Neither of them knew for how long they had been gone, but it could have only been a few days. By the time they had arrived the sun was already beginning to disappear behind the mountains surrounding the Alva Valley. The town was just as it had been the day they left, although a few more merchants seemed to have gathered now.

The two followed the street to the inn where they got food and rooms. After they ate Zane decided to head for the bath, Lovia on the other hand insisted on going to the waterfall, just like last time. The bathwater was a bit cooler than Zane had hoped, he was also alone.

Guess that's normal this late in the day . . .

Zane enjoyed the silence but he couldn't relax, Lovia's question lingered in his mind.

Why would she want to form a team with me? I mean she's right . . . in a way . . . our teamwork was fine I guess and I have been talking to her. Why though? Why did I start talking to her more? I always tell myself that I don't want to get close to people . . . so it won't happen again . . . I must get stronger so it won't happen again, right? But I'm not strong enough . . . so why did I start talking to her? It's just like it was with those two idiots.

Zane looked down, noticing the cut. He didn't feel it from all the anticipation before, but even know it didn't hurt as much as he would have expected. A thick crusty layer had already formed on the wound, since he stopped the blood from flowing out subconsciously there were no other problems. But this would leave a scar, a scar that will serve as a reminder of how he managed to conquer a tower, be it with help.

Maybe I should accept . . . but what if it happens again . . . I won't know if I could stop it . . . I also can't rely on Vin to stop it for me.

Zane grabbed his head, pressing against it with both hands.

What should I do . . . why is this so difficult for me . . . why have I become like this. Have I really become so obsessed with becoming stronger that I would just tell her to leave me alone? Wait . . . working with a partner would make me stronger, wouldn't it? So if I accept I- no . . . that makes no sense. It's just an excuse . . . I don't want to be alone anymore . . . I've had it. Vin was right . . . one does not become stronger for the sake of finding a purpose, you become stronger because you have a purpose. But what exactly would it be . . . my purpose? Protecting her? No! I want to live a life I can enjoy . . . a life I won't regret once I pass . . . once I meet them again.

Having found an answer Zane got out of the bath and put on his ragged up Armour.

I'll have to get this repaired . . . guess we should go to Kalwa . . . she could use some better gear as well . . . I could also ask that stupid noble about that missing girl . . . three thousand gold coins just sounds far too good to just pass up.

Zane left the bathhouse and made his way back to the inn. The sun had set and the moon was slowly wandering up the sky. He reached the inn and entered, as soon as he did there was a feeling similar to what he felt when he met Vindictus for the first time. But this feeling was nothing compared to what he felt back then, it didn't feel like someone had dropped the world on his shoulders, more like someone was trying to push him down at his shoulders. Zane concentrated, trying to find the source, whatever the origin of this was must have a large amount of Aura. But something was interfering or rather overwhelming his ability to sense Aura.

Must have a massive amount . . .

Zane looked around the inn, looking for something that was out of the ordinary, but all he could see were some adventurers, merchants and townsfolk. None of them looked like they would be able to do this.

Someone has to be here . . . maybe it's someone like Vin.

He spotted a large figure, nearly as tall as he was, in the corner of the inn. They were clad in a deep black cloak, wearing the hood, completely hiding their appearance. Zane approached but stopped when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He turned his head.

"Lovia," Zane said.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Do you know that person?"

Lovia looked over to the hooded figure.

Zane shook his head. "Just . . . had a strange feeling about them."

"A strange feeling? What do you mean?" Lovia asked.

"You don't feel it?"

Wait, looking at the other people here . . . this isn't like back then, none of the other patrons seem able to feel this . . . so that means it's something only Aura users can feel . . . is this a warning? Or maybe just a sign . . . ah what do I know . . . I'm too tired to look into this any further.

"Ah, nevermind . . ." Zane said.

Lovia looked at him in confusion.

"A-Anyway . . . what about my . . . my question from earlier?" Lovia asked.

"Well . . . why not . . . for now," he said.

Lovia's eyes lit up.

"G-Great . . . I promise I won't hold you back," she said.

Why is she acting so excited about this . . .

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"Y-You know . . . truth is I wanted to meet you for a long time now. I mean you are considered to be Ion's strongest mercenary . . . if not even one of the strongest warriors here in general . . . so being able to team up with you is . . . it's great," Lovia said.

Zane noticed a lot of people staring, a lot more than usual. At the mention of Ion's strongest mercenary, many would be interested in who was meant.

"Ion's strongest mercenary . . ." a few patrons whispered. "So that's the Reaper . . . as tall as they say."

The inn was quickly filled with chattering. And at that moment the large figure in the back stood up. Like Zane, the person had to duck, as they passed he got a look at the person's face, or rather what should have been a face. All he saw was a black helmet, made up of what looked like smoke to him, inside was no face, inside was a white flame.

What the . . . what is that?

"Is something wrong?" Lovia asked when she saw the confused look on Zane's face.

It had to be made out of Aura itself . . . that would explain it's . . . presence. But who could do something like this? This might be some kind of summoning ability . . . I can ask Vin about this when I meet him again.

Zane concentrated again, looking for the overwhelming amount of Aura, but it was already gone, just like the oppressive feeling.

"Z-Zane? Are you alright?" Lovia asked, pulling at his cloak.

Zane snapped out of it. "Ah, yeah I'm alright . . . it's just that . . . whatever that was, it was powerful . . ."

"Was it? It just seemed like a tall person to me," Lovia said.

"That wasn't a person, it wasn't even alive . . ." Zane said.

"N-Not alive? Y-You mean like . . . like the ghouls?" she said, with worry in her voice.

"No, different . . . I can't fully explain it myself." Zane noticed, even more, stares now. "Anyway . . . we should go to our rooms," he said.

Zane walked up the stairs to the second floor were their rooms were, Lovia following closely behind him. He opened the door to his room and went inside, Lovia following him.

"So what exactly was it then?" she asked immediately.

"Well, more like a being made out of pure Aura . . ."

Lovia seemed to think for a moment.

"S-So is there anything else you wanted? If not I'd like to go to sleep now," Zane said.

"Oh, right . . . ah, where should we go next?" she asked.

"Well, we should go to Kalwa . . . since I have good ties to the Vermillion family I can get us some great equipment for cheap . . . there's also this one job I want to ask Holvin about," Zane said.

"K-Kalwa . . . do . . . do you r-really want to go there?" Lovia asked, there was a faint hint of fear in her voice.

"Yeah, is there a problem?" Zane asked.

"N-No . . . I mean . . . it's complicated," Lovia said.

"I guess we could go somewhere else if you really don't want to . . . and Holvin wouldn't be much help anyway," Zane said.

Lovia stayed silent for a few seconds. "N-No . . . it's fine . . . as long as we don't stay for too long," Lovia said.

"Alright then, I didn't plan on staying there for long anyway . . . that family might somehow get me killed if I stay there too long . . ." Zane said, a shiver going down his spine.

"M-Must have some bad experience with the Vermillions huh?" Lovia said.

"Tend to give me dangerous jobs . . . but they pay well, I mean Holvin offered me to find that runaway girl . . . what was her name?"

"Mira, Mira Vermillion," Lovia said.

"Yeah right, he offered me three thousand gold coins if I find her . . . even wants me to become her bodyguard or something like that," Zane said.

A smile appeared on Lovia's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"I guess we should find her then," she said.

Zane nodded.

"Well then, I don't want to keep you up much longer . . . good night, Zane."

"Good night," he replied as Lovia left the room.

Wonder what that was about . . . there is definitely something off . . . maybe . . . ah, no use thinking about stuff like that, she must have her reasons.

Zane took off his armour and went to bed.

In his dream, he was in the tower again, this time with them. They were on the second floor.

"Z, firebomb!" Hiba yelled as he shot a burning arrow into the horde of ghouls.

Zane threw the bomb, covering a large portion of the ghouls in flames and ripping a hole into their army.

"Good throw," Mark said, running towards the ghouls with his sword drawn.

"That idiot, always running in headfirst," Ivara said. "Z, cover me for a second."

"Ay, ay Iva," he replied.

Zane positioned himself in front of Ivara, his long sword in one hand and a firebomb in the other. Ivara was drawing a large arrow, one that looked more like a spear. A cluster of ghouls approached them. Zane quickly pressed the button on the firebomb and threw it at the ghouls, disintegrating them on the spot. Ivara aimed her bow at the large main group and shot it. As soon as it came close to the ghouls the arrow tip split open, releasing a massive explosion. About half of the ghouls were wiped out.

"Hey! Be careful with that one!" Mark yelled.

From the back, Zane could hear Larkan yelling. He was cutting down ghoul after ghoul as he tried to protect Rey from them.

"Alright then, let's show them hell!" Hiba yelled, his words echoing through the large hall.

At that moment a loud roar came to their ears.

"W-What was that?" Ivara asked.

"Dunno, but it's coming," Zane answered.

A giant ghoul emerged from the water. On his wrists, he still had leftovers from being chained down, and as he fully emerged from the lake the chains around his ankles became visible, making him unable to come closer. The other ghouls all ran to the giant, beginning to rip at the rusty chain.

"You got another one of those Iva?" Zane asked.

"Nope," she said. "What about you Hiba?"

"Give me a second."

Hiba had already begun to draw the massive arrow, aiming right at the giants large stomach. The giant's chains broke in the same moment Hiba let go of the arrow. Giant and arrow were now rushing towards each other, nearly colliding with each other.

"Zane! Zane! Wake up!" someone said.

Zane opened his eyes. Lovia was leaning over him with worry in her eyes.

A dream . . . of course.

He felt a warm feeling on his cheeks.

Did I cry?

"Don't worry," Zane said as he got up.

Lovia stared at the large wound on his chest.

"What's that, it looks fresh!" she said.

"Oh that . . . happened on the seventh floor, didn't even notice it after the bath . . . guess they must have stitched the shirt I wear under my armour. It's nothing bad, really," said Zane.

"No, at least let me put a bandage on it," Lovia insisted.

"Fine," said Zane.

Lovia got a bandage out of her satchel and began wrapping it around Zane's upper body, covering the wound. It felt weird for him, having someone else do this. He noticed that a few tears were still falling down his face.

"Why are you crying?" Lovia asked as she finished wrapping the bandages.

"Had a bad dream," Zane said.

"Is that so? Anyway, we should go eat now, stock up and then get moving . . . getting to the Velva Highlands will take us at least four weeks if not longer, so we should get moving quickly," she said.

"Right you are," Zane said.

He put on his armour and the two of them went downstairs to eat. Zane felt slightly on edge the entire time, remembering the strange figure that had appeared here yesterday. Once they were finished eating they went to the market, stocking up on supplies.

They got food, drink, bombs and potions for their travels before they began walking down the street towards the town's gate. It was nearly noon by the time they stepped through the large gate, the sun shining in their eyes and in the distance, beneath the giant snake's skeleton, they could still see the dust cloud stemming from the tower's collapse.