They arrived in front of a large cream-white house. Vi gently nudged Morgan awake. “We’re at your mom and dad’s place now.”

“Eh? Oh. I’ll—I’ll walk, then. You can put me down.”

Vi set Morgan to her feet so she could walk beside her. The bunny woman’s cheeks flushed red but Vi didn’t seem to mind. Morgan hesitated before opening the door.

They entered a spacious area with pristine white walls and cabinets of every shape and size. There were shelves lined with rows upon rows of containers of strange-colored liquids, green and blue and pink and purple. Boxes of bandages and metal instruments were placed on top of cabinets.

There was a brunette bunny woman in a white outfit standing at the edge of the living room, surrounded by three young bunny girls. The older woman glanced in their direction.

“Oh. Morgan. You came.”

They both stiffened.

“Yeah. I—I heard about what happened, Mom.”

Her mother sighed. “Come here.” The witch walked over awkwardly and the older woman embraced her. “At least you’re okay.”

Her mother turned her attention to the three bunny girls. “Do you remember cousin Morgan?”

The three nodded, their hazel eyes sad and overwhelmed. Morgan put an arm around the smallest one. She spoke quietly. “Hey, guys.”

The small girl wailed and clutched her tightly, tearful.

Vi drifted over. “I’ll make some food, Mrs. Fieldspring.”

Morgan’s mother acknowledged her with a short nod. “I appreciate it. Thank you.”

The fox woman headed towards the kitchen, but noticed Enrique was agitated. He rubbed his shoulder and had an uncomfortable expression on his face as he watched the family members. Morgan patted the smallest one, murmuring, “Shhh, there, there.”

“Oh. Enrique. Before I forget.” Vi stopped in front of him. “Remember what I said before about your sword? You can work towards activating it. Try going upstairs and speaking your heart to the blade. It’s a magic artifact. It’s not supposed to judge you. There should be an empty room you can practice in.”

“What does that mean? Speaking to the blade?” He stopped his irritated movement and rolled his eyes. Speak your heart, god that’s cheesy. Why would I do something so idiotic? Some stupid self-therapy?

“It means speaking to the blade,” Vi repeated, as if this was incredibly straightforward. “You haven’t had a chance to experiment with it, have you?”

Enrique, puzzled, shook his head.

Sven offered, “I’ll help with the food.”

Alicia said nothing but followed after the other two. Enrique adjusted the sword at his waist and took a set of brown stairs up the house.

The second story had a long hallway. He passed a door saying “Helen’s room - keep quiet” in cursive, then another door where voices emanated from within. He stopped briefly to listen.

“Come now, don’t blame yourself,” a male voice murmured.

“We should have stayed.” Another male voice shook. “We knew something was wrong when the kids weren’t following. I should have turned back—”

A soft whine from an infant interrupted him. “Hush, Helen,” the first voice said.

A female voice made a loud noise like she was blowing her nose. “I can’t believe it. What do we do now? Being healers at the border isn’t worth it anymore.”

“Stay with us for now,” the first speaker urged, and Enrique guessed it was Morgan’s father. The other two must be the cousins’ parents. “Our hospital is making enough money at the moment. We’ll find a way.”

There was a scraping noise of a chair being pulled back. “Skies! I’m sorry, I can’t—I feel like I need to check on them every second.” The woman’s voice, tight and anxious, was barely able to get words out. I have to stay with them—even our own house, attacked—Anna, Lucy, Mia—”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Footsteps approached the door and Enrique hastily ducked into the closest room next to it as a distraught older woman with velvet brown rabbit ears came out and down the steps.

This room was empty, but had a large, neatly folded white bed with a sheet. There was a strange gray machine hooked up beside the bed, with clear extendable pipes, a drip feeder, and a screen. Elsewhere in the room were shelves stocked with items and bottles like he’d seen before. He sat on the bed, wishing it didn’t feel so clinical. Enrique took out the Will of Flame and stared at it.

Now that he had time to examine the details, he noticed how beautiful it was. He saw his reflection in the double-edged blade of the longsword, admiring the polished blue blade and engravings etched on the metal. He traced a curved pattern with his finger. There were small nicks and scratches on the surface, as if worn from battle. The wide guard and weight seemed to be meant for an older, stronger man, which made him feel awkward holding it.

He sighed. “What the h*** am I even doing here?”

He had no idea what he was supposed to do, so he kept gazing at the blade like a mirror. “I’m only fifteen. I don’t know what I can do to be useful. Maybe I should ditch everybody and…I dunno. Make another life for myself. It’s not like I really know anyone here. I feel sort of lost. I wish I could help people, but honestly I’m sort of a joke right now. You know how I can get stronger?”

“…About time, buddy.”

“Holy s***!” Enrique dropped the blade with a startled yelp. A male voice had suddenly sounded in his head, from the sword. His eyes swiveled wildly around the room. “Oh my god. Oh god. You’re a—what are you? Who are you?” He scrambled away from the weapon, which lay inert and still.

The voice spoke again in his mind. It definitely seemed to be emanating from the sword. “I am Remnant. I was made from the bond between Vi and her previous partner. Now pick me up, noob.”

Enrique gingerly picked up the sword. “I’m sorry, Remnant. I was surprised. Wait, did you call me a—”

Remnant interrupted, “You’ve got a hard climb ahead of you.” Enrique could imagine someone smirking merely by the tone of the voice. “Forget what you’ve learned before. Let’s start—”

“Wait! Why are you in my head? I didn’t ask for this!” Enrique sprinted out of the room and down the stairs.

“Vi! Hey, guys! Help! There’s a sword! It’s talking to me!” He waved the weapon at his housemates and Sven.

Sven was mildly dumbfounded. “Interesting.”

Alicia glared at him coldly like he was an idiot. “Swords can’t talk. There’s no spell like that.”

Vi completely ignored him and continued cooking.

“Hey! Say something, Remnant!” Enrique shook the blade, which had of course fallen silent. “Vi, didn’t you hear me? It’s talking!”

Vi barely even glanced at him, arranging a set of rice plates for Morgan’s family. “Why would I need to know that?”

“Huh?” He stared. He shook the sword again. “I’m not imagining things, I swear.”

Remnant spoke again. “Pipe down, buddy. Have some sense for the kids.”

“He did it again. You can hear him, right?” Enrique’s eyes swiveled between Alicia and Sven. The trio of bunny girls, Morgan, and their mothers peered over, curious.

Alicia frowned. “Yes.”

“I do,” Sven confirmed, scratching his head and staring at the blade.

Vi continued ladling out food. “No, sorry. It’s dangerous to wave that around. Please sheathe it.”

Morgan’s cousins wandered towards the sword. Enrique sheathed the sword and the middle child poked and prodded it experimentally.

Remnant greeted the three. “Hi kids.”

“It…does talk,” the oldest one murmured.

The youngest girl’s downcast face lit up like someone had handed her a present. She squealed. “Wow! It’s speaking to us!”

The sword was polite. “My name’s Remnant. I like video games. What are your names?”

The youngest hopped up and down a little. “I’m Mia! I like games too. I like playing, hmmm, Brick Fall and Tower Time on my phone! Did you ever play them? I’m with my sisters, Anna and Lucy.”

“Brick Fall is fun,” Remnant informed her in an agreeable manner. He didn’t even sound like he was lying. Enrique held back a snort as he imagined a sword hovering in the air and jumping hilt-first, trying to play on a device.

Vi plopped her tails around the three to get their attention. “Let’s eat, okay? Enrique can bring you the sword later. The others have something they need to do.”

“School,” Enrique added quickly.

“What? But I want to talk to Remnant!” the little girl whined.

“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Enrique assured her before he could stop himself.

“Oh! Okay!” The little bunny girl looked excited. “Then I get to talk to him extra long.”

Enrique managed, “Sure.” He suddenly hoped he wouldn’t disappoint her.

Morgan’s mother gave him a look of approval. Or maybe she was directing her appreciation at the sword. “That’s quite kind of you.”

“I don’t mind,” Remnant added, which earned a squeal of delight from Mia. The other cousins also looked quite happy at this. Morgan was staring at the weapon with undisguised fascination.

“I’m staying here,” Vi told Alicia, Enrique, and Sven. She tapped on her phone. “I can send you the directions.”