Zane was woken by the twittering of the birds, the sun already stood high, a few beams of lights breaking trough the leaf canopy far above them. Mira was already awake and sat next to the campfire, turning a rabbit over the fire.

"You went out," Zane said.

Mira slowly nodded.

At least she returned . . . but still.

"Don't do things like that, who knows what might happen. I mean there's a one thousand gold bounty out on you, do you really think a mercenary would just watch as you walk past?" Zane was angry at her.

"Don't worry so much, everything worked out in the end, didn't it? Also, I wore my hood the entire time and even stayed hidden in the bushes. There is no chance anyone could have seen me." She took a short break and took a closer look at the rabbit before she continued to turn it over the fire. "And even if anyone saw me, now I'm back at my camp with my powerful bodyguard," she said jokingly.

She's so set on me becoming her bodyguard when I haven't even thought about whether or not I'm going to accept that position.

Zane sighed loudly.

"Should be ready now, come eat," she said.

Zane nodded, got up and sat down at the fire. Once the two had finished eating they began packing up their camp and got back on the path leading to the inn they were travelling to. Mira now always wore her hood, fearing that more members of the church might be around.

Just like the day before they met many people. Among them, other mercenaries, all keeping their distance once they saw Zane's white hair and green eyes, a few merchants travelling around and Zane even saw a druid, clad in clothes made from fur, leather and tree bark and a helmet made from a stag skull. For a second Zane remembered the wendigo and became angry, pulling Mira along with him to get away from the druid as fast as possible. At night they set up camp again below a tree and out of sight of the path so that no one could see their camp without straying from the path.

The next morning they packed up the camp after eating and returned to the path. It was less busy then the two days before and at night, just before they had decided to set up camp again Mira spotted lights in the distance. The two approached the lights which turned out to come from the inside of the inn.

"We finally reached it," Mira said happily as Zane went to the door and pushed it open.

Heads began turning as Zane entered, again having to duck down slightly to even stand followed by a much smaller person clad in a hood. People began whispering as the two walked over to a table and sat down.

"The usual?" someone asked.

Zane turned his head and saw a tall man, the innkeeper. He nodded.

"And what about you?" the innkeeper asked Mira.

She stayed silent for a few seconds before answering. "I'll just take some meat, bread and cheese . . . ehmm . . . and some mead," she said.

The innkeeper nodded and went into a room in the back.

"Yo, Reaper, long time no see," a familiar voice said from behind.

Zane didn't even have to turn around to see who it was.

"Gilma," Zane said.

Surprise was written across Mira's face as she looked at the person standing behind Zane.

"T-The Gilma?" she asked.

"Yes, the Gilam, who else would I be? The important question here is what your name is," Gilma said.

Mira looked at Zane for help. Zane nodded.

"M-Mira, Mira Vermillion," she said quietly.

"Of course you would find her before I could," Gilma said as he sat down beside Zane. "Is it really necessary for her to wear that hood? I mean she's with the Reaper, I doubt any mercenary would mess with her."

"Well this is more to protect me from the church," Mira said.

"Ah, right I saw a few of those idiots running around in this forset a few days ago," Gilma said, going through his long dark hair with one hand.

The innkeeper came back and put down their food and a large jug filled with mead together with two mugs. Gilma leaned to the innkeeper and said, "Get me a mug as well."

The innkeeper went back to his counter and got another mug.

"Well then, let us drink to this, Gilma and the Reaper reunited once again!" he said loudly as he raised his mug.

As loud as ever.

The three began drinking and eating.

"So I take it you two are on your way to Kalwa," Gilma said. Zane nodded.

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"Then you should be careful, I heard that a group of werewolves has been running around near the bridge, so you should probably take the cave, it might make your way a bit longer but should be a lot safer, unless . . ." Gilma took a deep breath. "Did you make up with her?" he suddenly asked.

Zane hesitated for a second.

As if I could ever make up with that bitch, do you even know what she did to me . . . and for what, just for some fucking pleasure on her end!

Zane shook his head.

"Then the werewolves might be the safer bet," Gilma said.

"Why?" Mira asked.

"Well, that is quite an interesting story. You see the cave we're talking about is the home to an arachne named Megikula, a sweet girl . . . unless she really, really wants something. Then she can become a bit scary," Gilma said.

Zane hit the table with his fist.

"Don't want me to tell her?" Gilma asked.

"Do as you please!" Zane said.

"H-Hey don't be like that Reaper," Gilma said.

But Zane just went to the innkeeper and put a gold coin down in front of him.

"The usual room," the innkeeper said and Zane went upstairs where the rooms were.

"Well this is quite unfortunate, but would you still like to hear the story?" Gilma asked.

Mira slowly nodded.

"Alright then, listen good," Gilma said. "It happened about seven years ago I'd say, Hugo and I were still a team back then and we happened to run across Reaper."

"Yo Reaper, has been quite some time hasn't it," I said.

Hugo began laughing. "How come we always run into ya when we're 'bout to head to a secret passage?" he said.

"Coincidence," the Reaper said.

"Well since we're here why don't we show ya the passage," I said.

The Reaper nodded slowly, one hand moving to the hilt of his katana. And so we went on our way to the cave.

"By the way, where did ya get those two . . . things?" Hugo asked the Reaper, pointing at the two guns in their holsters.

"Vin gave them to me, these are guns, apparently a new weapon developed in Kross," the Reaper said.

"Are ya still on about that whole thing with knowing the thirteenth? We already told ya that we don't buy it," Hugo said.

But the Reaper just shrugged.

"You know that whole thing with him always telling us that he knows Vindictus was funny to us, until the day that fucker descended from the sky in front of us and told the Reaper to protect some child," Gilma said to Mira. "But anyway, let's get back to the story."

We walked for about an hour until we arrived at the cave.

"So this is your secret passage to Alva?" the Reaper asked.

"Yup," I responded.

"Let's go inside, oh and be careful she might play a trick on you since you're new."

"She?" the Reaper asked.

"You'll see," Hugo said.

Hugo and I went in first, the Reaper following behind us. The cave was pretty dark and the lights from our lanterns barely even lit it up. Everywhere we looked we saw spider nets on the walls and in the distance, we could hear humming.

"Seems like she's having fun," Hugo said.

The Reaper seemed a bit disturbed when I looked back at him. After a while, we could finally see her home. Made with many many webs was a sort of tent in the middle of the cave, lit up by white crystals.

"Yo Megikula," I said.

"Hmm, oh Gilma, Hugo and . . . who is that?" she asked, hiding behind a rock, only showing her face.

She had long silver coloured hair and purple eyes.

"That's a friend of ours, just call him Reaper," I said.

"R-Really, he's not here to harm me?" Megikula asked, relieve in her voice.

"Of course not," I said. "Now come out."

And so Megikula came out from behind her rock. Her upper body was that of a young woman with a large chest. All she wore was a thin top that was nearly see-through and a piece of cloth over her privates. But where her legs began was something else, something not human. From her behind the body of a spider extended, eight legs and a red cross on it.

"So that's why you didn't tell me," the Reaper said.

"I had hoped you would get scared or something," Hugo said.

"Someone who felt the Aura of Vind doesn't get scared by something like an arachne," the Reaper said.

"There you go again," Hugo said.

"Anyway, could we perhaps stay here for a while?" I asked Megikula.

"Of course," she said. "Ah, where are my manners. I am Megikula."

The Reaper nodded. And at that moment Megikula decided to get closer to him, to get a better look.

"Oh my, oh my. What a beautiful young man, I've never seen one as good looking as you," she said. "And so tall as well, I never thought there would be a human taller than I am."

"Ah, that's not the best idea Megikula," I said.

"Oh but why, am I that ugly?" she asked.

"N-No but he's a bit weird when it comes to opening up to strangers," I explained.

The Reaper was actively trying to get away from her but she just continued to press herself against him.

"Is that so . . . a shame truly, but how about we just become . . . good acquaintances," she said as she let her finger run over the Reapers chest.

"Just stop it," I said, grabbing her hand.

"Fine," she said.

"You can use the beds, but I only have two extra so one of you can use mine, I just woke up anyway," she said, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Thanks," I said.

All three of us lay down in the beds and went to sleep since we all had been travelling for quite a while. I fell asleep pretty quickly. But a sudden scream woke me. It was Megikula who was screaming.

I immediately jumped out of bed and saw the Reaper with his katana drawn and Megikula standing before him, missing an arm. Hugo and I ran to them.

"What happened?" The two of us asked simultaneously.

"Why did you do that?" Hugo asked.

"Bitch raped me in my sleep and when I woke up acted like it was my fault," the Reaper said, pure hatred in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry . . . I didn't mea-" Megikula began but the Reaper interrupted.

"Shut it if you don't want to lose your head as well, the only reason you're still alive is that you're a friend of these two," the Reaper said.

"Where's the way to Alva?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Y-Yes let us show you," I said.

Hugo and I went in front again, leading the Reaper to the tunnel that led down all the way beneath the rivers at the bottom of the canyons and then led back up on the other side with its exit in the middle of a forest here in Alva.

"And well, that's the story about why he refuses to use that cave. I did tell him to someday make up with her but I guess he never did," Gilma said before taking a deep gulp of mead.

"I mean why would you expect him to forgive her for something like that?" Mira asked.

"Yeah now that you mention it, guess I was a bit of an idiot . . . well I still am," Gilma said. "Anyway, you should head to bed now as well, it's getting late."

Mira nodded, got up and then went to the innkeeper to pay for a room.

"Don't worry, he already paid for you, yours is room eleven, the one right next to his," he said.

Mira smiled at him and went upstairs to her room. It was fairly small with a bed that took up most of the space it did have. She took off her clothes and lay down, staring up at the ceiling.

I'm going to miss this . . . as bad as it was that I lost my hand.

She looked at the stump where her left hand had once been and sighed.

"How am I going to explain this to Holvin? Is he still going to even insist on having me marry his son? Maybe I can use this to my advantage then. If he doesn't want me to marry his son I can just leave with Zane again."

Mira kept thinking about the idea until she fell asleep.