At the Dorm—

The nun was in her bed. We would give her a choice to stay whenever she woke up. And now, with Svilran and I sitting across from each other on chairs beside the nun’s bedside, she told me what she had learned.

“This woman is something called a Dying Light Terrorizer.”

“Scary name... I guess those tentacles were pretty scary.”

“It gets scarier. They’re from... somewhere special in the Imaginal Realms... They live in the Paths Between, specifically a portion of it called the Deep Trenches.”

“So, Deep Trenches is a sub-category of these Paths Between? What’s the Paths Between?”

“It’s...” Svilran knit her brow as she cast her gaze toward the nun. “I don’t know too much about it—it’s somewhere that even the Hero Hub can’t really graze. What’s known is that the Paths Between sort of exist in the gaps between the worlds of the Imaginal Realm. The locales there can touch many of the Imaginal Worlds.”

“Okay, so the name is really on the nose.”

“Yes... This nun, also, apparently worships one of the great beings of the Deep Trenches, ■■■■■■■.”

“■■■■■■■?” I touched my throat, shocked I could make such a strange sound. “What the heck?”

“We can’t say that name. It escapes our comprehension.”

“Even you can’t?”

“Nope. Remember that I’m like you in that we’re from Earth. We’re beings that were never meant to enter the Imaginal Realms in our current states.”

“Right... Okay... Is this great being one of the Imaginal Will?”

Svilran shook her head and frowned. “I don’t know... There’s another big thing about this woman—the nature of her tentacles.”

My interest skyrocketed, and I leaned in. “What do we got?”

“The tentacles are a manifestation of something called an Abyssal Curse. They’re also parasitic, and apparently, the Imaginals of this race spend every waking moment trying to keep the tentacles at bay within their body. The tentacles, however, want to protect their host. So when the host is hurt...”

“They lash out! And they’re parasitic, huh? Suddenly, things are starting to make sense. I was wondering just how and why my power was picking up strange fear responses... It makes sense now.” I looked at the nun with pity. “Still, she spends her life trying to keep the curse under control.” My heart throbbed. “That’s so sad.”

“I agree,” Svilran said as she wiped a tear from her eye. “Poor thing... Even if she weren’t a Hero, I would feel compelled to try and help her. No one should live in fear of themselves their whole life.”

The notion struck a chord with me, and I agreed inwardly.

“So, what are the next steps, Svilran?”

“We can do nothing else but wait for her to recover—“

Svilran cut herself short. She was looking a little to her left, toward the bed. I glanced to the side too.

It took me by surprise. “Good morning, there,” I said, unsure what else would have been appropriate.

The nun was there, sitting up and stretching with her eyes closed like she had just woken up from a peaceful nap. The lantern above her head was emitting a light the brightest we had ever seen.

She opened her eyes and energetically looked at me. Those eyes so full of life quickly widened, and she went paler than I thought her gray skin would let her go. She shot backward so quickly that the back of her head hit the wall and shook the room. She didn’t wince or cry. Instead, the nun reached up toward her lantern and pulled it down between us. The lamppost bent and extended, and the green veins that ran along the shaft became more prominent, like they were veins with blood pumping through. She kept trying to push herself back with her legs—if the wall were any weaker, she would have broken through.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Fainn! You’re scaring her!”

“It’s not like I’m trying to!”

Svilran launched herself onto the bed and crawled up to the nun until she could grab her and pull her closer. The nun didn’t resist—her head landed on Svilran’s chest while her eyes were still locked on me.

“There, there,” Svilran said, her voice soft and loving. “The scary man won’t hurt you. He’s actually really nice.”

I prayed Svilran’s natural aura would calm her, and it felt like they were answered. She slowly stopped, and the fear in her eyes was replaced by bliss. She looked at Svilran with a twinkle in her eye. Svilran nodded at her and smiled. She then looked at me.

“Hi,” I said, timidly waving at her. “I’m Fainn... Sorry that I scared you, but those tentacles were scary themselves. I had to scare them back.”

She cocked her head at me for a little and squinted. I nervously looked to the side, a little guilty that she was so shaken up. She then raised her hands in surprise and shifted toward me.

“Y-Yes?” I asked.

Her neon green eyes—they looked like they were twinkling at me. Did I do something good? She bowed and pressed her head against the bed.

“Hey, whoa there. What did I do?”

Her lantern was swaying above her, and its light was cool.

“Oh, Miss Nun,” Svilran said. The nun raised her head and looked at Svilran. “You have a method of communicating through spores, don’t you? Perhaps you could do that? We want to understand you!”

“What?” I asked, recoiling.

The nun wasn’t as weirded out. She nodded enthusiastically, and her lantern’s casing flew open. A trail of light left the lantern and swirled around Svilran’s hand and then mine. I felt a strange tingle and then felt something take root. When the light dissipated, there was a tiny blue mushroom with a tiny bulb growing out of my hand.

I poked at it a little. “What is this thing? Should I be concerned?”

“No!”

I looked at Svilran, shocked. It wasn’t a voice, but it was like something was whispered into my mind. Svilran, however, wasn’t as shocked. No, she was delighted.

“Wow! So that’s how it works!” Svilran said, marveling at the shroom and the nun. She then smiled at me. “This little mushy lets us speak with her more efficiently.”

“That’s right,” or something like that was conveyed.

“Wow. Neat.”

“You can pop it off whenever you want!”

I laughed. “Alright. Cool. Thanks, Miss Nun.”

“Oh, oh, oh, Miss Nun! Do you have a name?”

The nun nodded and gestured for something to write on. I leaned toward the desk in the room and pulled the pen and paper out for her. She received it, scribbled something down, and then showed us.

“Dorth... Dorthaunzee?” I asked, hoping I pronounced the word name correctly.

Her enthusiastic nods reassured me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Dorthaunzee!” Svilran said as she hugged the jubilant nun.

“Hey, Svilran, be careful there. She might not be fully healed—“

“It’s okay, Fainn!” Svilran shot off the bed and jerked me onto my feet. “We should introduce ourselves, Fainn!”

Svilran made me stand beside her as she jumped up and down with excitement.

“Fainn, drum roll, please!”

“Uhh...” I looked around and just settled on the desk. I drum-rolled as Dorthaunzee silently clapped.

“Dorthaunzee! You have landed in a mysterious new land. We would like to be the first to welcome you to our wonderful home!” Svilran hopped and landed in an excited, arms out pose, releasing mini fireworks from her hands. “The Hero Hub!” The letters flashed in the air above her head.

I was still drumming, amused by the light show.

“Fainn,” she said, pouting at me. “You didn’t do it right!”

I looked at her. “Lady, I’ll kick you out of this room. Don’t test me.”

She shrank back with a look of betrayal on her face. Meanwhile, the sound of clapping reached our ears, as did a very light and happy feeling. We both looked at the nun, and while she lacked a mouth, we knew she was happy.

Seeing her clapping put smiles on our faces.

“Dorthaunzee,” Svilran said, “if you’d let us, we would like to tell you how you ended up here! May we?”

The nun nodded enthusiastically.

Svilran went over what happened in great detail. She explained how Dorthaunzee landed here, how her tentacles went crazy, how I stood up to stop her by scaring her, and then how we got her to safety. At the end of it all, she nodded and accepted it easily. Svilran then gave her a quick welcome speech and intro to the Hero Hub. She ended the introduction with this:

“So, that’s what’s going on here. Dorthaunzee, you have the potential to be a Hero. Do you want to stay with us and become one of this Hero Hub’s resident Heroes-in-the-making?”

“You don’t have to decide right now,” I said. “We have time, right, Svilran?”

“Yes. After checking, Dorthaunzee now has two days to decide.”

“Two? Neat. That’s more than Elma got.”

Dorthaunzee, meanwhile, put her hand on her chin for a few seconds. She then looked at us. A thought came through.

“I’ll be able to help others?”

The question warmed my heart. I was sure it warmed Svilran’s too—the former goddess was on the verge of tears after all.

“You most certainly can! In fact, our other Hero is out in a world helping people already!”

The fact made Dorthaunzee clap.

“Oh, I know! How about we give you a super-quick tour of our current, humble little Hero Hub?” Svilran suggested. “You can make your choice then if you’d like!”

The nun nodded, and like that, we were out the door and off touring the Hub. As we headed out, I wondered if we would find out what had happened to her before she arrived here.