Fast opponents were nightmarish. Enemies that could take a hit were irritating, usually needing an exhausting amount of effort to make them go down. Alice grimaced as the dragon came to mind. Something about an opponent she could barely lay a finger on was demoralizing in its own shitty way. Last time she’d been face to face with Alviss, she caught them off guard, their dagger still too embedded in her lover’s hand to properly defend before she already had them on the back foot.

Okay, shit, they’re good at their job, Alice grimaced as she slid under a swipe of the smaller elf’s knife. She was so busy trying to duck, dip, and dodge out of the way of each strike there was barely time to counterattack. Magic coursed through her veins, further boosting her own speed. It was the best support Ingrid could offer her at the moment. There was a complete lack of any sort of plant life for her to channel magic into, and there was no way in hell stone shaping would be quick enough to catch Alviss unawares.

Alice dodged out of the way of another stab, bringing her own dagger up to catch their wrist. Rather than the familiar sensation of tendons severing, all she met was air. She spat a curse under her breath before leaping back out of the way of Alviss’s next flurry of stabs and slashes.

She allowed herself a brief glance at Ingrid. The poor girl looked terrified, frantically running along the outskirts of the fight in an attempt to keep up. Even that was nearly enough to get Alice killed as she twisted her head out of the way of a strike. A sharp pain erupted from her neck as the blade made contact. Her scarf began to stick to her neck in the flow of blood. She gritted her teeth and kept moving. A fraction of a second later and the blade would have found a comfortable home in her throat. She was losing. For such a quick opponent, it was an agonizingly slow defeat. Bit by bit she was being worn down. Alviss was moving fast, but staying as safe as possible. Every attack was calculated. Every hit blocked or dodged was another bit of energy gone, and every tiny nick was a potentially devastating impairment. Too fast for Ingrid to be helpful, not reckless enough for Alice to actually take advantage of it. Something had to give.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Natalia and Kallen fairing marginally better against Shiva. Marginally. At the very least it seemed like an even match. The mephelos was disorienting to watch. His khanda was painfully fast. Not as fast as her, Alviss, or Kallen, but enough to be a problem. Meanwhile, the thick, massive greatsword in his right hand swung like a boulder, annihilating everything it touched. Even Kallen was keeping her distance from it.

Natalia rained beams and pillars of light down, trying her damndest to reduce the man to cinders. He nimbly dodged each strike, broken chunks of stone trailing behind where he dragged his greatsword. One particularly intense beam was blocked by the sword altogether, Shiva ducking his head behind it as if it were a barricade. The black and gray metal absorbed the blow, while his tail and khanda deftly batted away Kallen’s glaive. The moment the beam let up, he heaved the sword around, catching the human in the side. She managed to block it with the shaft of her glaive, though the momentum still sent her careening into a support pillar. Dust kicked up as it was reduced to rubble. It was the first decent looking hit any of the three had gotten on each other. Hopefully that wasn’t an omen for the rest of the fight.

Alice refocused her attention on Alviss, parrying their knife out of the way and twisting to strike at their neck. They caught her wrist, crossing it over her other arm, then yanking her forward to kick her in the chest. The blow sent her tumbling across the ground, reeling to get her bearings. She flicked her head to the side to keep the incoming knife from plunging into her eye. Another swipe caused her to roll backwards to safety. Rushing forward, she feinted left, using a hidden throwing knife to catch the elf off guard. They read the attack easily, ducking under it to deliver a slash to the side of her knee. She kicked at them with her other leg, but only managed a glancing blow. It didn’t even phase them.

“You’re losing,” her opponent said. Their voice was quiet and monotone, like there wasn’t a hint of emotion present behind their eyes.

Grunting angrily, she stabbed at their left leg. As their knife moved to block it, she aimed a kick at their unguarded flank. They easily rolled to the side, slashing at her arm as they did. It took everything in her power not to drop her knife in pain.

“Tactical fucking genius you are,” she spat, her scarf long since fallen out of place. Even now, she wouldn’t have spoken with it up. Alviss stared at her for a moment. Their eyes flicked to the hilt of her knife and back to her. Not a word passed their lips, but the message hit harder than the kick to her gut. Did they know about her magic? Had she left signs? Her heart pounded as ideas crossed her mind.

Evidently, Alviss wasn’t about to give her time to think them over. She dove out of the way of a trio of throwing knives. Before she had a moment to breathe, she’d already brought her knife up to block another stab from her assailant. She shot her leg out at them, barely making enough contact to push them a few feet away. It was enough time to get to her feet, but not much else. Within an instant they were once again locked in melee, a barrage of attacks so suffocating that a single mistake would spell death.

Alice wasn’t used to this. She could fight, but she was an assassin. Her skillset was getting to someone undetected and dispatching them. Head on combat would always leave her at a disadvantage. She gritted her teeth. She had to keep fighting. If she faltered for a moment, Alviss would kill her. Then, they would make short work of Ingrid.

She’d seen it happen once.

It wasn’t going to happen again.

Fuck, she really should have taken Keaton up on those sparring days.

Alviss wove in and out of the way of her knife. It was like trying to catch a falling leaf. Anytime she got close, the air displaced pushed them out of the way. Part of her wondered if it was magic, but there was no indication of any present. Another nick across her upper arm. Another dangerously close to the tendons on her wrist.

Natalia’s words rang through her mind. Ingrid’s words rang through her mind, loud as the magic keeping her alive. Kallen’s words were the loudest. If the others were whispers, Kallen was a thunderstorm.

You’re afraid she won’t pick you.

She gritted her teeth. If anyone was going to push her in a fight like this, it wasn’t going to be Kallen. She wouldn’t let it be. Alviss’s hand darted forward to stab her in the abdomen. Her free hand rushed to meet it. An explosion of pain shot down her wrist and up her arm. Even Alviss looked surprised. Ingrid cried her name as she hissed in pain. She kept from looking down at the knife embedded in her palm, grasping the hand holding it with all the strength she could muster. The pain and effort kept her from being nearly as accurate as she wanted to be, but her knife still connected as she slashed recklessly.

Two strikes. They were all she managed to make in the confusion.The first cut deep into her opponent’s upper arm. The second caught them across the collarbone. Another lance of pain as Alviss ripped their hand away, a spray of blood coming with it. Her blood. Both of them backed off for a moment, assessing their own injuries. Blood oozed from her hand where Alviss had torn the knife out, severing the metacarpals of her index and middle fingers. Part of her thumb was missing as well. She cursed silently. The gambit worked, but she had no idea how well. Judging by the way Alviss was recovering, definitely not worth having to forgo use of her left hand.

Alviss rushed her again. She stumbled as she rose to her feet, trying to prepare a defense. Too slow. She could barely bring up her dagger as theirs plunged into her abdomen. At the very least she’d moved enough to avoid a lethal blow. Once again saved by Ingrid’s magic. She crumpled to the ground as Alviss pulled the knife out, her own clattering to the ground as she struggled to staunch the bleeding with her free hand. She could hear Ingrid crying her name again as Alviss loomed above her. Shit, of all the places to die, it really had to be in Khaelae? In front of the love of her life too? The gods really did hate her.

“Alviss, please!” a new voice said. Mattias. Alice craned her neck to see the boy standing between her and a deadpan looking Alviss. “Okay, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what history you have with her, but I’m begging you.”

Someone else begging for her life wasn’t on her bingo card for the day, but here she was. She tried to drag herself to her feet, but the pain in her side caused her to collapse again. At least two severed ribs. Whatever else got hit by the blade.

“You taught me how to use a knife. You and Berith spent time with me, just doing random stuff. I don’t know, I’m kind of panicking right now,” Mattias continued, “The point is that I like you. I like Berith. You’re friends. I don’t know if you feel the same, but if there’s anything there, please. Don’t kill her. Don’t kill my sister.”

Alice was going to die.

Alviss’s face remained deadpan as they stared at Mattias. For his part, he looked like he was trying to calm down a wild animal. That might have been easier. The sound of combat from the other side of the room kept a maddening silence at bay. Wordlessly, Alviss circled around the two, eyes locked on Mattias. They stopped in front of Alice’s knife. They squatted down, gently picking it up like they were worried they’d break it. Their eyes flicked to it for the briefest of moments, thumb running over the wrapping of the hilt. They threw the knife.

“Fuck!” Alice hissed as her own blade slammed into her thigh. She clawed at the ground in pain. Alviss didn’t look any more aggressive than they had a moment before. Mattias had backed away, fear building in his body language.

The other dark elf stared for another moment, briefly touching their wounds and glancing at the blood on their hand. They looked back at Alice, then at Mattias. Without another word, they turned around. No one made any move to stop them as they headed down the corridor Moloch had left through.

Alice closed her eyes, letting her head slump to the ground. Everything hurt. The dozen small gashes over her body, her mostly severed hand, her side, she didn’t even bother removing the dagger from her leg. She could get to that in a moment. For now she needed a second to rest. She winced as someone pulled the knife out. Ingrid, judging by the sensation of healing magic starting to spread through her body. The question of whether or not Ingrid would even be capable of fixing her hand passed her mind, but it wasn’t one she wanted to answer. Ingrid and Mattias spoke frantically to each other, but it was hard to make out the words. Kallen and Natalia’s fight was too loud. Resting for a moment wasn’t the end of the world. Gods knew she wasn’t going to be able to deal with whatever it was that came next if she didn’t.

Kallen threw herself to the side. She narrowly avoided the purple stinger, only to be clotheslined by the enormous greatsword and sent reeling across the ground. A low groan escaped her throat as she dragged herself to her feet, her glaive acting as support. Natalia was forcing Shiva on the defensive, flying in an arc around him as she unleashed a barrage of spells. The mephelos was nimble, even with the greatsword. He danced around it, readjusting it to block as many attacks as he could while dodging others. The black metal was beginning to turn orange from the heat. She looked down at her glaive. No worse for wear. She charged Shiva again.

Natalia saw her coming and spread her hands, the ground around their opponent beginning to glow angrily. A pillar of white flame erupted from the ground. He rolled out of the way, unphased. His sword however, lingered for a moment in the flame before being pulled free. Kallen wasted no time swinging with all her strength. Shiva whirled around, letting her glaive slam into the sword. He leapt over the hilt a moment before another pillar shot up behind him. She knocked his khanda out of the way with her shaft, only for his tail to yank the greatsword from the ground. He grabbed it with his free hand and slammed it down, the impact rattling Kallen’s teeth as she dodged. The blade was dull, but its size and weight made it more like a club than a sword. She tried to swing her glaive, but found herself dodging again as the tail flicked out.

Pale green fluid dripped from the stinger, sizzling as it hit the ground. She could take hits from the greatsword or khanda, but without knowing what that would do while inside her, it wasn’t something she could risk. He twisted around, heaving the massive sword at Natalia. She easily dodged it as it embedded itself in the wall. Shiva dashed to the wall, leaping up to the sword. He used it as a foothold to launch himself towards Natalia. The illian was caught off guard, bringing up her arms to prevent the khanda from slicing off her wing. She howled in pain as it dug into her forearm. In the blink of an eye, his tail flicked out, repeatedly stabbing her in the wing before she threw him off.

Kallen rushed to where he was about to land, bringing her glaive up to stab him. He twisted in the air, flying past the blade and skidding along the ground, khanda at the ready. She knocked it away and dodged his tail once more just in time to see Natalia come crashing into a heap on the ground. Whirling the glaive around, the shaft caught against the khanda and tail. Seizing the opportunity, she swung a kick towards his blind spot. He didn’t have time to block, and was sent careening into a stone pillar, cracking chunks off of it. Shaking his head to recover, he ducked under a punch from Kallen, shattering the base of the pillar completely. She predicted the move and swung her glaive with her free hand, catching him across the chest. He cursed and rolled away, clutching the fresh bloodstain.

Shiva rushed to the wall, tearing the greatsword free in time to block another strike from Kallen. He kicked his own blade, forcing Kallen off balance. She felt his khanda pierce her leg. Gritting her teeth, she tried to grab his arm. He pulled away, knocking her back with the greatsword. Blood oozed from her wounds. The pain was easy enough to ignore. He seemed to be struggling to heft the greatsword, and the bloodstain on his shirt was only growing. She allowed herself a glance at Natalia, making sure she was alright. A trio of holes lay in her left wing, and she was nursing where the sword had dug into her arm. Her eyes didn’t betray any sense of defeat. The illian kept her wings wrapped around her, peering through one of the holes to keep Shiva in view. Her blood glowed with magic as she charged up her spell. She nodded at Kallen.

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Kallen gripped her glaive, steeling herself. Shiva had already recovered, hurtling towards her. Kallen rushed to meet him, the clashing of steel ringing throughout the chamber as they exchanged blows. She was no longer trying to get hits in, only buy time. The mephelos wasn’t as strong as her, or as big. She used that. Pressing her advantage, she forced him to keep Natalia out of his line of sight. He couldn’t afford to check on her lest Kallen deal a crippling blow. She continued attacking faster, keeping a rhythm. He blocked and dodged in time, weaving in and out of strikes or parrying them away with his khanda. A few he blocked with the greatsword, but she could see it draining him. His tail wasn’t as energetic, leaving it easy to dodge.

Natalia spread her wings, hands vibrant with magic.

Kallen struck Shiva’s khanda as hard as she could, knocking him off balance. Keeping her rhythm, she raised her glaive, mustering as much strength as she could. He brought the greatsword up to block, preparing for the strike.

It didn’t come. His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening.

A blinding ray of light shot from Natalia’s hands directly at Shiva. He had no choice but to move the greatsword to block it. The force of the attack shoved him backwards. Kallen had no trouble deflecting a clumsy attack from his tail, then sending the khanda skidding across the floor. Off balance, he used his other hand to steady his sword as Natalia intensified the beam. Kallen raised her glaive again. Just as suddenly as it began, the spell vanished. Shiva and Kallen made eye contact for the briefest of moments before she brought the weapon down.

The glaive cut through the heated metal like butter, passing straight through and meeting flesh. As quick as Shiva was, he couldn’t dodge completely. He screamed in agony as the glaive, melted blade, and his newly severed arm crashed to the ground. Without missing a beat, he tore off his coat with his remaining hand, pressing it to the stump and hissing in pain. He managed to dodge another strike from Kallen’s glaive, then dove out of the way of a second. The mephelos gasped for air as he fell to the ground, glaring up at the bloodied human. She didn’t say anything as she approached, nor did she show any emotion. This man had her respect. She wasn’t going to ruin this. He glanced up at her, then the steaming hunk of metal on the ground. As her glaive came down, he rolled to the side. Pulling the jacket away from the wound, he shoved the bloody stump against the hot metal. Kallen blinked, bewildered as he cauterized the wound without a second thought. She raised her glaive again.

He stopped, gritting his teeth as he smiled up at her. “Mind if I at least get a name?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Kallen. No last name.”

“Kallen, Kallen,” he nodded, turning the name over on his tongue. “I’ll make sure to remember that. Thank you for the fight, Kallen. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.”

She tilted her head. “It wasn’t exactly easy. I almost died a few times.”

“I’m aware. I’ll take pride in that,” he said, a genuine smile on his face. He slumped to the ground, a small chuckle bubbling from his throat before he coughed up blood. “Until next time then?”

The human didn’t answer. She brought her glaive down, ready to stab him through the heart. There was a sound of shattering glass. Her glaive didn’t make contact with anything but the stone floor as Shiva’s body was consumed by a gray mist. As it dispersed, the space where the mephelos had been was completely empty, save for the blood soaked jacket and remains of his greatsword. She furrowed her brow, looking around for any sign of him. He’d vanished into thin air. Deciding not to dwell on it, she rushed to Natalia’s side.

“You’re hurt,” the illian grunted, struggling to her feet. She readily accepted the helping hand when Kallen offered it.

“That’s kind of par for the course,” she shrugged, helping her friend to her feet. “How’s your wing? And arm.”

The wing in question twitched, blood and dirt shaken from it. “I’ve dealt with worse. I swear, they always go for the fucking wings,” Natalia spat, kicking a rock.

“Can you still fly?”

“Yes, it’s just painful. Not nearly as fast either. I need to overcorrect with my other wing, which I just know is going to mess with my aim.”

Kallen sighed, looking at the other end of the room. Ingrid and Mattias were hunched over an unconscious Alice, scrambling to give her healing and first aid.

“Damn,” she muttered in awe.

“Damn?”

“We got here.”

Natalia crossed her arms, magic already working to cauterize the gash in her forearm. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve been at this for a while, but we got here. Ingrid has her brother back. If we want to get technical, we did our job.”

The illian raised an eyebrow. “I believe that was your job. I’m mostly here out of convenience. And for Alice.”

Kallen nodded, watching as wounds closed up all over the dark elf’s body. She looked down at herself. Bits of blood, both hers and Shiva’s, stained her clothes. Larger stains were still spreading from the more grievous wounds. Using her glaive for support, she started to make her way over to Ingrid, wincing slightly as she became aware of the pain.

“...hand is the worst off, keep it bandaged while I deal with everything else,” Ingrid said frantically as Kallen entered earshot. Mattias nodded, putting more pressure on the wound. “Gods, please be okay…”

The elf looked up at the two as they approached, a look of relief washing over her. Kallen gave a small wave.

“It looks like you two fared better than we did,” she sighed, relaxing a little. Fear and sweat remained plastered on her face as she took nervous glances down at her lover’s prone form. “Give me just a moment, I want to make sure she’s okay, then I can tend to your wounds.”

Kallen nodded, heading over to one of the support pillars. She sighed again as she leaned against it, sliding down to a sitting position. Rest was important right now. If she didn’t give herself a moment to recover, she was going to fall apart. She made sure to give Ingrid space. Hovering over her like a vulture wouldn’t do anyone any good. She could vaguely hear Natalia discussing something with her, but couldn’t make out any words. An odd sound like a shifting wind came from next to her, and she became aware of someone else nearby. Her eyes opened to see Mattias sitting next to her, wearing an unreadable expression.

“Hey,” she smiled, trying to avoid moving. The pain was starting to become an annoyance.

“Hey,” he said flatly.

The silence dragged on between them, Kallen not wanting to be the one to break it. She’d heard stories about the boy, but didn’t really know him very well. If she was less tired and less hurt, she might have made an effort to, but he didn’t seem to be in the best headspace. He could loosen his lips at his own pace.

“Sorry for almost stabbing you,” he muttered.

Kallen blinked, then closed her eyes. “It’s okay. Sorry for kicking you. I tried not to do it very hard.”

“It hurt a lot, but I don’t think I broke anything. It was kind of deserved.”

Another silence, occasionally broken up by bits of debris no longer capable of holding their own weight. Ingrid and Natalia continued talking in hushed tones.

“So… you’re Kallen?”

“Mhm. You’re Mattias?”

“Yeah,” he said. He paused again, but continued. “Ingrid really came looking for me?”

“She’s here, isn’t she?” Kallen smiled, “From what I know, she did since the moment she realized you were missing.”

The boy let out a long sigh. “It just feels surreal. We’re so far from home. Why would she come all this way?”

“Why did you?”

Kallen heard him sit up straighter.

“A lot of things, I guess,” he said, “I wanted to prove something, was the most tangible.”

“In what way?”

He stopped, thinking. “That some people aren’t what others think they are. Some people are stupid enough that they need a reason to treat someone like a person. They can’t just do it because it’s the right thing to do. It’s stupid.”

Kallen nodded. “Some people aren’t great people. From everything I’ve heard from Ingrid, you aren’t one of them.”

“Did… Did she talk about me a lot?”

“Yup. Only ever good things. She cares about you a lot,” she said fondly, “It felt like finding you was the only thing on her mind. Well, you and her.”

“Alice?”

“Yeah. They got pretty close.”

“Did they…”

Kallen opened her eyes, giving him a curious look. “Thinking about something?”

“Yeah, just,” he stopped. “How close?”

She grinned. “Nosy?”

He looked away, his face red. “Trying not to be. They’ve been close for a while though. I’m just trying to figure out what I should and shouldn’t say.”

“Well, they’ve gotten close. They’re a couple now. It’s not exactly a secret.”

His ears perked up. “Really? They finally got together?” he asked excitedly.

“Sure did. Right after our fight with Berith.”

As the dark elf was mentioned, Mattias’s ears drooped. His look of curiosity was replaced with concern. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I guess I was meaning to ask about that too.”

Kallen nodded, resting her head against the pillar. “What do you want to know?”

He bit his lip. “Why were you and him fighting? Why were you and Alviss fighting? I only met Shiva once or twice, but he’s a sweet man. He loves to talk about his husband and their dogs, or his mom’s cooking. I just–” he looked at her, frowning. “You cut his arm off. You nearly killed him.”

“I was going to.”

“But why?”

“He tried to kill me. Natalia too.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he shook his head, “That part I can understand. I meant why is there conflict in the first place? Why did they know you enough to attack as soon as they saw you?”

“That’s… a bit of a story. Ingrid is working, but I can tell it. If you want, that is.”

He frowned, staring at his hands. Shadows pooled and shifted around his feet, crawling up his legs and manifesting at his fingertips. It was reminiscent of Berith’s gauntlets. Kallen felt her muscles tense, preparing for a fight. She took a deep breath, calming herself. He was just a kid.

“Alright,” he sighed, looking at her. “Hit me with it.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Natalia murmured, staring down at Alice’s unconscious form.

Ingrid took a shaky breath. She felt so useless. What few futile attempts she’d made at trapping Alviss had been negligent at best. Downright pathetic at worst. All she’d been capable of doing was giving Alice a little bit of speed so that she didn’t get blitzed immediately. Was it even helpful? If she hadn’t been injured, would she have been able to do more? Head injuries always made things more difficult.

She shook her head. She was overthinking things. Being angry at herself wasn’t going to heal Alice. “She should be. If Berith is here somewhere, I don’t know if we’ll be able to put up much of a fight against him. It might fall to you and Kallen again.”

The illian nodded, crossing her arms. “We’ll see what we can do. I didn’t get hit much in that fight, and Kallen is… honestly better than I’ve seen her after some of our worse bouts,” she observed, “Alice is the only one particularly hurt.”

“I noticed,” Ingrid grimaced, continuing to pour all the healing magic she could into her lover. There was so much blood. It stained the woman’s clothes, sticking to Ingrid’s hands. She gritted her teeth. Why the hell couldn’t Malori be here? The esper would have had no trouble fixing all of this. Instead, she was all cozy in a palace with Colette.

“Might I give a recommendation?”

“What?” she snapped.

Natalia frowned, staring at her. “I’m going to ignore that. But I’d recommend stabilizing her, then putting a focus on Kallen. Some on me. You said it yourself, the fighting will likely fall to Kallen and I. Having us at our best will be paramount to surviving if Berith decides to show up.”

Ingrid wanted to shout at her. Curse at her and reprimand her for daring to imply that she should stop healing the woman she loved more than anything. She didn’t. Natalia was right, and she hated it. She gritted her teeth.

“Okay. Give me a moment, there are a few wounds that I don’t want getting worse or infected,” she all but growled.

“Speaking of infection, you reminded me. Shiva’s tail had poison, I believe. He got me in the wing with it a few times. Burned holes. Do you mind making sure there’s nothing else there?”

“I can. Do you feel anything?”

Natalia hefted her wing. “The wounds still burn, and the whole wing is kind of tingly. Nothing substantial though.”

“That’s good. I just need to stop the bleeding on her neck, then I’ll make sure to look it over. I’ll… warn you ahead of time, I’m not very good at dealing with poisons,” she admitted, “Healing magic is kind of like first aid, for me. It’s rudimentary, not particularly in depth unless I spend a lot of time on it. Poisons are too complex. I can’t pick them apart before they kick in most of the time.”

The illian bit her lip, but nodded. “Even knowing something is there would be a help. It at least prepares us to dea–”

“Ingrid!” Mattias cried, rushing over with an injured Kallen.

“What, what’s wrong?” she asked. She’d have been irritated at anyone else for breaking her concentration on healing Alice. The fear in his eyes dashed any such impulses.

“We need to get back to the castle as soon as possible,” Kallen said, still supporting herself on her glaive.

Ingrid clicked her tongue, confused, before looking at Mattias.

Her brother took a deep breath. “Berith is in the capital.”