I felt nauseous.

I just executed a defenceless man in cold blood.

I knew I was right… but fuck me if that wasn’t a murder. For Ereshkigal’s sake… there are provisions in the Geneva Convention against this stuff. I staggered forward and supported myself on one of the trees.

This guy was evil this guy was evil this guy was evil

‘You okay?’ I heard Aki ask.

‘No,’ I answered curtly.

‘You did the right thing,’ she said and put her hand on my shoulder. ‘You did it for me. Thank you.’

I nodded weakly.

‘Let’s just get away from here…’

The further we got from the scene of the massacre the better I felt. Well… at least mentally. Physically… the sun was still in the sky. After two kilometres, I thought we’d walked far enough and called for a halt.

‘Can… can we wait until it’s darker?’ I asked.

‘Sure thing!’ Caei and Aki said, clearly happy with me.

We set up an impromptu camp and I hid in the shade. Aki went up to me and snuggled against me.

Caei looked at us longingly. I caught Aki’s attention and pointed towards the Sanguine with my head. She looked at Caei, mulled it over and finally nodded. The Sanguine couldn't have looked happier. She walked over to Aki, gave her a peck on the cheek and sat at the other side of me. I embraced both of them which proved slightly problematic due to her wings. Eventually, we found a position comfortable for all three of us. Caei was lying on her side facing me, her head on my lap. From time to time I gently stroked her hair with my hand. To my surprise, Aki chose to position herself on the same side of me as the Sanguine. They even intertwined their fingers. Once again I felt whole. We weren’t lovers. Not yet, anyway. Just three friends who found each other and were brought together by a shared struggle and need for intimacy. I now had people to fight for. And I would gladly do so.

‘Serve you?’ Dolman asked, confused. ‘Wh- Who are you?’

The bandit then realised something.

I’m speaking. But my throat was cut.

He was still on the ground, yet he no longer felt… tethered. Dolman raised his arm and saw that the ghostly afterimage of it detached itself from the flesh and blood still on the ground. And it was that simulacrum that was responding to his commands.

‘Perhaps, I should have been clearer,’ the voice continued. ‘Your body has died, but your soul still hasn't passed to the Realm of the Dead, yet. I stopped it. For now.’

That gave Dolman a start. He got up and looked around in fear. He was alone in a grey world. His dead body, a sad little thing, was lying on the ground. It almost felt like not him anymore.

‘The Realm of the Dead? The priests have always taught those are pagan lies. That we would be at the side of the Light after our death.’

‘If the Light deemed you worthy, yes. And guess what. You aren’t. Few are. Those unworthy of Light's attention are discarded and left at the mercy of the Bitch-Queen of the Dead. And let me tell you… she will ensure scum like you really regret everything you’ve done before you are allowed to reincarnate.’

A vision appeared in his mind of his recent companions. The sight and their screams engraved themselves on the core of Dolman’s soul. He fell to his knees.

‘No… no…’ he started to cry.

There was a crack and a man dressed in a sleeveless yellow shirt with black winding and greenish pants appeared in front of him. He was tall and muscular with slightly brownish skin. He had blonde neck-long hair and stubble on his cheeks. Dolman realised this man was the only thing that had colour here.

Why?

‘I can help you avoid this, the stranger continued.’ All you have to do is to enter my service.’

He extended his hand. Dolman looked at it. If he didn't accept it he would spend the rest of his existence in suffering. But didn't he deserve it? His death changed his perspective on his actions.

Is this what our victims felt?

He heard the screams of his comrades again. He took the man’s hand.

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‘Good,’ the man said and snapped the fingers of his other hand.

Dolman found himself back in his body. The world once again regained colour. He felt itching on his throat as his tissues knit themselves together.

The man, the King Who Commands The Ocean, he realised, his king now and forever, was standing over him with an extended hand. Dolman took it again and his master helped him get up.

‘Welcome to the team, Dolman,’ The King Who Commands The Ocean said, ‘We have a lot to do. Serve me well and you will be rewarded.’

‘I want the elf,’ he responded. ‘I want her to pay.’

‘Forget the elf, Dolman,’ his new master laughed. ‘I can offer you much… much more.

We must have all dozed off. I was the first one to wake up and saw that Aki joined Caei with her head on my lap. They were cuddling against each other. Not wanting to disturb them, I just sat there, content with my life.

I looked at the sky. It looked to be late afternoon. I was starting to feel somewhat better, but it was still far from perfect. I could go on though.

I felt stirring on my legs and I saw Caei with her eyes open.

‘Hello, sleepyhead,’ I softly said to her.

She smiled at me and I ran my fingers through her hair.

‘I see you’ve resolved your issues with Aki,’ I said with a smile.

‘Yes,’ she smiled back. ‘We’ve agreed to share you if you are up for it.’

‘I was afraid I would eventually have to choose between you. This will probably need some figuring out, but I am willing to try. And I don’t mind you two… you know.’

‘We have this bit figured out, I think.’

I looked at them.

‘That you do,’ I chuckled.

Caei managed to get up without disturbing Aki and tiptoed to my side. She leaned forward for a kiss and I obliged her. She was a much better kisser than Aki, but probably that was due to the experience. There is this phrase “sealed with a kiss”, and I think that kiss sealed our arrangement.

We stayed there for an extra hour until the sun began to set. Aki eventually woke up and we simply lay down on the ground there, me and her on our backs and Caei on her side facing us. I recognized this would likely become our regular sleeping arrangement. We just held hands and talked. Maybe a smooch here or there.

Eventually, it was time for us to go. As we gathered our stuff I checked my status timer.

Status: Elemental Contamination - Air

Level: 3 - Severe

Effects:

Irreversible changes to body structure have occurred

Increased effectiveness of Air Arcana-based spells, abilities and traits

Decreased effectiveness of other Elemental Arcana-based spells, abilities and traits

Unable to use Earth Arcana-based spells, abilities and traits

Note: The level of contamination will revert to 2 - Moderate 20 days, 3 hours and 25 minutes.

It actually went down by an hour compared to what it was in the morning. Good.

I used the Swiftness of the Wind to counteract my decreased agility so I was happy I didn’t screw myself too much.

At this rate, the “three weeks” will take two months.

I checked my notifications, though I quickly deleted those for the kill without reading them. I did not want to see what the execution netted me. I was happy to see that my experience points went up by three hundred and fifty in total.

The following attributes have progressed:

Endurance: +10% (72% total progress to level 13)

Intelligence: +2% (89% total progress to level 17)

Willpower: +4% (48% total progress to level 16)

The following skills have progressed:

Air Arcana: +20% (104% total progress to level 4)

Your Air Arcana skill has increased to level 4 (2% total progress to level 5)

Sanguine Arcana: +15% (48% total progress to level 2)

The following spells have progressed:

Fist of Wind: +14% (87% total progress to level 3)

Blood Lance: +30% (90% total progress to level 2)

The following abilities have progressed:

The Swiftness of the Wind: +10% (10% total progress to level 2)

Yeah. Now that I am no longer in constant danger I imagine the gains will slow down. Not that I mind.

‘Are you sure you are fine with us travelling during evenings and nights?’ I asked my girlfriends after we started walking.

‘Yup!’ Aki said. ‘We want you to be comfortable too. And in case of danger, you need to be at your best, too.’

‘I concur,’ Caei added. ‘We got lucky with those bandits today, but sooner or later we can run into someone that’s… less easy to deal with.’

I didn’t think of that. Some leader I am.

‘Noted. And sorry for what I did this morning… This is all new to me. Including…’

I waved around.

‘At most, I have been responsible for myself and my cat. So…’

‘Don’t worry about it, hon,’ Caei said. ‘We were just worried about you.’

‘I’ll try not to give you more reasons to.’

We covered an extra seven kilometres that evening as we found the road and began following it. As we walked signs of habitation became more frequent: side trails into the forest, some markers, some trash here and there.

That meant we would soon be likely approaching another village, possibly Zel-Vyme, and that posed challenges given that the Spanish Inquisition was on Aki’s trail and we couldn’t just waltz in. Caeileera was a hot goth vampire from a dimension of blood, so I’m not sure how local clergy would look at her. Other than my hair being a cloud I was mostly normal-looking, so I

would likely be the only one going in. And that meant we would need to plan this carefully.