Sometimes, Gabrielle dreamed of nice landscapes. Of strange places she had never been before. Alien worlds, bustling towns, quiet pastures. Others, her mind sheltered itself in the memories of ‘the good old days’, times when life seemed so simple. But when she succumbed to the pain of her Witchcraft, Gabi knew exactly where she’d be going next.

  A desert with white sand and purple skies as far as one could see… It wasn’t hot, for there was no Sun to be seen anywhere. Just sky and floor, an infinite horizon. No one else but herself, and her instructor: a small, dark skinned woman with black hair, and an eternal look of disappointment in her golden eyes. She usually stood right in front of her, or sat on a nearby rock to drink from her gourd.

  This time, she simply stood there and gently kicked Gabrielle on the stomach, tapping the girl with the tip of her boot.

  “Get up.”

  The redhead sighed, slowly getting back on her feet and coughing out some sand.

  “You did it again.” Said her instructor. “I think I told you to only use the Rune if it was an emergency.”

  “This was an emergency.” Gabrielle insisted. “There was an innocent.”

  “So?”

  “I needed to protect her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s the noble thing to do.”

  The mage groaned, her heart was just like the rest of her body: made out of pure stone.

  “You must ensure your own survival, Gabrielle. The rest is secondary.”

  “That is not how things work.” Gabi frowned. “I must do the noble thing.”

  “Doing things out of obligation is a waste of time. Have you learned nothing?” The stone woman groaned again, opening her gourd and taking a long sip. “Where are you?”

  “I think I’m somewhere in Aespania. The Fog is everywhere.”

  The mage tapped her chin, narrowing her gaze. Who knew what she was thinking about? No one, not really. The redhead stared as the mage took her sweet time meditating the situation.

  “... When are you?”

  “The year of our Saints 2048.” The apprentice was used to these sorts of questions from the mage.

  “I see. That makes sense.” The stone woman sighed. “Are you confident in your ability to escape the mist?”

  “No.” Gabrielle shook her head. “We are lost right now, no directions to follow.”

  “Alright, listen to me and listen well. I will get you out of there, but when you exit, I will need you to do me a favor.” The Instructor loved asking for those. “People will be waiting for you outside. They will explain it all. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, Instructor. Thank you.”

  “Blah blah. Now, listen to me. This is exactly what you’ll have to do…”

  —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  During the time Gabrielle spent completely unconscious, Lucrece had to find a way to get into the now empty city of Forsia. She carried the girl’s knocked out body as she climbed up the walls using her trusty rope and hook, a tool that she has used so many different times that it really paid for itself eventually. The other side of the wall revealed a desolated settlement, where people seemed to hurriedly take what they could and run away. No corpses this time, luckily! The people of Forsia seemed smart enough to run at the first sight of the Fog in its territories.

  Without having to worry about social rules anymore, Lucrece decided it was time to seek a new shelter! Any abandoned house would do! But, why settle for the bare minimum, when she could just break into one of the bigger manors in the city. With a heavy kick, the Lancer broke down the doors of a house she had been eyeing since she started doing business in Forsia.

  “Knock knock~.”

  Oh, she couldn’t resist. Who says you can’t have fun while you work?

  The blonde was smiling, carrying Gabrielle to the Master Bedroom in the house and setting her down on the softest bed she could find, tucking her carefully. Once that was done, the thieving girl had the town to herself! And she planned to make the most of it! First though, she had to recover the things she left at the Inn she was staying at. It wasn’t a far walk from the manor she was taking over, so that was nice.

  The Inn was a small business called ‘The Prancing Sheep’, and it was well known for its foamy beer and cushy beds. Lucrece broke into the place, gently rubbing her foot afterwards (ouch), and then going to comb the place clean of all valuables.

  She couldn’t help but imagine Gabrielle’s disapproving gaze though… it didn’t stop Lulu, but it made her hesitate.

  “It’s not looting if the goods have been abandoned, is it?” Said the woman, frowning as she looked under the bed.

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  Lucrece wasn’t stupid, she knew that people, both from the Inn and from outside, loved to rob the guests blind when they were out doing their jobs, and indeed, her change of clothes and a few coins had disappeared. So she hid all of her important belongings under one of the wooden planks on the floor, hidden by the bed. With glee she saw that her plan had worked! Her bag of coins, her old compass (currently going insane), and her dy– where is her dye?

  Her dye mixture. Where is it?

  She looked through the coins, then in the hole under the planks… nothing.

  Had she left it outside!? Did some bastard steal her blond dye!? Well, it wasn’t a terrible loss but it still sucked. She’d have to look for an alchemist whenever they manage to exit the Fog.

  With a heavy heart, and a heavier bag of golden Empires on her shoulder, the Looter returned to the manor. Only to find Gabrielle already awake once more and drawing something on the floor of the main living room… with her blood.

  “ Putain… What in the Hells are you doing now, Gabi?” Lucrece sighed deeply.

  “Compass spell.” She said, taking blood from a wound on her right hand, and using her left hand to paint on the floor.

  The symbols on the floor, lines and points, were similar to the one she had branded on her shoulder, so to Lucrece it was obvious they were all related, somehow. She wanted to ignore this, to ignore Witchcraft as much as she could, pretend that everything was fine and distance herself from this side of Gabrielle… but her curiosity, ohhhhh her curiosity was killing her.

  She paced from one side of the room to the other, until finally giving up and sitting besides Gabi as she painted.

  “...So… you know a lot of spells?” Lucrece asked and hated herself the instant she did.

  “Not many.” The Witch commented as she worked. “My Instructor taught me just what is necessary to survive.”

  “Like that magic lightning?”

  There, the Witch hesitated.

  “...No. That one I learned somewhere else.”

  The Lancer was craving some answers, but she felt this would be the furthest things would get by asking, at least for now. She was ready to leave when suddenly, Gabrielle spoke again.

  “I don’t know how this one works exactly. But I have faith it will guide us to the closest port in Aespania.” She nodded a few times, still painting with her fingers. “We will be safe in no time.”

  “The closest port ?” Lucrece blinked slowly. “Why a port? Are you planning on getting out of Jericho or something?”

  “My Instructor said that was the only way we’d get out of this Fog alive.”

  Now that made the blond sweat a little bit. Were things really so bad right now? And most importantly, how in the Hells did this woman know that!? Lucrece decided that she wouldn’t just let things stop her from asking more questions.

  “Did you talk to him–”

  “Her.” Gabi helpfully pointed out.

  “Her.” Lucrece groaned. “Did you talk to her in your sleep or something?”

  “Yes.”

  If she had heard Gabrielle say this three days ago or so, Lucrece would have called her a maniac, a fool, and leave it at that. But come on! She just saw this girl shoot lightning from her hands! At this point, disbelief is not even a possibility: It’s a joke, and Lucrece is not very keen on those. At least, not when they are told at her expense! So, she didn’t even question it this time.

  “Alright then? Anything else she said?”

  “Noppe.” The redhead stretched her arms a little bit, trying to let some laziness out of her body. “Just: Do this spell, follow the light, pray that you survive.”

  “Now that’s a nice Instructor.” The taller woman let out a deep sigh, shaking her head.

  “She’s rather lousy to be honest.” The swordswoman pointed out.

  “I know! That was sarcasm!”

  “I’m not good with that.”

  The Lancer groaned. Yes, she still remembered, Claude struggled with discerning jokes from truths… she didn’t remember the boy being this thick-skulled but, well, they couldn’t be the same in everything, she supposed. But then, another question came to her.

  “...Have you taken a proper break since you woke up? Witchcraft clearly tires you out!”

  “I just woke up. Had no time to rest.” Gabrielle sighed softly, before feeling a hand on her shoulder. She jerked away and turned to face Lucrece, serious. “Don’t do that.”

  “Sorry. But, saints damn it all, Gabi, you need to rest .” Lucrece’s eye was glaring again.

  The Witch looked back, frowning slightly. “There’s no time for that.” She insisted.

  “Are you already fine then? Nothing hurts?”

  “Nothing hurts.”

  For someone who has issues externalizing her emotions, Gabrielle made for a terrible liar. Her eyes looked away immediately , not daring to face her companion again. Said companion sighed softly, before speaking up again.

  “Look. How about this. I bet that whatever you are doing won’t activate unless you make it activate, right?”

  The shorter woman opened her eyes widely. “How could you have possibly guessed that?”

  “You took an entire minute or so to charge and throw your lightning bolts, so I assumed it worked like that.”

  “You’re a smart one.”

  Lucrece tried not to get too happy about being praised. And failed, she just loved being praised.

  “Ahem-hem.” She cleared her throat with a little grin. “Anyways. I am right, right?”

  “Yes.” Gabi nodded

  “Alright then” Lulu nodded as well. “How’s this: You leave this thing ready to activate, we go get food and rest, and then we activate it and continue our escape. Sounds good?”

  “Every second we spend in this Fog is a second our minds could betray us and we could get swarmed, be it by our own shadows or the ones of the people who already perished here.” The redhead stared, unblinking and questioningly, at her companion.

  “Yes, but if we continue rushing ourselves, exhaustion will get us anyways. And the more tired we are, the more susceptible we are to our own minds, right?” The blonde refused to back down.

  They stared into each other’s eyes for a long while. Gabrielle was a very stubborn one and wouldn’t back down as easily as before. After all, she had already conceded a victory to the one-eyed Lancer today! So, she was trying to find reasons or arguments to refuse.

  “But… Time is running short. And every moment we spend in the Fog is a moment it can advance further out. Like it did with this town. Remember?”

  Lucrece flinched. That was a good point. So then, cornered by this, she decided to take her last resort.

  “...Please, Gabi.” She pleaded. “You are tired, shaking and in pain. I’m tired too. Can’t we take this last chance to rest? Just this once.”

  Now Gabrielle flinched. Saints damn it all, the woman had even said ‘please’ ! That only made rejecting her plea even harder. The redhead, during her years as a mercenary, had decided that she wanted to harden herself, become a woman of stone like her instructor. Feel nothing, not ever again. In fact, it was her inability to keep clinging to this principle that got her into this whole mess to begin with! She let herself feel grief over her failure, instead of simply trying to correct her mistake…

  And now, she was being moved yet again by emotional arguments.

  “ This will get you in trouble again .”, said a voice in her mind.

  “ The sooner we are out, the faster we can make amends .”, said another.

  “We are in danger and must survive somehow if we want to be useful to Esperanza ever again.” Said the third one.

  “ Is that even possible? We abandoned h— ”

  She stopped herself and shook her head violently. No. No memories, no time for sulking, not in the Fog. Lucrece stared as Gabrielle muttered and constantly shook her head, as if having a battle with her own mind.

  Finally, the redhead sighed. Perhaps the Lancer had a point about her mental state being tied to her exhaustion.

  “Fine.” She finally accepted with a sigh. “But let’s not take more time than necessary.”

  “Great!” Lucrece smirked and stood up once again. “Now, back to bed you go. I will raid the apothecary and the smithy for stuff.”

  “What do you mean? Are you going on your own?” Gabi frowned.

  “Yes. You are in no condition to walk around.”

  “Nonsense. I am still fine.” The Witch stood up. She managed to stand for a good few minutes! But then, she stumbled, and was about to fall when Lucrece caught her again. “Ah!”

  “See?” The Lancer smiled smugly. She was barely able to carry the girl but she was not going to say that part. “Lets get you to bed.”

  Gabrielle was not exactly comfortable with all the times she had been carried around in the last two days, but she also couldn’t really say a thing about it when her alternative was to crawl on the floor like a bug.

  So, soon enough, she was back on a cushy bed, sinking on the covers.

  “Try to sleep.” Said Lucrece, walking out of the room. “And if you need me, scream and I’ll come.”

  As the door closed, Gabi couldn’t help but wonder what was the deal with this strange, nosy woman.

  What did she want? Why was she being so nice to her?

  And how long would this last?