This was different from last time. Last time it had been near instant but also painful as everything he was, was forcefully and instantly transplanted into that hell. Right now? It was strangely beautiful…. his very existence was coming apart at the seams and being transmitted across time, space, and the walls of reality into what could've been. It felt like he could see himself, his entire life all playing before him like a recording. Then it was over, and his existence slammed into reality and his body into a pile of desiccated branches.

"… Ow"

He heard another impact nearby, Bones. Wasn't exactly the cleverest nickname he had to admit but for some reason, it just stuck with him. Even before he realized it stirred her increasingly buried emotions.

With a groan, he got up from the ground pulling the thicket off his ass only to look up and see ash-covered skies. Harker sighed in exasperation.

'Really hoping this doesn't become a trend'

"At least it isn't pitch black this time" He muttered

Not that an oppressive grey smog was much better, but he'd take what he could get. He made his way over to the fallen shielder who had gotten stuck in a ditch somehow (He didn't care enough to think about it) and outstretched his hand. She took it in silence and brushed off the ash on her armor, letting out a misty breath. Seeing it he realized he could feel his own breath do the same now.

"Little sunlight, little heat. Wonderful" He pulled in his shawl tighter, it was cold but… for some reason it felt like he should've been feeling colder.

'Whatever, first things first'

"Oi Bones, is our connection to Chaldea up and running?"

She opened her mouth, but Marie came through the comms before she could even give voice to her response.

"It is Aldain, we here and see you loud and clear" He looked to the hologram in front of him and nodded, she looked pretty regal, in her element. Good, he really didn't want to give a pep talk.

"What can you tell us?" She looked pensive as her one eye looked over some data brought to her.

"Hmm, unfortunately, we can't see too far away from you. I would suggest however that you move towards Orleans to the northeast of you, it should be just after the 100 years' war so Jeanne's presence would be a damn certainty to be summoned naturally"

Mash and Harker looked at each other and nodded, it made sense and with her fame, she would likely be an incredibly powerful servant.

"We'll call you when something new comes up" Roman entered the frame with a cup of coffee that made him look on with envy.

"Stay safe you two" Harker didn't reply but Mash did nod in response. Silence filled the air and they looked north-eastward. He nudged her with his elbow.

"No time like the present"

And off they went towards the barest glint of salvation

(Linebreak)

"Incoming Report from Archer, massive wave of enemies coming in!"

Of course, as soon the connection was cut off they got a bunch of alerts coming in about a resurgent assault on the gates by a new legion of enemies and- was she reading this right? A FUCKING DRAGON! Marie cursed and began ordering more resources put towards the front gate even though it would leave the two on their own for a while. They'd be fine. Both were smart and seemed to have a knack for surviving.

As for her…

"Get me a gun and a pillow"

She had watched some of the shows the mercenaries had brought with them and she could remember rather distinctly that there was this one with an office lady who relieved her stress by shooting pillows with a silenced gun.

Might as well try it

(Linebreak)

Apparently, they had landed near Bordeaux so they had quite the slog ahead of them and it was made even longer by the agreement that they shouldn't draw attention to themselves just yet so Mash couldn't just carry him as she jumped around. So far it was going if not favorably then tolerable. Both of them were annoyed that they were dealing with another ashen sky, but nothing could be done about it, so they trudged on.

"I saw some move-" A few birds had flown through the sky nothing more; Mash let loose a sigh as she felt the tension in her fade. She turned back to Harker who had kept walking not even bothering to pause.

"This is a lot more boring than I'd expected it to be…" She heard him snort and grimaced at the mocking reply that was sure to come.

"What did you expect we'd come through and instantly be thrown into the action? That we'd go from battle to battle and then be done in a few days at most?" She turned away and grumbled quietly.

"Fuyuki was like that…"

"Fuyuki was a single city, a lot less ground to cover there" He sighed and turned his head to look at her from the side of his eye.

"Savor the quiet moments Bones, you'll be missing them soon enough, that much I promise you" She grit her teeth. There it was, that damned nickname that made her want to punch him or was want the right word? The feeling felt foreign to her or was it just emotions in general that felt foreign. Regardless they quickly dissipated as he walked on.

Those bursts of emotion caused her no small amount of befuddlement and had caused her to lash out easily this past week. Eventually, she just started to bury them and refuse to let them have reign in her. Hopefully, that would make them stop.

"Have you been on many things like this?"

"A few, not quite like this but they were still tough and more than a little trying" She had never looked up his file before the incident and absolutely refused to after, but he couldn't have been more than seventeen.

"What were they?" Only a fool would place a child on the frontlines. So surely, they couldn't have been too bad.

"Why all the questions?" His grumble was low and irritated.

"Personal feelings aside, we have to work together or die" Her voice, curt and bitter. "There needs to be some trust…" She was convinced that he wouldn't speak again, he was that kind of person, after all, spiteful and untrusting but much to her shock after a few minutes of silence he did respond.

"Magi family extermination, when certain mages cross the line, Shamans are often called in to purge the filth" His voice dripped with disgust, not towards the act but towards the people. It felt disturbing to hear someone really feel like a brand of people were filth that deserved to be purged. It also went against every notion of honor she had recently acquired, and decency Roman had done his best to teach. There are days where she hates him, but Mash wasn't sure she could be said to utterly despise him the way he clearly did with these mages

"I thought that was under the purview of the enforcers?" His shrug was visible even beneath his shawl he wore as hood and cloak.

"They prefer it that way but sometimes they need the special gifts of the shaman, especially when it gets more esoteric than usual. Using Gaia's power tends to make reality, for lack of a better word, more real. Spellcraft becomes more difficult, sometimes downright impossible depending on the severity of the situation" His voice was calm and pensive, she couldn't see his face but somehow she could tell he was thinking of the past.

"Surely they would have ways to combat that" They wouldn't have been that dangerous otherwise.

"They do but shamans are no slouches when it comes to combat, guardianship is their entire reason for existing after all. Not research" She stared at the back of his head and gave voice to the question at the tip of her tongue.

"How old were you… when you first got involved with- this" He replied straight, blunt and utterly to the point

"Ten" Was this the reason why he was so… no wrong set of traits to be gained. He was untrusting but not paranoid, apathetic about one's feelings but not human life in general, and he wasn't even the slightest bit skittish, frankly, he didn't seem traumatized at all. Somehow that just made her opinion of him worse, but still, it had to be asked.

"Why? What kind of father would allow his own son to be thrown into battle at such a young age?" He laughed. The bastard actually laughed.

"What would a syringe baby know of parents" That foreign emotion made itself known as it rushed to a boiling heat. With a growl, she lunged forward grabbing him by the shoulder and spinning him around to face her. They both stared into the others' eyes and felt their sense of disdain for the one before them grow.

"Roman raised me! I had a father!" He rolled his eyes at her unimpressed.

"That simpering man-child? No wonder you barely seem to be capable of creating any desire other than doing your best to stifle your few emotional impulses which I'm sure is absolutely all from you and not the heroic spirit-" She socked him across the jaw sending him to the ground. That last bit of sarcasm was too much for her. She stabbed her finger at him and muttered with quiet and angry undertones.

"At least I had a childhood" He looked at her with spiteful eyes and smiled.

"Really now, did you?" She froze.

She didn't.

Her early life had been a monotonous mechanical routine of pain and needles, constantly cutting and "improving" all to prepare for the day where they would painfully implant something to replace her.

The only thing in her mind approaching that of what she logically knew as a childhood was- was-

The heroic spirit's scattered memory.

This- this fucking bellend knew! He had to! That mocking light! Those cruel eyes! How could she have ever wanted to feel the faintest glimmer of that spiteful flame!

What- use was it anyways… two years… she only had two years to live… and she was damned to spend the rest of it next to the side of a person who didn't seem to care less if she lived or died.

What was the point of "wanting" anything?

He stood up, dusted himself off, and walked off with an almost pleased air. She sat down on a rock and stared at the ground unmoving. She wasn't sure how much time had passed but he had long since faded into the distance.

Click.

She looked up into the muzzle of a flintlock pistol held by a roguish-looking young man with a wide smile in a rather distinctive white coat, behind him stood an entire caravan of battered people covered in dust and dressed in rags.

"So, what's your name lass?"

What was her name? Which one was real? The nameless knight or the empty puppet? Did she know? Did she even want to know? Kyrielight closed her eyes.

The choice was made

"I am Servant Shielder"

She didn't.

Linebreak

'You're fucking idiot Harker'

That had been way over the line and Harker knew it but considering that he wasn't walking back to the girl it seemed like his pride was doing the walking for him right now.

'A great way to make sure we don't die…'

Marie was going to tear him a new one when she finds out he left her behind, honestly, he was a bit confused that she wasn't already yelling at him but for now he walked onward into the dust, his shawl whipping in the wind.

An hour passed until he finally made out the shape of a town. He felt the urge to run toward it but instead, he slinked to the side and slid into a ditch trying to keep a low profile, he had no idea what was in there and he was on his own now, couldn't afford to take as many risks.

He entered and… he needn't have worried, there was no one here. No one at all. Whatever event that had taken place in this singularity had made its way through this town as well and now it was little more than a ruin.

The silence of the torched town was unsettling, he decided as he trudged through the remnants. It was a rather big difference to the ever-roaring fires of Fuyuki before the darkness drowned it out.

He entered a burnt-out building searching for… anything really, anything at all in this somber tomb. He felt himself kick something, kneeling down he pulled back his hood and gently picked up the object; a child's toy had been left behind in the ashes or perhaps…

He looked to the side of the room where charred bones rested together. A family judging by the number of skulls and different sizes. They never had a chance.

He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined the once-bustling village full of people existing all around him. He could almost see it, nigh a hundred people living in peace, laughter, sadness, and hope. Good times and hard times both and then…

And then…

The doll turned to ash in his hands, sliding off his palms and onto the ground.

"Ashes to ashes…"

Harker stood up and walked towards the pile. He didn't touch them; he didn't want the bones to turn into just another pile of ash as well.

"I don't know who you were or why this happened but… you didn't deserve this… none of you did" he sprinkled ashes over the bones and walked away

'You'll grow stronger 'they said, this won't hurt so much once you get enough experience'

The other shamans, everyone who knew of the duties had said so. No, not everyone… his father had not; he simply peered at him with something that could have been considered sadness. Harker walked out of the house and sat down beneath the charred remains of a mighty tree at the center of the town

'Why did you want me to be your heir? Even now I don't understand… I could burn out defensive wards easily, just a touch and the delicate things would shatter but…'

He didn't understand, his sister was more skilled, and he had enough cousins that surely one of them could have taken the role, shamans were not nearly as paranoid and power-hungry about the whole heir thing but know out of everyone it was the failure of the family that was chosen, well at least until he went up and left.

'Look at me, a pile of corpses and I'm already stuck in the past'

At least it wasn't him killing innocents this time.

'Too dangerous to leave alive… a ticking time bomb… doesn't make it any easier does it?'

He stared at his palms and clenched them into fists. He could feel his origin act up in response to the memories and emotions and then his surroundings warped and changed. He was in the hall again; the moans of the suffering filled his ears and broken glasses lay on the ground thrown when their tainted gifts began their work, and the pain became too much. He could see the route they took to escape the fighting. He followed and opened the door where they were praying for something to come and save them

"Wait… you're… have you come to save us?" They are looking at him with hope even as their bodies begin to twist and deform. These people, the lost and dispossessed, were drawn in with promises of food and safety, their desperation doing away with their doubts. There wasn't a cure this wasn't the first event of its kind apparently, and he'd seen how resistant the beasts they would become were to elementals with their ability to devour any and all magic.

They needed to be killed before that… before they could hurt anyone else. He looked down to his hand pointing to the crowd and how their faces of hope turned to horror and despair as they saw it began to glow and then-

Harker shouted, stumbling forth as he banished the fantasy with a wave of his hand. His palm soon went to his face, the feeling of tearing skin underneath his nails giving him a sense of anchored reality.

'Blasted dreams!'

For not the first time he cursed his irregularity. Where most had the element of something like fire and an entirely mundane origin that would help the mage or shaman, he was… different. His element was overflow and his origin… his origin was dreams, the realm of madness and stories, memory and delusion.

It was so easy to slip beneath the rapids, to stay there trapped in memory, in the dream. And there were times… times he wanted that; anything could be true in a dream after all.

The only price was everything and anything.

Fantasy tried to reassert itself but his will banished it back into the very depths of his being.

'Why does everything about me have to be a double-edged sword?'

He shook his head free of those thoughts, they served no purpose and he had more important tasks ahead such as finding a place to stay for the night

"Breath, one… two…" He never did ask why Nemo knew how to bring him back from the brink of utter madness, but she did when it happened for the first time, and when he began to freak out under the strain of his origin, she proceeded to just have him breathe for a few moments. It helped oddly enough, still did even if brought back memories, truly terrifying ones- that first time… not all fantasies are kind.

Harker felt something prick at him from the edge of his senses and with an inaudible growl, he swept his sword out of his sheath and turned about to face whoever had come behind him.

"Are you friend or foe? Speak quickly lest you find yourself on the end of my blade" Goredolf would have called him arrogant, it was not truly apt since despite everything he knew that he had little chance to accomplish that threat especially as her form registered in his eyes.

An armor of half-plate leaving one hand bare though wrapped in cloth, the skin color that poked through had the hue of bronze of someone who had lived in the Mediterranean. A shapeless mask covered her face and a black ponytail rose high in the back with what seemed like a core of flame at its center

A spear came into being within her hands, jagged, long, forged with stone and bone. It was then jabbed into the ground and her hands were raised.

"You are- a master aren't you?" Her voice was slow and chipped, hesitant like she was trying to remember how to form words.

"And you a servant" His blade was still raised, a servant could easily be an enemy as an ally and he couldn't afford to blindly trust, especially on his own.

She nodded and slowly removed her mask, a melancholic face belied by an ember of molten flame where her left eye should be, and that eye surrounded by dragon scales. It was unnatural and he felt rings of fear go down his spine, but the other eye of ocean blue begged for understanding… and peace. He sheathed his nameless blade.

"Servant Berserker. My name is Cadmus, please, I beg you remember it for I may not myself"

(Linebreak)

They had made camp in the ruined town, luckily some food stores remained though they were usually tinged with ash. Beggars couldn't be choosers though (He really hoped that Da'Vinci would out how to bring food with them through the rayshift) and so he munched on some meat under the ash-covered night sky.

"Dragons"

"Yes, plenty of them roam the land now under the leadership of Jeanne d'Arc"

Harker looked into the flames of the campfire, the situation was fubar already then, dragons throughout the world no matter what form had always been considered, measured, and seen as the greatest of fantastical creatures. Beings of might and wrath that could shape the world and now a plague of them has been unleashed by the revenant of a betrayed saint.

"Any good news?" Cadmus tilted her head to the side in thought before nodding.

"There has been word about a prevailing resistance based in Orleans led by the true Jeanne D'Arc, I'm- unsure which is the real one, however" he shook his head.

"It matters little, Orleans shall be our destination come the morn" Kyrielight would probably make her way there, that was the last order given from Chaldea after all.

He looked at her from across the fire, her mask was back on, she seemed more comfortable like that, so he let it be.

Cadmus, the hero king of Thebes, dragon slayer, and slave of war. She was one of the first heroes of Greece. Not as well known or as powerful as some others but more than welcome nonetheless especially in this age of dragons.

Chaldea still hadn't contacted him, something had to be wrong but there was jack shit he could do about it.

"Is there- something wrong?"

"No, just thinking about how much I didn't want this to be my life" He didn't let his mind focus on the despairing possibility that Chaldea could be under siege, so he chose a different topic, any other topic.

He just wished he hadn't gone there, there was a time where he did want this to be his life, few kids didn't dream of being heroes after all, and he was no different even if that dream ended in a bitter truth.

"Don't like fighting?" He huffed shivering in the cold night.

"Never enjoyed the thought of dying" She stared at him for a moment before speaking.

"Then- why are you here?" Harker crossed his arms and stretched against the tree.

"There's no one else" Gaia knows how he wished things were different… but wishing would do nothing and he had job to do

"No one willing or no one capable?"

"Capable, out of the fifty or something candidates I'm the only one awake much less capable of moving"

"And you can't call for more?" He looked at her from the corner of his eyes confused and more than a little suspicion slipping in.

"Isn't the grail supposed to inform you of what's going on?" She looked away still and quiet.

"I- yes it does but- My mind… it's fuzzy in the best of times and- and there are days where I forget who I am at all" The harshness slipped from his gaze.

"Your curse?" Unlike Fafnir, her transformation hadn't been willing in the slightest but a slow and painful transformation until she finally gave in or so he surmised during his research as a kid and what records his family had recovered and kept.

She didn't respond, she didn't have to.

"A week ago, the entirety of humanity was wiped from the face of the earth in a single moment, there's no reinforcements that can come, Chaldea… Chaldea is all that's left" Cadmus looked up at him and an almost sad light filled her human eye.

"How…?" He shook his head

"We don't know, only that it was astronomically powerful"

'Then what chance do we have?'

He mentally hissed at that unbidden thought, it did not serve no matter the truth behind the doubt.

"Oh…" He quirked his brow in confusion

"Nothing else to say?"

"What else is there to say?" Could one really

"Is there really nothing? I- you lived on this planet" She poked at the flame in response, her head tilted in a seeming effort to recall something

"My memories- fade in and out but- I don't remember liking the old world all that much" He nodded, it was understandable but why had she bothered fighting?

"Surely there was something you cherished?"

"Maybe? I remember something- about my sister- but then it quickly fades- I- I don't think I ever saw her again- and after that, I-" Cadmus looked up to where the moon should have been.

"I think I was looking for something better- or maybe wanting to create something better- it's hard to tell now" Her voice trailed off and she began poking at the fire once more. He put his own two cents in

"The past gets muddled and sometimes we don't even want to remember" She peered at him frozen before shaking her head.

"I want to remember; I want to know who I was and- what I became-" She looked down at her hands or were those claws?

"I want to be me"

Harker briefly thought of Mash before violently banishing the thought. Those two were not the same. Mash doesn't want to be Mash, Mash wants to be nothing at all, to return to the nothingness of who she was before. He had asked Marie and some others about her and what he had heard had only solidified his dislike of her

Pushing her had been a combined effort to prod at her to satisfy his own sarcasm and dislike and to get her to actually act on her emotions (Of course he reacted a rather over the top when the few times she snapped she hit him and he hit back, it was both instinctive and a personal principle, and of course utterly inexcusable)

But Cadmus was… Innocent. Someone who wanted to exist, endlessly trying to hold on to that fragile thing called self. He would never be able to fully understand her sheer desperation to hold onto what slivered remains of her identity, but he could understand the want of identity, the very human want to be something.

She didn't deserve his scorn.

"I-"

"Shh! Did you hear that?'' Her voice turned guttural, and her draconic eye burned brighter. Harker immediately grabbed the hilt of his sword and stood up slowly holding the blade at the ready. He couldn't see or hear them.

Cadmus could.

Cadmus acted.

A bright red flame swirled around her spear, and she swung, sending a wave of fire into the darkness of the night… unveiling a horde of the undead who began to rush forth.

Cadmus spun into combat and Harker… he crashed into them rather inelegantly, his sword passed through them easily but there was always more, and he soon found himself backpedaling with his lack of experience unable to keep up with the onslaught of the silent dead. Thankfully Cadmus more than made up for that, the power of draconic flames seared their flesh to ash and her skill with that spear… only Arcturus was comparable to her.

Harker huffed and ran his fingers down the flat of his blade feeling his magic circuits beginning to run. He lashed out with the sword, dropping the temperature as a wave of cold blue light cut through the horde and silencing Cadmus's flames whenever it met. Whatever this blade was, its wintery power was undeniable.

Exhaling sharply, he pushed forward perfectly aware of the burning sensation in his body and twisted about loosing a ball of flame into a crowd of the undead, he grinned at the spectacular explosion, he always did love seeing things blow up and this was one of the few moments where his element actually helped him. Overflow, his bane, and boon, no matter what spell he casts it will always be more powerful than another's of the same kind, but it made it nigh impossible to use any intricate magics.

Cadmus's strikes began to be wilder and more erratic as her ember eye began to glow brighter. Brutal growls made their way out of her throat, and she tore one's head off with her bare hands. Harker didn't have time to pause but a thought still floated through his mind.

'The enhancement or the curse?'

He cleaved through a line and then another doing his best to cover up any holes in the quickly degenerating brawl until his blade stopped and he was thrown back.

Harker grunted as he fell on his ass and by sheer instinct, he rolled backwards missing the spear aimed for his heart. A new set of the walking dead entered the battlefield, they were different, smarter, and glowed with reddish-gold in the form of lava-like cracks surrounding their burnt black bones.

"Spartoi!" With a howl Cadmus threw herself into the midst of the spartan like undead, it seemed like she remembered their presence. They were retreating a step at a time, diverting attacks and retaliating in short order, they were guiding her to… he couldn't tell and it didn't matter, their plan needed to be stopped.

Harker struck at the back of a spartoi only to be stopped by its shield once more, though hewing the metal a bit, something about it prevented the supernatural sharpness of the blade from fully shearing the shield and skeleton in two.

He pulled up his legs kicking off the shield, pulling the blade out, and falling into a crouch, he swung the blade back behind him and calmed his breath. More spartoi were coming and though not one of them could match Cadmus one on one they were smart enough to know that they didn't need to.

He slipped into an old half-remembered stance, the tip of the greatsword pointed to the ground, his left hand holding the blade. His father told him that it was formed from a nameless fool bearing a blade of stone fighting against beasts and monsters, he never really cared. All that mattered was that it worked.

'Don't face them head-on, they are stronger and faster so be smarter'

The spear hit the blade and found itself moving on its own force away from its intended target. A swift riposte cleaved the neck in twain and his offhand knocked the quickly crumbling skeleton away. With a huff he jumped into combat, this half-remembered form offsetting his lack of real experience with a sword in a combat setting.

An outraged howl drew his attention to Cadmus who took a spear in the gut, she tore it away and leaped to the spartoi ripping it in two. Shaking with fury she tore off her mask and roared an inferno upon her foes. Throwing her spear aside she leapt into the horde and began tearing them all apart with her bare claws, even the intelligent spartoi were no longer a match for her as she could no longer even be scratched by them, the strength of her hide seeming to rise with her rage.

The dead came and the dead died as fires roared into the heavens. Harker retreated to their little camp and with the chill of his blade beat back the heat as best he could, but he could feel his circuit reaching their limits.

By the time she was done the town was gone, not a single building remaining, all that was left was a single lonely tree at the center.

She was terrifying, scales covering each bit of flesh and both eyes now a burning core of flame. She turned toward him and began to stumble towards him with nothing resembling humanity in her gaze.

'Berserker'

"Cadmus… wait… WAIT!" He shouted as she began to rush forth, his command spell taking effect just as her claw was about to tear out his throat. He fell on his ass with a curse and looked back up, she was still screaming her heart out despite being frozen in place.

How in hell was he supposed to calm her down? He could feel his command spell holding her in place evidently waiting for him to let her "continue" but he liked his head where it was, and he had no idea how to calm a raging dragon.

Then a song reached both their ears, it was… beautiful, that was the only way he could describe it yet somehow, he felt like that failed to properly encapsulate it. Somehow it calmed Cadmus as well, the scales receding towards their dormant position around her ember eye. He let the command fade and she dropped to the floor asleep. Though his bones ached to join her in a restful repose (for the body) He stood up and turned towards the source of the song, his blade at the ready. He was not prepared for what he saw.

"Are you alright?" A beautiful woman on a glass horse looked at him with kind eyes, she felt genuine somehow. Even Cheer and happiness seemed to be spread by her very presence, it was kind of like laughter on the wind, a sense that maybe things could be okay.

Around her were three men, a decadent blond with a wide grin who he somehow knew was the source of that music, a stern grey-haired man in a suit who looked like he wanted to kill the blonde, and a pale-haired man in a long coat carrying the blade of an executioner.

They were servants and he needed their help but… he needed to know who they were first, despite the aura of happiness around the woman he really couldn't afford to be suckered in by a monster. So, he asked.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Looking at their shocked faces (Not counting the blonde who was laughing up his guts) he briefly considered that Perhaps Goredolf was right and maybe he really did need to learn tact.

—

(Three and a little less than a half years ago)

How in hell did he get here?

"Come on slowpoke!"

Harker sighed as he was pulled through the crowd by the hyperactive girl who had quite literally broken into his life not two weeks back. he had been enjoying his quiet time and his newly acquired books along with some pizza when Mari had barged in (Again) and kicked up a fuss about him staying inside during the festival.

'How was I supposed to know there was a festival today? I'm still trying to figure out the city layout!'

He didn't even know the name of the festival, much less that it existed.

'But nooo you need to spend time outside… I've spent enough time outside for one lifetime'

Her hand slapped his forehead.

"Quit your brooding Harker! There is so much fun to be had today!" Her smile shined so bright that he couldn't help but reluctantly smile along. The thief didn't have much money in general, but she never seemed to let that stop her from doing anything including enjoying the world around her. He found that trait oddly admirable.

Time passed as they went from booth to booth, stand to stand. He saw so many different things that he had never seen back home and things he had never paid attention to isolated as he was in his apartment. Toys, food, technology, games, books, thousands of people gathered around living their own lives but all trying to be happy, to be merry. He found himself just looking all around him in wonder.

This… There was something beautiful about this place, no, not just this place but this entire side of the world. Billions of people living in ignorance looking towards the future and trying to be happy. Not cloistering themselves away in hidden fortresses experimenting for their own arrogant ends or brooding over the decisions that made them butchers for a greater good. No, these people were just trying to live, to exist and find joy in that, find joy in each other.

It was utterly pointless, like a thousand lights flickering and fading with no rhyme or reason. It was… beautiful.

"What's with that look? First time at a festival?"

"Yep" She looked at him incredulously.

"What were you living under a rock?"

He thought back to his home, back to the few friends he had, the trials and tribulations he went through, and then he thought to everything he had seen here. Even if he had spent some time in the human world when he was younger, he never did truly see the beauty around him. A world that lived under the sun, a world where people tried to be better. A sunlit world.

Harker looked at the shining star warming his face and smiled.

"Yeah, I think I have been"

Couple of notes.

Salleri is indeed the grey-haired man in a suit, as such he won't be in the Russia lostbelt, but in in his place another musician shall take his place and an immortal beloved revealed.

The spartoi here are different from the ones typically shown as they are down by the teeth of actual dragons rather than a mage.

A final note, Harker wasn't immediately thrown into the fray killing people at ten, no the reason he started at ten was solely for the fact that he could overload defensive wards rather easily, eventually they started weaning him onto killing people but it was during his last year and it was either those the older shamans had crippled solely for the chance to help break him in and those like the innocents he found in the safe room, sacrifices for the greater good.