Light greeted me as I opened my eyes. I was so tired that it took sheer willpower to keep them open, and my attempts at speaking only brought more exhaustion.

The next thing I remember was feeling a hand on my forehead and opening my eyes again. This time, it was nighttime, and Alira was standing over me.

"Hey you," she said in a sad but hopeful tone.

I tried to speak again, but nothing came out.

"Try not to talk. It's a miracle you survived. You had severe magical exhaustion. Usually, people die from it, but maybe your higher stats protected you somewhat."

I breathed deeply, and she must have taken that as a sign to continue.

"I was the most fortunate, just some burns and minor cuts," she said, glancing to her right. "Elara is also mostly fine."

She started tearing up, and it was clear the news was not good.

"Erik is worse but he may recover fully if we get him to a more seasoned healer, right now he’s in a coma, Elara is with him." That was very bad, but I thought it would be worse.

"Malvina..." Tears streaked across her face. "She was hit in the spine with an arrow. Healing magic doesn’t really work with spine injuries. She can’t feel her legs."

"Is there any hope it might return?" I asked as I managed to lift myself into a sitting position.

"Minimal," she replied, her eyes dropping to the ground.

A wave of guilt hit me. She wasn't even twenty. Why did I allow her to come with us? I should have kept the group smaller.

"Because of me, she will never be able to walk again," I said, more as a rhetorical statement. Alira perked up at the words.

"We all make our decisions in life and bear the consequences," she said stoically. "You with the guilt, and she with the choice to follow us."

"She is just a child."

"Maybe in your world, but here she is long past the age of adulthood," Alira replied. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she only added, "Get some sleep. We'll talk more in the morning."

A night's sleep did make me feel physically better, but emotionally I was barely hanging on. Malvina had awakened, and while she tried to put on a brave face, tears frequently appeared, followed by sobs as she tried to hide her face.

I couldn't avoid her all morning, so I went up to her.

"I know it won't bring you any peace or anything, but I am sorry I dragged you into all this. Clearly, it's all my fault, and..."

"Don't," she stopped me. "It would be easy to blame it all on you, and even if that were the case, you did save my life..." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "The truth is, I dreamed of escaping that village all my life. Going on this grand adventure was beyond even my wildest imagination, so I never stopped to think that maybe I was in over my head," she sighed.

I didn't know if hope was good or bad at this point, but I had to say it, "I can't make any promises, but I'll try to get some healing skill or something that might help you."

"It's nice of you to say that, but I think keeping my expectations lower is better," she replied, her sadness heartbreaking.

We traveled light the first few days hoping Malvina would show some improvement. Horse riding and spinal fractures do not mix but we were forced to by Erik need for a more skilled healer for the damage to the tendons in his right hand. If he didn't receive proper treatment in time, it might not heal correctly, which was crucial for someone with a dexterity class.

The only positive aspect was that the attackers didn't return, and with the horses they had used, we reached the nearest village in good time.

It was a bittersweet goodbye when Malvina, Erik, and Elara left for the capital city. I reminded Malvina that the magistra still owed me for the knowledge I had shared, and she better make sure to take full advantage of that favor.

I remained in our current village with Alira, but to say morale was low would be an understatement.

“So, just the two of us now,” I said as we entered the inn.

“It seems that way,” Alira responded.

“On one hand, I’m really grateful to have you. I doubt I could do this alone. But on the other hand...”

“You fear I could end up like Malvina,” she whispered.

As we sat at a table, I continued, “Yes. Until now, I could delude myself into thinking that stuff like that happened to other people, not us.”

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“You’re not really thinking of making some noble gesture and going on alone, are you?” She looked somewhat angry.

“No,” I said, my tone serious and clear. “I just don’t know how to make peace with the outcomes.”

“I’m sure your world has some sayings about this kind of decision,” she tried to lighten the mood. “Come on, give me one.”

I chuckled, remembering a famous one. “Smile, tomorrow is going to be worse.”

“That’s a terrible saying.”

“I don’t know. I see it as a reminder to focus more on the present. What about you? Give me a saying from this world.”

“We don’t really have that many great sayings. Don’t get me wrong, we have enough of them, but most are unimaginative.”

“When you have a few billion people pooling their knowledge, some good ones are bound to come up,” I said.

“Billions?” she looked astounded. “Like a thousand million?”

“Yeah, we have like eight billion people on my world.”

“Eight billion?” she repeated, still finding it unbelievable. “Estimates of my kingdom’s population never went past five million.”

“You need a lot of food to feed that many people. Until we discovered a means to fertilize the land to always give great yields, we were pretty low ourselves.”

“I assume you mean something other than manure?” she laughed.

“Yes. Remember I mentioned a gas called oxygen that we need to breathe?” She nodded. “That’s about a fifth of the air by volume. The other much larger part is a gas called nitrogen. Usually, it’s useless, but we discovered plants need it to grow, and it depletes in the soil from over-cultivation.”

“Can it be done with what we have? You could get rich fast,” she sounded way too serious all of a sudden.

“No, you need hydrogen, another gas, and that comes from something called natural gas that you find in the earth. So it’s way too complicated for the level of technology here.”

“Guess it’s back to a life of bounty hunting.”

“Well, I’m sure I could adapt some things from my world to make some money if I really needed to, as long as you have some dinari to start with.”

“Like what?” She suddenly looked very attentive.

“Well… how do you write books here?”

“Someone has to write them by hand,” she said, looking inquisitive. “I’m assuming there’s an easier way.”

“You make metal molds of all the letters with rectangles on four sides. Then you take a page from a book and arrange the letters to spell everything on that page. Since you can stack the molds, you eventually get a big block with the page written. Put ink on the letters and press paper into the block.”

“But that would take so long. It would be easier to write it by hand,” she said, looking like she was missing something.

“Yes, but...”

“You could do it on a larger scale,” she interrupted. “That’s so simple yet brilliant. Why did we never think of it?”

“Well, you need good paper, specific metals, and enough literate people to make it profitable,” I laughed. “Since you might be disinherited, you can have the idea. Even a lady has to eat.”

She made a mock smile and said, “Thank you, oh generous one.”

"Speaking of scrolls and spells, how do you deal with rogues or assassins that use poison? My shield got overwhelmed so fast," I said, trying to find some sort of counter.

She laughed hard this time. "We dodge," she said, then got a little more serious. "Others parry hits, but that's why they're assassins. They're extremely dangerous, especially to casters."

"You have no idea how lucky you are with that Mana Shield. Casters usually stand back and have serious support covering for them; otherwise, they’re sitting ducks. And the shields I’ve seen others use last maybe two hits—three if they’re really powerful."

She was right. Without it, I would have been dead many times by now.

"And because of that shield, you can be offensive. They must have no idea how to fight you. Even I wouldn’t know what to do against you, and I’ve watched you fight enough times."

"That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to fight your boyfriend. Word about my fighting style would spread quickly, and with my limited repertoire, there would be no surprises left."

"You finally used that high intelligence, I see," she laughed.

"I know I seem naive sometimes," I began, but she looked ready to make a quip. "Fine, more than a few times. But I cling to it out of fear that losing it would change me irrevocably." Only a fool would be unwilling to see themselves start to become indifferent to killing.

"This might seem dark, but when I see the state of some villages and even kingdoms, you think thoughts like 'I could do so much good if only they would listen to me. Maybe I should make them for their own good' don't pop into my head?"

"The troubling thing is, I know for a fact I could rule a kingdom better than what I've seen so far," I said, stopping short of admitting more. A few promises here, a bit of rhetoric there, and I'd have a loyal following. From there... I forced myself to snap out of my reverie.

She looked grave, and it struck me how dangerous she appeared in that moment. "You're right. You're so joyful and hopeful that I sometimes forget you're just like us at the core."

"I didn't say that because I was upset, but to keep your expectations of me realistic," I replied. "Sometimes I worry that you see a much better version of me than I really am, and that means I will inevitably disappoint you."

She leaned in and, to my surprise, kissed me on the lips. It wasn't a romantic, passionate kiss, but a chaste one that seemed fitting given our conversation. "You could never disappoint me," she said with a serious stare, as if she wanted to etch this assurance into my memory. "Unless you go evil, that is." Her smile softened and turned joyful. "Even if you did go evil, bad boys are sexy, so I'd only be a little disappointed."

"Hey, I can be a bad boy anytime I want. I just choose not to be because it wouldn't be fair on account of all the sexiness," I joked.

"Really?" she said, struggling not to laugh. "Let's see it, then, mister bad boy."

"Well, first I’d need some leather pants and a jacket, black if possible." She was trying hard to keep a straight face. "Then I'd take my jacket off," I said, demonstrating with my linen jacket. "I’d flex my biceps," I continued in an exaggerated sultry voice, "This can all be yours, my lady," I said, touching my bicep and making a hissing sound like it burned my finger. "Sizzling."

She burst into laughter, and I smiled, loving the sound of her joy. "You have a wonderful laugh," I said, surprising myself with the sincerity of the compliment.

Her laughter stopped, and her breathing seemed to increase despite the silence that soon descended. I moved a little closer and she mirrored me. I paused, my lips close to hers, maybe to give her one last chance to back away. I was too close to look her in the eyes, so I focused on her lips. They were too perfect to resist, so I closed the remaining distance.

The initial contact was cautious, as if we were both getting used to the feeling. But soon it proved to be not enough—the warm breath, the softness of her lips, and the gentle pressure that grew was too much to resist. As the kiss deepened, the last traces of apprehension dissolved, and I felt her arms wrapping around my neck, pulling me closer.

Time seemed to blur, as cliché as it may sound, and it was perfect. But like every good thing, it had to end. Time resumed, and we pulled away, breathless and maybe a little dazed. Our eyes met, and we both smiled.

"That was something..." My voice hung in the air, unable to properly articulate my thoughts out loud.

She seemed to have similar problems as she responded with, "Yes, it was."