Priestess and Half-Demon Thief found themselves back at the sacrificial altar as before but found the bodies of the bandits and the sacrificed woman no longer there; Rookie Warrior, Apprentice Cleric, the captives and the human wizard were also missing.
"We're back…but where are the others?" Priestess was confused by the absence of Rookie Warrior and Apprentice Cleric.
"They must have returned to the village with the captives. Think about how much time we lost in the other village; it would make sense for them to have gone back." Half-Demon Thief rationalized their disappearance.
"That does make sense. Which would also explain why the woman's body from the altar is missing as well. What about the wizard?"
"They must have taken him back as a prisoner to face what he had done. What's strange to me is where are the bodies of the bandits? I can't imagine those two taking them back, and no animals would have dragged them away in such a short amount of time."
"Let's get back to the village ourselves and we can figure out what happened?"
Just as they were about to leave Half-Demon Thief paused as she looked at the altar and then the odd stone indentions along the floor. With her gloved hand she wiped her hand along the altar, examined it then repeated the same motion for the indentions.
"What are you doing?"
"It's strange…there's no blood here." Half-Demon Thief commented as she looked at her gloved hand. "Even if the blood had dried there should still be some left here, but it's almost as if it never existed."
"Perhaps an effect of the gate spell? We can figure out everything with the others back in the village."
"Agreed."
Both young women started off toward the village, although confused by the gate spell and appearing in that village, delighted that all had gone smoothly on their adventures. Just as the sun started to rise, they reached the village, but too found things to be rather different there as well. The damage they had seen the day before was completely gone, it almost appeared as if it had never occurred. The lone guard stood ready with spear drawn as the girls approached.
"What business do you have here?" The guard was very suspicious of these two women even though he could see their guild tags.
"What do you mean what business? We came to report back about the captives?" Half-Demon Thief frowned that this human would brandish a spear at them.
"We also wanted to check to see that our comrades had returned safely."
The man with the spear looked at them as if they were crazy, soon enough the commotion he caused drew the attention of the other villagers who crowed near the entrance to see what was going on.
"What are you talking about? There's no one missing from the village!"
"Perhaps you were mistaken with the villages assigned at the guild."
"There's no one else here at this village besides us."
Both young women were at a loss for what they were hearing. How could they have forgotten about the quest they assigned to them? Where did their comrades go?
"What do you mean "what do you mean"? The quest given to us was to rescue the women who were abducted from this village. We left from here less than a day ago!" Half-Demon Thief was growing impatient with the villager's attitudes and their strange act of forgetting everything.
Priestess too was deeply confused by all of this; she could see some of the women they had rescued among the crowds including the two sisters. It was then that she finally noticed something about the younger sister who tightly gripped her older sister's hand…her bandages were no longer present.
"It's…it's like she was never injured. Wait…how can that…no."
"I tell you this is the village were sent to just…"
"I'm so sorry for this disturbance." Priestess bowed her head toward the villagers. "It would seem that we were mistaken. We'll go and search for our comrades elsewhere."
"Wait what are you…"
"I'll explain when we're away from the village. For now, let's head back to town."
Priestess and Half-Demon Thief departed from the village; the confused villagers eventually went about their business. Once far enough away from the village, both girls began to freely discuss what had just happened.
"Why did we leave? We don't even know what happened to the other two?"
"Did you notice it? That little girl from yesterday…her wounds were healed. More than healed, it was like they were never there."
"What do mean?"
"Think back to what that wizard was trying to do…trying to change the past. What…what if that wasn't a gate spell after all?"
"You're suggesting we went back in time? Then what about that village we saved? How did that change things here?"
"I…I don't know. For now, let's get back to town and we can figure out what's happened when we discuss this with Goblin Slayer."
It was a long quiet walk for the girls, each unsure of what was going on, did they come back in time? If so, how far? Would they meet themselves? All these questions were going through the minds, and neither one had any answer that made sense. It was late in the afternoon when they finally reached Frontier Town, and as they entered the guild were delighted to see Guild Girl smiling at the front desk.
"Good afternoon. How are you doing?" Her smile was bright as ever.
"Thank goodness. Where are the others? Did Rookie Warrior and Cleric come back safely?"
"I'm sorry. Who are you looking for?"
"Rookie Warrior and his partner the young Cleric. They went out with us during our quest. Did they make it back here safely?" Half-Demon Thief was slightly concerned by Guild Girl's demeanor.
"I don't think we have anyone here by that name. Are you all from a different guild? Perhaps they went back there."
"What…what are you talking about? You act as if you don't recognize us?" Priestess gripped her sounding staff tightly as she struggled to remain calm. "Where…where's Goblin Slayer?"
"Goblin Slayer…are you friends of her's? She went out a few days ago, but I'm never sure of when she'll return."
"She?" Half-Demon Thief was completely taken aback by the sound of this, she looked over toward Priestess and noticed that she was practically pale. "Are you alright?"
"I…I don't know…everything is different?"
"You mentioned a rookie warrior and his partner was a cleric, right?" A new gruff voice could be heard from the side, yet it was a familiar one.
Both girls turned to find Spearman drinking at a nearby table, at the table Heavy Warrior and Female Knight were with him as well.
"Yes. They're comrades of ours…we were childhood friends but went to register at different guilds." Half Demon Thief smiled and nodded.
"What are you…"
"Priestess, we're getting our locations mixed up. Remember this isn't our normal guild hall." Half-Demon Thief responded with a wink. "We'll sort things out now that we finally found our friends."
"Funny…I didn't know they allowed demons in the guild." Spearman spat as he downed his ale.
The moment he mentioned the word demon, everyone tensed up and all eyes fell on Half-Demon Thief. Her eyes narrowed as she looked around at the others, most of them gripping their weapons tightly as they glared at her.
"Half-Demon…my mother was human, just as yours was I assume." Half-Demon Thief responded rather coldly. "I owe no allegiance to any demon lord. I only look out for myself and my friends."
The atmosphere in the guild was tense, but eventually most of the patrons returned their attention back to their own conversations.
"I'm afraid to tell you, you won't find your friends here then." Heavy Warrior being the more diplomatic one at his table replied.
"Why's that?" Priestess was confused by this statement.
"They died almost two years ago." Spearman was cold in his response as he ordered another drink at his table.
Both girls were shocked by this, first hearing that Goblin Slayer was a female and now that their friends had been killed.
"Dead…how?" Priestess found her hands shaking.
"A goblin raid." Heavy Warrior replied with a sigh.
"A goblin lord brought a force of about 100 goblins to attack the village. It took a while to get organized, and a few of the rookies were wiped out in the earlier attack, but we eventually slaughtered them." Spearman sighed as he tightened his grip around his spear.
"Yes, I remember now, those two would go on rat quests in the sewers. It was a shame to lose them." Guild Girl frowned as she recalled those who had been lost in the past couple years. "I'm sorry that all we can tell you is that your friends have passed."
"Thank you…it's at least better than not knowing." Priestess smiled weakly. "That…that can't be. We set out from here only a short while ago."
"Isn't there a farm between here and the town? Did the occupants survive that attack?" Half-Demon Thief was curious as to the fate of the girl and her uncle on the farm.
In her panic, Priestess had completely forgotten about her friend on the farm, it had been the first spot to be attacked during that goblin assault.
"The owner of the farm did not survive. I believe a relative of his has rebuilt the farm and we see them almost every day."
"What's with all the commotion? The guild is more talkative than normal."
"Indeed, Lady Ranger."
The girls faces lit up when they heard these two familiar voices and turned toward the side to see High Elf Archer and Lizard Priest descend down the stairs, but soon the joy turned to shock when they saw they friends. High Elf Archer was virtually the same as they had remembered but could see a black eye patch covering her right side as well as what looked like burn scars around that side of her face. Lizard Priest body was covered in scars and his left hand was missing, a Dragontooth Swordclaw attached to the stump.
"Oh new faces, I haven't seen you before." High Elf Archer smiled as she greeted the two new guild patrons.
"I too welcome you. What bring you both here this fine day?"
"We…we were looking to meet up with some old friends, but it seems they are no longer here." Priestess sniffed as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Two of their friends were lost in that goblin raid a while back." Spearman responded.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"What about your other companion?" Half-Demon Thief looked around for Dwarf Shaman but could not find him.
"What third companion?" High Elf Archer tensed as she heard them mention something they shouldn't know about.
"The dwarf shaman. Isn't he with you?" Priestess asked as she too looked around the guild for him.
"How is it you know of our comrade?" Now Lizard Priest was growing rather suspicious of these two young women.
"Well…"
"We had crossed your party in passing some time ago back in Water Town. At the time, we found it unusual to see the pairing." Half-Demon Thief responded as she placed a hand on Priestess shoulder to keep her from saying anything further.
Both High Elf Archer and Lizard Priest were silent for a bit as they studied the two young women before them, but with a sigh High Elf Archer decided to let them know the truth.
"He…he was lost a while back." High Elf Archer sighed as she touched the right side of her face.
"What happened?" Priestess eyes were wide when she heard about the loss of Dwarf Shaman.
"He, along with the two of us, were assigned to find a human adventurer to aid us in flushing out a nest of goblins near the eleven border. Thankfully, the Spearman and his partner, were kind enough to help us."
Spearman grunted as he continued to nurse his ale, it was then that Half-Demon Thief noticed that Witch was not around the guild hall.
"We found the nest and did our best to tackle the problem…but underestimated the leader of the group. He launched a fireball at us…wiped out the remaining goblins and nearly killed us too. The dwarf…protected me at the cost of his life, I only ended up with this scar, while he paid the ultimate price."
"I too was injured and lost my hand. The ogre, was quite formidable, able to heal from our attacks." Lizard Priest looked over his disfigured hand before continuing. "The Witch managed to enchant the Spearman's weapon which allowed him to deliver the final blow. Only…"
"Only she didn't make it." Spearman downed his drink before tossing the container to the side. "Crushed under the ogre's weapon."
"Didn't Goblin Slayer go with you?" Priestess remarked but had to remember that this was not the same Goblin Slayer she remembered.
"No, she's just a rookie, wouldn't make sense to take her." Spearman shook his head then looked back at the two young women. "Why the hell are you so damn interested in Goblin Slayer? What is she to you?"
"We heard stories and were interested in someone who just specialized in the weakest monster, only the stories we heard said a male, not a female." Half-Demon Thief did her best to throw off any suspicion.
"She's…a bit distant, she was part of a group that started with us almost two years ago, apparently she was the only survivor." Guild Girl had a saddened expression as the thought back about all the lost adventurers over the past seven years working here at the guild, then as she looked at Priestess something seemed familiar. "Now that I look at you, I'm sure we've met before but…no that can't be, you look just like her, but she's dead."
"Dead…who's dead?" Priestess not sure just how much more she could take.
"About two years ago, there was a young girl who had just started with us. Yes I remember now, she was an Earth Mother Acolyte just like you, in fact I'd say you're the spitting image of her. She joined with a group of three to hunt goblins…none of them came back that day or the next." Guild Girl's frown deepened as she remembered the sight of the survivor coming back to the guild. "It was on the third day that she came in, beaten and bruised from her ordeal, she reported that the goblins were dead…even the children. She was the only survivor of her party, after that, she adopted a much darker personality and limited herself to hunting nothing but goblins."
As if on cue, the bell above the door sounded, and as everyone turned in walked a rather small oddly dressed figure. She was wearing dirty leather armor over her chainmail and helmet covering her head, wrapped around her hands were spiked gauntlets, these same spikes were present on his knee guards. Two short swords were sheathed behind her back and around her chest were several small daggers. The figure's armor was stained with dark-red blotches, obviously dried blood, and there was a stench of death that linger on her as she approached the front table.
"The goblins are dead." The figure's tone was dispassionate, nearly devoid of all emotion.
"Welcome back Goblin Slayer."
"I'm ready for my next quest."
"Don't you want to rest first? It's getting rather late." Guild Girl smiled but found herself uncomfortable when she spoke with Goblin Slayer.
"What difference does that make? The goblins won't wait so why should I?"
"Well, you have visitors."
Goblin Slayer signed in annoyance as she turned to see the two young women.
"What do you…you!" Goblin Slayer paused when she laid eyes on Priestess. "No, you died in the cave."
Goblin Slayer undid the strap under her helmet and slowly removed it. Priestess was indeed surprised to see the young woman with raven black hair in a ponytail, just as she had seen her with on their first adventure. This young girl though did not have the same bright expression on her face as she had when they had started together, she now looked tired and worn down, which would be accurate given the constant goblin slaying quest she would undertake as evident by the steel level tag around her neck.
"Fighter…she survived and didn't give up! But look at her, I can't even imagine what she's been going through on her own all this time."
"You…you look just like the young priestess who joined our group, but that can't be…she died on the quest. All of them…dead." Goblin Slayer then looked carefully at the girl's guild tags and noted the level. "No, it's not you. She was porcelain…not steel. Sorry."
"Oh no, that's quite alright." Priestess smiled weakly but internally was not sure what was going on. "Fighter has become Goblin Slayer. Dwarf Shaman and Witch are gone. I'm dead. None of this make any sense!"
"Guild Girl said you needed to speak with me? What do you want?" There was evident annoyance in her tone.
"I…we…"
"I can see that you're tired, so we'll discuss our business in the morning." Half-Demon Thief smiled and nodded her head toward Goblin Slayer then looked back toward Guild Girl. "Can we see about getting a room for a few nights?"
"Of course."
Guild Girl helped them secure their rooms, all the while the rest of the guild patrons continued to eyeball them suspiciously. Once everything was finished, both girls made their way up the stairs to find their room, and once inside both collapsed on their beds trying to wrap their heads around what had been happening.
"Okay…so did we go back in time? Forward? I don't know."
"Something happened when that light surrounded us." Priestess clutched her garments tightly trying to keep herself from crying. "Our friends are gone or changed. Goblin Slayer is not Goblin Slayer. I'm…I'm dead."
"So what the hell happened? How did things change so much, all we did was save one village?" Half-Demon Thief growled as she slammed her fist upon the bed.
Priestess eyes went wide as she heard Half-Demon Thief comment, and her mind started to think back to what they heard from those villagers. The young boy with red eyes, his older sister, his friend who had traveled to the city.
"Why didn't I see it earlier?"
"What do you mean?"
"That boy in the village, the one that we thought looked like Goblin Slayer…that was Goblin Slayer."
"That was…wait what do you mean?"
"That spell, that red light that surrounded us, it wasn't a gate spell…it was a time spell. We traveled to Goblin Slayer village in the past!"
"How did we end up in that village? Was that wizard trying to go there?"
"I…I think it may have been me. I was thinking about Goblin Slayer when we weren't able to save that girl on the altar."
"Then thought is needed to direct where the spell caster goes. So…does that mean that we weren't supposed save his village?"
"I was told that Goblin Slayer's village was destroyed by the goblins, he survived but was forced to watch as goblins killed everyone."
"Then…because we saved him, we changed the outcome of all other events?"
"He wouldn't be the adventurer who saved me from the goblins…and because he and I weren't part of the elf's party, others took our place and were attacked."
"Then that means I would still be serving the Lich Queen or may be one of the horde already. Then how do we fit in, if our own futures are supposed to have changed?"
"I don't know…maybe the will of the gods, our own interference in the past, I could not say."
"Then where is Goblin Slayer? Did…did he end up being killed on that assault on the farm?"
"I…I don't know. This is far too much for me to take in."
"Then I say we get some sleep; we can figure out how to change things tomorrow."
"What if we can't change things?"
"Then…then we find a way to be useful in this world. Enough thinking for one day, let's get some rest."
Outside their room, High Elf Archer paused as her eyes picked up on their conversation, she frowned at what she was hearing and turned toward Lizard Priest, nodding her head toward him which he returned.
xxxx
The next morning, Priestess and Half-Demon Thief walked down toward the guild hall to get some breakfast, at the same time were really waiting to see if Cow Girl would make her deliveries. The two happily enjoyed their breakfast but had to endure the stares of the others who still did not approve of Half-Demon Thief.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. I'm used to it."
"Good morning!" A familiar energetic voice sounded by the entrance.
Both girls turned to find Cow Girl enter with her manifest in hand to check with Guild Girl. For both women it was a relief to see their friend alive and well in this timeline. They then heard a deep voice from outside the guild and as the doors opened, in entered a man with greyish hair and red eyes in an ordinary hempen shirt and cotton gambeson, and a bright smile on his face.
"It's him…and he's smiling." Half-Demon Thief was in shock seeing him out of his armor and looking so happy.
"It is…I'm…I'm happy." Priestess smiled but was not sure is what she was seeing was a good thing.
"Hey, is everything unloaded?" Cow Girl smiled as she turned toward him.
"All finished, did you get the paperwork done?"
"I'm all good here." Cow Girl smiled as she looked toward him but then began to look around. "Wait where is she?"
"Oh not to worry she's coming and if I know her she'll bring him in too." He turned toward the doorway and in came someone new.
Underneath the guild doors came in a little girl with reddish hair and bright red eyes, she wore a bright pink dress and was smiling and laughing as she ran toward them.
"Mama! Papa!" The little happily squealed as he scooped her up and held her high.
Guild Girl smiled as she saw the two parents coddle their daughter, but for Priestess and Half-Demon Thief they could only look on with wide eyes at this change. Then a new figure entered through the doors, a large familiar figure, a black dire wolf. The massive wolf happily wagged his tail as he walked over toward Cow Girl and the young man.
"Ah there you are Wolf." The young man smiled as he passed his daughter over to his wife and bent down to pet the large wolf. "Thanks for looking out for our little one. I'll make sure to get you some meat before we go."
Priestess instinctively stood wanting to rush over and talk to him, but was stopped as Half-Demon Thief placed a hand over hers.
"Don't."
"But…it's him."
"I know but look at them…they're happy. We can't get ourselves involved."
Before they could debate the matter any further, both felt a hand on their shoulder and turned to find High Elf Archer looking at them with a rather stern look.
"We need to talk, upstairs in the meeting rooms. Now."
Both young women looked toward one another then nodded their heads as they followed High Elf Archer up the stairs. Both took one last look to see the happy family say their goodbyes before exiting the guild. Once inside, the door was shut by Lizard Priest who stood by the doorway making sure the girls would not leave until they were finished.
"Take a seat." High Elf Archer sat in the couch opposite of the girls then looked toward them. "We've never met in Water Town."
"No…we haven't." Priestess said then sighed as she steeled herself for what she was about to say. "You and I would have meet here in the guild about two years ago…had I survived?"
"What do you mean?" High Elf Archer looked at them suspiciously. "How do you know me?"
"We are comrades of your party. You, Goblin Slayer, the priest, the priestess, the dwarf and I are all in a party." Half-Demon Thief added to Priestess exposition.
"Goblin Slayer…you mean that young woman?"
"No, the silver ranked man in leather armor." Priestess sighed as she recalled seeing him down there in the guild, but it was not him.
"You're not making any sense! Stop with all these riddles, tell me something that would make me trust you." High Elf Archer placed a hand on her bow as she contemplated whether to attack or not.
"You became an adventurer to explore the world. You sister got married not to long ago." Priestess replied with a stern look about her face.
"You became an adventurer to root out heresies and become a dragon." Half-Demon Thief smiled as she looked toward Lizard Priest.
High Elf Archer and Lizard Priest were shocked by what they heard, these two new figures could not have known about such things when they had met only yesterday.
"My…my sister had to postpone her marriage due to the battle with resurrected Demon Lord." High Elf Archer looked at these girls with an unsure expression about her face. "Just…just how do you know so much?"
"What do you know of Time spells?"