Veline floated over the snow, my supplies on her back at that point. She no longer even bothered to try and hide her form with the cloak. The cold had slowly begun to harshly bite at my skin as we trudged through the snow. I was thankful that it numbed the wounds I still hadn't recovered from. Even with the medicines, the arrow wound made it hard to move my hand like I wanted. I knew there was an easy way to deal with it, but there was no way I had the heart to suggest it to Veline still.

Once the snow storm had died down, the two of us packed up and began to move immediately. It was slow, having to stop regularly, but any moment wasted meant any pursuers could be on our heels. We were not far from the tree line. My mind was not on that matter, though. That would be hero had proven that I was still not capable of achieving my goal.

While my magical ability had grown and I had trained, they paled to what those I faced could pull. One boy, strengthened by a god, had been enough to injure me badly. The church, the demons, that red bastard of a god, the baron, and so many other threats outnumbered me and out powered me. A tightened frown formed on my face as the mere memory of the baron brought back the sight of that day. The look on Anna's face in the demon's grip. That cracking noise echoed through time to me. I had to gain some new strength.

Veline stopped suddenly, causing me to look where she faced. We had drawn so close to the tree line as to begin seeing in between them. There stood an armed group at the edge of the forest, staring into it. They were five in number that I could see. My body tensed and I could sense Veline's emotions turned to a buzzing of anger. They hadn't noticed us yet, but didn't quite look like any sort of official groups. That didn't mean anything, though. Adventurers would no doubt be hired to help hunt me down.

So came the problem I couldn't exactly figure out a good answer to. Killing some random group who was just hired to do what might even seem right to them? That wasn't my goal, but I could feel the wounds on my body ache. A taunting reminder of how I couldn’t go far. If only I was able to die safely, I could heal. I'd not be able to run. Could I bluff my way out of it? No. Vaseline was too blatant and that hero knew what I looked like.

As my mind raced, one of the four turned casually and looked at us. I felt the blood in my veins turned to match the air around us. Yet instead of instantly drawing his weapon, he merely wore a dumbfounded look. Then two others slowly turned as I felt Veline drawing up magic herself, yet still, slowly I put a hand on her arm as the four just stared confused at us.

The tension was cut suddenly by one wearing a thick padded robe finally turning. It was a girl with glasses who let out an excited squeal and shout, "Is that a Deamuri?!"

The statement hadn't caught me off guard. Veline let her built up magic linger in herself for a moment, then let it slowly begin to ebb away. The girl began running over, much to the clear shock of her companions. One who held a spear instantly tried to follow before he tripped and face planted in the snow. One with a bow helped the spearman up and the one with sword and shield followed better. I stepped back at a single pace, mind racing wildly to try to grasp what I should do.

The girl ignored me almost entirely as she made it right up to Veline, a look of excitement plastering her face as she babbled at her in a way I couldn't process. The man with the shield was still some way, looking like he was struggling to move through the snow in his heavy armor. Veline slowly floated away from her, disgust rising rapidly as she moved to be actually touching me.

The girl turned to me, a wide grin on her face as she reached out towards me. A horrid panic burst forth from my core. Instantly, the magic leapt through me as I readied to summon forth a phantom blade, but she grabbed my arm. Pain ripped it's way through me causing a noise to escape me. I threw her back, as my knee gave way, Veline grabbing me by my shoulders and readying her tail. I gasped as the wound began to bleed again. In a half mad moment, I lashed my hand out and let forth flames from it.

The mage floundered on the ground for a moment, looking up in confused shock as the wounds I had opened anew. The swordsman's face turned instantly to determination, and pulled his weapon and came running past her. The girl on the ground let out a half formed shout at him, but he was already bringing his weapon down towards me. Insteady, Veline's tail whipped forward slamming against the blade and forcing it from his hand. The appendage then flipped around. The fighter raised his shield, barely in time, blocking the blade from carving his neck.

I saw the archer notch an arrow and aim. Magic began to rise in me as I readied to send a bolt at her. Yet before I could do anything, the mage grabbed hold of the swordsman's shoulders shouting to stop. The magic crackled along my wounds, but the archer lowered her weapon slightly. The spear man stood frozen in some distance between us and the archer.

After a few seconds, the disarmed man’s eyes caught sight of the now forming stain beneath me as Veline growled, her blade pointed at the two. The mage looked at me, rapidly saying, "I'm sorry! Please don't fight!"

I hesitated, fighting to distinguish between my own emotions and Veline’s murderous rage. My arm shot away and the bolt of lightning struck out harmlessly into the air. The two before stumbled and fell into the snow as the air smelled of ozone. The archer and spearman stared in amazement, but I merely grunted out, "Medicine."

Veline's attention snapped to me and she dropped her tail. Instantly she lowered herself and shrugged off the pack, grabbing up the bag of medicine. The swordsman slowly got up, carefully moved over to his sword. I glared at him the entire time as Veline undid the bandage on my arm. Her hate was overwhelmed by her fear of the pain we shared. The mage struggled up as she kept going, "I'm sorry!"

Each apology was like a stone hitting me till I eventually said in a growl, "Stop apologizing."

"Oh! Uhm, I'm sorry. I just..." She began, but I shot a glare at her causing her to trail off. Her eyes fell off to the side.

By then the other two arrived, with the snow covered spearman's confused face turning a bit pale at the sight of the blood. After noticing I was the only hurt, though, he turned away and made sure he didn't face me again. Such a gesture seemed extreme to me. The archer stared at the scene before asking, awkwardly, "So, you are?"

A felt the cold ointment being put over the spot on my arm as I said, noting how she hadn’t unnotched the arrow, "Injured."

The archer was a blonde, short haired girl. I had first thought it was a man, but her being closer showed I was wrong. She, no more than in her late teens, stared for a moment before saying, "Ah, well, shot."

Once done, Veline repacked and shouldered the bags as I carefully stood. I stumbled and Veline caught me with her tail. My entire arm was completely numb. The mage girl, red curly hair barely even managed by a ponytail, asked in a quiet voice full of shame, "Are you ok?"

The other ones who were looking at me were eyeing me with suspicion. Instantly, I wondered if they were beginning to recognize me. In any case, they were clearly unsure of what to think of me at that moment. So, I turned and began to limp towards the forest. A head start was better than none if they were to realize outright.

The swordsman, who's hair was brown but like the archer's in cut, said, "Hey. Wait, you're injured."

"Good observation," I grunted as I moved, but he ran up behind. Veline's tail blade whipped up pointing at him, causing him to slip a bit as he tried to fully stop. He held up his hands. I could see the shivering of the blade. Her eyes were wide as she took hold of my arm.

"Listen, I know we had a bad start here, but if you are going into the forest-"

"I know it's dangerous. Do I look like some fool to you?" I snapped back at him.

He paused for a moment before saying with more force in his voice, "No. But you are injured and we have to go in there, too. I get that you probably wouldn't want to deal with us, especially after that, but I can't just let you wander in there alone like that."

The sentiment somehow felt like a joke. My only response was to turn and begin walking. That wasn't something I felt like dealing with. Annoyed, I heard them begin to follow me as I made my way past the first trees, the girl calling out, "Hey! I just want to ask about your Deamuri!"

Veline caught me as I wobbled and she whispered, "You need rest. Rest or it will get even worse. Already pushed far too far." Shame radiated to me. “I...can’t take it anymore.”

I put my hand on her arm, looking at the red spiral that ran to her hand then slowly up to her face. She was frowning, her sharp teeth showing. I felt my expression soften as I glanced back at the group of adventurers catching up. I bit my lip, wondering what I could even do.

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The lot of them seemed almost out of place here. A little too nice. They seemed genuine in their actions. Such was the way all who had betrayed me seemed, though. Yet, they seemed as if they hadn’t adapted to the way the world was now.

My teeth clenched as I stared at them. The four seemed worried, yet the smiling face of Marindol returned to me. That kind, gentle looking old man had killed me not even a half day after he had given it to me. Yet if they were weak, unprepared fools, would they be of much use anyways? A sympathetic pang ran through me as I wondered morbidly how long they’d all live.

The swordsman took a step forward, very careful as if he was expecting me to lash out, and said, "Listen. We're going to follow you whether you like it or not."

My eyes slowly searched his expression for any sign of deception. They could have thought I was too dangerous and were somehow magically leading more to me. Yet I couldn't think of any spell that could do such. I slowly looked at Veline who's emotions were a mess of worry, anger, and misery. I could easily push myself to death, but her? If one of them snuck off, then they could get someone. I gritted my teeth and said, unsure of my own emotions, "Go away."

The archer now stepped forward, a conflicted look on her face. She said, "Ok, so like, I don't get what is up with you or your freakish eyes, but-"

"Those are something! They are so strange, are they related to your servant somehow? I've read so many books on them, but there are so few out there and those with them tend to be super seclusive sorts. Or is it related to the recent oddities? Do you-" The mage began babbling at high speed, but the lancer slowly flicked the side of her head. She slowly turned to him, as he gave her a blank stare, giving him the most childish looking upset face I'd seen in a long time.

"Calm yourself, Yandakiva. Anyways, I don't care, Mr. Mysterious. All I know is monsters are totally going to smell your injured ass. So, like, might as well keep your as with us as bait," The archer continued. She had a hand on her hip as she talked, looking past me at the woods. If that was a joke, I couldn’t tell at all.

"Hey, I am Mack by the way," the guy with the spear said, but his tone couldn't hide the glint in his blue eye. He was disgusted by me. Did he realize who I was or was it something else?

The group stood there staring at me. The swordsman chimed in, suddenly, "I'm Harmond and the girl with the bow is Yinla. So there. We introduced ourselves. Now we-"

I said, cutting him off, "Follow me if you damn well want. You get me killed, I’ll rise from the dead and kill you all.”

The archer huffed and snippily shot back, "You're half dead already, moron."

Veline mummered, "Master, rest is required."

That was the first time in a while she had called me that. Her tone was hard and her emotions spoke clearly through the link. So I grunted and she, carefully, led me to a nearby tree. There she carefully cleared the ground of snow, sat me down, removed the pack, and sat it next to me. The wound on my chest had not bled much, but she insisted on seeing to it.

Yinla unshouldered her bow and said, "I'll go scout out then, I guess. Make sure not to, like, explode or something."

As she left I stared at her, knowing I was far too injured to stop her. It made my heart beat faster. If she circled around and out, it'd be bad, but a dark thought formed in my head. Calming, I looked over at her friends.

I watched the spear man just mill about, looking deeper into the forest. The swordsman unshouldered his own pack and sat down by a tree, huffing. I stared at Harmond, in his decent armor. He looked at me and said, "What is it?"

I didn't answer as veline began drawing the circle in the cleared spot. The mage girl was watching in amazement, which made my pact partner feel awkward and annoyed. Quickly, though, Yandakiva walked over, sheepishly. She asked, "How are your wounds? Sorry agai-"

"They hurt and don't you dare apologize to me again," I growled. She jumped a bit, getting a sad puppy-like look on her face.

Mack turned and said, "Hey, come on, she's trying to apologize."

I looked past him, watching the archer sneak deeper into the forest. My eyes slid slowly back to the spearman, his body physically twitching at the sight of them. I said, "And I already said to stop. I don't like being apologized to. Words are easy."

Mack’s eyebrow furrowed. The statement had taken the guy off guard. Veline floated back over as the fire flared to life. She sat down in the snow, saying, "Master. Stay."

I looked at her with a frown. She began to puff up her own cheeks and returned the frown. Yandakiva said, trying to skirt the clearly unwell atmosphere, "Uhm...can I ask why you have her act like that?"

Veline grabbed my hood lightly and pulled it over my eyes. When I pulled it back up, she had taken hold of my arm and leaned her head against my shoulder. I said, remembering vaguely that my partner was an oddity to her kind, "It's my own reasons and not ones I wish to tell people I just met. Let alone people I didn't want to follow me."

Mack said again, "You are really a sour person, you know that?"

"Yes. I'm aware. Do you often point out the blindingly obvious?" I growled back. He was going to grow to be a major annoyance, but they had insisted on following. I resigned myself to just biding my time.

The spearman turned back to the forest as the mage said, trying to be cheerful, "Well, I think it shows you aren't as thorny as you appear."

I just took a deep breath and leaned a bit more on the tree, watching the fire. Her tone was reminiscent of Martin's. The idea of them being like one of the people I put faith in disquieted me. It made me wonder if I could kill them if I had to. The girl still stood there, looking weirdly excited. If she knew who I was, such excitement was certainly disturbing. Was it possible they were actually cultists? I instantly threw the thought away, realizing it was silly.

She said, "I'm s- oh. Right. Uhm, yeah no apologizing. But it's just so cool you have a servant creature of that kind. They are so rare and such a boon."

I let out a long, tired sigh as Veline just sat there staring at the mage. She was enjoying the praise as she rested against me. I said, "You mentioned something about my eyes."

I saw the swordsman perk up a bit out of the corner of my eye. Yandakiva nodded and said, "Ah right. I was asking if it had anything to do with your servant?"

With a sigh, I said, “I doubt it is related. I’ve not much about them myself, but it happened some time after Garnalt was taken by the demons."

Without looking back, Mack remarked, "Well they are rather creepy."

Harmond looked to his spear wielding friend, shook his head slightly, and then turned his eyes skyward. He said, "Well, we still haven't got your name."

The implied question sat unanswered as Veline made a soft noise. Her tail coiled about in the snow in a manner similar to a snake. I couldn't tell if she was playing with it or trying to threaten them. Her emotions were far too mixed up to make much sense of. She said, tiredly, “Secrets are trade. Names in trade for secrets are names traded.”

They looked at her, different expressions on their faces. The mage's eyes widened and said, "Oh. Duh! You are here for research."

"What does that have to do with being quiet?" Mack asked, stretching.

"Well, not all mages are adventurers. Many do research and that research is extremely important. So much so that others might try to steal it," Yandakiva extrapolated on the almost nonsense thing Veline said. I silently used my uninjured arm's hand to pat my partner on the head. She let out a satisfied noise, but my eyes didn't leave then.

"I don't see it. I can't imagine there are many...dreamer ser-" Mack began.

"Deamuri," The mage corrected.

The spearman's shoulders drooped for a second as he sighed. He continued, "Deomali servants with a master with creepy eyes."

I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering if he had accidently slipped up. His statement was all true. Harmond spoke up by asking pointedly, "Can we not antagonize the guy? He's got a right to be secretive as he wants with his work."

Yandakiva turned her attention back to Veline and began asking her many questions that I began to tune out. Veline answered only a few, her interests laying more in just resting. The other two were silent as time passed. With every passing hour, my suspicions grew. Yet eventually the archer girl returned. Annoyance on her face. She said, "Not seen a single sign in this area. Like, not even a monster's footprint. Should we start moving deeper in?"

When the lot looked at me, I frowned at them heavily. Veline carefully wrapped her tail about me and lifted me in the air. Before I could protest, she said, "No. Rest. I’ll carry. He needs a safe place to rest."

"Fine," I said, annoyed as I looked at the blade of my partner's tail.

The archer girl was warming herself by the magic fire. She said, "I did see a spot that might be good. Better than here. Canopy of the forest covered it enough to keep most of the snow off at least."

Mack said, "Well, either there isn't anything and it's a nice spot to bunker down or we find one of the marks. Which direction?"

"North by north west, like an hour," Yinla said, staring into the fire as she stood up, kicking snow onto it.

"Well, think you can make it a bit further, Grey?" Harmond asked after struggling to his feet. I gave him a questioning look and he said, "Cus the eyes. Since you won't give a name, I'm just going to call you Grey."

I considered them all once again, suspicious but unable to find a single way to ditch or be rid of them. I had killed, this much was true, but each had been with reason and purpose. Even then, that number was still less than them. Veline carefully put a hand on mine, giving me a sad look. I couldn’t push her further. She had suffered through far too long. At the least, I was certain we could take the chance for rest. Even if it was amongst enemies.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I grumbled.