For days, months, and years uncountable. For both an eternity and the blink of an eye, Taylor continued her journey, marching through the desolate wastelands of the Realm of Chaos. Progress was slow on foot, and honestly if it wasn't for the presence of Taylor's companions, well at least one of her companions, she would've most likely gone mad long ago.

Following their defeat of Rothide and the betrayal of Lukas, the Advisor suggested that Taylor go and search for more reliable allies to aid in her search for the rest of the Artefacts of Chaos. Through his advice, Taylor set off in search of the Swords of Chaos, a legendary band of Chaos Knights who served the previous Everchosen and would serve her as well. Fortunately for Taylor, the Advisor knew where these Swords of Chaos were. Unfortunately, they were located an unimaginable distance away, thus leading to their current predicament as they trekked through the Chaos Wastes.

They didn't just walk the whole time however. While none of the party required food or sleep anymore, they could still get very bored, and thus broke up the monotony of constant walking with lessons. Taylor learned all manner of things from her new allies. Both the Advisor and Cereza continued to teach her about the Old World and Chaos, but those history lessons were now augmented by lessons of practical skills as well.

The Red Wind, Bright Magic, Aqshy. The magic of fire had many names, but had one goal all the same. The destruction of one's enemies through violent, passionate flames. The Advisor, whom Taylor guessed was a power wizard himself, taught Taylor how to focus her emotions in order to better control her magic. Although the constant, throbbing pain from what was once her eye made that somewhat difficult. But the training was necessary if Taylor didn't want to accidentally burn Brockton Bay down because she couldn't control her temper.

Once she had basic control over the flames, the Advisor then began teaching her new spells as well. In addition to the fireballs and streams of flames she could produce before, she could now cloak her weapons and armor in fire, as well as summon massive, cackling burning heads that chased her target. She still hasn't been able to replicate the massive Fire Storm she performed the day she was attacked, but according to the Advisor her skill in magic was growing remarkably.

And every lesson she had in magic was complimented by a lesson with the blade. With her new suit of armour, and Lukas' sword now her own, Taylor had to take on the role of the party's tank and thus had to learn how to fight. That was the reason why Taylor was currently on her ass as Cereza tripped her following a violent exchange.

"Ugh fuck me," Taylor groaned as she pushed herself off the ground.

"Perhaps later, darling," Cereza said as she kept her rapier pointed at Taylor. "Right now you have a lesson to finish."

Taylor wanted to come up with some kind of witty retort, but failed. So instead she simply groaned again and stood. She then pointed her arming sword at Cereza. It was shorter than the pirate's rapier, but Taylor had her armor to compensate. In the interest of fairness, and because Cereza wasn't a student of the sword and great shield, Taylor left her shield on the ground by the Advisor.

Lunging forward, Taylor thrusted her blade in the way Cereza's fencing lessons taught her. While Taylor didn't have the intricacies of fine point control down yet, her attack was fast and strong enough to compensate for the lack of skill.

Meanwhile Cereza occupied the opposite end of the spectrum. With grace and speed unlike Taylor had ever seen in her last life, Cereza spun, parrying Taylor's attack as she side-stepped away from Taylor. By the time Taylor recovered her balance and tried to follow up with a second swing, Cereza was already counter attacking with her own riposte.

As always, Cereza's aim was impeccable. The tip of her blade danced around Taylor's arm and found it self embedded in the small chink in her armor between her breastplate and shoulder pauldron.

But this was the moment that Taylor was waiting for.

Taylor was slower and far less skilled than Cereza, but she was tougher. A lot tougher. So she grit her teeth as the blade sunk several inches into the meat of her shoulder. The needle-like pain of the sword was nothing compared to the constant agony her eye was in. Cereza's eyes widened with the risky move, and was too slow as Taylor raised her off hand and gripped the blade of the rapier, preventing Cereza from pulling it out.

Taylor then swung her sword at the base of Cereza's blade, her Chaos infused strength easily knocking the handle out of Cereza's grip. Cereza stepped back, trying to retreat now that she lost her weapon, but Taylor didn't give her a chance. Advancing forward herself, Taylor then pointed the blade at Cereaza's throat, leveling it inches away.

Blinking, Cereza's face shifted from one of surprise to one of pride as she smiled at Taylor. "Wonderful play, Taylor."

Taylor couldn't help but smile back. Positive reinforcement was always a rare thing for Taylor. "Thanks," she muttered as she yanked the rapier out of her shoulder and flipped it to hold it by the handle.

"Although I wouldn't suggest trying that on anyone but me," Cereza then criticized. "I may not have the power to lop off your arm with a single cut, but there are many in this realm who do."

The smile fell away from Taylor's face at the criticism. But it wasn't hard for Taylor to see the wisdom in Cereza's words. If she tried that move against Rothide, she'd be down an arm and an eye right now.

"Right." Taylor nodded as she gave Cereza's sword back to her. "You know, I'm surprised how light my sword is. It's so easy to cut and thrust like you've shown me. Aleph Hollywood movies always make it look like they're heavy and cumbersome to swing."

"Well part of that is because you're beyond human now darling," Cereza said as she grabbed her sword. "But yes, blades aren't heavy. Otherwise, why would we arm hundreds of men with them and expect them to fight for hours on end? If they were too heavy, soldiers would be useless after a few minutes."

Taylor hummed at what seemed to have been an obvious fact she didn't know.

"Regardless, you've shown remarkable improvement in both your bladework and footwork," Cereza continued to compliment. "You have the skill to trade blades against any pirate I know. Perhaps even the professional swordsmen of Reikland, or the foot squires of Bretonnia, all of whom have had years of training."

"Well, that could be because I've spent a lot of time training with a great teacher," Taylor said, both complementing her tutor and genuinely unsure of how long they've been training together. As always, with Taylor no longer sleeping, and there being no discernable day/night cycle, trying to count the days was folly.

Taylor then sheathed her blade, returning to the small campsite the trio had made. Within the desolate, red clay wasteland around them, they tore down what old, almost petrified trees they could find and turned them into seats and a small fire. She sat down on one of the logs, the aged-bark groaning in protest under the weight of her armor. The Advisor sat on his own log, somehow reading from a book despite his blind eyes, while Cereza took the third and final seat around the fire.

Taylor found herself running her eyes up and down Cereza's body as the pirate sat. She couldn't help but feel jealous. Cereza was tall, taller than Taylor in her last life, but she made it work. She wasn't awkward and gangly like Taylor was, but instead almost like a supermodel in the way she was proportioned. Not to mention she was more beautiful than Taylor ever was or would be, especially now that she had a glowing rock sticking out of her head.

"Enjoying the show, love?" Cereza asked, snapping Taylor out of her dumb gaze.

"Sorry." Taylor turned away, slightly red. Deciding to change topics, she said, "I was just wondering, how did you get so good with a sword? I know that there were some famous pirate women in my world, but none have been able to deflect arrows out of the air."

A smile appeared on Cereza's face that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well darling, that's because I am no regular woman. I am a princess!" Cereza then stood and gave an elaborate curtsy.

Taylor's good eye raised an incredulous brow.

Cereza rolled her eyes. "It's true!" She exclaimed before she sighed and sat back down. "I was born Cereza de Soto, the firstborn royal child in a minor kingdom within Estalia called Larhgoz."

"That would be Spain in your world, my lady." The Advisor cut in.

"Thank you, I know," Taylor snapped back at the old man. She then looked to Cereza. "Please, continue."

Cereza smiled back at Taylor. This one was genuine. "Yes well, my father wanted to make sure I was prepared for a life of rulership, in case he could not sire a son or for when I married into another kingdom and would have to manage their affairs. Laws, mathematics, histories, finances, and a plethora of other topics were all beaten into my head at a young age. But my favorite of the topics I was taught was fencing."

Her eyes becoming somewhat unfocused in the haze of memories, Cereza continued to smile, albeit somewhat wistfully. "You see, Estalia was famed for their Diestros, master swordsmen whose skills with a blade are unparalleled across the Old Word. My blademaster taught me the Figueroa style, which combined advanced mathematics and sciences to enhance the skill of the fencers."

"How does math help you deflect arrows of the air?" Taylor asked with a little bit of skepticism.

Cereza waved her off. "Simple, love. Once you know the arcing trajectory of the arrow, and have an idea of how fast most arrows move when fired by a bow, be sure to consider whether it's long or short as well, interposing your blade between becomes a simple matter."

Taylor opened her mouth to protest how insane that sounded, but held off. Her own world was filled with Capes, Endbringers, and a naked golden man who could probably punch out God. Meanwhile Cereza's world was filled with magic, elves, and dragons. The ability to use math to deflect arrows didn't actually seem all that ludicrous on second glance.

"Wait a minute," Taylor said as she put together Cereza's story. "If you were a fantasy princess, how did you become a pirate?"

At that question, the smile fell completely off Cereza's face. "My father, Myrmidia curse his name, was an ambitious man. In a ploy to conquer a neighboring Tilean city-state called Vedenza, he made a pact with dark forces. Giant, conniving rat-men known as the Skaven." Cereza spat out the name like it was a swear. "These monsters convinced my father to invade Vedenza, and when his forces were repelled, the Skaven took the opportunity to attack the weakened city-state themselves."

Cereza then shook her head. "Eventually, the Skaven were defeated as well and forced to flee. But the rat-men of Skavenblight hold long grudges, and are ever prone to betrayal. With their original target out of their grasp, the Skaven instead decided to change their target to Larghoz, whose knights, tercios, and even cut-throat mercenaries and bandits were all but depleted from the war."

Cereza looked off into the distance, lost in a distant memory that she no doubt was reliving in her mind. "The entire city was wiped out by the Vermintide. Thousands of people killed or enslaved, taken back into the Skaven's tunnels. Good people, who didn't deserve the fate that awaited them. All gone because of my father's ambition." She then fell silent as her eyes drilled into the ground.

Taylor didn't immediately respond when Cereza paused in her story. She thought it was best to give her friend time to decompress and speak of it on her own.

After a few moments, Cereza continued. "I only escaped because of my personal bodyguards and Blademaster. They sacrificed themselves in order for me to get out of the city." She shook her head. "Noble bastards would never have sullied their honor by letting me die before them," she trailed off with a weak laugh.

When Cereza seemed lost in the haze of the past, Taylor spoke up. "Where did you go after?"

Cereza blinked as she turned to Taylor, her face almost surprised Taylor was there. "Well there weren't many places I could go. I went East, wandering across Tilea, hiding who I was so no one would seek revenge for the invasion we started. It was a rough life, but my rapier and dagger got me through the worst of it. Eventually, I ended up in Sartosa, the City of Pirates."

Cereza chuckled, although this time it was sincere. "Now let me tell you, Sartosa was an absolute pigsty. It was dirty, crowded, and dangerous. Fights, thefts, and murders happened on every street corner and no one gave a rat's ass if you starved to death. There are few ways a woman can make a living in such a place. And I definitely did not plan on whoring myself out, regardless of how much the coin the pirates tried to throw at me."

Taylor frowned. That sounded like Brockton Bay times ten. "Did they give you any trouble?"

"Trouble!?" Cereza snorted. "You don't know the half of it. The nice, and I use that term extraordinarily loosely, pirates left me alone. The more aggressive ones found themselves on the wrong end of my rapier," Cereza grinned savagely as she patted the hilt of her blade. "Eventually, I impaled enough miscreants that I attracted the attention of none other than Aranessa Saltspite, the Pirate Queen."

Taylor noted that Cereza now had an extraordinarily wide, almost cheshire smile as she became more animated.

"All it took was one look from Captain Saltspite for her to know how much I was worth." Cereza continued, excitedly patting her leg. "I could fight with the best of them, but more importantly, I was smart. Educated. I had skills that most dumb brutes of Sartosa couldn't even conceive of, let alone learn. She put me to work as an apprentice to the ship's navigator. And when he died, I became the chief navigator in his stead."

Taylor couldn't help but smile at how fondly Cereza was speaking of her captain. It was an almost infectious positivity that Taylor hadn't felt in years.

Now Cereza was smiling once more as she looked off to the horizon. "I owe everything to Aranessa. I have no doubts that if she didn't take me in, some pirate crew would've gotten together to capture me after I shanked one of their mates. But more than that, she gave me a purpose. By the gods, as childish as it sounds, she even gave me a family again. Those years out on the open ocean with them were the greatest of my life." She shook her head as she turned back to Taylor. "What about you, darling? What was your world like?"

Taylor blinked at the question. "Oh," was all she could say at first. After hearing Cereza's story of loss and adversity, she was outright ashamed of her own past. "My world was… normal, I guess. We didn't have giant ratmen or elves or anything like that, but we did have people with powers. People who could fly, who were super strong, or could heal with a touch. We called them Capes."

"Capes?" Cereza repeated, tilting her head to the side. "Why? Was wearing a cape a signifier of one's powers? Something like a rank of office?"

Taylor couldn't help but laugh. "Not really, no. You see, lots of people with powers put on costumes. Complete with masks, armor, and sometimes, capes. All to hide their identities."

"But why the desire for anonymity? In my world, individuals with great power existed as well, but they relished the fame it brought. There is no port in the world you could go to without people knowing the names Wulfrik the Wanderer or Louen Leoncouer."

"I think it's mostly because they wanted to live double lives. You see, my world wasn't as…" Barbaric, Taylor thought, "violent as yours was. At least America was decently civilized. And I guess so long as you weren't too big a threat, like the Nine or an Endbringer, you could live as a villain. Which was a thing, by the way. People with powers tended to either become superheroes or supervillains, fighting to protect or try to take advantage of the world. When they were in costume they would fight each other. But when they weren't, no one would know who they were, so they couldn't go after each other's friends and families."

Cereza shook her head. "Your society sounds needlessly complicated."

Taylor snorted as she gazed at the dirt. "Well, you're not wrong."

"Did you like your world?" Cereza asked, causing Taylor's head to snap at her. Cereza's face was strangely stoic, but Taylor could see some underlying empathy beneath.

Biting the inside of her lip, Taylor thought over the question. "I… I don't know. There were some good parts of it. My Dad. And I used to like it a lot more, but…"

"But?" Cereza asked, raising a brow.

"It's going to sound stupid compared to your story." Taylor clenched her fists.

"Pain is not a competition," Cereza said flatly, her face an unreadable neutral.

Taylor opened her mouth to retort, but found Cereza's statement simply true. She took a deep breath before starting. "It started a few years ago, when my Mom died."

"My condolences, love." Cereza bowed her head.

Taylor smiled at her. "Thanks. It was… rough, to say the least. My dad shut down, and I only survived thanks to my best friend, Emma." This time, Taylor's eyes focused on the ground and she even found herself smiling at the memories. "Emma was so important to me at that time, even though I probably didn't deserve it. I wasn't as popular as her. As pretty. As rich. But despite all that, she still was friends with me. Her family pretty much took me in when my dad couldn't take care of me."

"You sound like you loved her very much," Cereza commented.

That gave Taylor pause. "Yeah. I guess I did. But then something changed in her. She stopped hanging out with me, told me she didn't want to be friends. She started hanging out with these other girls, and became this… sociopathic monstrous bitch." Taylor hissed out, her voice growing louder. "Every day, for more than a fucking year, Emma, Sophia, and Madison fucking tortured me! It started off small, with the comments and the homework, but they just kept escalating and escalating, and nothing I did would make them stop! They made my life a living Hell, until-" Taylor abruptly cut herself off, only now realizing she was standing, pacing back and forth as her hands were clenched into tight fists at her side.

"Until what?" Cereza asked, her voice practically devoid of any emotion. There was no real empathy there, but no judgment either.

Taylor swallowed. "Before I was sent… here. Sophia and Emma did something to my locker. Filled with…" Taylor almost gagged on reflex. "Bugs and filth and other trash. Sophia shoved me in and locked me inside. I was there for hours, screaming, breaking my own body on the door for anyone to let me out." Taylor's face hardened. "No one came for me. Nurgle was the one who ripped me out of the locker." At the very pronouncement of his name, the air seemed to take an almost greenish hue and smell just a little bit fouler.

Cereza didn't comment immediately. She just looked at Taylor with her even gaze, long enough to the point where Taylor started feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed by her outburst.

"That sounds like a terrible way to die," Cereza finally said. "I'm sorry it happened to you."

Feeling sapped of her energy, Taylor sat back down on her log. "Yeah, me too."

"But I have a question. It sounds like these harpies tortured you for a long time. A year by your reckoning. Why did you simply take it?"

"I didn't just take it!" Taylor snapped back at her. "Everything I tried failed! I went to the teachers, told them what happened and they didn't believe me! The trio were just… better connected and more popular, so they could get away with everything!"

"Telling your teachers was not what I was talking about," Cereza dryly commented. "Why not fight back, or even run away. Why stay?"

"I couldn't just run. I couldn't abandon my dad. And there's no way we could've even afforded to move. And fighting back? I told you, my world was actually civilized. We couldn't just solve everything with sword fights and honor duels. Besides, Sophia was stronger than me. She was their muscle. There was no way I could take her." Taylor shook her head. "Also, I just… thought that if I didn't fight back. That if I could take everything they threw at me, I could be better than them. That I didn't have to stoop down to violence like they did."

If Cereza was insulted by Taylor inadvertently calling her world uncivilized, she didn't show it. "Except not fighting back didn't make you better than them. It got you killed."

Taylor let out a mirthless laugh. "Yeah, you're telling me."

Cereza then stood and walked over to Taylor. The pirate knelt in front of her, and grabbed Taylor's hands. "But you have a second chance now. Sure, it's within the Realm of Chaos, but that's better than the Gardens of Morr. And instead of all that talk of being better than your tormentors, you need to accept one simple fact." Cereza's face became extraordinarily hard. "Fuck anyone who isn't you or your crew."

"What?" Taylor wasn't sure she heard her right.

"You heard what I said. Fuck anyone that isn't you or your crew. Whether it's in this realm, your world, or my world, everyone is either out to get you, or to take advantage of you." Cereza sounded almost desperate in trying to impart this lesson onto Taylor. "You sound like a good person Taylor. One who wants to be righteous. That wants to save people like a bloody Bretonnian Paladin. But it is that exact code of morals that got you killed.

"You can't be better than this Sophia and Emma, because Taylor darling, you aren't. At the end of the day, we're all just savage animals, fighting and fucking our way to survive. So please, ditch the fucking moral superiority, and focus on doing what it takes to survive. Focus on climbing over however many bodies it takes to get to tomorrow. Because no one else besides you and your crew really matters."

"That's… depressingly cynical." Taylor muttered out.

"And completely true." She then let go of Taylor's hands and made her way back to her log. As she did, Taylor realized something as her eyes narrowed on her friend.

"Cereza. If everyone is trying to take advantage of me, then is that why you've been following me? Training me? You seem strong enough to survive in the Chaos Wastes on your own, so why take the time to train me when I could potentially slow you down."

Taylor realized she was holding her breath as she waited for Cereza to respond. And when she did, Cereza's cat-like grin returned in full.

"Glad to see you're paying attention, love." Cereza sat straight up and allowed her face to become serious once more. "I am taking advantage of you, yes, but you don't give yourself enough credit. You are powerful, more so than I could've imagined when we first met. Sure, you didn't know the pointy end of a sword for a bit, but you're learning. And most importantly, you have the eyes of the Gods upon you. That alone makes it worthwhile to stand beside you. You are destined for greatness, Taylor, and if I'm by your side, then I'll have the protection of someone who is so all powerful."

Frowning, Taylor couldn't help but look down at the dirt again. "Well, I guess I should be thankful that you're being brutally honest. Even if it makes me feel used."

Cereza laughed. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not being completely manipulative. There is in fact a small part of me that sees you like… almost like myself. At least how I was after I left my home. A young woman, thrown into the wilds of a world she doesn't understand, with nothing but her skills and wit to save her until someone else comes by to help her." Cereza crossed her legs, propping her elbow on them as she rested her chin on her hand. "Captain Saltspite helped me, so now I owe it to her to try and help you."

Taylor raised a brow. "What happened to 'fuck everyone who isn't you and your crew?' Don't you think that's a little hypocritical?"

"I'm helping myself by helping you." Cereza shrugged. "Like I said, taking advantage of first, altruism second."

Taylor shook her head. Cereza really was an oddity. "God, I can't believe the first person I've become friends with in how many years is a pirate and former princess with no qualms of using me."

Cereza gave a big, heartfelt laugh. "Ha! Well look at it this way darling. If you can get close to one, a pirate is the best friend anyone could ask for."

A/N, 12/25/22: One last chapter before the New Year! Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and happy holidays!