Despite Nievek’s desolate environment and practically deserted streets, Raine’s attention was focused on Hima, who walked a distance from them, clearly trying to put a distance between herself and Raine. He was going to walk towards her when Aranis, sensing what he was trying to do, grabbed his hand and said, “Give her space, Raine. It is clear that she does not want anything to do with you right now.”

“I just want to make things clear for her.”

“That will be counterproductive for both of you. But if you wish to talk, you can talk about it with me. What you need is to talk with someone who is not involved. A neutral party, you might say."

Raine, agreeing to what Aranis had to say, lowered his voice and said, “Himawari and I…we got serious when I was with the Knights. She was…probably still is…the combat instructor. She and her father taught us martial arts, completely different from what we knew. Made us learn the philosophy of combat flow and redirection. What's more surprising was how they...well, her father, mostly, convinced the old guards that it was for the best of our interests. The old guards thought it might work for us, since we were not the strongest nation out there. We only have one city, after all.”

“Combat flow and redirection,” repeated Aranis. “Is that the reason why you learned how to use a Counter spell? To redirect an enemy’s attack?"

“Technically, it’s not a Counter spell, but it’s easier to understand. Her father called it the ‘Hanagashi’, or the ‘Flow of the Leaf’. The application is more like a flow than a burst, which is the style of magic from her land. Also, most are elemental in nature, which fit the philosophy of the flow. I didn’t manage to learn the traditional techniques, preferring to make a spin out of it. I guess that’s part of the reason why she’s irate with me.”

“Because you butchered her style?”

“Butcher is a harsh word. I…adapted it, using the knowledge of combat magic I learned. I ain’t exactly a conformist, you see. I like to get creative, to get my mind going places. Ironically, the flowing technique is rigid and have so much rules and disciplines I just couldn’t stand it."

“But you should learn the basics. Otherwise, you are not doing the right thing,” said Aranis. "Even if you cast spells with incantations, one wrong phrase can turn the spell into something else. Druidic spells are even more so, as you are communing with nature itself. Try and commit to it first. It might help you in the long run."

“Yeah, maybe I should…if she ever let me. We parted ways on bad terms. It’s mostly my fault, really. I wanted to see the world, she preferred to stay home. She…lost too much, and I stepped away because I wanted an adventure. So much for my commitment, huh?”

“Exactly. At least you’re regretting it.”

Raine was surprised by Hima suddenly saying that, as if she was hearing them from afar.

“You do know foxes have far better ears than cats do, right?” said Hima. “I can still hear you from here.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t just ‘oh’ me. The least you can do is say you’re sorry for turning Hanagashi into theatrical acts.”

“Theatrical acts! Come on, Hima, it’s as effective as your techniques. I’m just giving it a little bit of spice, that’s all.”

Hima stopped, then turned around to walk towards Raine, who braced himself for a slap in the face. She stopped in front of him and said, “That ‘spice’ goes against the fundamentals of the technique itself. While I’m grateful that you do not spoil it to the initiates, seeing you change my entire livelihood hurt my very soul. I’m supposed to be inheriting the technique, goddamn it!”

“I know, I know,” said Raine, apologetic. “But hey. I’m out of the Knights, so I don’t get to spice it, and you get to keep that technique as pure as you like.”

Hima scoffed, then sighed, and said, “We missed you, Raine. We really do. But I still can’t believe you went and leave us without saying anything like we never mattered to you. My father is worried, but he assured me that you know what you are doing. I do, too.”

“Is he, now?”

“No, he isn’t. He just thinks you are an arrogant asshole. But he acknowledges your genius, so he has nothing to be worried about.”

“Yup. That’s exactly what I thought.”

“Will you take what I said seriously for once? I loved you for that attitude, but this is the part where you need to learn how to grow up.”

“See, that’s the thing,” said Raine. “I grew up the moment I lost someone I do care. It’s mostly his fault, though. I’m not the one betraying our trust. Then, I met another person, and he ended up betraying my trust, only this time it did not involve trying to shoot me behind my back and he tried to fix his mistakes with his life. And then someone who did not try and shoot me in the back and not remorseful, but revenge-driven, almost lost his life, and now he gotta live through the fact that he was almost corrupted. So, yeah, Hima, I grew up. I just don’t like thinking about it too much or else you’d find a rather unpleasant man you never knew. I can’t change, not when I have someone I care about.”

“Someone you care about?” Hima let out a smile. “So…you do move on. But the least you can do is write to me about it, not just to your parents.”

“See, I still write. And no, it’s not what you think. It’s a friend. A brother from another mother, if you like. And right now, we are wasting time talking about our issues instead of trying to find whoever you are trying to liberate in the hopes of us getting him back. So, let’s go.”

Raine said what he had to say to Hima. He wished that their reunion was not as bad. He was thinking about returning to Cavilen one day to meet with his parents and introduce them to the people he met out in the desert, especially Narati. But then, he should’ve written to Hima, too.

“Now, then,” he said, returning to the task at hand. “Where are we? Ah, yes. Slaves. Who are we supposed to ask? We can’t just come up a store and say ‘hello, do you know an underground, probably illegal-not-illegal slave market around here’.”

“If we have someone who can answer that question at all.” Hima looked around. “There isn’t anyone in the city.”

“No,” said Aranis. “Not in the streets.”

She glanced up, towards the buildings. Raine and Hima did so, too. On the second floor windows, Raine could see people staring at them with fear in their eyes. Some even whispered to themselves, which caught Hima’s attention.

“They said something about a monster that turned people insane,” said Hima. “About us getting past the guards. Apparently, the guards are no help, but they are the only ones who can distract the monsters while leaving them alone."

“Those guards we dealt with?” said Raine. "Seeing how they made a pass on you, I say they prefer the lesser of two monsters."

"I wouldn't say 'lesser' is the right word," said Hima. "And no. They are hardly a challenge."

"For you and us, perhaps. Not for the civilians."

“I suggest you prepare yourselves,” said Aranis, drawing her bow. “Look.”

From among the old, possibly even ancient, buildings, several humanoid figures walked out into view. The three of them readied themselves but were suddenly taken aback by the way the figures looked like.

Other than the fact that they stood on two legs like a humanoid race, they looked too monstrous to be considered a person. They had no eyes, and their faces were crumbling apart. Some had their skin melting off them in gruesome fashion. Others were already skinless, revealing red, bleeding flesh. Their heads no longer resemble anything recognizable. Not even a Mygalean could look so hideous, at least in the eyes of Raine. Whatever they were, they belonged to different races based on how some of them had plantigrade feet like humans and elves, and others were digitigrades.

Feeling that talking them down would be impossible, Raine pulled out his gun and, without hesitation, pulled the trigger. He took out all the physical bullets so that they wouldn’t be burned off by the second function of the revolver, which was to convert direct mana flow into magic bullets. Unlike Jacques, who preferred a more bullet-like shots, Raine preferred something deadlier and more to his style as an unorthodox mage.

After pulling the trigger, a stream of powerful blast of energy shot out of the gun’s muzzle towards one of the closest monsters. It blew the monster into bits. The other monsters were unfazed, which proved that they were no longer sapient beings. Raine prepared himself for another shot, but then got a better idea. He wanted to test the gun’s capabilities of converting mana into a burst of energy stream, but in a way that could be sustained as long as he wanted it to.

The idea was simple for him to understand, but the execution was a different thing. When he continuously pumped mana into the gun, it let out a burst of energy as he intended, only it was far more than he thought. Instead of a thin beam, it was a big, uncontrollable stream that both decimated the monsters and destroyed much of the buildings behind them. Not only that, it sapped his mana reserve, almost depleting it, causing him to feel lightheaded. Good thing he managed to kill most of the monsters, leaving nothing but charred remains in the wake of the burst stream shot. To his astonishment, the revolver, despite being hot on touch, was mostly unscathed. Only the wooden grip was burned off. While it certainly was commendable, the weapon was useless until he could replace the grip.

“Damn! I swear I didn’t pump in that much!” said Raine as he dropped to one knee.

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He was very certain that whatever accidental burst he did was enough to clean the road from the monsters. He could not be more wrong. More of the monsters started pouring out from the other side of the road, which threatened to overwhelm the three of them. Aranis and Hima kept them at bay using arrows and fireballs, but the one that truly gave them a chance to slip away were the explosions that blew the other side of the street, taking all the monsters with them.

“It won’t be long before they recover!” said a male voice. “Follow me!”

Aranis turned to find a Loup-garou wearing tattered clothes beckoning them to follow him. While reluctant, knowing that they could be walking into a trap, they had no choice. Raine, regaining his strength to run, grabbed the now-cooled gun and started running towards the Loup, followed by Aranis and Hima. True to his word, the monsters Raine thought to be vaporized appeared and started attacking them as they ran through an alley. The Loup made a sign in the air, opening a portal directly in front of them where they escaped, with the Loup closing the portal behind him.

The three of them caught their breath after sprinting through the portal.

“Honestly,” said the gray-furred Loup. “I never thought you’d be insane enough to fight the guards and enter the forbidden area. That district is lost."

“Yeah, well, no one bothered to put up a sign saying so,” quipped Raine. “What’s the deal with those monsters, anyway? Who has enough mana to re-conjure them?”

“Everyone in the city,” said the Loup. “They are declaring war against our neighbors. Everyone’s gone insane after the kingdom decided to seal off a whole district and sacrifice many of the citizens to those monsters. Those men and women up there? They all waiting for the end, so they refused to be rescued. Even I was risking my life to be out here."

"So, why are you, then?"

"Unfinished business. So, why are you here? No reasonable people would ever consider visiting Nievek. I'm well-aware of our kingdom's reputation among the other Valley Kingdoms?"

“Are you aware of sacrificial rites?” asked Hima. "With slaves and such?"

“Or Mygaleans? Spider people?” asked Aranis.

“Whoa, slow down, ladies! I know we still practice slavery, unfortunately, but I never heard anything about them being sacrificed. The spider people, though….”

The Loup immediately opened a door down to the building’s basement. “Hey! They know who you are! Explain it to them!”

There was no reply, but soon the three gasped in surprise when an appendage appeared from within the darkness, followed by a chitin-covered hand and arm. Slowly, a brown-colored Mygalean walked out from the darkness, looking at the Loup in confusion, then towards the others.

“This is the Mygalean you are talking about, Raine?” asked Hima, bewildered by their arachnoid appearance.

“The very same,” replied Raine. “Aranis, the orb.”

Aranis immediately produced the orb weave carefully from her satchel. Somehow, despite her movements in the battle, the orb was apparently unaltered, judging by the Mygalean’s reaction. Aranis gave the orb to her, who read whatever was written on the orb carefully.

“And thus Nansi, the storyteller, declared as such,” said Aranis. “Let all Mygaleans be joined in one tribe, regardless of race and creed.”

“You…can read the Language of the Loom?” asked the surprised Mygalean. “But that’s exactly what’s written on this orb!”

“I am a Child of…no. I think, for this purpose, I must declare my title, one that I sadly disregard as it is too painful to remember. I am Aranis Darion of Shal’viga, patron of the spiders under the rule of queen Antasha. Or should I say…I was her lover.”

The Mygalean gasped. “Lover?!”

“You had a spider girlfriend?!” exclaimed Raine. “Now, why didn’t I think of that before?”

“Raine!” reprimanded Hima, who was not as surprised as the others in the room, but still annoyed by Raine's comment.

“A Mygalean takes an outsider for her lover because she trusts her, a very rare thing nowadays,” explained the Mygalean. “Then in that case, I will trust you, Aranis Darion. I am Belak, queen of whatever’s left of my people.”

Raine sighed. “I never thought we completed our mission much faster than I expected. How come you’re not in a forest?”

“Our forest was burned down by the people of this kingdom,” explained Belak. She then clicked her mandibles and said, “Wait, I know. Now that you’re here, you can help us in return to us accompanying you back. Nievek is going to suffer a dangerous catastrophe, something that’s going to destroy itself and possibly the rest of the world. We need to stop them before then. We can’t repeat the same mistakes of our ancestors a thousand years ago, not when this world had started to heal.”

“Mistake? What kind of mistake are we talking about?”

“Nuremnia.”

That declaration caused uneasiness throughout the room. Nuremnia was not a name that could be so lightly told without some kind of a darkness behind it. The fact that the Mygaleans said the name of the kingdom that plunged the world into darkness a thousand years ago was not something that could not be taken for granted.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Raine. “Wait a second. Nuremnia? As in the cursed nation, Nuremnia?”

“We don’t know the details, but we heard they practiced slavery because they need sacrifice. My sisters told me it’s for their ‘old god’.”

“Nuremnia did not worship an old god,” said Aranis. “My parents told me they simply practiced forbidden dark arts that could corrupt the world.”

“It has been a thousand years since their defeat,” said Hima. “History tends to get muddled after a while. Even if you happen to live that long…you don’t get to remember every detail.”

“Perhaps,” said Aranis.

“Where is this sacrifice is going to be done, and when?” asked Hima, desperation noticeable in her voice. “Please. This is an urgent matter.”

“We are still trying to find out where for the past week, but we are getting to it. Nievek is a complex city much ancient than it looks like. The labyrinthine underground are far older than anything we have ever seen before. Even our forest was not as ancient. My sisters and I are searching for our lost sisters under the cover of darkness and conflict. Even now, the wolf’s workshop isn’t safe from the madness that afflicted the rest of the city."

“This is still the safest place for all of us,” said the Loup. “Beats staying in my house in the res district.”

“Then we will help our search,” said Hima. “Right, Raine?”

“Yeah. I suppose,” said Raine.

“We should help them, or we won’t get Narati back,” reasoned Aranis. “Mygaleans won’t take half-hearted efforts unless it is impossible. They can be stubborn, but within reason. Right, Belak?”

“Yes, we are,” said Belak. “But right now we are still waiting for the scouts to come back. They just deployed. Let’s wait for at least an hour. We can’t get ourselves be separated in this city, not when we don’t know what’s happening.”

“Wise idea,” said Aranis.

“We can’t afford another hour,” said Hima. “I’ll set out in the next 15 minutes. Don’t wait for me.”

“Hima, the least you can do is wait. Okay?” reasoned Raine. “Belak is right. We are all strangers to this city. We might as well start kicking down doors and create a diplomatic incident.”

“But—”

“If you are out there alone, who knows what this city will do to you. Strength by numbers, Hima.”

“You don’t understand, Raine.” Hima hesitated, but then decided to say, “I am not here officially. It’s a request from father. There is another one of our kind out here and he believes that fox is going to be sacrificed.”

“Your kind? You mean—”

Hima let out a smile on her human face. “We are not the last of our kinds, Raine. Think about that for a moment.”

“I…see….”

Then Hima sighed. “But you’re right. All I’m doing is exhaust myself before the real fight starts. We’ll wait for the spiders. If not, we go. Agreed?”

Raine nodded but became unsure whether Hima was being reckless or he was being too careful. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. Knowing Hima, she would not want to wait, especially now that he knew she was motivated by the desire to save her kind, which was a secret that only those closest to her knew.

Knowing that he should say something, Raine said, “Hima.”

“Yes?”

“I know this isn’t the right time, but…don’t get caught between us and the enemy. If you insist, then I should go with you. Don’t argue. Set aside our personal problems and let’s go together.”

“Raine….”

“We don’t need to reconcile if that’s what you prefer. We will get out of this, and you will find that kitsune. This is not your problem alone. Don’t you remember? About the vow?”

Hima went silent, remembering the vow she made with Raine. It wasn’t a vow of marriage, but it was something similarly strong. It was more a promise, to watch each other back, bound by blood and spell.

“I haven’t broken that promise,” said Raine.

“Yes, you did. When you left me.”

“Yeah, well…let’s reaffirm that vow, while we have time.” Then Raine’s voice turned serious. “Hima, regardless of whether we will ever return to things we were or not, I am still going to protect you. Argue with me all you want; I will still protect you. Why? Because right now, I want to cherish the things that I have, especially after losing my best friend and almost losing another. Right now, I have a friend that needs my help, so please, for the love of all things good, help me.”

Hima did not expect Raine to be more concerned about his friends than resuming their relationship, but it was something that she could live with. While it wasn’t completely over yet between them, she understood if Raine needed space. Their reunion was unexpected, after all.

“Alright, alright,” said Hima with a sigh. “I, Himawari, affirm my vow of protection for Raine.”

“As I will do to her,” said Raine.

Both then pricked their fingers, letting the blood touch each other’s. Afterwards, Hima healed the wound.

“Right. Inform me when the spider queen has an update,” said Hima. “And Raine? Thanks, for letting us know you are still out there somewhere.”

“I can’t let the folks back home worry now, can I? Go on. Get some rest.”

Hima smiled and nodded, before bowing to the Loup that saved them and sat at a corner of the room, deep in thought. Raine scratched his head. She was supposed to take a nap, not just sit around.

Raine wanted to let her know what he meant when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It had a sharpness to it, which was something that only claws could make. Good thing whoever possessing that claw knew what it could do to a human’s shoulder.

The sharp pain caught Raine’s attention. He immediately turn to meet with the gray-furred Loup who saved them earlier. Now that he got a good look at him, the Loup looked familiar.

“Hey, uh…thanks,” said Raine, realizing that he hadn’t thanked the wolf man. “That was a clutch safe you did back there.”

“I did it all the time, so it’s nothing much,” said the Loup. “Portal magic is a family thing, you see. We learned a lot of spatial manipulation spells.”

“Does that include a pocket dimension?”

He smirked. “You guessed it. Another thing. The way you vaporized those monsters…I don’t think that’s how that gun’s supposed to do, but desperation brings about creativity, I suppose. May I have a look?”

Raine gave him the revolver, during which he examined it carefully. He looked at every corner and every detail as if trying to find flaws or trying to identify the revolver. Over time, he became more intrigued and surprised by the gun he held in his hand.

“This gun…where did you get it?”

“Ah, it’s…a memento from a friend. He gave it to me for safekeeping. He, uh…he died.”

“I see. What’s your name, son?”

“Raine Windegarde.”

“Francois Barlow,” said the Loup. “I…made this gun, and another. I don’t suppose you have its twin, do you?”

“No, that one was given to my friend, the one I’m trying to save. It’s….”

Then, as if the thoughts came at him like a flash, Raine was quickly drawn to what the old Loup’s name was: Francois Barlow. Barlow. A familiar name. A Loup with a familiar name, twice the age of the Loup Raine personally knew based on his scruffy, mostly grayed fur, who claimed to make the revolvers he once used. Special single-action revolvers with an unusual metal that could convert mana into energy.

He snapped his head back to Francois, who gasped in surprise.

“Barlow?! Did you say your name was Barlow?!” asked Raine.

“Yes. It’s my name. And…I already know what you are going to say next. I would never give away these special guns to anyone but someone I trust. He broke my trust a long time ago, one that I could understand. It’s too bad he’s…gone. This gun...couldn't be in someone else's hand but his."

“Then that means….”

“Yes.” The Loup let out a sad sigh. “I am Jacques’s father. And I never would’ve thought…to hear my child’s fate like this.”