Caeileera

The village, called Len-Cas, was not much. A few dozen lime-covered houses that could use a fresh coat of paint, an inn and a general store. It was located on the shore of Lake Talicthma, so there were two main sources of income for the villagers: fishing and unloading river barges. The closeness to Ror-Bhyk - it was a few hours of journey away, meant that very little commerce typical for merchant towns developed. There were three warehouses and a fairly large wharf, and that was about it. Lilyth suspected that one day it could be absorbed into Ror-Bhyk if the city grew large enough. It seemed insane until she pointed out that there were far larger urban areas on Terra, the place she was from had over two million people living in it, which I think would be several times the population of the Viscountcy and its bordering polites and still was only the nineteenth largest city on the continent. Sav backed Lilyth on that point, saying that the potential for Ror-Bhyk to eventually expand to that size was there and that she also saw “megacities” with a population of tens of millions in the universe she was in. Then Lilyth mentioned a place called Toukjo on Terra, which, if you counted its immediate surroundings, had about as many people living in it as the entire country she was from. It was then that I realised for the first time how much was lost with the collapse of the Vandarian Empire. I didn't mention it, but I disagreed with both Lilyth and Savri. The potential for Ror-Bhyk to grow to the sizes they talked about was indeed once there but died with the old Empire. So long as the continent wasn't unified again only stagnation awaited people living here. And while I felt helpless to change it, I began to understand why Lady Madness called my goals meaningless. It was because the only thing I could achieve was to free a few Sanguine, who would be the first and only members of our “new” kind. Sure, no member of my species ever died of old age, but… we would stagnate like civilization on the continent and we would just be free to be hedonists outside of Blood's reach. Maybe a better solution would be to fix our sterility somehow? Actually allow us to become a species that could grow and evolve with every generation? I also realised then that, now that I had people to live for, I didn't want my immortality anymore. As impossible as it was, I would happily trade it for the ability to have children. It wouldn't necessarily have to be with Lilyth, but the idea of persisting long after she and Aki were gone both terrified and saddened me. And deep down I knew that the other me felt the same. I couldn't help but wonder who made her feel that way.

It was early afternoon so we decided to stop by the inn to get a warm midday meal. Our trio was sick of the ration bars at that point, and Sav said something about “hating the idea of having to eat only the fucking emarees again”, so I assumed she was on board with that too. We would also stop by the general store later to pick up some food, though Lilyth griped that the only things available would either be salted or smoked fish, and she would take the ration bars over either.

‘You know…’ Aki shook her head in dismay. ‘I never expected to say that but I do hope they also have the ration bars available.'

‘Our luck has been terrible so far,’ I agreed. ‘So I wouldn't hope for it.’

‘The one MRE we always hated was the chicken enchilada,’ Savri said with a semi-dreamy face. ‘ Fucking things tasted like mouldy cardboard. We used to joke that instead of shooting at the enemy we should just cut off their food supply and just send them a transport of these. We would get shot for war crimes but at least any siege would be over in a day. My point is that if I had to choose between the enchiladas and just the possibility of salted fish made in a place like this… it would be a very difficult choice.’

The inn looked like many of the buildings the other me had seen before. A few long common tables and two small private ones. The establishment was surprisingly busy for the time of the day. It wasn't even noon, and there were already ten people there. Weirdly enough, only a few of them seemed to be locals. Before I could get a good look, however, I heard Savri whisper something.

‘Two by the window. Plus the guy next to the half-harpy woman.’

Half-harpy?

‘The lone dude by the door,’ Lilyth added. ‘I think.’

I wanted to turn and look but, I heard Sav softly say:

‘Trouble. Act naturally.’

That lasted all of five seconds, until I heard an all-too-familiar cheerful female voice calling to me.

‘Leera! There you are! I was waiting for you!’

The dam broke and memories of my time among the Yamaokas started flooding in, or rather… my time with one person from the Yamaoka clan. The late-night walks, the stolen moments, the shared secret. The passion burning so strong I would have never suspected myself to be capable of. The dreams of a future together. Yes, I knew that voice very well. It was the voice of a woman that wanted to make the other me hers no matter the consequences. And that second Caeileera… wanted it.

I looked towards the woman. There by the counter stood a tall young half-elf half-harpy, wearing a green wraparound cloak, a brown satchel, a baggy blue shirt and black pants. The clothes were concealing but I would recognize her body everywhere. Her short white hair with long sideburns, black eyes with yellow irises, too-long fangs, long pointy ears with unassuming earrings, and fingers with slightly claw-like fingernails. Yes. There by the counter stood a woman a part of me wanted like nothing else in the world. The one the other me intended to marry. There by the counter stood… Ren Yamaoka.

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A smile bloomed on her face upon seeing me look at her, but it shortly turned into a frown.

‘Leera… who are your friends?’ she asked, perplexed. ‘And… what happened to your wings?’

I wanted to call out to her, but before I could, I heard the clatter of items falling to the floor and the scuffle of my friends reaching for their weapons.

There was a twang of a crossbow bolt being loosed. I saw it embed itself inside Rennie's stomach, red blood blossoming around it.

Two more twangs followed in quick succession. One impacted the man standing next to Rennie in the throat. I recognized him to be Ulrech, one of Ren’s personal guards. The short and unassuming black-haired man started slumping to the floor, drowning in his blood.

At the same time, I felt something hit me in the centre of my back. The force of the impact pushed me to the floor. I tried to get back on my feet, but my legs wouldn't listen. Someone was calling my name and there was all of the Blood's rage breaking out around me, but I paid it no heed. My gaze fell on Rennie and the bolt in her stomach. She was looking at me pleadingly.

The last thing I remember was me trying to drag herself towards her. Then there was a green flash and merciful oblivion took me.

Lilyth

‘Caei!’ I heard Aki shout as I saw our girlfriend fall to the floor, a crossbow bolt in her back.

‘Aki!’ Sav shouted. ‘Help Lilyth! I’ll handle the wounded.’

‘I’m good!’ I responded, drawing my knives. ‘There are only three of them.’

The door to the inn crashed open and two more ran in, swords drawn. Now that I could get a good look at them I noticed they all wore mildly blue shirts and had drab hooded cloaks. The latter tipped us off to begin with, but until then I did not realise they were actually some sort of a coherent unit.

‘I’ll still manage,’ I shrugged.

‘You really think you can take on the six of us girlie?’ one of them shouted.

Six?

I heard a twang and something hit me in the side. One of the cowering patrons turned out to be another of the assassins. I started turning into the kitsune.

‘I know the odds are a bit unfair, but unless you have twelve more guys, I don’t think there is a way to even them out,’ I said, and my transformation mostly complete, activated [Swiftness of the Wind].

Oh, how I missed that feeling. My first target was the crossbow boy. He was staring at me wide-eyed, clearly both terrified and confused. A [Shadow Bolt] to the head ended both issues.

See? I thought as his body crumbled to the floor, the man’s face an unrecognisable mess. I can shoot bolts too, fucko. Mine are better too.

I turned my attention to the remaining five bozos, who suddenly felt really unsure about themselves. The other three crossbowmen dropped their weapons and started drawing their swords. I took the moment to take out the crossbow bolt from my side. I handed it to one of the other patrons.

‘Be a dearie and hold on to this,’ I said with a smile.

The scared man didn't react, likely due to how surreal the whole scene was.

Eh. You need some reason to go to therapy. Wait. Do they even have therapists here?

That was a question for later. There was trash to take out. The bozos were currently slowly advancing towards me, seriously off put by what just happened. Well… that would be the least of their concerns.

I leapt towards the guy with a crossbow and questions. His buddies tried to stop me, but to their misfortune in my current body, while I didn't have as sharp a reflexes as I did in the previous one while in the dark, I still had way better reaction time than any of them. Being able to feel air vibrations and [The Swiftness of Wind] were a bitch to deal with if you were just a baseliner. So I easily batted aside their attacks and sank Sol into the philosopher’s stomach.

Suddenly, the man started convulsing and I could feel electricity coursing through his body.

Oh right. My knives can do that.

One of his buddies was coming to his help, but I summoned wind around my other hand and backhanded the man with the [Fist of Wind]. I hit him dead centre in the chest, and the force of the spell sent him flying into one of his tables.

Three down. Three to go.

One of them was slowly moving towards the exit. I realised it was one of the crossbowmen.

No. I think not.

Since the other two still had some fight left in them, I cast [Shadow Barrage]. An orb of shadow energy appeared over each of my shoulders. I launched them at the crossbowman and gave my full attention to the remaining two bozos. Seeing me cast yet another spell was what broke them. They clearly did not expect to fight a mage here.

Hey… maybe don’t go around assassinating people if you don’t want accidents to happen?

I started summoning wind around my hand and pounced on one of them. He tried to parry my attack with a sword, but all that resulted in was the strength of the attack ripping the weapon out of his hand and impaling him through his chest.

The last guy used that as an opportunity to run me through my back and out of where my sternum would be.

‘That was a new shirt, you know, ‘I said with mild annoyance, one of my ears twitching ‘It will regenerate, but I really hate it when you chucklefucks ruin my clothes.’

‘Wh- what- What are you?’ the man stuttered out and backed away letting go of his sword.

That makes things easier.

I turned around slowly to ensure the sword wouldn't move around too much in my chest. Not the most pleasant of things.

‘That’s a long story, my friend,’ I answered without bothering with any edgy one-liners.

Instead, I summoned another [Shadow Barrage] and launched them towards him. He tried to run, but the spell was faster.

And that was that. Well… not quite. Another blue-shirt bozo burst out from the kitchen, sword drawn, and made a move to attack the harpy woman, but paused after he noticed that all of his friends were dead. Savri, seeing the opening, simply drew her gun with the practised cool of a commando and shot him through the throat. Then she returned to trying to save the woman, slowly nudging Aki to get back to helping her, because my girlfriend was staring at me slack-jawed.

I wanted to assist them, but Sav shouted at me to guard them. And so, one of the more difficult waits of the past few days began for me.