I am crafting an elaborate full plate armor set when the mountain walls disappear, Sif and Claire taking one of each of my hands and leading me out of my workshop/prison. We walk through the woods, laughing and smiling, and are joined by Lyn as we happily stroll. 

Suddenly, we are jumped by bandits. I freeze, but snap out of it and purge the ruffians in front of me, leaving horribly charred, desecrated bodies. Weak, I fall to the floor on all fours panting. I yelp in surprise, powerless as a hand burnt at patchy black with bits of bone showing grabs my arm. Unable to move, it lifts me up. The burnt zombie is joined by countless others closing in on me. Powerless and unable to move, they all yell at me,

“YOU DID THIS TO ME”

“WHY ME?”

“THIS DIDN’T NEED TO HAPPEN”

Though they all speak at the same time, I somehow understand them. I glance towards Claire, but she looks at me in horror and runs into the darkness. Continuing to panic, I try to find Sif and Lyn, but they have disappeared. Unable to even talk, the zombie holding me aloft throws me to the ground. I see the horde move in and I scream as all goes black. 

I wake up panting on my bed back in the workshop. A trio of notes chimes from my door, the sign my wind spirit gives when I have a guest. A prince walks in and I show him my wares, only to find myself on the floor, stabbed in the back. The prince sneers at me, “You are too dangerous. It would be better for you to just disappear.”

I wake up again, scared, desperate. I am in my parents little city house. I run to my parents room, but there is only an empty bead. Hearing the creaking of floorboards, I rush to the kitchen, but that too is empty. I wander into the workshop and see my dad. I run up to him, but no matter how fast I move my legs, he never gets any closer, the distance between us infinite. Exhausted, I stand panting. He looks up at me disappointed, “I had hopes for you. But you left. You never said anything to us, and now our family line and legacy is dead. But not you. You have become a power mage, just like the ones who took you from us. What will you take from others now?” 

His skin blackens as the fire from the forge consumes him. From the fire more charred figures come out. They wail and slowly approach, moaning,

“You killed us. YOU KILLED US!” Weapons start appearing in their hands, all emblazoned with my symbol. 

“You were the reason I died….” “Your sword killed us” “Your armor cursed me” “Your spear denied me…” they continue to chant disjointedly.

Before the zombies can reach me, the fire does, and I wake up.

Jolting awake, once again, my mind is cleared from the dreamlike fog and I know I have really woken up this time. I look around and notice the sky is now dark. Claire is across from me, sleeping on a mat on a mound of soft looking dirt. Thank God, she came back, she didn’t run from me. I look down and see I was also lying down on a makeshift bed of soil. When I look up again Lyn and Sif appear on both sides in front of me, concern written on their faces.

“Haha, sorry to worry you both. I froze there, and when I finally got to control myself, I overreacted. By a lot.” I respond while nervously fiddling with my hair. 

Lyn kneels down and before I can react, flicks my forehead. “You don’t need to apologize Master, we probably should have started smaller first and just let me or Sif handle those guys. We knew you never fought another person, much less killed or even harmed someone.”

Sif adds, “Indeed. In letting you do this, we also did not expect you to use so much mana. Like I said before, it is dangerous for you to use so much mana at once now that your very existence depends on it.” She looks me directly in the eyes and seriously declares, “Even though I know you dislike combat magic, we’re going to practice it from now on. Once you’re registered with the guild, we are going to take on some hunts so you can practice your mana control, and you get used to how losing mana affects your physical state.”

“But I have great mana control… I have worked for years to finely tune it after all.”

Lyn laughs, “Of course you do, but only when crafting. Seeing as how your ‘great mana control’ failed under just a weeeee bit of pressure, I have to agree that you need some more combat training.” She smirks and continues, “I mean, if you get that scared even knowing you’re perfectly safe, poor normal monsters are going to have to give themselves up to prevent the rapid deforestation of their home.”

I blush upon remembering how the sides of the crater were barren before I passed out, “How bad was the damage? I remember a giant cone shaped crater and a good area of nothingness around it.”

Sif, in a calm tone, reassures me, “Don’t worry, I managed to stop the fire from spreading. Despite your uncontrolled spell being overdone and making you pass out, it was very impressive. Even the fire spirit couldn’t create a flame that intense. The reason there was nothing around the cone where your spell directly hit was because I had to bury the trees that caught fire due to the radiating heat. The rest of the forest was fine because I had preemptively coated them with resistance magic since we were going to use fire magic, but your magic completely overpowered my enchantment.”

I look down embarrassed, “I didn’t mean to do that. I panicked badly. I was so scared I was frozen.” After a slight pause I continue, “You know, I feel so relieved that you two are here. I had a bad nightmare, and though the nightmare is over, I cannot get over what it was about.”

I look to Lyn, then to Sif, “I killed people. I never wanted to, and it makes me sick. In my nightmare I saw the people I killed, but not just them. Eventually, they were joined by others who died because of my crafts. I never felt guilty about making things before, but now I wonder if making such powerful artifacts is my responsibility as well. I even saw the prince who stabbed me say I am too dangerous. Maybe he is right.”

Lyn tackles me into a tight hug, “No, you are wrong Robin. You are not too dangerous. The fact that you can even think of that proves you don’t want to be a danger.”

Sif gently pats my head, “And don’t even think about blaming yourselves for things others have done. You may have created the artifacts, but it wasn’t you who was using them. It’s like how we spirits view fighting when forced by contract. We never feel guilty for fighting for our contracted mage, we just fight when we are forced to. You are even further removed, as you made those things by order and gave them out also by order. You can say it was the fault of the soldier, the noble, or the Empire, but I would never say it was your fault.” 

Eyes watery, I respond, “Thanks you two, I needed that.” I glance at Claire, sound asleep, “I just hope Claire doesn’t view me as a monster.”

Still trapping me, Lyn sighs and responds, “Well, she didn’t have to follow me back here, but she did. I won’t pretend to know how humans think of us, but we spirits do have amazing powers beyond them. At least you, Master, can relate to humans. I am better than most but in my travels I have met many spirits, and none of them care for human life, and I really just care for you. When I have helped anyone during my adventures, it’s because I thought you would have wanted it. I know you started off as human, and may still consider yourself one, so I’d say it’s best to just head back to sleep and ask Claire in the morning. Me and Sif, no matter how understanding and wise she tries to be, can’t give you the answers you’re looking for.”

Sif rebuttals in a slightly offended tone, “Tries to be? I am wise and understanding. I have helped guide the mountain and its people for decades. But she is right about Claire. You will just have to ask her yourself in the morning.” Her tone turns slightly sad, “And she is right about us spirits as well. The only reason I cared for the humans of the mountain was all for you Master. But know that no matter your decision, I will be there with you. You should sleep, you still need to recover the rest of your mana. I will make sure nothing happens tonight.”

Feeling a little better, I am still nervous about what Claire will think of me. Like my two spirits have admitted, they don’t have my aversion to harming people. Hopefully Claire can help me work through these feelings tomorrow. The knots in my stomach undone just enough, I am able to drift back to sleep, this time without nightmares.