The crates that Seven had me move only took me a handful of time. I couldn’t figure out why everyone else was having trouble with the rest of the crates, but then I remembered I have cores, and everyone else here doesn’t, with Pike and Seven being the exceptions.

As I put the last crate down, I stretched my back and groaned, “Finally done.” Yuki yipped behind me and jumped up, putting her paws against my thighs. I bent over and picked her up, putting her on my shoulders as I placed my hands on my hips and looked around. Seven had me move the crates to a warehouse down the docks from where we landed. The warehouse had rows and rows of shelves full of crates. Nobody was around me, and I didn’t know what to do next, so I began to meander down the aisles.

After walking down a few of the aisles in a zig-zag pattern, I found myself at the far end of the warehouse, where I heard voices. “What would it take to convince you?” a gravely female voice said in a whispered, aggravated tone.

I peeked around the corner and saw three people, all of whom I recognized. The first person was the dwarf woman Scara Orthan from the Niflhiem empire, her red hair seaming to burn in anger as she stood with her arms crossed and glared up at the unperturbed face of Guru Shi’en. The second person I could barely make out was Uriel, the archangel from the Eden empire, her golden hair and wings giving her identity away.

“I am sorry,” Guru Shi’en said with a slight bow, “but I cannot join your alliance in good faith.”

Scara growled and threw her hands up in frustration as she turned around. I darted back around the corner so she wouldn’t see me as Uriel spoke placatingly, “Calm yourself, Scara. Anger will get you nowhere.” Uriel’s voice was calm and soothing to my ears as she continued, “Guru Shi’en, as one of the only two sages in existence, even you must see the wisdom in joining us. Once again, war is coming, and we must end it quickly before it has a chance to begin. If not for your own sake, then for the sake of your people and those you hold most dear to you.”

Guru Shi’en was silent for a few seconds before answering, “I am sorry, but I cannot join your alliance.”

“Might I ask why?”

“I cannot join your alliance for the sake of this world.”

“It is for the world we’re making this alliance!” Scara interjected, barely keeping her voice under control.

“And it is for this world I stand against you!” Guru Shi’en shot back with the same amount of venom in his voice. “I reside over the tree of knowledge. One of the seven trees of Nuuadar. I know all that happens in this world, what has happened in this world, and what will happen in this world.” Guru Shi’en and the others fell silent at this statement for a moment before he continued, “They say tomorrow is a mystery, yesterday is history, but today is a gift. But everything is a nightmare when you know all that has been, is, and will be. And all you can do is shape it to where the nightmare is a little less scary. So, to answer your persistent advances, Scara, Uriel, I will not join your alliance and suggest you leave it as well. Listen to the wise old sage, hmmm?”

Then Guru Shi’en walked away, passing by my aisle within a few seconds, and I saw a face I never thought I would see him make, sadness. I didn’t have long to register his emotion as I heard Scara and Uriel continue their discussion. “What do we do now?” Scara asked, sounding pissed.

“We keep with the plan,” Uriel answered, “and add him to the list.”

Then they stopped talking, and I peered around the corner and saw they were gone. I raised an eyebrow as my ears flopped to one side, curious about what they were discussing. “You know it’s rude to eavesdrop?” a sultry, seductive female voice whispered into my ears.

I jumped and turned around to see the tall, beautiful Zise standing directly behind me. “I-I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to listen in on their conversation! I-I was just—”

Zise cut me off as she chuckled softly, placing a hand delicately over her mouth, “Relax, my child, think nothing of it. I was merely pointing out a small thing to be aware of. I didn’t catch much of it myself, but it did sound like politics, and I advise you to stay out of it. It’s never any fun.”

“R-right,” I reluctantly agreed, as my mind began to feel a little fuzzy.

“Anyways, I must thank you,” Zise continued, “for helping to deliver my cargo. They are rather important to me, and I greatly appreciate the care you gave to carrying them.”

A warm feeling filled my chest as she thanked me, and I couldn’t explain why, but I nodded and said, “Yeah, no problem.”

Zise smiled and continued, “I do hope you have an excellent rest of your day, and be sure to pick some flowers along your way. I hear yellow roses and tulips are in season now.” She turned and began walking away, saying over her shoulder, “Farewell, young Zeana. And good luck in the fights.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling as I began walking away, with a sudden urge to buy some flowers.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

***

“I still don’t get why you wanted to buy those flowers?” Haze asked as we walked down the hall to our hotel room.

“I don’t know,” I answered, just as perplexed as her, “I just had an urge to buy these flowers.” The fresh, sweet scent tickled my nose as I sniffed the yellow roses and tulips.

Haze shook her head as she reached the door to our room, “That still seems odd to me.”

Just as she touched the doorknob, it swung open, and Cami crashed into Haze with the twins standing behind her. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” Cami groaned as she hit the floor with a loud thud and rubbed her nose.

“What’s the hurry?” Haze asked cocking an eyebrow.

“We were gonna see Scarlet,” Shersha answered.

“She jist woke up in the ‘ospital,” Leila continued.

Haze’s eyes went cold for a split second before she pulled off her pack, threw it into the room, and wrenched mine off my back, doing the same. Turning, she began to run back down the hallway without saying a single word. Cami quickly got to her feet, and we all followed her. As Haze ran, she began creating a massive collection of spell circles with sixty-four circles, each filled with one to five runes. Just before we reached the end of the hall, she finished the spell, and the wall before her turned into a black void, which she didn’t hesitate to jump through, disappearing into nothingness.

Cami and I quickly followed her lead and jumped through. We landed in a completely different room. The walls were white and beige, with dozens of people hurrying about wearing white clothes and their hair tied back in buns or covered completely. Other people sat in rows of ugly-looking wooden chairs wearing regular street clothes, and some had severe injuries.

“Where are we?” I wondered out loud as the twins appeared behind me.

“We’re in the hospital lobby,” Cami answered as she spotted Haze talking to someone at a nearby desk, then suggested, “Come on, let’s stick with Haze.”

I followed her lead as Haze was pointed down the hallway. She ran as she could in the crowded environment and began ascending a flight of stairs to the third floor, turned right, and ran over to where we saw Shiro sitting in the hallway, nervously tapping his foot on the ground. Along with Jax and Xiao as they paced back and forth.

Once Shiro saw us, he stood and bowed deeply, Jax and Xiao doing the same as he said, “I’m sorry, Master, we failed our mission.”

“Never mind that! What happened?!” Haze demanded, waving off his apology.

Shiro never rose from his bow as he said, “She strained her channels fighting a calamity class monster and has been comatose for the past week. I don’t know much more than that.”

“A calamity class monster? Another one?” Haze asked, now out of breath.

“Yes, Master. If not for her, many more people, including us, would have died,” Xiao answered, also never leaving his bow.

Before Haze could bombard them with more questions, the door next to us opened, and a Cat’haren man with orange and black striped fur walked out of the room and spoke in a deep purring voice, “You must be Master Haze. Correct?”

Haze nodded, “Yes, that’s me.”

“Good, you’re here. Scarlet’s in perfect health, as far as I can tell. Tell her not to strain herself for the next few days, and she’ll be fine. No chakra training, no cycling, no extensive exercises,” the doctor ordered.

“All right. Can I talk with her in private?” Haze breathed a sigh of relief and asked.

“Yes, you may,” the doctor said, stepping aside and carrying on with his rounds as Haze entered the room alone.

Everyone else waited outside her room for a while before I turned to Shiro and asked, “Hey, umm, Shiro. Can we talk for a moment … in private?” He groggily looked over to me and nodded, the bags under his eyes telling me a lot about how he is at the moment.

We walked down the hall a ways and turned a corner so we could have a little privacy from our team. Shiro slumped against the nearest wall and growled, “What do you want, Zeana?”

I blinked a few times at the lack of volume and insults. He even used my name, which made me feel even more concerned. “Did you stay up this long when I was comatose?” I asked outright.

He blinked blearily before saying, “Only for the first week. Then, I got used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions and slept much better. Plus, there was less noise then, so I could sleep. What’s your point, Zeana?”

I shrugged, “The point is your sister would want you to take better care of yourself.”

Shiro froze at my words, and a glare entered his eyes. It wasn’t his usual glare but one full of genuine anger. “What do you know about what she wants, you little shit!” Shiro growled, his anger barely contained in his voice.

“She told me all about you from before you came to this world,” I answered quickly, “She even told me how you two died.”

Fire blazed to life in Shiro’s hands for a second before he took a deep breath and slumped back against the wall, letting the fire dissipate. “Why tell me this?” he sighed, his fists still clenched.

“She wanted me to give you a message,” I said, then paused to recall what Kuroi had told me, “She said that she loves you and that she’s waiting for you to live a long, happy life.”

“Tch, that’s all?! I’m going back to—”

“She also said, ‘Shut up, you damn nerd.’” I interrupted Shiro with the rest of Kuroi’s message, and Shiro froze again with his back turned to me. He looked up to the ceiling and sighed as his body relaxed and said nothing for several seconds.

I decided to leave Shiro and let him take in his sister’s message. The moment I stepped past him, Shiro’s hand shot out and grabbed my arm. He then yanked the flowers out of my hands, breaking a few of the stems as he did so, and marched furiously back down the hall to Scarlet’s room, where our friends still stood waiting. I quickly followed him, curious as to what he would do.

Shoving his way past our team, he raised a foot and kicked in the door to Scarlet’s room with a loud bang. I caught up to him and stood next to Cami as he walked into the room with a furious-looking Haze and a very shocked Scarlet wearing a medical gown. Before Haze could yell anything at Shiro, he raised the partially broken bouquet of flowers straight out before him and yelled, “SCARLET! YOU’D BETTER GET OUT OF HERE SOON SO I CAN TAKE YOU ON A PROPER FUCKING DATE, YOU HEAR ME!!”

The room, the hallway, and the entire floor went deadly silent as Shiro finished, and everyone waited with bated breath for Scarlet’s answer. I looked over to Cami with a questioning gaze, and she mouthed, “I’ll tell you later.”

Turning my attention back to Scarlet, I saw her face turn from pale white to bright red in the span of a few seconds. Everyone remained quiet as we all waited for her answer, and then she seemed to get a hold of herself as she nodded, speaking in a tone we could only hear due to the silence, “O-okay … it’s a date.” The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as everyone heard her response, and Haze didn’t even seem mad anymore as she left the room and shut the door behind her, leaving Shiro and Scarlet alone.