Both the old man and Adella stood in a state of shock and fear. Neither knew what to do. Albeit, Adella was happy that he was actually happy that he was alive. However, she had just tried to kill him with a knife. The old man on the other hand was mulling over his options. Either fight the pretty much unstoppable nude Priest or give up everything he knew. Neither were options he liked so he made his own option. Grabbing Adella, the old man pulled a knife and held it to her neck.

“Fuck you! Either you let me go or I kill the child.” the old man declared. The knife pressed firmly on Adella’s neck so that the slightest move would cut her. She couldn’t help but be scared. However, there was no reaction at all from Thomas. It was like she didn’t matter to him at all. She figured that he wouldn’t care about her after what she had just done.

“So, Ashen One? Is this really your choice?” Thomas asked with a stern look.

“You’re the one who needs to make a choice, Prince of Death. The girl or me?” the old man said confidently.

“I see.” Thomas said before lowering his head. Suddenly Adella started to scream. Tears ran down her face not because of the knife against her throat but because of what she saw behind Thomas. It was so terrifying to her that she lost all the strength in her body. The old man couldn’t hold her up properly without cutting her so he dropped her to the ground where she began mumbling nonsense and eventually vomiting on the ground.

“What did you do?” the old man asked angrily as he too began to show signs of fear.

“You have chosen to suffer the consequences. May our Creator have mercy on you.” Thomas said as the Ethereal being who had been standing behind him stepped forward. The being looked to be a woman in her early twenties with wings covering her body almost completely and eyes covering her wings. With every step, her body changed form. From a beautiful woman covered in wings to the personification of death to a similar woman but instead of wings she was covered in foxtails.

The old man couldn’t see her at all as she walked up to him and touched his eyes and ears. As soon as she touched them he began freaking out. He could neither hear nor see anything. However, he could pick out something. A voice. The voice of Thomas.

“This is your punishment. You shall no longer hear nor see the beauties of this world and shall spend the rest of your days in the eternal hell of your own mind. Though I was hoping that you would repent and that we could have reconciled our past. This is the fate you have chosen.” Thomas said with a somewhat sorrowful tone.

The old man yelled out curses at both Thomas and their Creator as he tried to see and hear anything. Though only the vibrations of his own voice made their way to him. Finally realizing his fate, the old man turned around to face the street which had known was behind him and ran out into it for help. Though he timed it poorly and was struck by a coach moving quite fast along the road. The old man didn’t move as blood seeped into the cracks in the brick street below him.

Thomas shook his head in disappointment before walking over to the shopping back that he had thrown to avoid getting it burned. Pulling out the pair of pants Adella picked out he put them on before walking over to Adella who was still prostrated on the ground mumbling next to a small pool of vomit. She didn’t even acknowledge him as he approached as she was still terrified.

“Adella, I’m sorry you had to see such a being. It’s always pretty scary seeing one for the first time.” Thomas said before placing his hand on her back. As soon as he touched her she shot to the side and scooted back against the wall of the alleyway with a terrified look on her face. A look that wounded Thomas.

“Stay away from me. Whatever you are. Please don’t kill me!” Adella cried out desperately as tears ran down her face.

“I see. I’m sorry. I used you to fulfill my wish and now you’re terrified of me. It’s only natural that this would happen. Guess I can't have everything.” Thomas said apologetically before walking back towards his bag of clothes and putting on the rest of the garments. Now, rather than looking like a Priest, Thomas looked like a young nobleman. His clothes were a mix of green and red personally picked out by Adella. The final piece of clothing, a small brimmed green hat with a piece of green cloth hanging down the back of it made him look less like a nobleman and more like a rich merchant.

“You should go back to the castle. With Notvallias current representative dead you’ll have to take his place. I hope that you avoid the Church for a while and that maybe we’ll see each other again.” Thomas said before disappearing into thin air.

As soon as he was gone, Adella couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief. Though she couldn’t stop her body from trembling. What she saw when she looked upon the ethereal was beyond anything she had ever seen and Thomas had experienced the same thing. Even though she was terrified she wanted to see it again. What lay beyond the vision of pure white was perfection. A perfection that she wanted to see again. After she thought this, Adella felt a burning on her chest. Looking underneath her shirt she saw the same symbol that was on Thomas’ chest branded on her.

“Hello…” A being of pure light similar to the ethereal she had seen with Thomas stood before her. “I see that you are afraid. Is there something I can do to comfort you?” the being asked her with what she assumed was a smile.

* * *

Back in the Imperial capital, we were led back up to the top floor of the labyrinth where many of the citizens were prepping for dinner with the usual public bath. Both Sasha and Lucia were a bit skeptical about joining in the bath but they eventually joined in after being convinced by the Elder. When we were finished I showed them to the dining hall even though they could have just followed the large crowd of people leaving the bath.

Both of them were enamored by the singing and dancing that was customary with dinner here. None of the townspeople were hostile to us but were in fact, thankful. Sasha and I had given them access back to their past and they wanted to show how thankful they were. Even if they didn’t help us I felt like I could call them allies.

“So, what does her majesty and hero of our feast?” Nehkasha asked Lucia and Sasha as his wife sang and danced with many others as they did when I was last here.

“It is quite lively, and the food is delicious.” Lucia replied with a gracious look.

“It’s probably the best food I’ve had in a while. This ass hasn’t fed me a decent meal in over a week.” Sasha said with an oh woe-is-me tone. I couldn’t help but be annoyed. Though Nehkasha thought it was funny for some reason before giving me a harsh glare.

“She isn’t telling the truth is she?” Nehkasha asked with a serious tone.

“Hell no! I’ve been doing my best to get us both great food.” I declared in testimony against her statement.

Rather than pushing any further into it, he let out a laugh before slapping me on the back. While we ate there was some food that need to be cut and I couldn’t do it with one hand so Sasha had to cut it for me. I felt like a child but knew that it wasn’t going to be held against me. For some reason, I felt as if I was welcome here. Perhaps it was their hospitality or maybe it was the fact that they made me an honorary Imperial but it was comforting. I didn’t want to do anything that would bring them trouble.

“Nero…” Nehkasha said.

“Yes?” I replied respectfully.

“I want to make you an offer. Stay here with us and help us rebuild without getting involved in this war. You said that only two others know you’re here so I doubt any nation would come here looking for you and Sasha. We can’t save Alsenia at this point since you said it would overrun by nightfall, though we can give the Princess a place to stay.” Nehkasha offered. He sounded sincere and I wanted to accept his offer but I felt that I couldn’t.

“I would love that more than anything. Though I still feel as if I need to work towards stopping this war.” I replied.

“I understand. If that’s the case then we’ll help you. Though my offer will always stand. You and Sasha are one of us at this point so you’re always welcome.” Nehkasha said with a willful smile.