Fully rested and with a stomach full of food more nutritious than the fat-sthered meat and mead the Wolves provided, Dante walked through a long-abandoned walled city with Ireishil, the both of them given the task of searching for the spouse of one of the officers of the Guild. This city, which used to be a haven for trade and commerce, was now instead a ransacked husk of its former self, shown by the hundreds of feet of crumbled buildings and heavily weathered architecture. Light shone through the holes torn through these buildings, revealing no signs of life other than the two Guild mercenaries currently strolling through the desote expanse. The details were simple: run in, grab a Salisko woman, and run out. A Salisko sticks out very easily, with them typically having multiple sets of small horns on their heads, alongside fangs, multi-colored skin, and a long, typically scaled tail. While Dante walked about, he looked back at Ireishil, who he noticed had been acting rather strangely. Her reactions were slower than usual, and she often stared off into space while she walked, her mind clearly in a pce other than this mission. He stopped in front of her, her softly bumping into him, snapping her out of her daydreaming. “Hm? Do you see something?” Ireishil asked, him turning around as he went to speak. “Hey, is everything alright? I know I reacted somewhat negatively when we were coming back from Tsiuc, but… it’s really no concern. And I don’t want you to feel like you did anything wrong, trying to protect me and all.” She shook her head, walking up closer to him as she answered. “It’s not that. I understand that you dislike what you view as needless violence. It is Pryderi that has been bothering me.” He turned his head at her, putting his finger up to his chin. “Hmm? What’s wrong with Pryderi? Did you two get into an argument?” “You do not think it’s odd how he was able to convince himself to leave the group of people he’s spent his whole life with, for 2 random mercenaries he only knew for a day? And how he did it so easily without any visible regret or hesitation?” Dante thought about Ireishil’s statement for a moment, scaling along the uneven, rubble-covered terrain of the city. It was a very sudden shift that Dante noticed, and though Dante assumed the best intention from Pryderi, he couldn’t help but share a bit of Ireishil’s suspicion now that she had mentioned it. “Well… it is a little strange how he wanted to change his whole life like that. All because I told him about my dreams when I was young. Do you think he has some sort of ulterior motive?” She shrugged, looking up at the sky again while the both of them navigated upwards a colpsed wall. “I do not think he is going to do anything to us. I only think there is something more to it. Something that he is not telling us.” “Hmph.” With the both of them now on higher ground, Dante then scouted about the city with the elevated height. The structure of many of the homes and buildings had withered or even burnt down long ago, making the town look more like an ashpit than a pce where people once lived. However, there was no sign of a red-yellow salisko anywhere to be seen. After climbing up a nearby wooden dder, Dante began to casually step along the stone brick walls, his casual gait rapidly changing as a chunk of the stone structure colpsed under his foot. His leg sunk down into the expanding hole, though Dante managed to quickly pull himself out, his face white with fear as he fell over onto his back. The hole torn through the top of the wall revealed some sort of armory hidden within the somewhat narrow corridors dug through the stone. Looking back at Ireishil, she nodded as she began to scale down the walls, her climbing down the sharp angle with seemingly little effort given. Dante, however, had no such strength in him. He simply stood over the hole that looked a good 30 feet deep, tugging at his colr with sweat starting to trickle at his brow while Ireishil looked up at him. “Jump. I will catch you.” She ordered, him recoiling a bit as he worked up the nerve to take the plunge. “Uhm… are you sure? I could break something, most notably one of my bones.” “You can heal yourself, can you not?” Taking in a couple deep breaths, Dante hesitated for another second before throwing himself into the hole, yelping as he nded in Ireishil’s grasp. She lifted him in a bridal carry, Dante cringing slightly at the somewhat embarrassing hold, him wincing while Ireishil let him down onto his feet. “Ah… th - thank you.” He muttered. Before the two could gather their bearings, a wooden door swung open before them, Dante and Ireishil both turning to see a dirtied, tired-looking salisko woman staring between the two, her messy bck hair frazzled over the stubby horns on her forehead. “Visibly clueless. Destroying historical architecture for no reason. Far more brawn than brain, and slightly higher quality than usual equipment. I can only infer you two are from the Guild.” She coldly stated, her arms crossed while Dante walked up to her, Ireishil close behind him as he went up to expin. “Right, haha. I’m guessing you’re the spouse of the Guild lieutenant. I believe he’s worried about you and your abrupt departure.” She heaved an annoyed sigh in response, turning her head away from him while crossing her arms. “Yeah. Real worried his piece of meat to fuck isn’t waiting for him in his bed sheets. You can take me in, I knew one of you would eventually get lucky.” Her tone seemed to fluster Dante, his face reddening up a little as he looked over at Ireishil, who seemed indifferent while she took out a coil of rope. “Huh? Did he really have you get rope for this?” Ireishil nodded, bringing the salisko to the floor as she bound her hands and feet. “I think she’s willing, we probably don’t - ” As the salisko hit the floor, a knife fell out from her trousers, Ireishil quickly taking it and holding it up to Dante, before going to finish the binds. “Oh. B - By the forces, were you really going to stab us instead of… perhaps trying to talk things out?” “Pshh. As if you thick-skulled sellswords even remotely care. You want the thrones on my head, and the only thing that’d stop you would be getting cut open.” He looked over at Ireishil as she carried the spouse on her shoulder, seeing the salisko woman grunting slightly in Ireishil’s tight hold. Dante led her out from the room, walking across the inside corridors for a moment, stopping across a set of loose bricks surrounding a rge, crumbling crack. Putting his leg on some of the bricks, he pressed his foot against the foundation for a good minute or two, grunting a bit before it finally gave, giving enough room for him to get out. Ireishil managed to squeeze herself through while pushing the salisko out in front of her, with them now headed back to a carriage that was specifically ordered by the Guild. Dante climbed onto the back of it and helped Ireishil up, the arterian tossing the salisko captive on the wooden surface before sitting down next to her. “Forgive me, I’m curious, but… do you actually want to be there? Are we taking part in forcing you to come back to him?” The salisko seemed too shocked by Dante’s oblivious questioning to respond for a moment, her having to give him a look to ensure he was serious before replying. “What do you think, you fucking moron? If I liked being with that degenerate bastard, I wouldn’t of ran away from him, and he wouldn’t have to send armed commoners after me.” While Dante would’ve normally felt bad, he still stung from all the insults and the murder attempt, leaving him feeling more conflicted about the ordeal. Ireishil ordered the coachmen to return back to the city, the carriage quickly taking off while the bound spouse gred between Ireishil and Dante. The silence that hung over the moving wagon was deafening, broken only by the clopping of the gefyl’s hooves across the gravel. Ireishil was the first to say something, her looking mostly annoyed by the situation while she leaned back into the cushioned, roofed cart. “If you have something to say, say it.” “What, you want to get talkative now, you ugly bitch? For a moment, I thought you were a man, you look more like you have a cock than that dwarf tovron there.” Ireishil only stared at her with a bnk expression, though Dante seemed more offended, his face wincing while he looked between himself and Ireishil. “You two want to hear of my marriage? Fine. I suppose you wish to ugh at my misfortune to pass the time.” She inhaled deeply, Dante looking shocked at the spouse’s comments, leaning towards her to listen as she spoke. “Alright. I was 12 years old when my parents auctioned me off. Was just a kid, had no idea what the fuck was happening. Guy who bought me was some asshole decci noble in his forties. That noble’s one of the Guild's lieutenants, and he’s the one that decided to use me like a maid and a pleasure device for decades.” Dante visibly recoiled at the thought, hesitantly hearing what else she had to say. “Reducing me to how I could please him each waking day of my life. He beat me whenever I didn’t satisfy him enough, he showed me off and let guests entertain themselves with my body… he - he was just a self-obsessed, malicious, controlling piece of shit. He forced me to marry him when I was 17, and that marriage has been going on against my will for…” She trailed off for a moment, a stray tear starting to leave her eye as she continued. “...for 12 fucking years. I’m so sick of it. The next time I get away from him, I’m just going to throw myself off a cliff or slit my neck so I can have peace without his marauders chasing after me.” Before Dante could speak up, she continued, her voice getting gradually more shaky as she spoke, occasionally stopping to choke out a sob. “Do you know how hard it is? To be ripped of who I am as a person, to be more like a breathing doll than the woman I once was? I had dreams. I had goals. There were things I always wanted to do, pces I wanted to be. I wanted to make treaties for outsider vilges, I wanted to build cities, I wanted to make jobs so people didn’t have to resort to thievery.” She took in a shaky breath, turning her head away from the two. “But all I am now is a tool to some pervert. He probably paid less thrones than what he needed for another girl, with how little he cares for me. And with how little he cares for either of you, as well.” She looked down, grinding her teeth together. Dante got up, taking his dagger out of his robe as Ireishil get up in front of him. “What are you doing?” She asked, Dante looking up at her as he sighed. “I’m… I’m only sharpening my dagger.” While the coachman didn’t seem to be occupied with what they were both doing, Ireishil pulled Dante to the back of the cart, whispering into his ear. “You can’t be considering this. She tried to kill us. This is all likely some fabrication by her.” “She isn’t lying. I can - I can tell.” Dante confidently spoke, Ireishil letting out a sigh, finding herself not having the patience to deal with the captive any longer. Shrugging, Dante walked up to the spouse, her looking up to him as he spoke. “Do you happen to… have any wounds from when he hurt you?” She nodded, turning her body to reveal an especially deep flogging mark on her back, it still cracked with dried blood and exposed fat stuck to it. Casting Remedium under his breath, Dante gently pressed his sigil-covered palm up to where the bleeding started. The wound slowly went away, him then going to cut her ties next. She stood up in front of him, a visibly surprised look on her face while she looked down at the young tovron. “You’re different from the others. Thank you.” She whispered, before rolling off the back of the cart, quickly fleeing down the road away from them. Dante sat back down, heaving a deep exhale while he looked at Ireishil. “She rolled off while we weren’t paying attention, and could be anywhere along the path we took.” Ireishil quietly stated, Dante giving a thumbs up to the story as more time passed by, them getting ready to head back into the city and receive reprimand for their “negligence”.

  Sitting back at his room, Dante read through his journal, trying to train his mana to be more endurant with his spells. The Lieutenant had ordered that he and Ireishil were to not receive any payment for the assignment, and that such “personal” missions were to not be assigned to them until further notice. The door opened to reveal Ireishil walking through the doorway, her holding a pot with a reddish-white meat sitting in honey. Dante recognized this meat as a cut sourced from a Wig, a fairly long and hair-covered vermiform creature that was commonly domesticated and sughtered for its sweet and succulent meat. “I’ve bought a ham for us to share.” Ireishil stated, Dante smiling, scooting closer to her and letting her pce his pted portion in his hands. “Thank you.” Dante spoke, Ireishil humming in response. Dante sat on his bed and Ireishil on a chair facing the window, Dante facing her while he ate. The door swung open once again while they enjoyed their dinner, them both looking at it expecting to see another irate officer, though instead it was Pryderi with a cot and his pack. “Oh, hello, Pryderi. Did you manage to pass the examination?” He took a look at Dante, pcing his cot in a more spacious part of the floor as he started to unpack. “Course I did, did you expect anything less?” He answered, smirking as he looked at the remains of the ham. “Either of you mind if I help myself? I haven’t eaten much today.” “No, no, go ahead. Are you going to sleep here for the night, until you get your own room?” Pryderi ughed out, taking a small slice of the ham. “This is my room. Guild told me they’ll stick me in here with the rest of my group, apparently the room has enough space to stuff a cot in here. Hope you don’t mind the trouble.” “It’s fine! I only figured they would have given you something a little more… comfortable, I suppose.” “Hah. I figured that, too. But that’s just how it is.” The sun began to set, and with Dante having finished his meal, Ireishil went back downstairs to get their next line of work for the day. Pryderi yawned while Ireishil closed the door behind her, falling onto his cot as he started drifting off to sleep. Dante looked down at him, still curious about what Ireishil mentioned earlier. “Why did he seem so energetic, to leave his home and go on the road with random mercenaries?” Dante thought to himself. Figuring he wouldn’t get an answer any time soon, Dante id down on his back, the breeze from the window keeping the room nice and cool as he too began to rest.

  “What? You are aware that you’re making up for you mishandling your st mission, correct?” The clerk at the desk stated, Ireishil bent over it as she receive the news. “But Urypool is a city dominated by the Darkness. One does not go there without leaving hollowed.” The clerk shook their head, leaning back after they handed Ireishil the assignment. “Welp. That’s not what our local celebrity thought. This map should help you find him. I recommend picking up someone from the tavern. You, a cleric, and that archer won’t be enough.” Sighing, Ireishil took the parchment from their hands before she retired back to her room, deciding to worry about it tomorrow while she swung open the door to see the other two fellows in her party resting. Pcing the parchment on the table, Ireishil read about rescuing some big-named swordsman who went off and got trapped in a city filled with hollows. She sat by the window, resting her head on her hand while she thought back to the salisko woman she and Dante let go not too long ago. To think that such things could happen in what was supposed to be the mantle of order was definitely upsetting to hear, though her experiences in cities full of mutants did desensitize her to those kinds of events. Looking back over at Dante, she exhaled deeply as she leaned down the chair. His very visage reminded her of simpler times, back when she was still caught up in that supposed prophecy. To be the jewel from the rough meant so much to her then. As she further thought on it, she eventually lulled off to sleep.

  She was young, her scaled arms thin and frail, her body meek and small. Ireishil looked up and around the paintings as an older mutant woman with a long tail and set of cws led her up and down the halls of the stone building, expining to her the prophecy for the arterian mutants that were passed down for years. “(You… you, young Bhehle. You are what our ancestors had hoped for.)” The Prophet stated in their people’s native tongue, kneeling down before her and resting her cws on her arms while looking at her with a wide smile. “(Is that really true..?)” She muttered, looking down and rubbing her arm as the Prophet further expined. “(Yes! Look at this, a child was to be born in this very city, freed from the curse the rest of us suffer. You will tie the ends between us and greater civilization, and unite Nimouervil to finally become whole once more. Do you understand?)” She asked, Ireishil nodding while she walked more along the scripture, her future self being depicted as a robed woman holding hands with both a mutant arterian and a vinnan. It was so much for her to take in at a young age, all the elders of the mutant city always urging her on to train and study the central nguage so that she could properly introduce herself to this supposed futuristic civilization that was just a greatfowl ride away. It all changed so fast when she finally got there. Upon the rge, feathered biped Greatfowl steed which she rode upon, Ireishil saw not this grand, ornate utopia that she was taught so much about when she was younger.

  Poverty, crime, chaos, strife, it was just as, if not more present in this “greater society” than in her home vilge. Ireishil felt like she had been lied to her whole childhood when she first saw the world outside of her humble vilge of Abidos. In between the many jobs she took, she would return to the vilge and offer food and water to the impoverished and hungry, but as she ingrained more into this new society, she slowly distanced herself from her old one.