Hidden beneath the many layers of clothes that Hineni usually wears outside, beneath his coat, his hat, his scarf is just a man like any other. Hidden beneath Sockel’s exhausted, sleep-deprived face, which always seems to carry an unusually contrasting expression of ‘pleasantly worried’ is just a woman. Hidden beneath the fabric of Rhine’s expensive robe, hidden beneath the strands of long, wet blue hair, is a frog.

Hineni isn’t really too sure what’s happening right now. He thinks that he’s been captured.

By the time the world turned right-side up again, the water of the spell having dissipated, the door had burst open and he had been struck while he was on the ground. Everything still feels like it’s spinning. Someone is dragging him through the house.

Rhine betrayed them. Him. Is he with the frogs? Obviously. He has to be.

Something hurts inside of Hineni. It isn’t a broken bone or an aching wound or anything like that. It’s a new feeling, one that he isn’t really familiar with. It feels… twisty. It’s like something has grabbed hold of both his heart and his stomach and is currently in the process of moving them both to the spot in between.

“What do we do?” asks a familiar man’s voice. “Do we go back?”

“I didn’t think we’d actually get this far,” says a surprised woman. Hineni recognizes her distinct voice too. She’s one of the people from the adventurer’s guild. Wasn’t she some kind of healer or something? He recalls her asking him once to join up with him, right after he was accepted by Obscura.

“Is there anyone else here?” asks a calm, soft voice. Another woman. She’s speaking down, as if talking to someone much younger, much lower. “Where’s the owl, water-droplet?”

Hineni’s eyes begin to unblur. He fidgets with his hands. They’re tied behind his back.

Something blues shakes from side to side, a turning head. “N- no, mother,” stutters Rhine. “The owl-god left to find Mr. Beni a few days ago,” explains the boy. “She still hasn’t returned.”

Hineni lifts his eyes, staring at the tall, slender woman who Rhine is speaking to. She has long, flowing blue hair of the same color as Rhine’s, tied in a loose, soft braid that hangs over her shoulder towards the front. Her face is soft and kind and her left hand tenderly strokes the boy’s head once.

“Rhine?” she asks in a chipper tone, tilting her head, petting him again with a second long, gentle stroke.

“Y- yes, mother?” asks Rhine, literally quivering in his boots.

She nods, continuing to pet his head. “You did well,” affirms the woman. “You’re really growing!” she praises. “You’re going to be a strong man just like your father one day.”

The boy straightens up somewhat awkwardly. “Thank you, mother,” he replies, receiving his third pet on the head.

She smiles a proud mother’s smile, petting him a fourth time. The hand that is petting the boy’s head grabs a fistful of his hair down by the roots and violently yanks him forward. He yelps as she twists his head with a jank. A loud crack shoots through the room as her right hand strikes Rhine across the face.

(???) has slapped (Rhine) for {1} DMG ! [HP: 15/16]

“DON’T YOU EVER CALL THAT THING A GOD AGAIN!” she screams at the boy in an ear-piercing screech, throwing him to the ground by his hair. A piece of it rips out as he falls. She throws it to the floor next to him, kicking the boy just below his throat.

(???) has kicked (Rhine) for {4} DMG with her [Marsh-Leather boot] ! Applied Status: [Winded] [HP: 11/16]

“HEY!” yells Hineni, jumping to his feet. Someone grabs him, whacking him over the head a second time and he stumbles forward, the world spinning before his eyes. A blurry, spinning menu appears as he turns around to look at the person behind himself.

(Beni) has struck (Hineni) for {4} DMG with his [Sap] ! Applied Status: [Dazed] [HP: 31/39]

“Beni!” barks Hineni, seeing the man. All four, blurred visions of him.

Feeling his spinning gaze landing on him, Beni, the manager of the adventurer’s guild who had been presumed missing, smiles and waves. “Hello! Small world, isn’t it?”

“You piece of shit!” Hineni never swears if he can help it. But this time, it feels appropriate, honestly.

Beni frowns. “That’s a rude way to greet a business partner.”

Hineni lets out a disgusted noise, turning back forward towards Rhine and the woman as his vision comes back into one whole. “Leave him alone!”

The woman, who he assumes is Rhine’s mother, turns his way. Her expression is cold and empty. “It disgusts me that my boy had to spend time around an abomination like you,” she says. Bending down again and pulling Rhine back up. She pets his head. “He didn’t touch you, did he, my puddle-hopper?” she asks, her face carrying deep worry in it.

Rhine wobbles on his feet as he tries to hold himself upright. “N-No, mother,” answers the boy straight away.

“Let’s just do it here,” says Beni.

The healer turns their way, making an odd, throaty noise. It sounds like she’s clearing her throat. But in Hineni’s eyes, or, er, ears, it sounds like a frog. Like a ribbit. “The ritual. We can’t,” she says. “We need to take him. We need to wait for the fourth day, as it’s the rule.”

Beni sighs and bends over Hineni, whispering. “Where’s Sockel?”

Hineni jumps up to his feet, bashing his head against Beni’s face. Something cracks very loudly. He doesn’t have access to his magic with his hands tied. But he’s still a full man wider and heavier than Beni is, even if the elf is likely higher leveled.

(Hineni) has struck (Beni) for {6} DMG with his head ! Applied Status: [Dazed][Bleeding 1] [HP: 37/44]

Beni stumbles back, blood pouring out of his now broken nose as he lets out a surprised howl, filled with swears. Before Hineni can take another step to rush at him, splinters of some prismatic crystals shoot out of the floor around himself, surrounding him with criss-crossing spikes with razor sharp edges.

(???) uses: [Shattered Prism]{Holy}

Hineni turns to look at the healer who is holding her hands up and the spell in place around him. “Stop putting up such a fuss,” she says, sounding as if this were more annoying to her than anything. “This is for your own good, you kno-O-w?” she asks, literally croaking once while saying the final word.

The man narrows his eyes. Frogs.

“Let’s just kill him now!” yells Beni, clutching his leaking face with both hands.

“Bring him to the carriage. Beni,” orders Rhine’s mother in a cold, direct tone. “I won’t tolerate you being a bad example in front of my son.”

“He broke my nose!” argues Beni, throwing his sap to the ground and pulling out a knife.

“Beni,” says the blue-haired woman, calmly, collected.

Beni doesn’t listen and makes a move towards him, coming at him with the raised knife. Hineni has nowhere to go, the inward facing spikes are trapping him. He can’t even duck without impaling himself on the magic.

(???) uses: [Shattered Prism]{Holy}

The spikes recede all around Hineni, vanishing in an instant as they regrow around Beni who doesn’t stop fast enough. One of them cuts through his robe and sticks into his side, not too deeply. But it’s certainly enough to give the elf pause.

“Thank you,” says Rhine’s mother to the other woman. “Rhine?”

Rhine straightens himself up, having trouble standing as the life has literally been knocked out of him. “Y-yes, mother?”

“Mr. Beni is a very bad man,” says the woman. “Look at him,” she says. “Make sure you never become anything like him. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, mother,” replies Rhine.

She grabs his long hair, yanking him towards herself.

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!” she screams into his face, spit flying into his eyes.

“Yes, mother!” flinches Rhine, clenching his eyes tightly shut.

She nods, her features falling slack as she smiles a relieved smile, her shoulders drooping. She looks back at Beni and lifts a hand, aiming it at Beni. Water collects around her fingers.

“I don’t need a disgusting, unclean creature like yourself setting a poor example for my boy,” says the woman.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” asks Beni. “Get this shit away from me!” he protests, breaking off one of the crystals with his knife.

The blue-haired woman lets out a displeased noise. The water leaves her fingers, flowing towards Beni. But it isn’t a chaotic, wild cascade like Rhine’s river magic that he is simply unable to control. Rather, it’s an elegant trickle, a stream. This is normal water magic, but she has excellent, almost elegant control over it. Hineni doesn’t even want to fathom what her level is as he watches four strings of water dance around each other to come together into one spout, like a serpent coming together from four twines of spun meat.

“Fuck off!” yells Beni, breaking another crystal. “The deal was that I get you him and you leave us alone!”

“I never agreed to anything like that,” says Rhine’s mother. “Certainly not with something like you.” The water moves towards Beni’s face, swirling around it as he stands there, trapped in the prison of glassy knives.

(Sockel) has wounded (???) for {9} DMG {CRIT} with [Iron-Dagger]{Gift of the owl-god} Applied Status: [Bleeding 4] [HP: 51/64]

The blue haired woman lets out a surprised shriek, stumbling back and clutching the dagger that is stuck into her arm, having been thrown from the shadows.

“ELF!” croaks the healer, turning, but not turning fast enough as a nimble figure rushes her from behind and presses a curved knife to her throat. Sockel stands behind the woman, holding the curved knife to her jugular and pressing tight enough to draw blood.

Her ears twitch as she stands behind the healer, one arm holding the knife, the other having grabbed her left wrist and holding it behind her back.

Sockel’s ears continue to twitch as she makes an odd face, looking at the woman. “You smell like frogs…” The healer croaks, letting out an uneasy, throaty noise. Sockel lets out an annoyed tsk. “And I even cut you a deal the other day…”

“I appreciate it,” says the woman. “Just business. You’re not involved.” She turns back to look at the blue-haired woman who has torn the dagger out of her arm and throws it furiously to the ground. Blood streams down the blue fabric of her robe. “Well. You weren’t before.”

Hineni jumps up again, taking his chance as he rushes Rhine’s mother, throwing himself against her. His hands are still tied, but he’s not light and it’s better than just standing there.

As Hineni charges and throws himself forward, he realizes something obvious as he catches a glint of metal off to the side. But he had been so panicked, so uncollected that he simply hadn’t thought about this most obvious fact.

Four.

Frogs always come in fours.

An arrow flies through the air, coming from the kitchen where a fourth person stands, a fourth person who he had entirely failed to register this entire time. The projectile whistles as it flies past him, past Rhine, past the woman and straight towards Sockel and then, Hineni knows that it’s over.

The arrow, glinting with a strange light as it moves straight towards Sockel’s eye, signals something. Something that hints that this is now all over. The glimmer, shimmering off of the tip of the metal arrowhead signifies that the sun has risen and that the first rays of new light have begun to come through the glass of the windows, as the third day after Obscura’s departure has come to dawn.

The arrow stops.

The streaming of blood from the woman’s arm over Hineni’s brand new floor stops.

The screaming of the panicked man, Beni, stops.

It feels like Hineni is the only thing that keeps on existing for that strange, single, time-frozen instant as he hovers in the air, still flying towards the blue-haired woman.

And then, everything drops to the floor.

The arrow, the people, himself, the blood, the water, the noise, the shouting, everything falls down low to the floor as if some crushing weight were filling the room, a presence. Something… mighty.

Hineni tries to push himself up off of the ground, but has difficulty doing so. It’s like there’s a weight on his back, pushing him back down. It’s like the finger of a god, pressing down upon a struggling ant.

A thing hisses from the dark corners of the room that the sun has yet still failed to find. Something clicks from the shadowy gaps between the rafters and the ceiling and then, all Hineni sees, is a distortion, covering every gap, every inch of darkness and every shadow that remains. It looks like the waving of the blurry air on a hot summers’ day, but the illusion fills everything, touching it, changing it, twisting it into something… incoherent.

The healer tries to get up. “One?” asks the cracking voice from the rafters.

“Two?” asks the same voice. Rhine’s mother tries to lift herself up to her feet, but seems to be having difficulty fighting whatever spell this is. Blood pours out of her arm.

“…Three?” asks the familiar voice. “There are… three?”

A scream comes from the kitchen. A horrible, meaty sound fills the air, followed by a wretched scream of something being mangled.

Something clicks with an angry beak above their heads. Hineni can’t look around the door-frame, but he sees a trickle of fresh blood leaking out of the kitchen, giving evidence to show that there are now indeed only three frogs in the room. Not four.

Four would be one too many.

Hineni lifts his eyes, staring at the thing above himself.

“Who~”