If Tristessa had been told a few days ago that she was going to use her lap as a pillow for an unconscious crimson-haired elf, there was no way in a million years she would have believed it.
What's more, there was no way she could have even believed that she was going to be summoned to another world and trapped in a time-loop metaphysically linked to the concepts of Life and Death.
In retrospect, the entire situation she was experiencing was definitely wrong, and Tristessa could only go with the flow and pray that it wouldn't end in another Death for her.
"Your friend is...weird. He saves our lives and then he pass out," she said, not quite sure how to feel as she peered at the elf, who was gaping and dripping saliva onto her pants.
She was a little uneasy about his bulging eyes and how extremely still he was; if it weren't for the slight ups and downs of his chest, anyone would have thought that humanoid was no longer among the living.
"That's Severus at his finest. Don't try to understand him," Jin replied, chuckling before tossing pieces of roasted guts and hairy, dried limbs into a small bonfire. "Don't be surprised if he did it on purpose so he wouldn't help clean up this mess."
"You think so?"
Jin was gathering all the remains of the Vargs to burn them in that controlled bonfire at the center of the leaf-cleared plot. So close to the edge of the forest, and therefore dangerously close to the Mercer-Archeos home, they couldn't risk attracting more beasts and sources of disease.
"Is that what you think of the only friend you have left in this cruel world, Jin my dear? You're so cruel, my heart is broken…"
The blood elf had regained consciousness but was more focused on forcing himself to keep his eyes closed and pressing his temples, as if resisting the aftereffects of a severe hangover. When he opened them, the first thing he saw was Tristessa's flustered, blushing face.
"Oh… Am I dreaming, or this is truly a beautiful young lady taking care of me?"
"Haha… I-I'm Tristessa, nice to meet you," she introduced herself, unable to hide how happy she felt to receive such a compliment. "Are you all right, Mr…?"
"Severus Malak Drakan, thaumaturge and alchemist, at your service. And after having rested in your lap, I am more than fine. More than perfect, I'd say." Without rising, the elf took the girl's right hand and kissed her knuckles. "Miss Tristessa, besides your beautiful and well-deserved name, it's a pleasure to tell you that you're like a breath of fresh air, blowing away the dust that covers my old, rusty heart, and…and…ah?"
Releasing Tristessa's hand, Severus frowned and blinked several times, then looked at the confused girl in a disturbing way.
"…and it turns out that breath of air was actually the flatulence of an Alpha Boar. Damn it, girl, how can you have such a smell of Discord emanating from your…?! Ah!"
Tristessa pushed the elf, very offended, throwing him off her and causing him to fall face first onto the ground. If it weren't for the permanent mattress of red leaves, courtesy of the Sea of Trees, he would undoubtedly have broken his nose.
"Ugh! That wasn't very nice!" he complained, spitting out the leaves that had gotten into his mouth.
"Well, you should have saved your comment about my soul," she hissed, now standing with her arms crossed. "But I'll forgive you, only because you saved our lives."
"You're welcome… By the way, my services aren't free, dear friend," Severus told the hunter, dusting off his shirt to remove leaves and dirt.
"Your intervention was more than fortuitous, so I'll comply with your demands," Jin agreed. With the last piece of a Varg's dismembered torso thrown into the fire, he held out his hand to his friend. "What do you need from me? I can't offer you much, despite all your help."
"Oh, this time I'll settle for two things. First, an answer to a question." The elf not only accepted Jin's hand, but pulled it closer to him and placed his arm behind Jin's shoulders, speaking into his ear with a loud voice. "Tell me, what are you doing in the company of a young lady with a soul as dark as an endless nightmare? The Discord surrounding her is so thick I can barely breathe, and that's considering we have a bonfire filled with noxious smoke at our backs."
"It's hard to explain..."
"Hey, I can hear you!" Tristessa exclaimed, unable to believe the two men's audacity.
"I found her nearby, wandering around naked, covered in blood that wasn't hers and with no memory of her past. I'm doing what I can to help her."
Both men looked at the girl with the same feeling of pity, uncaring how furious it made her.
"I see... Rumor has it that the ladies of the Coven have a malicious habit of performing rituals on their victims. Children are dismembered, women are tortured to the point of madness, and men are used as playthings in more ways than one…" the elf explained, more than a little sinisterly. "Our friend Tristessa seems to fit the profile of a Coven victim very well, only instead of insanity, the result was amnesia. It would be interesting to know how she managed to escape those lunatic harlots…"
Speaking of something so horrifying, something that sent shivers down her spine just thinking about it, made Tristessa put aside her anger to understand that those two men had lived their entire lives surrounded by mortal danger.
Tristessa had seen almost nothing of what Nekrom had to offer, but having died twice in such gruesome manners and in such a short period of time didn't bode well for her.
"About my second favor… Oh please, don't look at me like that, it's not a Berelian task I'm asking for," the blood elf said quickly, seeing the cautioned expression that crossed his friend's face.
"Of course, and now you're going to tell me I have to hunt a Demon of the Deep using a fork, or cross the Ocean of Violent Waters on a raft…" the hunter said sarcastically, while Tristessa could barely understand from the context that they were talking about almost impossible tasks. Finally, he sighed. "I'm all ears."
"You're exaggerating… You see, I hired a mercenary to come to the Sea of Trees and map the southernmost regions beyond the Lonely Lake. I didn't ask him to reach The Fingers of Nekronomika —I'm not an exploitative monster—but I did ask him to try to go as far as possible without freezing to death or worse," Severus explained. Jin opened his mouth to say something, but the elf cut him off with a new sentence. "It's worth clarifying that my mercenary left three months ago."
"…very well. It's not a promising outlook, but he'll be hard to find, if that's your intention. It'll take me days to even find a trace of your man, much longer if he's already dead and devoured by wild beasts. Or spirited away by the Coven, depending on how far he went."
"No, you see, the problem comes from another matter."
Severus took a small rhombohedron-shaped crystal from one of his trouser pockets, emitting a faint blue glow, and showed it to Jin and Tristessa. He even dropped it into the girl's hands for her to look at with fascinating attention: it was cold, beautiful, and emitted a strange but soothing, high-pitched, monotonous sound.
"This soul-shard is made from the essence of my mercenary's soul and is connected to a twin I gave him. That, and a bit of advanced thaumaturgy that nearly killed me, but anyway, what matters is that I can pinpoint its twin location with pretty good accuracy."
"If he didn't get rid of the other crystal," Jin added, his turn to look at the soul-shard. "And where does it point? How far?"
Concerned, Severus pointed southeast. Tristessa looked where his finger was pointing, toward the gray road into the unknown between the endless maze of trees.
"Just under half an Imperial view, that way," the elf said quietly. Jin nodded, scratching his beard and understanding the implications. "Either my mercenary traveled that disappointing distance, decided to surrender, and took half the advance payment I gave him…or something happened to him. So, what do you say? Will you accompany me there and watch my back while I investigate the whereabouts of my money…I mean, mercenary?"
"If I have no other choice…" Jin slung his rifle over his shoulder and glanced one last time at the fire, making sure the dug earth around it was sufficient to keep the fire at bay.
"Excellent! And you, missy? Are you coming with us?" Severus asked, snapping his fingers in her direction and flashing a grin. "Perhaps returning the way you came will help you regain your memories, although the trauma you must have endured also means you might regret it later."
"W-well…"
Tristessa met Jin's gaze and instantly saw his concern. Concern about the potential danger, about the chance of remembering and making a mistake regarding the matter of being a possible Stranger. She understood, but there was a particular reason why she wanted to travel through the forest without raising suspicion. A secret reason, one that no one else could know for the sake of her life.
A reason summed up in a small object she brought to Nekrom with her, in one of the pockets of her jacket, which was surely lying in pieces in the Varg shelter: the modern plastic photograph of those five people, their faces blacked out except for herself.
If there as a chance to find it, however small…
"Okay, I'll come with you." She winked at Jin and smiled, wanting to convey confidence, although judging by the hunter's confused reaction, such gestures surely held no meaning in Nekrom. "But there's something I don't understand, Severus: if you can fly, wouldn't it be easier for you to reconnaissance that way?"
"What? Who told you I can fly? Oh, you're talking about my grand entrance!" The elf burst out laughing, further confusing the girl and causing Jin to shake his head, rolling his eyes. "That was pure showmanship: I climbed a tree and floated towards you. I can only do that for a few seconds, and that's it."
"…I won't deny it's a little disappointing, but floating sounds just as cool," she said, confusing the elf.
"It sounds…cool?"
"Terrific, I meant."
"Oh, that's more like it!"
Severus and Tristessa, finding common ground, shook hands in peace after getting off on the wrong foot, while Jin, on the other hand, prepared to take the lead in the search, praying to the heavens:
"Goddess Xiliarra, please grant me patience with these two…"