Zalia looked sideways at Ember, quickly looking away again when the woman caught her staring.

She looked again, Ember once more turning at her gaze.

“What!?” Ember asked, her voice a little louder than she might have intended.

“So… Saint Ember, hey?” Zalia said innocently.

They were walking down a little path that led down the length of a fence. It might have once held a herd of animals but was now empty.

“Don’t even start,” Ember warned.

“Well that’s not fair, you gave me a little bit of heat about the giant statue in the middle of the war camp. I think I owe a little back.”

“Ugh, it’s started happening the past few towns I’ve gone through. Unbelievable, really. Like someone actually just helping out others makes them some kind of mythical saint or something,” Ember complained.

“I’m not surprised people here are a little bit more superstitious, with magic existing and everything,” Zalia said.

“What?”

“Well, a lot of impossible things can already happen, gods have a very proven state of existence even. It isn’t a much bigger step from that to you being a saint, or me some kind of war hero I guess,” Zalia explained.

“The place you’re from sounds quite weird. No magic you say? I couldn’t imagine life without it.”

“It wasn’t so bad, though magic is absolutely an improvement in all regards so far. Well, we didn’t have demons, I guess, but there were plenty of other things that weren’t so different from them.”

“Really? How could you have had something as bad as them without magic?” Ember asked.

“Mega Corporations,” Zalia said with a shiver.

She wasn’t exactly sure how that translated for Ember but the woman gave her an odd look.

“Is that… some kind of beast from your home?” she asked.

“The worst kind,” Zalia said, nodding her head.

“Maybe we can hunt one down one day, to help free your world?” Ember suggested.

“Maybe,” Zalia said, considering that prospect.

What would she do if she ever managed to return to her old world? Would she keep her magic and abilities?

If so, she wouldn’t necessarily have some kind of huge advantage at her current level of power. A gun would probably still be enough to kill her, not to mention the huge variety of military weapons with more destructive power than something like a handheld gun.

Well, either way, if she did end up back in her old homeworld with no way back she would just live on the edges of civilization again. She had no intention of rejoining that particular society again.

They came up on a large patch of corrupted land, though it was small compared to what was down south, and Zalia began to cleanse it away with Healing presence.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Ember commented.

“Hmm?” Zalia hummed questioningly.

“It’s just… stunning to see the nature come back to life and begin thriving again with such little effort,” Ember explained.

Zalia shrugged.

“You could do it too, if you had a healing ability that was more of an area thing than the extremely targeted healing you have now,” Zalia said.

“Maybe, but I don’t think so. None of the other healers I know, some of those having area healing abilities, can do it. I prefer the stronger single target healing anyways so I’m not so bothered.”

Ember had an extremely strong targeted healing ability that required her to be close to the target, as well as an emotional healing ability. Something that Zalia had definitely noticed her using on Aylie from time to time. She was more grateful than words could express for that.

She was also able to detect injuries and their severity, something that Zalia could not do, as well as having an aura that increased the healing received of allies in the area. That tied extremely well with Zalia’s own Healing presence, leading to an even stronger passive healing for them all.

“Have you lost a limb in battle yet?” Zalia asked.

“I have actually, not a fond memory,” Ember said, scrunching up her face at the question.

“Not a very fun experience,” Zalia agreed, “how long did yours take to grow back?”

“A leg, and it took all of about five seconds. You?” Ember asked.

“I wish mine took as little time as that. A couple minutes for me, though I wasn’t quite Bronze at the time. My healing ability was though, so not much difference there,” Zalia replied.

“Damn, two minutes would have been torturous,” Ember said, wincing.

“Not so much, actually. I was in shock for most of it, still in battle for a good amount of the time as well. It was mostly just… itchy. The emotional trauma was the worst of it. I still get a phantom stabbing pain from when that one undead shoved their sword through my chest.”

“From when they what?” Ember asked, a little shock on her face.

“Sword, chest. All the way through. Would have taken my head as well, if it weren’t for the protective ability that activates when I’m going to be killed,” Zalia explained.

Ember shivered.

“Maybe don’t say that so loudly,” she whispered.

Aylie and Boreal were only a dozen steps behind them, playing some kind of game that involved a lot of hopping.

Zalia grimaced, having forgotten herself. She would have to be a little more careful with her words. Luckily, Aylie hadn’t seemed to have heard.

“I’m fine now, at any rate. Just have a collection of bad memories,” Zalia said.

“Don’t we all,” Ember agreed.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

They fell into silence, each of them deep in thought. Zalia didn’t miss that Ember started using her emotional healing on her, however, as a calm soothing blanket fell on her mind. She didn’t ask Ember to stop, though she didn’t feel like she particularly needed it at the moment. Well, except for that one memory…

She came to, shaking her head and finding Ember looking over at her.

“What was that?” she asked.

“What was what?” Zalia asked back.

“You forget that I can detect injuries. That includes emotional ones Zalia.”

“Yes, and?” Zalia asked, genuinely confused.

“Well, I just felt a huge emotional wound appear and disappear,” Ember explained.

“Oh, right. That’s just a memory from my last few moments in Cormaine.”

“You never did tell me how you got back,” Ember said.

“It’s not important.”

“I feel like it might be a bit more important than you’re letting on,” Ember said softly.

“Drop it,” Zalia said sharply.

Ember fell silent, and so did the giggling Aylie behind them.

Zalia turned around and found her looking with wide eyed worry.

“Don’t worry,” Ember said soothingly.

Zalia immediately felt a stab of regret. She shouldn’t have snapped at Ember, especially not with Aylie around.

“Sorry,” she said quietly.

“It’s alright. I can see it’s a sore spot for you. I’m here if you ever need to talk about it,” Ember said, her voice still soft.

Saint Ember indeed.

“I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you,” Zalia said.

Aylie and Boreal had gone back to their game but Zalia could see by the expression on Aylie’s face that she was still worried. She would have to explain later.

“Keep walking, I’m going to see if I can find something to eat for tonight,” Zalia said, beginning to walk off.

“Are you going to be alright?” Ember asked.

“I’ll be fine, I just need a little time alone,” Zalia said.

“I’m just going to go find something for the others to eat tonight, keep Aylie safe,” she sent to Boreal.

She got a mental confirmation and so walked off to the left, where the small trail led off into the forest.

She let her mind focus on the task, reading the tracks and tells of the forest. She had told herself that when she got somewhere safe that she would allow that… memory back into her mind. That she would process what had happened in a calm and safe environment. The Grove would have been the perfect place to do just that yet she found herself here already, walking into the dangerous wilds?

Did she really have to process it? Couldn’t she just leave the memory in the vault?

It already popped up whenever a topic surrounding the memory came up, the experience fresh as the moment it had happened. Perhaps leaving it in the vault would not be a possibility. Well, she would deal with it later. For now, she didn’t have the time so she would just bottle it up for a time that she was able to deal with it.

It didn’t take long for her to find food for the evening, the sun already beginning to reach the end of its daily journey and dipping below the horizon. The forest was dim and cold, neither of those things even mild annoyances to Zalia anymore, with her abilities allowing her to ignore both.

An Ironfur rabbit was her reward for a short hunt, a small Tin ranked one that would be enough to feed the voracious Ember and the small Aylie.

Zalia and Boreal had already eaten three days prior, probably not needing to eat for another day or two.

Congratulations! Hunter’s sight has reached Bronze 3.

Congratulations! Harvester has reached Bronze 2.

Congratulations! Low light vision has gained two levels reaching Iron 15.

She was also awarded a couple levels, as she used preparation to harvest the few herbs she walked past. They were all very common ones, Bitterbalm and Dodge-vine the most common amongst them. Nothing special to talk about but also free experience to level her Herbalist abilities so she wouldn’t say no.

She found her way back to the others who had set up camp just off the small path and in the forest a little bit. Her internal compass that pointed directly to Boreal helpful as always.

She wordlessly walked up to the camp and, using her passive Heat resistance, lit the small fire that one of the others had already set up for her. She quickly prepared the meat and skewered it onto a few sharp sticks as small chunks.

Congratulations! Preparation has reached Bronze 3.

She used a bit of salt and Bitterbalm to garnish the meat. It wasn’t anything fancy but better than nothing. She had been considering if any of her current Herbal magic combinations would allow for some type of flavour enhancing ritual but hadn’t come up with anything just yet. She might have to find a new herb for that one. Or perhaps would need to use the base effect combination from Herbal magic’s Bronze ability. Though even that didn’t seem to have any combinations that would work. How was it that she was able to come up with any number of powerful harming effects but something so simple as making food more tasty was unachievable?

Well, she would have to keep an eye out. For now though, neither Ember or Aylie complained as they chewed their food.

“So, Aylie, are you ever going to tell me what that blessing the starlight wolf gave you was?” Zalia asked, trying to spark conversation.

“Oh? You didn’t tell me about this,” Ember said, turning her gaze to Aylie as well.

The girl shrunk under their combined gazes but had a mischievous look to her eyes.

“Yeah, the starlight wolf came to find me shortly after I returned to Endaria. Aylie here was given a blessing by it, somewhat unlike the blessings I’ve received so far I might add. My two blessings have been on heirlooms I own, whereas the wolf blessed Aylie herself,” Zalia explained.

“You were blessed by a god?” Ember asked Aylie.

The girl nodded, still chewing.

Zalia eyed Boreal who had decided on a surprise boop to the forehead at the time the blessing had happened. She wouldn’t be caught off guard again.

“Are you going to tell us about what it did?” Ember asked.

Aylie looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook her head.

“You won’t?” Ember asked, faking an aghast look.

“You won’t keep it from Ember forever will you? She doesn’t like mysteries and secrets,” Zalia explained wisely.

Neither did she, but she wasn’t about to explain that to Aylie. That would just make the girl do it more. She had learned a lesson or two about cheeky younglings from Boreal.

Ember looked at Zalia with a real aghast expression while Aylie looked at Ember with the expression of a pyromaniac who just found a flamethrower.

Zalia just shrugged at Ember and picked up a chunk of wood that had missed the fire. She turned it around in her hands before storing it in her vault using the ability from Druid’s Grove. She would need to find some whittling tools. Times like these when she had an entire night on her hands where these two would need to sleep would be perfect for picking up wood carving again.

Aylie jumped up and ran over to Zalia, whispering in her ear.

Zalia nodded, then nodded again.

“I see, I see,” she said sagely.

“What did she tell you?” Ember asked as Aylie went back to her little seat fashioned from stone. Zalia had made those.

“Oh, just the secret about her blessing,” Zalia said innocently.

“You told her before me?” Ember asked Aylie, mock hurt in her tone.

Aylie nodded sharply like, “of course!”

“Ouch,” Ember said, holding a hand to her heart.

Aylie started to look regretful so Zalia turned to her.

“Can I tell her?” she asked.

Aylie looked at Zalia for a moment before nodding her assent.

“Aylie said her blessing will give her a class option when she is the right age for the choosing,” Zalia said.

“Oh?” Ember asked, her mock hurt turning to genuine interest.

“Yeah, she didn’t say what the message actually said to her except for that but it could be really powerful I think. I mean, a class granted by the blessing of a god? That is something anyone would want,” Zalia explained.

“You can say that again. A class? I’ve never heard of that happening before,” Ember mused.

“I guess most people don’t tend to attract the attention of a god for any reason without already having a class,” Zalia suggested.

“Yeah that would be right I suppose. Still, I’d be interested to see what that ends up to be,” Ember said.

“As would I.”