I approached the lounge where Cass and Leo were waiting. I had asked them to judge my chosen outfit for the date. I felt a little bit silly wearing a suit with only one sleeve, but it was hardly the strangest thing I had encountered here.

"Wow," Cass and Leo said simultaneously.

"Is it that bad?"

"No, you look amazing. Seriously, Alex, she's going to love you." Cass said without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah, man. You look dashing," Leo added.

"Thank you, guys. I really needed the confidence boost," I replied.

"Don't be nervous. Just be yourself. That will be more than enough," Leo stated.

I smiled at both of them and said, "Wish me luck!"

I made the short walk to the Hall feeling slightly better about myself. My teammates always knew how to make me feel prepared for any situation. I knocked on Nerzhyn's office door, and she invited me in.

Nerzhyn was in her dark elf form and was wearing a stunning white dress. I had to force my jaw not to drop.

"You look incredible, Nerzhyn," I stated.

She returned the compliment and asked if I had any specific place in mind for our dinner.

"Honestly, I was hoping you had a recommendation. I'm pretty new here, so I'm not sure what all the options are. I would prefer somewhere quiet where we could talk and get to know more about each other," I replied.

She smiled before saying, "I guessed you would ask me that, so I had a little something prepared in advance. I hope you don't mind."

"Absolutely not! Lead the way, Ms. Loome," I replied.

She placed her arm through mine and led me out of her office and through the Hall. I could feel the eyes of the other guild members on us as we walked through. Nerzhyn led me away from the hall and onto a cobbled road with very little foot traffic. The two of us chatted as we walked, and I enjoyed every second of her presence. We eventually stopped at a small place called Holly's Cafe, which appeared to be closed.

"The daughter of a former Stalker of mine owns this place. I asked her for a favor so that we could dine here after hours," Nerzhyn explained.

I smiled. That was incredibly thoughtful of her. I was becoming more and more drawn to this woman.

"This is perfect, thank you!" I exclaimed.

She knocked lightly on the door, and a younger woman opened it with a smile on her face.

"Ms. Loome, Mr. Venriel, please come in!" she chirped.

We followed the woman to a table in the center of the seating area. A single candle illuminated the table, and only two chairs were present.

"Will you be needing anything else?" our host asked.

"No, Holly. This is perfect. Thank you so much, and please send my regards to your mother," Nerzhyn answered.

The young woman smiled and bid us a good evening before leaving through the front door. I was confused, as I had initially thought Holly would be cooking for us.

"I hope you don't want me to cook. I haven't really mastered all the new Ingredients available here," I said with a laugh.

Nerzhyn winked and pulled a small pouch from underneath the table. She proceeded to remove dinner plates, utensils, napkins, and glasses from it. Then she set a covered serving dish in the center of the table and a few smaller covered containers. Finally, she removed a bottle of wine from the pouch. There was no way any of that could have fit in that pouch, so I guessed it had to be some form of dimensional storage similar to my Cache.

"I asked the chefs in our Hall to prepare something special for us before we left. It's one of my favorite meals," she told me.

"This is incredible, Nerzhyn. Thank you!" I told her.

She raised her arms, and mist poured from them, filling the room for a few seconds. We were sitting outside under a perfectly clear moonlit night when it dissipated. Stars and even galaxies were visible. I openly gaped while staring at the wonder. Nerzhyn laughed at my reaction. She reached over and lifted the lid of the serving dish, revealing a platter of star-shaped fried meat with a dipping sauce container in the center. The smaller plates contained a loaf of bread, a serving of glazed vegetables I didn't recognize, and a substantial flaky pastry.

"You've truly gone above and beyond, Nerzhyn. This is amazing!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, it's nothing, just some fried river starfish with my favorite sauce, royal honey glazed rosecarrots, lumia bread, and a chimera cake. It's comfort food!" she responded casually.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"I hope you know that you can be your true self around me. You are just as perfect in your natural form as you are now." I told her.

"Oh, I know you feel that way," she answered with a smirk.

"You know? How?" I asked.

"Pheromones. Arachnitaurs are extremely sensitive to them. The day we met, your pheromones never changed despite my transformation. Also, I can feel the vibrations of your heartbeats. That also remained steady, except for when I placed your insignia on you," she answered.

"Well, that seems to give you an unfair advantage," I laughed.

I opened the bottle of wine with the corkscrew Nerzhyn provided and poured us each a glass. It was a delicious blue wine that was sweet with a spicy aftertaste. We chatted lightly as we ate, and all the food was so incredible that I had to learn how to cook it. I told Nerzhyn that I would need the recipes so I could recreate these. We finished our meal, and I poured two more glasses of wine.

"May I ask you something, Alex?"

"Of course, anything," I responded.

"Why did you ask me on this date?" she questioned.

The straightforward question caught me off-guard, but the wine certainly helped me summon the courage to tell her the truth, "I was enchanted by you the day we met. Not just your appearance, although you are gorgeous, but your mind. I have always been attracted to intelligent women. The way that you carefully consider every word you speak. There is a purpose behind every action you take, even if it isn't apparent at the time. Truthfully, there is something else. Something I can't quite put into words," I explained.

I never took chances on Earth. Who knows how much I missed out on by living so passively. I was determined to change that on Astika. I had a second chance, and I didn't want to waste it. I omitted these details, I didn't want to make her feel as if I had just asked her out on a whim. That wasn't the case. Besides, with how perceptive she was, she probably already knew.

She smiled before asking, "Do you know which deity my people most commonly worship?"

I shook my head.

"Phymerix, the Fateweaver. She is the goddess of all arachnids, and the story goes that she constantly weaves the threads of fate for every living being. She passes these threads to three of her children, who interpret them and report to the pantheon. Do you believe in fate, Alex?" she asked me.

"I never did, honestly. Now I am in a world with gods and magic, though. I feel woefully ignorant of the world around me. Now, I'd say fate is a river you're floating down with countless splits and tributaries," I answered.

"A river?" she queried.

"Yes. It all flows in one direction, leading you forward. You can never turn around and go back the way you came. You have infinite choices to change your path and take a different route, but you'll always be moving in the same direction. Fate is when you choose which paths to take along your journey. Would one tributary lead to riches? Would one lead to your death? Would the other one have let you meet the person you were supposed to start a family with? Is there one single path that offers all of those things and more? What would have changed if you had gone left at a fork instead of right?" I stated.

Nerzhyn smiled before asking, "Is it a saying where you're from?"

"No, I'm just rambling. This wine is strong!" I said with a laugh.

"Tell me what your world is like. What did you do there?" she asked.

"My world? Well, it's very different. There is no magic, runes, abilities, or enchanted gear. People on Earth utilize technology to further society. In place of the various crystals used here, we build machines or gadgets that do the same. Where I am from, it's peaceful. There's very little danger in day-to-day life. There are wars, of course, and areas where every day is a struggle, but not where I lived. I was something called a software developer. I wrote complicated instructions for machines to follow, basically. It wasn't very exhilarating," I told her.

"I understand, I think. How did someone who lives peacefully survive all that you've been through? After all, you were summoned here as an unarmed sacrifice," Nerzhyn stated.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face.

"You do not have to talk about it if you are uncomfortable, Alex," she told me as she reached over and squeezed my hand gently.

"No, it's not that. I just haven't talked about it in so long. I had an incident when I was still in college. I worked as a part-time security guard for a company. I don't even know what the company did, truthfully. My job was basically to sit at a desk and watch out for suspicious activity. I never had a single problem for years. It was an easy job, I didn't even have to carry a weapon. One night, a man smashed through the front door. He never even said a word, he just leveled his weapon at me and fired. He shot me three times with a weapon called a gun," I said, adding a description of what a gun was afterward.

Nerzhyn listened intently, only interrupting for clarification on a word or subject that didn't translate well.

"I ran after he attacked me, and I managed to make it to a bathroom in the lobby of the building. I locked the door and slid to the floor. I believed for a long while that I would bleed to death on that cold floor, I was certain I was going to die. I was full of regret. There were so many things I had never done and so many experiences I missed out on. I wanted to tell my parents that I loved them one last time."

"Obviously, I survived, thanks to the healers in my world and the building's security system notifying first responders. They never found my assailant, and he never even tried to enter the bathroom I was in. The physical recovery was painful but nowhere near the worst of it. Months passed, and my personality slowly warped. I became paranoid and self-isolated. I saw threats where there were none. I was living my life in a constant state of hypervigilance. I lied to everyone for years, telling my family and friends that nothing was wrong. I was lying to myself more than anyone. The paranoia led me to seek training in combat scenarios. I primarily trained with the guns I mentioned earlier, but I even went so far as to train with knives. In my mind, I wanted to be prepared for any dangerous scenario. I was determined never to let myself feel so helpless again."

"That sounds like a reasonable response to what happened to you," Nerzhyn said.

"You must understand, though, that's not necessary in my world. Most people live their entire lives without ever being in a life-or-death situation. What happened to me was a mistake. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I recovered physically, but my mind remained damaged for years. Finally, my loved ones pushed me to seek out help. I found a healer called a psychologist who helped me process my trauma. She pushed me to better myself, explained in simple terms what was wrong with my mind, and told me how to correct it. It took a long time, but eventually, I recovered. My experience forever changed me, but I had to accept that I could not change the past, only the future," I told her.

"I am sorry I asked that. I never intended to dig up old wounds," Nerzhyn apologized as she wiped tears from my face.

"No, I'm glad you did. I've noticed myself regressing lately. I'm deflecting severe issues with humor. I'm bottling up my emotions again, only letting them out in explosions of anger. Leo, Cass, and Teos need me at my best. Leo was almost turned into a vampire during our fight, and when he asked how bad it was, I pretended it was never a concern. In truth, I was being torn apart inside during the ordeal. I'm repeating the same mistake and letting my team believe everything is fine when I'm truthfully in a dark place. I'm making rash decisions and throwing myself into adventures to keep myself from being alone with my thoughts," I added.

"While we're on the subject of my world. I was told there was no way to be sent back, although my source was Liana, so forgive me for not trusting her. Is that true?" I asked her.

"Yes, unfortunately. The ability to travel accurately between worlds was severed when the Great Seals were formed. It is impossible. I'm sorry," Nerzhyn told me.

"It's okay. I wish I could tell my parents and friends that I'm alive, is all," I replied.

"What would you do if you could return tomorrow?" she asked me.

"I would... I don't know. I miss my loved ones, but I was so bored on my world. I went through the motions every day. I was happy for the most part, but I wanted more. I lived most of my life playing it safe. I guess I see being here as an opportunity to change that. I know this sounds insane, but I found purpose here. My job is to protect my team at all costs, to be the one that shields them from danger," I said.

"It's not insane, Alex. It sounds like you've been gifted the perfect Runes and class to match the person you are. You also need to tell your team that. I see how you all avoid the subject of your home world. It would be best if you were honest with Cass and Leo. I see how you all interact, and I know neither of them would ever judge you for what you told me. If anything, they'd offer even more support. You can rely on them, Alex," she declared.

"Thank you, Nerzhyn. I am sorry I've dropped all this on you on what was supposed to be a fun night."

"Oh, stop! Wasn't the purpose of tonight to get to know each other better?" she asked.

"I've probably already scared you off," I lamented.

She responded by standing and pulling me up from my seat. She put her arms around my neck, then kissed me. We shared a long, passionate kiss before she pulled away and placed her forehead on my chest.

"Quite the opposite," she said softly.

We stood there like that for a long while, just enjoying each other's touch.

We spent the rest of the evening together, conversing and sharing stories. I could feel myself falling for her more with every moment we spent together. We finally left the cafe very late, and I escorted her back to her office.

"You sleep here?" I asked.

"I have a room behind my desk. It's pretty nice. Maybe one night you'll even get to see it," she said with a sly smile.

I grinned, kissed her one more time, and said goodnight.