said, you’ve made more work for me today. I’m sending a message to make some preparations. You see if the twelve discover you killed Ebba, they’ll kill you. Oh especially the seventh. They seem to have a particular taste for killing blood weavers. If they see I’ve killed Ebba… well they’ll say some things, but no one will care. Now that I’ve said that…”, Haco turned back to Ebba's body and gasped. “Where did the blood go?”

Vina spotted her lamp only a short distance away. It had absorbed nearly all of the blood around Ebba’s body while they were talking. She was certain she had thrown it far enough away that it shouldn’t be able to do that. Vina stepped forward, scooped the lantern up, and set it on her hip.

“Oh yes. I recall that lantern being mentioned. Do you still believe it is alive?” Haco said, considering her.

“No. I don’t.” Vina said, unsure how she actually felt.

“Okay. Good. Well…”, Haco thrust a hand out at Ebba’s body and a flame sprung forth from her palm, immediately engulfing it in flames. Vina jumped in surprise and stepped back. The sound of the flames was deafening in the chamber. “The twelve have to believe I did this!” Haco yelled above the roaring flames. When she finished, a charred body and glowing red armor was all that was left. “Thankfully you didn’t leave any significant cuts on the body.”

Haco looked around the cave, “Say Vina, what were you doing in here anyway?”

Vina looked around as well. There were no runes lit on any of the walls, the door was destroyed, and from all observation, it was just an empty cave. Haco may not even have the Rune Carving skill necessary to see the runes. Vina looked Haco in the eye and said, “It’s none of your business.”

Haco laughed, “Fair enough. Let’s go. Your night is just beginning…” She paused for a moment and gestured with a hand, “... or ending. We’ll see.”

~~~

Vina and Haco made their way out of the cave together. When they neared the ladder out, Vina saw it had been blasted open. “Was it like this when you found it? Vina asked.

Haco nodded, “Yes. Ebba punched it open I am guessing.”

Vina climbed out and looked down at Haco, still inside. “Coming?”

“Not with these damn heels I’m not. Get back, Vina”, she answered.

Vina stepped back and after a second Haco flew out of the vent on wings of flame and landed beside her. “Much better”, she said as the wings extinguished behind her. She strolled toward the town and Vina followed.

“Okay Vina. Now that you’ve killed your health advocate, you default to being my problem. It’s choice time. You probably won’t love the options. Option one, you join The Watch as an agent. You’ll do things that further The Watch’s needs like eliminate threats, recover aspects, and fight The Darkness. You’ll probably get rich during the effort and maybe someday you’ll be able to retire in peace. Option Two: I kill you now. I have no way to figure out your true connection to Priya, or why you are here. You killed the only means I had to make you tell me the truth. The Watch cannot trust you to go about your life unsupervised. Before you choose, do you have any questions?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Vina gawked at how blunt Haco was, but she couldn’t refute her logic. Haco really didn’t know anything about her anymore. If there was one thing Vina succeeded at tonight, it was keeping the truth locked away. Her sisters were safe as long as Vina kept her mouth shut. “I don’t want money. I want information. Does The Watch keep its own history?”

Haco considered the question, “Oh. You want the real history of The Watch? Not the fake stuff in the libraries. Yes we have kept true records. You will not have access to much information though until we know you are trustworthy. Considering you just killed one of the twelve, you’re really low on the trust scale.”

Vina nodded. “Will I be able to remain in Termily?”

Haco laughed out loud, “Of course not! Look at the chaos you’ve already created here. We’ll be assigning you far away from any of our assets.”

Vina sighed internally. She knew remaining with her sisters was a long shot. She messed it up and now she had to accept the consequences. Still, going away wouldn’t be the worst result. She would still know her sisters were safe from the shared quest they had. “Am I required to have a bonded Aspect to be part of The Watch?”

Haco seemed to consider that one, “Not technically, no. I do recommend it however. You should bond with both of those aspects I gave you. There are ways and we’re prepared to give you access. If you are some kind of Trina purist, then you may skip them. The missions you’ll be receiving will be dangerous however. I anticipate you may not survive them without an aspect.”

Vina looked down in consideration, seeing her armor in ragged tatters. Ebba had basically destroyed her Kaliter armor. “Haco… what is a Kaliter?”

Haco perked up at the use of her name, “Oh. That’s a good one. A kaliter is a type of sentient creature. Their scales are able to adapt to damage they receive, assuming they survive. When you want to kill them, you must do it in a single strike, otherwise they will become incredibly resistant against the means you used. Whoever made that armor of yours was able to kill at least two kaliters, and that is no small feat. Don’t worry about your armor. It’ll be fine in a few days. You’ll see.”

“It’ll fix itself like my backpack does? That’s almost like magic.” Vina said.

A ball of fire appeared in Haco’s hand and she turned toward Vina. She spoke seriously, “There’s no magic in this world. At least not any magic we can use.” She closed her hand and the fire went out. Then she laughed at Vina’s confused face.

“Seriously though. Aspects are not magic. They’re artifacts of a long dead person. If you want real magic, you’ll need to talk to those Kaliters.”

“What kind of magic do Kaliters use?”

Haco chuckled. “Oh if you are ever unlucky enough to meet one, you'll see. I won't spoil the surprise.”

Vina wanted to press the topic more, but she knew their approach to the city was limiting the time she had to ask questions. “What about Trina? Is she actually alive? Did The Watch find her?” Vina asked.

Haco gave her a knowing look, “Would you believe me even if I told you the truth? No, we haven't found any evidence of Trina. All we have are the histories from the past seven hundred years and some words of an old man known as Shan who lived through it all. We have our theories as to where she is, but she might as well not exist if she is there.”

Vina’s heart jumped at the mention of her adoptive father. “Is Shan still alive?”

“I highly doubt it. The Darkness went pretty hard after him. Without some kind of defense against it, almost everyone will die if they gain its notice. You know how it is. You gained its eye recently and barely survived.”

Vina felt some disappointment, but Priya had hinted as much in her letters. “What is The Darkness?” Vina asked.

Haco pursed her lips, “The Darkness is a living thing. I can tell you that much. We have fought in the past. It was a difficult battle, and we both left exhausted. I use fire and flames, but it doesn’t seem to be a perfect counter. I was able to strip the shadows away just enough to see a figure in the middle.” Haco shivered as she covered one of her arms with her hand. “I could recognize the shadows amongst the darkness. They are friends, family, enemies, and common people all bound to this one person.”

Haco stopped in her tracks and looked Vina in the eye, “Whatever you do, don’t die in the shadows. It will take you and there will be no escape. Die in the light, if you can.”

Haco took a deep breath as if to settle her nerves as she stopped at the city gate, “It’s time to decide, Vina. Join or die. Which is it?”

“There isn’t a choice here. I accept your offer to join The Watch.” Vina said firmly.

Haco smiled, “That’s great Vina. I’m glad I don’t have to kill you. Oh Vina, can you see the smoke?” Haco pointed into the city.

Vina looked into the sky and saw smoke rising into the sky.

“Looks like we have another fire. Two fires in the same week? How strange. Let’s go look!” Haco giggled to herself, kicked off her heels, and ran into the city like a child.

Vina followed after, concern growing within her.

She soon had confirmation of her concern when she found her house was on fire. Vina stared in disbelief as she joined Haco's side. “You burned my house down!” Vina accused.

Haco laughed and laughed like this was the greatest joke she had ever seen.

Vina felt sick when she saw rescuers pull a charred woman’s body out of the building. She looked to be roughly the same height and size as herself, but no other identifying features remained. She heard a scream and saw Ann and Etana rush up to the house.

“No! Vina! No!” Ann screamed and Etana pulled her back.

Vina ran over to them, “It’s not me. I’m okay”, she said. But they didn’t even look at her. “Hello?” Vina said as she touched Ann’s shoulder, but her hand slid right through her sister’s body.

Haco stepped over. She was covering her mouth in amusement with one hand, and pulled Vina away with the other, “Oh Vina. They can’t hear you. Nil is up on the hill using his aspects. You and I don’t currently exist in this world. There’s nothing you can do.”

Vina’s heart hurt at the anguish she could see Ann was feeling. Her cries for Vina were tearing her apart. But she was powerless to change anything and she reeled on Haco in despair, “How could you do this?”

Haco tapped her on the head with a single finger like a child, “You agreed to this Vina. You can’t be an agent of The Watch and also have outside friends. That would be a conflict of interest. Your only interest is the betterment of my organization.”

Vina’s rage bubbled beneath her, “Who is that girl they brought out?”

Haco couldn’t contain her amusement any longer and began her insane giggle again, “That’s Marlu! Oh Marlu is quite the arsonist isn’t she? A shame, she couldn’t get out of the fire in time.”

Vina glared in disgust at the laughing woman. Marlu, the girl she had beaten in a duel, was framed for arson and then murdered. She was reminded at this moment of Jan’s warning from so long ago. Those with high divinity are afflicted with madness, something that cannot be cured. They lose something that makes them human. Vina could see it now. Ebba’s dedication to the truth and Haco’s amusement at the suffering and death of innocent people. “Are the twelve even human anymore?” Vina thought to herself.

She turned that logic on herself. “Am I even human anymore?” she muttered softly. She had obviously changed to some kind of blood controlling person capable of killing other humans. Ebba’s death may have been in self defense, but she also knew she needed to kill her. She needed to kill the knowledge Ebba had on her sisters. Given a second chance, she knew she would do it again. Now she was thrown into a new cage filled with insane creatures like Haco.

Haco continued laughing as she walked away. Vina quickly took out the two boxes and the letter that were gifts from Priya from her backpack. Experimentally she tried dropping one into her sister’s bag. To her relief, once the object left her hand, it interacted correctly with the world again. She repeated the action with the other box and the letter. “I’m sorry. I love you two.” she said softly to her sisters. They didn’t respond, so she raced after Haco, following her to the northwest corner of Termily. Haco regained her composure before she led Vina back out of town.

Outside the town Vina saw two more people in the distance. Haco walked up to them, only speaking once they were close. “Everyone, this is Vina. Vina, this is Nil and Norimor.

Nil was a man of average size, standing no taller than Vina herself. He wasn’t athletic or muscular. He wore simple light armor and stood with his arms behind his back. On his face he wore a white mask with strange engravings. Vina did not recognize the script, so she assumed it wasn’t runes. His stance made him look regal, but his posture made him look old or shy. Blood sense told her his vibrance was somewhat higher than Ebba’s, but not significantly so.

Norimor was a short woman, perhaps just five feet tall, but no more. Like Haco, she had short hair and stood straight up with her arms at her sides as a soldier would. She wore a simple black cloak that covered her head and slightly shadowed her face. Vina’s Blood sense was acting strange around her. One moment it claimed she wasn’t standing there, and the next it would flare up. She couldn’t get a reliable read on her vibrance.

Vina did not pay much attention to Norimor though. Her rage flared at Nil’s name and she ran forward, punching him straight in the face. Nil stared at her, unmoving. His mask shifted ever so slightly to the side. He reached out to straighten it.

“You made my friends think I’m dead, you bastard!” Vina screamed at him.

Nil nodded slowly. His voice was deeper than Vina expected when he said, “Yes. Well deserved. I imagine that is an appropriate response.”

Haco laughed again and Norimor remained quiet, unmoving.

“Okay Vina, calm down. Nil is just doing his job. A job I told him to do. Norimor will be taking you from here. Her job is to train you up enough to do the missions we assign you. I think you two will be a good match for each other. Norimor, I’ll leave it to you.”

Norimor nodded, “Yes Lady First. Vina, come with me.”

Vina looked at Haco in surprise, “You’re the first?”

Haco only smiled. Her eyes glittered beneath the burning crown above her head.