Cenvin wakes up in the pitch-black void.

“What’s going on?”

He asks the void. Durand’s voice rings back.

“Quiet. Lenny is sleeping.”

“Oh. Is Nyri also here? Speaking of which, does she still glow when she sleeps?”

“All the big questions in life.”

“I digress. There’s no light.”

“Curtains, Otherworld, and Darkness spell.”

“You’re a ranger. You can’t cast Darkness.”

“Spell scroll.”

“Oh.”

Silence.

“Why did you use a spell scroll for this?”

“So I can stop myself from beating you up on sight.”

“You probably can’t win.”

“I can.”

“You need my two shortswords.”

“...”

“...”

“That’s for crowd control.”

“Right.”

Beginning to enjoy the tranquility of the dead silence, Cenvin lies on the sofa. The void surrounds him, leaving only his and Durand’s voice.

“Don’t this remind you of that one time?”

“Chapter 3?”

“What’s a chapter 3?”

“When we walked into the woods and got attacked by shadow bunnies? How do you not remember the chapters? The different sessions?”

He’s too far gone and immersed completely in this world.

“Who’s that voice talking?”

Never mind, Cenvin you’re not fooling anyone, your acting is garbage.

“Sorry.”

“How about let’s talk something plot-relevant, Shyn-”

“No. We don’t talk about her-”

“-is completely our responsibility! Foas gave us that one job, and we screwed it up!”

“You had to say it. Now, let’s debate on-”

“There’s nothing to debate!”

“Didn’t you say to keep it down?”

“I was trolling. It’s the afternoon, bud. You’ve been in a coma for nearly a day.”

“Damn.”

“You changed the topic. The thing is, Shyn is probably in danger-”

“Who cares!”

“I do! What’s the point of us playing Dungeons and Dragons if nothing matters-”

“You accusing me of being a nihilist?

“You’re sounding pretty damn like one right now.”

“Them’s fighting words, Durand!”

“Bring it, c’mon! Chicken?”

“Lift the Darkness!”

“You asked for it!”

Well, um, actually, he didn’t ask- MY EYES!

Glaring sunlight shines from the heavenly void. Eyes adjusting to the new light, the two stumble up the stairs to a small clearing with a filled bookshelf, a squawking tea table, and a wooden chair. Sitting there is Lenny, holding a small atlas on potion-making history in his paw. He gives the rivals no more than a second glance.

“Don’t mess my shelf up,” he returns his focus to his atlas. He gently flips a page, carefully not to rip it with his claw.

Durand draws his longsword and strikes a battle stance. He silently puts his other hand behind him and extracts something from a small pouch. Cenvin unsheathes his shortswords and also guards. He scoffs upon seeing Durand’s concealed hand.

“Gonna fight with one arm behind your back?”

Durand shakes his hair out of his eye and winks calmly. Cenvin gives a villainous chuckle and attacks, scoring a stab directly on Durand’s shoulder. The ranger steps back rapidly while Cenvin gets ensnared by seemingly sentient vines. He struggles as the vine grips his shoulders.

“Damn sneak attack!”

“Damn entanglement!”

Cenvin desperately tries to force his way out to no avail. Durand charges, expertly slashing his longsword at Cenvin. Seeing that the attack is about to land, Durand charges it with intense heat. Cenvin yells in pain as the blade sears his flesh, dealing more damage on top of the cut itself. Fire begins to propagate from the wound and onto Cenvin’s clothes. He yells in pain as the blaze slowly drains his health pool, unable to move or struggle. The flames flicker out, leaving him with several visibly noticeable burns, on top of his healing scar.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

With a concluding throw, Durand steps back to watch the fun. Cenvin began to struggle and writhe on the ground, trying to bat off the fleas Durand had thrown. A series of quivering rings through his body and he crawls to Lenny, begging for help.

“Please…”

Lenny looks at him disinterestedly. Finally, he creates a cube of water above Cenvin and soaks him. Cenvin sighs in relief as he watches the flailing fleas get washed away. He stops when he feels the longsword’s tip at his neck.

“Surrender?”

“Never!”

“You should, I don’t think he’s joking.”

A voice rings from the door. Shyn walks in. Nyri sits on her shoulder, adjusting her viridescent scarf. She gives a disdainful meow at the quarreling adventurers. Hopping through a purple portal, Shyn appears next to Durand.

“Heya, Overproa Tactive!”

Durand pauses, then sheathes his longsword. Cenvin hurriedly scrambles away.

“How did Nyri save you?” He queries.

Shyn begins enthusiastically describing how Nyri flew in, BAM, and then a CRACK, one Orion down, and then she did a cool WHACK and knocked out another one, then she morphed into a sword and SLASH SLASH downing yet another, then they fought back but Nyri dodged it all, and it was just HACK HACK HACK HACK HACK HACK

“Very descriptive,” Cenvin says.

Nyri finds herself lifted into a cuddle.

“Thank you, Nyri,” Durand whispers. Lenny tosses Nyri some catnip, which orbs from her body catch in midair and absorbs.

“-Anyway, then Kores showed up and it was all over.”

“What?”

Nyri squeals as Durand suddenly drops her. Transforming and landing on the floor as a slinky, she bounces to her cushion for a well-deserved rest.

“What happens next?”

Cenvin sits on the floor, completely invested in Shyn’s tall tale. Lenny and Durand are also dropping onto the floor, focusing their attention upon hearing Kores’s name. Shyn grins, twists her scarf, and begins her performance like a traveling storyteller.

“So Kores came along, right? Nyri didn’t notice, she was still HACK HACK HACK HACK… and Kores had this bottle, and he splashed it on Nyri- she’s fine now, don’t worry- and Nyri couldn’t dodge it, because it was liquid, you know? I mean, she could have, maybe dissolved into tiny orbs to dodge all the molecules… I don’t know. Anyway, so Kores captured me again, right? Nyri was helpless because she was sedated by the liquid, so Kores took me to their stupid Skytower, the broken down one, and-”

“Why didn’t you just use his ability against him?” Cenvin chimes.

Shyn turns pale and rubs her temples.

“I-”

She pauses, her pale hue sliding into red.

“His ability was already optimized to the max by himself. I couldn’t beat him. He was the best he could be.”

“What’s his ability again?”

“He hits harder. Crazy damage.”

“No wonder we got beat up by him before. Continue.”

“So, yeah, we were captured and Kores was talking with me, he was really friendly. He told me a lot, that I am Gifted, therefore I have an ability, and he told me that my ability was Ability Duplication, I can harness other Gifteds’ abilities and empower them for my use.”

“That’s… strong.”

“Strong is an understatement, Durand.”

“So Starmetal isn’t that bad then?”

Durand asks Shyn.

“No, they’re still evil.”

“Hear! Hear!” Lenny adds.

“Then Nyri returned, and she struck Kores before he could get another anti-Nyri bottle again.”

Shyn finally sits down. She twirls her scarf around her fingers anxiously.

“I wanted to go back to Foas. He’s disappeared. There was some kind of black mold spread across his entire room. So, I’ve got nothing to lose now.”

She stands up with regained hatred that would make the devil proud. She extends her hand symbolically to the party.

“I am going to Starmetal Valley to kill every living thing there. Revenge. Blood. Death.”

The party watches in frozen horror as she continues.

“They will pay. Pay with their lives. They don’t deserve to live.”

Shyn’s familiar madness glares ever brighter than before in her eyes like a pair of priceless pearls.

“After all, what’s a little organization gonna do in the scope of the universe?”

She aggressively steps forward, her hands reaching out hopefully for companionship.

“Help me!”

Durand bites his lip. I must warn you that this will likely be the single most important decision of the campaign. Very important, very consequential. Think wisely. Help Shyn or stay as freelance Mercs.

Lenny, who had been demure in the conversation, speaks.

“Well, I personally believe-”

“No.”

Durand and Lenny look at Cenvin.

“No,” he repeats.

Shyn turns scarlet and disappears into a portal.

The party sits in shock from what just happened. Finally, Durand cranks his neck to Cenvin’s face, staring daggers.

“What. The. Fu-”

Language!

“Fine. What the hell is wrong with you.”

Cenvin returns the oppression with an emotionless glance. Breathing heavily, the elephantine rage boiling inside him, Durand grabs his longsword and prods Cenvin. He makes no effort to dodge and takes the stab. He groans in pain.

“Brain overloading? You bovine?”

Durand takes his blade out and stabs again with the coldness of an executioner. He winces and buckles, arms trying to cover his deep wounds. Durand goes for another stab, but Lenny parries him. He shakes his head. Durand sheathes his sword with a huff. Cenvin moans in pain as he tries to bandage his gushing cuts with pieces of his cloak. Lenny casts Cure Wounds and Cenvin’s breathing steadies.

Lenny turns his head to Durand, another healing spell ready.

“Are you hurt?”

Durand looks at Cenvin torturously.

“Emotionally.”

“Oh.”

With the struggle of an aged man, Cenvin cranes his head up.

“Only if I could afford Medicare,” he laments, head drooping down again.

Lenny checks his pulse.

“Coma.”

Durand rolls his eyes.

Nyri gracefully blorbs into a squishy slimeball. She wraps Cenvin’s head in all directions, completely drowning him. With an instant crack, and his neck feeling refreshingly painful, Cenvin jolts up. A thousand emotions course through his body and up to his brain. He screams madly and begins tearing the furniture. Durand and Lenny hurry to restrain him. He barks and bites at his party.

“You wanna know why, huh? Screw Shyn! She is a liability!”

Durand stuffs his hand over Cenvin’s mouth, effectively muffling him out.

A black form hastily hides from the window as Nyri glances at it. She yowls angrily and flies out in the shape of a fighter jet. The two soar away in the continued chase.

The next upload will be a one-shot dedicated to Lenny- and after that will be the beginning of the end of the Italica City arc! Nyri has made the death count 646, well done! Chapters will hopefully become progressively longer and better, thanks for reading so far, more to come!