Breathing out, spits of water dribbled off my lips. I whipped my head back and relaxed. The pain in my back subsided slowly as I gathered my wits about myself. From what I could see, this pool was not too deep.

My nose tensed from the clogging bubbles and the gentle aroma of wet moss forming off the cracked stone.

This was a huge bathhouse. Something like this, here, so hidden away and settled out of sight. Wall mosaics and deep embossed etchings presented the luxury of this place. I doubted this was randomly placed here. There were other bodies of water, while there was a fountain spewing water out of a duct in the center.

Lovely bathhouse they had, but who was it for?

Shifting, I waved my legs forward and stood up. The water drained off my arms and clothes like a waterfall. Waterdrops popped up in a splashing magnificence that was annoying to hear. My tight shoulders loosened under the strain. Back, I stretched that. Arrow scabbard, I grabbed that.

The pain in my back came back with a vengeance, so I dropped back-first into the water.

I blinked then groaned at my weakness. The robe slumped heavily on my legs. It felt grimy to the touch. Not that it mattered now. I guessed I wanted to remember good things, so not the bad things, continuously, constantly, I closed my eyes.

I tried to push Sandream’s dying face out of my mind knowing that I ran, leaving her, Five, and Valor like a coward. What was I supposed to do, I could not fight. I had little power, so I had nothing.

My eyes were forced open and I shook off the lethargy that was spreading through me.

I could not dally, so I stood up. Walking forward, the heaviness got worse than I thought. My legs struggled to log this primped-up heavy coat along, but I digest, if death came, dying with pride and some dignity suited me.

I was not going to run around in my petticoats. Each pool had a different shape and I assumed, had a different purpose.

One was even very cold. Others were shallow, so I was glad I had not dropped in those ones, for back pain would not be my plight, it would be death.

Once I reached the platform leading to the door outside I was exhausted.

I had not eaten for a good while now, so I was struggling to stay on my feet. My misshapen exhale turned into a yawn. I swiftly covered my mouth and pinched it shut. Keeping the noise level to a minimum, I slipped out into the hall.

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It was lit well. The torches blazed beautifully off the sconce enclosures.

Thank goodness!

I hoped that maybe Corona chased me. That she left Five and Valor alone, that had been my hope, still, Five’s voice was absent and that worried me.

Sighing, I hoped they were okay. I looked in either direction and decided to go right. The wall carried the same stone of the floor, red smooth square brick, but as I traversed further down this route; it gave way to more rugged rock leaving the man-made enclosure behind.

Drops echoed, I looked down and noted the dress was dripping a lot over the rock. The wet patch expanded out widely. I turned around.

Oh no...

There was an erratic stream of water drops staring back at me. It was obvious, someone wet and deranged walked through here. I could dry off my skin easier than I could dry off an animal pelt coat.

Damnation!

I grabbed the top of the dress. Breathing out, my mind was nauseous.

It felt like I was losing a lifelong friend, but this lifelong friend was going to get me killed so...

My hands pulled the clothes down before I removed my quiver of arrows. Aggressively, I slid myself out of the death trap. I flung the clothes at the foot of the path and stepped back onto the dust.

I could see my feet's imprint in the dirt of the rocky floor. Swiftly, I sled my foot into the slim collection of dust caking it all over my foot. I got prickled by a rock, but I did not care, for life was more important.

The residual water was brushed off my legs. Sprinting up the stairs, I felt free, yet I paced myself.

My body was graced only by my lace moist black petticoat. I came into a corridor and a piercing pain hit me, so I fell back. My forehead slammed on the rocky floor. I drifted back in shock, one hand on my nose, the other pushing me back from Corona's deadly eyes.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, nooo, sore me!

“What do you want from me?! Huh!?” I screamed.

Blood drops followed behind Corona with her left leg streaming with blood. “Lower your voice.”

“Lower… Lower, you sent men trying to accelerate my entrance into purgatory! Everywhere I go, I see you! Everywhere! I cannot even—“ I sucked in air.

She replied, “That was not me. Other people want your head. All I want is you.”

My chest burned as tears flowed. I slapped the ground. “Fine, since you want me so bad. You can take me, dead!” I drew one arrow and notched it under my neck.

Corona stared and said with a lazy wave of her hand. “Go ahead.”

Nothing happened, I grit my teeth, my fingers scorched in blunt anticipation of me, yanking the sharp implement across my neck.

Corona smiled. “You will not do it?”

I held it there, speaking the words into existence. Come on! I knew I was not weak.

Ending it would be easy, everything in life should have been.

Corona’s eyes averted. “Or if you want, you can meet your mother?”

I tensed. This again, my hand lowered. “What do you mean, my mother is dead.”

“She is not. She is alive.” Corona smiled very wide and deadly. “She is Erot.”