She leaned back from her chair and let out a frustrated sigh after watching the events that had unfolded before her play out. Another failure, though when she first found this potential candidate she kinda suspected they would be a failure from the get go. They were just so freaking short! She can’t have a short hero for her story! That would be embarrassing.

Even more embarrassing than someone who was too tall. You could at least sorta work around that by being all like “Oh! They have giant blood” Or something. What sort of excuse was she supposed to give for someone who was so short? They have gnome blood? Lame!

Plus even if she could get past the shortness (Which she couldn’t) She wasn’t sure if having someone pretending to be a super cool assassin when they clearly weren’t was a good fit.

She turned her attention to some of her other orbs, all scouring the land and cities for potential candidates. Some currently follow a few people but she didn’t have much hope for those ones either. What does a gal gotta do to find herself a hero?

She shifted focus to a different orb that was floating separately from the rest. It was currently following that girl she met a little over a year ago when she went to smash that mirror into the hack writer's face.

It was a weird interaction to say the least and one she really didn’t know how to make sense of. But she was quite pleased that the lady had killed that bastard in her name.

I mean they were obviously horrible people. The only reason why she didn’t kill them herself was she felt like it wouldn't be worth the potential trouble. It was not because she was too lazy to bother. Nope!

But after the nice girl killed the fraud and also the two guys who were guarding him and offered their deaths to her. How could she not be touched by such a thoughtful gift. So she decided to give one in return.

Since she had seemed kinda focused on death and had asked her to spare her life she thought the best gift to give her was some old necromancy books she had brought with her on the off chance necromancy was acceptable here.

Heck she even gave away those undead guards she made to help protect her since she could probably see a bit of blow back for killing the fraud and what was the point of giving gifts to someone if they were just going to get killed shortly after anyways.

Plus she was kind of looking for an excuse to get rid of the guards. They were just taking up space in one of her time prisons and she forgot to modify their appearance to look more human when she made them and was too lazy to upgrade them. So it was only a matter of time someone discovered they weren’t human if she let them out.

After that she bid her an adieu but not before setting one of her scrying orbs to monitor the girl just to make sure she was safe and doing alright.

She took to her books quite well too. Studying them to an almost fanatical degree, it was nice to see someone enjoy books almost as much as she did. She even got to watch as she raised her very first zombie which actually happened yesterday and she felt so proud. It was like watching a baby bird take flight for the first time

She had now officially given the girl the nickname “Necromancer Girl” and quite honestly hoped she would go and live a good life.

With a small sigh she started to stow away all her orbs. It wasn’t like she wanted to stop looking, especially since this whole “Finding a hero” thing was taking longer than she thought it would. But unfortunately she had her role to fill in this story, she was the powerful and influential figure of this kingdom and thus she needed to keep up appearances which meant attending a boring meeting.

She heard a knock on the door which she was expecting “Come in”

The Maid stepped in and gave a quick bow towards her “Greetings M’lady. It would seem M-marrow is here to see you”

Just the Annoying Brat? But not The Annoying Court Mage. That was odd. They usually visited together at the very least, even if The Annoying Court Mage would leave from time to time. She was 90% certain she was being used as a free babysitter. Also she had that court meeting she was supposed to go to so she couldn’t entertain him anyways.

Before her thinking could go further the Annoying Brat ran into the room past the Maid before she had a chance to tell The Maid to not let him in. Why does she keep letting her thoughts distract her! Why!

“Marrow, what are you doing here? I have an important meeting to go to so I am afraid there are no lessons I can give you at the moment.” She began to walk towards the door.

“Wait! Please, this isn’t even about magic! I just have a couple of questions that I promise will be quick!”

“Somehow I doubt that.” She let out an exasperated sigh (wind magic~)

“Fine. But I will not be staying here. Ask your quick questions and let us be done with this” She picked up her bag getting ready to leave.

“Well, you are a woman right?”

Eh close enough but not like she could admit to that. “Indeed”

“What would be the best way to ask another woman out?”

….. Oh??????? Was she hearing a potential romance subplot?????? “And whom might this woman be?”

She had to keep her voice as calm as possible lest she ruined her mystical persona but she was practically brimming with excitement.

Marrow shifts a little clearly embarrassed as he softly mumbles “It’s Yin, I’ve… Kinda had a crush on her for a while. But I don’t really know anything about courting women, I’ve mostly ever been around the other court mages and they are always too busy to offer me advice that isn’t anything magic related and Grandpa will probably tell me not to bother with such a pointless endeavor until I get older. But I really like her and I want to know how to court her and you are really the only friend I know that isn’t Yin. So I thought maybe you’d be able to help.”

Annoying Brat, say no more “Well good news. I happen to be an expert on romance and romantic acts of affection and courtly love! I can very easily guide you till she is practically swooning and is ready to be swept off her feet!”

Annoying Brat looked at her with hope “Really?? No offense but you don’t exactly strike me as someone who has had a lot of experience. I was only asking because you are the only other friend I have.”

She absolutely took offense to that! How could he be so rude! She has read countless stories that involved romance both as a main plot and as a subplot. Hell some stories just seemed to throw some romance in cause it was expected and she absolutely was expecting it too so good call.

Needless to say she had a ton of knowledge of all sorts of romance and it was time to put that useful information to use

“Well I can guarantee that I have extensive knowledge. Come, let us sit down, we have much to discuss.” She then turned to The Maid

“Would you be a dear and prepare some hot chocolate for young Marrow here.”

The Maid bowed quickly “Yes! r-right away mam”

She quickly scampered off to where she kept her food table for when guests arrived and began preparing everything that was needed. Man was she ever thankful to in giving The Maid those books on cooking. She also noticed that The Maid wasn’t stuttering or shaking as much as she used to. Nice improvements there.

“Um… Didn’t you say you had to attend the important courtly meeting, I know Grandpa was going as well and he did tell me to make sure you go as well.”

“They’re far more important things to deal with. Now, details!”

“Details?”

“Yes! This is the girl that’s a couple years older than you right? The one with the pet hawk and wants to be a ranger right? I need details!

“I… um… I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. I just want some advise”

“Ugh, fine” Good thing she has a scrying orb capture and monitor Annoying Brat. She can’t wait to see everything that has led up to this moment and of course everything that would soon follow.

“Alright. What do you want to know?”

“Um.. Just. What would you think would be a good way to start courting her?”

“Ah! Now that is a perfect question. They’re plenty of ways to court and romance people. Obviously since you are both human we shall use that as the basis for our planning!”

Annoying Brat tilts his head confused “Obviously? Would you offer different advice if we weren’t?”

“Of course! If you were a celestial, demon or a fey it would demand entirely different tactics. I mean I guess we could go with the kidnapping tactic but I don’t think you are rich enough for that to work.”

“Whoa! Hold on! Kidnapping?? I just want to court her! Also why would a demon or celestial ever try to court a human or vice versa? And since when do fey care about romance??”

Man, the human propaganda machine is pretty heavy in this Material World. I mean she was fine with it. Made her story with clearly defined good guys and bad guys easier but yeesh. Not all demons were bad, not all celestials were good, and not all fey were confusing dicks. But she wasn’t about to try to explain to him the deep political structures that governed those realms. That was totally off topic.

“It doesn’t matter, just forget what I said”

“No!”

“Moving on. I think I know of a good tactic we can use. We gotta go for the wow factor! Something grand and memorable! Make it so that she will never forget the day and night something where you will always be on her mind!”

Marrow paused. “That does sorta make sense. But what would I do to impress her?”

“She has a hawk right? So does she like animals?”

“Yeah, she actually likes nature in general. She is planning on trying to become a ranger within a year.”

“Great! Give her an animal! A whole zoo of animals!”

“I don’t think that is possible.”

“Right, not rich enough.” Should she whip up some chimeras for him? Nah, she didn’t want to interfere too much.

“Okay, so surprise her with some sort of nature stuff and some animals. Work some magic to give off a big spectacle. We are talking about flower petals falling from the sky, singing animals, and when the mood is just right you profess your undying love with sweet poetry and the like.”

The maid came back and placed a glass of hot chocolate in front of the Annoying Brat. “What do you think?” She looked at The Maid who had just come back with a glass of hot chocolate and placed it in front of Annoying Brat.

“I uh… Don’t think I am qualified to make such decisions.” She managed to squeak out a response

“What?? A good looking girl like you probably has a ton of suitors lining up to be with you?”

The Maid, seemingly getting more flustered, quickly bowed and rushed away. That girl needed to work on her confidence.

“I am getting what you are saying” The Annoying Brat started to say as he seemed deep in thought.

“Great! Now, lets start to formulate a game plan. Something that will be completely foolproof!”

The Annoying Brat quickly nodded “right! Thanks again for the help!”

“Of course! What kind of teacher would I be if I let my annoying pupil flounder about when it comes to love!”

They began formulating the game plan. For some reason The Maid kept face palming in the background. Maybe she was screwing up the cookies.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Cathryn was doing her best not to keep her nerves from showing throughout the whole meeting as she went through various issues of the kingdom with the nobles and/or their representatives.

Several things the nobles reported during the meeting were false or misleading based on the reports from her shadows which was to be expected and she would deal with their lies with the appropriate punishment.

She was extremely thankful for the enchanted pens they had distributed to the Shadows with Riez efforts to learn different kinds of magic from Captain Gates. Said pens allowed a pair to mimic each other's movements even if it was all the way across the kingdom.

It made intelligence gathering much easier and she would learn about something the same day it happened. Her only real regret was that Ignes had left before she could have given him one of those pens, she could have really used him here right now.

“My lord wishes to know if you have made any headway in finding his fathers killer?” The representative of Oroum Hillside spoke, dragging Cathryn out of her thoughts.

“As you know, we are doing our absolute best to find the murderer, I am already preparing to send one of my best shadows to Nirran to work with Duke Hillside personally so that we may bring to justice”

That seemed to placate the representative for now as he backed off the questioning. The reputation of her shadows helped greatly in that endeavor.

Ever since Pirran Hillside was killed and his son took over there had been a massive power vacuum in the underworld which led to multiple gang wars all over their kingdom.

In a strange twist of fate, she found herself working alongside Pirran Hillsides heir Oroum to help bring things under control.

Oroum Hillside was a fool, a cruel fool yes but a fool all the same and one she could much more easily reign in and control then his overly ambitious father. Especially now that she would be sending a shadow to help oversee his operations.

Of course she also had her shadows trying to find out the suspected killer of Pirran Hillside. Or rather who the general public thought was the killer. Some street rat servant was found fleeing the mansion after killing the head maid with several armed guards.

She had no doubt the street rat had something to do with his death but she was almost positive the real person behind his death was Captain Gates.

The real reason why she was having her shadows look for this girl was a couple reasons. One to find out what really happened during that day or at least get a better idea. And two, to serve her head on a silver platter to Oroums to make him even more indebted to her.

Unfortunately while they were slowly wrestling back control of the underworld's operations. They have had no such luck in trying to find the street rat. It was getting more and more frustrating, especially since Oroum was starting to take more extreme measures to try and find his fathers killer.

These thoughts all came back to her due to the fact that Captain Gates was missing from this meeting and she just knew that her missing meant something horrible was going to happen and she didn’t know what or where she might be.

She was going to chew out Riez for this as he was suppose to meet and then escort her to the meeting but instead he sent Marrow who wanted to briefly talk to her before the meeting

She just knew that whatever reason she was absent would undoubtedly be a determinant to the kingdom and would just add on to her stress. The moment this meeting ended she would send out every possible shadow she had to try and figure out where she had gone, why she was absent and what possible damage she would need to play damage control for.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jacob sat with his back against a tree trunk as he tried desperately to hold back any potential tears that kept threatening to well up in his eyes. He was stronger than this. He did not need to cry and he would not cry.

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

It just wasn’t fair though! How the hell did Clair get enough money that she could move away! She was barely making anything from the clothes she patched up!

She had told him a week ago that she would have enough by the end of the month and was getting ready to move to the capital to stay with their aunt. It had been such a shock to Jacob initially that he didn’t believe it at first.

But seeing how happy she was and how much faster she was working it became all too apparent what was the truth. It eventually got to the point where he couldn’t even stand being in the same room as her.

It wasn’t fair that she got to leave and he was forced to stay! Sure she SAID that he could visit her and when he turned an adult he could move in with her. But those were obviously lies to make him feel better. She was probably gloating to herself over the fact that she would be away from him.

“Am I interrupting?” A voice from behind made him jump and he quickly got up and whirled around to see Erin standing with his shoulder against the tree Jacob was sitting with his back too.

“Woah! Sorry there. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t scare me” Jacob grumbled “Just startled me is all. What do you want?”

“I was coming back from a scouting mission when a friend I have that works at the east gate saw you running off looking upset. He knew you and I are acquainted so he told me about it and I came out here looking for you. You are getting fairly hard to track. I almost want to give myself a pat on the back for training you so well in sneaking and stealth”

Erin gave a light hearted chuckle while Jacob resisted rolling his eyes. Great. So the only person who cares about him is a forsaken. What does that say about him?

It was true that Erin had still helped him train even after his dad found out. They had just been more discreet about it since. It was something Jacob was reluctantly thankful for.

“So what’s been eating you?” Erin asked

“It’s none of your business. Why don’t you bother someone else. I don’t need your help here.”

Erin scratched his head and let out a sigh “Fine, if you don’t wish to talk I won’t force you to. But at the very least you need to come back with me. The forest around Haven can be dangerous at night. Especially for someone who doesn’t know much about wilderness survival. Come on now.”

Erin turned around and started to head off and Jacob, knowing there was no room for refusal in his declaration, reluctantly followed.

They walked in silence for a bit as they made it back to the main dirt road and began to head towards the city. The sun was starting to set and it painted a rather nice picture of Haven standing before the sea of mountains to its west.

“Have you been far out there?” Jacob asked, hating the silence that was lingering in the air between them.

“Not too far admittedly, but I would like to explore more. It’s pretty dangerous terrain, though I have heard some rumors circling around that the captain of the rangers wants to find a place where we can set up a permanent settlement. It would still need the queen's approval though and she seems more focused on other things.”

“LIke what?”

“Oh all sorts of stuff, most are just rumors I’ve heard from other people. But the underworld has been seriously destabilized, the economy is in extreme flux with prices both soaring and crashing at seemingly random, and who knows what else. It is pretty bad if just one of these things happens but when stuff like this happens at the same time. You don’t really have much time for anything else. I’ve heard the Queen has aged almost 10 years since these problems started.” They passed through the gate with Erin giving a brief nod to one of the guards who gave him a nod back.

“Listen Jacob. I don’t know what has upset you but I also know you are a smart kid. I am sure you’ll be able to find a solution to whatever it is that is bothering you.”

Jacob paused as he took in Erins words. He did bring up a valid point. He could put a stop to this. Change things to be better. And he was pretty sure he knew how too.

A small spread across his lips and he looked at Erin. “Thanks for the advice. I will try to keep it in mind.”

“Don’t worry about it. I hope whatever it is works itself out.” He paused for a second and continued

“Will you be okay going home? I know home life isn’t the best right now but..”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it” Jacob responded and gave Erin a quick wave as headed back. It was almost dark now so he picked up the pace till he got home and entered. Relieved that made it back before his dad, which only became better when he saw his mom was actually sober for once and working on some painting in the living room.

“Welcome home dear.” His mom said when she saw him back “Are you okay? Have you already eaten?”

His mom wasn’t a bad person when she was sober. It’s just her sobriety was few and far between.

“Yeah. I’m good, I’m feeling rather tired though so I will be going upstairs to go to sleep”

“Okay dear. Hope you sleep well.”

“You too” He then left the living room and headed upstairs and into his room. Clair had stopped locking the door after Jacob showed her he could easily break the dumb thing open.

Clair looked up from her work “Oh. Welcome back Jacob.”

“Thanks. I’m tired so I will be going to bed.”

Clair nodded “Sleep well. And Jacob.”

“Hm?” He looked over to her

“Just wait. I know it will be rough for a couple of years but when you are an adult I will send you some money to get you out of here as well. Just promise me to stick with it for that long.”

He almost wanted to sneer at her for what was an obvious lie but he kept his tone polite and hopeful “Of course Clair. Thank you for everything”

She nodded and seemed to smile a bit before focusing back on her clothes as Jacob quickly changed and got into his bed with his back to the room. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

Jacob lay there for a couple of hours. He heard his dad come home and some yelling ensuing downstairs but it would have been more shocking if there wasn’t yelling.

Eventually his sister blew out the lamp light in their room and he heard her climb into bed. After waiting another 30 minutes and listening to the slow breathing of Clair he slowly and carefully got out of bed.

Moving quietly he crossed the room to where the Clairs work table was and stealthily opened the drawer he knew she kept her money in and took out the bag that had all her coppers and pennies.

She was not going to just leave him here to suffer on his own while she got to have the good life.

To make sure he covered his tracks he opened all the other draws too and gently moved some stuff around as if someone had rifled through it. Then he left through the door and left it ajar as began to make his way through the other rooms.

It would look suspicious if only one room was robbed so he grabbed stuff he knew was valuable. Taking extra care when he entered his parents room and lifted some jewelry before sneaking back out with them none the wiser asleep in their bed.

He made his way downstairs, making sure to avoid the creakier areas and took some paintings out of their frames that he heard his dad bragging once over how much they cost and then headed for the door.

The whole process took him no more than thirty minutes so he still had plenty of time but he also felt like the longer he kept this up the higher the risk of him getting caught was.

He took the stuff outside, keeping the shadows as best he could and snuck through the city till he got to where he thought was far enough away and snuck into the sewers.

There he kept as far as he could from the wet parts and stashed it all away in a corner that hopefully would go unnoticed on the off chance somebody did come here. He didn’t just get rid of it since he might be able to use this money later for himself if need be.

He then left and went back the way he came. Thankfully the whole operation went by without a hitch and he made sure to leave the front door open and unlocked as further proof they had been robbed before sneaking back into his room and climbing into bed.

Now Clair won’t get to abandon them like she had always wanted. Or at the very least he would have delayed it for a few years. Sure she would be upset but it would all be for the best. He closed his eyes and slept like a baby that night.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Sharrel rubbed her eyes after taking off the glasses as she looked up from one of the books that had been gifted to her by the goddess. There was so much information filled within just a single one of these books and there were several so it could almost be a little overwhelming.

She had been studying and trying to learn as much as she could from these tomes of knowledge and had only recently gotten her first successful breakthrough when she created her very first zombie a few days ago that she was currently keeping locked away for now.

She knew that there were other types of undead, more complicated forms and beings that defied all logic but she was nowhere near good enough to create or summon such beings.

The guardians that had been gifted to her by the goddess was one such example but she didn’t know what kind of undead they were and neither did they. But they were much stronger and definitely smarter than the zombie she had created.

These books were the key to her, Aion, and the guardians getting out of the somewhat messy situation they were currently in. Oroum had been trying to find them and she knew she needed more power before being able to confront him.

She heard a knock on the door “Mam, it is Clover, may I come in?”

“Please do.” She got up from her chair and turned to look at Clover as he came inside. Clover being one of the guardians she had been gifted by the goddess. Because they were basically entirely new beings when her goddess had given them to her they didn’t have names and as such she let Aion name all of them.

“What can I do for you Clover?” She gave a polite smile as he gave her a bow

“I have procured that man you asked me to get.”

She took in a sharp breath and composed herself. She was no longer beholden to that man. Now it was her time to be the one in power.

“Thank you Clover. If you could lead me to him?”

“Of course Mam, if you would please follow me?”

Sharrel got up from where she was sitting and was instantly overcome with dizziness. She started to fall forward but thankfully Clover was quick enough to catch her before she toppled over.

“Mam'' His tone took on a bit more of a serious tone. “While your tolerance to the miasma is impressive enough as it is, and only seems to grow with every passing day. If you don’t take the time to properly rest and eat it will only make the effects worse and start to cause you to have failing health.”

“I know.” She said, shaking the dizziness away “I was just caught up in the book I was reading, that is all.”

One of the interesting things about undead was that they produced a sort of toxic magic called Miasma. Or at least it was toxic to things that were alive. For undead it was almost like fresh clean air when they were within it.

She actually felt a little bad for her guardians as they were undoubtedly uncomfortable within their current environment but they never once complained. If anything they always seemed to express worry for her and especially for Aion as his weaker constitution made more vulnerable.

She began to follow Clover out of her little pocket room and into the warehouse they had been hiding in for the past couple months.

They had changed locations multiple times as the hunt for them hadn’t really eased up much. Thankfully the guardians were excellent at keeping watch and spotting potential spies or people who might report their location and it allowed them to move before there could be any real response.

They made their way through the warehouse moving through a small maze of crates. Apparently this warehouse hadn’t had use in over a year, she suspected it had something to do with Pirran but since he was no longer around it had just been sitting at the docks unused.

Eventually they got to the clearing where a man was bound with a bag covering his head. Daisy and Aster stood over him with Daisy having a foot placed on his back. Upon seeing her he took his foot off and gave a bow along with Aster.

“Mam, we are glad to see you are doing well. We have brought the man just like you asked.” The man bound started thrashing about after Daisy spoke with muffled unintelligible noises.

“We also thought it prudent to tie and gag him as his shrill voice and constant thrashing was proving to be annoying.” Daisy added, looking rather smug.

Sharrel nodded. Ever since she had mentioned what he did to her and Aion they had been very enthusiastic about hunting down the man before her.

She knelt down and yanked the bag off of his face to reveal Whines. His eyes blinked as it got used to the light before landing on her. Recognition flashing across his face and he started to thrash harder. His muffled words were still unintelligible but she had a feeling it had a lot more curse words in it this time.

She was pretty tempted to just kill him now and not offer him any last words but there was something she needed to know. She removed the gag from his mouth and he spat on her hand which made Daisy and Aster reach for their weapons but she raised her hand to stay theirs.

“It’s fine.” She glared at Whines

“Hello, it's been a long time since we had a proper talk. After your last visit when you struck Aion, you sent your goons to collect the payment every month. Couldn’t even do it yourself could you. What? Was watching two kids slowly waste away too much for your conscience?”

Whines spat on the ground “More like you weren’t worth my time. Now listen here girly” He let out a sudden pained gasp when Daisy kicked him hard in the ribs.

“You will address the madam with proper respect or the next blow will be far more painful” Daisy snarled out with scorn

Aster put a hand on Daisy's shoulder to calm him down. A small shake of his head and Daisy took a step back but still glared down at Whines as he let out a painful cough.

“Listen Sharrel'' He spoke through gritted teeth. “I don’t know who you think you are or where you got these men to do whatever dirty work you want. But you are basically screwed. It’s not just the underworld that is after you, it's the shadows too. Oroum is sparing no expense in making sure you are brought to him and he has the queen on his side. Granted you are worth more alive but you will still set someone up for life if they brought you in dead.”

Sharrel shook her head. She already knew this. It was part of why they had been moving constantly within the city and hadn’t been able to really leave as it would probably draw too much attention. The fact this city was such a maze with so many buildings and an overpopulation was actually working in their favor

“But I can help you” Whines continued, which made her frown at him

“I know the ins and outs of this city and of the operations with more than enough money to bribe the right people. I can easily get you out of this city without any trouble and without anyone noticing. Of course that is for the right price”

“Why on earth would I ever want or ask for your help?” She stared down at Whines utterly baffled.

Whines did not seem to expect that question. “That was why you kidnapped me and brought me here right?”

“No, you are mistaken. I brought you here cause I want to know where my parents are.”

Whines paused as he looked at her before beginning to laugh. “Even out of all this time. You still miss your mommy and daddy?”

His laughter was quickly cut short by Sharrerl kicking him hard in the face knocking him to the ground. A tooth clattering across the concrete floor as he landed.

“I do not need to explain myself to you! Now where are they!”

Whines spat some blood on to the floor and glared at her “And why the fuck would you think I would know where they were. If I knew, wouldn't you think I would be going after them for the debt instead of their kids?”

“No, cause you knew there would be no way they would actually pay you back. Probably would just scamper off again after somehow saddling some other person with more of their debt. That’s just who they are.

“You probably kept tabs on them for when we eventually did fail to make those monthly payments and got sold off. You would magically find them again and set an example for trying to skip out on you. Of course you had to pretend you didn’t know where they were if you wanted to keep collecting money from their children.”

Judging by Whines face she was right on the money and she spoke again with gritted teeth “Now where are they?”

Whines swallowed as he looked around them before settling back on her. “Okay. But if I tell you. You have to let me go. Do you promise?”

“Promise. Now where are they.”

“They live on the west side in the west wall district. On Illeas street.”

Sharrel slowly nodded. She finally had their location but the question was would she be able to confront them. She felt like she wasn’t really ready to do that. Even if she wanted to.

“So, are you going to let me go?”

She got up and gave a brief nod to Daisy and Aster as she stepped back, ever taking her eyes off of Whines.

“You’re letting me go right?” He turned towards Daisy and Aster. Aster having removed his hand off of Daisy and allowed him to advance towards him.

“Wait! I can give you money! Whatever she is paying you I will double it! No! Triple it! I also have connections! The underworld could always use good muscle like you guys! Set for life!”

Daisy let out a small sadistic cackle as he reached up and removed the mask he wore, revealing his dark grey skin with red eyes and sharp crooked fangs. “Set for life? What a stupid joke. Something I’m sure the goddess would appreciate though.”

“What… Are you???” Whines eyes opened wide in fear as Daisy knelt down.

“You have caused untold suffering to the ones we are in charge of protecting. Personally I believe this fate is too good for you. Please give thanks to the mistress for her mercy and a prayer to the goddess that she doesn’t torment your soul as punishment for how horrible you have treated her chosen.”

Whines whipped his head around terrified as he looked at Sharrel “Please! Anything you want! I will give you anything you want! I’ll even forgive your debt! You want that rig-”

His words were cut off as Daisy chomped down on his neck. Ripping through and tearing it apart as Sharrel watched. Finally he was dead. A man that had caused them so much suffering was dead. There wasn’t really any satisfaction. Just relief.

“Mam” She heard a voice behind her and turned around to see Pansey standing behind her.

“Aion has requested you.” He looked behind her where Whines body was currently getting eaten “Should I tell him you will be delayed?”

“That won’t be necessary. Thank you. I’ll go to him now.”

She turned away from the graphic scene. She didn’t need to see anything else. She had confirmed his death.

She began to make her way through the warehouse until she eventually got to where Aion was staying, a room that was likely some kind of office. Pansy had stopped a ways back and she also saw Tulip standing next to him.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to be closer, they just didn't want to risk the Miasma they naturally generate to affect his already poor health. They had thankfully been able to get medicine by sending one of the guardians to the apothecary with some money they had either stolen or gotten from sold off material they took. So his health wasn’t always in the critical condition as usual but better safe than sorry.

She stepped into what was Aions room where he lay on his bed. He sat up towards her with a smile which quickly turned into a frown “You haven’t been sleeping again have you?”

“Nothing gets by you does it?”

“I know what lack of sleep looks like and how it feels Sharrel, even if you slapped on the best makeup in the world I would see it. You should be getting sleep.”

“I know I know. The guardians are getting on my case about it enough as it is. I don’t need my little brother to do it either.”

“Maybe we wouldn’t get on your case if you’d actually listen to us”

“I feel like you’ve gotten worse with your back talk.”

“I’ve always had the same amount of back talk. Just never felt well enough to commit to it” Aion gave her a smirk and she couldn’t help but snort.

“Speaking of. I think I found the perfect undead form for you assuming you are still willing to do this. It would be risky and I am nowhere near ready enough to try something like it but..” She trailed off

Aion simply smiled “I trust you Sharrel, no matter what. You don’t need to worry. I have full faith in you.”

Sharrel smiled at him and rubbed the top of his head “Thanks, I need to remember that the goddess put her faith in me, and even gave me the tools to help make you better. Even if I don’t have faith in myself I need to have faith in her who has faith in me”

“I hope I get to meet her one day. The way you and the guardians describe her just makes me feel… Reverence. And I’ve never even seen her.”

“She really invokes the feeling of reverence. None of the other gods even come close to her”

….”Then why do you think she is not part of the pantheon? Or why there is no mention of her”

“I wish I knew. But I am afraid I don’t.”

They fell silent for a bit before Sharrel finally spoke up “So why did you ask me to come here?”

“Oh! Um..” Aion bit his lip for a second “I was wondering, I heard the screams from the outside by the warehouse. I was wondering if you guys found Whines.”

“We have.”

“Is he dead?” Aion seemed hesitant. He was tough, but despite that he still didn’t particularly like the idea of people dying. Even if he knew it was needed.

“He is. He won’t be able to threaten us again.”

“Did he tell you where our parents are”

That bit of info she did not tell him, and had no intent of telling him which meant one of the guardians told her “And how do you know this?”

“Azalea. Now answer the question”

Of course it was Azalea, the blabbermouth. She let out a sigh “Yes, Whines told me where our parents are. I want to make something clear though. They do not care about us. They have never cared about us.”

“I already know that Sharrel. I also don’t even want them in my life either, it's just….” He trailed off “I don’t really know though.. What will you do now that you know where they live?”

She was about to say she was going to kill them but something caught in her throat and she looked down “I don’t know either.”

Unlike Aion who was probably too young to remember anything about them, she still had a few memories of their parents. The main issue she had was she couldn’t really tell if they were simply memories warped by a damnable desire for love from them. She thought they were good memories but she also felt like she wanted them to be good. For her wanting to believe their parents still loved them in some way.

A knock on the door interrupted her train of thought and she got up and walked over to it, opening the door to see Clover standing in front of the door and he gave a bow when he saw her.

“Mam. Lavender has found a new place for us to move too that is better than our current location. When would you like to move?”

She looked over at Aion who gave a nod “I am feeling well enough to make the trip. It would make more sense to do it now then later.”

She turned to Clover “We move as soon as possible again. When we are ready, inform Aster he will be carrying Aion again.

“Right away mam.”

She knew they couldn’t keep moving and jumping around like this forever but it was her best option for the time being.