~Selene~

The first thing Selene had done after Rea's death... was start a fight.  In this world necromancers can do all sorts of nasty stuff to your remains, so the best thing to do after death is burn a body and scatter the ashes.  Selene wasn't thinking clearly and nearly took Creighton's head off when he barked the orders.  The man had only meant to help, after all.  He really didn't deserve an ice lance poking his quicksilver gorget.

After Creighton had managed to calm her down, she just watched as a few adventurers carried Rea out.  Massive logs had already been stacked by the time they made it outside.  Selene reluctantly watched on as Rea's body was laid on top of a hastily built pyre.  Watching the body of someone you love burn isn't easy, but she did it.  A few hours later, she was gathering Rea's ashes into a vase — provided by Creighton.

The first man that tried to help her learned the hard way, Selene wasn't trusting anybody with Rea's ashes.  The poor fellow had been nearly impaled by a dozen frozen lances.

Creighton spoke up as she sealed the vase, "what will you do?"

"You're going to Solanis, to purify the lich's remains?" she asked.

"We are — or at least, I am," he confirmed.

"I know you owe me nothing, but I would like to beg a favor." Selene bowed before him.

Creighton remembered clearly what Rea had once said about this girl, that powerful mage had called Selene the most talented water mage.  Someone he'd like to make an ally out of.  "I've no end of respect for the Ainsworths, and they gave their lives for you.  Ask, and it shall be done."

Selene was happy to hear that, "I'll write a letter, go to the library in Solanis and deliver it for me.  I need information about lichs and their magic.  I need to know what happened to Sereda.  I also want you to look into those symbols we saw on Rea's arm.  Go copy them, then spread it around."

Creighton agreed with no additional terms, "what will you do?"

Selene hugged the vase — filled with Rea's ashes — she then looked up at him, "Rea used to talk about the beach once in awhile, she had been very fond of what you could see there.  I'll go spread her ashes, then return to Vestlei.  I need to tell her aunt what happened, Rea was the last of her family.  After that, I'll dig through the library there and send out more copies of the symbols on Rea's arm.  I should also contact the Tal'ma'tarn library and have them send me some books too."  Selene felt a headache coming on when she thought of the sorrow that Vestlei was about to go through... rather, the lament of Rea's various lovers.  She was none too pleased when Lucatiel crossed her mind.

Creighton noticed the cringe, and asked, "something wrong?"

Selene sighed, "Rea was pretty intimate with a terrifying woman," she gazed across the plains, "what do you know about me?"

Creighton quickly informed Selene of all that had transpired.  The girl was pleased to know what Rea had done to Ralph.  She was still fond of Kalphus and Valerie, but if she ever saw Ralph again...  A gasp from Creighton quickly brought Selene to her senses, "what's wrong?"

His eyes were still wide, "your hair was glowing..."

Now it was Selene's turn to be surprised.  Not only was the hair running through her fingers a lighter, brighter shade, there were dark veins running along her arms.  Obviously some side effect of the magic she'd been exposed to.  Shrugging off any worries, she set her mind to the task at hand, and said her goodbyes.  After gratefully accepting some supplies, she set off towards the nearest eastern beach.

At this point Selene, while pondering one of the things Rea had mentioned, mumbled, "I wonder what a slingshot mankini is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Meril~

Meril spent the first week after Selene had arrived in Vestlei, with Uncle Denarius.  He was the closest thing she had to family, and the only request she had made of him was to create a wanted poster.  By now, Ralph's face — as described by Selene — was all over town and making its way to the other cities and villages.

Selene had tried to hand over Rea's staff, amulet, and enchanted bag.  But the only thing Meril took to remember Rea by, was the silver case with Nathan's visage.  She took out all but two vials of Rea's elixir, the rest were handed to Selene.  After that she wasn't really talkative, completely listless.  Denarius was in a pretty foul mood too, so Selene had left them be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Lucatiel~

*Knock knock*

Lucatiel looked back towards the door of her cabin.  Visitors were pretty rare, "who's there?"

"Selene," spoke a trembling voice.

Lucatiel quickly took a pan off the stove and let her in, the look on Selene's face was unmistakable to this experienced woman.  Lucatiel had gone to tell plenty of people that someone they loved was dead, and there was only one person the two of them had in common.  It had taken all of five seconds for Lucatiel to know what she was here for, "you're kidding..."

Selene started crying and fell to her knees, Lucatiel picked the little woman up and carried her in — ignoring the change in appearance.  After Lucatiel had gotten the whole story she was boiling with fury.  She didn't blame Selene for chasing Rea — Lucatiel had almost done that herself.  She did however, have a bone to pick with that rogue... but hearing the whole story meant there were more important matters at hand.

Lucatiel was gently rubbing Selene's back when she spoke her intentions, "I know who can tell us what the rune is, I'll track her down.  Should be in Tal'ma'tarn, you just focus on how we deal with the magic that hit Sereda."

Selene had a glorious smile, that was the best news she'd heard yet, "I'll go through every book on the continent and even track down necromancers if I have to."

Lucatiel started to pack a travel bag, "bring Denarius with you if you're going after necromancers, those bastards can't touch him."  Selene gave Lucatiel her thanks and opened up Rea's enchanted pack.  Lucatiel quickly took Rea's favorite pair of leather boots as a memento, the ones Rea wore with her mage garb.

Being an avid reader, and lover of Rea, Selene had obviously read Meril's books...  When Lucatiel felt someone tugging on her shirt from behind, she looked back.  The suggestive gaze Selene was giving her said it all, "seriously?"

Selene blushed furiously, "I'm in a pretty bad place right now... isn't this what Rea did when she got down?"

Lucatiel rolled her eyes, "Rea is a special case..." Lucatiel took a closer look at Selene, the new features had given her a pretty unique air, "...your glasses?"

"I don't need them anymore."

Lucatiel let out a sigh,  the fact that Selene wasn't wearing her robe anymore made it hard to decline.  However, the fact that Selene was the mage who invented her favorite trick, made it impossible to decline...  A shame she didn't realize sooner that [Thermoregulation] and fire magic were two things Selene lacked, a startling shame.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Gaius~

The druid had gathered nine fellow druids from the surrounding areas.  For the past few days he had taught them, and written down everything Rea had told him.  By now there were four runic druids.  At one point during lunch, he had dropped his bowl and gazed north.

"What is it brother Gaius?"

Gaius silently continued his vigil, four minutes later, he spoke, "our newest sister, the one who brought us runes..."  tears ran down his face, "...Rea Ainsworth is dead."

Silence fell upon the jovial group of druids.  Gaius had been keeping Rea within his mana sense ever since they parted.  He did this for all of his closest friends, and worst enemies.  Needless to say, the woman that saves you from being a transmogrified monster is a good friend.

The small goblin that had spoken before, said, "go."

In the blink of an eye, Gaius was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Denarius~

After settling Meril in, with a few trusted people as guards, Denarius had left Vestlei.  When Selene mentioned going after necromancers, he took the task upon himself alone.  The first thing on his agenda however, was visiting Sereda.  If what Selene had said was right, then the garb apparatus was sitting there.  He wasn't willing to risk someone noticing it, then chiseling the damn thing out.  So his first stop was to place every complicated perma-barrier spell on the chamber where Sereda's icy coffin lay.  After that, Solanis was his target.

Denarius had nearly flown into a rage when he heard where the lich's remains were taken.  Of the three capitals, Solanis was by far the most corrupt.  He had a seriously bad feeling, one that almost made him detour to Valhalla for reinforcements first.  In fact he would have...

Denarius was immediately on guard while approaching the ruins, he could tell someone was inside.  It wasn't until a voice called out, "isn't that Denarius!?" that he relaxed.

Waltzing into the depths, upon seeing an old friend, he asked, "what brings you here Gaius?"

Gaius responded, "I owed the woman who that arm belonged to," he pointed at Rea's mutilated limb, "my life.  She was a dear friend, why are you here?"

Denarius saw no reason to caution himself around Gaius, "both of them were students at my academia. I've come to make sure no one can defile this place, or take that arm.  Then I'm going to Solanis, gotta make sure the lich that caused this can't get its phylactery restored.  After that I'm hunting necromancers and looking for a way to heal her," he pointed at Sereda.

Gaius nodded, then told Denarius what the runes stood for.  Both men quickly came to the same conclusion about what Rea had done.  After Gaius knew that it was a lich who had done this, he frowned, "I'm not sure anything can stop such powerful dark magic, your light spells and my nature spells..."

Denarius held up his hand, "who are you trying to explain things to?  I'm not a child.  I know we'd just kill her trying that."

Gaius gave a grim nod then let Denarius get to work.  As soon as he was done they left the ruins.  Gaius quickly turned into a cougar as they caught sight of the open plains.  He then went down on his haunches.  Denarius laughed and got on, "just like old times."

Gaius let out a low growl and bounded north towards Solanis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Rea~

~Oblivion: Part One~

After what seemed like a single moment — after dying in Selene's arms, she had snapped her eyes wide open.  A sharp gasp echoed throughout the surrounding area, Rea quickly sat upright.  The first thing she did was run her hands through — run a single, shaking hand through her faded hair.

A piss poor smile was on her lips while bitter eyes gazed at a missing limb.  Rea's heart raced as she vividly remembered the sensation of carving a limb — her own arm off.  The scene was still fresh in her mind.  The look on Sereda's face as she created an icy prison wasn't something she'd soon forget.  Her eyes welled up with tears as she clutched what little was left of the amputated limb.  The legendary garb apparatus was gone.  

For nearly an hour Rea didn't move.  It wasn't until the she could smell burnt flesh that her demeanor changed.  Rea's head quickly snapped to the right, before her was a terrifying creature.  Fangs, flesh, fur, and fire — a four legged hound.  No level or abilities that her [Psychometry] could pick up.  In fact, her [Psychometry] wasn't picking anything up.

Its snarling maw quickly brought her back to reality... rather, the teeth that sank into her arm as she fell backwards.  Rea screamed and bit down on its flaming neck.  The hound howled and fell limp in seconds.  Rea cursed, searing white flames had burned her painfully.  Her remaining arm — toast.  Something was very wrong here.  Her magic, psychometry, even her ability to spit venom.  None of it had worked just now — in fact, trying to use them had almost gotten her killed.

Taking stock of her surroundings, Rea understood that she was in some sort of shrine.  Massive marble pillars shone brilliantly all around.  Each one was adorned with an assortment of weapons.  A small fountain sat dead center... it was surreal considering the surrounding environment.  Rocky terrain, sulfurous fumes, dead trees, and a bony man who had entirely too many teeth for her liking...

"Holy fuck!" she screamed.  Half a second later Rea was rolling across granite floors.  Before her hand could grasp the hilt of a nearby blade there was more pain.  Rea's back arched, an agonized gaze fell to the long needle-like fingernails that had just ran her through.  A whimper escaped Rea's lips as rotten teeth found purchase on her exposed neck.  It wasn't until a white two piece was dyed scarlet that she realized this wasn't her mage garb.

Seriously pissed off to be dying again, she took hold of the nearby blade.  Mustering the last of her strength Rea impaled herself.  That bony man's dying scream was some small consolation.  As she leaned against the blade bearing pillar, Rea cursed.  All sorts of vile things were approaching, creatures she'd never heard of before.

Taking hold of another blade, Rea forced herself to stand.  As she let out a malicious scream, the world went dark.  A massive shadow swept across the shrine.  Just as she caught sight of a huge tree — being swung through the air — it was over.  Rea Ainsworth, squashed like a bug.

Much later...

Rea was pissed to say the least.  She hadn't asked Lucatiel more about martyrdom, that was a stupid mistake.  For what seemed like an eternity now, she had been here.  Instead of some nice relaxing place, Rea was in the middle of a nightmare...

Everywhere she had gone was the same, for days on end she would traverse rocky terrain.  Jagged stones weren't pleasant to travel across, especially when they were jutting in random directions.  Sometimes she'd misstep and break a bone, those days sucked.  Instead of going anywhere she would just sit down and wait, try to rest.  If she managed to make it to the next day, her leg would be fine.  If some creature — usually all sorts of nasty — found her first.  Rea was as good as dead... again.

She'd lost count of the days, but her deaths... seventy-three by now, those were harder to lose count of.  Every morning she would wake up in a shrine of some sort.  An assortment of weapons all around, no staves, magic didn't work here.  The days were never easy, she could either sit still and be devoured by a horde of creatures within the hour.  Or run in a random direction and fight for her life.  Rea now understood how Lucatiel had become so skilled with a blade.

She wasn't gaining any abilities in this world, but Rea had been getting better with multiple weapons.  Every other day she would switch her weapon of choice.  Spears, hammers, blades, shields, nothing was actually off the menu.  On some days she chose more exotic weapons, a scythe or bladed whip for example.  Those were unfortunate days, she'd no frickin' clue how to use them.  Accidentally lashing yourself between the legs with a bladed whip while trying to look cool... was very painful.

Using all of her weapons with one arm was insane.  If it wasn't for the snake muscle, she'd be seriously screwed.  Without it she wouldn't be able to swing a blade hard enough, some of the creatures were seriously durable.

After a successful day of eluding creatures and fighting for survival, she awoke in the usual shrine.  By now Rea had been planning ahead.  It was a shame she couldn't bring more than one weapon.  All Rea had were the clothes on her back, which wasn't much.  No leather sheath to hold an extra blade.  There had been a few times where a spare weapon would have made all the difference.  

At least the clothing was comfortable.  Her garment was exactly what the goddess Luthia had been wearing beneath armor.  Even though Rea had only seen it on Luthia for a few moments, she vividly remembered it.  Lucatiel had once put the two piece set on and done a little dance.  A fond smile graced Rea's lips for the first time in forever.

Two separate pieces of thin white silk.  A short camisole — bordered with lace, plus one provocative miniskirt.  Although, her outfit was a little different from Lucatiel's...  If it wasn't for the constant danger, Rea would’ve probably enjoyed her outfit more.  She had grown rather fond of it over the days.  Even promised to get herself one after this was over.  Judging by the fact that she kept coming back to life, and she was wearing a martyr's costume.  Rea was pretty sure this is just how she spends her year in limbo.

Today, Rea picked a hammer.  Actually more like a massive bone, it certainly wasn't steel.  She had a bone to pick with one monster in particular.  The son of a bitch had squashed her a dozen times now.  It was never pleasant, your body collapsing like that.  She was getting used to dying — as used to as someone can get — and it no longer scared her at all.  Surviving had always been a priority, but this place was changing — warping her sense of mortality.

Rea spent the first hour of her day pulverizing smaller creatures.  None were larger than twice her size.  A few emaciated walkers, hellhounds, and something she like to call funbags  — were easy pickings by now.  Especially the funbags, they were slow and had two giant fleshy sacs of acid dragging along behind them.  The name hit her when she first melted her own face off poking one.  After the big, hairless, acid spitting rodent was dead, she had decided to examine it a bit.  That hadn't been a very pleasant experience — stabbing something and getting an acid bukkake in return.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

As Rea climbed a familiar rocky slope, she cursed under her breath.  This place, with the constant sulfur smell and death.  It was driving her insane.  Taking a seat atop the jagged ridge, she watched her prey.  Calling a giant beast covered in thick green skin, prey, seemed a little audacious at first.  But having gotten rather angry lately, Rea didn't give a damn.

Step after step, she expertly hopped from one rock to the next.  The closer Rea got, the faster she jumped.  By now Rea had noticed that the thing was deaf.  That weakness was enough to bring on a bout of vengeful thinking.

As she expertly drew close, Rea readied the bone maul.  With a thundering impact it hit the side of one knee.  A deafening roar sounded as it lost balance and began to fall.  Rea had expected that and ran below the giant.  Before it could make contact with the ground she was twirling, using the momentum to do a one-handed golf swing.  The sound of bone cracking as her weapon made contact sent a chill up the ophidian's spine.

Rea had to laugh, she'd knocked it out cold.  Unfortunately, it was her weapon that had broken.  Not being one to pass up a chance she quickly tried biting the giant.  His skin was far too tough to break through, her fangs were actually sore after trying a few times.  Just as Rea was about to give up though, her gaze fell on its leather loincloth...

Rea chuckled like crazy as she walked up and unfastened the armor.  A few minutes later she walked away spitting, the giant had been slain in a most unconventional manner.  It would seem that most male creatures share a similar soft spot.  Who was she to ignore a weakness?

What Rea hadn't been expecting was a reward.  As soon as the creature was really dead she found herself in a steamy bathhouse.  White and red tiles formed beautiful mosaics on the ground.  Something she could care less about right now.  Without giving it a second thought, her camisole and skirt were flying through the air.  Rea happily dove headfirst into a deep, hot bath.

A few minutes later, she was floating around and staring at an open sky.  Rea let out a sigh of content as her head bumped into something soft.  A second later, Luthia was looking down at her.

"Martyrdom sucks," she claimed.

Luthia laughed as Rea sat up next to the goddess, "you probably should've asked for the details."

Rea was still angry that she hadn't.  She didn't even bother responding to Luthia.  Instead, she started asking questions, "how much longer do I have?"

"One-hundred and twenty-seven days."

"My body?"

Luthia bopped Rea on the head, "rules, no spoilers."

Rea scowled and did something no god-fearing mortal ever should, "come again?"

Luthia smacked the hand that was giving her a purple nurple, "cut that out you little bastard."

A long drawn sigh escaped Rea's lips, "so you won't tell me about Sereda, Selene, or Meril?"

"Sorry..."

Rea dropped beneath the water and started blowing bubbles.  After Luthia smacked her again, she got back up and asked, "why am I here, in this bath?"

Luthia let off a proud smile, "none of my martyrs have ever killed a berserk solo, its only been done once as a pair.  Those big ones are pretty nasty after all."  Luthia eyed Rea's maw, "you had an advantage though...  About the bath, I did this on a whim — don't put too much thought into it."

"Any chance I could just spend the rest of my time relaxing?"

"Rules..."

Rea swatted some floating rainbows, "right...  can I just kill myself over and over again?"

Luthia could see the tinge of sorrow in Rea's eyes, her voice was still quivering, "I understand that you're in a rush, but that won't work."  Luthia let out a sigh as Rea started to float away, "you get a penalty for suicide.  Five years for every blatant suicide."

"Dammit," Rea was no longer in the mood for a bath, so she stood up and started to climb out.  Before she could escape, Luthia's familiar arms found purchase on Rea's thighs.  Rea looked down, and sighed, "I'm pretty serious about my marriage this time around.  If Sereda was here, I'd offer a ménage à trois.  But I'm not gonna do anything without her consent.  Get off Luthia."

Luthia snickered and pulled Rea back in.  Now face to face, she tempted Rea, "I can't give you spoilers, but I know something you want."

Rea considered what she was hearing, it couldn't hurt to listen, "go on."

Luthia licked her lips as the surrounding steam dissipated, "a cure for turning undead — the way to stop what's happening to her, don't you want to know?" Rea's eyes narrowed as she gripped the goddess.  Luthia let out an uncharacteristic yelp as she rose from the water.  Looking down at Rea, she grinned impishly, "I'll take that as a yes."

Rea responded with the most offensive line she could think of, "you're almost as bad as a squirrel..."

Much later...

Luthia was laying face down against her own tile mosaic.  She gasped for breath as Rea calmly returned to the bath.  The ophidian was pretty proud of herself right now.  Luthia had expected to be the dominant partner today, especially since Rea had lost an arm.  She probably would have been... if she hadn't pissed the ophidian off.  Rea had mercilessly ravaged the goddess — Lucatiel would've been proud.

A few minutes later, Luthia had regained her senses and approached Rea.  She was a bit angry, but a deals a deal, "dragon magic."

Rea cocked an eyebrow, "what?"

"Dragon magic is the only thing powerful enough, and before you ask — the answer is no.  Even you can't learn that.  It's a racial thing, you'll need the cooperation of an actual dragon."

Rea gave Luthia a chilling glare, "what are you doing?"

Luthia had been caressing Rea's lower back, "aren't you all about comfort?"

Rea smiled absently at the goddess, "I'm not in the mood — for various reasons."

The goddess was pouting by now.  It was a bizarre sight, "I'll need an explanation," Luthia claimed.

Rea removed the gentle hand, "I don't want anyone but her to touch me right now, and I can't have her.  All I can see when I close my eyes is the heartbroken look she gave me in that final moment.  I need to save her, every fiber of my being is screaming at me to do something.  It's vexing, being trapped here in limbo."

Luthia gave up, "do you regret saving the mage girl?"

"Not for a second," she spoke without hesitation, "I just wish it didn't hurt the odds of being with my family again."  Rea looked down at her abdomen, a question she was afraid to ask... had to be spoken, "am I ok?"

"About that,"  Luthia ran her fingers along one of the puncture scars that vile lich's magic had left behind, "normally the wounds you get from martyrdom completely disappear.  This is just... wrong."

Rea was in a near panic, "you didn't answer my question."

Luthia wasn't sure how Rea would take the news, so she was stalling, "you're not okay, but it isn't the end..."

Rea screamed at the top of her lungs underwater, clutching her scarred abdomen.  Luthia panicked when she realized Rea wasn't coming back up.  A few minutes later Rea was struggling against the powerful goddess, kicking and screaming, "let me go!"

"Calm down first," Luthia wasn't raising her voice, "Airi changed the deal, at least hear me out before you give up."

As the goddess who started all of this was mentioned, she reeled in her emotions, "talk."

"You may have lost the ability to bear a child, but your wife hasn't."

Rea gripped the goddess' arms tightly, "you mean?"

Luthia was glad that Rea wasn't struggling anymore, "all involved parties, including Elizabeth, have agreed... except for Sereda, that's up to you and her."

Rea chuckled ruefully, "well fuck me... I've got one arm, no immortality, no garb apparatus, and a frozen wife that needs a dragon's help to survive.  If I'm not killing the dragon I'll have to find another way to live longer."

Luthia was tempted to break a rule, she really wanted to tell Rea about the ring that was already giving her an elven lifespan.  By now Rea was spitting rapid-fire curses, you'd think she was a sailor.  In hindsight, Rea was taking this better than Luthia had thought she would.

"Not upset about the change?"

Rea shrugged, "maybe if it was some random surrogate.  For the most part, my daughter will be who she is — no matter who brings her back to life.  Telling me that the woman I've fallen in love with will have my daughter... well, it isn't exactly the worse thing that's happened recently."  Rea scowled, "the only problem now is that Sereda has a huge amount of leverage over me."

Luthia couldn't help but laugh at the reason Rea was upset.  Realizing that they were almost out of time, Luthia apologized, "back to the grinder Martyr."

Rea cursed some more, "can I ask you for a favor?"

Luthia cocked her head sideways, "what?"

"I want a day here."

"For?"

Rea held up her right hand with an orb of water spinning rapidly above, "I can use my magic here, and I'd like to sculpt a little."

Luthia was feeling a bit guilty about the way she'd coaxed Rea into entertaining her earlier, so she agreed.  What the goddess saw as she watched Rea from afar, made her feel even more guilty.  Rea had taken her time to sculpt and permafrost two statues, Sereda and Elizabeth.  She then spent the remainder of her time just gazing at them — attempting to steel her resolve.  

As she thought of better days, Rea went over the facts in her head.  Dragons were obviously intelligent, she could always waltz up and start a conversation...  Although that might just end up with her getting killed.  A few minutes of pondering, and mulling over everything she'd taken in with her memory blessing — Rea grinned maliciously.

An elven woman — a blazing red head that had blasted her strike zone came to mind.  Garters and a shapely backside, slender fingers, and tender hot pink — Rea coughed a bit, she was getting distracted.  Ella Wyrmwind had mentioned a pet dragon.  That was where she would start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rea absentmindedly toyed with a wicked one-handed weapon.  It was a mix between throwing and battle axe, slightly longer than a normal hatchet.  She wasn't too happy with that last death.  Sinking into a pit of burning tar had been far more painful than getting bug stomped.  

The death before that one, she had gotten stripped in combat and ran around for two hours nude.  Fighting like a rumored amazon was not for the easily distracted ophidian.  Sometimes that beauty blessing from Aphrodite was more of a curse.  She really wasn't willing to blame her own scatterbrained nature for it.  If Rea hadn't been grinning like an idiot at the way her inverted features jiggled during combat, she wouldn't have literally lost her head.

Rea was honestly doing her best to not let anything get her down right now.  Sure she couldn't have Elizabeth herself anymore, but that was actually a bit of a relief.  Before, Rea was afraid her daughter might become an ophidian like herself.  Hunted for their blood.  Also, Sereda's situation wasn't as hopeless as she had thought.  A goddess had told her so — then again, Rea had never met a dragon before.  Getting cooperation would probably be difficult.

As usual, interrupting her silent contemplation was a hellhound.  Those fast little buggers were usually first to find her, especially if she didn't leave the shrine.  Rea's mood today was kill or be killed.  One after the other she threw battle axes at approaching creatures.  It probably would've been more impressive if there were more than four smaller axes, but there weren't.  It would seem that throwing an unbalanced axe is harder than it looks.

Three hellhound were slowly surrounding Rea, they had seen the first get a flying axe to the flank.  Luckily for Rea, the stupid fellow limped up to attack her — axe and all.  Without giving it much thought Rea walked by, avoiding a snarling maw, and retrieved her weapon.  Before she could finish the first hellhound, all three uninjured ones pounced.  Rea was getting tired of dying...

Waking up a moment later in the usual manner, she quickly got up and turned towards the pillar lined with one-handed swords.  Two steps later it was obvious that something was different.  Rea had been caught so off-guard that she hit the granite floor face first.  Something soft had tripped Rea.

Looking over at the groaning Rea, a husky voice said, "sorry about that."

A few moments later Rea looked back to see an older woman, probably in her forties.  She had actually expected that this would happen if another martyr died during her stay here.  Feeling like introductions were in order, Rea spoke up while extending a hand, "Rea Ainsworth."

The woman brushed flowing blue hair out of her face and took hold of Rea's hand, "Talia... just Talia."

Rea smirked, "come here often?"

Nodding, the woman pulled back her powerful hand and stood.  Looking down from her near six foot height, she responded, "third time."  Talia took a moment to look at the beautiful young martyr in front of her.  If it wasn't for the bloody nose, Rea would've been even more impressive, "first time?"

"Yeah," she nodded, then bent over to blow her nose.

Talia's lavender eyes narrowed as she looked at Rea's missing limb, she then walked past Rea to take her weapon of choice.  A few seconds later, as Rea finished clearing her sinuses, Talia asked, "days remaining?"

Rea shrugged, "about a hundred."

Talia looked across the familiar landscape and gathered an intimidating battleaxe, nearly as long as she was tall.  Rea followed suit and went for a short sword, she had found that the dull black one was best.  Even though it wasn't the sharpest blade, it was durable and more effective on non-fleshy creatures.

Talia eyed Rea suggestively, "wanna try to knock a few days off ma’ year?"

Rea nearly had a heart attack and pounced the woman, "how!?"

Talia waved her hands wildly as she shook Rea off, "calm down, ya’ didn't learn this from your mentor?"

"I didn't have a mentor, I actually know very little about martyrs."

"You're very young," the elder woman took a closer look at Rea, "how did ya’ become a martyr without a mentor?"

Rea puffed her chest out proudly, "I bent Luthia over Aphrodite's bed!"

"..."  Talia wasn't sure what to say... This pretty little woman did what to her goddess?

"What's wrong?" Rea eyed a menacing battleaxe, "oy, oy, put that down."

Talia relented, "tha’ truth this time."

Rea pursed her lips, "it is the truth, she enjoyed my attention enough to make me a martyr.  Something wrong with that?"

Talia shook her head, "I don’t even know where to start..."

Rea pointed at an approaching hellhound, "how about there?"  Noticing something rather concerning, Rea asked, “why is your skirt… and camisole longer than mine?”  Rea scowled, “is it thicker too?”

Talia threw her giant battleaxe with one hand, the hellhound literally split in half, “why did ya’ assault ma’ goddess?” she rebuked coldly.

Now that the reason for her less accommodating clothing was obvious, Rea snickered for a few moments.  If anything, this place was good for distracting her from reality… from Sereda.  Ever since the conversation with Luthia, her mood improved by leaps and bounds.  Just knowing that it was possible to save Sereda had been enough.  However, knowing that there's a way to get back faster…

Rea looked Talia up and down, “how do we knock days off?”

Talia spent the first few hours of her time in oblivion trying to shake Rea off.  She had decided to have nothing to do with the weirdo.  Eventually Rea got tired of the woman’s sullen mood.  Sitting on top of a ridge from about twenty meters away, Rea started shouting, “Luthia’s armor and garb fell to the ground revealing two supple, alluring mountains!”  Talia turned towards Rea and gaped, “a needy gaze and heaving chest obviously desired my immediate attention!”  By now the woman was sprinting at her, “as I tenderly caressed the goddess, my…”

*Ka-pow*

Death by flying battleaxe…  On the bright side, Rea had gotten her attention.

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Don't expect rapid updates, I'm still pretty busy right now.  Just finished reading a bunch of stuff, and I decided exactly what I want to write as my new story now.  That will probably take up most of my time.  ^^;