It was past lunchtime when Sam was pleasantly awoken by soft lips brushing against hers. "You taste like candy," she mumbled into the other person's mouth, her eyes still closed.

Parish released their kiss with a light laugh and asked, "Have you never been with an Elf before?"

"Only in my dreams," Sam responded truthfully, opening her eyes to gaze at the beautiful woman straddling her. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Sam was about to pick up where they had left off before falling asleep when she heard the snores.

Sam patted Parish's butt to get her to roll off, and she complied, albeit with a pout. Sitting up, Sam scanned the room for the source of the loud snores, quickly realizing there was more than one source. She asked her bedmate, "Did I miss something last night?" When Parish only shrugged with her own look of confusion, Sam turned her attention back to the room.

Bodies were lying everywhere. Lupie was in her beast form, sprawled out, snoring loudly by one of the couches in the center of the seating area. Brenda's half-naked form was lying across her, doing her best to compete with Lupie in the snoring category. Chad was on the couch Lupie was lying against, with Nara passed out in his arms; they both had clothes on, so Sam wasn't sure what had happened between them. "I do know Nara thinks he is cute, though," Sam mused, still surveying the room.

Two of the other berserkers were lying by the fire. They were so close Sam was a little worried their hair might catch on fire. Sarah, the ice mage, Ella, and Marin were at the table playing a card game Sam didn't recognize. Each had a bottle in front of them, and as Sam was watching, Sarah threw a card down and slapped the table. Ella and Marin groaned and poured a shot from their respective bottles, knocking it back with a wince.

Sam didn't see Naris or Nina and was about to ask where they were when a slight movement in the room's darkest corner caught her eyes. She smiled when she saw the two of them sitting on some pillows, talking quietly.

Sam gave Parish a peck on the cheek and slipped out of bed. The three playing cards looked up as she walked over to them. Marin blushed slightly, and Sam thought it was cute, considering nearly half the rooms occupants were mostly nude, if not completely nude. Giving the trio a nod, Sam said, "Good morning."

“Afternoon,” Sarah responded cheerfully.

Upon closer inspection, Sam realized her bottle was almost completely full while the others were nearly empty. Sam sat at the table with the playing cards and summoned her endless canteen for a drink of its cool, refreshing goodness. Parish walked over and sat in Sam's lap, snagging the canteen from her grasp and taking a long drink for herself. She held the canteen out in surprise before saying, "A canteen that will stay full endlessly so long as one has mana, how novel. I cannot believe I haven't found one for myself." Handing the canteen back to Sam, she gave her a deep kiss, stretched, and stood up with a yawn, asking, "Have any of you eaten today?"

"I have," Sam said, poking the Elf in her stomach while she was mid-stretch. She was rewarded with a grunt from Parish and an uncomfortable cough from Marin.

Laughing, Parish said, "Well, I'm going to find some food. I worked up quite the appetite last night."

At the mention of food, the wall rattling log sawing from Lupie stopped with a snort. "Did you say food?" The Bloodmorph asked, jumping up and morphing into her beastkin form, unceremoniously throwing Brenda to the floor. Brenda grunted but continued snoring when she plopped against the hardwood.

"Well, that makes me jealous," Sam thought, “I wish I could sleep like that…well, without needing to nearly poison myself to death to do it.” She hopped up, summoning the clothes she had on the night before, then realized her shirt was still on the floor by the door. Trotting over and slipping into it, she tossed Parish her chest armor and robe, and, speaking to the room, she said, "We're going to grab some food if anyone is interested." When only Lupie and Parish walked over, Sam just shrugged and, speaking to Lupie, said, "You should put some clothes on, too, like you had yesterday."

Lupie looked at Sam in confusion, with her head cocked to the side, responding, "I don't have any clothes. I'm always naked." Then, as Sam processed those words, Lupie ran back to the couch and grabbed a small red sack off the cushions near Chad's feet. Bouncing back over, she handed the sack to Sam, saying, "Here, I forgot to give these back to you."

Curiously, Sam opened the sack that she belatedly realized was made from Lupie's congealed blood and examined the contents. Seeing what was in the bag, she exclaimed, "Oh, thank you, girl! I completely forgot about these!" Sam pulled the violet quill, notebook, and summon token from the bag and pocketed the token, which wouldn't go into her spatial storage for some reason; she tried to put the book and quill into her inventory, and it worked, thankfully. Looking back at Lupie, Sam asked, "Can you make clothes like mine out of your blood armor?"

Lupie nodded and did just that, coating her body in a thin layer of black and red blood. To Sam, she looked like she was wearing a skintight wetsuit, but at least it was something.

Hanging the room key on a wall hook near the exit, Sam walked out the door with Lupie on her heels. They were almost to the wide staircase when Sam realized Parish wasn't with them. Turning back, she saw the Elf still standing in the doorway with a weird look on her face. Not sure what was up with the woman, Sam gestured for her to follow, and with a shake of her head, Parish dashed to catch up with them. Sam raised her eyebrows when she caught up, but Parish grabbed her hand and dragged her down the stairs, saying, "Come on, I know the perfect place for a quiet afternoon meal."

“I wonder what that was all about?” Sam thought, allowing herself to be pulled along out of the guild hall.

***

"Well, this is interesting," Sam had said a few minutes later, looking into the small room in the restaurant Parish led them to, "and fancy!" The restaurant reminded Sam of one she had seen in Japanese films, with many small enclosed rooms surrounding a main entry area. The only difference was that instead of silk or paper sliding doors like in the movies she had seen, these rooms had something more reminiscent of a vault door that was a full meter thick. The door creeped her out enough that she made Parish go in first for fear of it being a trap.

It wasn't long before Sam overcame her initial trepidation, and the three of them were enjoying a delicious meal. In this restaurant, the patrons ordered everything they wanted for their meal, which was all prepared and delivered simultaneously. Each course was placed in spatial devices at the table to be retrieved as the previous course was finished. The massive door was closed once the food was delivered, and privacy runes sealed the room. Parish explained these rooms were used by the nobility and government officials who wanted to discuss sensitive topics over a nice dinner.

When the food arrived and the servers left, closing the door with a clunk, the privacy runes lit up the room in a soft white glow. Satisfied that it wasn't a trap to study her and Lupie, Sam and her companions dug in.

***

They ate their meal mostly in silence, apart from the frequent exclamations from Lupie, who thought each bite she took was better than the last. The cute Bloodmorph's cries of utter joy had Sam and Parish chuckling as they ate.

They were finishing up the most delectable dessert when Parish asked a simple question. "Sam, how did you get that notebook Lupie gave you earlier?"

“It was a gift from a sibling,” Sam hedged cautiously.

"Of course it was," Parish said slowly, reaching across the low table to grab Sam's hand. "How many people know what you are?" Parish hissed at Sam with fear in her eyes. She was gripping Sam's hand so hard it almost hurt. "Please tell me it's only Lupie, Nara, and Naris." She pleaded.

"I don't know what you're fucking talking about!" Sam snapped back, more in surprise than anger as she unsuccessfully tried to pull her hand free without being so rough she harmed the healer. Inwardly, she was thinking, “Of course I know what she’s talking about! But what do I tell her? Judging from how Naris reacted, being a Voidling and part of the Collective, whatever that is, is a big freaking deal!”

Parish took a deep breath and sighed, relaxing her grip and allowing Sam to pull her hand away. Sitting back a little, Sam kept eyeing her suspiciously. Seeming to struggle momentarily with a thought, Parish finally sighed again and asked, "Does Lupie know?"

"Yes," Lupie answered for herself; her usually soft and melodic voice came out in a menacing growl. Her yellow eyes were fixed, unblinking, on Parish.

Sam noticed Lupie's claws were out, and a couple of blood tendrils were growing from her back. Feeling she should diffuse the situation, Sam told her companion, "Hang on, Lupie, it's okay; just calm down. Let's see what she has to say." Although Sam looked back to Parish with a stern expression, she wasn't really worried. Over her initial surprise, Sam was thinking logically again, "She knows how powerful Lupie and I are, and I don't think she made the decision to come here until after she saw the book and token, so I doubt this is premeditated other than for the privacy of this room. Plus, this is a chance to get some information about my Voidling origins." With those thoughts, Sam waited for Parish to explain herself.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Composing herself, Parish looked to Lupie first and said, "Lupie, I swear to you I mean neither Sam nor you any harm." Lupie didn't take her eyes off Parish, but she did reach down to her plate and grab one of the delicious cookies she had ordered for her dessert. Placing it in her mouth, she proceeded to chew it slowly, still staring at Parish. Sam couldn't help but snort out a laugh at her friend's antics.

The mood lightened a little, and Parish's serious expression relaxed slightly at Sam's laugh. "Sam, I'm sorry I panicked a little. I don't know how you aren't aware of this, but the Church of the Light has an active bounty for Voidlings."

Sam only shrugged, unsurprised. "What's the big deal? I'm pretty sure they want to kill or capture me anyway, so how does this change anything?"

As if reading Sam's mind, Parish continued, "The difference between them hunting someone like Nara and someone like you is that the royal house of Orlina endorses this course of action." Sam's eyes widened, and Parish asked, "Where are you from?" Then she immediately held up a hand and followed with, "Wait. Don't tell me yet. First, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Parish Alessia. I am the daughter of Technomancer First Class Cara Alessia of the Alessia Clan and Tirith Lightrunner of the Farenth Tribe. I am a Half-elf Battle Healer and a friend to the Collective."

Sam felt a peculiar feeling wash over her when Parish said she was a friend to the Collective. She felt a strong urge to help the woman for some reason. It wasn't so intense Sam couldn't resist. It was more like an annoying craving like if she helped Parish, she would get a reward of some kind. “Is she using a spell? I can’t see anything with Mana Sight—”

Sam’s thoughts were interrupted when Lupie’s voice came through their chat function, “We should kill her.”

“What!? Why?” Sam responded through chat, surprised at Lupie’s calm decision to commit murder.

"She said it herself; no one should know of this. Also, I smell deceit on her; she smells of fear. She is not telling us the truth, at least not all of it." Lupie was as calm as ever.

Instead of responding to Lupie, Sam asked Parish, "What aren't you telling us?"

Parish looked from Sam to Lupie and back, then set her jaw and said through clenched teeth, "My mother is affiliated with the Church of the Light." When Sam tensed, and Lupie growled, blood tentacles sprouted from her back. Parish quickly followed up with, "She did not conform to their doctrine and did not come to this planet with them—shit! I should not have told you that!"

"You better choose your next words carefully," Sam said, "I want to like you, Parish, especially after the raid event and last night, but you aren't making a good case for yourself right now." She looked around the room. The runes were still lit, and the door closed, but she didn't know if someone would be coming in if they were in there too long, so Sam wanted to hurry this along. It hurt her to think of Parish as an enemy. Still, she had only known the woman for a day.

Parish held up her hands and started speaking fast, realizing she was in trouble, "My mother is from a far-off solar system close to the center of this galaxy. She crashed here, on Hallista, when her exploration vessel was attacked by an enemy clan seeking the power her clan had discovered and was bringing back to their home planet." Parish pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned to herself, "I am terrible at this." Looking back to Sam, she continued, "My mother always told me to never speak of this to anyone except a Voidling and, even then, to make sure the Voidling wasn't…well, feral? I'm still unsure what she meant by that, but I assume it means trustworthy." She shrugged, "She instructed me to tell the Voidling, uh, you, that I am a friend to the Collective, and if I am sincere, the Voidling, I mean you, would understand and name a price for its, uh, your assistance." She looked to Sam expectantly.

Sam opened her mouth to say she didn't want to help, just as her notebook pulled itself from her storage and hovered in front of her, opening to a page with a script already written on it. It read:

She speaks the truth as she knows it. However, she is only partially correct. You will always have a choice, and every choice has a consequence. Never forget this dear sister. -Lif

The book slammed shut and tried to fly into Sam's pocket, but she snatched it from the air and dismissed it to her inventory instead.

Sam stared at Parish. She thought, "The message said nothing about whether I should help her, so the choice is mine. Let me think this through. I just received a mana core for a spaceship that can probably only be used and piloted by a Technomancer, and by some random chance, that same day, I hook up with a girl whose mom is just what I need. Also, her mom is a non-practicing member of an organization that is actively trying to kill me." Sam didn’t like how coincidental this all seemed, "Still, the System said it lifted its interference in my progression. I am inclined to believe that because it offered me the Technomancer class along with the mana core. Plus, there is still a chance Alexander might be able to help me, so I have options."

The longer the silence stretched, the more Parish's hopeful expression deflated. She shrank back in her seat, pulling her legs to her chest, and placed her head on her knees, completely defeated.

Sam had no intention of harming Parish, but she also wasn't sure she wanted to help the woman, so she asked, "Why do you need my help?" When the healer perked up, looking hopeful, Sam held up a hand, "That's not me agreeing to help you. You will need to convince me first. In fact, the way I see it, I would be better off saying no than helping someone from the church. You know, the same church that tried to kill all of us yesterday! And don't try to give me that 'not affiliated' bullshit." Parish gulped and nodded somberly, looking to Lupie, who was growling, poised to attack if she made any signs of aggression. "Oh, calm down, Lupie." Sam said, "She won't do anything, so relax and enjoy your cookies."

Lupie's growl went silent, and finally taking her eyes off Parish, she looked down at her plate, still piled high with cookies of various flavors, "Are you sure?" She asked Sam, who nodded. Not needing any more affirmation, Lupie retracted her tentacles and went back to eating her dessert as if nothing had happened.

Parish took that cue and said, "I'm sorry, Sam. I have gone about this all wrong. It's just that you are the first Voidling I have ever encountered, and my mother has only ever read of one gracing her clan with its presence in the fifty thousand cycles of our clan's recorded history."

"Wait," Sam interrupted, "If we're so rare, then how does Hallista know of them? Did your mom blab about the Collective?"

Parish looked indignant, "She would never! She hates the church!" She sucked in a sharp breath and clamped her hands over her mouth, "I should not have said that! Oh, Mother is going to kill me!" Sam encouraged her to continue with a hand gesture, trying to get the flustered half-elf back on track. "Okay, sorry, I'll try to make this short." Parish continued, "I believe you are familiar with the Gloomwood Forest, yes?" Sam nodded. "Well, according to the legends, over two thousand years ago, a Nul was summoned to Hallista through an unknown means into a dangerous and violent part of the planet. Over a century, the Nul grew in power until it became a Lif. It left the region it was born into when nothing could challenge it any longer. Since it had never known anything but constant struggle and battle, as it grew, it went on a rampage across the planet, destroying everything in its path. Hundreds of thousands of innocents died before the Voidling was stopped. Many races were nearly extinguished, including the elves. The Gloomwood Forest is where the final battle took place." Parish looked as if she would cry as she talked about the final battle, "A force of over one hundred thousand humans, elves, dwarves, lamia, dragonkin, and many more races gathered in a final effort to stop the Lif's advance." Parish took a sip from her wine glass and, setting it back down, finished her tale, "The army failed to defeat the Lif. Of the massive army, there were only three survivors. A Space Mage, a Magismith, and a Battle Healer."

It took every fiber of Sam's being to not reach into her pocket to touch the summon token when Parish mentioned a Nul. Then she nearly fell out of her chair when she said the Nul turned into a Lif. Sam found it increasingly difficult not to show how much she freaked out internally as Parish told her story. “I have the summon token for a genocidal void monster in my freaking pocket!?! And there was one in my freaking soul that calls me its sister! Just what the hell am I?”

Oblivious to Sam's mental struggles, Parish kept telling her story. "When he realized all was lost, the space mage, with the help of the healer, opened a portal into the Void, and the Magismith, using all her knowledge of the inner workings of magic, called into the Void for help, begging the Void to take its child back and it worked! Another Lif stepped from the portal and teleported the three survivors over a thousand kilometers away with a wave of its hand. A battle that shook the foundations of this world ensued. Even from the great distance they had been teleported to, the trio still felt the planet shaking and witnessed the sky burned with flame and blackened with ash as the two battled."

Sam and Lupie were on the edge of their seats by now, and Sam jumped a little when a cookie clanked on Lupie's plate, having slipped through her fingers as she listened to Parish's tale. "Who won?" Lupie asked quietly, her cookies forgotten.

Parish smiled and said, "Why the Lif, of course." Getting a groan from Sam. Parish chuckled and let them off the hook. "According to the legend…and my uncle, the Lif they summoned defeated the wild Lif and appeared in front of them in less than five minutes holding a black coin—" Parish's face went pale. She jumped up, knocking over her chair, and backed up until she hit the wall. She pointed at Sam with a shaking hand and stammered, "You—the black token—you have a void token in your pocket—it cannot be.”

It was Sam's turn to hold up her hands placatingly, "It's okay, there is no way this one is the same token—" She was cut off by her notebook flashing from her inventory again and flipping open to a blank page. Sam started reading as words appeared.

Dear sister, do not lie to the poor girl. The Nul I have gifted you with is certainly the same as the Lif of which she speaks. I should know, for I slew it and returned its soul to the Collective. Do not fret; it has no memory of its former life as is our way.

I thought it was fitting that you, dear sister, a Voidling created outside of the Collective's knowledge, and the innocent soul of the Voidling summoned by chance so long ago should be together.

'Sigh,' I admit I can be sentimental when it comes to family. -Lif

"Okay," Sam said, throwing her notebook back into storage and pulling the summon token from her pocket, "I stand corrected, Parish; it is the same token." Sam was prepared for it, so she caught the battle healer in her mana threads when she fainted.

"What are we going to do now?" Lupie asked, watching Sam lower Parish to the floor slowly.

Looking around the sealed room, Sam figured it was probably the safest place to do what she had planned, so she said, "We are going to summon Nul."

Lupie resumed eating her cookies, watching in fascination as the summon token expanded into a manhole-sized portal of pure void and hovered over the table.