The university appeared mostly unmolested. A lot of soldiers and knights stood around keeping a tight and secure perimeter outside. It appeared a few monsters had tried to attack this area but they were just corpses littering the ground in some places.

They passed by a large crowd of people all wanting to get through the portal to the other side. Unfortunately the portal at least when he had left the university earlier hadn’t been opened yet. As a result, all any of them could do was stand outside and wait before they could escape the city.

Unlike the crowd waiting outside the gated entrance to the university which was surrounded by high walls, they gained entry as the sorcerers and guards recognized them.

“You see the looks on their faces?” Silvy said.

“They’re beyond scared,” Abigail said. “And rightfully so. Yorais really ought to get that portal up so we can all get the heck out of here already.”

Well-groomed bushes ran along the sides of the street they walked down. The stones beneath his feet were white and black.

An archway ran ahead of them only to expose the innermost part of the university with the giant grand sorcerer’s tower. Tons of people gathered in the open space around it waiting for the opportunity to leave this domain.

“There you are,” Zorge said. Unlike his usual self, he wore more appropriate attire rather than the filthy rags he usually chose to wear. He even brushed his hair and kept it neatly combed. “Rinas needs to speak with you.”

“Does he now?” Abigail said. She stopped for a moment looking around. “Where is he?”

“He’s in that building over there with several others.”

Zorge pointed towards a university building to the west of the grand sorcerer’s tower. She nodded her head and led them there.

As they neared it she turned to face Silvy. “You better stay out here. You’re not technically one of us.”

Silvy understood her intent. She made no fuss over it and chose to stay outside while he and Abigail went inside to find Rinas.

Unlike the rougher surfaces found outside, the inside floor was made out of a slick white marble that reflected all the aura-infused lighting within the large spacious interior of this building. It appeared that this place was designed for students to congregate and study. Many rows of seats and tables sat around while at the far back of this room, a long rectangular table sat there with Rinas and several others standing around.

“I’m glad to see you all made it back,” Rinas said while looking tired and worn out. It was like he had aged a whole decade since he last saw him hours ago.

Times like these will age a man more than any other time in their life. With a city in absolute ruin, it wouldn’t surprise Kiran if he looked in the mirror only to notice he too had aged similarly as well.

Beside Rinas was Frederek who appeared tired as well along with Hoghdar who appeared ready to pass out. Normally everyone would likely be asleep at this time of the day but once chaos ensued, they had no choice but to remain awake and work tirelessly throughout the night. The morning was approaching but it was still hours away. Kiran imagined out of every faction leader within the coalition, Yorais was likely the most tired having to work all night trying to get the portal to stabilize and form correctly.

Frederek crossed his tired arms. “So what of Noreko? Did you manage to find him?” He pressed his palms onto the table with those big muscular arms and hands of his. “Please tell me that you did.”

“We did actually,” Abigail said. “But we weren’t able to kill or apprehend him. He’s a lot more conniving than I ever would’ve expected. You all should know as well, that finding him again will prove troublesome. He will have if he hasn’t already, taken on the face of one of his victims that we came across.”

“He can do that?” Zorge said.

“Yes,” she said. “I see no other reason why he would peel away a person’s face unless that was his intent.” As people imagined what that might look like, everyone appeared somewhat uncomfortable.

Frederek began to laugh. “He can wear a different face all he likes.” He pressed his palms together. “I’ll pummel it in all the same.”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t get your hopes up. We underestimated him and I don’t think even you are perceptive enough to spot him as he wears a different face.”

“But you would if he stood by you?”

“Actually no, I wouldn’t.”

Frederek nodded his head knowing she wasn’t meaning to insult him or his intelligence. Kiran truthfully doubted he would be able to tell if Noreko stood right by him, especially if he could wear a different face now. It caused him to feel quite concerned for the future knowing any stranger he came across, could potentially be Noreko. Assuming they could also mask their voice well, that would make it even harder.

Maybe he will or has already perished in this city by some monster. That sure would make things easier for us. Although not knowing of his death would still cause some amount of stress since they had no way of knowing whether he was dead or alive.

“We cannot afford to have most of our focus remain on him.” Rinas held a serious look on his face. “For now at least we need to focus on securing the safety of this tower and once the portal is open, get as many people through as possible.”

“Agreed,” Abigail said.

“Aye,” Frederek replied.

As much as they might want to capture and deal with that lump of excrement, he was out of sight and beyond them for now at least. All they could do was put most of their efforts into an even more important obstacle. And once everyone made it over to the other domain and they secured a place over there, then they could divert more of their efforts to dealing with Noreko.

Their talks came to an end allowing Kiran an opportunity to wander the university. He was also given an opportunity to rest, but he was far too on edge to just fall asleep outright.

He walked alone out in a series of archways within the university. People sat with their backs against the walls to keep warm and stay out of the elements. He spotted robed members of the university themselves mixed with regular people who only knew Liall and no other place.

A figure began strolling along the arched tunnel towards him. He felt a bit of ease recognizing them being his companion Lar.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

They appeared a fair bit better than earlier That potion she took earlier must’ve been helping her a lot more than expected.

She stopped in front of him. “Miss me?” he said.

Lar smiled and began walking beside him to his left. “I might’ve. But only a little.”

An archway went over them as they exited the warm hall. A cold wind brushed up against his face only to warm up again as he entered another mostly dark hall lit by torches that ran alongside the sides.

“You look like you’re doing even better than earlier.” As they walked together, he thought to ask an important question about something he had been wondering about. “If there came a time when I had to do what you did for me, would I be able to or is that something only familiars can do?”

Lar turned their gaze downward for a moment and lifted it back up. “I don’t know of any instances in which a human can do what I did. It might be possible, but I don’t really know. I think that it’s a bad idea regardless. We familiars can handle our souls being used unlike you humans. Your souls are much more fragile than ours.”

“Our souls are more fragile?”

She nodded her head. “We are spiritual beings by our very nature. Our souls are more amenable to manipulation if you want to call it that—although only to a certain extent.” You learn something new every day. “As a human,” she went on to say, “you should always be very protective of your soul. It’s what makes you, you, after all.”

And yet supposedly, his soul was damaged. He didn’t know how that came to be. He also didn’t know what he needed to do to fix it. He just knew that for whatever reason, it was not fully intact.

It was just one of many mysteries that still sat along with all the other mysteries he wanted to solve.

“When’s the last time you slept?”

“A day or so ago,” he said.

“You might want to get some rest while you still can.”

He stopped walking noticing how tired he felt. “Do I look like I need it?”

“The bags beneath your eyes are nearly ready to fall off your face. Come on, let’s get you someplace warm.”

Lar led him into a warmer interior with a sofa inside and a warm hearth. He began to lay down on the sofa trying his best to relax. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep as he closed his eyes.

When he awoke, it was still dark outside. Lar had their hands on his body in almost a prayer-like position. He motioned his leg just enough to alert them. They stumbled back pressing their hands to the floor to keep themselves from falling on their butt.

“Startled you, did I?”

Lar stood up and squinted at him briefly.

“Was that you praying or something?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t realize you were religious.”

“Most familiars are in some capacity. But I, uh, wanted to pray over your body while you slept.”

Kiran wasn’t all that into worshiping deities or thinking much about them. He thought of her action as a kind gesture nonetheless.

“Kiran,” she softly said.

As he lay there on the sofa feeling a bit better than before, he saw immense worry and concern within those eyes of hers.

“Are you concerned about what is to come? I mean so many bad things have happened recently and now we have to flee to another domain. Things may just keep getting worse.”

He grasped onto her hand feeling the warmth coming off of her body. “So long as our bodies are warm, we can manage.”

“You think so?”

“We’ve done as much so far, haven’t we?”

She grinned slightly.

He released his grasp from her hand. “I don’t know what may come our way Lar. I just know I’m not done until I’ve gotten my memories back, and you and everyone else I care about are safe.”

“What if we’re never safe? I’ve seen the world from beyond this domain. It is not necessarily better out there.”

“Then that just means we have to make it safe.”

“How do we accomplish that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know a heck of a lot of things Lar, you know that but you also know I’m willing to press forward no matter what. All of these people are going to need to settle down somewhere. I’m hoping somewhere in the fourth domain they’ll be able to have that. Surely it can’t be that bad there. I mean it doesn’t really get any worse than how things are now in Liall.”

They had everything here. Fires. Monsters. Death. Destruction. For things to be worse than this, would make him think things couldn’t possibly be worse in the fourth domain even if he knew nothing about that place or what they would encounter there.

“I just hope,” he continued to say, “that once we’re there, we can settle down for a bit and have a break. We really could use one.”

“Yeah, I’d for sure like that.”

He began to reflect a bit on everything that this new life of his had brought to him within recent memory. “We’ve been through a lot, haven’t we?” he said.

Since he had awakened, not even a full year had passed and so much had already happened.

“We have,” Lar replied.

The future was always an enigma to him. There were so many possibilities and frankly, he wasn’t quite sure why he was being given an opportunity to even have a future. He had died only to come back for some unknown reason. There must’ve been a reason, he just didn’t know what that reason was.

Was it by the will of some person or entity? Was it a natural phenomenon he could not grasp or understand? He figured it could be any one of those things. Yet he doubted he’d receive an immediate answer to that great question that was always there in the back of his mind.

Regardless of how unaware he was of his given circumstances, he couldn’t help but be happy to be given this opportunity to live. To see wondrous sights. To meet and enjoy the company of great people. And of course, to have gotten the chance to be with Della even if it was for a relatively short while.

He still missed her dearly. Not a day went by without him thinking about her, even though it hurt whenever he did.

He found himself lightly touching the star necklace he had once upon a time given to her. My time in this world was made better by having met and been with you. You may be gone now, but I will never forget you. Your grace and your kindness have proven to me of the true objective good that exists even in a deprived and ruined world.

“You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”

As if she had been reading his mind, he looked up at Lar and stopped touching the necklace with his right hand pulling it back to his side as he looked up to the vaulted ceiling. “I was in fact thinking about her. I sometimes forget that you’re a mind reader,” he said jokingly.

“I know I might’ve been a bit annoying towards you about spending so much time with her back then, especially when you were almost entirely focused on working at that inn, but if I could go back, I would’ve had us just stay there forever and not involve ourselves in other matters.”

“Me too.” Yet, that was not something that could exist. They had to live in reality. Still, he could imagine a life with her and how it might have gone had he never had any run-ins with the queen and her people.

Kiran rolled his body off the sofa choosing to stand up. “I think I’m well rested enough now.” He stretched out his arms and legs. “Come on Lar. Let’s go.”

“I’ll be right behind you mister,” she said softly, and strangely enough, he didn’t quite mind her calling him mister in this instance.