Leaning against the balcony, Hashi watches over the city already submerged in the night. Multiple lights bright up the otherwise pitch dark streets, pitch dark thanks to the remnants of the Ether Storm that still have the sky dyed in a crimson color, erasing any sights of stars, the moon looking like a mirage.

Even when she is wrapped around her crimson cloak, the cold carried by the breeze still reaches her bones, stinging especially at her right shoulder where the prosthetic is incorporated. She can’t help but quiver as the smell of a mix of smoke, beers, fish, reach her nose, and the sound of clashing metal and animated voices reach her ears. The thought of being a merchant after her mission comes to an end sent shivers down her back, there’s no way she could endure the cold of this night all just to sell just a little more and generate a bit more profit.

Turning at the same time as the smell of medical supplies, alcohol, ointments and bandages, reach her nose, Hashi enters once again the room only to see Fleck crouching and applying the aid on Deborah’s right leg. As Fleck touched the burnt parts and those were she lost skin, Deborah couldn’t help but contort and whimper with pain.

-”I have heard stories that the bunny people had really strong legs before, but I never thought they would be enough to manage to hit what basically amounts to a thunderbolt.”- Hashi says.

Deborah lets another groan escape.

-”Hey, Fleck, aren’t you being a little bit…”- Hashi starts saying.

-”Rough?”- Fleck asks with total calm as he continues to remove the burnt skin and apply the necessary aid.

Deborah contorts in a wide, sudden movement, strong enough that she almost falls off the bed.

-”You… do you have something against her?”- Hashi asks.

-”Masha told me he would continue to travel towards New Arcadia tomorrow, finally after being three days trapped here, but that if I wanted to come that I should fix the mess I made up with Deborah. I don’t disagree, and with the Ether Storm after-effects still going on, who knows when I would be able to find another way to get there as soon as possible.”-

-”So you have something against her, uh?”- Hashi concludes.

-”I-”- Fleck starts saying, but Hashi cuts him out as she says -”I’ll go to my room and try to get some sleep. Have fun with her alone.”-

Opening the door of Fleck’s room, at the same time Deborah lets a huge moan escape, turning multiple heads of the guests that were within the merchant’s guild that were within the room’s reach. Hashi just snorts at the timing, adjusts her hood, closes the door, and crosses the corridor to the other side, the door that is just in front of Fleck's. Entering her own room, Hashi takes off the sandals and dives straight down to her bed, and in a matter of seconds falls asleep.

Within her dreams, Hashi starts dreaming of her now distant past. The green prairie of her old home, the sun gently hitting on her face, her white dress and the softness of the blades of grass under her feet. She remembers the temple of eastern architecture that was against a forest, how many times she went to this temple and sang, again, and again, and again. How many people came to see her sing to the forest itself, how from it multiple fairies always came out to hear her sing, filling the place with multiple colors. She especially remembers her God that lived within the town, and how everyone got along with each other and how her parents were loved and trusted by everyone. Her dream is then filled with memories of that terrible day. After cheering up an old man that was taken deep within depression, something she did from time to time within the town confines, she remembers seeing from far away the cold gleam of the light of the sun against a scimitar in the distance, and holding said sword was the figure of a tall, large man. Pointing towards the town, out of nowhere, as if piranhas or ants were, hundreds of scoundrels fire multiple flame arrows, hitting the roof of multiple houses, the green prairie and setting everything up in flames, even the temple and the forest behind it. It was a nightmare, in the matter of minutes the entire town was razed into the ground, the windmills now up in flames, and then there he was, standing before the little shivering old her, the really tall, large man, which shadow was enough to engulf her even when he was twenty steps away from her. He came to her, he said some words to her, and with her large hand cast in shadows, she reaches for her…

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

At this moment Hashi wakes up, screaming. Grabbing against the mantle of the bed, she struggles to get into a sitting position. As she sits, multiple tears come rolling off her face, falling on her legs. Still quivering from the nightmare, she bites her lower lip, closing both hands, making both her arms shake.

Can’t wait to make you disappear, Lee.

Getting out of her room, she crosses again to Fleck’s room and opens the door, only to find a naked Deborah, her face beef red, without breath, picking the mantle of the bed with barely any strength. Her right leg was bandaged.

Hashi stops on her tracks after seeing this, and Deborah is startled by the sudden barging in, covering herself completely.

-”Did…”- Hashi starts saying but falls into silence.

Deborah catches on and what Hashi wanted to asks, and only nods.

Hashi snorts, and rubbing both her eyes with her prosthetic arm, she asks -”Where is he?”-

-”He… he went out.”-

-”Out? At this time? It hasn’t been more than four hours since I left this room. It is the middle of the night. Are you sure?”-

Deborah slowly nods.

Hashi bites her lower lips again -”Did he told you where he was going?”-

Deborah shakes her head and then says -”He only said that… it was dull… that the dullness was unbearable.”-

Hashi looks at her again, and then back down, and then back at her again -”I can’t understand him. He had his fun all this time yet it was dull?”-

Deborah only shrugs, visibly hurt from Fleck’s comment.

Turning back, Hashi sights, and then says -”I’ll go looking for him, I don’t want to go back to sleep anytime soon. Be sure to lock down the door after I leave.”-

Walking out of the room and closing the door, Hashi hits the reception desk to ask for Fleck, then the porter of the Merchant’s Guild, at which he nods and points towards the slums, to the south, giving the directions to Hashi.

-”… And he just went walking on? Just like that?”- Hashi asks.

-”Yeah. Don’t know what was with him but his face, his eyes were like he wasn’t really here, you know? So after hearing about the gangs down there, he just… went.”- the porter says, making motions with his arms and the shrug by the end.

-”Thanks.”- Hashi says as she walks back inside.

He went all alone, uh?… well, if he wants to truly ditch our ride then sure, go ahead, we leave him behind tomorrow…

Biting the thumb of her prosthetic arm, she then sights and goes back out, going down the streets that Fleck took an hour ago.

-”It is not like we can handle J’avos as well as he can…”- Hashi mutters to herself, her voice being lost drown in the street, only stopping for a moment when the sound of a huge howl rips through the air, accompanied by the sound of a tree falling of to the ground, of a huge mirror breaking into a million pieces, and multiple houses falling down.