Brick woke me early in the morning and took me into Bruiser and Jackal’s room. Jackal was snoring on his bed, but Bruiser sat up alert the second we entered.

“How’s my girl?” Bruiser swept me into his arms and spun me around. “I missed you, sweetheart. Have you been enjoying your time at university?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Some of the content is pretty disturbing, but we’re doing okay. I organized with Nightfall to go ingredient picking together for our Potions assignment this morning. I just wanted to come and see you before I left. I’ve missed you."

Bruiser stroked my cheek and leaned in to kiss me tenderly on the lips. “And I’ve missed you, dear heart. But we have not been idle in your absence. There have been many disturbing rumours as of late. More changes than I knew of.”

“Is that the secret mission you’ve been on?” I looked at Brick. “Bastion mentioned it, but he was pretty drunk so I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.”

“No,” Brick said, blushing and looking shifty. “I’ve been… doing something else. I’ll tell you later, but it’s not ready yet."

“Oh, okay,” I blinked, taken aback. He hardly ever kept secrets from me.

“There are rumours that the necromancers have been more active than we had believed,” Bruiser interrupted me grimly, regaining my attention. “I am glad you have been safe inside the Citadel. If you are to go outside the walls today, please be careful and do not stray far.”

“Necromancers? As in more than one?” I asked. “I thought you believed there was only one left."

“I now believe there are at least two. Only one has been seen coming and going from the towers, but there is potentially another hidden within. I do not yet know if they are enemies, twin threats or in league. I will be gone today to commune with nature and ask what has been seen. The birds of this area provide eyes that can see further than anything else.”

I pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m so glad I have you on my side.”

“Always, darling. Until the day I die.”

It was a solemn oath, I could tell. I sat back down next to them and pulled out James’ notebook that I’d found in the library, telling them all I had discovered.

Brick sat on my other side, and we flipped through the pages together, Bruiser tracing his fingers over some of the words with an expression of growing concern.

“This is a lot to take in,” Brick said, reeling. “Even though you said… you’d said what you did… This looks far too juvenile to be the source of… of all that is. Of me. Of you."

“He didn’t create me,” I reminded him defiantly. “And he didn’t make you all by himself either. There’s… I don’t know how to describe it, but there’s technology and power out there that can do so much more than you could imagine. It’s… best not to think about it too hard, sometimes.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“And yet a necromancer may have access to this power,” Bruiser said darkly. “You were right to show this to me. Leave the notebook with me and I will study it further.”

“Do you want me to do anything else?” I asked, wishing I could ease the burden he felt. I knew he had a terrible history with the necromancers because of what they had done to his old flame, Elise.

“Just stay safe,” he kissed me tenderly again, and I felt like he was savouring every moment. He often got like this after talk of necromancers. Like the shadows of death, despair and regret needed to be chased out by love and life.

I kissed him as passionately as he would allow, wanting to chase every shadow from his eyes and every line from his face. I wanted to leave him feeling youthful and free in the sun. But when I drew away, he regarded me with a determined eye that reminded me he had once fought and lost in a war.

“Make sure you return to the university early tonight. You should continue to stay in the student accommodation and get your courses completed as quickly as possible,” he brushed my lip with his thumb. “How do you like Nightfall?”

I blushed. “I like him. He’s different to you both. He feels like an onion. I keep peeling off new layers every day.”

“I would be very glad if something happened between you,” Bruiser said. “I’ve known Nightfall since he was a child. He deserves to be loved like you could love him, and it would ease my mind to know you had more protection. He will look after you when I am not by your side."

“You talk like you’re going away,” I said, cautiously. “You’re not… feeling the call of the wild already, are you?”

“No, dear heart,” Bruiser said firmly. “I would stay with you, even in the city, for eternity if I could. But you should attend to your studies, and I will attend to things out here, although my heart will be with you.”

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” I turned to Brick. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m still concerned about the notebook. About what it means for us,” Brick said, frowning. “Could it be a trap? Has it been there all this time for only you to pick up? Why was it not found before?"

“I suspect that no one ever picked it up because it didn’t look like a book. Every other book has a category, a purpose, a number,” I chewed my lip. “I have a feeling like if no one ever went there specifically looking for it, there’s no way they’d see it. Nightfall didn’t even recognize it as a book at first because of the binding. He assumed it was someone else’s property. No one seems to notice it until it’s pointed out. Like Prindous’ hands, the bogus classes, and all the other weird stuff around the campus”

“If what you say is true,” Brick said somberly. “My education was pointless.”

“It was not pointless,” I said, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders in alarm. “Brick, don’t let what is happening here take away from your achievement. You completed it, and it got you your points. You are an intelligent, amazing guy regardless of anything else that happens. Never doubt that. You are not your degree or your achievements. You’re more than that. So much more.”

Brick stroked the side of my face with one of his thick fingers and kissed me lightly. “When did you say you were meeting up with Nightfall?”

A thrill ran through me. “Not until after dawn, at least. Nightfall can’t leave until the gates open.”

“Then we better make good use of our remaining time,” Brick growled.

Bruiser chuckled with amusement as my orc hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me off. He even gave me a little wave. It still blew my mind how okay he was with all of this, but I supposed I was the only one who was new to the concept. In my old life, I ever would have dreamed of even asking, of possibly believing that I could have it all… but here?

I threw a sleeping spell at Bastion to make sure he wouldn’t wake up and let Brick peel me out of my clothes before climbing on top of me.

I wanted to do everything I could to fix this world up and make it liveable. Here, I had everything.