Later that day, they decided to move to a little park in the centre of the village. Dema happily flung herself up on Skulduggery’s back to get herself carried, and kept giving loud cheers and greeting people they met on the way, regardless of how baffled they were at the sight. 

“Yea!” Dema said at some point after they’d arrived, mouth still half-full with some bread Flint had gifted them, as they were sitting down on a blanket in the grass. “Found her all alone up in the mountains. She was totally lost, and got scared when she saw me. Like, she’s pretty strong, but actually has a really soft heart. I said — sure! I’m gonna help you out! So cute. In any case, she didn’t have a name, so after she stabbed me through the back, I thought I’d just call her Skulduggery.”

“I see,” Theora said, looking up at the large rhino. That horn would have definitely caused some damage. “Why did you get stabbed?”

“Already told you!” Dema went. “She got scared, and has a soft heart! Gonell and I were sparring, but she must have thought I was gonna kill her. I imagine Skuld just wanted to knock me over. But I’m not gonna give way so easily! Horn went right through. She was really sorry.”

The rhino gave a short snort, then looked away. 

“Dema and I met a while earlier,” Gonell added in her low and voluminous voice. “She came to help as I was fighting a group of Errata. You’ve got a pretty strong companion.”

Theora gave a shy nod.

“I gotta say, though,” Gonell went on with a facetious smile, “From the way she talks, it sounds like you must be the strongest person ever. Compared to that, you look… inconspicuous.” She raised her eyebrows. “So, I’m curious where you’d rank yourself. Scale of one to ten.” 

Theora swallowed. The question made her self-conscious, to an almost dizzying amount, but she decided to still try her best to answer. She bit her lip in thought, and ran a few calculations in her head, to make her reply as accurate as she possibly could.

“Probably about… fifty-two…?”

Dema rolled her eyes. “Li’l rabbit’s being shy again — Oh!”

She waved at a point on the other side of the park, and upon turning around, Theora saw Lostina emerge from between the trees, hesitantly waving back at the sight of a complete stranger calling out to her like that.

“Here! Found us! Here, here!” Dema added, and Lostina hid her face behind her hand, but headed over anyway. Dema jumped up and ran to her side, then looked back at Gonell and made a hand gesture as if presenting Lostina.

“That’s Lossi! Our travelling companion! The one who’s your biggest fan.”

A moment of silence.

“What?” Lostina let out.

“Oh, right.” Gonell nodded. “The one you said ‘knows everything about me’.”

“Yea!” Dema confirmed. “She adores your work in the asylum, and she’s read every battle report on the front lines that you’ve been part of. Biggest fan.”

“Well,” Gonell said, turning her gaze to her ‘biggest fan’, “I’m flattered. Nice to meet you.”

Lostina seemed flustered, but still caught on remarkably quickly. “I— Yes. Been a fan of yours since the big battle at Loventh. I even considered joining the revolution just for a chance of seeing your asylum… my mom talked me out of it. Said it was an awful idea. She was probably right… I’m sorry.”

Gonell simply laughed and shrugged. “Don’t care, really. Used to it.”

“Yea!” Dema chirped. “Celeb crushes come with being famous!”

“What?” Lostina took a step back, and shook her head. “No. Wait, no. Okay, that’s too much. No such feelings exist.”

Dema raised her eyebrows. “What, you are so greedy! Haven’t you got enough experience already?”

Lostina grew red in that awkwardness, and at this point, Theora was flustered as well. Dema… why was she meddling this much… What about not rocking the boat… All the while Theora had done her very best to adhere to the rules. How mean.

“It’s alright,” Gonell said with a faint smile. “I don’t date fans anyway, no matter how cute they are.”

At that, Dema’s eyes flickered. “Gah! What a mean thing to say!” Her head swirled to Theora. “That’s not true for you, right? You’d date a fan? You would date someone who admires you?”

Oh, this was too much.

“I’d argue that’s not the same thing,” Lostina murmured, and looked at Theora. “Sorry I was gone. Was doing some scouting.”

Theora nodded, trying to hide how much she was blushing by hiding behind her hands. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Welcome,” a deep and rumbling voice suddenly echoed through the area, and it took a moment for Theora to realize that it was the rhino who had spoken.

Alright, fine. Skulduggery could speak. Perhaps she should have expected this.

 

Within the next hour, Dema got Gonell to play tag with her, so they ran around with the additional rule that one couldn’t be caught while ‘hiding behind a tree’ that Dema had invented on the spot in a precarious situation. Gonell used her flight to her advantage, while Dema propelled herself up in the air using fountains of blood — which she then sensibly cleaned up by absorbing it back into her fingernails.

“Gotcha!” Gonell yelled out once, but Theora could see her slow down the grasp of her fingers, allowing Dema to slip out at the very last second. Eventually, it became a game of ‘Can Dema hit Gonell with a splash of blood?’ and the answer was, she couldn’t, unless Gonell acted distracted by a feint.

“There we go!” Dema cheered after the third round. “I win the match! Take that!”

Lostina rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe she is so smug about it when Gonell lets her win,” Lostina murmured.

Gonell, who’d come to join them, just shrugged. “Sometimes the outcome is what matters, not how you get there. I let her win, so she won! She should be smug.”

These words seemed to hit Lostina hard, and she stopped talking. Meanwhile, Dema finally got around to absorbing all the blood splatters she’d accidentally left on Skulduggery during the game. 

“We’ll have to leave soon,” Gonell mused, only for her head to jump up in slight surprise. “I mean — I have to go soon. Sorry.”

“What? I’m coming with you!” Dema said.

“Oh. I was — I thought you’d stay with your companions.”

Dema looked to Theora and then Lostina, with a knowing expression. “Nah,” she then added. “Gonna meet up with you two later, right? I’mma help her out a bit longer. Until after.”

“Yes,” Lostina said. “That sounds good. Or rather, we’ll catch up with you, if you don’t mind?”

Gonell pulled her eyebrows together. “Huh… I’m used to travelling alone. But I suppose it’s alright.”

“Yay!” Dema let out, and grinned while climbing back on top of Skulduggery. “Ready?”

The rhino gave an affirmative grunt.

And with that, they left to what Theora could only assume would turn out to be their fight against the Errata. Once they were out of sight, Lostina gave a sigh of relief, and her demeanour changed. Gone was the slight fluster, the awkward smile, her air of comfort. Instead she frowned, chewing on her lips, and leaned back against a tree.

“That girl of yours is a menace,” she said.

Theora swallowed.

“Like, for real,” Lostina continued, “I think she knows we made it worse, and decided to keep going with Gonell to help her fight the Errata. I don’t think Dema can stop things, but… At least Gonell won’t be all alone when it happens. Also…”

“She meddled with you and Gonell,” Theora murmured.

“Yes. Honestly, gosh. She read the story in your world right? Is she a hardcore shipper or did we actually get together in the book?”

Lostina rubbed her eyes.

“Would that make you unhappy?”

“Well, it’s awkward. She’s my favourite character of all time. But that’s that, and I’m not here for… I didn’t choose to get reincarnated into this world, but now that I’m here, I can’t let her die. Ugh. In any case, I think your companion was trying to help out.”

Theora nodded. “She made it so Gonell is aware that you know a lot about her.”

“Exactly,” Lostina murmured. “I tried earlier in the conversation — I can’t tell Gonell the truth. It’s blocked. We can’t tell people that they are characters in a story, we can’t reveal knowledge to them about the future of the story, and we can’t do things that would result in a conflict with the outline. So, I can’t tell her the truth. I’d have to act as if she was a complete stranger, even though I know her creepily well. That would have sucked.”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Rings had formed under her eyes. Had she slept at all?

“But,” she continued, “Because of Dema, I now have less to lie about. That’s nice. I wonder if she did that on purpose, or if she’s just a ditz.” She sighed again, and had a bit of a pained expression. “Things really do start to hit hard and get messy. God, I feel awful. Later today is going to be awful. Fuck.”

“Do you… need a hug?” 

Lostina looked at Theora, an eyebrow raised. “You would hug me?”

“Of course.”

“We’ve only known each other for a few days.”

Theora looked at the ground. “You seem to be struggling.”

“Hell, fine, yeah, I want one. Please.”

Theora nodded, and enclosed her in her arms for a few moments. Lostina really was quite dainty, although not as much as Dema. 

“Thank you,” Lostina said. “Anyway, we’ve got stuff to do.”

“Oh?”

“If you are willing to help me, that is,” Lostina added quickly. “I might have… maybe. Maybe.” She took a deep breath. “I might have an idea.”

“An idea,” Theora repeated.

“Yes. I spent a lot of the day surveying the village and talking to some people. That didn’t yield anything on its own, to be honest. But then… Remember what Gonell said earlier? About the outcome?”

Sometimes the outcome is what matters, not how you get there.

Theora nodded.

“That gave me the idea. Tragic, in a way.”

“I see,” Theora said. “How confident are you in your idea?”

“Well. The plan is sound. If we execute it well, there is no reason why it should fail.”

Theora clenched her hands into her cloak. “Then why do you look so sad about it?”

Lostina sighed, and stared at the cliff the village was built into.

“Because it is, by pretty much all metrics, straight-up terrible. It’s the best I can come up with though. I have no illusions of being a hero.”

“Alright. Please explain it.”

Lostina got up and started walking ahead, towards the exit of the park leading to the cliff. She looked unsure for a moment. “Before I tell you, you’ll need to promise me something.”

Theora set herself in motion too, ducking under a low tree branch to get to the main path. This was starting to feel somewhat ominous.

“What would you like me to promise?”

“I know that—” She stopped herself, before starting again. “I know that you have some ideas. Like, that you think you can square off against the author. You wanted to try closing the rift yourself, and you called them a ‘strong opponent’ which, frankly, is a ridiculous assessment I’m still not over.”

Theora nodded. “It’s unclear how much the rules of this world would inhibit my abilities. I might struggle in a fight against the author. Furthermore, it is possible that if I went all out, this world would be damaged in the process. However, I would not want people to die like this.”

Lostina took a very deep breath, seemingly trying to compose herself. “Right. Yes. Let me assure you, my plan puts the residents first and provides, in my assessment, their best chance at survival. So, I want you to promise me that you will not interfere with my plan. Even if you think the plan is terrible — because frankly, it is. I’d suppose it’s still better than blowing up the world.”

By now, they had gotten to a stone stairway leading further up. Residential buildings were lined to their sides, and Theora could hear people talk through the windows. It smelled of soft, rained-on stone, of summer earth. During her sparring match, Dema had only used spells that didn’t leave lasting damage. She hadn’t split cliffs apart, hadn’t shifted continents, hadn’t flipped the valley.

Dema was honouring Theora’s request of not making permanent changes.

Lostina was uniquely qualified to navigate this situation; she was the main character of the story, she had knowledge of narrative logic and experience dealing with authors. If it was her opinion that her idea gave the residence the best chances, then Theora should probably agree to make that promise.

And so, eventually, Theora nodded. 

A lot of tension left Lostina’s body upon seeing that nod.

“Alright. Before I explain things, another short request.” She pointed at Theora’s clothes. “Could you lend me your coat? It works for others too, right? The endless pockets? Only for today.”

Theora looked down at herself. What a peculiar request.

“You can use it, if you want to. However, be wary of what you take out. Some things inside might be dangerous if handled carelessly.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Won’t take anything out, it’s not for that. Thank you.” Lostina sighed, and then continued, “Once you understand the plan in full detail, I will go off and talk to every single person living in this village. I will wear disguises, maybe of family members or people in authority positions, in order to trick them. I don’t think you will be of much help with that, so I would like you to stay put and help out at the place I’ll send them to.”

“You want me to keep them safe.”

“Yes. The idea is simple, really, once you think of it,” she said. “The outline is just a tool, and by itself, it doesn’t matter. Ultimately, what matters isn’t what actually happens, but what it leads to.”

Theora frowned. 

“We can’t conspire with other characters due to restrictions, so it’s not easy,” Lostina continued, “But, just conceptually, I would like to play a little trick. What if we just pretend that the outline has been met?”

Lostina proceeded to share what little intelligence she’d managed to gather during her prior excursion; she pointed at a house belonging to the mayor, saying that she was confident that a lot of people would listen if she wore his disguise, and she also gave a few details on the places belonging to people who were regularly on guard duty, because they were the ones who might prove the most effort to trick.

“I can’t tell them that Errata are coming, but I don’t really have to, since I can just lie. I’ll claim an army from the kingdom is on its way, or I can invent some kind of natural disaster. I just need to get them to leave. And I’ll lead them here.”

With that, they arrived at a sturdy overhang in the cliff. At its deepest point was a heavy, fortified stone door.

“Shelters,” Theora murmured.

Lostina nodded. “The village has been subject to Errata invasions in the past. Hence, they have protective structures. Not actively maintained, though, so let’s take a look.”

“They have a means to stay safe.”

“Yes. In the original story, the disaster came too sudden. But if I make noise in advance, they will be alert, and it might be enough to show them some Errata in the distance, and get most of them to safety.”

“You wish for me to stay here and take care of any arrivals,” Theora said.

With a small smile, Lostina nodded. “Please.”

“But, I don’t understand,” Theora said. “Why do you think this would work? You say we are pretending that the ‘outline’ will be met. But the outline demands all residents die in the attack, and the village be destroyed. How would this trick the author?”

“Well, if you think about it, tonight’s events have a specific function within the narrative,” Lostina said. “As long as we keep that function intact, there should be no issue. It really doesn’t matter whether the author knows, and we don’t need to worry about errors either.” Lostina gave a pained look. “Because the author isn’t the one we are trying to fool.”

A specific function. The reason why the outline demanded for the destruction of the village. The outcome the author was after.

Theora looked at Lostina, horrified.

“With that stare, I imagine you get it now,” she said, rings under her eyes looming. With a soft click, she activated a mechanism at the shelter’s gate, and it growled open. “As I said — I’m not a hero.”