The sun peers through the multi-colored window pane and kisses Leor; His eyelids peek open from the intoxicating warmth. Sitting up, his brain rattles around his skull like a rock in a riptide. The scent of alcohol and sweat stains the sheets that cover him.

“Oh, man… What happened last night? Where am I?” groans Leor as he rubs his temples, attempting to soothe the brick in his head.

He gazes around the unfamiliar room. Clothes are scattered amongst the wooden floor and the finely crafted white framed, red cushioned furniture. A detailed painting of Ludwig with chains around his limbs battling a winged beast in the sky stains the multi-colored window to the left of him.

Leor rolls his eyes at the obnoxious, needlessly large homage. “Oh, that’s where I am.”

His sheets begin to move on their own; His heart stops. Following its movements, a human-sized lump hides underneath the blankets, twisting and turning as it strips Leor of his coverings, exposing his naked body.

Creeping over the cocoon, Leor slowly peels back the sheets, revealing golden locks woven together like silk made from the highest quality of webbing, and smooth peachy skin. Leor jumps back. Double taking around the messy room, it’s not just his clothes that litter the place. Most of the clothes are indistinguishable from his, but a pair of light pink panties and a bra shine bright in his sea of black clothing.

“Mmmm..” moans Ceri as she rubs her eyes and lifts herself with the sheets draped around her shoulder and over her breasts. With Leor out of the way, fragments of light cast over her like rainbow-colored diamonds illuminating an angel. “Good morning, Leor” yawns Ceri with a tiny bit of drool dripping from her lips. She cups her head into her hands. “Ow… My head is killing me… Do you deal with this all the time?”

No words leave Leor’s open mouth as he gawks at Ceri.

“Why are you so quiet?” She covers herself with the blanket.”I don’t look weird, do I?”

Turning away and hopping out of bed, Leor says “No, not at all…”

A light tug stops him. “Where are you going?” Ceri looks at him with puppy eyes.

Last night’s hazy memories flood into his head. He remembers the fiery words of passion that make him want to crawl into a hole and die. Looking at Ceri’s plump, cherry lips, the tingliness still lingers on his own and her sweet taste is etched onto his tongue. The tips of his fingers are engrained with the memory of Ceri’s soft, voluptuous body. He remembers it, all of it in his very soul. Ceri’s intense stare and the feelings of last night overload his brain, causing blood to rush to his cheeks.

Ceri notices it and her cheeks turn pink. She spins around with her back to Leor, and begins stroking her hair to straighten it out. “Last night was a bit crazy, huh? To be honest, it’s hard to remember… certain parts.”

While still facing away from Ceri, Leor fights his throbbing head as he fumbles to put on his clothes. “Yeah… we drank a lot yesterday. I’m sorry for doing things in the spur of the moment”.

From the bed, Ceri pounces onto Leor. As she stands atop the mattress, Ceri hangs her arms over his shoulders and embraces him. Ceri whispers, “Stop. I don’t regret what happened last night, so don’t be sorry.”

He clasps her hands. “I-I don’t regret it either. Thanks...”

Releasing him from her grasp, Ceri giggles and props herself onto the bed, spreading her body out. “My pleasure”.

A pile of clothes ambushes her.

“Ceri, get dressed. We need to head out.”

Peeking through the pile, her eyes gravitate to the half-naked man slowly sliding on his garments against his bare, chiseled skin. As Leor whips his clothes on, his black shirt flutters through the air like a maple leaf floating onto the forest floor. The fabric coils loosely around his body, but tightly enough for his muscles to carve through his clothes. He looks over his shoulder.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Ceri? Are you going to get dressed? What are you looking at?”

“Oh, nothing. Just admiring. I’m actually surprised that your body barely has any scars. I’d imagine that mercenaries would be more rugged.”

“Well, it’s hard for a mercenary with no affiliation to get hired these days”. The hairs on his forearm stick up as he finishes that sentence. He recalls what Afzal proclaimed during yesterday’s incident.

// Gerald.. There’s no way, right? That Old man is a tough bastard. He can definitely handle someone like Afzal. Even if what Afzal said is true, there’s no way he’s dead… They must have just taken him in... //

Ceri pokes Leor’s cheek. “Leor, something wrong?”

He stares at Ceri, who has yet to put on any clothes. “Yeah… Let’s hurry and finish this job so I can collect payment. Please put on some clothes, alright?”

“Wow. Even now, you wish to get rid of me that much?” pouts Ceri.

“It’s not that”. Leor stares daggers through the window. “There’s somewhere I need to go after this. And I need the money for where I’m going.” He turns to her and smiles with his eyes. “And, besides, this isn’t where our journey ends, right?”

Ceri wraps her arms around herself and squeezes the butterflies that fly in her chest. The sunlight appears to dim before Leor’s smile. She snapshots the rare scene into her memory and smiles back at him, harder than she has ever smiled before until her face hurts.

Once they dress, they march downstairs to the church’s main area, where Ludwig’s statue stares down at them. Alden and Maria are chattering directly below Ludwig. They both stop when they hear Leor and Ceri’s footsteps.

“Oh-ho? Finally awake, I see! You two sure slept in. It’s already almost noon.” shouts Alden.

Ceri splits off from Leor to greet Maria, and Alden dashes to Leor and hooks him in.

“So, did you two love birds have fun?” pesters Alden.

“...”

“Oh, come on. You can tell me! I pay for your date and I can’t even know if you had a good time!?”

“First off, it was Lady Maria who treated us last night.” He pauses and swallows hard. “Yes. Yes, I had fun last night… Thanks for setting it up.”

“Lady Maria? Thanking me? AND, having a good time? Wow, what happened to you last night?”

“Just cause I act cold, doesn’t mean I won’t show respect to those who helped me. You’re going to have to ask Ceri about the details. I don’t remember much. Had too much to drink”.

BANG!

The front door bursts open and a guard stumbles through with his hands on his knees.

“Lady Maria, Lord Alden, we have a problem!” huffs the guard.

“What is it?” asks Maria.

“Someone from the Licht Order has arrived and they’re here to collect him.” The guard flings his finger at Leor.

Alden steps forward. “This again? Tell him that I have pardoned Leor.”

The guard shakes his head and looks at the tail between his legs. “That’s the thing, my Lord... He’s an Awakened. He won’t listen to any of us! We tried to calm him down and explain what you said, but it only made him angrier. He got restless and started attacking us. I fear he may even start attacking the citizens.”

The air in the room thins. Alden steps back and clasps onto his robes. “An Awakened!? What’s an Awakened doing here?”

From the sideline, Leor speaks up calmly. “It’s Afzal. He told me yesterday that an executioner is coming for me.”

The room falls silent. Ceri, Alden, and Maria look to and fro one another like a pendulum. Maria bits her nail as she stares blankly ahead; Alden paces in place while rubbing his chin. Like clockwork, the bells of the church crescendo throughout the room in rhythmic tolls.

One, two. One, two. One, two.

“This is not good! This is not good! Even Lord Alden does not have authority over the Awakened!” blurts out Ceri. She turns to the rest. “What do we do!?”

“And is that supposed to scare me? Are they supposed to be powerful?” scoffs Leor.

Maria places her hand on his shoulder, her eyes still dazed. “Leor, you don’t understand. Some simply follow the Gods’ will, and there are those who establish order through the will of the Gods. Even within the system, some people merely carry out their will, like myself. But people like Lord Alden are handpicked by the Gods themselves to act on their behalf.”

“Wait. Doesn’t that make Alden an Awakened then?”

Maria shakes her head and digs her shaky grip into his sleeve. “No. The Awakened are different. Even though they are both chosen by the Gods, the Awakened are gifted the powers of the Gods who selected them. Think of it like this: We need tools to wield their power, while they can control it at will.”

“Hmmm…. That does sound troublesome. I hate Gifts, so this would be even worse” says Leor while stroking his chin. “Can’t Alden reason with him?”

Alden pinches his brows together. “I can try, but it is entirely up to the person if they want to listen or not. And as you remember, those from the Licht Order lack… social skills.”

“Well, that’s not a no, so let’s go ahead and try it.”

Ceri leaps at him. “Leor, you can’t! It’s too dangerous! You’ll get hurt!”

“I can’t just standby when people are getting hurt because of me. I’m not that heartless. If anything, we’ll at least draw him out of the town.”

“But-”

“Come on, Ceri. Don’t you trust me? You saw what I did at the waterfall. I can handle myself.” grins Leor.

Alden smiles as he nods his head. “Very well. Ceri, the man has made up his mind. Let’s not disrespect his effort.”

No words are exchanged, but they give each other the same head nod.

“Alright. That settles it. Let’s head out and get this over with.”

Leor and Alden make their way out of the church with Ceri dragging her feet behind.

“Best of luck to you!” shouts Maria. “And as for you.” She points at the guard. “I have a job for you.”