Humiliation! Was the only feeling that the master felt, he walked through the secret passages towards his private chamber, his mind muddled with thoughts of what had happened just hours ago. To think that he, the master would suffer injury and defeat against a vermin with no strength, the very thought angered him to the core. At the very least the vermin had died, gone from this world in body and soul, he had already instructed the city official to send out a bounty on the man’s companion, there was no need to trouble himself further than that.

The first thing that met his eyes when he entered his private chambers was that his box of charms was lying open on the floor, its content tossed about. His eyes widened as he quickly fell to a knee gathering up the charms one at a time, noting which person it belonged to, by the time he was at the last few charms he noticed that one was missing, one that could not, should not, be missing. A deep humiliating anger welled through the man as his eyes turned bloodshot; a beastly roar left his lungs, unnatural as it was it echoed out through the secret passages “LUNA SOMMA!!”

Rage fueled his mind as he set up a command to several trusted subordinates that they were to hunt down and remove Luna Somma, he very well couldn’t set out a bounty on her so he ordered his followers to be discreet.

The master sat silently in his office, since when was he to be toyed with as such, he was the betrayer he was the trickster, yet this time he had been tricked and betrayed by his most trusted apprentice, he was convinced that the explosion had been related to her somehow!

. . . .

A splashy sound was heard in the autumn wind as a tired horse traversed ever onward at the relentless push of its owner. The mud marred its hooves as it moved slower and slower the cold wind tiring its rain soaked body, the rider kept pushing and telling it to move faster, at some point the voice began to lose its power, or was it that the horse began not hearing it? Eventually the horse fell to its front knees making the muddy ground splash all over, froth dripped from its mouth as it slowly keeled over and died. In the process of the horse falling over Luna stepped off, she watched the animal slump down onto the muddy path, she simply stood there and looked at it, whatever thoughts that went through her head they were not reflected in her dispirited eyes. She pulled out her now muddied backpack from the saddle of the horse; she nearly fell over when she finally got it out from underneath the horse.

In Brün autumn wasn’t very harsh, there were many amenities that kept it from getting too cold, and you were never too far away from home. Luna had come to realise that autumn outside of Brün was significantly colder than she had expected, her cloak was slightly soaked through from the previous day of rain, she was sniffling as she moved down a snaky path, she didn’t have a destination in mind when she left, her mind too muddled to think of such matters, but now that she was lost somewhere in the wilderness a few days away from Brün she felt herself hungry, tired and scared, yet she kept walking forward in hopes of finding something at the end of the path.

Wood crackling woke up Luna; she blinked a few times seeing the inside of a tent as she did. There was a small light coming from outside of the tent which gave a warm shimmer on the tent side, it was however otherwise dark in the tent. She sat up slowly, she could see two dark shades sitting in front of the fire from the shadows on the tent. Who were they? Had they been sent by the master?! Were they bandits? Who were they specifically? She soon noticed that she was wearing some light linen undergarments, but not her own, she had so many questions, how had she ended up the tent to begin with? Where was she? Who were the people in front of the fire? Regardless, even without her regular equipment, she had her magic.

Two ladies sat in front of the fire on a wooden log with a small blanket put on top of it, they were engaging in a leisurely conversation quietly, they both wore thick cotton woven hooded capes. Without warning or notice one of them instantly pressed her palms together as she uttered a holy word which instantly activated a bright white ephemeral shield behind them, the shield was square with strange ice blue runes that kept moving around, as soon as the shield had materialized it blocked a fast moving icy mist. The other lady didn’t seem disturbed by the sudden spell, she slowly stood up and turned around, she pulled her hood down and revealed a wrinkled stern face, her eyes light brown and her head bald. Her gaze was penetrating as she stared down Luna whom had just preemptively attacked them.

Luna knew that she was out of her league, she was still stuck on her first class, she had long since reached the possibility for advancing, but had not been satisfied with any of her options so she had decided to wait till something better came along, the consequence was that she had difficulty fighting some 2’nd classers. She felt her heart quench as the elderly lady stared at her with her clear eyes; a feeling of judgement rose up in her being.

“How about you stop staring and come share our meal” her face was still stern, but her words were kind enough, the sneak attack considered.

“I…” what could she say? She had just tried to kill them, even though it would seem they meant her no harm, but she didn’t know that! She justified to herself, yet she failed to explain that she knew it wasn’t a good enough reason to attack them so suddenly “I… thank you” in her lack of words she eventually just thanked them and walked over, the ephemeral shield turning more and more translucent until it disappeared.

They didn’t ask any questions of her, they didn’t blame her for attacking them, they simply poured her some soup and gave her a flask of water, after which they continued their own conversation. From what Luna could hear they were nuns passing through Brutsch and then from the neighboring Bjarkstedt which bordered to the north of Brün where their final destination lay, she did not know yet. They were on their way back and small talked about their return trip, for what purpose they had come they did not mention. She had noticed that her clothes were drying on a low hanging branch close to the fire, there were scabs of mud on it.

“I apologize, and thank you very much for the meal, but why am I here? How did I end up here?” she asked, with that small part of herself that was always graceful, she realised when she spoke, that even how she speaks makes her uncertain and uncomfortable, is it the real her? or?

The elderly nun spoke up first “we found you near a crossroad collapsed; it appeared that fatigue had gotten the better of you”

the other nun looked at Luna, her face revealed that she was middle aged, but her features were fine with a few wrinkles, and like a bell she spoke clearly and serenely “as we found you it was our sacred duty to take care of you” where the elderly nun looked and spoke more normally, the younger one seemed off somehow to Luna, her eyes were violet and her hair bright white underneath her hood.

“You didn’t even know who I was, I could’ve been someone dangerous, I was someone dangerous!” she blurted out exasperatedly, her grace gone replaced with bewilderment “helping me could only bring you detriments!” her eyes were desperate and confused.

The middle aged nun simply spoke one sentence “whether you had been good or evil, it was the right thing to do” she smiled at Luna and stood up then she kneeled down and looked into Luna’s eyes ruminating for something, whatever she found made her grab the stunned Luna in a tight warm hug “you can cry now”

As if by an act at a theater, she began crying heavily her shoulders shaking, whatever intentions she had had in resisting the hug disappeared and she simply cried for a long time until it turned into a silent sob.

. . . .

It was while Bardo was shopping for supplies that he saw a change in the some of the guards around the marketplace at the small village he was at. They began looking around and some of them would glance at a small piece of paper before they looked around. Were they on the lookout for him, or someone else? It wasn’t a question which he intended to find the answer to; he quickly slipped off to a back alley and was soon out of town.

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Luckily he had bought some of supplies for the journey before he left, his backpack ready he took one step after the other down the dirty muddy road, although the day was dry and cold with the autumn wind billowing it had rained the previous days. The fire badger coat came in handy, it wasn’t the warmest, but it was windproof and had a hood. In the evening he set up camp at the outskirt of the road, it was a quiet meal, a lonely meal, as he sat there staring into the fire with a saddened face. He looked at Edra’s backpack which lay casually next to the fire, the pain was still there, in him, but he couldn’t carry around two backpacks forever, he knew Edra would laugh at him for doing so. Bardo opened the backpack and looked through it, there wasn’t much, he took the pipe and put it in his inner pocket, then he went through the rest of the stuff, it was then that he noticed the letter from Lüdwig, he had forgotten all about the letter in the turmoil, it was the first quest they took together, he’d be damned if he didn’t finish it! With a goal and destination in mind he went to sleep amongst the rattling branches and howling wind, it was a cold night.

. . . .

The eldest nun was named Aslaug, and the middle aged nun was named Asta they were returning to their home country after a long pilgrimage, they were still far from back to their nunnery, but who would’ve thought they’d stumble upon the young woman Luna. They had taken good care of her when they found her, and they hadn’t said anything when she had followed them the following day, it had however now been four days, and the girl was still camping with them and walking with them. Asta thought of the young woman who was lost in more ways than one, in a way she reminded her of herself when she was young, maybe that was why she pitied her so, despite knowing nothing about her.

Aslaug looked at the young woman, as usual the old nun’s facial expressions revealed none of her inner thoughts or emotions. They had taken cover as the rain had begun drizzling again; they were sitting inside an abandoned hut, small drops of rain made it through the broken roof dripping lightly on the old floorboards. They had somehow gotten the old fireplace working and they were cooking a vegetable stew.

“Tell me, what do you want Miss Luna?” the old nun asked dryly whilst stirring the pot.

Somewhat caught off guard Luna opened and closed her mouth at a loss for words, what did she want? She had blindly followed the nuns after she woke up, they proved a much needed reprieve from her thoughts of self and being, of the master and the evils she had committed, she had begun thinking differently, her conscious which had never felt guilty before had begun plaguing her ever so slightly “I, don’t know” she answered honestly, she didn’t know, she couldn’t go back though, that was something she was certain of.

The old nun gazed at her with her clear eyes for a short while before she spoke up again “you can of course come with us; however we have a long journey ahead as we are heading to Hagh, what say you?” Asta looked slightly surprised as she heard what Aslaug had said, but she didn’t speak up she simply glanced at Luna out of the corner of her eye.

Hagh, it was far away, Luna had had a good education, and although she didn’t specialize in geography she did know that Hagh was not one of the neighboring kingdoms of Brutsch, she swallowed down hard “I’d be grateful to come with you, as for how long I’ll be travelling with you I cannot tell you, but at least until we leave Brutsch” her voice grateful but uncertain “what makes you offer this to me?” she asked silently looking down at the weatherworn floorboards “you must’ve noticed that I’m running from something, for all you know I am a criminal or worse, why do you aid me so?” her last few words barely noticeable.

For the first time the old nun smiled, a warm gentle smile “it is not our place to know this, nor do we care, as a sister in the order of the Bountiful Wheat follower of Sigrdrífa, we seek to help other sisters” her smile turned slightly more serious “we all have a past young one, that yours haunts you now, does not mean it will do so in years to come”

Although Luna had never heard of this Bountiful Wheat or Sigrdrífa, she understood the sentiment “if that is so, I thank you, and I apologize for any inconvenience that may come your way then” she bowed her head genuinely, it was the first time she had bowed her genuinely to anyone but the master, but had that ever truly been genuine? She shook her head, how long would he haunt her thoughts?

Not many days later they came across a small village no more than a hundred or so houses with two farms connected to it, after asking around a bit they found the local inn, it was obvious it was a makeshift inn constructed out of a barn. It was quaint in its own way; there weren’t too many people there, a few locals and a few passerby’s, while the nuns went up to the inn keeper to book a room for the night one of the patrons got up and drunkenly walked towards the exit, right before he reached the door he drunkenly fell backwards one step putting him shoulder first towards the three ladies, and that was when he threw a small bomb!

“The master sends his greetings!” He yelled madly as the bomb was about to explode. Moments before that happened a white light gathered, and then it went off in a bright destructive chaos.

A few days later Luna woke up with a splitting headache, she could feel that she was lying down covered in a thick blanket outside on the move. She could hear the crows cawing and she felt a brisk breeze enveloping her body blowing her hair onto her face, she instantly tried to move the hair out of reflex ‘what is wrong with my arm?’ was the thought that entered her mind, she could still feel it, but it wasn’t moving, she tried again with no luck, could she really still move her arm? Her breathing became rapid, the wagon stopped and Asta came around to see what was going on with Luna.

“Calm down” she said calmingly “you are still alive”

“Alive, what do you mean…” and then it dawned on her, the explosion, and the retribution from the master “but, but my arm!” her hair was still in the way as she couldn’t see anything from her left eye, she desperately and hysterically tried moved it with her left arm, but no matter how many times she tried moving the hair away from her eye she kept failing.

Asta put her one hand on her left hand and moved it down, and she put the other hand on top of her forehead before she continued speaking gently, her face grimace telling Luna that anything that was going to be said next wasn’t going to be good “I tried to protect you the best I could, but you lost your right arm that you shielded your head with, and sadly your arm couldn’t protect your entire face, you received a fragment of wood at your left eye, it doesn’t look strange aside from a straight scar, however your eye had to be removed when we healed you” She stopped speaking for a moment, letting it all sink in, even if just a little “I’m so sorry for your loss” she concluded, her smile bitter and sad.

Luna didn’t know how to respond, there wasn’t any hair blocking her vision, she didn’t have an eye at all, she could still feel it though, the same way she could still feel her arm, yet knowing it was gone made the feeling all the more real, which in turn made her all the more lost, only one thought burned in her mind like a scorching undying flame ‘revenge!’.

. . . .

In Brün rumours of a strange spectre haunting the night had begun spreading, it was shapeless, jagged sometimes ephemeral other times, some claimed it had appeared as a man or a child, but it was all but rumours, no one ever confirmed anything.

Edra’s mind was split, broken as was his soul, his consciousness was at its last hair barely keeping the man once known as Edra Walker afloat, he was dead, nothing but a spectre. His ability to think had disappeared; he was mindlessly passing through the void. At times he would accidentally enter the living world, whenever there his emotions would rampage, his last emotions before dead were the strongest so they were the only emotions he retained. Without a sense of self, without a sense at all time passed by, until one day he felt a strong calling urging him to follow it, initially his mindless ghostly husk ignored it, but the calling grew stronger and stronger until it felt like it was right next to him.

“HEED ME GHOST OF THE NETHERWORLD! OBEY ME RESENTFUL SPECTRE! BE MINE! NOW!”

The voice thundered through his very being, whatever that was left, before he disappeared. He didn’t have a choice, he didn’t have the power to resist, nor the will.

An elderly shaman sat in a meditative position in a forest clearing, his runes were lit, and the bonfire in front of him changed colour from orange to a deep blood red, as the resentful spectre appeared he pulled out a rune carved bone of a powerful salamander, when he began chanting the shapeless spectre got pulled into the salamander bone, the runes then lit up in the same blood red colour as the bonfire had been just moments ago. He held the salamander bone in his hands with a wicked smile plastered on his tattooed face, he put the bone into a small bag which already held two other bones. He slowly stood up and left the campfire while he mumbled to himself “three more”