Vin stared at the final entry into the journal, struggling to comprehend for a moment that there was no more. Slowly closing the rough pages, he looked at the two stocky brothers he now knew were dwarves in a new light, feeling a strange tightness in his chest.

  Only now did he notice how the larger of the two dwarves, the owner of the journal, had finally fallen. If Vin was reading the remains of the battlefield correctly, it looked as though the older of the two brothers had died doing his very best to keep the monsters off of Vaghel, obviously going so far as to give his own life in his desperate attempt to keep his little brother safe.

  Both war picks were covered in blood and monster bits, so both brothers had clearly fought with everything they’d had to survive.

  But it hadn’t been enough.

  “Wow,” Shia said, her eyes wide as she too looked at the fallen dwarves in a new light. “I’ve never read another person’s inner thoughts in such a way. It feels a bit too…”

  “Personal,” Vin finished, nodding. He’d honestly contemplated closing the journal and putting it right back where they’d found it after reading the first few pages, but Edregon was far too dangerous for that. This new world didn’t care about his own sensitivities, and if he was able to get some advanced knowledge about what lay in store for them in the next fragment, he was going to take it.

  “You sure there’s nothing else written in the back of that journal or anything? No safe codes, locations of buried treasure, nothing?” Scule asked. It seemed as though the petian was busy investigating the strange iron chips both brothers had been carrying, but he’d clearly been listening along as Vin read from the journal.

  “Definitely no buried treasure,” Vin said, rolling his eyes as he opened the journal once more and flipped through all the blank pages still remaining to humor Scule. To Vin’s surprise, something new actually did catch his eye.

  On the inside of the back cover was a name. It was rough and hastily written, as though the writer hadn’t even been sure if they really wanted to commit to putting their name in the journal in the first place, but it was still legible. Clearing his throat, Vin read it aloud.

  “Turmal Stoneshaker,” he said, closing the journal for good this time. “Guess that was the older brother’s name.

  “Turmal and Vaghel…” Shia said, still staring at the dwarfs. “…after reading all that, I feel like I met the men myself.”

  “Same here,” Scule said, finally finished going through the entirety of the two men’s belongings. “Anyway, a Crater filled with other dwarves like these guys? Sounds like an interesting place to check out once we finish our business with the divine warrior.”

  “I’m surprised you want to go there after not finding a single gold coin on either of these two,” Vin admitted. If there was one thing he understood about Scule by now, it was that the petian wasn’t often motivated by compassion.

  “Hey, I’m allowed to be curious!” Scule frowned, gesturing to the two brothers. “Think of the unique culture we’d be missing out on if we didn’t go! The mysterious Pillars, the forges deep within lava-”

  “All the gold you think might just be lying around if they use those strange iron chips instead as currency,” Alka snorted, still busy investigating the strange tall being.

  “I mean, that certainly is one of the many reasons we should go,” Scule argued weakly, glancing up at Vin in hope.

  “Trust me, I want to go check out the dwarves’ Crater just as much as you,” Vin admitted, noting the gleam in the petian’s eyes. “…although I doubt for the same reasons. And as interested as I am in their society, honestly, I feel like after reading Turmal’s inner thoughts like that we owe it to his people to at least return his journal to them. It sounds like the older dwarf really became an important pillar of their society after the Great Reset.”

  “Yes, but not a Pillar,” Shia said, crouching down and running a finger along the remarkably rough skin of the older dwarf. “…what a fascinating method of passing information down from one generation to the next. My people never had any need for anything like that thanks to the Ancient Ones.”

  “We used this highly advanced method called books,” Scule snorted. “Strangely enough despite how many divine classes we had within the citadel, very few people were ever granted any sort of protection from aging. Seemed like the Gods weren’t the biggest fans of people living forever.”

  “That is interesting…” Vin muttered, his mind whirling as to why that might be the case. After a few seconds he shook his head, trying to stop himself from getting distracted. “But we have our own mission to worry about right now. And based on that one line about ‘The One With The Golden Blade,’ I have a feeling we’re about to walk straight into these weird tall guys’ fragment. What about all that stuff Turmal mentioned about the ‘True Queen’ and the ‘Rebel Queen?’ It sounded like Vaghel had gotten in way over his head in his attempts at helping these people.”

  “I mean, I don’t know what he meant about being able to hear them in his head, but the stuff about the queens makes enough sense,” Shia shrugged. “Sounds like whoever was in charge of these people must have ruled through an iron fist and not really been all that well liked. I’m betting when the Great Reset happened and they lost their power, it sparked some sort of revolution, and Vaghel just happened to run into the so-called rebels during his exploration.”

  “But seeing as they all need to remain hidden and what happened to Vaghel in the first place, it sounds like this True Queen regained her strength rather quickly,” Vin pointed out. “I don’t know, this fragment seems like a bit much. Trying to rush through a fragment literally in the middle of a civil war is one thing, but a civil war where both sides may be capable of temporarily, or even permanently, damaging our memories might be too dangerous. I know it’s horrible to even say, but should we just wait for the divine warrior to move to the next fragment?”

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  Vin felt awful even suggesting such a thing, and the thought of waiting as the divine warrior slaughtered who knew how many more innocent people just to keep his own friends safe made him feel physically ill. But even so, after their most recent dance with death, he wasn’t willing to go through that a second time just yet.

  “You at least have your Resistance skill,” Shia pointed out, tapping her head with her staff. “And I’m willing to bet our high focus attributes will offer us some defense as well. If Vaghel was a regular old Explorer, it’s safe to assume he probably didn’t bother putting many points into focus. However…”

  “Sounds like Reginald and I may have to sit this one out, huh?” Scule summed up, laying a protective hand on his companion. Reginald gave them a sad but understanding squeak, wrapping his tail around Scule in turn.

  “Unless you want to risk losing your memories,” Shia nodded, frowning at the idea. The elf clearly wasn’t a fan of the idea of splitting their party, but her concern over their friends’ wellbeing outweighed her personal desires.

  “Definitely got a few I wouldn’t mind losing, but yeah, I don’t think I’m willing to risk going in there,” Scule said, giving Reginald a few reassuring pats. “I suppose we could go stay with the infernals for a few more days. Malzar certainly seemed upset to see me go. And Reginald could get a few more days alone with his lady friends…”

  At the mention of his lady friends, the rat actually blushed; his ears turning a distinct shade of pink as he squeaked and hid his face behind his paws.

  “I don’t like the idea of confronting the divine warrior without you two, but I like the idea of you guys forgetting everything that’s happened to you these past few months even less,” Vin admitted.

  “You’ve got Alka and Shia, you guys will be fine,” Scule reassured him. “Gods knows I wouldn’t want to find myself on the other end of Alka’s sword.”

  Chuckling, Vin glanced over at the one they’d originally been doing all this for. For whatever reason, Alka still seemed strangely invested in the odd corpse of the weird looking being. All this time, she’d been slowly floating around the body, her ethereal face practically pushed through the lengthy corpse as she conducted some sort of investigation.

  While the being was definitely one of the stranger ones they’d encountered so far on their travels, he wasn’t sure just what about it had drawn her attention to this degree. Alka had certainly been acting a bit strange recently, what with her unexpected declaration back in the infernals’ village followed by her sudden insistence on training them, but literally shoving her head into a dead body seemed a bit much.

  Vin watched the ghost drift around, wondering if now was finally the time to pry into what was going on with her. He wanted to respect her autonomy of course, but if they were about to risk their lives, or their memories, on their continued hunt for the divine warrior…

  It was about time they had a chat.

  “Alka…” He began, the ghost’s attention snapping to him in an instant. No doubt Alka recognized that uncertain tone of his and realized immediately where he was going. “…we should talk about what you said back in the village.”

  The moment the words left his mouth, everyone froze. As if Alka were a wild animal and they were trying to avoid scaring her off, the rest of the party turned ever so slowly toward the ghost, giving her their full attention.

  Alka didn’t give anyone else a second thought, her eyes firmly locked onto Vin’s own as though daring him to continue this line of questioning.

  “Why do we have to talk about it?” She argued, crossing her arms defensively. “It’s my decision isn’t it? I don’t see why what you guys want has any say in the matter.”

  “Of course it’s your decision, Alka… We just want to make sure you’re making it for the right reasons,” Vin said, already wincing as he struggled to get his feelings across. He could crack a joke alright, but as someone who used to wander alone, he still struggled with this kind of honest and open discussion between friends. “If you changed your mind because you’re worried about the rest of us-”

  “Of course I’m worried about the rest of you!” Alka cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. “I nearly watched the four of you die because I pushed you all to enter the fragment we already knew was dangerous. Me! If you hadn’t been rushing after the divine warrior, you could have taken your time and found a different way around the fragment!”

  “Alka, none of us had any way of knowing what we were getting into there,” Shia said, smiling softly at the ghost. “What happened wasn’t your fault, and seeing as everyone’s fine, you could even argue it was a good thing. We even managed to finally find some magical beast remains to send to Erik, so honestly we came out on top in my opinion.”

  “If we hadn’t needed to find the infernals’ village in order to save our hides, Shia’s divine boon wouldn’t have brought us there either,” Scule pointed out, grinning as he ruffled Reginald’s fur. “We met a lot of nice people there, and it was the entire reason ol’ pointy ears here actually has a lead on how to find her master again.”

  Reginald let out an indignant squeak, slapping Scule’s hand away with his tail.

  “…and rats,” Scule hissed, rubbing his stinging hand and glaring at his companion. “We met a lot of nice people, and rats.”

  Alka floated there a few inches off the ground, her green, ethereal body flickering as she looked at the four of them. For once, the usually snarky ghost seemed at a loss for words as she struggled to convey what she was feeling to them. Finally, after a few seconds of inner turmoil, she sighed, sagging a little in the air.

  “…that’s not the only reason…” she finally muttered, her voice so quiet Vin barely managed to catch what she’d said.

  “What?” He asked, flinching as she glared at him again.

  “Obviously I don’t want to put you guys in any more unnecessary danger. But that’s not the only reason…” She paused, taking an unneeded deep breath as she finally repeated her surprise declaration from back in the infernals’ village. “…not the only reason I’ve decided I don’t want to truly die… not just yet.”

  “There… There might be a way I can become myself again.”

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