The sun was casting its light through the window of the unfamiliar room. It wasn't a sight I wasn't used to, as I had witnessed similar scenes too many times in the past. My entire body hurt like hell… another thing I was unfortunately getting used to recently…
"Good morning… I guess."
"[Drayd!] Raidha and Pyro yelled in unison.
I painstakingly got up from my bed, revealing that my entire body was once again covered in bandages. The fight must have been terrible for my partner to end up so battered. But if he ended so beat up, I wonder how the Katryde ended up. I felt a bit of pity towards the woman.
Raidha jumped at my neck as soon as I got up, hugging me so tightly it hurt… a lot… as usual. However, I endured and chose not to complain.
"I'm fine, don't you worry."
"You stupid! Why do you always make me worry like that? You better not pull anything like this ever again, you understand?"
I embraced her and gently caressed her hair. Wasn't she hugging me a little too often these days? A few months ago, she used to kick me every chance she had.
"Understood… princess."
[Pyro wants to join.]
"That's fine…"
Pyro joined in on the group hug.
'Well, whatever, I guess this is not so bad for a change.'
—Should I join as well?
"I think you've technically already joined but… Well, thanks, I guess."
We broke up the group hug, as Raidha's mood suddenly turned sour.
"Are you speaking to that thing?"
"I am… at the end of the day, he took care of things…"
"I… I won't thank him. I don't like him at all. I wish he would disappear."
Raidha had said something pretty nasty just now.
"Why would you say that?"
Looking saddened, Raidha averted her gaze.
—Let it go, it's better like this.
'What do you mean it's better like this? Why would it be? Well… whatever…'
"What happened yesterday?"
"Not just yesterday, it's every single time. You… you are not aware of what happens when he takes control over you, right?"
"I am not, but I do know that it's thanks to him that we're still alive."
"And thanks to him you're nearly dead."
—That is true, every time I take over your body, it deteriorates. Hadn't it been for your incredible regenerative powers, you'd already be dead, and not just because of the wounds.
Everyone fell silent, even Pyro. Despite being a bird, he seemed aware of the fact that he didn't have a good enough understanding of the situation to intervene.
"But I'm still alive, am I not?"
"Barely!"
"Raidha… I won't die, I promise. I won't die as long as we're together. Trust me, it's not easy to kill a werewolf."
"You…! You are hopeless."
"Beyond any shadow of a doubt."
And with that, the cheerful mood returned. What I said was no lie, I really did not intend to die… at least so long as she was by my side. Once we parted ways…. If we did part ways, then I guess I wouldn't try so hard anymore.
***
By the following morning, I was already able to move again. I wasn't recovering as fast as I did when I was in my transformed form, but it was fast enough that I didn't need to waste any more time resting at the inn and instead was able to start marching forward again.
"Are you sure you can walk?"
"Of course, these wounds are nothing compared to those from the last time. You remember that I had a hole carved through my stomach, don't you?"
[Pyro also thinks that you should rest for a little longer. You looked really beat up when you arrived.]
"Now that you mention it, what happened?"
[Your body was covered in blood, cuts and bruises. You looked like you could die at any moment.]
"Yeah, you looked like crap. You had very deep wounds and you were bleeding all over… I don't even want to think how bad the internal damage must have been."
"Then you needn't worry. My body recovers internal damage faster than it does external damage. If the external wounds are nearly healed already, then that means I'm as good as new on the inside."
[Amazing, that is unbelievable.]
"Now that you mention it, yeah, I think it is pretty ama…. What the heck!!"
"Why!!!!"
I couldn't believe it.
[This…]
"You didn't have to yell so loud just because you saw me."
Calitia was right there, calmly waiting for us as if nothing ever happened. She looked to be in fine condition as I couldn't see a single wound on her body.
'And here I was taking pity on her…'
Raidha grabbed me by the collar and started shaking me while yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Aaaaaa!! What's she doing here? And why is she unharmed? Didn't you deal with her? Answer meeeeee!"
"That's what I would like to know myself! Let go of me!"
The one who was supposed to have answered that suddenly fell silent.
"Answer me!!"
Raidha kept yelling, yet no answer came
"So now he's lost his voice…"
Calitia waited with her arms crossed and a furrowed brow for us to stop clowning around.
"And you! Don't you just stand there as if this had nothing to do with you! – Raidha finally let go of me and started yelling at the blond woman."
[What is going on?]
"I wish I knew…"
Calitia opened her eyes, extended her arm as far as she could pointing at us and puffed her chest.
"I've decided to give you all a chance, I will be accompanying you from now on."
"You what????" Raidha and I both yelled
"I need to make sure you won't actually be doing anything evil."
"Please let me die right here…"
"That's not up to you to decide!" Raidha got close to her.
"Of course it is. I'm a part of your group now, and I won't take no for an answer."
"Yeah… I really really feel like dying right now…"
"Don't spout nonsense human. Anyway, where's he?"
"He? Do you perhaps mean…"
"That's right. We have something to settle, and I'd rather discuss it with him directly!" she yelled while looking away from me.
—I'm not here. Please tell her I'm not here
' I'm the one who wishes he wasn't here right now!'
I fought back my tears and kept talking. She didn't seem to be here looking for a fight… not that I felt like I could put up one right now.
"Why me… and refer to me as Drayd by the way, not human…"
"So Drayd and… what's his name?"
"He doesn't have one! He shouldn't even be allowed to exist! Get away from us you madwoman!"
Calitia approached Raidha and placed a hand on her shoulder. Raidha looked disgusted by this, as if a pigeon had dropped a turd on her shoulder.
"You will have to learn some basic manners and yell a little less, this is unbearable."
'I think I've lost about 15% of my neurons… Well, whatever, perhaps this isn't so bad after all. Now that I think about it, Katryde are supposed to have ships that allow them to travel between worlds. Perhaps she could be of help to us. '
"Calitia, was it?' I asked, pushing Raidha to the side.
"Calitia Katrum to be precise."
"Whatever, so, you're saying you're going to join us. Does that mean we can use your spaceship?"
"I'm not going anywhere near one of those things!"
"No, we can't."
"… and why is that?"
"Do you really think my men would readily agree to help a silphen? Obviously I sent them back to our world. I'm not going to involve them in a personal decision."
"I have a really bad headache… it hurts a lot… more than my wounds!
"It's settled then. I will be joining you. I hope we can get along."
Calitia raised her hand, expecting a squeeze. Raidha and I stared at that hand indecisively.
'Well, if these two become friends… It could be the beginning of the end of this stupid war between Silphen and Katryde… If the princess of the silphen is able to get along with a katryde commander…'
I slowly reached out my hand towards hers, but Raidha hit me immediately.
"Nooooooooo! Get this harlot away from me!"
"How rude, I've already told you I'm your superior. You should learn to respect your superiors."
'Yeah, I'm somewhat hopeful.'
"You whore, bitch, skank!"
"Hey, I'm losing my patience here…"
'There's always a faint hope…'
"Why don't you die already!!"
"Ok, that's enough, you've exhausted my patience. Do you think you're so much more important than me just because you're the daughter of that demon? You're nothing but a filthy Silphen!"
"Draaaaaaaaaaaayd! Can you do me a favour and please kill her! Kill her! Kill heeeeeer!!!!
'This is absolutely hopeless…'
"Leave me aloneeeeee!"
I fled out of there as fast as I could. I had just got entangled in the middle of my personal, miniature sized Katryde Silphen conflict.
[Wait!]
"Draaaaayd! Don't leave me alone with this fiend!"
"You two, wait for me!"
"Leave me alone you crazy women!"
And just like that, an exceedingly bizarre group formed, and set course towards a new world without even knowing what fate had in store for them.
***
Meanwhile, in Nilhemfir, the doors of the castle heavily opened, letting the weary King of the Silphen in.
"Your majesty! You are finally back!"
One of the servants rushed to welcome him.
"Things didn't go as planned."
Arkin had spent days chasing after Raidha, but he hadn't been able to find the faintest trace of her.
Finally, feeling drained both physically and mentally, he decided to return.
'I should have destroyed that sword a long time ago.'
The fact that he was unable to find any trace of Raidha could only mean one of two things: either she was dead, something he refused to believe, or she'd reached a world far enough his perception was unable to reach.
"I need to talk to Heinar immediately."
"Understood your majesty, I will fetch him right away."
"No, I will go see him myself. You can fetch those three instead."
"Excuse me?"
"Go fetch them."
"You mean… them?"
The servant shivered in fear at his orders. Arkin sighed when he noticed.
"Yes, them, there's no one else I could mean, is there? I understand no one likes them, not even me, and they get me on my nerves more often than not, but when it comes to tracking someone down, they are second to none."
"Of course, your majesty. But… is that really necessary? Lord Heinar is even better than them."
"But even his power has its limits. We need to find both my daughter and Vurtalis as soon as possible. Leaving that sword in her hands could bring about the worst disaster in Silphen history."
"Is that weapon so powerful?"
"No, Vurtalis is not a powerful weapon. In fact, it's useless in combat. After all, it wasn't crafted to be wielded as a weapon. "
"So, what is it then?"
Arkin paused and for a moment, simply staring at the ceiling while scratching his head in frustration.
"… a heirloom…" he muttered.
"And what makes it so dangerous?"
"Vurtalis itself is not dangerous… unless it's on my idiot of a daughter's hands. Whatever, forget about this and do as I say. You don't need to concern yourself with the weapon. Just relay my message, they need to get it back by any means necessary."
"Yes, your majesty!"
The servant rushed to fulfil his duty. Arkin continued on his way towards the depths of the castle, all the while getting lost in his thoughts.
'Why would you have left such a stupid and useless heirloom to your daughter? Such dumb ideas have only led first to your death and now to having your daughter wandering between worlds. I should have destroyed that sword a long time ago…. But I couldn't let go of the only memento I had from you.'
Arkin arrived at his chambers and sat on his bed.
'Besides… that human is suspicious, I don't like him. Raidha, why did you help him escape? Honestly, I can't understand it. Giving up even your own wings, just to be with a simple human. You truly are an airhead.'
He reached for the picture that stood in the nightstand by the bed. It was a family picture. Arkin sadly sighed while reminiscing about the old times.
'Dalia, your daughter is your spitting image.'
He couldn't help but let out a melancholic smile, while a tear escaped his eye and ran down his cheek.
"Heinar, you heard what I said, didn't you?"
"Yes, your majesty" the voice of a man could be heard coming from outside the room.
"I'm counting on you.
***
And while time continued to flow through the different worlds, there was one in particular in which it seemed to have frozen.
Clap, clap, clap, in that world, in the dead of the night, a night so dark it was only lit by the few stars scattered in the sky, footsteps could be heard echoing through what once was an impressive city, but nowadays was nothing but ruins. No one to be seen on its streets except for one man, leisurely taking a stroll.
"Uh?"
He muttered while he raised his gaze to the starry sky, watching for something that he alone could see.
"At last, a strong fate has shown up. The moment we've for so long waited for seems to have finally arrived. I do however notice a disturbance in the flow of time… I'm no longer able to clearly see through it."
He walked slowly towards a building that seemed to have been a temple back in the day. It was the only construction that remained intact in the entire city. Inside that magnificent building, statues of winged creatures could be seen in every corner. There weren't Silphen, nor Katryde. They were something different, something mightier.
He continued carefreely venturing towards the depths of the temple, where he stopped before a room where two gigantic statues, so exquisite they even seemed real, faced each other. A beautiful woman, whose smile could heal even the most tormented heart, and a man with a look in his eyes so evil and fierce it would scare away the deadliest of dragons. Both stared at each other with fire on their right hands. Behind them stood an enormous door,
"You are lucky you can't witness what your offspring have become, otherwise you would be truly disappointed. For millennia I have watched over your legacy, but the time when one of your descendants will inherit it draws near. Finally a new star is going to be born. However, how will it shine? Will it be with the bright light of hope, or the dark light of destruction?"