Valdin tackled Vern mercilessly onto the ground several more times until he allowed him to take a break. A small creek ran along the meadow, allowing Vern to replenish his bodily fluids and cool himself.

»For your first time, you are doing exceptionally well«, Valdin said.

»Well, it is technically not my first time doing this because Durant trained me similarly for some time.«

»I see. That explains it. Let's get back at it, then.«

»No«, Vern said, turning his back to the creek and looking straight at Valdin. »This is pointless. I won't be able to improve like this. I can't learn anything from being repeatedly beaten down.«

Valdin slowly shook his head. »Well, you certainly won't be able to take me on in this world. But you can still improve at least a little. Besides, you are missing the most important point of this exercise.«

Vern raised an eyebrow. »And that would be what? Being your punching bag?«

»Yes«, Valdin replied and smiled. »As an inferior creature, you stand little chance against the likes of us … or the Eldritch for that matter. Only if you can manage to accept the reality of your situation, you have a chance.«

»I disagree with the way you are phrasing that.« Vern's eyes narrowed. »I am fully aware of my situation.«

Valdin laughed. »Yes, yes, you seem to believe that. But you said it yourself, didn't you? That you have no real control over your mind. How pathetic.« He stepped forward and pushed his index finger against Vern's solar plexus, sending him with a groan to his knees. »You have to accept your role as a mortal being. Since your death is inevitable, I don't understand why you even care so much about what happened or what will happen. In the end, your fate is the same regardless.«

Vern raised his head and glared at him. »What do you know?! Talking like nothing matters! I thought we had a common interest in defeating the Eldritch … and yet you don't provide me any assistance!«

He watched silently as Vern pulled himself back on his feet.

»Whether you succeed or not isn't important«, Valdin said. »In the end, we will reign supreme either way, although it would be nice if we wouldn't have to cut our connection to your world in case of your defeat …«

Vern couldn't believe what he was hearing. Now he was sure that these people were crazy. Their brains must have been rotting away from their long lifetimes.

But Valdin wasn't bothered by Vern's angry stare and turned around. »Well, let's continue.«

Vern watched him walk back onto the meadow and hesitated to do the same. Disillusioned, he eventually followed him, hoping all this wasn't just wasting his time.

After getting beat to the ground several more times, Vern eventually had no fight left in him and stayed down.

The grass tickled his face as he looked up into the never-changing sky. He neither knew how long he had been sparring nor if it was day or night in his world.

»Guess that it's for now«, Valdin said. »Didn't know you needed sleep that quickly again. Well, just come by the main road again whenever you've recovered.«

Vern heard his footsteps distancing, and he closed his eyes.

This was just insane. He should be leaving this place as long as he still remained in one piece.

For a moment, he lay unmoving, staring at his eyelids and the random pattern of bright dots that emerged from time to time. But as these dots started to take the form of humanoid figures and the faint wind turned into whispers, he opened his eyes again.

After rolling onto his belly, Vern pushed himself up, even though his sore limbs screamed at him to stop. He forced himself to take the first few painful steps, after which it became easier.

His stomach growled, demanding food, and gave Vern a good idea of how much time had passed. Any decision about his strategy going forward had to wait until his basic needs were met. So he shlepped himself through the eerily empty village back to Maggie's place.

When he arrived, his eyes fell on the note at the door: We are out. There is some food ready in the kitchen if you need it. Don't rummage through my stuff – and don't even dare to think of stealing!

Vern briefly stared at it and then knocked on the door to see if they both were still gone. He got no answer, so he entered and went straight to the kitchen.

Maggie had prepared more bread for him, and although Vern yearned for a warm meal, what he got was sufficient to calm his hunger.

After he had cleaned the last crumbs of the plate, he carefully looked around, wondering if he should investigate a little while he was still alone.

He opened some of the cupboards and drawers but was careful not to move anything from its original place. There was nothing of interest in the kitchen, so he walked out.

His eye fell onto that one room – Maggie's room – the only one he hadn't seen from the inside. He grabbed the handle and pulled it down, but unfortunately, the door was locked.

Without any additional iota of knowledge, he returned to the main room and lay down on his provisional bed. Initially, he hadn't planned on sleeping. However, his lids fell shut on their own even as he was standing, so there was nothing else he could do about it. He earnestly hoped Valdin's training would magically prevent him from having nightmares – or worse.

Just as his mind had emptied and his breathing had calmed, Vern picked up laughter in the distance. He grimaced, assuming it was only in his mind and came from them.

But when there was more laughing, he realized it came from the outside. The next moment, the door swung open, and Maggie walked in, giggling.

›Oh, you're already back?‹, Velvet said to him, and Vern sat up.

›Yes‹, he replied and exchanged nods with Maggie passing by.

He waited for her to be out of sight before continuing. ›Did you get any new information?‹

›Hm, what?‹ Velvet energetically hopped from one leg onto another as he wormed himself through the entrance. ›Ah, you mean that. Not really, I guess. But I've seen plenty of new things. Did you know, for example, that if you walk in a straight line in this world, you'll eventually end up in the same spot again?!‹

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Vern blinked tiredly, incapable of sharing Velvet's enthusiasm. ›No, I didn't.‹

»Aargh!«, Maggie shouted all of a sudden. »What is this?!«

Vern had a lingering suspicion what this could be about and heard the approaching steps blasting across the wooden floor.

Maggie's face appeared from behind the corner, glaring at him. It was surprisingly red from the anger, in stark contrast to her normal pale skin, which Vern hadn't expected to be possible.

»Yes?«, he asked innocently. »What is it?«

»Come here!«

Vern slowly rose, and Velvet watched things unfold in silent curiosity. When he reached Maggie, she grabbed him and pushed him further into the hallway.

»What is this?« She pointed at the door to her room.

Vern blinked, not knowing what to say. »A door?«

She made a step toward him and threateningly raised her fist.

»Wait! Seriously, I don't know what you mean.« He raised his hands in a de-escalating manner.

»That handle«, she uttered. »It is not in the same position as I left it.«

»Really?« Vern took a closer look but couldn't determine that there was even the possibility of a difference.

»Yes! Did you try to go into this room?«

»No, no, of course not!«, he responded reflexively. »I wouldn't dare.«

Maggie's eyes narrowed further.

»Ah, yes, I remember«, Vern quickly added. »As I went to eat that delicious food you prepared for me, I accidentally bumped into the wall on my way to the kitchen. I am really sorry. The training with Valdin was just so tiring hence I didn't watch my step carefully enough.«

Maggie continued to silently stare at him before her face slowly relaxed.

»I see. Guess that's plausible enough.«

Vern nodded reassuringly. »By the way, I am very grateful for your hospitality.« He reached into his pocket and fetched the last coins he had on him. »Although they are technically worthless here, I think you like them regardless …?«

Maggie leerily eyed up the coins he offered her. »Yes, I do like them.«

Her hand moved so quickly that Vern, who happened to blink just now, almost entirely missed how she retrieved the coins from the palm of his hand.

»But I am not exclusively collecting coins«, Maggie said. »I like those rings of yours quite a lot too, especially that golden one.«

Vern took a step back and clenched his fingers, fearing they would vanish just as quickly. She amusedly watched him and then stepped forward, laughing at his flinching.

»Well, well. If I really wanted to take them by force, you couldn't do anything about it. So you might as well relax.« She turned around. »You may leave and sleep now.«

»Wait!«, Vern said. An idea had suddenly popped up in his mind. »Although I can't part with my gold ring for sentimental reasons, it's quite unlikely that I'll need all nine mana rings going forward.«

Even before Vern had finished, Maggie had turned on the spot, her hand eagerly stretched out. »I very much appreciate it.«

Vern shook his head. »No, not like that. In exchange, I need something as well.«

Maggie raised her eyebrows. »And that would be …?«

»I want you to tell me everything. It's very obvious to me that you are hiding information, even though we are supposed to be on the same side, aren't we?«

She didn't answer immediately and instead tilted her head a few times, deep in thought with an unreadable expression.

»Well, I think you're a little too concerned about this. But fine, I'll tell you everything, though it isn't of any importance to you. However, before I do, you have to promise to give me the ring, even if you are not satisfied with what I tell you.«

Vern nodded slowly. This was going better than expected, and losing one ring wasn't a big deal to begin with.

She led him back to the main hall, and they sat down at the table once again. Velvet moved a bit closer to not miss a word of their conversation.

Maggie took out one of the coins she had just received and started rolling it across her knuckles with increasing speed. »So, guess the first thing you need to understand is why we're helping you in the first place.« She took her eyes off the sliding coin and looked at him. »Personally, I am very interested in keeping our connection to your world … for obvious reasons. However, the other two don't really care about that and would shut it down if needed. Therefore, it doesn't actually concern our safety whether you can kill off the Eldritch or not.«

Vern nodded. »I see. Valdin also mentioned something similar.«

»Yes. Although we disagree somewhat, we all concur in helping you because of more personal matters since the Eldritch Creatures have emerged from our kind, to begin with.«

These words took Vern by surprise.

»Yes, indeed. But we generally avoid speaking this out loud, so we didn't tell you either, as it changes nothing.«

»I still want to hear the details«, Vern urged her.

She nodded. »Well, let's see. Last time, I told you that after we had managed to create the first artifacts for the humans. Thus, violent conflict arose, and some of us died.

This event disillusioned us. Before, we had taken our eternal life for granted, hence not realizing that living forever doesn't make you immortal if something exists that can overpower and kill you. Consequently, some who were particularly bothered by this fact urged our researchers to develop countermeasures. If there were artifacts that we could use ourselves, it would create enough of a power gap between us and the humans to avoid future deaths on our side … so their thinking.

However, due to the way mana is connected with our bodies, it was difficult, nigh impossible to achieve.

Until one day, when Hephais announced that she had come close to a promising breakthrough. That was the last we heard of her as she was found dead shortly after.

Since she had conducted her research in your world, because mana works differently there, many of us quickly jumped to the conclusion that the humans must have been responsible once again.«

She abruptly stopped the coin between her index and middle finger and looked up with a sad expression on her face.

»As a consequence, there was somewhat of a war happening, and we didn't realize the Eldritch rising in its shadows. A group of our kind had gone missing, and we didn't think much of it, attributing it to rising tension and them not wanting to be tied up in those.

We only found out later that Hephais actually succeeded in creating an astounding weapon, and one of her assistants took it and murdered her. While we were caught up with the humans, they used Soul Devourer to slaughter everything in their sight to become stronger, truly unkillable to achieve invincibility. They continued the research on souls and managed to create the monsters in the process, with the initial intention of feeding them to Soul Devourer. However, these artificial souls and creatures couldn`t fuel it, and therefore, they were repurposed as soldiers.

During their quest for power, they lost their reason and everything else that made them one of us.«

She turned to Velvet and bowed slightly.

›I am deeply sorry. You and your kind were among those victims. I hope you can forgive us.‹

Velvet nodded slowly and lowered his head as well. ›Thank you for telling me the truth.‹

»And that is the reason why we all care. This stain of darkness and destruction, which we are ultimately responsible for, has to be removed. This is why we gave the three artifact weapons to the humans and sent their wielders to wipe the Eldritch out of existence.«

She sighed and watched the coin slide along the fingers while Vern contemplated what he had just heard by intricately studying the ceiling.

Velvet stood up, breaking the silence. ›I want to fight as well‹, he exclaimed and turned his head to Maggie while his tail whipped through the air. ›Is there any way for me to train my abilities too?‹

›Well, you are in a different form in the other world, so I don't know for sure. We can talk to Rhone later about it since he is more of an expert than I am, but If I were you, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high …‹

›Thank you, I'll try my best‹, Velvet said and sat back down.

Vern stripped the ring of one of his fingers and slid it across the table. »Thank you. This was very helpful. Now I at least know what I am dealing with inside me. Maybe there is still some reason deep down left in them that I can appeal to.«

Maggie weakly smiled. »Tell me if you succeed with that.« Her gaze fell on the silver ring in front of her, and the sadness in her eyes was overshadowed by an excited glint.

»One more thing«, Vern added as Maggie pocketed her newly acquired treasure. »I have to ask this. Since you three are somewhat acquainted with the Eldritch … is there a chance that any of you will switch to their side?«

Maggie vehemently shook her head. »I understand why you are asking this, but I can assure you that we all share a common interest here, and that won't change on a whim. All we want is peace for our already fallen comrades who now shallowly walk the earth. We'll provide you with everything we can in our own way.«

»I see. With all that sad and done, I indeed feel like I can trust you now.« He smiled at her.

Maggie nodded and stood up. »Good. Thus, if you ever try to enter my room again, you won't get away as easy as today.«

Vern gulped and kept a straight face. »I don't know what you're talking about.«

Luckily, Maggie didn't insist on this matter any further and walked off, adding the ring to her collection.

Now that the excitement of gaining new knowledge had passed, the sleepiness returned fast. Vern yawned and walked to his bed. As he lay down, he longingly looked at Velvet's fur. After closing his eyes, something soft brushed by his face and encompassed his body, drawing a smile from his face while entering the realm of dreams.