We stood in the metropolis of the city of snow, Bozo was looking towards one of the taverns “That’s where I got my quest, give me a second to find out where the quest came from and I will be back before you know it.”

“Just watch your back.” I warned “Whoever sent you to find me may take it badly if you are still breathing.”

“You almost sound like you care.” Bozo joked, pushing his hair back and resting his hand on the pommel of his sword all the same at my unrelenting expression. He gave a curt nod “I’ll watch myself, Sir.”

"I finally figured it out." Ursula announced, watching the departing figure of Bozo.

I was watching the bustling crowd for possible dangers "What's that."

"Why you are really doing this."

"Oh?" I asked "I somehow doubt that."

"He reminds you of your young cadets. The ones that never made it back from their first quests. That is why you’re here, you’re protecting him. You’re puppy guarding this kid.”

“No.”

“You are! You’re his little puppy, you’ve been following him around barking at all the scary shadows and nudging him away from all the dangers.”

“Shutup.” I growled, inadvertently confirming her suspicions.

“I knew it. Which one in particular does he remind you of?"

"I'm sure you are grasping at straws."

"Which one?" Her tone didn't allow for anything but the truth, the full truth.

"His name was Tosh." I finally relented.

She didn't turn her gaze away from mine "How did he die?"

The crowd drew in closer trying to get to their destination and bumped around each other. Moving me and the Plain One closer together. I was keeping my eyes on the surroundings and spotted the two dark cloaked figures holding bows on the roof.

I followed their hand signals and was able to note five people dressed in the same drab clothes as the rest of the populace, these five however moved in a steady pace towards us.

"We have company." I muttered, looking at the various enemy moving towards."

Ursula didn't look away. "I know, I spotted all twenty-one of them five minutes ago. They arent going anywhere, answer the question!"

"Twenty-one?" I asked, unable to spot the rest.

"Four on the roof, six in the crowd, seven are in that stall acting like merchants. Three are hidden beneath a spell of invisibility on the fountain and the last one is beneath us in the sewers." her tone was matter-of-fact, "Stop trying to evade the question. How did he die?"

"A zombie!" I snapped.

Ursula's face didn't shift a muscle "I think you mean zombies."

"No, one zombie, the dumb kid was startled by a zombie, tripped over a log and snapped his neck. I found him a few hours later..." I realized I was getting worked up my necrotic power starting manifest, the crowd instinctively giving me space, like sheep sensing the danger of a waking predator in their midst. I took a deep breath, it didn't matter to my body, I hadn't needed air in a long, long time. The action did however help me regain control of my powers. "He hadn't even made it to the first city."

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"That's disappointing." Ursula made a big show of stretching. "Sounds like he got what he deserved."

I kept the ripple of power from awakening any of the dead resting in the nearby apocalypse. "Something has bothering me since you showed up in the forest. You keep trying to push my buttons. Why?"

"Maybe this cruelty is what I have always been like and you were just too stupid to notice." Her hand rested on the pearl white pommel of her great sword. Her eyes moving a centimeter to track the enemy behind me. "Maybe this is the real me."

I tracked the enemy soldiers as well, they were getting ready to attack. "No, the real you helped me weed and plant my farm. Talked about my living days with my family and sat on the porch watching the sunset. The real you laughed with abandon. You haven't laughed since you got here."

"Can we not do this right now?" she asked as she threw some coins to a vendor and scooped up a clay jug full of water. She tossed it in the air a few times to gauge its weight.

"You had all the time in the world to ask me about a kid that died, but now you evade why you're not acting like yourself at all? No dice!"

Before she could retort an archer on the roof nocked an arrow and released the projectile. It hissed towards Ursula's back. It bounced off with a ping. She pivoted towards the attacker and hurled the jar with practiced precision. It struck the enemy with enough force to send him flying backwards and off the roof.

I used my pitchfork to catch an assailant's blade and redirect it into another enemy. I jabbed another man in the face (puncturing an eye), and shoved a woman backwards as she tried to garrot me with some metal wire. She stepped backwards falling through the open grate of the sewers she had emerged from. I heard a scream of some sort that was quickly drowned out by the battle and crowd drawing back from the fight. Ursula was striking the enemy soldiers down with more lobbed projectiles. Her strong hand resting still on the handle of her blade.

Her voice broke the dings of metal striking metal "It's complicated. You left the farm and it set off a chain reaction. I don't get to be your friend here. Now I have to goad you into using your powers no matter what it takes!" She emphasized her words by drawing her sword, the light of stars flickered across the silver blade. She struck her blade into the ground and the day turned to night sky, the twinkling jewels of light flickered above her for a moment. Daylight returned and she stood with a small crown of stars upon her head.

The enemy blinked their eyes dilated and re-expanded too fast to adjust. She was among them before they knew it. A comet of violence in their ranks, a blazing star of beauty and death. They lay around her feet like broken dolls. As they expired a single star rose from their throats, absorbed into her blade, new set of constellations formed from their deaths. She sheathed her blade, the crown of stars absorbed into her weapon with a tinkling of bells. She walked towards me as her pure white clothing once again became camouflaged with boring brown fabrics covered in stains and dirt. She stood before me now just another person on the street. “We best go. Wouldn’t want your little recruit to get his nose bloodied.”

We found our warm blooded companion sitting at a table with a look of despondence.

Ursula wasn’t sympathetic “You look like somebody kicked your puppy.”

Bozo looked up at us “I wasn’t the only one sent to kill you. Fifteen of us total were tricked here and all killed except for me.” He nodded up at the bartender “Malcom spoke with the town guard. They found the bodies, or what was left of them. It was a trap.”

“Odd that you survived.” Ursula said with a suspicious tone to her voice.”

The blonde haired youth caught the inflection of distrust “I didn’t kill them!”

“No, but you somehow survived.” Ursula pointed out.

“Enough!” I interrupted looking between the two. “We don’t have time to start turning on ourselves, we are only days away from an epic quest occurring and I would like to kill off whoever is pulling these strings before I get pulled into it.”

Bozo perked up “You think this will be some sort of grand adventure where they write ballads in my name?”

“Not if I can help it.” I growled. “Now enough wasting daylight, we need to go and find ourselves the city’s supplier for the undead, he’ll know something about this, he always does.”

“There isn’t any undead here!” Bozo argued.

“Of course there isn’t.” I said in a soothing tone. “Just keep believing that, Bozo. It’ll help you sleep at night.”