That night must have been the worse since I had been reborn. I couldn't fall asleep for most of it, their faces would swirl around in my head. Every time I closed my eyes my heart ached. I saw Alyra's golden eyes, her long teal coloured hair... her lifeless body. I saw Ilmar before me as he was struck down by soldiers. I saw my father who had urged me to got to my mother... and then I saw my mother, dead, on the ground, a soldier standing above her...

Tears rolled down my face until I finally, through some miracle I assumed, fell asleep. But that was even worse.

I saw myself running through the alley once again. I heard Martin call me names. I heard the gunshot, I felt the pain in my leg. I felt how I fell to the ground and I even felt how a bullet pierced my skull, leaving me nothing but a lifeless corpse. And then it was black. I felt like something was missing but couldn't tell what.

And then I saw light, I saw my mother and my father again. I felt the years passing by. I saw my fear of getting hit, I saw myself train and hunt with Ilmar and Alyra, I saw us getting attacked by Grudon once again, I saw how I killed the black, metallic fish again, I saw how we visited the goblins with my father to make weapons out of its scales to harm Grudon, I saw how Alyra told me about how she felt... then I saw how we went on our hunt to kill Grudon... and then... then I saw the village burning, I heard the screams, I saw my mother dead once again, I saw Ilmar die in front of us and I saw Alyra dying in my arms, the moment I fell from the cliff everything went black.

I saw myself running through the alley once again. It all repeated itself countless times. I saw all the events of the first fourteen years of my life in this world play out in front of me over and over and over on top of that voices began haunting me all of a sudden, everything I had needed to bottle up during the six and a half years I had been with Elvia, all of it just kept stacking on top of one another until I just couldn't take it anymore.

I suddenly found myself in the smokey white room within my own mind. My face was hot and it burned from the dried tears. Even when I tried I couldn't move my body and the only movement my body was capable of right now was the twitching. And every time it twitched I felt an absurd amount of pain rush through it.

"It seems that it was too much for you..." I heard Ira say.

I tried to speak but I couldn't bring myself to open my mouth, every movement burned more than the last.

Why? Why is this happening?

"I guess those letters were too much for you, reminded you too much of the good old times," Ira said. "I'd also like to apologize, I said some things that I shouldn't have said."

Ira managed to sound at least semi-honest when she said those words. I somehow managed to force myself up and drag myself to the throne I had created in here years ago. When I sat down I noticed that Ira now had clothes on, a sort of black bodysuit without sleeves that went down to right above her knees. It was tight so one could still see the outline of her more intimate areas.

My body was still shaking from pain and talking seemed impossible.

That some sort of sign that you're regaining power?

She nodded.

"You could call it that. And I'm beginning to feel his presence strengthening as well..." Ira said.

Whose presence?

"Not important, for now, we need to come up with a plan," she said quickly.

A plan for what?

"For what happens now. I have no idea what state your body will be in once you wake up, maybe it will all get worse or maybe it will be better. So we will have to wait for that. But what we can plan is how you'll deal with this... Pergament," Ira explained.

... I guess.

I couldn't move at all, I just sat, no, lay there in my chair, completely limp and in constant pain from the twitching of my body.

"So, any ideas?" Ira asked.

We'll have to time it with the arrival of that paladin or whatever. If I can manage to get that girl out, bring her to her parents and then sneak in with that paladin's guards or something I can get out of town easily enough.

It was difficult to even think due to the constant pain, it felt like someone was breaking all my bones at once just to heal them and do it all over again now. I felt the need to cough but feared that doing so would send even more pain through my body. I struggled a lot but when I looked at Ira she seemed to completely ignore it.

Just like Elvia...

I got no answer.

"So, how do you think you'll get that girl out of there?" Ira asked as if she hadn't heard my thought.

Don't know. Using magic might work.

For a few seconds, she looked up and seemed to think...

"You might be able to beat that pigman but I don't think you stand a chance against that red-haired chick..." Ira stated.

Pigman?

"Insult for orcs. Anyway, that woman might be too much for you to handle, if I knew what type of magic she has then we might be able to get a clearer picture of whether or not you can even pull this off," Ira explained.

And how do you propose we find out?

"I dunno, get her to sleep with you so you can see her back or something like that," Ira said.

The way she said that was so dry that I had to chuckle, which was a massive mistake. Pain overtook me and I fell from the throne. Everything hurt and I felt like I was about to pass out from the pain, which wasn't possible since I had already passed out. I let out a pained groan.

I saw Ira look down at me as I was taking deep breaths to somehow calm down.

"Let's just hope this won't have too much of an effect on you out there," she said.

Suddenly everything went dark and I woke up, in pain, unimaginable pain. It took all my focus to not throw up and scream out loud. My eyes widened and teared up. I quickly grabbed my leather gauntlet and bit down on it, letting out a muffled scream. As I looked up I locked eyes with M, despite his eyes being fully black I could still see worry in them.

"A-Are you alright?" he asked.