By the time we reached the guild, I was almost fainting. The pain was getting unbearable… But I didn’t want to let go yet, I wanted to stay with her for as long as I could. I’m sure it’s obvious by now that I was not feeling well, though Iris said nothing about it… She simply smiled at me while we walked, a smile completely devoid of happiness, a smile that fruitlessly tried to hide the pain underneath it… I’m sorry, sorry for being this selfish, sorry for making you feel this way time and time again.

I was sorry, yet had no intention of changing my behavior, no intention of making both mine and her pain go away… If it meant we could be together for ever a second longer, then I’d endure as much pain as I needed. If it was possible, I’d even stop time to be with her, to just gaze at her face for all of eternity… But time did not stop, it never stopped, it kept moving on and on… And with each tick of the clock, I felt the pain inside me getting bigger and bigger, soon enough, I would be unable to hold it back any longer.

But it was not this time yet, we still had a small while remaining, and I wanted to make the most of it… However, I couldn’t. For the moment I acknowledged I just wanted to enjoy the small time we had left, would be the moment I lose Iris. So I held back my wishes and decided to relish on her company while doing our mundane tasks… Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside the guild’s building, towards our final moments together.

Once there, I could immediately see Thalia idling behind the counter, for a moment I wondered if she was the only person that ever worked in the guild’s reception, but this thought left my mind as she opened her eyes wide when looking at me, “Aria, are you alright!? You look horrible!” She exclaimed… Is my complexion this bad? I was sure it was obvious to Iris, but didn’t expect it to look this way to onlookers as well.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired from work, nothing a good night’s sleep can’t solve.” I told her as we got close enough to let me support myself on the counter. My body felt heavy.

“If you’re fine, then I’m strong enough to take down a dragon.” I honestly wondered if she was actually able to kill one, considering what the standards for people in this guild are… Maybe it doesn’t apply to receptionists, “You need healing immediately, I’ll bring over a cleric, just wait here!” She was certainly eager to help and acted on it really quickly, that was impressive… I wonder if other heroes liked to pretend they didn’t have issues too? In that case her assertive nature might come in handy.

However, I’d prefer if she didn’t do it, we would just be wasting the healer’s time. Iris seemed to share my thoughts, for she said, “There’s no need to, Aria will get better soon. ”Thalia seemed puzzled, I guess she expected Iris to vehemently support the idea of me getting help… Well, I’m sure Iris does support it on the inside, but she knows it will be useless, so there is no point in calling a cleric.

Thalia didn’t want to step down though, so she restarted, “But …”

Iris didn’t let her speak though, “Trust me. She’ll be fine.”

Thalia gave up, I don’t think it was because she believed Iris words though… Most likely, it was because she could see the sadness hidden behind Iris’ smile. At moments like these, I wish Iris wasn’t very perceptive and didn’t realize what was going on with me… Just in moments like these… But it’s no use to wish for the impossible, it seems like anyone that pays the minimum of attention can realize I’m in trouble.

After heaving a sigh, Thalia asked us what happened and if we cleared the job already. We explained the current circumstances and how we needed her help to find someone else that was in the unnatural sleep state induced by the relic.

She wasn’t happy with the request at all, possibly because she didn’t want to expose anyone else… Yet she decided to cooperate, for this was the best way to save those people.

Thalia told us to follow her outside and started moving… When I tried following though, I tripped and fell on my knees, my face almost hit the floor as well, but I was able to put my hands in the ground and stop my fall before that.

“Aria!” Thalia shouted worriedly. I ignored her, my attention was focused on someone much more important.

Iris flew right in front of my lowered head, then asked, “It’s enough, isn’t it?” She was sad, the pain from hearing her words was far bigger than the pain in my body… Yet I still didn’t want to let go… Even if for just a few more moments…

I answered her, “No, I’m fine…” and then tried to get up… But I failed. I failed and started coughing, blood came out of my mouth, the taste of iron filled my tongue…

Iris stayed there, right by my side, “Just how many times will you have to go through this until you understand…? This doesn’t make me any happier.” Her words stung deeply in my heart.

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“You’re not, don’t pretend to be.” Her tone was not admonishing me… She was just sad… And sadly telling the truth we both knew.

I couldn’t deny it, “I’m not indeed… I can’t help wanting to be with you…”

She sighed, “I appreciated the feelings, but I lost count of how many times you told that to me while crawling on the ground… It hurts to see you like this, Aria.” I wanted to apologize… But again, I was not sorry, it was why I kept doing this in the first place, so I kept quiet. “Are you satisfied now?” She asked.

I gave her a pained smile, “I’m never satisfied.”

She smiled back, with an expression about as happy as mine, “You aren’t indeed…” Tears filled her eyes, “I’m going home.”

I started crying as well, “… Alright.” And with my tears I made a small magical circle on the ground, “I, Aria, am henceforth terminating the contract with the Fairy Familiar, Iris. Let the gods be witness to these words and may their will come to fruition. Release.”

The circle shined and so did Iris’ body, she waved at me and said, “Take care.”

“See you soon.” I answered… And then, she disappeared. I couldn’t sense her presence at all, as if she was never here in the first place… I hate this.

“What in heavens’ name happened here!?” Thalia shouted. I had forgotten she was here already.

I turned my head towards her, but  didn’t immediately reply, instead, I tried putting some strength in my legs to get up first… I was unable to though, so I sat on the ground and accepted it was as good as I could get for now. At least the pain in my chest was slowly receding… The tears didn’t stop falling from my eyes though, not because of how much my body hurt, but because I couldn’t endure staying away from Iris for this long, I never could.

I took a deep breath and then explained, “I just terminated our contract. Iris is a familiar I summon from the Elemental Plane of Fire, I need to consume mana to maintain it, and after a while I run out and need to send her back… Then I need to wait a few days to summon her again.

“As for the whole coughing blood thing, that’s what happens when your body runs out of mana yet you still try to fuel spells, it starts consuming your own life force… It’s okay though, I got used to it by now.”

Thalia looked speechless… Understandable, it must be hard to believe I could stay a few days without Iris… Though I can’t really do it, I just don’t have any options.

A few moments later though, she regained her composure and asked, “Wait… You need a few days to replenish your mana?” Then she shook her head, “No, more importantly, what do you mean you’re used to it!? Does this happen every time!?” I’m not sure if she was in scolding mode or if she was just amazed at my stupidity… No, Iris is the one with a scolding mode, Thalia is just asking what comes to her mind… I suppose I can answer, it’s not like I have anything better to do anyways.

“I don’t need that much time to replenish it… Summoning Rituals involve asking for the gods’ blessing to create a safe passage between both planes, which is not a big deal for them, but it is a small annoyance… When you start asking for that every day though, they start getting annoyed.” I started explaining, though she seemed confused… It’s okay though, she’ll understand by the end of the story, even if I doubt she wanted the long version of it… But it’s good to share, it helps pass time, it distracts me for a small while and lets the day I summon Iris get a tiny bit closer, that alone was enough of a reason to keep talking.

I then continued sharing the details that she most likely didn’t care for… Who’d care anyways? It’s just a dumb story about a pathetic and unimportant person after all, “At some point the God of Fire sent a messenger to me and told me I was forbidden from making summons ever again as he was sick of me asking for his blessing all the time… It was understandable, since I was doing it far more actively than even priests do, but still pretty despairing for me. I ended up begging the messenger to ask him to reconsider and that I would try holding back on it, or… Well, pretty much anything that allowed me to still be with Iris.

“I think the messenger pitied me, because he said he’d try to talk to the God about it… I couldn’t thank him enough, and after a few days he came to me saying that I was allowed one summon per week and no more than that.” I was surprised to see Thalia’s face wasn’t filled with boredom by now, she seemed… Understanding, I wonder if she’s used to hearing stories from nobodies… Maybe it’s part of the job, to hear the stories behind people that put requests for the guild. “And while I was happy I could see Iris again, it was pretty rough to summon her for a few hours and then needing to wait a whole week to stay with her once more.

“So I started researching, asking around, trying to understand how to save up mana while doing magic and how to make summons consume less. It’s how I started learning more about the arcane and the glyphs you can make with it. I learned how to enchant a broom, so that I wouldn’t need flight magic; I learned how to make a scroll to throw a fireball, so as to only spend the small amount necessary to activate it… And I learned how to make a summoning circle that restricted Iris’ abilities while in here, which allowed me to stay with her for longer before running out of mana, and it also had the nice side effect of stopping her from burning things she didn’t intend to because she touched them.

“Still… It’s just hard… Even if I went from seeing her one day per week to seeing her for half the week, it’s not enough… I want more, I want to be with her… I want to be together forever…” I started sobbing again, I hated showing this side of mine to others… Iris is the only one that should be allowed to see me like this… Yet she wasn’t here, anyone could see it except her.

While I cried, Thalia sat down next to me and put her hand on top of my head, then asked, “Iris certainly means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”

“I love her.” I answered between my sobs, “Iris means everything to me, she’s the only one that has always been there for me, the only one that never betrayed me… She’s the reason I can keep on living. I just can’t survive without her… I just can’t…” Thalia said nothing, but she gently caressed my head… It reminded me of mom, they both gave a similar feeling… I wonder if Thalia would also sell me for a few pieces of silver should she have the chance. It doesn’t matter, she won’t have the chance anyways.

I got angry at myself, Thalia was clearly trying to comfort me, yet I kept remembering those pointless things and having those useless thoughts… I should just stop thinking, that would solve it… Then, I better get moving, I suppose.

I forced myself to get up. My legs were still wobbling, but they could at least endure my weight. I looked in her eyes and said, “Come on, show me the way and I’ll fix this problem for good.” Maybe working will take my mind off Iris for a while, it might serve as a decent distraction.

She blinked a few times before answering, “Show the way…? You mean to a person that is on the unnatural sleep? Because if you do, you really need to learn better ways of changing topics, you’ll just confuse the people you’re talking to otherwise.” I made no effort to reply, there wasn’t anything worth saying anyways.

Thalia sighed, got up, and then took a careful look at me before continuing, “That said… No.” What…? “I won’t show you the way, not now at least.

“Go home and rest, you’re barely staying on your feet right now, you can’t expect to handle a relic that sucks your life force when you were coughing blood just a small while ago, can you? Come back tomorrow and I’ll help you.” I wanted to argue back, but I couldn’t really find the motivation to.

“Okay… See you tomorrow.” I answered, then moved out without waiting for a reply.

After wobbling my way back to the inn, I just dropped on the bed without even bothering to undress… I was tired… It was still early, but I think I should sleep… I wish Iris was here, I’d sleep more peacefully…