She was looking at the city, the giant tower in the center overlooked most if not all of Orario. The multitude of voices coming from the hallway and the inside kept the ambient busy.
Fimbulvetr was in the distance, a small point amidst all the houses, stores, alleyways and intricate walls. Not too far was the base of one of the most powerful Familias and a Goddess she considered an acquaintance more than a friend.
But deep inside those eyes, her thoughts were still on the group of adventurers that were deep below in the middle of a mission. She knew best not to be worried but at the same time she felt dread whenever they left, even if she promised herself to trust them, not because they were not skilled enough but because there was something bugging her for a long time now.
"Excuse me! Coming through! "
A familiar voice, trying to make way amidst the deities until it reached the very Goddess who turned around to look for the source.
The carefree God stopped right in front of Skadi, looking tired already as he bent to catch his breath.
"Hey… Ska-…. Nevermind."
"Why are you so rushed about it? I'm pretty sure I reminded you about the Denatus being today."
"Yeah… I… funny thing that I decided to sleep longer today because I thought it would be in a few days." Heimdall recovered, taking another breath and fixing his clothes. "Although I keep telling you, no need to come here if none of your children can get a name!"
"It is a habit after all, if there are important news to be heard then I want to be there. And as far as what you told me, one of yours is going to get a name so it's better if you have a friend in there."
"You think they would be merciless? " But the response came in the form of a finger pointing at someone arriving at this hallway full of deities.
The red mane was easy to spot in between the people, that smug look on her face and almost-close eyelids was also a dead giveaway that something wicked was afoot with her but without her usual escort (or trophies as per some whispers) who would contain her, there was no way of telling what could she do, especially to a certain God who's been on her sights for a long time.
"Ugh, her missing one of these meetings would be the greatest news for me today…"
"Like I said, you need a friend in there." The Goddess smiled at Heimdall's predicament.
But amongst the crowd there was someone else who did not have that much flair nor attention as the other Goddess.
This was an old person, or at the very least the grey hairs would make him look like one. The hair was well groomed but the beard was slightly long and did not have as much care as the rest. He wore a robe that was almost scrapping the floor but it looked elegant, with certain runic design on the edges. Underneath he wore some contrasting clothing as opposed to the robe, an elegant black suit and a gray tie being held in place by an emblem of two ravens.
He carried with him a cane with the two ravens engraved on the top, the symbol of his Familia and something that he kept close.
The man approached the two deities that were chatting, the sound of the cane striking the floor accompanied every footstep.
"Ah, Old Man! I was surprised to see you here at all! " Heimdall was ready to move his arm around the deity's shoulder but he leaned away, leaving the carefree God hanging.
"I have duties, don't I? Even if my children are not yet ready for a name, I ought to visit every now and then." The gray haired man explained and then turned to the Goddess. "I have heard your Familia grew in size recently, am I wrong, Skadi? " His tried to pierce through hers only to give an unnerving feeling, although it was not the pure blue that could shock anyone but that one of those yes was purely white, limiting his vision by a half.
"You're not, Odin. I do recall seeing one of your children when my Captain was in the hospital, she seemed very worried about."
"Yes, the news of that boy fly fast in this labyrinth, was it… a wolf? A bear? " He waved his hand, dismissing it. "In any case he is alive, and I am sure you are relieved of that." Odin tapped the floor with his cane. "I do hope that event did not worry you that much, dear"
"If you're trying to say something, spill it." Skadi frowned at the God; she was not the type of Goddess who would dislike other gods, some would just be outside of her interest and others she would keep close like Heimdall, but Odin? That was a different story.
"I should apologize, perhaps I came as a bit aggressive there. Perhaps we could strike a conversation again over a drink?"
"Oh, may I join too? I could offer my establishment for such a meeting if you will. Just you, Ska-cha and you, Old Man. What do you say? " Heimdall joined the despite the look of disdain that Odin gave him.
"Perhaps we should continue this at another time and with different… companies. Now, if you excuse me, there are others I must talk to as well. Have a good day."
Heimdall approached the Goddess once again, Odin walked away and was already talking to another group of deities. "I am surprised you didn't tear his face off right there." He sighed. "Well at least neither of you made a scene there, and Loki didn't join to sour the mood even more! "
"…"
As the doors of the sanctum opened, the deities were slowly going inside. Skadi remained there for a bit, looking at Odin going inside along with the others but she still felt that one eye looking at her, as if trying to pry everything out of her.
"Ska-cha." Heimdall snapped his fingers near her. "Come on, my kids are getting a name today." But he noticed how the Goddess was slightly out of it. "Skadi, you alright? "
"Yeah… I'm just wondering how they are doing down there…" He took another peek at the window, looking at Fimbulvetr before joining the rest inside the sanctum.
…
There was silence, they saw the blood coming from beneath the rocks, and no signs of the other adventurers.
No words came out at first, some of them looking in despair as the people they called comrades or even family could be dead.
"FANIS! " Livialiska dropped her gauntlets and ran towards the wreck. "Fanis come meown, are you there? Can you hear me? HELLO?!" The screams of fear and despair as she tried to remove the rocks but no matter how much she tried, there was no end.
"What are you waiting for?! Help meow get everyone out of there! " Livia's feline accent was something they rarely heard, she usually spoke like everyone else and the only reason they could hear those cat noises (something that Theresa called them once) was because she lowered her guard, whether out of something completely unexpected or in this case, absolute despair.
She continued removing the rocks, trying to pull them from the giant pile that was blocking their way. She went back to grab her gauntlets and started to punch it and while it was a success since she was cracking some of the rocks, Albrecht intervened, pulling the Cat Person away from that pile as a few rocks were just seconds away from crushing her.
"Why… WHY?!"
"You were going to be crushed, even if you survived, an injury that would break your legs or affect your combat ability could hinder our probabilities of escape."
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ESCAPING, I CARE ABOUT MY SISTER!" She pushed the tall guy away and crawled to the captain, holding to his armor and looking at him. "Captain, please tell me. What happened there? Is everyone safe? "
"Yes, of course they are! "
It's what he would've said but he would be lying. It was impossible for Ragnar to reassure her that they were all alive and that it happened. To make matters worse all of this happened because he ordered Fanis to blow up the ceiling.
If they were truly dead then his orders led to the death of almost half of the Familia. A burden so big that was starting to sink in for him.
What would he say to the Guild? Or even to Skadi?
"I…"
"I'm sure they're fine, the cave was big enough so if we're safe then they should too." Alain stepped in, trying to relieve some pressure from the Captain but this didn't stop the feline who was starting to shed tears.
"The Dungeon is in a state of repair. When it sustains a damage like this then it will try to fix, during this period there will be no monsters spawning near here." Albrecht added, giving many in the group a sigh of relief but that did not solve much of the problems.
Ragnar helped Livialiska back up and she wiped her tears. "Livia, we'll find Fanis and the others, right now I need you to keep your head together." Her ears twitched and turned her head at somewhere deeper in the cave. "Right now we need to get our bearings, go back to where we were and find the others. We can't be sure if they are in a good position as we are, but the faster we do it the quicker we'll be back together."
"Are you sure they will be fine? How can you promise that? "
"I-… I just want to stay positive about it, ok? It's what Noel would probably say." Theresa's comment was very well noted by the others, and even if Ragnar was going to reassure them more about it.
!
Livia pushed the Captain to the side and started to run away into the darkness.
"Livia wait!" But even if he tried to stop her, she was slowly fading away from their vision. "Argh, let's go after her. I'm sure not all the floor is going to be monster-less."
The four of them proceeded to chase the feline, hearing her footsteps in the distance along with the sounds of battle. As they advanced they saw the remains of monsters, very few were alive and it was a surprise that their teammate was able to deal with them.
They had to kill the remnants but couldn't stop to pick up the Magic Stones, although the sound of footsteps was dwindling, they could see a figure in the distance.
No, there were multiple, and one of them was their teammate.
They entered in an open cave with multiple adventurers, all of them resting around and with their weapons to the side.
"Ah! Glad to know the source of the ruckus came this way." The woman at the center of it all was standing in front of Livialiska.
A Half-Dwarf was the one who looked in charge of this posse, she looked dirty and her companions were not too different in that regard, albeit their eyes showed a bit more mischief.
"Hey, be careful if you're going that way." Ragnar pointed with his thumb at the path they came from. "There's been a collapse and the path is blocked."
"Really? Hard not to listen to it when all we heard was crashing and screaming." One of the people around them called out.
"Prick…" Theresa frowned.
"Hey, ignore 'im, but yeah we heard all that commotion coming from there, figured that sooner or later someone would show up here."
"Well, if you excuse us, we're kind of in a purr-y." Livia just nodded and ran past the Half-Dwarf.
"Livia, come on! " Ragnar followed behind her and the rest of the party had to chase again.
"Hey hey hey, where are you going? Are not interested in rescuing your friends? " All five of them halted in place and turned at the leader. "We did hear something about your party, are we right? After all it is not normal for the ceiling to collapse like that."
The members of Skadi Familia noticed that a few more people joined in this cave. Including the leader there were about eight of them, they were outnumbered and the group felt this malicious aura about them. They were no adventurers, they were most likely thieves who'd rather make a good Valis by stealing from honest people in moments like these.
"Cap', just say the order and I'll take two of them down…" Theresa grinned, her hand ready to swing the blade.
"Not yet, if they wanted us dead they would've done so already."
"Hah, no wonder you're the head down here, you're smarter than you look." The girl approached the Captain and so did he, reaching a middle point. "So, pretty boy. Ready to hear my demands? But don't worry, we are fair people."
"What are you supposed to be? Thieves? Bounty hunters? Assassins? "
"Oh no, that is putting our business in a… disreputable light." She replied to Alain. "Allow me to illustrate. We've been hired for a simple job, we are looking for a single person, once we do? We terminate it."
"Assassins, no doubt." Said Albrecht. "But you are willing to negotiate if you are taking this time."
"Correct!" She snapped her fingers. "What we are looking at is your leader, this pretty boy right here. As for the rest of you? We have no business." But just as they were going to object, she opened her mouth once more. "But if you wish to contribute with our funds, we won't mind. Weapons, armors, trinkets, stones. Anything of value that you have could be considered a very grateful donation."
"Where's. My. Sister? "
"Considering the layout of this floor, she should be safe on the other side of the collapse. Naturally we thought that Pass Parade was going to kill you, it wasn't too hard to enrage some of those monsters and lead them your way."
"So what happened earlier… was your doing? "
"Of course! Why dirtying our hands when we can make it as clean as possible. The monsters would take you out, we sweep and then we take everything. But, since that did not work, I am here to cut you all a deal: Your Captain and all of your belongings and we let you get out of here alive, and with the rest of your party."
Everyone felt paralyzed, their demands were outrageous and if they didn't want to go with it they would kill everyone? What could they do in that situation?
A quick plan was necessary but the last time he thought of something it ended with half the party split up and who knows if the others are still alive? They were surrounded and outnumbered, that's for sure.
Ragnar sighed, he couldn't think of anything else but to think of sorry, something that he would say to Skadi if he returned.
"So... you're the one who caused all of this…" Livialiska slowly advanced towards the Half-Dwarf. "That Pass Parade… the collapse… all of that just to get one of us? You didn't even care about everyone else? "
Ragnar could feel a murderous intent coming from behind him, although he was expecting it directed to him, this felt beyond that.
He then felt a hand grabbing his shoulder and pushing him to the side so Livia could lunge forward for an attack. A punch directed at the girl although with no success as she was able to dodge it.
"To try and kill us… to harm… my sister… I will not let you…"
"Wow, you really want to go this far? Well, can't say we didn't give you a warning. But I guess the time for negotiations are over." One of the scoundrels tossed a giant axe in the direction of their leader and she grabbed it, letting it rest over her shoulder. "If anyone asks, we were just defending ourselves! " She swung her axe at the feline, knowing full well she wouldn't have enough time to block or even dodge the attack.
"LIVIA WATCH OUT! "
Ragnar stepped in front of Livialiska and pulled his axes, blocking the attack just in time. The sound of the axes clashing against each other echoed in the room and that's what led to this fight starting.
Theresa didn't wait for the others to attack her, instead she was the one who went forward and stabbed one of the assailants, taking their life away. But two more showed up to try and contain her.
Albrecht was on the defensive, he hid behind his shield, protecting himself as the constant attacks of a sword were trying to break his defense, slightly injuring him but still remained unstoppable.
Alain on the other hand was one of the few that was struggling, not because he was outnumbered but because his opponent was just as quick. They were trading attacks but ultimately it was a stalemate.
"Captain, let me hel-" But despite how the Cat Girl wanted to help, she got intercepted by another assailant forcing her to dodge.
Meanwhile, the clash between Ragnar and the other leader kept going. She bore a smile on her face, knowing full well that if she continued, she would sooner or later finish the Captain.
"Alright, who hired you to kill me? "
"Great talking, really. But if you want answers then you better beat me. But I'll indulge you for a bit." She pushed the blond away. "We are just adventurers for hire. Usually our trade involves smuggling things in and out of the city, thievery or collecting information? Assassination or framing? It's rare but we still do it! " She swung the giant axe, trying to cut the Captain in half only for him to step back, feeling the small gust of wind that came from the attack as it crashed against the floor, lodging the weapon in there.
So that's what it was in the end. A simple job, as long as they killed him the others wouldn't matter; in fact, he believed that they wouldn't have spared the rest even if they obliged to their conditions. What kind of person would call themselves adventurers just to give their services for such a vile cause? That was the definition of a villain, or at the very least a criminal.
He could feel something within him switching, his breathing was rapidly increasing and a single sentiment grew exponentially.
Rage.
This woman was not just an adventurer, she was an enemy, one that has endangered his Familia. Perhaps it was a way for him to atone for his mistake early, on the off-chance that his teammates were dead.
No.
He couldn't think about that. He knew that they were fine, they had to, he has to believe that. If he lost his focus he would lose this fight…
He'd rather not thing about that.
Ragnar felt his muscles tense up as the grip on the axes became stronger. He didn't want to just come out on top, he wanted to kill her, to destroy her. She needed to die by his hand alone.
He rushed forward and raised his axes to make a huge cut on top her head, one singular blow that would kill her.
But he didn't notice her smirking. She held the axe and was ready to cut him from below, raising it with as much strength and speed that she could.
Ragnar could not have enough time to dodge nor to block the attack, if anything he was in a very unfavorable position so while his brain was being overwhelmed with rage he did one rational thing. He used the hilt of the giant axe in his favor and propelled himself above the leader and landing behind her.
This was a surprising outcome that the Half-Dwarf did not expect and as she turned around, the only thing that she saw was that blue axe moving close to her.
"DIE! "
A feral scream from Ragnar caught her by surprise. Without a way of blocking she wanted to dodge and jumped away, leaving the giant weapon on the floor.
But that's where an interesting problem came to be: While the blue axe did not hit her, what came afterwards did. A strange ice projectile in the form of an arc came from the same swing that missed her before.
CRASH
The sound of the ice colliding against that woman. She fell to ground and rolled away. By the time she was able to get back up she noticed the blue axe glowing in his hand.
"Hey, not fair! Here I thought you would at least go down without any tricks. But if you do try to go that way…" She smirked again, raising her hand and taunting the young boy to come at her.
Another roar, his grip on the axes became even stronger as he charged forward, ready to cut that woman to pieces.
He ran past the fallen axe and as he got close…
"Gotcha!" She threw dirt in his eyes.
"Argh you piece of-…" His vision was blurry and to make matters worse, she kicked him in the legs to make him fall. "Come back here! "
"Then you better catch me! " She giggled and ran away from him, picking up the giant axe. "You know? Your contract was pretty cheap honestly. But if I knew that you would be this much of a hassle I would've asked for more." The sound of the axe getting dragged against the stone. "The blond guy is going on a quest with his people. Kill him and bring proof."
"Who… was it?!"
"Like I said, beat me and I'll tell you." She raised the axe over her shoulder once again. "But I'm afraid it's the end of your road."
Ragnar got on his knees, looking at the girl. She was far away for him to get back up and attack her, not without consequence that is. He was not aware that the heirloom in his hand was glowing nor that the attack from earlier was caused by the magic dwelling within it. Throwing his axes was a bad idea and if he jumped back he would be in range for Alain to help him but that would mean he would lose focus on his fight.
He couldn't think of a way out, not when all he wanted to do was to cut her down. His teammates were still fighting and none of them seemed to have the advantage.
A battle of attrition which would lead to their demises. He couldn't even know if the others survived, and if they didn't…
What would his father do in this situation? Fighting a battle that seemed impossible, against a bear that was equally powerful.
He would try to do the same. He was ready to run at her and no matter the outcome he would try to kill her.
One. Two. Three.
His knees left the floor and just as he was about to start running.
"CLOSE YOUR EYES!"
A familiar voice, one that didn't come from the current group but one that was thought gone.
A flash of light illuminated the cave, more than it already was. A loud explosion in the far end of the cave, blocking the way the group came from but fortunately it was bright enough that elicited a reaction from their enemies, a groan coming from all sides as they were blinded by the light.
"Argh, who is it?!"
The sound of arrows flying were met with yelps of pain as they hit their mark and the adventurers were dispatching the assailants one by one.
"Ragnar! " Noel screamed from behind and quickly dashed forward to attack the leader of this group of bandits.
The Captain's vision came back to normal despite the anger, and he saw that the silver haired boy stabbed the Half-Dwarf in the stomach.
"Taking advantage of that?!" She shouted and hit the young one with the back of the giant axe in the head, sending him rolling away.
That's what caused Ragnar's anger to return and even with a vengeance! He roared and ran towards the enemy leader, his vision turned red as the only objective was in sight: To kill that woman. If she died then the fight not only would be over but they would be safe once more.
He raised his arms to cut her down but the axe was in his way once again, blocking his attack.
"Guess you still got some more fight in you, pretty boy. But it's time we wrap this up." She grinned, ready to pull the same tactic that she did before. Only this time she hesitated, not because the tide of the battle turned against her but because she saw two things that caught her attention.
The first one was that she could see her breath, that part of the Dungeon was not as cold as anyone would expect, not to the degree of seeing that. The second one was that the axe's glow was getting brighter and as a result.
CRACK
The sound of crystals shattering.
The azure weapon was able to freeze part of the axe and with that it became easy to break.
Without any weapon guarding her, the Captain went forward, pushing her to the ground and in just the blink of an eye one axe was embedded in her chest and then the other followed suit.
The battle was over.
The villain of this fight coughed some blood, knowing that her time in this mortal realm was soon to be over.
"I should've asked more for this…" She coughed again. "But look at you, this innocent kid that I was told about turned out to be a good fighter and a killer. You could've had some future with us if things were different."
"I would never be like you! I fight monsters to get stronger, not people! "
"Really? You think life is wine, glory and being revered as a hero?! Grow up! This is not a tale like in those books, this is the real deal. Sooner or later you would've killed someone for whatever reason. It's in everyone's nature! " Her voice was getting raspy, the words slurred as her last moments were near.
The rest of Skadi Familia gathered around their Captain and the soon-to-be dead bandit. It was a surprise that the Supporter that joined them earlier in the day still stuck with them despite the events that happened.
"Who was it? Who hired you to kill me? "
"Heh… ha… hahaha." She laughed on and on.
"W-what's… what's so funny? " Fanis asked.
"The person who hired us was wearing a cloak and hiding his face! These people were so serious about, not your typical person looking for a bunch of criminals."
The woman laughed one last time as her voice faded away and there was nothing but silence. Ragnar removed both axes, wiped them from blood and then put them back on each side of his belt.
That's when he realized what happened. The rage was subsiding and his body was feeling fatigue from it. His mind felt strange as if he was nothing but a spectator of what just happened; his rage overtook him and it led him to kill someone, no matter how evil she could be.
"I'm-…" A murderer, it's what he was going to say but the words could not come out of his mouth.
"Ragnar? " Noel took the knife and looked at the blond with worry in his eyes.
"Nevermind that now." He turned. "Are you all alright? "
Noel, Fanis, Hilda and Florine looked dirty and worse for wear. No doubt that whichever path they took to reunite with the rest of the group was not as pleasant or straightforward as Ragnar's. From bruises to cuts and even some blood here and there, they certainly had quite the trip to get there.
"FANIS!" Livialiska ran and tackled the young mage, crying her way through as she hugged her. "FANIS I WAS SO WORRIED YOU'D BE GONE. I MEOWLDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO OR WHERE TO GO, I WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL OUR PURRENTS IF YOU DIED."
"L-Lili… I'm… I'm fine, you don't have to worry anymore." The mage patted the cat's head, making her tail flail around wildly.
"Our situation was dire but at the very least we were able to come out on top!" Said Hilda. "That collapse nearly cost our lives but the Vice-Captain has ensured our safety by leading the way out. Unfortunately such a trip also incurred into fighting many monsters that…"
"And there goes my silence…" Theresa huffed while the archer kept narrating the story.
"Ragnar, who were those people? "
"Some people for hire, they wanted to kill me. But we will never know who did this." He muttered. Noel cleaning the blade in his hand and then putting it back in the sheath. "Hey, Florine, are you alright? "
"Florine is…" She yawned. "…tired, she wants to go home and sleep for a week."
"You and me both. Let's just leave this place and go back home, we could use a good clean, food and rest." He tapped his belly but noticed something wet. As he looked down he noticed the blood in his armor, but it was not his. "We'll… figure out as we go I guess." He focused on his tip of his red fingers.
The way back to the surface was somewhat uneventful, while there were a few monsters on their way, it was less of an issue and more of a hassle as they had to pick up the stones.
But what about their quest?
The blood they found originally under the collapse was from the dead body; The other group tried to pull out the body from there but unfortunately not only were they unable to do it, but the one arm they were trying to pull from has accidentally come off as they said. They were able to get the bag full of reagents, albeit the contents were not in a good condition as they found them initially.
Still, the Guild accepted it and paid the reward. Esther was wondering as to what happened exactly but Ragnar did not want to disclose.
The sky was slowly going dark and the adventurers were sitting by the benches near Babel. Noel was counting the final coins and giving a full purse to Florine, thanking her for the service.
She bid farewell and slowly walked away with money in her pockets and an empty backpack.
Everyone was tired, more so than their usual trip to the Dungeon. Only this time it was the added fatigue of fighting the monsters, other people, nearly escaping death from the collapse and then returning.
But they all knew one thing: With this quest they would have access to the Middle Floors, even if they don't tackle those yet, they would at least be able to go without any repercussions.
Although this day proved that they still needed some more preparation.
"Ugh... I can't believe the day is ending, I thought we would be trapped down there…" Said Fanis, her staff was under her arm while her sister was resting her head on her shoulder, sleeping soundly.
"Tsch, those pricks. Why do they want our Cap' so bad? "
"It might be that he got the interest of some unsavory group or someone who wishes to see him dead. Although it does not explain why only him and not all of the Familia." Albrecht explained to Theresa but she was not happy about it. She was crossing her arms, looking at the tall man who was sharpening the war pick and trying to clean the few remains of blood that were in there.
"It matters not in the end! We have vanquished the villain and saved Orario from a catastrophe! "
"More like we saved ourselves from… whoever was after us. At least for now." Noel muttered and looked at Ragnar.
The Captain was sitting alone with his back facing the rest of the group. He looked at his hands, they were no longer dirty but he could vividly remember the blood in his fingers, the dead person in front of him and how he was the one who caused it.
That day was not good for him; the ambush was because of him, he ordered Fanis to destroy the ceiling and that almost caused everyone to die. Then they started a fight with other adventurers and in the end he killed one.
A murderer.
No, that wasn't right, it was self-defense. If he didn't protect himself or the others then everyone would've died. But what if their deal was true and everyone would've been spared except for him? Was it a pointless death that he witnessed or was it necessary to survive?
"Ragnar? "
"Huh?" The voice of Noel snapped him back to his senses. "What? "
"Are you alright? You haven't been too talkative since we were climbing up. Is it about…" The silver haired didn't need to finish the sentence and his friend knew what it meant.
"I…" Hesitation. "Forget it, we came out on top in the end." Ragnar stood from the bench and turned to the group. "Let's go back to Fimbulvetr, we earned a pretty coin today so we should be happy. We can celebrate at another time."
Everyone was happy about today except Noel, while he was glad that everyone survived, they completed the quest and ultimately got a lot of money out of it, he was worried about the Captain's mental state. He feared that what happened down there was something that will dwell for him, much like it happened with the bear.
He prayed that his friend would be able to move on and a justified death like that one would not keep him down.
Despite this incident, the party was able to reunite but not without some issues behind. Ragnar already has plenty in his mind after that battle and might keep with that for a while, he'll need some advice that's for sure and I'm sure some will be willing to lend him an ear to listen to his issues.
This was a long chapter, like, I was not expecting it to be that long in my head and lo and behold! I did have the concept for the chapter in my head but some parts were not connecting as well as not finding good time to write.
As always thanks for everyone who read the story and follow. It brings a smile whenever I see a new message in my email from a review or follow. (Unless it's a spam email from those who want to offer their services as `artists´ and just want to scam you)
That being said, it's time for me to wrap it up today. Have a nice weekend and I'll see you in the next chapter!