“Hey, you!” Dema shouted, standing on a black cliff overseeing the ocean. “How ’bout we team up?”

She was addressing Umbra, Ruler of the Seventh Sea, while staring into his gigantic eye. An incredible monstrosity — a squidlike elder god, who had appeared from the depths of the world to sow chaos. His tentacles were the size of landmarks, as he flung them around in the air, growling in deep rumbles.

“Why, I mean it! No need to get angry,” Dema complained, making another step to the edge of the cliff, her toes now edging over it, chaotic waves deep beneath. “You and me, together we could rule the world! And get rid of that girl,” she added, pointing her thumb back at Theora, who was standing behind her. “She’s gonna kill us otherwise…”

And yet, all of Dema’s efforts were in vain. The creature ignored her pleas, and instead lashed out against the both of them with an enormous fingerless arm, building up a storm in its approach.

But it didn’t get far. Theora drew her sword.

[Obliterate].

And as such, starting from its gargantuan arm, the behemoth of a body popped. Torn apart slowly when seen from a distance, the Skill still bore through its body at an incredible speed, and left the creature in shreds.

You have killed Umbra, Ruler of the Seventh Sea.

You have completed a Side Quest.

Rolling rewards…

Theora dismissed the notifications.

It took a few minutes for all the gunk of Umbra’s remains to be swallowed into the ocean, leaving a giant red spot within it. The cliff had absorbed a lot of its blood and ink, as had Theora and Dema, who were now both completely soaked in muddy substances.

“Damn! I was sure that was gonna work! We would have given you so much trouble, little rabbit.”

“You sure would have,” Theora answered. Dema’s token attempt at a ‘scheme’ sure didn’t go unappreciated. A soft warmth ebbed through Theora’s heart, the briefest ailment to its aches.

The ache of not having any doubt. All they could do was walk into an ever narrowing pinch, a crevice in a mountain that they could never pass through. The walls would progressively press in on them harder and harder with each step they made forward.

Theora sighed. No more thinking for Theora.

How many times had she broken that rule now? At least, she always eventually remembered.

The same as she always eventually remembered Tras.

They hadn’t seen him again, but Theora made sure to keep him in her mind as best as she could, for whatever little time that may be. To talk to Dema about him, and to make sure they cherished the memory when it was available to them.

“I’m gonna go down and wash up!” Dema declared, and summoned a rock protrusion from the cliff, jumped on it, and then turned around to Theora, waiting for her to join.

Over time, Dema had gotten much more liberal with the uses of her Skills. She still made sure not to issue any permanent changes, but she felt comfortable using them around Theora now, which was definitely progress towards how it should be. Theora was aware that the situation was deeply messed up, and that there was essentially no way to hide from the fact that Dema was more or less still her prisoner, but Theora enjoyed every single freedom Dema dared to take.

And so, she joined her on the freshly constructed pillar of rock sticking out from the cliff now, and together, they descended on it, with lots of gravelly noise as it cut through the stone behind them. Dema made sure to take a diagonal path to stay clear of the giant red spot in the ocean, and instead navigated to an area containing fresh water.

Dema already started undressing while they were still on their way, and then ran towards the water the moment she could make the jump without injuring herself.

She swam backwards a few strokes, eyes closed, a blissful expression on her face.

“What’d the guy do, anyway?” Dema asked. “You never told me.”

“Sure you want to know?”

“Yep!”

Theora looked far into the ocean. “Remember those ruins we visited?”

“Oh! Like, where that town used to be?”

“Yes.” Theora decided to enter the ocean as well, although she did not undress. She simply wished to clean herself of the remains. “He was the one that flattened it.”

At that, Dema fell silent for a while. Just carried up and down within the waves, staring at the cloudy sky.

That was why Theora hadn’t wanted to tell her. Somehow, despite being the Ancient Evil, and despite being much older than Theora, and even despite trying to play it over so well, these types of things seemed to hit Dema rather strongly.

Was she empathetic? Or did it remind her of her own past?

“That’s all shale rock,” Dema said eventually, glancing at the cliff. “Have we been here before? Have I looked at it yet?”

“No,” Theora said.

With the next three waves, Dema let herself be carried back to the shore, and jumped out of the water. 

And with that, she started breaking shale out of the cliff, turning each piece over. This sight wasn’t new to Theora at all. Dema, having her back turned to her, facing a mountain, using her skills and bare strength and blood-formed tools to perform archaeology. She had been frustrated at times, at not finding what she was searching for. She had shown happiness and excitement on other days, and sometimes, she was just solemnly doing her work without showing any emotion at all.

But always, she’d gone back to doing it, hours on end, no hesitation.

Only, today things seemed a bit different. She was handling the rock a little harsher than usual. Throwing the useless pieces of stone away with slightly more force. Not making happy noises or frustrated groans, only issuing the raw sound of her lungs being inflated and deflated with air by the strength of her jerking movements.

“Are you alright?” Theora asked.

At that, Dema slowed down. She turned around, a bit of a pained and awkward smile on her lips. “Just… Bad thoughts.”

“Umbra?”

“Yeah…” Dema sighed. “Oh well. Gonna catch myself real soon, don’t you worry! Would be a big damn downer if there were two of us all gloomy all the time.”

Theora really, really wanted to hug her. Oh, so much.

Was it alright? To hug someone a few minutes after thinking about murdering them?

Of course it wasn’t, but not doing anything wasn’t alright, either. Theora couldn’t watch this, but… her mind went back to her Skills. Right now, it couldn’t be so bad to use, could it? No matter what happened, it could maybe at least cause a distraction.

And so, Theora activated the Skill. Just make whatever Dema wants to do work? It couldn’t be too much to ask for that [Stargazer] Class of hers to be useful for once, could it?

[im//possibility].

And again, just like last time, Theora felt the soft pull around her, an additional sense that told her something in the fabric of reality had changed. And of course, she didn’t know what that was.

So, when a moment later, Dema yelled out, Theora had no idea if her Skill had any part of it, and she’d likely never know.

“Why, would you look at that,” Dema rasped after calming down from her sudden surprised shout, and turned back to Theora, a wide grin on her face. “Found something!”