Now it was Selene who was in disbelief.
"What do you mean you buried me? We were in the past, remember?"
No one seemed to know what she was referring to.
"You know, the timejump project?"
The confused looks didn't change.
"Against Zhaitan?"
Still no change. Zura glanced over at the others for a moment. "Anyone know what she's talking about?" No one answered.
"What is this Zhaitan anyway?" said Tesla.
"And who is this... we... you speak of?" Azelia asked.
"Me and Azeena. You all know that." Selene told her.
The group now began to show a mix of both confusion and slight anger.
"AZEENA?!" Azelia said loudly. "Why in the name of the Dream would you possibly had anything to do with that witch as a teammate?"
Most people would have preferred using another word that rhymes with 'witch' but Azelia was one who didn't like to swear.
"Please tell us the others haven't turned you to the dark side!" Nymhe added.
"Others...?" Selene asked with even more confusion.
"The Vidells!" Nymhe quickly told her.
Selene was about to respond but then stopped. Something was definitely wrong. How did they not know about the timejump? Or Zhaitan? More importantly, why are they talking about the Vidells in such a negative manner?
Outside over at the portal gates that connect to other cities, four human female figures emerged from the portal leading to Divinity's Reach. Thief, engineer, necromancer, warrior. They all have the same armor dye colors of red and abyss. The citizen townsfolk in the immediate area took notice of their arrival and began to run away in fear. Some went to notify the Lionguard for help.
"Now hold on, everybody," Catherine told the group. "I suggest we take this discussion to a more private area and then figure out what this is all about. We're drawing attention to ourselves."
Indeed, that was the case. All eyes were on them, especially when Azeena's name was mentioned.
Moments later, a town messenger ran inside the tavern. He was looking for UHoT. After seeing them at their table, he went over there. "Come quick! You are needed over at the Grand Piazza right away!"
"What's going on?" Azelia asked.
"The Vidells just entered the city from the main portals and are heading towards the Trader's Forum. Lionguard are on their way to block their path at the bridge leading to there."
Without saying another word, UHoT immediately sprang into action, grabbing their weapons and other gear as they left the tavern, not waiting on Selene. Wishing she still had her bow and arrows handy, she followed after them.
"That's far enough! I order you to stop!" said one of the rookie Lionguard soldiers.
The four kept calmly strolling towards their position, looking around with delight seeing people afraid of their mere presence. The Videll sisters; Kira, Engie, Charsi and Alexis.
"He orders us... how cute." Engie said, softly laughing to herself.
"They clearly haven't learned their lesson from the last time we were here," Alexis added.
"Looks like class is back in session," Kira said with an evil grin.
UHoT finally arrived at the bridge, battle gear already armed. The Lionguard stepped aside to let them be up front, then reformed the barricade behind them. The Vidells casually came to a halt close to their position.
"What's the matter, Lionguard? Too scared to take on four little girls by yourselves?" Charsi said in a sarcastic tone before laughing.
"The Lionguard are no longer your concern. WE are!" Azelia told them.
Selene caught up with the group and patted one of the Lionguard on the shoulder to let her pass. These guards are relatively new and didn't know who Selene actually was. The arrogance, smiling and laughing of the Vidells quickly turned into serious surprise upon seeing her there.
"Wha- ...how?" Kira said first.
"She killed you just the other day!" Alexis added.
Selene noticed something unusual about Alexis. Wait a minute, she thought to herself, Alexis is supposed to be a Norn. Why does she look human?
"Who did?" Selene asked, playing along for the moment.
"Oh, now you want to be stupid, eh?" Alexis responded.
"I don't know how you managed to come back from the dead," Kira said to Selene, "but now, for what you did to Azeena, we're going to finish you off for good!"
There was clearly more to this situation than Selene is currently aware of. But what is it and how did all this even occur in the first place? And then, something she hadn't considered before now crossed her mind. What if this wasn't the same timeline she originally started in?
The sound of heavy footsteps can be heard by everyone from behind the Vidells. They turned around to see Logan Thackeray and armed Seraph soldiers quickly arriving on the scene. Logan got a little closer to them.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" he told Kira.
"Mind your own damn business, Logan! This is between us and UHoT!"
"Not this time. And I'd say you're outnumbered at least three to one."
"I enjoy a good challenge. And we both know you idiots won't survive an assault from us!"
"And you won't survive ours. Shall we die together?"
Kira's anger cooled. She hates it when a man proves his point to be true over hers. The thief then directed her attention to UHoT.
"We'll be back at another time to end this."
None of UHoT's members said anything back. Kira made a gesture to her sisters with her head that they were leaving. They calmly walked away from UHoT and the Lionguard. The Seraph split into two halves, making room to walk past between them. Kira stopped in front of Logan. The two are almost the same height, with Logan being just slightly taller.
"And after that, you're next," she told him.
Kira continued her way past Logan, intentionally bumping into his left arm and shoulder to push him aside. The Seraph were about to draw out their swords. Logan raised his hand up, signaling them not to, as the Vidells went past the soldiers and on their way back to the city portals.
He sighed. "And I thought dealing with Scarlet and her twin sister was bad enough."
Selene approached Logan. He turned to meet her and couldn't believe his eyes. The Seraph were just as surprised. Just like UHoT, they thought she died two days ago.
"I don't understand how this is possible," Logan said, referring to Selene being alive and well.
Selene sighed herself. "Neither do I."