Distorted images and broken mories flowed through my mind like a torrent. I caught glimpses of them, but never the whole picture. They were like still fras of a movie, except it felt as if I experienced them firsthand.
In one, I saw a briar maiden staring at with hunger in those predatory eyes of hers. She bound with her thorny vines, immobilizing . However, underneath my fear, I felt anticipation and excitent.
In another, I saw the briar maiden holding a dessicated corpse. It was clear that she had consud that person, draining them of everything. The sight filled with shock and disgust.
In the next, the briar maiden held in her arms, fear and panic in her eyes. I felt a pain in my chest, while my body grew cold as my blood drained out of . I said sothing to the briar maiden, though I couldn't rember what.
After that, darkness consud . I floated in that darkness for a long ti, not quite sleeping but not quite awake either. I hovered sowhere in the middle, in that liminal space that existed between consciousness and unconsciousness.
An eternity later, I heard a voice in that darkness. It pulled back to awareness, before putting into the deepest of sleeps.
"You're ready, Gabriel. I wonder. Will you succeed where the others failed? Ti will tell."
The voice belonged to Nox.
I started, waking up all of a sudden. I opened my eyes and looked around. I didn't recognize my surroundings. Canvas surrounded on all sides. I laid in a bed, covered by a blanket.
For a mont, I didn't know where I was or what I was doing. In fact, I didn't even know who I was.
For so reason, I felt as if I were two people at once. The current , and the from the dream. However, the disjointed and fragnted dream started to fade from my mind and I rembered who I was.
I was Gabriel Sturm, son of Bryce and Claire Sturm, brother to Kaylee Sturm. Martial artist, and… Sovereign, whatever that ant.
And fiancé to Annabelle Thorne.
For so reason, when I thought of Anna's na, I thought of the briar maiden from my dream. However, before I could follow that train of thought, a sound caught my attention. It pulled out of my thoughts and back to the present.
I looked over just as one of the canvas walls pulled back, allowing Anna to enter. That's when I realized I was in a tent. My tent, in fact. In my confused state, I hadn't recognized it at first.
When Anna saw that I was awake, she looked relieved and rushed over to my side.
"Thank the gods," she said. "You have no idea how worried I was, Gabriel."
I stared at Anna. For so, she reminded of the briar maiden from my dream. However, that was ridiculous. The two looked nothing alike, and not just because the briar maiden had green skin. Build, facial features, etc. Everything about them looked different.
Yet, despite that, I couldn't help but feel that they were the sa sohow.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked, giving a concerned look.
I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Anna the sa as a briar maiden? That couldn't be. My mind must've been muddled.
"Nothing," I said. "Just waking up from a strange dream." I gave her a self-deprecating smile. "For so reason, I thought you seed similar to a briar maiden."
Anna stiffened for a mont, before she reached over to caress my cheek.
"I'm just glad you're alright," she said, giving a warm smile.
I leaned into her caress. For so reason, it felt as if I hadn't seen her for a long ti.
"What happened?" I asked. "Where are we? The last thing I rember was…" I trailed off as I recalled what happened before the dream. "Cleansing Roxie."
At the ntion of Roxie's na, Anna's expression darkened.
"Yes," she said. "That one."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Don't worry," Anna said in an annoyed tone. "She's still alive. I wanted to kill her, but the others stopped ."
I sighed with relief.
"Good," I said. "Killing her would've undone all of my hard work."
Anna glared at .
"What exactly did you do?" she demanded. "More importantly, why? I know we need to find the enemy base, but not at the cost of your own life!"
I took a mont to mull it over.
"I made her mine, for lack of a better word," I said.
"Yours?" Anna asked, her tone dark. "What does that an?"
"You know how the gods have priests?" I asked. "I think it's sothing similar."
Anna stared at in disbelief.
"Why would you do that?!"
"It was the only way to break the seal on her soul and cleanse her of demonic taint." I paused. "Besides, I didn't want to kill her."
Anna narrowed her eyes.
"Excuse ?" she asked. "You risked your life to save an enemy? Are you insane?!"
I hunched my shoulder.
"Co on. It wasn't that bad."
"Gabriel, you were unconscious for three days!"
"What?!"
Anna looked like she wanted to shout so more. However, she took a deep breath and visibly cald herself down.
"Gabriel," she said in an even voice. "I've co to accept your near suicidal recklessness. It's a part of who you are. I don't like it, but I've accepted it." Her expression hardened. "However, I draw the line as risking your life to save an enemy. Don't do it again. Please. For my sake, if not your own."
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words ca out. She was right. Risking my life to save an enemy was insane. In this case, I felt justified. However, Anna was drawing a hard line with and I didn't bla her. Reverse our roles, and I would've done the sa.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I won't do it again." I paused. "At the very least, I won't do it without consulting you first. There may co a ti where I'll need to save an enemy in order to further our mission."
Anna clenched her jaw.
"Fine," she said. "I can live with that."
A silence fell over us. Anna radiated anger and worry, and I felt like an asshole for making her feel that way.
"So," I said, breaking the silence. "Where are we?"
Anna gave a sideways glance.
"We're still in the clearing," she said a mont later. "Cally said that it wouldn't be safe to carry you through the forest, so we set up camp here."
I gave her an apologetic look.
"Again, I'm sorry. How can I make it up to you?"
Anna snorted.
"Why don't you build another tree house?" she said in a sarcastic tone.
I frowned. This was the second ti she brought up a tree house. Her words implied that I had built one for her before, but I never…
Even as I thought that, the image of a tree house filled my mind. It was rough and crude, but solid. The sight of it filled with fondness.
I rembered building this tree house with my own hands. However, that never happened. And yet, it had.
None of this made sense. What was going on? I had two conflicting sets of mories. One where I built the tree house, and one where I didn't. Both were true.
Most importantly of all, I rembered where I built this tree house. It was located here in Mirkvale Forest. In fact, as I recalled my ntal map of the forest, it wasn't too far from this clearing. I could reach it in less than a day.
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If I went to find it, perhaps I could figure out what the hell was going on.
"Gabriel?"
Anna's voice pulled out of my thoughts.
"Sorry," I said. "I was woolgathering."
"If you're still not feeling well, you should rest so more."
I shook my head, before giving her a reassuring smile.
"I'm fine. I just need to get up and walk around. Stretch my body." I frowned. "Besides, I should check on Roxie. She's one of mine now, which makes responsible for her."
Anna huffed, letting her displeasure known.
"Well, we have her tied up in her own little tent," she said. "I can bring you to her."
My intuition warned that going to Roxie right now would be a terrible mistake.
"You know what," I said. "You're right. Roxie can wait. I should rest so more." I grinned at her. "Maybe so cuddling with my lovely fiancée will help."
Anna narrowed her eyes at before she snorted.
"You're lucky you have a beautiful face," she said.
With that, she crawled into bed with and I held her in my arms. I took a deep breath, inhaling her vanilla scent. We stayed like that for the next little while.
About an hour later, Anna and I erged from the tent. It was late morning, almost noon, which hadn't been obvious from the inside. My companions had set up a neat little campsite here in the clearing.
A ring of tents surrounded a central fire pit, with several defensive runic circles set up along the clearing's periter. I also noticed that soone had imbued Holy magic into the runic circles, increasing their power.
Priest Jai and Priestess Natille tended to the fire. It looked like they were in the middle of cooking lunch. A sizzling filled the air and the sll of frying at reached my nostrils, making my stomach grumble.
anwhile, I heard Cally's voice coming from one of the tents. She sounded annoyed and frustrated.
As for Aurora and Leroy, they weren't in sight.
"Lord Gabriel!" Priest Jai and Priestess Natille said when they saw .
They stood up and walked over to . I gave them both a nod. Before leaving my tent, I pulled back my sovereignty to avoid affecting the others. Holding my soul back felt even more restrictive and suffocating than before, but I put up with it.
"We're glad to see you awake," Priest Jai said, relieved.
Priestess Natille nodded, a fervent expression on her face.
"Performing such a grand miracle must've exhausted you. I never thought I'd witness anything like it in my entire life."
I blinked at them in surprise.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "What grand miracle?"
Priest Jai and Priestess Natille shared a look.
"You cleansed a fiend of demonic corruption," Priest Jai said. "Not even a grand priest could do sothing like that. You achieved the impossible. How could we call that anything but a miracle?"
"Not only that, but you shared a portion of your divinity with her and made her your priestess!" Priestess Natille said. "It's like the beginning of legend, one of forgiveness and redemption."
Huh. They were right. I hadn't thought much of it at the ti, but cleansing a fiend of demonic corruption was a pretty big deal. At least, I never heard of it happening before. Then again, it was only possible because of Nox's guidance. Without her, I wouldn't have succeeded.
"If I hadn't already pledged myself to Lady Amara, I would've been tempted to pledge myself to you, Lord Gabriel," Priestess Natille said.
Anna snarled, before stepping in front of , blocking from Priestess Natille's sight.
"Hands off my man," she said.
Priestess Natille waved her hands in a panic.
"Oh no! I didn't an it like that, Lady Annabelle! I can feel the obsessive love you two share with one another. It's beautiful and toxic, like a poisonous rose. I would never interfere with that. I value my life too much."
Did she complint us or insult us? I couldn't tell.
I an, she wasn't wrong. Anna and I were into each other to an almost unhealthy degree.
"Where are Aurora and Leroy?" I asked, changing the subject.
"They're patrolling around the forest," Priest Jai said. "Monsters kept attacking our camp, so they decided to clear out the area."
I felt a little guilty about that. If it hadn't been for , we would've already returned to Mirkvale Forest.
I opened my mouth to respond, but then I sniffed.
"I think lunch is burning," I said, gesturing to the fire pit.
Priest Jai and Priestess Natille whirled around. In their eagerness to see , they forgot that they were in the middle of cooking. Both of them rushed over to try and salvage lunch. I wished them the best of luck.
A mont later, Cally erged from her tent with a frustrated expression on her face. When she saw , she looked both relieved and annoyed.
"You're awake," she said. "Good. Maybe you can get sothing out of Roxie. We've tried to question her, but she refuses to speak." She held her index finger and thumb a hair's width apart. "I'm this close to letting Anna torture her."
I looked behind Cally and saw Roxie in the tent she just left, tied up and bound to a chair. When our eyes t, Roxie wore a conflicted expression on her face. It was as if she wanted to hate , but also felt relieved to see .
"I'll speak with her," I said, before glancing at Anna. "Alone."
My fiancée narrowed her eyes at .
"She might not talk if others are around," I explained.
Anna looked displeased by this, but relented in the end.
"Fine," she said. "I'll see if I can join Aurora and Leroy. Right now I need to kill sothing."
With that, she walked off. I made a ntal note to make it up to her. My actions, while necessary for our mission, were a constant source of frustration for her. I wanted to show my appreciation for her patience.
I passed by Cally, who decided to help with lunch, and entered the tent, closing the flap behind . Roxie regarded with that conflicted expression of hers. Other than Roxie's chair, there wasn't any other furniture, so I stood in front of her.
We studied each other for a few monts, before I decided to untie Roxie. She snorted.
"What?" she asked as I worked. "You're going to let go? What will your friends think?"
"You're no longer a threat to us," I said as I worked. "And you won't run away, not if I tell you to stay." I finished untying her and stood before her again. "You know that, don't you?"
Roxie looked frustrated by this, but not angry. She started rubbing her arms and legs.
"What did you do to ?" she grumbled. "According to that pretty little lady, Natille, you made your priestess or sothing." She scoffed. "What does that an? Are you so kind of god?"
"Well, demigod to be exact," I said.
According to Nox, I was a Sovereign. However, since I didn't know what that ant, I decided to tell others that I was a demigod. It was easier that way.
Roxie stared at in disbelief.
"Truly?" she asked.
I nodded.
"Damn. So when you purged my body of the demon blood, it really was a miracle. I thought it was so kind of strange magic."
"I guess so." I gave her a self-deprecating smile. "I'm as new to this as you are, so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing."
Roxie sighed.
"Of course," she said. "Just my luck. I end up serving a god, and he's a rookie."
"It could be worse. At least you're still alive."
Roxie paused for a mont, before nodding.
"Fair enough."
"Now then," I said. "You should already know what we want."
"You want to find our base here in Mirkvale Forest." She shrugged. "Sure, I can tell you. Show a map and I can point it out."
I blinked at her in surprise.
"Wait, that's it? You're going to tell just like that?"
Roxie raised an eyebrow at .
"Is that a problem?"
"No, I'm just surprised. If you were going to be this cooperative, why didn't you say anything to Cally?"
Roxie sneered.
"Let clarify sothing, Lord Gabriel. I'm on your side because you're my god now, or whatever it is you are." She nodded to outside the tent. "However, that doesn't an I like your friends, especially that chit that tricked . You can tell what to do. Not them. Understand?"
I sighed.
"That makes sense, I suppose. Still, you could've made things easier for yourself."
"If I wanted to take the easy path, I wouldn't have decided to get revenge on a scion from House Sturm."
Right. That was the source of Roxie's hatred towards House scions.
"What happened?" I asked. "I promised to help you get revenge. The more I know, the better."
Roxie studied for a mont before answering.
"It happened about five years ago, just before I ca of age," she said in a subdued tone. "My family lived in a small village, running an inn. There were four of us. , my parents, and my older sister."
Her breath hitched and her expression faltered when she ntioned her older sister. It took her a mont to regain her composure.
"My big sis was the most beautiful girl in our village," Roxie continued. "So much so that when a House scion traveled through our village and stayed at our inn, he took a liking to her. She rejected him, but he kept pushing. In the end, our parents threatened to report him to our local House." Her eyes beca haunted. "The House scion decided to take my sister and kill the rest of us."
I clenched my fists as I listened to her story.
"My parents died shielding ," Roxie continued. "That's how I survived, by playing dead while hiding beneath their corpses. After that, the House scion destroyed the rest of our village. No witnesses, he said. I was the only survivor."
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.
Roxie glared at .
"I don't need your pity," she said.
"Sympathy, not pity," I said. "Pity implies that I look down on you."
Roxie narrowed her eyes.
"You an that, don't you?" She shook her head. "Maybe there are so decent House scions out there after all."
There were plenty of decent folk among House scions. Despite their power, they were still people in the end. So were good, so were bad, and most fell in between the two extres.
"After the House scion left," Roxie said, continuing her story. "I tried to report him to our local House. However, I saw him there. They treated him like an honored guest. I knew they wouldn't do anything, so I decided to get revenge on my own. Later on, I learned that the House scion who killed my family ca from House Sturm." She gave a bitter smile. "You can guess the rest. For the sake of revenge, I fell in with a bad crowd and beca a literal monster. There you go. That's my little sob story. Regret making your priestess, or whatever?"
I shook my head.
"No," I said. "If anything, I'm glad. With your help, we can purge the filth from within House Sturm and clean house."
Father and Kaylee were already in the midst of this. Roxie's testimony would make things easier. Once House Sturm cut out the rot, it would stand firm and strong in the face of the demonic invasion.
"However," I said. "That will have to wait until after we finish our mission here in Mirkvale Forest."
Roxie nodded.
"I expected as much," she said. "It doesn't matter. I've waited this long. I can wait a little longer."
I opened my mouth to say sothing, but then my stomach grumbled. My cheeks heated up.
"Let's eat lunch first," I said, ignoring my embarrassnt.
Roxie gave an incredulous look.
"What kind of god needs to eat?"
"The kind that's desperate to hold on to his humanity." I opened the tent flap. "Are you coming or not?"
After a mont, Roxie decided to join .
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