Shadowbane

"How the hell did you do that Keith? The last time I saw you, you were easily two hundred feet from where the Tengu was."

Keith is currently resting against the Tengu's corpse, trying to catch his breath. He shakily looks up at me.

"Anyone could make that jump... But it was Nisha. She warped me above him..."

Yeah anyone could, but would they? Hmm... He was channeling for quite a while... I suppose if you did a really good job of enforcing your legs they might survive a jump like that. I would need to practice it for a long time before it actually worked though, and even then it's risky. I've seen people have the bones in their legs shatter from smaller jumps than that one. People who I would have considered quite powerful in the grand scheme of things.

"Um, Miss Elf!"

Looking down and to my left, I see the little goblin girl I talked to before.

"Oh, you were here... Teifa?"

"Ahem, that's a role in our culture, not a name, but you can call me that for now. Anyways!" Teifa motioned to the three large goblin skeletons. "Is that your ability?!"

"Yes, you want them? I'm not sure if you can keep them running after I take my connection out of them, but you can try? I never considered it possible till the girl on my back kept them supplied with mana in my stead." My soul was inside them at the time though, so I really don't think it'll work.

"Yes please!" Teifa turned to say something to the other goblins but saw the veteran approaching and stopped in her tracks. "Gah, the elder wants to speak with you... I almost forgot about that."

The 'elder' walked over to us and nodded at me, then said something to Teifa.

"Hmm, he wants to know what this creature was. He knew Kellog had enemies, but nothing like that." Teifa said.

Behind her, I can see the goblins taking apart the Tengu one piece at a time. They're wrapping all the feathers up into a bundle while chopping up the rest of him for meat.

"They're not wasting a single part of him huh? And he's right by the way. This creature is known as a Tengu and it wasn't here for Kellog, it was here for us." I continued. "Also, I wanted to ask, why did you help kill it? You could have easily turned around and left after seeing the Tengu... So why didn't you?"

Teifa shrugged. "I don't even need to ask him, I already know what his answer will be. There was a fight in front of us, so we joined it. It would take a while to explain the goblin's philosophy concerning battle, so just understand that we won't shy from a fight, ever. Surely you found it odd that we didn't harm you for getting several of our brethren killed when you brought those knights to our doorstep? We saved their souls and are reincarnating them as we speak. That was a complete victory in our eyes."

"I see, that does explain a lot then. Also you just reminded me, the souls of those three large goblins are back there in a cellar. Want me to bring you to them now?"

"Would you? Then please do it now before I get lost in researching these skeletons of yours. Plus I want to see if I can shove their souls back into the skeletons... The elders might not agree though, so I need to do it fast."

Aresa taps my shoulder.

{Let me down.}

I drain all the mana from the mesh wrapped around us and it slackens immediately, falling onto the ground. Aresa bends down and picks it up.

{It can make a good scarf!}

"I don't mind, you can keep it. Just know that it wears out over time like anything else, especially if it continually has mana poured into it."

{Aww, I thought all your creations would last forever...}

Pfft, as if they're that convenient. If they were invincible I would probably just become a tailor and use my fortune to influence people of power into killing Viktor for me.

Turning around, I lead Teifa toward the cellar where I left the souls. On the way, I point out the dead monster that was the cause of their villages being incinerated. Teifa merely confirms it's dead and then urges for me to continue. We drop down after arriving at the cellar, and I see Shana and Nisha leaning against the nearby wall. Shana looks absolutely exhausted, while Nisha has a vacant look in her eyes, almost as if she's dead inside. Euphemia is still in the same pose as before, burying her face into her knees.

{Can you do something for Nisha?}

You want me to do something for her??? Oh my sweet little naive Aresa... You've clearly lost your mind. Right now Keith is the only one who can console her. Either that or she needs to be left alone for a while. At the very least, the last person she wants talking to her right now is me.

Teifa runs over near the Lich and grabs the three souls it's holding out for her.

"Thank you! We really thought they would be gone after dying to such a being. There are a lot of eldritch who devour the souls of anything they kill right there on the spot. That monster back there seemed like the type who would do it, but that doesn't appear to be the case thankfully!"

"Teifa, are the goblins going to return now?"

"Yep, that's the plan. Those knights are heavily damaged but it's only a matter of time before another contingent shows up here. We should be gone before they arrive, or we'll have no choice but to fight again. Remember, we won't flee if a fight comes for us. Even though personally I'd really prefer we did run if the knights catch us... Odds are we'll lose out here on the surface, and then nobody will be left to save our souls. We've already lost enough to that fire monster as it is."

In that case it's definitely for the best that they leave as soon as possible. Reinforcements from the fortress should be here any minute now.

After taking back my soul from the Lich I jump out of the cellar and run back to the large goblin skeletons, pulling my soul out of them next. Off to the side I can see Keith asking Seifer to show him his ability again. Seifer makes the scythe in his hands disappear, and then moments later it reappears in his hands as if it was always there.

"I understand how presumptuous I'm being by asking this Lord Seifer, but can you please teach me how to do that?"

Seifer smiles. "Sir Keith, you played a pivotal role in slaying two of the monsters in our great nation. I'd be more than happy to teach you my ability. However, it will need to come after everything is taken care of."

"Of course! My biggest issue has always been carrying around several heavy weapons, especially when I use them as ranged weapons half the time." Keith replied, beaming happily for a moment before returning to a stoic face.

That is an amazing ability to have, so I don't blame him for smiling when Seifer agreed to teach him. He probably feels bad being happy after his two friends had just died moments before. Now it's just him and Nisha left... Their party has shrunk quite a bit.

Teifa, having already shoved the souls back into the large goblins, is now discussing something with the elder. Far from mad, he looks curious. Several of the goblins are putting their hands on the skeletons and pouring their mana into them.

"Miss Elf, how do we command them?"

"Hmm, that's a tough question... I do it through my soul, but you obviously don't have any connection to them like I did. Do the goblins have any abilities that involve tying their souls to others?"

"Of course. You saw the buffs our casters use, right?"

Ahh true. Buffs and debuffs are much easier to cast if you can tap into the opponent's soul. Since the large goblins are permitting their allies access, it makes buffing them much easier.

"Try doing the same thing, but giving them orders instead. It's easier if you maintain a permanent connection though. I have no idea of what is going to happen if they are left to their own devices." They might even start attacking everyone like what happened with the ones in Xelba after I died.

Seifer walks up to us. "Apologies Rei, but I'd like to return as soon as possible. I'm worried about the princess and we really need to heal Tyra. Shana's clones and Cera have already moved her to the caravan and put her to sleep. She's stable, but the sooner we can get her back into action, the better off we'll be."

I'm honestly glad to hear she survived. It's a shame she barely got to help against one of her mortal enemies, but I imagine she's quite happy with the outcome.

"You're right Seifer, let's head back. I need to take care of something real quick, but may I suggest you bring Teifa here along as well?"

"What? Why would I stay here miss... Rei?" Teifa asked.

"This is a perfect opportunity. I imagine the hatred between you and Kellog runs deep, but this could be a chance for you to become allies. After we take care of the broodling I'm sure the princess will be back to her old self, and she'll definitely try and smooth things over after all the help you provided."

"What's a 'broodling'?" Teifa asked, quirking her head.

Oh right... The goblins don't know yet.

Seifer nods. "I do not mind in the least. The feud is an old and pointless one as far as I'm concerned. We haven't had an actual battle with the goblins in ages... Honestly, sometimes I forget they're even still down there."

Teifa shook her head. "That's half true. The battle down below earlier today was the first time we fought each other directly in a very long time. At most, we kill solo knights who try to sneak below and spy on us. The problem 'Mr. Seifer', is that your king sends the disgusting fishmen to kill us in his stead. So actually, we've never stopped fighting Kellog."

Seifer looked between Teifa and me, clearly confused. "... Rei, what is she talking about? Fishmen...? And what is this about a battle below?"

Teifa looked at me and shrugged.

"I'll go into greater detail when we're all back in the manor, but your king is working with an Eldritch below Kellog, and he sends them to attack the goblins. Your people also jailed Tyra earlier and then tried killing the two of us when I broke her out."

"You..." Seifer cut himself off, putting his head into his hands. "... You're right. Let us discuss this in the manor. Will you be joining us, Miss Teifa?"

"Err... I don't really..." Teifa looked over at the elder. They talked back and forth for about a minute before she finally sighed.

"... Looks like I'm going with you. He doesn't care one way or the other, but there are plenty of elders who would prefer peace if possible. So, yeah... Thanks for the suggestion 'Rei'." Teifa said, rolling her eyes at me.

"Oh come on, you'll be fine! Think of it as an adventure."

"I'd rather relax and tinker with those skeletons..."

The skeletons in question were walking back and forth as the goblin mages pointed their staffs at them, apparently having figured out how to control them.

It's not the greatest method since it leaves them unable to cast anything else, but it's a good start.

Ishar comes stumbling up to us. "Fucking bird. I think I'm going to be healing from that hit for the next ten years..."

"I can't believe you survived... How many bones did it break?"

Ishar sighed. "You don't want to know... I focused on my legs just so I could get back into the fight, but if he turned and attacked me again that was it for me. I should've just kept my ass in that mountain and healed, but I was angry damnit. Nothing was going to keep me from rejoining the battle."

Seifer leads the group toward the wagon, with Ishar trailing behind them as he uses his spear to steady himself.

{Ready to go?} Aresa whispered into my ear despite being all the way over by the cellar.

"... Not yet, I need to take care of something real quick. It won't take long."

{? Um, okay then. See you soon.}

Running into the village I make sure nobody is looking before I begin scooping up all the villager's souls. One by one feed them to the artifact armor(and take back my soul fragments from the ether carriers while I'm at it).

It's better I use them instead of their souls just sitting here until some random monster stumbles upon them and has himself a feast. With that said, the others shouldn't see me doing this. Even I know this is pretty fucked up, but... Oh well. I am what I am.

Wondering where the survivors are, I look down the road past the wagon and see a huge line of people walking toward another village.

Half of them are carrying people too... Jeez, just how many people did Keith have to knock out? Looks like the broodling went all out, but it was pointless to send regular people against this group. All he managed to do was delay Cera and Keith for a little while. I wonder how much that helped the shaman locate it?

Seifer opens up the side door as I'm running up to the wagon. Jumping inside I sit down between Teifa and Shana.

"Take your time Rei..." Cera sighed.

"Shut your cunt mouth," Shana said.

Cera reaches for the strange firearm at her side and Shana immediately wills two knives into her hands.

"Ladies, please! Haven't we had enough excitement for one day?" Keith said.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, the both of them put their weapons away.

"No really, thanks for inviting me Rei..." Teifa mumbled.

... What the hell is this wagon? It's just now hitting me, but everyone can fit in here. Hell, Tyra is lying on a table between both sides of us. There's a table in here... This has to be the princess's wagon, there's no other explanation.

For her part, Euphemia is looking a little better after seeing Tyra alive and well.

We rode the rest of the way there in silence. Once we arrived and everyone filed out, Alicia(who is now almost entirely bald) came running out of the manor, clearly in a panic.

"Guys! There's nobody here!"

"What...?" Euphemia said, her face turning white.

Seifer runs off into the manor, with Keith and Euphemia following behind him.

Alicia slides under the wagon and comes back out soon after, with the shaman sliding out behind her.

"Any luck?" Ishar asked

The shaman nods. "Very stupid it is. I trace connection after it connect to everyone in village! Lots reject influence, broodling try and force it, I find him! Very very stupid..."

Alicia claps her hands. "Great!! Where is it?!"

The shaman points towards the village connected to Euphemia's manor. "Here."

Ishar rubs his chin. "Hmm... Convenient. That also explains why they were able to feed that fox-girl to the broodling without any of the manor's staff reporting anyone else missing. They took care of her and came back in under two hours I'd bet."

"It doesn't take a genius to connect the broodling's location to all the people in the manor missing. There's only one problem. When we passed through the village everyone was fine... Why did people only disappear from here?"

"Isn't it because we're a threat to it?" Alicia replied.

"So it disappeared all the maids and butlers...? I know you guys love the luxuries this place affords, but you'll continue your lives just fine without them."

Alicia looked down. "Ahh, yeah... I guess it is pretty meaningless? Why'd it do that then?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Rei, can you track them?" Ishar asked.

"Hmm..." Circling around the wagon, I stare down the trail leading to the village.

It's been snowing ever since I exited the cave... I'm not seeing any tracks anywhere.

"Unlikely. Even I can't do anything about the snow covering their tracks. At the end of the trail I might be able to follow any tracks that surface, but there is always a massive amount of foot traffic coming and going from this place. We can try if you want, but I feel like we need a better plan."

"What about Cid...?" Tyra said.

I jump back into the wagon and see Tyra grinning up at me.

"Shouldn't you be asleep right now?"

"Hah! I've been focusing on healing myself, ain't got no time for sleep." Tyra's face contorts into a grimace. "I'm... Disappointed, that I can't help Euphie at such an important time..."

"In that case just keep healing yourself. You'll be by her side again soon enough." I sit down next to Aresa who is currently passed out. "Cid huh? Why'd you bring his name up?"

"He wears a cloak with teeth on the end, remember?"

... Oh, I see where she's going with this. It wasn't a big deal when there was snow around, but holy shit the sound of those teeth scraping against ice was so annoying.

Standing back up I exit the wagon, heading straight up the trail toward the village. Ishar limps along behind me as Alicia runs up next to me.

"Um, I guess I'll look after these two?!" Teifa yells out.

"Keep them safe for us!" I yell back.

Once we arrive in the village I begin scanning the ground.

Ishar speaks up at the same time I find the marks. "Hell, even I can see those."

"How about you Alicia?"

"Huh?!"

Alicia looks down at the ice. "Um... I'm sorry."

"It's okay baldy, you'll get there in time," Ishar said.

Alicia looks at him and growls in a way that almost sounds like the werewolf I fought before.

"... They almost certainly have wigs in Viseux. Want to go pick one out together when we get back?"

"Thank you, Rei... I'd appreciate that."

The people in the village swerve around us, giving our group a wide berth. Ishar looks around and starts laughing.

"I forgot they hated us! Good thing the princess took us in or I would've made life hell for these people."

Chuckling, I continue tracking the claw marks. There are large gaps in the tracks thanks to all the foot traffic and wagons going through here, but we eventually track them to a pub. Upon walking inside the man behind the counter calls out to us instantly.

"Hey there! The princess's guests, right? I've heard all about you from Cid and Mia."

Ishar steps forward. "Indeed. We're actually here looking for Cid. Did he come through here earlier?"

The barkeep goes silent, looking back and forth between the three of us.

"Is something wrong sir? We're only concerned because we just returned to the manor with the princess and the place was empty. All the staff were gone."

His eyes go wide when he hears that. "I..." The barkeep sighs, "... They came through here earlier. It's against the law but we have a large part of the underground still unsealed. It's completely blocked off so nothing can get to us from down there, so there was never any fear of something dangerous coming above ground."

"You don't need to explain yourself to us, we really don't care that you were breaking the law. We only want to know why everyone disappeared... So they're down there right now?"

"Yes ma'am. Mia came through with a large group of butlers and maids earlier, with Cid showing up about thirty minutes later." The barkeep said.

Thirty minutes... I doubt he's corrupted then. It's not impossible, but it's more likely that he came back to find the manor empty and tracked the people to this place. It was only thirty minutes so the snow wouldn't have hidden their tracks yet.

"Can you show us the way?" Ishar asked.

"I can show you the door, but you'll have to go the rest of the way yourselves. I still have a bar to take care of and it's a straight path there anyways."

The barkeep walked into the back room, motioning for us to follow. After following him through a few rooms he unlocks an old rusty door that looks like it's about to fall off its hinges.

"There you go. I don't know what's going on, but I hope everyone is okay..." The barkeep said then walked past us, returning to the bar.

"... I think we should wait."

Alicia looked at me. "Are you sure? What if they need us now?"

"I'm with Rei, let us wait. The others will be right behind us. The shaman has access to the mark on my soul, he'll lead the others right to us." Ishar said.

Me and Ishar sit down by the wall. Alicia sees that and just shrugs, sitting down between us.

Only ten minutes went by before Euphemia came running into the room. Looking behind her I can see everyone except Tyra, Aresa, Keith, and Nisha.

"Thank you for waiting. Mia is... Mia is my, um..."

Standing up I put my hand on Euphie's shoulder. "Come on, the sooner we find them the better."

Euphemia nods. Ishar opens the door and begins to descend the steps, with the rest of us following behind him one by one. It was pitch dark inside so several of the others pulled out a few crystal-torches. The descent felt like it took forever, but it was maybe only three minutes long. Once it leveled off, we continued forward for another minute before coming up to a door that looked even older than the one upstairs.

Ishar reaches for the handle but the shaman grabs his wrist and yells, "No!"

The shaman puts his palm over a tiny crystal in the middle of the door. His hand then lights up orange for about ten seconds before he pulls it back and gives us a thumbs up.

"A trap?" Alicia asked. The shaman nodded at her.

Once again Ishar reaches out for the door and this time he opens it. Upon seeing the inside, Ishar sprints into it with the rest of us following after him. By the time I get inside, I can see him peeling Mia off of Cid, who is currently bound tightly in a strange flesh-like rope that I used to see all the time in the other realm.

Off to the side, I can see what Mia was dragging Cid towards. A large portion of the stone wall itself is warped, as if someone tried painting the wall to match the rest of it, but didn't quite have the talent to do it.

A bright yellow column of light appears between Alicia and the wall. The portion next to her grows brighter and brighter as she pulls her fist back. After the light gets so bright that nobody in the room can see anything, she punches the column, making the light shoot forward into the wall.

Blood and flesh explode out of the 'wall' after the ball of light hits it, but that's not all that comes out of it. A long spear of flesh shoots out of the wall, going straight through Alicia's chest. Multiple spears shoot out towards everyone else in this room as well before anyone can help her. Seifer wills a sword into his hands and jumps in front of Euphemia, Teifa, and the shaman. Deflecting all attacks that come his way.

I dash towards Alicia and punch the spear jutting out of her chest, breaking it completely. I then pick her up and carry her back into the previous room. Once outside I lay her against the wall and rip the spear out. She's lost a lot of blood already, but she immediately begins healing herself and tells me she'll be fine.

Rushing back inside, I see Cera hiding behind Seifer as she aims her purple ability gun at the broodling while Shana dodges every which way throwing knives at it as it repeatedly tries to spear and slice her up. Running past them I head towards Ishar who is somehow losing against Mia.

Ishar shouts at Mia but it does absolutely nothing, she keeps attacking him with her enhanced claws. Ishar is parrying them all, but only just barely. Upon seeing me Mia jumps backward towards Cid and picks him up. After she has him in her arms she sprints toward the broodling who is now firing spears at both me and Ishar again. We're able to fend them off but neither of us can stop Mia from running away.

However, thanks to her paying attention to us she didn't see the knife coming at her from the broodling's direction. One of Shana's knives goes all the way through her foot, pinning it to the floor, and as soon as she stopped moving Shana threw another one into her other foot.

"Hurry Ishar! It try for early birth! Weaker, but still very strong!" The shaman yelled.

"I'm trying damnit! Argh, my whole body is killing me...!!"

The shaman went to say something back to him but turned his head toward Cera instead. Soon after that, everyone in front of her dove out of the way. Two things happened next at almost the exact same time. First, my eardrums nearly ruptured as she fired her gun. With the other point of interest being that the broodling literally exploded, showering the entire room in blood and guts.

Mia hit the ground while holding her head. She looked around in a daze as Euphemia ran up to her.

Ahh... I know that look, and I know what happens next. I really don't want to be here for this...

"Careful princess!! She's clearly not herself!" Seifer yelled.

Euphemia stops in her tracks, looking between Mia and Cid.

"... No need to worry Seifer. Mia won't attack her anymore."

Ishar nodded as he sat down against a nearby wall.

"How are you two certain?" Seifer asked.

"I already told you Seifer, remember? My family. And Ishar deals with the Xerath all the time so his word means even more than mine in this instance."

Hearing that, Euphemia finishes running towards Mia and picks her up.

"... Euphie?" Mia looks up at her with one eye open.

"Yeah, I'm here Mia. Do you um, do you remember what you've been doing?"

I walk over to Cid and begin untying him. His eyes are darting all over the place so he must have woken up recently.

"Of course. I was helping master birth sooner by feeding him the workers from the manor. But then Cid came, and um..." Mia looks over at Cid who is finally standing back up. "R-Right! Your guests intervened! We were so close, you would have experienced his love too Euphie... He was going to let us travel! You would have finally been able to get away from this dreary place..."

Euphemia seemed at a loss for words, which is to be expected. I was stunned too when I thought I saved my family and they began rambling like this about their glorious master. But... This is the good part sadly. Very soon the 'love' she has for the creature will fade and reality will set in.

Cid glares down at Mia. "Mia, you... Did you feed Fei to that creature?"

"Huh? Of course I did. I didn't have a choice after the Guardians and the white one showed up."

'The white one'...? I've been called that before, but only once or twice since I woke up I think? It was usually Ash who called me that, and he's been dead for ages.

Cid leans back against the wall, putting his hands over his face. "O-Oh my god... Please tell me this isn't real..."

"Of course it's real." Mia sighs and looks at Euphie, "You see? This is why it didn't work between us. All he ever does is look away from reality. At least he was a good Father to Fei, she was growing up to..."

Mia's face contorts into about ten different emotions as she looks back and forth between the Xerath, Cid, and Euphie.

Ahh... Here it comes.

"F... Fei? Is, is she...? No... She's fine, right Euphie? She must be back at the manor practicing her cooking. The chef even said she's getting good enough to help out in the kitchen full-time. Yes... That must be where she is... She has to be there..."

Nope, I'm out. I can't watch this again.

I begin walking towards the door and Ishar begins limping along behind me. As we pass by Seifer's group Cera makes a disgusted face at me. I stop in my tracks and bring my face within inches of her own.

"Go ahead, say something snarky again. I dare you."

Cera looks surprised at first but begins glaring at me soon after. She must have realized I really was going to kill her if she pushed it further, so she looked away, biting her lip. I straighten my back out and continue walking out of the room, sitting down next to Alicia. Ishar sits on the opposite side of me and immediately begins healing himself. With nothing else to keep my mind occupied, I reach out to both of them and pour my mana into them while meditating.

At least with this, I won't be able to hear anything in the other room.

"Rei."

I open my eyes and look up to see Seifer looking down at me.

"Can you come back into the room? Mia has something to tell you, and it doesn't look like she has much time left..."

Me? Why me? I think I only talked to her once...

"Okay." Is all I said as I stood up.

Following him back into the room, I see Cid is now the one holding Mia. Cid, Mia, and Euphemia all look emotionally broken. And sure enough, even at this distance I can feel Mia's soul almost fully decoupled from her body.

Seeing me, Mia looks up and smiles. "Rei... Thank you for coming. I wanted to tell you about the book in the prince's room."

"A book related to me...?"

"Yes. I used to clean both the prince's and Euphie's rooms back when they lived together. One day I found a book he tried hiding away and read it out of curiosity. It was the journal of someone from Xelba. He talked about you quite a bit. He um... Didn't have very nice things to say about you I'm afraid."

... Ash. It has to be Ash's diary. Nobody hated me more than him. He was Viktor's right-hand man but Viktor needed me more than him to break the stranglehold the other faction had over him. After all, they knew Ash worked for him, so it limited his movements greatly. His jealousy was really aggravating to deal with. Just remembering it is making me angry.

"Thank you for telling me Mia, but um..." Is that it? This is interesting and I plan on stealing that book if only so I can burn it while pretending it's Ash himself, but I don't see why she felt the need to tell me about it.

Mia lightly chuckles. "Silly girl, don't be so quick to be disappointed. I read the whole thing and there's something in there that you don't know, at least according to the diary owner."

Well, he was Viktor's confidant, so this isn't much of a surprise. Although I'll admit, I'm very curious as to what she's about to say...

"There were three faceless creatures, um, these 'Xerath' like the one I..." Mia begins to cry again. "S-Sorry, um... There were three, not one. He mocked you incessantly for thinking there was only one. Although it was the most important one. They took one of the others to an area called 'the dark lands' and the last one was traded to a corporation on a planet named Zhegu for something important Viktor needed. He um, he wasn't specific about the trade though, I'm sorry."

"The dark lands..." I heard the shaman mutter.

Ahh that's right... I remember the other shaman telling us about how they opened a portal there and everyone died instantly. And Zhegu was the planet the skeleton was from, I think...?

"I see... Thank you for telling me Mia, truly. I'll admit, I really did have no clue that there were three of the damned things."

Mia smiled, then looked back to Cid. "You better be okay without us asshole... Don't you dare mope around for the rest of your life."

Cid weakly returned her smile. "I'll try hun... But I've never known life without you..."

Shana leaned over and whispered. "They lived next door to each other. They grew up together and immediately got married. He's not kidding, he really doesn't know life without her."

I can't even imagine losing someone like that... I only knew my friends for seven or eight years and that was soul-crushing when I lost them. It would be different if I knew their soul had reincarnated instead of being fed to... Oh, wait a minute, hang on!

"Teifa! Can you come here?"

"Eh?!" Teifa looked around, shocked that she was being called on in this situation. Eventually she did come out of her shock and walk up to me.

"Um, what do you want?"

"The goblins, how do they save souls?"

"Why would you... Oh." Teifa looks at Mia who is looking right back at her. "... I'm pretty sure I can do what you're asking, but we can't revive her. That requires a whole other set of rituals and other things. I can however force her back into the cycle of reincarnation so that freak doesn't steal her soul."

"What?! Is that true Miss Goblin?!" Euphemia yelled.

"Y-Yes, I swear! We do it all the time, there should be no difference doing it for a Fox-girl."

Mia wholeheartedly laughed, clearly relieved that she wasn't about to be eaten by Meizha'thul or something else entirely.

Cid, Mia, and Euphemia kept talking for quite a while, this time much happier than before. His daughter may have not been so lucky, but he was genuinely happy knowing that his childhood friend was going to reincarnate, a rarity these days. They were talking about something that happened soon after they moved into Euphie's manor when Mia suddenly went still, telling everyone here that her soul had finally broken free of her body. And sure enough, I could see it floating harmlessly above her body.

Teifa grasped around randomly for about thirty seconds till she finally grabbed it. An aura appeared over her hand, slowly encompassing the soul. When it was completed she tied it to her staff. After that, she performed a small rite that mostly involved her meditating on her staff while hardly talking or moving.

I knew when it was completed though, because I saw Mia's soul do something I had never seen before. A small golden aura shone over the soul for a few seconds before it blinked out of existence. Except that wasn't all. When it warped away I could feel a small pulse from the other dimension it was moving to, and that's when I knew for a fact that she had entered another realm because it was the warmest feeling I had ever felt in my entire life. It made Arkaios' dawn realm feel insignificant in comparison.