(From Rossane)

I suddenly remembered something. I had seen these types of creatures before. Yes, it was a long time ago, in another life.

—We identify them as Unreine Seele, though it was not us who came up with that term. Long story, I’ll tell you about it another day, *** —said the person with the long emerald-like hair—, they are what happens to humans who abandon their humanity, either willingly or due to external influences.

—Can… Can they be brought back? —I saw my past self ask, her face was so blurry…

Did I really forget what my own face looked like? Uh… What was my name back then?

—Technically yes, but it is almost impossible with our current methods. They have to be reminded who they were, at a very deep level, and each person is different. Smell is said to be the best at bringing back a memory, but it only works if they already have an association with it. We can’t go around with every possible smell, that’s not practical or reasonable. So our efforts have been focusing on developing a method that can work on everyone despite their personal circumstances.

—And that is?

—Music! Everyone loves songs, and even something that you have never heard might sound nostalgic and connect with you.

—So… we are going to sing to them?

—It’s our best hope, we have calculated the efficiency at 19.79%.

—Those are… great odds—my old self said, sarcastically.

—It is a work in progress. But we might need to accept the fact that we won’t be able to turn all of them back to what they were.

—And what are we going to do with those we can’t save?

—That’s where you come in.

—ROSANNE!! —I heard someone calling me, and just as suddenly, I was back at the temple, with those who had become monsters inching towards Ingrid.

The one that had yelled my name had been Lillie, whose eyes seemed to beg me to do something. But what could I even do? My threads wouldn’t be enough to deal with these creatures.

—Don’t you already know? —I heard a voice in my head say, causing me a headache.

—SHUT UP! IF I KNEW, I WOULD HAVE DONE IT ALREADY?! —I yelled to my insides.

I couldn’t think of anything that I could do, but I couldn’t let them hurt Ingrid. The idea of her being hurt after all we have gone through, after almost seeing her fall into that boiling river, I just couldn’t stand it. I could only see red.

—S T A Y A W A Y F R O M H E R! —I screamed, not sure what I would accomplish with that.

But… one instant after, the creatures weren’t there anymore, alongside a huge chunk of the wall.

—Wha? —was the only thing I could say before I fell to the ground on my knees.

I could think a little bit better now, but as some sort of exchange, I couldn’t feel much of my body. I felt like I was falling inside of myself, until Ingrid, Lillie, and Elise rushed to help me. For some reason, just having them close by helped me regain some strength. The mask I had been covering my face with did fall to the ground, breaking a bit on impact. But more importantly, alongside the mask, my two horns also fell. I got a weird feeling seeing them, for some reason, the idea of not having them made me shudder, like if we were talking about losing a finger. I was actually relieved when I touched my forehead, and found out I still had part of them.

—Are you alright? —Ingrid asked me.

—Ye-yeah, I think so. What… What happened?

—I think you blew those creatures away —Lillie’s mom said.

—Did… did I kill them?

They helped me get to my feet and come close to the hole in the wall. I was both relieved and terrified when I saw the creatures slowly get back up and run away.

—They are going towards the radio tower! —Ingrid realized.

—We need to warn Maxwell and Lucius! —I said, trying to walk on my own, but my legs failed me and I almost fell again, if the two women at my side hadn’t caught me.

—You can’t go anywhere —Ingrid said, helping me get to a chair— Whatever you did before must have taken a toll on your body. I will go and bring both of them….

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—You can’t! —I yelled, regaining a bit of common sense when someone else was at risk— the storm is becoming stronger, you’ll freeze before you get there. Or you'll encounter those Unreine Seele! I can’t let you go alone!

—Unreine Seele? —Ingrid said, confused, but then shook her head—, then what do you want me to do?

—If… —Elise interrupted— if you want to get to the radio tower, I know a safe way to get there.

—Wait? Really? —Ingrid said, getting the words out of my mind.

—Yes. It goes from the basement of this temple to the tower. It’s completely underground, so neither the storm or those creatures will be a problem.

—How could you know that?

Elise looked a bit troubled.

—When I first came to this town, the radio tower’s construction had just started. I happened to meet the workers one day, who were tired of having to prepare their own food before going to work, or having to come all the way back to the town at lunch —she said, as she directed us to the backside of the temple— So I started to prepare and deliver the food to them there. But since Ti… Lillie was too young, I had to take her with me each time. And the workers started to worry, when they learned of this. I was traveling alone with a baby and food through a long path in the wilderness. I’m surprised I wasn’t attacked by beasts, the gods must have been looking after me. That’s when the workers told me about this.

She has taken us next to the makeshift kitchen, where there was what seemed to have been a statue. Now there only was a square-ish piece of marble, with two stumps coming out of it, too eroded to even look like legs. Elise started to push one side of the rock, and it actually moved. A small door opened, just big enough for someone to crawl inside. Even Quejada was surprised about this passageway’s existence.

—This leads to an underground system of tunnels, and one of them connects with the radio tower, as that place used to be a temple for… there used to be another temple there. Its buried remains were found where they were building the foundations of the radio tower, and it ended up becoming its basement.

—If we use these tunnels, we might be able to reach Maxwell and Lucius before those creatures —I said, trying to convince myself that was possible.

Before we left, we discussed the situation with Quejada. Ingrid, Elise and I would go into the tunnels. Ingrid at first tried to insist on me staying behind, but I showed her I could stand on my own feet. And after eating some bread and pastries that Lillie and her mother offered to me, I was already feeling a lot better. After some attempts, I found that despite losing most of my horns, I was still able to use my threads. They were so thin and weak though, I could barely see their red color.

I was pretty sure I couldn’t do whatever I did before once again, my body probably wouldn’t be able to stand it. But I wasn’t planning to confront the Unreine Seele, our objective was just taking Maxwell and Lucius back to safety. Even turning off the signal could wait for us to regroup and ask for reinforcements. I just… needed to know that they were safe.

—I’m also going! —Lillie said, but her mother told her it would be too dangerous.

Quejada would also stay behind and solve the situation there, it being the giant hole in the wall. The cold air that was getting into the temple was not good for any of the patients, and there was no way they could move them all to the town before the storm hit the hardest. And of course, there was a chance that the Unreine Seele might return. That hole needed to be patched as soon as possible.

Fortunately, one of the nurses that Quejada had hired was able to use shield magic. She wasn’t as good as Erzi, but she created a temporal barrier. Santicus took his donkey back to town to ask for help and materials, while everyone else who could help got ready to do their part to help. It was quite inspiring looking at a chain of the mothers who had gone to that temple accompanying their daughters, moving the pieces of the wall to where they would be used. I also felt bad, for obvious reasons, but I didn’t have time to waste anymore.

We then entered the tunnels, going first through a stepped ramp that felt more like a bumpy slide than anything. We had taken some glowing crystals with us, but it seemed like the light was absorbed by the room, we could barely see beyond our hands.

—There are a few collapsed tunnels, but I memorized the path to the other temple. I could get you there even without any light —Elise said—, but let’s stay together to avoid getting lost.

She said, and offered me her hand. I took it, and in turn, I offered mine to Ingrid, who took it a bit reluctantly.

—Hey, earlier you said you would tell us about your circumstances once we were alone —Ingrid said—, was that man really your husband?

Elise stopped walking, and didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

—Yes, in some way, he was —she said—, I think I have to be completely honest and open for both of you to understand what I mean. I grew up as part of the cult of Lilith.

I froze for a moment. The woman I was holding hands with was the same as Iridia, who had tried to take my baby away from me. I instinctively tried to let go of my other hand to use my threads. What for? I am not sure even now. My body was reacting before my mind could process it. But I couldn’t move my hand, Ingrid was holding onto it pretty hard, not letting me go.

I remembered how much disdain she had openly shown against me when we started this travel, and yet she had put away her prejudice. That made me snap out, and I decided to hear what Elise had to say.

—My family had been part of the cult for several generations. I can’t say that my childhood was that different from everyone else, only our rituals were a bit different. We weren’t even that involved in it. It was just something more that was part of our lives, alongside taking care of the animals and plowing the fields. But one of the preachers took an interest in me, she wanted to train me to be her successor. Becoming a part of the clergy was seen as a step up on the social ladder, that was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

The mother of Lillie sighed.

—But I think I ascended too far. I was soon talking with those who were almost at the top of the whole cult. They told me the real objective of our whole religion was to bring up our goddess into the world, and gave me the opportunity to join a special group that would be responsible for doing that. I was naive, and I truly believed in the teachings of our religion about Lilith. I still do to this day, in my own way. They introduced me to that man, saying that our compatibility was high, so we got married. We actually got along fine at the start. Alongside with other couples, we tried several times to… do a ritual in which one of us will end up conceiving the reincarnation of our goddess. But I came to learn the goddess they wanted to bring to the world wasn’t Lilith, but her mother, Tiamat.

—Tia… mat? —I asked.

—The mother of all demons —Ingrid whispered.