A black-haired woman walked through the crowd, escorted by two guards. A crown-like jewel tiara rested on her head. The woman wore a godly black gown. She glimmered with life, the ether-aura so awe-inducing that Vivi couldn’t help but stare. She looked down at Vivi and Serena.

“Veronica Lifeweaver…” Lucius gushed. “She has grown. She must be close to reaching her ten million goal.”

Ten million? Vivi asked, shocked.

“She is the owner of a hunting company,” Lucius said. “And the leader of the ‘Lifeweaver’ surname. She doesn’t pay excess ether as taxes; she’s the one who others pay taxes to. She has been hoarding ether, trading for skills, for over seventy years. Last I heard, she was the only ether hunter with two exalted skills. Each exalted skill sells for millions upon millions of ether.”

She’s over seventy? Vivi asked. But she looks so young?

Serena retracted her powers, letting go of Vivi. Serena kneeled. “Magistrate Veronica. I apologize for the disturbance. A duel was uncalled for; I should not have accepted the battle.”

Veronica watched the scene with silver eyes. Her look bore the same type of wisdom that elderly healers had when addressing a patient. “The cursed child and the spirit of Ingfried,” Veronica said. “How do you do, dear Lucius? Seeking trouble once more?”

“Geh,” Lucius said from inside Vivi. “That’s not my nickname anymore.”

Veronica smiled. “None of us have forgotten, Lucius. It’s unfortunate, what happened.”

Lucius scowled inside Vivi’s core. He felt uncomfortable. “Let’s leave,” he said. “We’re done here.”

No, let’s hear what she has to say, Vivi thought.

“Your new pawn is even more troublesome than the previous,” Veronica said. “Vivian Runeblessed. Savagely fought. With those wits, it’s no surprise you have survived in the prison of Zand.”

Vivi stayed quiet, cautiously watching Veronica from below.

“The hunters are still gathering intel on the prison and its guards,” Veronica said. “Those who call themselves Stewards. It appears, however, you have turned into a threat as well. You have chosen to decline Andre’s offer of alliance. A shame. Two ether hunters have been imprisoned in the same facility, yet they have chosen to fight against each other.”

Vivi lifted her head. “Andre’s men assaulted me. Of course I am not teaming up with him.”

“Andre’s men are dead,” Veronica said. “Only a fraction of Greenwitch’s mining team has survived alive. Those who assaulted you were demons. Cursed as you are, the least you could have done is help out a hunter in need. You have proven to be an enemy. You are not welcome here.”

“I’m not an enemy!” Vivi said. “I’m trying my best. I have already collected two thousand ether. I don’t want to harm anyone. I just want to live and see my grandpa again!”

Veronica sighed. A circle of translucent daggers appeared around her. The daggers were ethereal, each one shining with more concentrated ether than Serena’s spirit blade. Veronica stood above Vivi like a Queen of absolute strength.

The daggers thrust forth, killing Vivi instantly.

***

Vivi sprung up.

She was awake instantly, as if waking up from a bad dream. Her skin was coated in sweat. The crystal ceiling of Zand’s hidden dungeon loomed overhead, waterfall splashing beside her. Her lungs felt heavy.

Vivi felt her throat. There were no cuts. As Lucius had said, nothing from Yhtar’s dream realm made it to the real world. Except for memories. The prying gazes she’d received were as real as any. Veronica’s cold eyes…

There was a lump in her throat. She tried to calm her breath, failing.

“Uhm, sorry, Vivi…” Lucius said. “I caused this again, didn’t I?”

Something clung to Vivi’s leg. Eem hugged her tight, still soundly asleep. Eem’s hold tightened.

Vivi took a deep breath. Slowly, she began to calm down.

We lost, Vivi thought. We stood no chance. Serena was too strong.

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“She beat us, I will give her that,” Lucius said. “But we were close. Your sword was far stronger than Serena’s. Once we have more ether, we’ll win.”

I could barely see her at all… Vivi thought. She wasn’t even that strong. Her powers were nothing compared to Uundref’s. Or Veronica’s. How can I ever defeat that circle of daggers?

“That was Veronica’s rare skill, ‘Halo of Blades,’” Lucius said. “She showed off, and she didn’t even need to reveal her ethereal skills.”

Vivi’s muscles ached. The pains were from yesterday’s boss fight. Aches from Paradise didn’t make it to the real world. Her body had felt much healthier in the dream realm. The place was beautiful with a clear sky and perfect weather. Fellwater was lucky if they received such a day once in five years.

The beauty made Paradise far worse. How are we the enemies again? Vivi thought. Because we defended ourselves from assault? Because we refused to become Andre’s pawn?

Lucius said nothing, appearing gloomy.

Vivi didn’t have the energy to get angry. She was furious with the ether hunters, of course she was, but what could she do? The hunters didn’t want her. Vivi doubted they’d ever want her even if she cleared her debt. There was nothing she could do. All of the ether hunters were her enemies.

“If we max out my powers, we can defeat Serena,” Lucius said. “She’s better at swordsmanship, but our weapons are stronger. Even your one-runed blade almost cut her spirit blade in half.”

Yes… Vivi thought. After a pause, she asked, What did Veronica mean by ‘Ingfried’s spirit?’

Lucius took a while to answer. He clearly didn’t want to speak about this. “Just some business with my old wielder. That’s all.”

I’d like to know what happened, Vivi thought.

“It’s nothing important,” Lucius said. “What happened doesn’t concern us. My old wielder made a deal with the demons. The ether hunters didn’t like that.”

A deal?

“It’s not important,” Lucius said. “We have Zand to worry about. There’s a lot to do. Practice swordsmanship, gain ether, look for skills, craft more runeswords.”

Vivi breathed in. She wanted to press further, but couldn’t bring herself to. Lucius was her biggest ally. Without Lucius, she was as good as useless. If it turned out Lucius was someone bad as well…

You’ll tell me eventually, Vivi thought. When you can trust me more.

Lucius didn’t respond.

Vivi was ready to wake up. She poked Eem in the cheek. The fiend squinted. Eem stood up groggily.

Vivi chuckled. “Your hair is a mess, Eem. Good morning. Did you sleep well?” She patted Eem in the head, making her hair even more of a mess.

“Aaaaa,” Eem said, grabbing onto Vivi’s raincoat.

Vivi grabbed the little fiend and held her up. “Aaa? What does that mean?”

“Waaa!” Eem said with a happy smile.

Vivi still had no idea what Eem was talking about. But she shared the smile regardless. “You’re looking great today, Eem. Are you ready to explore more of the dungeon?”

“Mm!” Eem said.

Vivi smiled. “Who am I kidding? You already know the dungeon in and out. I’m the one who’s exploring. Are you ready to help me out?”

Eem gave three nods, looking excited.

“We’ll need to find strong monsters to practice with. Something that won’t die from the whoosh attack in one hit.” Vivi swiped with her nails, mimicking the claw-attack. “Are there any monsters like that?”

“Mm, mm!” Eem said. She knew what to do, immediately climbing to Vivi’s back. Then she pointed at a tunnel heading west.

Well, then, Vivi thought. Let’s get back to hunting.

Vivi quickly got rid of the small camp she had built, tossing the emberstones into the river. If this place received guard patrols, which Vivi guessed it did, it was best to get rid of her immediate trail.

With any evidence of life hidden, Vivi stretched. She summoned her sword and filled her senses with enough ether to better react to potential ambushes. Then, she followed Eem’s directions.

The first few caverns and tunnels were quiet and uneventful, filled by the familiar black flowers. Vegetation was rich in this part of the cavern, but monsters were scarce. With so much life around, monsters were reluctant to spawn. The ether that nurtured flowers wasn’t balanced nor void ether that reanimated monsters. Instead, flowers thrived off of nature’s elements, which repelled monsters.

After ten minutes or so of wandering the labyrinth of caverns, the scenery finally changed. Eem led Vivi to a darker section of the dungeon. Vivi paused at the entrance, studying the cave with enhanced eyesight.

A path of old hardwood planks led the way down. Above, a dimmed out kerosene lamp hung from the ceiling. The planks and lamps appeared well used and long abandoned. Looking closer, however, the planks had a subtle glow to them. The sign of lacquer to protect the path from being reanimated into a monster. This place was somewhat maintained.

Vivi stepped in cautiously. Her eyesight was enhanced with ether, but the darkness was eerie nonetheless. This part of the dungeon didn’t feel magical like the previous area. Even the fangling lair appeared more welcoming.

Stay extra sharp for ambushes, Vivi thought.

“Eem,” Vivi said. “Follow me from the crawl spaces. You’ll be safer there. If you spot something, warn me. Okay?”

Eem nodded. She got off of Vivi’s back and climbed into a crawl space poking out from the wall. She gave Vivi a salute.

Vivi nodded. “Let’s descend.”