"Well boys, we did it." I proudly marveled at the quik from a nearby dune.

"It took a long time amigo, but I think we've really outdone ourselves." Shaid agreed with an equally proud grin.

"With this, even when we're gone, we can be sure the quik can continue to safely operate autonomously." Olya sat down for a bit, "Ow, walking all the way here for the view made my feet sore..."

Yep, as you can imagine, quik Havana has finally finished up every project the three of us had in mind. Honestly, there's just nothing else that comes to mind when it comes to what else we should add to it. Be it a proper irrigation system, a road that goes from the dock, passes through Havana and then goes straight to Provincia, a ton of houses for all the residents here, a hospital clinic, a school for the kids, a bakery that hands out free food for those who need it, we've made everything. I think, and I don't mean this in a bad way mind you, that even if we added just one more thing, we genuinely wouldn't know where to put it.

"You're not the only one whose feet hurt, amigo." Shaid agreed with Olya as he sat himself down as well, "But man, would you look at the view!"

"Yeah, admire it, boys!" I proudly guffawed, "This is all the product of our labor of love. The sunset really compliments the city as well, so we lucked out on the timing."

"The Sun, eh..." Shaid looked down at the scar on the back of his hand, "All three of us are now members of the Sun God's religion. You think it's safe to announce that to anyone?"

Now that's a question. Certainly, it'd be risky to just blurt out, given how everyone in the World is so hyper-defensive of their own religion. Heck, even I got kind of angry back when I first met Olya, thinking him to be just a simple Prylos religion purist. That being said, no one's gonna hurt you if you do decide to stand your ground, so maybe it'd be alright to tell the truth at times?

"Maybe say it if you're asked about it, but don't shove the fact into other people's faces." I reasoned, "No one likes unsolicited boasting about being a part of any group, so why shouldn't we treat religion the same?"

"Ouroboras..." Olya went deep into thought for a second, "Kind of a mysterious entity when you think about it. For all my life, I was taught that there were always only Four Gods. Just the mere idea of there being a bonus Fifth God is unprecedented, if not blasphemous."

"Yeah, but that poses the question - Why did the World accept all the other Gods as their creators, but not Ouroboras?" I pondered aloud, "Could it be because he is the Raamans' God?"

"Possibly. Although it kind of makes me feel bad for him. Being forgotten and all." Shaid then turned to me, "Hey, you think the other Gods were friends with this Ouroboras?"

"Friends?" I tilted my head, "Do any of the Gods consider one another friends? If I recall correctly, all the sacred texts describe their relationships as complicated at best."

"Eh, who cares?" Olya got up from his sitting position, "We're no monks, priests nor saints. We're believers, and believers aren't meant to question the Gods. Of course, it's a different story if we were to happen to meet up with a God."

"Right." Shaid extended his hand for Olya to help him get up, "Because if we did happen to talk to a God, we could ask them all these questions and more."Seeing as the Sun had all but set, we decided to pick ourselves up and brush ourselves off as we descended down the dune and headed back into the quik we had just spent the evening admiring. Of course, our one year trial period for working under Tanathos was set to end in just under a month, hence the nostalgic tone. In any case, it was getting dark out anyways, so we had no reason to stay however you slice it. This is the difference between Abyssus Solis and the rest of the World, one that I failed to mention before, but the nights here can get extremely cold. It's actually quite difficult to adapt to, even after all this time, but as long as you get inside by nightfall, you should be fine.

"Tanathos... He's been avoiding the topic of our departure. Do you think he's trying to ignore it?"

"The Old Man?" Shaid chuckled, "Who knows? Maybe he's actually gone senile and just forgot about us being temporary interns."

"You jest, but I think it's really difficult on him." Olya got quiet, "Whilst he's not really that old, only being a decade my elder, he's definitely not in his prime. A man like that losing three abled men is certainly gonna be a difficult change for him. He might try to convince us to stay when the time comes."

Truth is, we've been constantly reminding him of the fact that we'll be leaving for a week straight now, but every time we do he either ignores us completely or laughs it off and quickly changes the subject. He always made it pretty obvious that our efforts here are greatly appreciated, so it's no wonder he'll try to get us to stay.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Hey, looks like something's going on in the city." Shaid pointed out all the torches the people were carrying out in the streets from afar, "It's like they're looking for someone."

"You three!" A panicked Tanathos ran up to us, almost so out of breath that he couldn't even talk, "Help! I-I...! I don't know what to do! She's-!"

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, Old Man." Olya chuckled, "Whatever's happening can't be that bad..."

"Cassandra's not breathing!" He cried out, "Where were you all?! We've been looking for your guidance all this time! The doctors at the clinic have no idea what to do with her!"

Oh shit. Just hearing this, my heart sank and I got all woozy from the nausea. Cassandra... isn't breathing? Running full speed to the clinic, the other three trailing behind, I had begun praying to Selzion and Ouroboras, almost at the same time, the prayers somehow overlapping one another in my head, resembling nothing if not gibberish as a result. Even still, I didn't care. Busting open the doors to the clinic, I shouted at the top of my lungs to the unconscious girl lying on the bed.

"Cassandra!"

***

"Cassandra! What happened to her?!" I shook the nearby doctors, "Tanathos told me she isn't breathing, how did this happen?!"

"Brother, we know as little as you do." The doctor shook his head, "She was fine today, working the fields as usual, when suddenly witnesses claimed she collapsed, panting heavily."

"When she was brought into the clinic, our first thought was either over-exhaustion or a high fever, since the idea of a heat stroke was unlikely, given the greenhouse's ceiling window was closed." A nurse interjected, "Back then, we tried giving her some water, which she began choking on, so we had her turned around to throw anything she had lodged in her throat back up."

"You idiots!" I berated them in my panicked state, "Did you try compressions or something!?"

"We did, just like brother Olya taught us." The doctor explained, "She showed signs of waking up, even opening her Eyes and muttering something which we couldn't quite make out, before falling unconscious again. That is when she had stopped breathing."

Oh no. Quickly turning to her, I started taking deep breaths to calm myself down, before gulping and putting my lips up against hers. Hearing that the chest compressions sort of worked, I figured there was simply no other way to save her but to perform oral CPR. Breath in, blow, breath in, blow. At some point, even I had gotten lightheaded from the experience, but I couldn't just stop, even while the doctors around me stared on in disbelief. It seems Olya hadn't taught them about this way of performing first aid, so they were probably pretty creeped out about seeing me kissing an unconscious girl so oddly. Not that I cared though.

"Cough! Cough, cough!" Her face suddenly grimaced, "Gasp, eh? Where am...?"

Hugging her with tears in my Eyes, I had quickly realized I might be construing her breathing with my bear hug, so I hastily let go of her in a panic. She looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, or more specifically my lips, touching her own as if to reaffirm what she had presumed was the case. Slightly embarrassed, she couldn't quite look me in the Eyes as she turned to ask the doctors how she got here.

"You almost died." The doctors and nurses laughed with tears in their Eyes, "Good thing brother Schnell was here, otherwise your Old Man would have never forgiven us!"

"Schnell..." She turned to finally look at me, her face lightly flushed, "T-Thank you."

"Sniff, d-don't mention it." I stuttered as I made sure this was real, "Y-You... You ARE alive, right?"

"Pfft!" She burst out laughing so hard she started coughing again, "What's with that! Haha, did I seriously scare you that... much?"

Looking down, she had seen me collapse on my knees in front of her. Worried, she went to kneel down and help me, to which I raised my hand to stop her from moving around too much. Right now, I was tired, and the only thing I needed was to let the entire situation sink in. As we sat there in silence, with me on the floor and her on the hospital bed, Tanathos, Shaid and Olya soon rushed into the building, turned to see Cassandra all well and good, before similarly falling to the ground, thanking everyone's respective Gods.

"Oh right." I muttered, "It's thanks to you two for helping her live, so thanks Ouroboras, and thank you Selzion. I am forever grateful."

Talking to the doctors, nurses and more importantly, the patient herself, we had begun a thorough investigation as to why she had fallen unconscious when she did. Telling us about her day, nothing seemed too out of the ordinary - She woke up, went to the Grand Giveaway and tried some peanuts the Provincians got from their trip to Simpleton, worked on the fields for a couple of hours, then suddenly fell unconscious. She described the moment as a sudden blockage of airways, as if her throat closed up on its own.

"And how did you treat her?" Olya inquired the doctors and me.

"..."

Blushing upon recalling the sensation on my lips, I refused to give a proper answer and instead just noted how the doctors made her throw up. Hey, I wasn't lying, after all that is what happened, it's just not the entire story.

"Well, that settles it then." Olya pointed to her dramatically, "Cassandra, you have what is known as a peanut allergy!"

"A..." Shaid and I couldn't believe our ears, "An allergy... to peanuts?"

"Now, now. Don't think lightly of it. My cousin has the same thing, and it can get lethal if not treated immediately." He explained, "In a pinch, making the patient throw up should do the trick, but I do wonder how you managed to restart her breathing without any form of CPR though..."

Looking over to her as he said that, Olya noticed her reaching for her lips, before quickly lowering her hand back down. With a wry smile, he winked at me as he left the room. D-Does he know? No, how could he, I haven't said anything yet! Oh wait, I forgot, he's the Revisor...