Thaddeus was lying on the floor, holding his side as he gasped for breath. Why the Elf – if, indeed, she was an Elf – had deemed it necessary to shove him off his chair he didn’t know, but as he looked up into her earnest face all thoughts of asking drained out of him. Any back-talk, he was certain, would be met with punishment. He could do without that just fine. No need to hurt more than he already did.

He should’ve gone to bed when the first signs of tiredness had made themselves known, but he had wanted to finish the scroll he was working on. Now he was here, with the presumed to be Elven woman looming over him. The prospect of getting questioned by her was far from pleasant. He had a sneaking suspicion that, like back-talking, wrong answers would be ...painful.

“What do you know about these?” Her face briefly twisted in disgust as she asked the question. Did she not like him? Was that why she had shoved him out of his chair? At least the pressure from her voice was less than before. Probably because she was practically whispering.

He wanted to ask what she was talking about but the words died in his throat as he saw the two crystals in her hand. They were the crystallized essence of monsters, fairly strong ones judging by the mana that was emanating from them. Thaddeus had been surprised back when she had first placed them on the table but had quickly turned his attention back to his own work. Ira had made it very clear that he should do all he could to not upset their guest; for Thaddeus that meant minimizing interaction. Something he would very gladly do.

Not having to deal with people that arrived covered in blood was always good in his mind.

As she still did not get a response, the woman leaned closer and waved her hand across his face. Thaddeus instinctively moved his head away from the approaching extremity which caused the woman to tilt her head ever so slightly to the side.

“Do you not want to answer?” Her words sounded polite, but her face had again briefly twisted in disgust.

Thaddeus wanted to answer but he still couldn’t get the words to leave his mouth; all he managed was a rather pathetic whimper. He truly wanted to answer her question, if only so he could leave and hide in his bed until the morning sun would hopefully scare away this monster.

Still not having received a reply, and getting visibly annoyed at the continued absence of answers, the Elf crouched down and prodded his chest. That’s what it looked like at least; it felt more like the punches he took from Laelia during his training 

Why? The thought raced through his mind as her finger jabbed at his chest again. Was his existence so disgusting to her that she just had to hurt him? Thaddeus started to crawl backwards as fast as he could, away from the monster that was attacking him. Before he managed to get any meaningful distance between himself and the woman, she had closed her hand around his collar and hoisted him up.

Thaddeus desperately struggled for breath as he tried to pry open the hand that was holding him, but no matter how hard he tried it wouldn’t budge. His attempts were interrupted as the Elf used her free hand to force him to look at her.

“I know you can understand me. Why do you refuse to speak?” Her voice was no longer a whisper, and Thaddeus felt the pendant he always wore grow hotter with each word she spoke as it tried its best to protect him. 

“Answer me!”

The sound of something clattering onto the wooden floor and the absence of the hot sensation on his chest signaled the demise of his trusty pendant. For the first time since he had been knocked to the ground, Thaddeus felt true fear. Much to his surprise, his assailant loosened her grip and looked at the fallen accessory. He tried to use this chance to break free but was met with failure; he still wasn’t able to pry open the hand holding him. He did, however, manage to get the attention of the maybe-Elf again.

---

Aperio was about to ask the stupid boy another question – not that it would have gotten her any answers – but the sounds of hurried steps caught her attention. Looking past the annoying Human she was holding, she saw what she could only assume to be Laelia in a gambeson, running towards her with her sword in hand. A good distance behind her Aperio could see another Human shape coming in her direction, though a lot slower than the sprinting paladin. Probably Ira.

Looking downwards she glared at the oddly-shaped piece of metal that had fallen from Thaddeus. Did it call them? In hindsight, it was probably good that they came. The young man was clearly incapable of speaking, but she knew the other two could. 

She had made the decision; she would ask questions and get answers. No matter how disgusting it felt or how hard it would be to get them.

Not wanting to hold onto Thaddeus while having to deal with the most likely aggressive paladin, she dropped the man. He scurried backwards as fast as he could, but Aperio paid him no mind; she was focused on the sprinting figure. The closer Laelia came, the more Aperio found herself wanting to fight her. Probably best to ignore that as well. She tilted her head at the eager feeling. Or maybe not? 

The decision was made for her as the paladin dragged Thaddeus further back before shoving him behind her. Oh right, the oath.

Laelia glared at her, barely restrained fury in her eyes. “What you doing?”

“Asking questions,” Aperio said, eyeing the man behind the paladin. “But he seems to be incapable of speech.”

“Questions don’t need magic!”

But I didn’t use any? “I am just speaking?”

Before Laelia could reply, the calm voice of Ira echoed through the room. “For some that is one and the same.”

The man was a conundrum to Aperio. He seemed to be scared of her, and yet he always remained calm and tried his best to not let it show. Is he like me? She dismissed the thought as quickly as it came; if anyone was like her it would have to be the villager she had glimpsed – the one that looked like her friend.

She focused on the old man, ignoring the enraged paladin and the mute Human hiding behind her. It was exceedingly unlikely that they would  – or could in the case of Thaddeus – do anything. Aperio was not impressed with the man. A gentle push sent him sprawling onto the floor and a bit of light poking sent him crawling away as fast as he could. Maybe he is scared of Elves? Or Everyone? ...or just me?

None of that mattered at the moment.  First she had to figure out what Ira meant when he said her voice was ‘magic’. It was true that most things of a magical nature tended to show a reaction to her in one way or another. The runes on the wall, for instance, reacted to her voice. But why? Perhaps it had something in common with what Ira had asked her to do before they entered the village. Restrain...but what? How?

The sound of Ira clearing his throat brought her attention back to the man. “May I know why you attacked my apprentice?” His voice was shaky, almost as if he was dreading her response.

Aperio tilted her head quizzically. “Attack?”

“His protective charm broke, that only happens after an attack.”

“This?” Aperio asked, picking up the deformed piece of metal from the floor.

Ira gave a pale-faced nod as he saw what was left of the pendant in her hand. “What happened to it?”

“It broke when I talked to him.” When the thing had fallen from the man she wasn’t sure what to make of it, but now she knew it was just like the clothes of the Imperial mages she had known. Just a lot smaller and weaker. Or my ability to break things is stronger than I thought.

Ira eyes flicked between her face and the leftovers of the charm. “Did you talk or did you talk?” The last word that left his mouth carried with it a wave of something Aperio couldn’t quite place. She fixed her eyes on the man, trying to spot anything that would tell her what it was, but the only difference she could see was the look of exhaustion on his face.

At least she could sympathise with that; her patience had been exhausted as well. Not taking her eyes off the man, she responded. “I just talked.” Why is that so hard to understand?

Much to her surprise the remains of the pendant in her hand cracked, falling to the floor with a metallic clatter. She glared at the small pieces in front of her feet, willing them to put themselves back together. Sadly, the pieces ignored her stare and stayed in their broken state, seemingly unwilling to mend themselves. Can things just stop breaking already?

“This might be rude of me to ask, but”– Ira coughed lightly –”are you aware of your own presence?”

Presence? Aperio wasn’t even sure what that was supposed to be, let alone if she even had one. Judging by the man’s words, however, it was fairly clear that she did. Is that what’s breaking the wards? 

She would have to admit her lack of knowledge to get answers, the feeling of plain and simple wrong only growing more pronounced the more she thought about it. But it wouldn’t win. She needed answers and that damn thing would not stop her from getting them. She had ignored it before and she could do it again. Even if it was a lot stronger than before.

Steeling herself for the inevitable intense feeling of wrong, she focused her eyes on Ira. 

“No.”

She had almost expected to feel pain as she said the words, but that was not the case. Instead, her skin crawled and she felt the need to take a bath. Or ten. Never in her life had she felt this disgusting; cleaning the Arena every night for a week would still leave her in a better state then this.

A mirthless laugh from Laelia caused the mentally dirtied Elf to look in her direction. She spoke to Ira in their unintelligible gibberish, her voice a mix of annoyance and hopelessness. The man sighed before giving her a response. What they talked about Aperio did not know, but she assumed it to be her lack of knowledge. A thought that was not exactly comfortable, but one she could live with. She had followed that illogical feeling long enough. she had already disregarded the one that thought stopping swords with your hand was perfectly acceptable, after all. But a wall was certainly easy. Maybe it is acceptable? But the wood hurt, though. She sighed. Why does nothing make any sense?

Aperio spoke up before either of them had a chance to continue their meaningless blabber. She no longer wanted to be left in the dark. "Explain."

After his seemingly customary pause, Ira responded. “How much of your mana do you keep in your body at any time?”

Keep? She didn’t have to keep it there, it stayed on its own. There was more mana flowing through her since she had been in the Void than her total capacity had been before, but now that was just a drop in the ocean. Probably less than a drop. She didn’t know how much she had; it simply felt like a bottomless well.

“Almost nothing?” She wasn’t sure how else to say it. There simply wasn’t much when compared to the rest.

Ira’s eyes widened at her reply. She had guessed that it wouldn’t be normal but his surprised expression confirmed it. He quickly schooled his expression and cleared his throat. “If you would indulge an old man, how old are you?”

Aperio narrowed her eyes at the man. She did not know how old she was. She barely had an inkling about it when she was still a slave. And now, well, who knows how long she was in the Void? "Why does that matter?"

“It would help me understand,” he replied. “But if you don’t want to answer that, I understand. I do, however, have another question.”

She waved her hand, letting him know he could ask his question.

“Would I be right to assume that you have spent a significant amount of time in”– he paused briefly, looking for the right word –” ...seclusion, and only recently returned?”

That’s one way to put it. The Void was certainly a ‘secluded’ location and going by the ruins she had wandered through, a – as the man had said – significant amount of time had to have passed. Ruins didn't just appear overnight. 

She gave the man a curt nod. “Yes.”

“Ah, well, I would guess that most of the people you were acquainted with before were more like yourself.”

The Royal Guard was certainly able to do a lot of what she could do now. Though the more she used her new-found powers, the more she thought that the Royal Guard was not quite a match. The thought of bestowing onto a guard the same fate they had given the slave brought a smile to her face. Not that she could do it.  Aperio doubted that any of them were still around.

Her smile seemed to have calmed Ira a bit, probably thinking that she was simply reminiscing in the memory of her friends. He waited patiently for her to confirm his statement and, once she had, continued speaking.

“Most people are not as dedicated to the pursuit of power as your people seem to be. So I would like to ask you to be a bit more considerate of the people here.” He seemed anxious after he had finished speaking.

Aperio, while thinking that his last comment was not really necessary, let out a huff of understanding. Sure, she might have handled Thaddeus a bit rougher than needed, but how was she supposed to know that he was the Human equivalent of a twig. She also doubted that everyone was as weak as the young man, but she would make sure to be extra careful around everyone else she’d meet. And find somewhere to test how strong she truly was.

For now, though, she wanted to know what those stones were. She still had them in her hand and simply presented them to Ira. “Why is he so interested in these,” she said, glancing over at the young man that tried his best to disappear behind Laelia.

Phrasing the question in a way that did not imply a lack of knowledge on her side seemed to keep the illogical feeling at bay. Something to keep in mind.

The man gave the stones a quick look before turning to his apprentice and asking him something she did not understand. Another thing to ask him about, then. Knowing how far she would get with simple Common was something she would want to know.

After their brief exchange Ira turned back to face the Elf. “He simply has not seen the essence of a stronger beast before, he meant no offence.”

Apeiro looked at the man who seemed to shrink under her gaze with a quirked eyebrow. “None taken, but he could have simply answered the question in the first place.”

“You are… ” He trailed off, apparently unable to find the right words.

“Intimidating.”

Aperio perked up at the voice of the paladin. Intimidating? Thinking back on her actions around the Humans she could see why the warrior would say that. She certainly hadn’t made a good first impression, but neither did she want to. She had little reason to trust or like any Humans; the first she had met after returning did try to enslave her, and even a paladin of the supposedly righteous Vigil had done nothing to stop them. 

She was also certain that she wasn’t the only one that was as strong as her current self; she had seen others perform feats similar to what she could do now after all. But, with what Ira had said, it would seem that there were a lot less than she had previously thought.

In the end, she simply shrugged, a gesture that was exaggerated by the movement of her wings. “I have another question. How likely is it that I will need to learn ...whatever you are speaking?” It seemed her hunch was right, the feeling of wrong was just a tiny echo in the back of her mind. Sadly it didn’t answer where it came from in the first place. Probably the same place my knowledge of flight comes from, or the silly idea to catch swords.

It also begged the question where the gap in her memory came from. Though, memory was not the best term to use. She could remember her life just fine – more detailed than before if anything – but the new knowledge that had appeared after her stay in the Void seemed ...fragmented. She also couldn’t figure out why that knowledge felt so familiar. It was almost like it was always supposed to have been there.

“In Ebenlowe you will not encounter many problems. There are a great many people there and the Elves did their best to establish the Ancient Common as the main language,” Ira said. “There are some who refuse to use it out of pride or other misguided reasons.” He briefly paused. “But, does this mean that you accept my offer?”

Slightly shaking her head she thought about what Ira had said. Going to that city would mean that she would have to deal with a lot more Humans, most of whom would probably react to her as Thaddeus did. There was also the matter of that noble family. A small smile crept onto Aperio’s face as she thought about them. She was certain they would try something, and the thought of fighting them was just as joyous as the last time.

There was one thing she still needed to do before she would agree to leave this place. 

“Before I decide, there is someone I need to meet.”