After traveling through the evening, seeing her home didn't alleviate the strange feeling creeping up Thariel's spine, it ate into her head from top to bottom and the only way to relieve it is to tightly clench her teeth.

The door to the house opened when Thariel got close and out came Clyra, she had an apron on and was wearing a calm yet unnerving smile.

That last part might have just been her imagination.

Thariel couldn't help but compare her situation to the folk tale of Hansel and Gretel, did those two kids see this same unguarded smile on the witch's expression and still thought that the woman meant them no harm?

In Thariel's case, obviously Clyra really did mean her no harm.

This didn't stop Thariel from thinking that the aging redhead would pounce at her and start disemboweling her guts though.

Clyra raised her height by standing on her toes and looked over Thariel's shoulder to take a peek at the assortment of crates on the wagon.

"You've bought a lot of things," Clyra commented, her tone happy but somehow sounding hollow to Thariel's ears, "oh, and thank you for the magic amplification potion you left me,"

"Right, ha-ha, you're welcome?" Thariel said, unsure if the potion was as influential as Clyra indirectly pointed it out to be.

Earlier this morning, as she was leaving it for the redhead to use, Thariel had a feeling that Clyra didn't need the potion to kill the five Vampires hiding in the forest. She was confident that her hunch was right on the nose.

Telling Clyra that didn't really do anything though so Thariel talked about something else.

"I bought meat and flour, spices too," Thariel threw out a lifeline, she really didn't like the fact that she wasn't the one leading this conversation, it just felt so eerie.

Clyra smiled, seeing it made Thariel feel sore, "you did?" The next smile felt more welcoming, warmer, "thank you,"

"It's nothing, I think it's about time I start helping out," Thariel said, she hopped down the driver's seat and patted the mule's bum, the animal huffed in annoyance, "take care of her for me? I'll leave the crates I don't need here and then cart the rest to my shed,"

"Of course," Clyra nodded, she held out her hand which Thariel dropped the mule's reins onto. Clyra left with the labor animal tailing after her.

Once alone, Thariel took solace in Clyra's absence and absentmindedly focused taking the food crates out of the wagon and down to the ground, Thariel saw that the door to the house was open and the basement door was too.

She's only seen it in passing and thought nothing better of it but the basement was definitely connected to the brides's death since her instincts were screaming at her to investigate.

What was in there?

No, it was for the best that she didn't do anything irrational.

Thariel swallowed her curiosity and went back to organizing the crates, she stacked them on top of each other before leaving for her shed.

She had a lot to do this following week, most of that was just her making potions but she also needed to practice magic and then start working on her "surge rod".

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When she arrived to the vine ridden structure that was her witch's hut, Thariel didn't immediately start organizing the crates and instead left the wagon to go inside.

Thariel held her chest while leaning against the closed door. She could feel the thrum of her racing heartbeat through her skin. She realized she was panicking.

For the next ten minutes, Thariel's heavy breathing was her only reminder of the physical reality outside her chaotic thoughts.

Through it all, Thariel did her best to try and process the feeling of wrongness that overcame her mind and she could only come up with one canonical reason for why she's feeling like this.

In the lore, it is said that Vampires were emphatically linked with their brood, and Thariel wasn't sure what that meant at first, just that as a Damphir, the effects of the link to her mind had been greatly lessened.

Greatly lessened her ass!

Seeing Clyra filled Thariel with feelings of hopelessness, depression, and melancholy all at once and the three emotions mixed and melded within her skull to form this chaotic blend of feelings that she could only describe as panic.

And if she felt this way as a Damphir, how did the brood, which consisted of only pure bloods, feel about the brides's death?

Were they going to come here and wreck the place? Oh god Thariel hoped not! She didn't just change the timeline for the worse did she?!

The future has changed because of her actions.

Thariel knew that this would happen from day one. She was prepared for it even.

Her reaching Streamwise months before the canon Thariel did wasn't a big change, the fact that she met Liora and signed a contract with her this early on also wasn't that much of a deviation.

Clyra hunting the vampire brides on the other hand...

That was...

... Probably not a big deal, right? Thariel hoped so.

She should stop worrying about this.

As far as Thariel knew, those brides didn't do anything in canon and she's never encountered them during any of her many playthroughs of Tainted Orchids. This includes the spin off game as well.

So that meant they probably weren't all that influential in terms of the overall canon, sure there's now a bit of a divergence to the timeline, but that's mainly directed at the Tenlor territory.

Thariel's sure that only good would come out of this, she might even prevent the frontier from being taken over by the Ytallotiks through this divergence!

And speaking of them...

Nope- Thariel decided she didn't want to worry about the "Tainted" part of the game's title for now, she should focus on other things, like getting back to work.

After several deep breaths, Thariel walked out of the shed with a mind clearer than when she first came in.

The Damphir then proceeded to organize the crates into a ramshackle stack outside the shed, deciding that she'll go back to working on them come morning.

With nothing left to do but to go into the house, Thariel left the shed and entered her home.

The air felt a lot more oppressive than before, carrying an ominous feel that felt almost tangible and her senses screamed at her, yelling to her mind's metaphorical ears that a murderer's scent lingered in the air.

Said murderer was cooking something that smelled nice, the scent of meat took off some of the tenseness in Thariel's mind.

The Damphir walked near and checked the pot her mother was working on and smiled, "soup?"

"I had some broth leftover and thought that since you got meat, why not make stew with some of it?" Clyra explained with a smile, "I know you prefer dried jerky but I'm sure you'll also like this,"

"I probably will," Thariel put on a reassuring smile and hugged her mother from behind, "thank you,"

She flinched when Clyra's hand touched her head, "anything for you,"

They both knew that there was a double meaning to their words but no one chose to say it out loud.

The Vampires were now dead, and for some reason, the brood also left them alone.

Thariel broke the hug and said nothing as she went up the stairs to change out of her clothes.

...

"You were right, the half-blood has talent," Fernus didn't bother to look at the woman standing behind him as he spoke.

Someone who rejected their lord's blessing didn't deserve his respect but her status aside, it seems that her daughter with the count had turned into a delectable fruit.

"How long has she been practicing?" The warlock asked as he watched the girl leave the shed.

Its walls had been overrun by vines, why didn't the lass bother to clean that up? That must stink to her senses, dull as they were compared to pure bloods.

"She's only been doing this for half a year," answered the mortal.

Would she stab him in the back? Fernus wondered.

Well, if she does, he didn't doubt that the rest of the brood would come crashing down to wreck this place after his death, he knew she didn't want her precious daughter to die so he was safe.

Tch.

Mortals. Always with the emotional sentiments.

"I see," Fernus was willing to acknowledge that his half-human sister had talent, she had the potential to live up to the creations of the century old alchemists working for the brood.

A pity that the old fools were prideful-

Hm.

It wasn't out of possibility that they may try to take the girl's life in the future, which would be bad for the brood as a whole.

Fernus swiftly thought of plans to thwart their schemes.

"You said she made a ballistic suit as well?" Fernus asked, the one around his skin felt rather rough. It was of good quality of course, comparable to that of Thariel's.

Was his ballistic suit novice work? Of course not, this just showed how much talent his Damphir kin had when it comes to alchemy.

Still, for Thariel to be able to make it in the first place was certainly odd.

... Where did the girl learn of such a recipe?

And she made it using locally gathered materials as well?Before she even went to the nearby village to procure ingredients? Actually she didn't even bother!

"I've seen enough," Fernus pulled out a book from under his robe and threw it the mortal's way, "blood magic. Make sure she knows of her roots,"

"I will, thank you," he passed by the woman and scoffed at the sight of her. Horrific.

If she had just taken the blessing of undeath, she wouldn't look so old and wrinkled. Moronic.