They were going to die.

Ellis forced a smile as she rested her hand gracefully on the tavernkeep’s wife. Emotion filled her, cool and controlled, flowing with her magic to pour into the woman. 

It wasn’t enough. 

Too tight, too rigid. Her magic fought her, almost hissing in displeasure as she forced it to cooperate. She could heal the woman easily enough, but it was exhausting. One person, two, maybe even a dozen would be fine.

But…

“Two dead already,” the tavernkeep was saying. Ellis kept her practiced smile in place, nodding along with feigned confidence. “Whole damn quarry’s infected - all hundred forty seven of us. Well, hundred forty five now. Whole place is shut down. People are in a bad state. Last I saw, anyway. But you lot are gonna heal everyone, right?”

Stars above, she was glad that she had an excuse not to answer. 

Paige - dear, wonderful, aggravating Paige - cheerfully reassured him that of course Ellis had it handled. Their team had taken the quest to purge this plague, and everyone was going to be fine.

Ellis’ magic wouldn’t have let her say that.

No. No, she couldn’t fail. She refocused. 

Breathing in and out. 

Truth hummed in her chest. Always watching. Judging. Despising every falsehood, binding her into perfect truth whenever she spoke, complaining at each false thought that crossed her mind. It wanted her to be true to herself, and it seemed to utterly fail to understand how ridiculous that prospect was.

Emotion was a truth of its own. The deeper, the more potent her feeling, the more her magic would cooperate.

Spite was easy - perfect for attacks. Disdain? Limitless, perfect for cleaning.

Healing was admittedly harder.

She imagined the look of gratitude on the woman’s face. That feeling of being admired? Revered? That look of adulation? Ah, how she loved it! It was her favored emotion for healing, because little caused someone to admire her quite like restoring someone’s health.

Magic poured, beautiful and profound, and yet the emotion was still too shallow, no matter how hard Ellis leaned into it.

Deep down, she just didn’t care about these strangers.

Fatigue pulled at her as the woman gasped, sitting up in surprise. She patted herself down, then stared at Ellis with a worshipful expression, followed by a deluge of praise, of thanks.

It felt wonderful. Ellis took a moment to bask in the sensation, despite the sinking dread that she carefully kept from her face.

She hadn’t expected the entire quarry to be infected, or to be so badly off. Practice with healing was all well and good, but Paige cared about strangers! It would take weeks to heal them, if she couldn’t heal more than ten or so in a day.

They were going to die.

Ellis played at being shy and demure, letting silence protect her. The inability to lie was, yet again, complicating her life.

Her adventuring companions, Paige and Cree, happily chattered with the revitalized commoners. Paige secured free room and board for their stay, the tavernkeep eager to show his thanks, and they made their way to their rooms. Paige had noticed Ellis’ silence, but that was fine. Ellis actually trusted the accursed half orc, which had been a journey and a half, so it was fine.

Minutes later, she found herself in Paige’s warm embrace, as Paige soothingly encouraged her, insisting that Ellis would find a way. Her magic had proven to be so powerful, when she wrangled it well. It was just a matter of time.

Ellis suppressed her fear. Her tears. She didn’t want Paige to realize how difficult this was going to be. It was easy to say they needed to rest tonight, since they’d arrived late. But tomorrow, she’d be facing so many on the edge of death, and she…

She squeezed her eyes tight. The idea of Paige’s face, when the next person died, all because Ellis was fighting her magic too hard, because she was failing…

Gods! It wasn’t her fault that her magic wasn’t capable of healing them properly!

Her magic twinged in her, an oddly split sensation. Not the normal near-hostility for thinking a false thought - she did honestly believe it - but as though it were politely correcting her.

She suppressed a groan. Paige was relaxing, falling asleep with irritating ease, as Ellis’ mind whirled in desperation and despair.

When she’d first Awakened - one of the rare few chosen by the Kingdom’s lottery to gain supernatural power- she’d expected to gain magic. Or, worst case, something physical like superstrength, as Paige had. And she had gained magic - but she’d pushed too hard, been too greedy, and accepted a burden along with her heightened power. She’d been bound to the very concept of Truth. Utterly incapable of lying, which was a difficult proposition for the once-heir of a noble House. Deception, manipulation, pragmatism so cold it was practically cruel - that’s what she’d been raised with, and yet now, she found herself bound to Truth itself.

Between that, and falling for a crude, lowborn half orc - her dear Paige - it was little wonder her family disowned her. Since then, she’d grown to understand that the more true she was to herself, the more powerfully her magic responded. At first, she’d fought it, almost like a hostile entity was battling with her for control over her magic, but Paige had encouraged her to learn to listen to it. After all, if there was anything in all the world that should be trusted, it was Truth itself. It wasn’t easy, and she was pretty sure her magic mostly hated her, but she was learning to listen.

And she was listening now.

So far as she could tell, it was telling her that it could heal the plague victims easily. This was well within her power… if she could bring herself to do what it took to wield it. And figure out what her magic wanted her to do. It was infuriatingly aware - not quite sentient, though it often seemed that way.

She leaned against Paige’s snoring form and rubbed at her chest, feeling the chains on her power. She closed her eyes and sighed. Ever since that training accident with Cree, their third adventuring party member…

Pain lashed at her chest at the memory.

Cree had cheerfully agreed to be a test subject for Ellis’ magic, allowing her to try to impose her magic upon them. The aim had been to bind them to truth, as well. It’d be useful for interrogating people. Instead, Cree had eagerly drawn on her magic, pulling it to them, craving its knowledge and power.

The result of that?

Cree had been granted an understanding of everything, and then had turned those eyes towards Ellis… and she’d fled. Not a full run, but it might as well have been - pulling away her magic, her hands, her gaze. Emotionally slamming doors, barricading her heart. In that moment, she could barely breathe. And they both knew - Paige and Cree. They asked her, and she had to answer; and so they knew that she was terrified of facing herself. Of knowing who she was.

Tears brimmed. Her magic knew how to save these people. If she didn’t save them, if she failed, then she’d embarrass herself, and disappoint Paige, and who knew how many others would die? Instead of being lauded as a hero, she’d be derided as a failure; wouldn’t it have been better for someone else to have taken the bounty, pathetic though it was? No, their group had taken it now; no other help was coming. They were relying on her, and she didn’t know how to help them.

But her magic knew.

Right now, though, it wasn’t feeling especially helpful. It ached, it seethed, it hissed at the presence of a choice it despised - she had seen an important truth and was refusing to face it. It was fine if she wasn’t curious; it was fine if she didn’t have an opportunity. Her magic was fine with her not knowing things. But to turn away from something because she was afraid of the truth? Her magic was practically resentful of that.

Maybe it was actual resentment? Maybe it could feel, could think, in some way? Maybe there was more to it? When Lord Moonshadow had directly questioned her power, it had answered independently. She remembered the bizarre feeling of it filling her throat, as though stepping forward within her soul. How eager it had felt at the question; like the joy of being recognized by a friend. Though, the friendship feeling was definitely towards Moonshadow’s spell and not his person.

She took a slow breath. Maybe she could touch three problems at once. How to save the plague victims. How to find a way to face herself - which she intuitively understood was necessary for wielding her power better. And how to better understand her magic itself.

Maybe she could try talking to it.

“Okay, magic,” she whispered softly. “I’m afraid. It’s true, all the way to my bones; you know how deep that runs.”

Her magic hummed in satisfaction - this was absolutely true.

“The fear is holding me back,” she whispered. “I can’t ask you to show me myself; you know I’m too afraid for that. But I’m willing to… to take a step. If that helps me to heal these people, I’ll face it. Some of it. But please, magic. Be kind. Can you show me kindness, too?”

Her magic seemed to hum oddly at her thoughts. It wanted power, for some reason; almost like it needed the strength to even comprehend her request. She was going to sleep anyway - whatever it wanted, why not? If she didn’t figure this out, she’d be a failure. She had to do what it took.

Power pulled from her, deeper and harder as time passed, and it was strangely painful. It was like it wanted her true commitment to her request, like it was putting up walls of fire against the idea of her backing out. She had thoughts several times of stopping whatever it was trying, but she kept falling back on certain truths. 

One of which was unendurable, and continuously stopped her from turning away. The idea of saying to Paige that she’d had an idea of something that could have saved the people of the town, but she had backed away because she was afraid? Her gut twisted in a way entirely unrelated to her magic and her eyes pricked with emotion. The look on Paige’s face - she didn’t want to imagine it, she couldn’t bear the thought. Partly because she was damned certain that Paige would somehow forgive her. Worse, she might even blame herself. Like it was somehow Paige’s fault that Ellis was too much of a coward to face her own magic.

Or maybe she would blame Ellis. Hate her for what she’d allowed to happen.

No. No, as much as facing herself was terrifying, it was nothing compared to facing that.

So she gave unto her magic a depth of trust that she didn’t truly feel; a gift to Paige that she would never be able to properly explain to the trusting, truth-loving half orc.

Please, she whispered in her mind. Whatever it takes. For her - I have to succeed. I have to save them.

Her magic’s contentment was more than humming now; it was singing. Roots of power snaked through her being, and she resisted nothing. Whatever it willed of her, it could have.

Ellis’ body rose from the bed. It wasn’t out of her control, exactly; she felt like she could regain control with the barest hint of will. It was more like she was in control, and was simply allowing her magic to direct her, in a strange haze of focus and surrender.

It wanted something. Was seeking something. She felt the divination and connection “nodes” of her magic light up, in addition to the deepest core. All three components sang in a strange harmony, consuming her strength in a steady stream as it sought a way to fulfill her request.

Her feet took her through the sleeping town to a quiet house. It seemed empty, and she found herself wondering why her magic had brought her here. She opened the door, which wasn’t locked, and made her way inside. A chill took her - something was wrong in this place. There was a sorrow in the air that was almost palpable. Still, she chose to trust in her magic, though her heart was beating in fear. For Paige, for Paige, she had to see this through.

Steps took her deeper into the house, into a bedroom. Faint light emerged from her skin and she recoiled at what she saw. A body was wrapped in a bedsheet! Why would her magic bring her to a corpse?!

Still, she felt that strange pressure - whatever her magic was looking for, apparently, it involved her touching the corpse. Truth sang, and the nodes of divination and connection added harmony - there was potential in this place. A whisper that sounded like wistful thoughts of what might have been.

Afraid, Ellis hesitated. She’d never touched a human corpse before; she’d never even seen one. Just vampires, or long dead skeletons. There was something important about this, and she abruptly realized she was completely alone. She could run back to Paige, or…

No.

She took a wavering breath. No, this was part of the… price? Not a price, exactly. But it was necessary. Whatever it was that her magic was pushing her towards, she must be alone.

Gods, she was afraid.

She stared at that white sheet and trembled. She could stop letting her magic consume her strength. She could turn and run. She could just let go of her commitment, and whatever it was doing would stop. It was fine with her trepidatious hesitation, but the instant she decided not to go through with this, whatever was happening would break.

Tears began to fall. What was it going to show her? What if it didn’t do what she wanted - what if it hurt her, broke her? What if it hated her so much that letting it loose like this would destroy her, and Paige would have to see her body and never know-

Okay, her magic was practically rolling its eyes at her, so not that one. Probably.

Still!

She didn’t trust her magic. She was far too afraid of it. Tears fell faster as her mind flickered back to the idea of telling Paige she’d almost found a way, maybe (definitely, her magic insisted) to better understand herself, her magic, and maybe able to heal the people. And then ran.

Her eyes closed. Between the two, facing Paige like that was worse, it felt worse, than whatever her magic might do to her.

She reached out to the corpse and-

What the hell was going on?

Ellis blinked and looked around. She was standing in a room with a stranger for some reason? Her mind felt odd, as though something magical were going on. Maybe residual effects from teleportation? But what had she been doing? The last thing she could remember… it felt blurry and uncertain, but the last thing she clearly remembered was wanting to go down to the Hero’s Guild and check out postings again, in hopes something would come up.

Well, that obviously wasn’t important right now. Ellis shook her head and tried to get her bearings.

The stranger also was looking around in confusion. He was an older man and bore many of the signs of a commoner, save for the unusually healthy glow to his skin. He wore a gambeson - the sort one might wear under armor - though nothing else. His body was fairly thick with muscle, and rough from what looked like a life of labor. Either a remarkably healthy commoner, or an awakened physical type. Her bets were on him being awakened. 

Fear twinged at her heart. He could actually be dangerous to her. Once upon a time, she’d have had faith that she could twist him to her purposes, especially with him only being a commoner, but her faith in herself had been rent. She wasn’t even supposed to manipulate anyone. How the hell was she supposed to know what to say, then? 

It’d probably be alright, though. Her skills might not be fully usable, but she bore him no ill will, and since that was the truth, her magic should help her, rather than hinder. Probably.

Ignoring that problem, she looked around the room. There was a door - not a door, the exit.

She blinked. Okay, that was strange. She just somehow knew it was the exit? Well… she’d been working on the divination aspect of her magic, so maybe it was kicking in?

More importantly in this exact moment, though, was the thing in front of the door. It gave the impression of a humanoid figure with its hands reaching out to each side, though it was like she couldn’t really see it. Like she knew it was there, but not with her eyes. 

She stepped forward, fascinated by the way her magic hummed at the sight of it. Looking at it made the whole room seem to… twist, somehow. Like it was another perspective. She pressed at her magic, trying to understand, and it felt like it was saying - this was not the truth, but rather a truth, and it was important. And “this” wasn’t just referring to the shadowy figure, but rather… everything?

More than that, it felt like she was continuing to hear - though she’d also never heard it before - a wistful sensation, a whisper of what could have been. That feeling of “what if,” when one allowed themself to dream.

That made no sense.

“Well, now, how did we find ourselves here?” said a voice in the standard drawl of rural commonfolk, and she turned to look back at the man.

He was giving her an appraising look, but without the suspicion she’d expect, under the circumstances. Something about the lines around his eyes reminded her of Paige for some reason.

“Nice to meet you, miss,” he said with an easy smile. “I’m Alden Stonecroft.”

Old habits pressed at her to evaluate everything. Slow speech, common upbringing; probably unintelligent, or at least uneducated. Either highly adept at social manipulations, or actually too trusting; between the rural drawl and signs of physical development, almost certainly the latter - too trusting. Liable to be susceptible to a gentle, demure approach.

She swallowed. But she wasn’t supposed to try to manipulate him. Even the choice to be kind, if it were at all insincere, was worthy of Paige’s scorn; she could almost hear Paige call her Emberheart again, and she suppressed a flinch.

So what was she supposed to say?

Well, at least the first step was easy.

“I’m Ellis, of the Wielders of Wyrd,” she said, smiling a little. “I’m afraid I have no idea what’s going on here. Do you know anything?”

“Other than the obvious - that magic must’ve been involved, dragging you and me here for some reason?” Alden said, his smile warm. “‘Fraid not, sad to say. My guess is the weird shadowy magic thing has something to do with it, but all I got are guesses. You needn’t worry, though - if something comes our way, we’ll just make sure I’m between you and it, and I’ll do what it takes to make sure you get out of this in one piece.”

Her smile grew more sincere. No wonder he’d reminded her of Paige.

“Thank you,” she said softly, ignoring the thousand whispered suggestions of how to try to speak and act to lure such a person to her side. “I have strength of my own, however; magic of both healing and destruction, as needed, though I primarily work as a support. Let’s do what we can to ensure we both get out of here in one piece.”

He grinned at that, an almost boyish expression that took ten years off his face. An aching pain ran through her - he looked truly appreciative, as though he liked her, even though she wasn’t trying to manipulate him into doing so. A hint of something she’d so craved, and didn’t even know if it was okay to want it anymore.

Still. It felt nice, and that was soothing.

“Absolutely,” he agreed. “I’ve got a smidge of magic myself, but mine's more physical - I probably got less’n you do. Any guesses on what that thing is?”

“Give me a moment and I’ll see what I can find out,” she said, turning her attention from him.

She sank into her magic and tried to draw on a blend of magic-sense that she’d developed, along with the divination she’d been training. Her magic reacted oddly to this pressure. She had the strangest sense that it knew, absolutely and completely, what the shadowy figure was, but wasn’t going to tell her. And it wasn’t the usual sort of objection - it was like there was a wall of some kind between herself and the knowledge. It felt like the wall was her own choice, her own commitment? And her magic said that was true? But that didn’t make any sense!

Still, she got some glimmers, and she relayed them to Alden.

“It’s con-” she started to say, trying to express that it was confusing her magic, but her words choked off at the apparent lie. She sighed and tried again. “It’s interacting oddly with my magic in ways I can’t quite seem to grasp. That said, so far as I can tell, it looks like it’s blocking the way and touching the hands will trigger its effect. My magic is insisting it’s trustworthy, that we must do so in order to exit, but considering how odd it feels, I’m not sure how reliable that is.”

She frowned.

“Further,” she went on. “It’s confusingly powerful. I don’t know if it’s just messing wi- that is, throwing me off in regards to my magic, or something else. But, if you were to believe what my magic’s saying, this thing’s power is immense, and beyond any hope of breaking. That it’s ‘too late,’ though I have no idea how that’s supposed to make sense.”

“Huh,” Alden said. “That ever happen before?”

“No,” Ellis said. “I admit, I’m relatively new to using my magic to learn new things about others - still, this is vastly beyond anything I’ve seen before.”

“Seems we’re outclassed, then,” Alden said, nodding thoughtfully. “If it means us harm, that’d suggest there’s not much we can do about it. S’pose there’s nothing for it but to give a measure of trust and hope for the best. You said you’ve got damaging magic, Ellis?”

Trust. Gods, why did that keep cropping up? The concept of trust. Ugh, it was infuriating. And here he was, just like Paige, talking about trust like it was just… just… nothing! Just casually saying to trust in some random, obscenely powerful magic; to just hope!

“I do,” she said, a tight lipped smile on her face.

“Then I’ll touch it and see what happens,” he said. “If I make even the slightest hostile move towards you, it ain’t me, and I’d appreciate you doing whatever it takes to keep yourself safe, even if it means you’ll be alone.”

She stared at him, a painful reminder of Paige twinging in her chest again. He’d just asked her to kill him if it took over his mind, and was that relaxed and casual about it? Trusting not only in the magic, to make this attempt in the first place, but also in her? But she was a stranger! This made no sense!

It wasn’t fair to get angry at him. It was Paige she was angry at for that sort of thing, not him. Her hand tightened in frustration anyway.

“I have other options to try first, should it come to that,” she said with a tight smile. “Good luck, Alden.”

He nodded and reached out to take the shadow’s hand. Closing his eyes, Alden stood there for a long minute, but then let go and looked at her.

“It’s some sort of weird test thing,” he said. “It’ll tell you the rules if you take the hand. Seems easy enough. It’s something we need to do together - showing understanding of each other and such.”

Strange.

“Let me examine you for magic,” she said and he nodded.

Ellis extended her power towards him and focused. To the best of her ability, it didn’t appear that there was anything lingering on him, or in his mind. She had no other way to judge the safety of the situation, however.

Her old instincts pressed at her to act confident, but it was a lie. Still, a little wouldn’t hurt.

“It looks like you’re safe,” she said, with a more confident smile than she felt. Her magic was vaguely grumpy. “I appreciate you taking that risk. I haven’t any other ideas, so I suppose I’ll take the hand, get a sense of it, and if we can’t think of anything, we’ll try to pass it together.”

He nodded and stepped back. Uncertainly, she reached forward and took the shadow’s hand.

Knowledge poured into her mind. This was a mirroring sort of test. Two people would grab the hands of shadow, and would be granted intimate knowledge of the other. They each, then, had to become a mirror. She would be required to show Alden his own self, as best as she could, from her own understanding. He, too, would be required to show Ellis herself, as best as he could. When there was an acceptance of mutual understanding, the shadow would flee and they would be free to go.

She scowled at the shadow. What ridiculous irony - trapped in a scenario that it seemed her very power would have conspired to create! She was obviously too weak to forge such a thing herself - a thought which caused a strange rippling sensation in her magic - but it was absolutely the sort of thing her magic would love. The resonance with her magic was strong, naturally; almost like it was cooing over its favorite toy.

Her eyes closed and she sighed. Another layer of irony - only a week ago, she’d faced that accident with Cree, where she’d fled from the idea of another seeing her true self. And her magic had been itching at her ever since. And now, here she was, recreating that event in a fashion, under circumstances that gave her forewarning, but also no escape.

She pulled away from the shadow and leaned against the wall.

“You alright, miss Ellis?” Alden asked, his voice warm and soothing.

“No,” she said flatly.

“The magic’s a bit disrespectful of privacy, I’ll admit,” he said with a soft laugh. “That’s the issue, I take it?”

She opened her eyes and looked at the kindness on his face. It seemed… true to a degree that she shouldn’t be able to know. But still, it was as though her magic were trying to make her understand that his kindness was real, and that he honestly wanted to reassure her.

“It is,” she said quietly. “There’s things that I… I don’t want known.”

By anyone. And she didn’t know how deep the magic ran, how much it would share. She was terrified that it’d try to show as much as Cree seemed to know. For this man, this stranger, to see her heart… gods, no.

Please, she whispered in her mind. Please don’t do this to me. I’m not ready.

Her magic seemed utterly unresponsive to her thoughts, almost as though it couldn’t hear them.

“I don’t get the impression we’ve got a lot of options here,” he said, in that ever-present, casual drawl. “That said, I’d like to reassure you, for what it’s worth.”

He gave her an appraising look.

“You’ll know more soon, I figure,” Alden continued. “But there’s one of two ways this might go. Maybe you’re hurting folks, in which case, we’re not leaving till I’m satisfied that’s no longer a concern. Or, you’re not hurting no one, in which case, I’ll keep your secrets.”

By the virtues, he reminded her of Paige so much it hurt. She half wanted Paige here, except she flinched at the idea of what Paige might think of her, to see her so afraid of magic like this. Assuming it were exactly as it seemed, then Paige would eagerly touch it, and would probably want to just chat with Alden once it connected.

Paige wouldn’t call Ellis a coward, but surely she’d be thinking it. And she should think it, because it was true. Tears welled. Not that her composure mattered, when her secrets were about to be stripped away regardless.

“Even if you’re hurting folks, we can try talking it out,” he said quietly. “We can take our time, Ellis.”

She shook her head.

“That’s not it,” she said. “I’m not hurting anyone, Alden. The opposite. I’m trying to do good things, to become more. I just…”

She sighed.

“Let’s just say this sort of thing is a sore spot for me recently,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “There’s also another issue.”

“What’s that?” he asked, his voice still so gentle.

“I don’t know what it’s going to share, but some of my knowledge is forbidden,” she said, looking up at him. “If it does get shared with you - well, it will complicate things. You’d have to agree to keep it secret. It’s against the law to share it with anyone.”

“Forbidden knowledge?” he asked with an amused smile. “I don’t see how it changes anything. If you, or anyone, hurts others, then there’s a problem. People ain’t being hurt, there ain’t a problem.”

“Then that should be fine,” she said, looking over at the shadow.

How utterly ridiculous it was, to find herself in a scenario where she would be forced to trust someone.

“I suppose it’s pointless to ask, but…” she trailed off and swallowed, then looked at Alden. “Please be kind?”

“Always, miss,” he said gently, an encouraging smile on his lips. “Together?”

He reached a hand out towards the shadow and looked at her questioningly. With a feeling of dread, she matched him, and together they each took one of the shadow’s hands.

Knowledge poured into her mind and she gasped. Everything… she knew everything. His life, his love, his joys, his sorrows. His secret hopes, his childhood dreams… absolutely everything.

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And that meant…

Pain lanced through her.

He knew.

“Well, that’s something else, ain’t it?” he said and she trembled, looking at him.

He was giving her a thoughtful look, not a condemning one. But she didn’t want to think about it and looked away.

“Powerful,” she said curtly. “Let’s just… let’s just pass this test and move on.”

“If that’s what you wanna do,” he said gently. “I’ll say this first, Ellis - I don’t hate you.”

Pain spiked in her chest. She couldn’t think about what he knew. Not yet.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I… let’s start with yours, okay?”

“Alright then,” he said.

“You’re a good man. Someone who tries to do what is right, who pursues truth, kindness, and hope in any shadows that he finds,” she said, trying to summarize all that she could see. “An admirable guardian of others, who is less careful with your own life than you should be; something you know and are trying to get better about. A wild dreamer, in your own way; reaching for the impossible with all the enthusiastic foolishness of a child, but tempered by your understanding of the hardships you’ll face in that pursuit. Good enough?”

“That what you really see?” he asked, his lips quirked into a wry smile.

She could feel it - the magic didn’t resonate enough. She needed to express what she truly believed of him, and not a simple, pleasant overview. It was true to how she saw him - to the view she tried to hold now. But there was more to her than that, and they both knew it.

A domain of truth pulsed at her. The view of an Emberheart - which still flowed in her veins, for all that she was trying to overcome it. The Emberheart view was painful and it wasn’t kind to say, but if he saw as much of her as she did of him, it’d hardly lessen his opinion of her.

“You’re a good person, but also a fool,” she said glumly, hating that she had to say it. “You’re an obvious target for social manipulations. All someone would have to do is look innocent, or call for help, and you’d be compelled. You’re such an easy, obvious target, in fact, that you’re practically a danger to yourself and those around you”

“Interesting take,” he said with a laugh, seemingly not offended in the least.

Just like Paige. He was so unlike her in so many ways, and yet, he kept reminding her of the kind half orc.

“Not so sure I agree with that,” he said. “Oh, I’ll grant that I’m easy to ask for help - that’s outright on purpose. But dangerous? I’m not quick to take arms against anyone.”

The magic hummed in her with knowledge - she needed to make him understand in order to release the binding. How would she convince Paige of the problem?

“The right sort of person - such as the person I’m trying not to be - could still use that against you,” she said quietly. “You don’t have to attack someone to hurt them. And even just giving your strength to the wrong sort can make them more powerful. They can take advantage of your kindness to get you to do things, and if the situation is a crafted lie, you might be hurting innocent people without even realizing it.”

He nodded slowly.

“Like intelligent monsters,” he said quietly. “Strange how we both know about them.”

Ellis thought about it - how had he found out? On seeing it, she recoiled, digging into more thoughts. The memories made no sense! Alden stared at her, clearly confused by her reaction. She didn’t know what he was thinking, and that meant the same was probably true in reverse.

“Alden, how did I awaken?” she asked. “When did I awaken?”

He blinked and his jaw dropped.

“Now that’s just confusing,” he said. “We were awakened from the same dungeon, at the same time? And… everything else?”

Her magic pulsed at her.

Not the truth, a truth.

“You’re what could have been,” she said, her magic humming happily and strangely in her chest. “If the lottery had gone another way…”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“This place is all the stranger,” he said. “Why in the world is this place showing us each other like this, if we’re just… echoes of each other?”

She stared at the shadow, her heart hitching painfully in her chest.

Her world was the wrong one. Between her and Alden, he was the better one to have awakened. He was good, like Paige was. She should have remained the secret shame of Emberheart, forced into that arranged marriage, while he went and became a real hero.

But she didn’t want it. Even knowing how good he was, she wanted her version to be the real one. She wanted to be more than she once was. Tears welled again.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “Let’s just… hope both worlds are real, I guess?”

“Agreed. That said - as much as I wouldn’t want to give up what I’ve done, I’d hate to take everything away from you,” he said.

“There’s a lot to hate about this,” she said bitterly. “But that leads back to why we’re here. You seem to understand the cold view well enough.”

“It’s a valuable perspective of a weakness that I’d never thought about before,” he said with a nod. “Still strange to me, that being willing to help anyone who asks could be used to help the sort of folks I ought to oppose, but it seems like you’d know about that sort of thing better’n I would.”

She winced at that.

“I said that ‘cause you were raised by vipers, not ‘cause you are one,” Alden clarified.

She looked away.

“Let’s just get this over with, please,” she said quietly.

The magic was satisfied with what she’d said of him, so now it was his turn. Her mind brushed over the infused memories that she had of him, thinking about what it meant, about what he knew of her. She’d thought “everything” earlier, but that wasn’t quite right - there were clear gaps. 

It was everything about him personally, and nothing else. She knew he’d awakened with others who’d grown dear to him, but she didn’t even know their names. He’d had so many people confide secrets in him, but she didn’t know the details of a single one.

But all of his private thoughts, his own secrets? His embarrassing moments, his times of spite and anger, his mistakes, his hopes, his boyish dreams? She knew him better than he knew himself, because she knew his perspective as well as her own.

Taking another breath, she awaited his judgement.

“Your situation’s a complicated one,” he said. “It’s hard to say what I see of you, since you’re in the middle of changing - and not just any change, either. Your whole world’s being torn apart.”

Her lip quirked into a smile and she glanced up at him, at the gentle, reassuring smile on his face.

“You’re not what you were,” he said firmly. “That’s an important thing to say. You’re not fully changed from it, so I’ll need to comment on that part, and it’ll be hard. But you’re changing, Ellis.”

She nodded mutely.

“If this whole thing had happened before you met that new friend of yours, I’d have had a hard job right now,” he said. “I try to be kind in my life, try to encourage good in the world, and it’d have been hard to be kind to you then. I’d have been so frustrated at the way you treated your magic - bound to one of the key principles of the virtues, and you treated it like a tool to twist to your aims. Angry at it for trying to make you honest with yourself and with others, choking out what power you could and claiming its virtue for your own, when nothing could’ve been further from the truth.”

A soft breath of laughter escaped her. She could hardly argue with that. Paige had expressed a similar sort of frustration, too.

“Still,” he went on. “I’d have been proud of you for choosing to be bound to it in the first place, ‘cause you had options. I’d have been impressed that, as hatefully awful of a person as you’d been raised to be, you still found it in you to choose a good path. Sure, it was all superficial and served your purposes, but you’d chosen to do good in the world. To make it better. I’d have respected that. Still do.”

Hatefully awful of a person. It was what she’d expected to hear, and it hurt. The rest was nice, but…

“I think that’s all I’d have really made note of,” he said, his voice relaxed and calm. “The magic would’ve made me tell you the obvious - we both know about you being angry, self centered, vain, manipulative, and desperate for the affection and approval of others. I think you’d have been more upset to hear that, back then.”

“Y-yeah,” she admitted, tears brimming. “I didn’t accept that about myself then. I mean, I knew, but…”

“But you refused to face yourself,” Alden said.

She nodded in a jerky motion.

“So yeah, I’d have seen that; your impressive amount of dishonesty, considering the source of your power; and the respect for how surprisingly good your path is, considering the rest of it,” Alden said. “Plus, I’d have seen some hints of what you’re going through now, I think. I’d have needed to tell you about the potential for this sort of change. Love is what I’d have guessed was needed, but you started to change even with just the simplest version of it - compassion.”

Her lip quirked into a smile. Paige hadn’t really given her much of a choice.

“It probably sounds like I’m off the point here, since I’m s’posed to tell you what I see of you now, and not what you were a few months ago,” Alden said.

“No,” Ellis said quietly. “I understand. It’s all still there. I’m still that angry, self centered, vain, manipulative person who craves affection.”

He chuckled and she glanced up at him. He was smiling, beaming with warmth.

“Craves affection,” he repeated with a happy sigh. “Just hearing that - ah, it warms this old heart. That’s what I said, I’ll grant, but it makes me smile to hear it, ‘cause it doesn’t mean the same thing.”

“I… sorry, I don’t understand,” she said meekly.

“Back then, Ellis, you wanted a shallow, one way sort of affection,” he said. “You wanted people to love you in a way that’s downright offensive to the idea of love. Just sorta wanted positive emotional energy poured on you for you to soak in; meaningless pleasure. But that’s not what you want anymore, is it?”

The warmth of Paige’s embrace touched at her mind. Paige was kind to her, said nice things, and clearly cared about her. Loyal, steadfast, complimentary more often than not lately, clearly emotionally invested.

Everything she’d thought she wanted.

But no, it wasn’t good enough. It would have been, she thought, if her heart hadn’t been cracked open. But now she dearly craved something more than that. Something deeper, and more meaningful.

“I don’t even know what I want,” she murmured.

“Mostly because you’ve been raised with such a twisted view of things, the words don’t match up,” he said, shaking his head. “Affection, love, care - you want the real thing now, and not the shallow crap that you’d been raised to think those words meant.”

“And yet, at the same time as realizing that, I also realize I don’t deserve-” she started to say, then cut off as tears welled.

“You deserve to be loved,” he said quietly.

“No, I don’t!” she yelled, tears starting to well. “You said it yourself! Angry, self centered, vain-”

“Ellis,” he interrupted her. “I can’t even say how much it hurts to hear you say that. With your magic, what it means for you to say something like that… I guess I knew, but it hurts to hear it anyway. You’re wrong about love, Ellis. You’re new to the idea of it - can you accept that you might be wrong about it?”

She looked away.

“C’mon,” he said encouragingly. “You saw my nature, and you know I see yours. Between the two of us, who understands love more?”

Her lip twitched.

“That’s cheating,” she muttered.

“And according to your lot, that’s a good thing, ain’t it?” he asked cheerfully. “Listen to the magic, too. I felt it when you weren’t being honest enough, when you were holding back. I’ve got more that needs to be said, but I mean it, Ellis. You deserve to be loved.”

Her mind went to the shadow figure and the magic within. It would object rather blatantly at any attempt at deception - Alden was as harshly bound into truth as she was, in this moment. Of course, he probably hadn’t noticed that part.

But it meant he actually believed that. This good, wonderful, kind person… he knew who she was, and yet believed she deserved to be loved? That didn’t make sense!

Tears began to fall down her cheeks.

“There’s parts of you I’d have missed, had this happened a few months ago,” he said. “The glaring issues like the staggering amount of bitterness in you would’ve made it harder to see. But this friend of yours has been doing good by you. That lonely, scared little girl hurts to come to the surface, but there wasn’t any way you’d have healed underneath all that poison.”

“A lonely, scared little girl,” she said bitterly. “What overwhelming praise. The core of me revealed, and it’s as worthless as the rest.”

“Loneliness and fear are situations, not identities,” Alden said firmly. “Who wouldn’t feel alone or afraid in your situation, Ellis? You’ve been isolated your entire life, without a single friend in all the world. Your father’s a shameful excuse of a man, and while he’d given you a few scraps of affection, enough for you to latch onto him as the center of your world, you never felt loved once in your whole life, that you remember. Maybe your birthmother loved you, but you were torn away too early to remember her. You never mattered to anyone in all the world, not in a way that felt real.”

His words tore at her, tearing out the depths of her inner heart, and the tears flowed faster.

“So of course you feel lonely,” he said. “You didn’t even know what the feeling was, before; you didn’t let yourself feel that loneliness. Tried to keep that gaping hole in your heart covered up with a patchwork of superficial praise. And it’s not working with your two teammates, it’s not just instantly fixed, because it’s more than a lack - it’s a wound. You’re healing with their help, but that wound runs deep. It’ll take time, but you’re getting there. It’s a good pair, what I can make out of them - loyal sorts, the both of ‘em.”

“You think it’s enough?” she asked weakly. “That I’ll heal like this?”

“As long as you keep moving forward?” he asked. “Absolutely. And the other part of it, the fear? Same issue, Ellis. The only thing that’s ever made it to the core of your soul is pain, so of course you’re afraid anytime something tries to reach deep. The fact that you’re such a mess inside that any touch at all hurts, even the kind ones, doesn’t really help that problem. You keep being mad at this friend of yours, the one you’re starting to fall for-”

“Paige,” Ellis said softly. “Her name is Paige.”

“Paige, then,” he said. “You keep being mad at her for hurting you, but literally all she’s done is show you kindness and care. She brought some warmth to your soul, and the only reason it hurt was ‘cause she made it less numb. The pain had been there all along. You just couldn’t feel it.”

The words were effectively true, but the deeper truth pressed at her. In a way, she had felt it - she had just refused to face it. That well of pain? She’d twisted it to bitterness and spite. It… it wasn’t anger that filled her to the core. It was hurt.

She took a shaking breath.

“And look at you,” he said, a strange sound in his voice.

Her instincts swore it was admiration. Her magic hummed with that interpretation, confirming it. But it couldn’t be true - a thought which made her magic hiss at her. But how? How could he sound admiring?

“Here we have someone raised in one of the most twisted, conniving situations I can imagine - and I can’t even fully understand it, even with the magic trying to make me. Someone who’s never known love a day in her life. Someone who was hurt to a degree that pains me just to see it.”

He smiled softly.

“Yeah, you’d been a pretty awful person, not gonna lie,” he said. “But like I said, even then, you would have gotten my respect for your choices to try to do good things. But now? Now, Ellis, you’ve been touched with kindness and you didn’t turn it away. You tried, admittedly, but in the end, you accepted it. You were afraid, but you kept moving forward. You’ve committed to being a better person, and despite temptations to give up and turn from it, you stayed true to that commitment. Some missteps, some troubles, but you’re still trying, even though it hurts.”

His smile turned pained.

“Even though the person you’re falling for doesn’t love you back,” he said. “That’s the sort of thing that breaks a lot of people, even healthy people. You’ve decided that even if she never loves you back, you still want to do right by her. Even though you’ve only known pain and selfishness, you still decided that. And you think you’re nothing but selfish.”

She shook her head, her tears easing at the coldness of the truth. She knew what she was.

“I am selfish,” she said, a painful emptiness filling her at her words. “Greed and selfishness - that’s all I am, in the end. I’ve seen it enough, fought it enough; there's no denying it.”

“Sure, there’s a lot of that,” he said. “It’s what you were raised to be, and that’s not something that changes easily. But tell me, Ellis - if that were really who you were, in the very heart of you, why would you be trying to change?”

A tender wash of feeling ran through her. It hurt, it hurt terribly, but… but maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was just warmth, and banishing the numbness from what had been hurting all along. Tears flowed again.

“You think that I’m not really selfish?” she asked.

“Right now, you absolutely are,” he said. “Your habits, your thoughts, your feelings; I never wanted to believe all those things people would say about nobles, but even what you are right now is worse than my most pessimistic guesses. But there’s more to you than all that. Deep down, that’s not who you want to be, and there’s a reason for that. You’ve been mangled into a wretched thing, and I don’t want to give you the idea that you don’t need to keep healing, keep changing. You’ve not arrived. But there’s a reason you want to be a truly good person, Ellis.”

She was silent, waiting. But he didn’t continue.

“What reason?” she asked.

“You know why,” he said. “And, especially with how your magic works, I think it’s important for you to say it.”

It hurt, it hurt terribly, her soul was screaming.

“I… I don’t think I can,” she whispered.

“Alright then,” he said, his voice agonizingly gentle. “Your family destroyed something beautiful, Ellis. A child who was so caring that she needed extra ‘remedial lessons’ to learn how to be cold and heartless, and who continued to struggle with it despite never knowing an ounce of love herself. A heart that recognized kindness for what it was, instead of the cruelty it felt like, the very first time she encountered it. A soul that, despite being raised into glorifying deception, didn’t hesitate or hold back when offered a binding to truth, because somehow you knew, in a way you couldn’t face, that accepting truth suited you. I see it in your memories - when your father and that Moonshadow fellow called it a curse, it didn’t feel right to you. Even when you first awakened and struggled with it; deep down, it just didn’t feel like a curse. Your father offered to ‘fix’ it even then, but on some level, you just couldn’t want it. What kind of person have I just described, Ellis?”

Too much. It was too much, too deep, too…

She fell to her knees, weeping. He knelt next to her.

“A broken, ruined husk,” she said bitterly.

“That’s true,” he said. “What else?”

“A twisted horror; a person shaped into selfishness and cruelty, of bitterness and rage, someone who definitely is not a good person,” she hissed.

“That’s definitely not what I just described,” he said, a bit of sad amusement in his voice. “But I’ll agree that’s a fair way to see you. What else?”

Her arms wrapped around herself and she shook.

He was quiet for a moment.

“I think it’d be good for you to face it on your own, but it’s tearing me apart not to offer,” he said. “So I’ll go ahead and say that it looks like you really need a hug, and I’m always up for those.”

She glanced up at him uncertainly.

“You think it’s better for me to not have a hug?” she asked.

“Recently, all your healing and growth has been in Paige’s arms,” he said. “I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but you can be your own warmth, too.”

Her own warmth?

“And I think if you say it, if you face it, you’ll feel that warmth,” he said. “But you’d give me the credit if I were giving you a hug at the time. So I wanted to offer once you’d said it out loud, but you’re having a hell of a time. I couldn’t just not offer.”

She felt so cold.

“Up to you,” he said. “But go on, Ellis. What sort of person did I describe?”

She looked down at the ground.

So cold.

“You’re trying to get me to say that… that I’m…” she choked and tried again. “That deep down, what’s inside is good.”

“You can say it directly,” he said. “Your magic can help.”

“I…” she said, and choked, tears falling again.

It wasn’t her magic that stopped her.

“The awful stuff is there, and I’m not pretending otherwise,” he said. “You’ve still got a long ways to go. They did destroy you, Ellis. They cut you apart and reshaped you in their image. But you’ve already shown, with your magic, that you can fix things, no matter how badly they’ve been destroyed, haven’t you? And if you fix yourself, if you heal? Right now, you’re not a good person, we both get that. But once you heal, Ellis? If you take back what they destroyed?”

Freezing. She shivered. Why was it so cold…?

“Can you say that much?” he asked softly. “What sort of person did they destroy, Ellis?”

Distant memories.

“Someone good,” she murmured, and felt her soul crack open another measure.

Her tears were hot on her face.

“Someone good and kind,” she said softly, remembering a little girl from so long ago that it seemed almost alien.

The memory was warm.

“Someone sweet and caring,” she went on, unable to see through the tears. “A little girl who laughed freely, with so much hope. Who wasn’t afraid.”

“She’s still in you, Ellis,” Alden said, his voice profoundly gentle.

“They killed her!” Ellis yelled, covering her face. “They took her and tore her into shreds, turning her into… into… just another Emberheart!”

“She’s not dead, Ellis,” Alden said.

“How could you possibly say that?” she asked. “You see what I am!”

“I know it, Ellis, because of one simple truth,” he said, a sad little smile on his face. “The dead don’t feel pain.”

She reeled at that, another wash of agony ripping through her. Hot, burning pain, and she sobbed again.

It was a long moment before she recovered enough to speak.

“The good in me isn’t dead?” she asked brokenly.

“Not a question, Ellis,” he said. “A statement. Say it. Your magic will let you. That’s all the proof you need.”

“T-the…” she tried, then swallowed and forced herself to speak. “The g-good in me i-isn’t dead.”

Her magic… was content.

It felt warm.

Tears flowed, and a warm hand rested on her shoulder.

“The path is clear now,” he murmured quietly. “You still want that hug?”

A scarce moment later and she was sobbing into his shoulder as he held her, soothingly rubbing at her hair. His embrace was so comforting. Different from Paige, but still so… so warm.

After her tears ran their course, she pulled away and he just smiled at her gently.

“Now, looks like we can go,” he said. “But maybe there’s a thing or two we ought to say first.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, and he laughed.

“Not what I meant, but I appreciate it,” he said with a cheerful smile. “You’re more’n welcome, Ellis. I just want to make sure you’re ready before you leave.”

“Ready?” she asked.

“For the path you’re on,” he said. “The good in you isn’t dead, but it’s not far from it.”

She winced.

“You’ve got a long ways to go,” he went on. “But hey, you know your magic is good at that sorta thing. You have to keep trying, but as long as you do, you can fix yourself.”

“It’s… not really as simple as that,” she said. “I can’t just use my magic on my self-identity, on my soul, like that. I have to actually face things. It’s harder than just using magic.”

“Eh, you say that,” he said with a chipper expression. “But truth, love, and courage have a magic all their own.”

“Ugh, that’s so cheesy!” she complained. “You sound so… ridiculously trite with that sort of nonsense.”

He smirked.

“One of these days, you might also want to stop and think about why your family trained you to react to stuff like that with thoughtless scorn,” he said calmly.

That pulled her up short.

“I… really?” she asked.

“That sorta thing will take time,” he said. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over it. Chew on it; if you keep at it, the day will come when it’s as obviously true as it currently seems obviously false.”

She blinked, uncertain.

“Second thing I wanted to say,” he said. “That Paige o’ yours - she sees the same thing I saw. You don’t have to be scared of her seeing who you are. I can’t see into her head like I could into yours, but just from how you think about her, how you felt, it’s pretty damned obvious.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“With her saying stuff like you’re a wonderful person,” he said. “I get the impression she’s not the sort to give praise when it’s not due; that she’ll tell people how it is. If she thought you were awful, she’d let you know. But while she’s criticised your beliefs and habits, she hasn’t actually criticized who you are. And that, combined with her saying those nice things - she knows it, same as me, that the good in you is alive, if a bit, uh… maimed.”

There was a word choice. She sighed.

“She’d probably agree with you,” she murmured. “It’s hard for it to feel real, though.”

“Then I guess you’ll just have to trust her,” he said cheerfully, then laughed at the dirty look she gave him.

She couldn’t help but smile at the joy in his laughter.

“That was all I felt really needed to be said,” he said, after he quieted. “What with us being from different worlds, different what-ifs, we probably won’t meet again. Anything else you’d want to say before we part ways?”

Her heart sank a little at that.

“I don’t like the idea of never meeting you again,” she said softly.

“‘Cause I’m a decent person who knows who you really are?” he asked leadingly.

“You’re not just decent,” she said. “You’re a good person. Worthy of trust.”

“Lots more of that sort than you think,” he said. “Y’might try looking for some. Give ‘em a chance to see you. Some will be awful, sure; but that’s a quick way to find out who’s not worth your time. You’ve got that third member of your party who you’ve barely shown any trust to at all, but the measure you’ve given, they haven’t betrayed in the least.”

“I… guess,” she said. “But with you, it’s different.”

“You feel safe,” he said. “But you didn’t start that way. You were terrified.”

“That’s true,” she admitted.

“Courage,” he said with a smile. “You have to face fear to reap the rewards. You didn’t have much of a choice with me, I’ll grant. But you did it anyway. You’ll have to do the same with others. Sometimes you’ll get hurt. But it’s the only way to have real connections.”

She groaned.

“I swear, you and Paige would get along wonderfully,” she said.

“I bet we would,” he said cheerfully. “Maybe, next time you’re in Stormcrest Quarry, you can meet that version of me. I’ll just be a supervisor at the quarry, but I’d always liked to hear stories of adventurers. There’s a reason I signed up for the lottery, after all. I could play you some music while Anwen - that’s my daughter - makes you all some cookies, and you could tell us, and my grandkids, all about your adventures. We’d like that.”

“Your world is the better one,” she said in a quiet voice. “You’re actually a good person, not a mess like me. You should have been the one to awaken.”

“Nah,” he said lightly. “There was plenty of time! I’m not that old; odds are decent that I’d have won in the next few years anyway. Your timeline was much tighter than mine. Hey, maybe when your version of me awakens, you can give him some tips.”

“But what if you don’t?” she asked.

He shrugged.

“Still better this way,” he said. “If I’d won that lottery, and someone had come up to me and told me the situation? If I could have given my slot to a young lady in a hard situation, who’d never known love or caring in her life, and by doing so, set her on the path to finding herself, finding what it means to be a good person, to love, to be honest, to be brave? I’d have given up my slot in an instant.”

Her eyes pricked with tears again.

“You’re so much better of a person than I am,” she said. “You’d really have given your slot for me?”

“I’m old,” he said. “I’ve lived my life, and it was a good one. I’d have absolutely given my slot, and my life, for someone like you, Ellis. Still would.”

She wiped at her eyes.

“I’ll look for you,” she said. “I’ll tell you stories - you and your family. I’ll help guide you, once you’ve awakened.”

He smiled warmly.

“He’d like that,” he said. “Not sure if there’s anything I can do for that other version of you, but I’ll keep an ear out.”

She shook her head.

“She’s not worthy of your attention,” she said and he laughed.

“Still,” he said. “If I have a chance, I’ll be kind.”

“You would have been anyway,” she said with a little smile.

“There’s a reason that’s my habit,” he said warmly. “There’s good in everyone, Ellis. Sometimes it’s buried deep, but it’s always there.”

“Even my father?” she asked dryly.

His smile grew sadder.

“He was kinder to you than he had to be,” he said. “It’s there. I wouldn’t go digging for it; he’d have to be the one to find it, not you. But as long as there’s life, there’s hope.”

As long as there’s life, there’s hope.

What a trite sounding statement… one she’d heard before and always blown off. And yet, it was like she’d heard it for the first time. It hummed along with her magic, and she realized that it felt like this phrase meant something to her magic. If Truth were a song, this would be one of the chords of its chorus.

She nodded slowly.

“I… understand,” she said. “I mean it. I think I actually understand that.”

He smiled.

“Good,” he said simply, then glanced at the exit. “You ready to head off?”

She got to her feet and he joined her.

“I will always remember you, Alden Stonecroft,” she said. “Thank you.”

“It’s not about me,” he said quietly. “Point that gratitude towards others. Make the world shine brighter in some way; if you want to thank me, that’s how.”

“I will,” she said with a shy, genuine smile.

“It was an honor to meet you, Ellis of the Wielders of Wyrd, future greatest hero of Kothe,” he said warmly. “Good luck.”

“Same, Alden Stonecroft, guardian of all,” she murmured. “Until we meet again.”

He smiled, and together they reached for the door that was no door.

A short time earlier, in another world:

“Alden.”

The voice startled Alden awake. He blinked in confusion. Something strange was going on - something warm and right was in his mind.

“Someone calls for help,” the voice said, only not in words, exactly. He simply understood. “She is a weak, pathetic thing who flounders on the path to do what is right, yet stays the course. She calls out in earnest pursuit of the truth, though she barely has the will to face it. She has chosen courage, to stand down her fears, though she trembles and nearly falls. She has chosen this path for love, though it is weak and newly born, fluttering and tender in the ashes of her soul. She is not yet good, but strives to be. The cost will be high. Will you aid her?”

“Of course,” Alden said, though he realized his mouth didn’t move.

It was a silly question, all told. In what world could he have said no?

“It will call upon your magic and will strain you,” the voice continued. “A version of you will be formed - an echo of your soul, but living and true. It will live, but only for so long as it is needed. As soon as aid has been rendered, that version of you will die. Will you sacrifice your magic and your life to aid her?”

He understood what it was asking, again in a way beyond words. Just casting a taxing spell, magically; and otherwise condemning a newly created version of himself to death. Honestly pretty small ask, all told - he’d have sacrificed his real life for someone in need, if necessary, and this way, he’d still be around to help others!

He didn’t question whatever effect this was, either. He knew it spoke the truth, in a way that rang into the deepest reaches of his soul. He couldn’t even conceive of doubting it.

“I will,” he said with a smile.

A strange fuzz ran through his mind and… 

He blinked in confusion and sudden exhaustion.

What had just happened? His magic was drained dry. He’d made a choice… it felt true, somehow, that he’d done something with his magic to help someone in need. Huh. Well, that wasn’t all that questionable.

He glanced over at his adventuring team - Speranza on watch, and Perse blissfully sleeping. He smiled at them, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

A strange fuzz ran through his mind and…

“You are the echo of Alden Stonecroft,” the voice said from the hollow emptiness around him. “If you refuse, you shall be returned to your true self, with no harm done. Consent to kill another cannot be truly given, so you must be asked again. Your sacrifice would not be that of a copy - it will be of yourself. Will you step forward to give aid, and then to die?”

“Not sure why you thought my answer might change,” he said with a smile. “The answer is, and always will be, yes. What do I need to do?”

“You will forget having agreed,” the voice said. “It will be in the purity of unknowing innocence that you might give aid. She will forget having asked. It will be in the purity of unknowing innocence that she might receive aid. You have only to be who you are. Do you accept?”

“I do,” he said, and found himself confused in a nearly empty room.

Ellis blinked in confusion, back in the dark room with the corpse on the bed. Memories flooded her mind and she reeled. What the hell had just happened? She’d forgotten coming to the quarry, had a bizarre conversation with a person from another version of reality - the version in which she hadn’t awakened - and then reappeared here?

She’d been forced to face herself in a sense, so that part lined up with what she’d asked. And she’d asked to be “shown kindness,” which also had absolutely come to pass. But understanding how to help these people? Understanding her magic? She hadn’t learned anything about that!

She shook her head. One thing at a time. She tried to put the pieces together.

Here she was, in Stormcrest Quarry…

A spike of fear in her heart. The Quarry. That was Alden’s hometown.

She looked at the wrapped body in front of her and her fear grew.

She couldn’t name it, even in her mind. No. It wasn’t. Her magic couldn’t be that cruel.

Slowly her hand reached forward to the body’s head. Slowly, delicately, she pulled back the wrapping.

Tears filled her eyes and blurred the terrible image. Gaunt and with ugly sores, instead of the supernatural glow of health… but those were the eyes that had just gazed at her with such kindness; those were the lips that had spoken to her of warmth and hope.

Empty.

As long as there’s life, there’s hope.

Dead.

“Alden…” she whispered, touching his cheek gently.

A sob shook her.

“I was supposed to tell you stories,” she said, as tears dripped from her chin. “You were supposed to have years! You were supposed to have another chance to awaken! You were better than me, Alden!”

She choked on her words, barely able to breathe.

“You were supposed to live.”

Ellis fell to her knees, weeping over the death of a man she’d never met.