Elysium's Multiverse
Chapter 329

Chapter 329

Chapter 329

The meme Riven vividly remembered concerning the star-wars big-eyed alien character on the spaceship, where he yells ‘It’s a trap!’ came to mind as he read and re-read the prompt for what he was supposed to choose between.

A trap between what was most beneficial, and what he felt was the right thing to do. Between pragmatism, and morals.

His heart thudded in his chest as his anxiety started to climb. He had more anxiety over being given this one single, simple choice than any boss fight he’d had. The truth was that despite Genua participating in the act of trying to have him killed, betrayed, assassinated - call it what you will… he had very much grown to like her. He’d had a glimpse of who she was deep down before her mind had broken, and even now she retained a large portion of the person who she used to be. She even seemed happier in this state of denial, not knowing about Ethel anymore or her long-dead husband. But he’d always asked himself what he would do if he could go back in time and change this one, single act. If he could change what he’d done and not killed Ethel somehow.

He still cringed every time Genua’s remaining daughter Len looked at him with that knowing accusation in her eyes. Knowing that he’d killer her big sister, and couldn’t do anything about it. That one decision was without a doubt the most conflicting thing he’d ever done, looking back on his life - and the guilt had gnawed at him ever since. It wasn’t wiping out an entire city to save Athela, he’d not known those people and Athela was worth far more - while he’d given the citizens a pretty quick albeit painful death by fire. It wasn’t killing and eating sometimes random people when he needed to eat, because again - he didn’t know them, and they were a means to an end. It wasn’t the innumerable people and creatures he’d killed ever since arriving in Chalgathi’s starter trials at the beginning of the integration. No, it was the act of murdering Ethel that had taken top-spot for the most disturbing action he’d ever followed through with. He’d known Ethel and had liked her as a person up until her attempt to kill him, and after getting to know Genua better it’d made it feel all the more personal.

His actions had caused Genua and her remaining daughter Len incredible amounts of emotional anguish, and had led to Genua literally losing her mind as an act of the vampiric thrall virus she’d agreed to take on. Perhaps she’d even known that it’d happen, maybe that’s why she’d eventually wanted it. But Riven hadn’t known, and now he had to reap what he’d sewn.

“Gluttony. I need your advice.” Riven eventually said, having let the frozen image linger there with his decision waiting to be made.

Gluttony appeared beside him in the form of his usual demonic maw projection, a black toothy slit tearing out of space with tendrils of darkness leaking out. He didn’t say anything, but waited for Riven to go on.

“Tell me.” Riven began with a head tilt and folded arms - staring at the place where Azmoth’s bomb was about to rip Ethel apart. “What is a homunculus, exactly?”

“They are artificial entities, or in this case - an artificial elf. They do not age, and they must be upgraded by material means of vast wealth in order to ascend tiers instead of by means of insight.”

“Do you think it would be cruel, or a mercy, to give Genua back a fake version of her dead daughter?” Riven raised a curious eyebrow. “Part of me believes that even if this did help repair Genua’s mind, it would be a cruel joke of sorts if she ever found out that Ethel isn’t actually Ethel. It may even damage her more. But what are the chances of her finding out? I’m torn between doing what I think is right by Genua and Len, trying to repair their family, but knowing that doing it this way would be repairing it under the pretense of a lie.”

Gluttony was silent for a time, and turned in the direction of Ethel to match Riven’s posture. “Asking an original sin a question of morals is perhaps not the wisest thing to do.”

Riven spluttered a laugh. “Perhaps! But wasn’t it you yourself that claimed the Unholy and Holy foundational pillars and their sub-pillars did not designate between good and evil?”

“Yes. I did, and I stand by that. I am just not morally obligated to act in most cases. I do what I want to do based upon what I need. And in this case, I see no benefit from the second option of supplying Genua with Ethel even if she were real. In this case, she’s not even that.”

“Don’t you think we owe it to our allies to help them when we can?”

Gluttony scoffed. “Do you forget the original reason why you even killed Ethel and placed Genua in chains in the first place? Before you started to grow a friendship with that elf, and later thrall, she was complicit in trying to murder you. She would have gone back home and laughed with her husband and the village elders, laughed with Ethel over a dining room table, about how they’d tricked the wicked vampire and brutally murdered him. They’d have told that tale as a generational legend amongst the people of their village for centuries to come, as folk lore. Your mangled corpse would have had its head removed and your vampiric skull placed on a rack for Ethel’s father to display on his wall. That, Riven, is the reality of it. Ethel does not deserve mercy. Genua is owed nothing, she is lucky to be alive and is paying off her crimes by service. If It had been my choice alone, we would have killed her and would have been done with it. But now that she is the mother of our child…”

Gluttony trailed off and let the message hang.

Riven nodded in acknowledgement of what Gluttony had said. “Yeah. I get all that. I’m just feeling a bit guilty, and the more I look at myself - the more I realize that I’m truly turning into a monster. I feel like if I don’t give Ethel back, it’ll solidify the fact that I am one.”

Gluttony replied. “Nonsense, Riven. But if we’re going to play a game of morals, consider this: What happens if you do choose this false Ethel? What then? What happens when Len grows up, and realizes her big sister has remained the same age? Cultivation can put a stop to aging, but a fake Ethel won’t even be able to cultivate at all. It won’t take a genius to figure out what she is. Genua and Len wouldn’t just overlook this, your query about the pretense of a lie is correct thinking. They WOULD find out, Riven. The homunculus Elysium creates here would also find out that she isn’t even the original Ethel, and that alone would have lasting implications even if you somehow managed to repair the broken relationship you and Ethel had before her timely death. What would that mean in turn? Wait, don’t answer that because I’ll do it for you - It would mean that all the effort into repairing Genua’s mind would come flooding back in when she realized her real daughter was still dead. Len would be even angrier with you after finding out the same. The homunculus would be in a perpetual state of crisis because it truly thinks it is Ethel while the facts say otherwise. That doesn’t even take into account the other more nuanced problems the return of a false Ethel would imply. So in my opinion, the second option is only a bandaid prone to peeling off - ready and waiting to expose the wound once again. It is not a real solution, and I am amused that Elysium would even attempt to offer it in the guise of a prize.” ᚱ₳₦Ố𝖇Ës

Riven didn’t like that answer. But he didn’t like either answer to this memory’s crossroads.

The first option wasn’t all that better:

[Choose to amplify the explosion, making it large enough to kill Len, Genua, and many of the other elvish villagers that would have originally survived as well. This will provide you with soul-lattice pieces you can incorporate into each of their own souls, erasing the pain and memories of their past life and ingraining absolute loyalty to you while simultaneously providing them access to Gluttony’s future evolutions.]

As it read, he was concerned that it was going a step too far. He didn’t want to erase their memories at all, nor did he want loyal mindless slaves out of the mother-child pair. Then again, Genua was already a thrall and had that loyalty aspect to her already didn’t she? It was only Len that’d be effected, but what kind of person would he be if he ingrained absolute loyalty into a little girl who wasn’t even ten years old yet through some unholy, cultish system-fuckery? The only upside to this was providing them access to Gluttony’s future evolutions - which was certainly a good one. But the overall package didn’t vibe with Riven either. Memories were what made up a person just as much as a soul did, and he didn’t want to destroy them here.

“Gluttony, is there any way we can avoid erasing their memories - especially Len, while keeping your future evolutions?” Riven asked. “Assuming that this choice unlocks your evolutionary pathways, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you have something to do with this change directly. You’d be influencing them, after all. Is that right? Can you modify it?”

Silence hung in the air between them for a time before Gluttony carefully chose his words. “You are looking at this from an external perspective, but not an internal perspective. I see into your mind, Riven. You think that taking their memories takes what is rightfully theirs away and diminishes them as people. But if you were them, what would you want?”

Gluttony once again let the silence hang for more than a couple seconds. “Do you want Len to grow up with a mental scar that will affect her entire development, or do you want to give her a cleaner slate? You should want Len to be happy.”

“It says that they’ll lose the memories of their past life completely. That would include their memories of each other, Len and Genua. That is unacceptable. So are you able to tweak it to where they’ll retain memories of each other? Or not? If you need to get rid of Ethel’s memories to make them happier, then do it if there’s not a better option..”

Gluttony sighed, grumbled something inaudible, and grudgingly replied: “Yes. I will be able to do so, since my influence is integrated with the choice. But I do not think Elysium even intended for that to be part of the plan, I am rather convinced that Elysium only meant that the negative aspects of their past life would be removed from their memories to make them happier. If this is not the case, then I will intervene to preserve the memories on their behalf by contacting Elysium directly.”

“You can do that?”

“Everyone can do that. Whether or not Elysium replies is something else entirely, but considering what and who I am - Elysium will respond to me. It is probably a small thing, but doable.”

“Could you ask Elysium for another choice then? These ones are ass.”

“No, it would not accept and would only draw Elysium’s ire. I would not make it a habit to try asking such things of Elysium either considering even the small and seemingly insignificant change to the first prompt. Elysium and I are certainly not friends, it imprisoned me and my kin for eons. The minor ask you are wishing for will likely cost me something personally, and you would not want to intertwine yourself in contractual deals with the multiverse’s arbiter if you could avoid it. Believe me on that.”

Riven fell silent, and he felt Gluttony’s presence leave him.

Minutes passed.

Then hours.

Then half a day, until Gluttony’s presence returned to his interior soul apparatus and a new message arrived.

[Part 6, 4th Memory’s Choice:

Choose to amplify the explosion, making it large enough to kill Len, Genua, and many of the other elvish villagers that would have originally survived as well. This will provide you with soul-lattice pieces you can incorporate into each of their own souls, alleviating the emotional anguish of their most painful memories from their past life and helping them understand why you did what you did to Ethel. Genua’s vampiric thrall virus may have lingering effects to smother these memories and her mind will remain broken by the will of the virus to a large extent, but Len will be heavily affected by the outcome of this soul lattice piece. Both soul lattice pieces will allow Genua and Len to travel down a Gluttonous evolutionary path, and you will have matching soul lattice pieces connecting you to them that will increase the strength of your bond.

OR, create a rift in this memory-scape, and pull out the fabricated version of Ethel into your own reality. This version of Ethel is not the real one but a homunculus, but will act, behave, and look exactly the same. This version of Ethel will also completely believe that she is real, and will interact with her remaining family and with you just as Ethel would have after this event should she have been saved. The second choice will repair Genua’s broken mind, and will allow her to cope with the loss she once had by returning her eldest daughter to her - but it will also likely come with significant social consequences that should be obvious. Choose one and proceed to activate your curse and boon.]

The second choice wasn’t affected at all, but the first choice was far better now that they’d retain their original memories. He picked the first option without hesitation, and gave Gluttony a mental thanks as he did as the memory returned into action and the explosion expanded beyond what’d been original proportions. Immediately he felt two new pieces of soul lattice lock into place, reinforcing his soul core with an additional layer of Unholy energy that was then reinforced on top of that with pieces of crystalized gluttonous Sin.

[You have picked option 1. Len and Genua are now intimately bound to Gluttony’s path, and will inherit many of his powers as they grow in strength.

You have been granted the boon of ‘Unholy Father’, which gives all your children, adopted or not, a passive influx of your aura power and trickles of your XP gains.

You have been cursed with ‘The Daughter’s Vengeance’, and will be haunted by an aspect of Ethel’s memories. This haunting is not done by an actual phantom, but rather by curse energy taking the form of Ethel, and when or where it appears will be up for it to decide.]

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

***

Allie lay in bed, black wings splayed out behind her, and bare legs intertwined with Lahn’s as the man’s chest rose and fell in sleep.

He was such a good guy, she was lucky to have him. Luckier still that he’d forgiven her for the mistakes she’d made. She still hadn’t asked him whether or not he’d slept with anyone else during their time apart, but if he had - she couldn't’ necessarily blame him. Regardless she didn’t want to know, and she wouldn’t ask - despite the thought gnawing at her subconscious mind every now and then like a jealous little hyena.

The open window leading out to a balcony along the guild hall’s manor grounds let in a soft breeze and starlight from an unusually clear night sky, and the sound of servants bustling in the lower floors or laughing outside in the garden brought a smile to her face. Even the nearby cityscape of Brightsville could be seen from this particular angle as her balcony faced north, and the city itself was filled with signs of nightlife; having grown into an absolutely sprawling landscape of Unholy and Death-attuned architecture. It was far different from the front lines in the hellscapes of Negrada and along Umbra’s coastline, and was a nice change from the Abyssal Descent as well. Traveling through the Abyssal Descent had brought her closer to the core of Sin and had allowed her to transcend from being an angel of death, to becoming The Angel of Wrath - but in the end it’d been a tiresome adventure. She wondered when Riven would get back so she could apologize to him about her earlier outburst regarding that dark elf she couldn’t remember the name of, and would add it to the stack of people she’d apologized to since getting back. Even visiting the front lines herself to slaughter thousands of merfolk, ones that’d been harassing Retesh’s fleeing undead refugees on pilgrimage to the promised lands of the Thane Necropolis, had done little to cool Allie’s temper though. And despite knowing she’d been in the wrong when speaking to Riven last - she still felt just generally angry. It was without doubt a side effect of being bonded with Wrath, just like Riven was having his own problems being hungrier and prone to devour things the longer he integrated Gluttony - but becoming easily enraged was a problem that she’d probably have to deal with forever. So she was doing her best to curb her enthusiasm for violence and lashing out, and mentally checklisting reasons why she was mad at any given time to make sure her emotions weren’t out of place.

The thing she was probably most angry about right now, however, was likely legitimate. She still hadn’t had any success finding Crendir and that stupid vampiric elder-god bloodline, and time was ticking down.

Pulling up the most recent notification and quest statuses about it, she visibly slumped even being horizontally strewn across Lahn’s bare chest as she read the words for the tenth time that week. The only thing that’d changed was the “APPROXIMATELY 45 DAYS”, where it’d started at 62 days in the beginning. But the commanders Amelia Deathfeather of wrath and Tre’Zix of Gluttony were both on the case, and if those two absolute units and their clans couldn’t figure it out - then Allie doubted she could do any better.

[New system quest UPDATE: Save Mara and Kathrine, and secure the Fallen Vampiric God’s Essence -

Congratulations! You have completed half of this quest by saving Mara and Kathrine from death. You will not receive system prizes until the other half is completed as described below:

Crendir No-Name, a traitorous E-grade commander from The Blood Moon Requiem, has meanwhile decided to take matters into his own hands concerning ‘World Quest 4, Blood of the Fallen God’. He is attempting to rob you and your planet of the fallen god’s essence and opportunity. He is not a pureblooded vampire, but he has been given a means of temporarily masking himself as a pureblood - becoming one of only a few on your planet that can benefit from drinking the ancient god’s blood, and will be able to absorb it without issue.

He has already begun the absorbing process, which will take approximately 45 days from now in total to complete. Crendir No-Name has been given a quest of his own that will reward him with extremely valuable prizes should he succeed - including a portal off Panu to anywhere in the multiverse if he successfully fulfills all of his own requirements; INCLUDING AN ENTIRELY NEW ALTERNATIVE BRANCH OF THE BLOOD SUB-PILLAR THAT WILL BE RESTORED BY ELYSIUM’S WILL SHOULD HE ABSORB THE BLOOD PROPERLY.

Stop him before he obtains this taboo power and leaves the planet, and secure the ancient one’s blood for Riven - or destroy it entirely if this cannot be done. Perhaps your brother, as a pureblooded vampire, will benefit if you manage to secure the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative? Let the race commence.]

[New religious quest dispensed: Destroy the Fallen God’s Bloodline - You have previously been denounced as an Apostate by The Blood God, and have angered nearly all vampiric factions across the multiverse in doing so. Hated by many and loved by few, The Blood God extends to you a new olive branch in light of recent events: Kill Crendir No-Name and purge the Fallen God’s blood from the face of Panu entirely. Destroy all remnant artifacts of the ancient, alternate Blood Sub-Pillar, and you will be forgiven of your sins. Despite your ascension into Wrath’s Reincarnation, The Blood God will not tolerate allowing the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative to revive itself by way of Elysium’s laws. Destroying the ancient god’s blood entirely will result with a gift of 1 additional planet of your choosing within The Blood God’s domain, all additional slaves residing on that planet to rule over, devotion from any clergy of The Blood God residing on that planet, and all associated resources on said planet. You will also be labeled a Hero of Blood, and be given a low-tier star-gate setup for traversing between planets in adjacent solar systems should you choose to accept. Meanwhile, a crusade will be declared upon your faction and upon Wrath’s Church should you succeed yet choose to allow this sub-pillar to exist.]

She grimaced at the threat the Blood God had dispensed. She wanted to do just the opposite of what the bastard asked just to spite the deity, but doing that would probably be unwise considering she had an entire legion of Blood Moon Requiem F-grade elites along with even a few E-grades that’d recently ascended on Panu under her banner. They wouldn’t react well to her betrayal of the Blood God and likely revolt if she did. So her current plan was to first find Crendir, kill him along with the Greed forces that’d helped him escape, and then secure the bloodline somehow to temporarily preserve it under the guise of trying to destroy it but being unable to. Wrath had already confirmed that destroying it completely would probably take time, so the excuse was viable, and she wanted Riven to at least have a choice in what she should do with it before getting rid of the thing entirely. But Riven came first, and if he wanted that bloodline then she’d go to war for it in Riven’s name. He’d have done the same for her, and he was the last real family she had.

Glancing up at Lahn’s sleeping face, she put on a sly smile and pecked him on the cheek before unlacing her long legs from his and tucking him back in. Perhaps, if things went well, Lahn and his mother would also be family soon. Perhaps she’d be married, and Lahn would be her husband.

It was a pleasant thought.

Lahn only groaned and rolled over in her extraction from the covers of the bed, and she smoothed his hair out with a hand before lovingly kissing him again and writing a note to place on the nightstand so that he knew where she’d gone if he got up early. They had communication stones as well that they could talk through, but it was a gesture he’d already said he’d appreciated before when she’d left a note the first time. So she made it a habit to do so now.

Putting down the pen, stretching, and going over to the closet - she pulled out a long form fitting dress and withdrew her wings before donning a fur-lined coat with a hood. Not that the slight chill bothered her, but she wanted to remain inconspicuous while taking a stroll through the city without putting in too much effort to hide herself. It’d been a long time since she’d actually walked through Brightsville, the last time it’d been to see the bone garden up on the highest tower’s top floor. Perhaps she’d even go there again just to see what kinds of progress had been made with the necromancers working there, or what kind of undead pilgrims were coming over from other worlds. Maybe she’d even attempt to go try her hand at that large stone cube with the shifting runes taken from Daskus, the City of Canyons that Riven had obliterated many months ago. If she was right, it’d almost been a year since Riven had torched the place and he’d still not even tried his hand at the cube and its prizes a single time. That was despite the fact that it’d become one of the main attractions for Brightsville, outside of the Unholy Elysium Altar and the trading district that housed both the Negrada and Blood Moon Requiem trading communes. Or the Riven’s Eye Wormhole that teleported one to the opposite side of the planet into Chicago’s downtown, creating a massive trade network. Or the outlying dungeons that Gaia had helped cultivate in the forests where people could level themselves up and clear feral undead that spawned while harvesting herbs. Or even the portal leading into Negrada itself, where only the best guilds or official military units went in under mercenary contract to help fight enemy dungeons in the hellscapes. There were even combat tutors and opportunities to be turned into a vampire by the Blood Moon Requiem’s commune in the trade district for people that showed significant promise or rare talents.

Actually, Brightsville had quite a few incentives and unique opportunities in or just around the city borders. She was rather proud to be what many on Panu’s Cortex called the Promised Lands for undead, or really anyone who was linked to the Unholy Foundational Pillar. Nowhere else on Panu could you find the kind of opportunities that the continent of Umbra supplied, and now that it was entirely under Thane Necropolis control - Brightsville had become the keystone of the empire amongst all the cities under their banner.

Giggling at how they’d kept the name Brightsville despite Riven’s vows to change it to something more fitting for their capital city, she began putting on a pair of feminine leather boots and pulled up the Panu Cortex to look for the cube’s information. There was already a list of highlighted areas she’d been to or directly controlled, and could access any forum group within her empire based on geographical location - though she could only interact with the outside world beyond the Thane Necropolis in the Global forums because she hadn’t been to many other areas overseas before. Since it’d been so long since even using the cortex, she opted to re-read the basic information on the site without dismissing it out of hand.

[Welcome to the Panu Cortex!

Here you will find forum categories and branching categories that you can scroll through subjects, post your own topics, acquire or share video feeds, create enemies or alliances in, and even bargain for goods here like a marketplace. Be warned that each of these have strict sets of rules, and you will receive a notification if your content is prohibited as it is denied entry. Most prohibited material from being made public involves key events in the world of Panu or even in your local area, secrets of Panu that the Elysium Administrator wishes to be found rather than publicly exploited, information released too early regarding worlds outside of Panu, and spam content. Video feeds can only be uploaded by request. You must ask the administrator directly for uploading content, and may or may not get your request recognized. Sometimes the administrator may also post video content even without an express request. In order to request video uploading, just mentally think of the time and place you want to upload and wait for a response.

Please note that restrained or imprisoned personnel may not access the forums of Panu’s cortex. Forums extend to only to places you have visited and guilds you have joined before with the exceptions of the main page discussion board and the world quest message boards- both of which are world-spanning and more heavily moderated. No forums outside key areas visited and guilds can exist other than Global Forums.

Feel free to select from one of the already categorized subjects, or you may use the search function for more in depth selections of guild forums. Your options are as follows:

• Main Page & Announcements (Global)

• Power Ladders, Guild & Individual (Global)

• World Quests & World Quest Ladders (Global)

OPTIONS for The Thane Necropolis:

• Brightsville, Capital City of The Thane Necropolis

• The Conquered Dwarvish Cities of the Underdark: Charathigog and Reathian

• The Conquered Elvish Vassal Kingdom of Tereen

• The Conquered North-Eastern Coastal Cities of the Mayana Alliance

• The Integrated Kingdom of Dawn

• The Integrated Golden Bull Sect

• The Integrated Western Coastal Provinces of Corpus Christi

• Bluefang, Collective Sprawl of the Greenskin Hordes

• The Unholy Dryad Communities Dungeon Alibast

• The Hellscapes of Dungeon Negrada

• The Silver Canyon Mining Reaches

• The Scattered Farming Villages of the Central Plains

• …]

Allie stopped scrolling through the list and went back to where “Brightsville, Capital City of the Thane Necropolis” was listed at the top. The list of grouped areas on her available Thane Necropolis locations was too long to care for, and each grouping had multiple settlements, locations, or cities in each outside of the capital. There were well over 200 individual locations to pick from, and there was no way that Allie was going through all that just for curiosity’s sake.

[Options for Brightsville, Capital City of The Thane Necropolis:

• General Forum

• Guilds

• Trade

• City Life

• Dating

• Upcoming Events

• Unique Features]

She clicked on “unique features”, and found what she was looking for.

[Puzzle-Box Cube Labyrinth: This stone cube is a permanent fixture on the world of Panu, granted to Daskus, the City of Canyons by Elysium as a prize to the populace after the king of Daskus completed a difficult system quest with perfect marks. Afterwards it was stolen and taken to the opposite side of Panu after Daskus was destroyed. Rules: The trials are formed by utilizing monsters, mazes, and puzzles with a real possibility of death. Only 10 may enter an instance event at once, instance events that are not full may be entered by outsiders at any time as long as they are within the same tier of trial, any amount of instance events between different groups may be ongoing at any time, you do not require sustenance while inside the cube, you may only complete the Puzzle-Box Cube Labyrinth event up to 3 times with scaling difficulty and scaling prizes via attempt tiers 1 / 2 / 3, and you may leave the Puzzle-Box Cube Labyrinth instance events at any time - but only through the single entrance and single exit points inside. Leaving the instance event will forfeit all remaining attempts at completing this system event or collecting its prizes. To create your own instance event or joint another’s, just stand underneath the cube and focus on it while thinking ‘Activate’.]

It shouldn’t take too long to complete. Maybe she’d go for a stroll through the city first, and then hit up the puzzle-box cube? Smiling excitedly and walking to the door, she turned back just one more time to make sure that Lahn was still asleep. Opening the door with a click and then shutting it quietly behind her, she turned around to start down the hallway leading to the lower floors when she came face to face with none other than Kathrine.

Princess Kathrine Vonsilla Crushada the 9th hadn’t been out of Riven’s room for days now, and the servants had been bringing the traumatized young woman food regularly because of it. To see her fully dressed and standing tall was a surprise to Allie, but she met the pureblooded vampire with a wide smile.

“Good to see you up, Kathrine.” Allie said, coming over to embrace the other woman with a hug. “Are you feeling any better?”

Kathrine hugged her back and cleared her throat, sniffing once and adjusting her long brown hair. “Yes. I can’t just let myself rot away in a cave all day for the next century despite what happened, so I decided I’d force myself to come out. Are you headed somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go for a walk around the city. Then I’m going to head to the cube in the trading district.”

“The one Riven brought over with the internal labyrinth?”

“That’s the one.” Allie nodded the affirmative. Seeing the look on Kathrine’s face, Allie prodded: “Would… you like to come?”

Kathrine’s features brightened, and relief swept over the hard lines that’d been there moments before. “If… If it isn’t too much to ask, then yes. I was hoping for some company but don’t know who to talk to since Riven is gone, and I don’t know my guards all that well even if they are from my parent’s own house.”

Kathrine gestured to the two soldiers in black and red vampiric heavy plate armor stationed outside her door down the hall. “They’re nice, but not the talking type.”

Allie chuckled and locked her arm around Kathrine’s before pulling the vampire along towards the spiral staircase. “Then off we go! I haven’t explored the city in quite a while, and Lahn’s asleep. It’d certainly be nice to have company! Maybe we can stop at a few street vendors for food on the way!”

“Do I need to bring my sword for the cube?” Kathrine asked hesitantly.

Allie paused just beyond the door that held Kathrine’s belongings inside, and nodded. “Yeah just in case. We probably won’t need it too much if you just want me to do all the work, but if you want to participate then might as well. It’s always good to be prudent, regardless of the situation.”