The arms around me retreated just moments after the hug. Alex knew exactly how little I enjoyed physical contact. At least when it was this excessive. I settled down on her outstretched arm as a blade was pulled out of its sheath behind us.

“Hold”, a voice called. It seemed male but I was not sure.

“Sire?”, a young man said.

I turned my head to look at the trembling guard.

“You were under attack. I thought.”

“Good awareness, soldier. Now, put that blade away.”

The one speaking was none other than the Cleric.

“I take it you know this bird?”, he said.

Alex nodded.

“Yes. She’s a good friend of mine.”

A set of rushing steps interrupted her. My new group of friends closed up on us and the guard once again twitched his hand to his blade. When he saw Jane, he relaxed slightly.

“Cleric!”, the woman saluted, “Commander Eternity reporting!”

“Come, Child”, the robed person spoke, “What brings you here?”

“Sire. I have been tasked to escort Fio Catori here to the Crimson Heart. Requesting confirmation.”

The mask turned to me. Light glinted in his eyes and reflected from the dark metal.

“You?”, he pointed.

“Yes. That’s me.”

“I see. Follow me. You come as well, miss Alexandra. The others shall stay behind.”

The Cleric turned around and walked off. Jane followed him while urging us to do the same.

“Uhm…”, the girl behind Alex started, “What about me?”

“You can stay with us!”, Circe beamed, “I’m Circe. Nice to meet you!”

“My friend”, I said at Alex’s questioning gaze.

“Another one, huh?”

The girl looked at Alex with an unsure expression.

“Stay here, Hera. I’ll be fine.”

“Come, come!”, Circe said as she pulled on Hera’s arm.

With that settled, we followed Jane and the Cleric. Alex glanced back at the others.

“And who’s the guy?”

“Cerberos. A mercenary we met. He wanted to come with us to meet his old master.”

“Huh.”

“Took you long enough”, Jane said as we reached her.

“No need to rush”, I smirked.

“Well, let’s go.”

We followed her through the multitude of pillars, the Cleric long out of sight.

“You know where we’re going, right?”, I asked after a bit.

“Yes.”

“And where is that?”, Alex asked.

Jane glanced at her.

“Why would I tell you, girl?”

Alex snorted.

“You’re what, 30? Calling me girl…”

“I’m 27, thank you very much.”

“I apologize, Commander Eternity.”

I could hear the grin in Alex's words. Jane could too, apparently, judging from her sigh.

“Whatever.”

“Her name is Jane”, I said, “And Jane, this is Alex. My friend.”

“Fio…”, Jane complained, “Why?”

“You have no reason to be mean.”

“You made a Cleric wait!”, she hissed, “Nobody does that!”

“I do not mind, Eternity.”

All of us jumped as we turned around the pillar to stand before the back wall of the building. In front of us stood the man in question, hands folded behind his back. A door stood open next to him leading into a well-lit reception room.

“Please, enter”, he said.

“Thanks”, Alex said.

We walked in as Jane looked like she had bitten into a raw onion.

The room had no windows but was lit up by a set of seven vis lanterns along the walls. Once again, I noticed the six primal colours as well as the soft pink of auram. In the middle stood a low desk with three couches around it. The fourth side had a desk placed a metre away with a few documents spread out on top. Every wall had one door and without the desk, it would have been easy to forget which one we entered from after it was closed.

“Sit”, the Cleric commanded and we took opposite couches. One for Jane, one for Alex and me. The man in question sat behind his desk.

“Miss Alexandra, I will put your questioning on hold, for now. Until I know more about your apparent friend, here. Eternity, go ahead.”

“Right”, Jane began, “Fio Catori here is from the village we were sent out to scout. The one with suspicious activity. We met her in the company of a small caravan moving towards Brookfrid. Two carts of villagers with their wares and the mercenaries of the Plains Brigade that were sent ahead. And… I tried to use my Skill on her.”

The Cleric sighed.

“… without permission”, Jane added.

“Eternity. Why?”

“You can feel it, Sire, I’m sure.”

“That is exactly why you should not use your Skill.”

“What Skill?”, Alex asked.

“Jane can steal memories with her variant of [Identify].”

“What the fuck?”

“Yes, that sums it up quite well”, the Cleric agreed, “What happened?”

Alex snorted.

“Did he fuck her up?”, she asked.

“Yup”, I said.

“Who?”, the Cleric demanded.

“Truth.”

I could not tell who said it at that moment. I found out later it was Alex. Which was why not only the Cleric was staring but Jane as well. There was a soft thud as the Cleric’s mask fell onto the desk. I could see the wide open mouth in a face well-worn by age. Just the next moment, the presence disappeared and everything returned to normal.

The Cleric held his forehead, eyes rolled all the way up. Jane only needed to slap her cheeks to regain her composure.

“You know?”, she hushed.

“Yes?”, Alex tilted her head, “He’s a decent bloke.”

The Cleric choked. A heavy set of coughing followed.

“A what now?”, he said after regaining his composure.

“A friend”, I said.

“Is that…?”, he turned to Jane.

“Yes. The Knights stayed behind to work with their epiphany and sent me to escort her.”

“And… you saw?”

Jane nodded.

“I did not understand a thing. I could only fear.”

“I see… I shall have those Knights pay me a visit. Thank you, Eternity. Continue on your mission. I will need to reference some texts…”

He continued mumbling as Jane stood up.

“Shall we?”, the paladin asked.

“What about me?”, Alex asked.

“Oh, here”, the Cleric looked up, “Take this to the guard.”

She was handed a piece of paper with a few scribbled words on them as the man returned to his mumbling. The mask was completely forgotten.

“Let’s go”, I said as I hopped on Alex’s forearm.

We soon returned to the altar quickly finding our friends from Circe’s loud voice. They had gone a little into the pillars to get out of the limelight. The guard was standing a few steps away looking rather lost. He was even more confused when Alex handed him the paper and soon left without another word.

The three others were standing together, Circe talking up a storm and Hera listening and nodding. Cerberos seemed to mostly ignore them but reacted when he was asked a question. When our groups reunited, we decided to return to our inn. Alex and Hera had not found one yet having been directly brought to the Cleric after the guards identified the living fortress. On the way, Circe made quick friends with her.

“So, you’re Fio’s mysterious friend, huh?”, she smirked.

“I am not mysterious at all. I’m just a normal girl who likes shooting.”

“Oh, and where’s your bow?”

“I have dwarven technology.”

Circe tilted her head.

“Dwarves? I thought it was thaumaturgy for sure…”

That made Cerberos look up.

“Really?”, the man asked.

I could feel Alex roll her eyes.

“Sort of? It’s a Skill but it does use vis.”

“So you have an Affinity? That’s amazing!”

“Beast Core, actually.”

That silenced him for the last few steps up to the inn. Jane spoke to the proprietress and had another room added to our bill for Alex and Hera. Now that I looked closer, the girl looked a little uncomfortable. The place might be too high-class for her with the way she avoided touching anything.

Soon we were in our rooms with a healthy dinner ready. They had even managed to make my requested ‘thin bloody meat slices’. The dwarves were still much better at sapient animal hospitality.

We were eating together in our room, the other four joining us. It was a little cramped but at least we fit. Everyone was already sitting but Alex still had her mask and gloves on as well as her hood up.

“Okay, I gotta ask”, Jane said, “What’s with your getup? What did you evolve into that you have to hide your skin?”

“I originally was a thaumium golem”, Alex started, “but Fio freed me.”

The spoon Jane had just picked up clattered back onto the table.

“A golem? Like, one of those advanced golems? Made by a [Thaumaturge]?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, fuck! Who made you? I hope not a dwarf. I don’t want to go to war with them.”

“So you know…”, I said, “That’s good.”

“Yes, it’s good”, Alex agreed, “And no, I was made by an ork.”

“Know what?”, Circe asked.

“Waay above your pay grade, Circe. Sorry.”

“But…!”

“No, you really don’t need to know”, I said.

“Right”, Jane said, “What happened?”

“Fio showed me how to get vis enrichment and once I hit major, I evolved into what I am now.”

“Which is?”

“A living fortress.”

She took off her hood and mask, revealing the slightly dull purple skin and shiny black hair. Her golden eyes, literally, scanned my three friends. Circe was staring with a huge smile on her face. I had told her about Alex but it was different to meet in person. Cerberos seemed slightly taken aback while Jane looked a little scared.

“What’s a living fortress?”, Circe asked.

“I think the best explanation is one of my racial Skills. It’s called [Metal and Flesh]. I can change the properties of my body to be either like a golem or like a human. And I can eat human food as well as any metals.”

“That’s sooo cooool!”

Alex removed her gloves and picked up her spoon. I barely noticed how Hera slipped the gloves somewhere. Where exactly, I could not tell but they disappeared. The same with the mask.

“Let’s eat!”, Alex said and everyone dug in.

For a few minutes, there was quiet as we enjoyed our meal. Soon, though, Circe was sated enough to start talking again. The atmosphere livened up and we had a very enjoyable evening. Alex told the story of her journey and how she met Hera on a trader’s caravan while I gave a short retelling of how I reunited with my parents and then joined the humans in Greypeak. Much of this Cerberos and Jane had not heard either so they were very enraptured by my story.

Eventually, it got late and everyone retired to their rooms. We had decided to take a few days and explore the Capital before moving on towards the Cathedral. Circe had practically demanded to see the castle more closely and Jane had promised to ask the Cleric we had met earlier if we could get a tour.

“This was a fun day”, Circe mumbled into her pillow, “I hope tomorrow will be just as fun!”

“I’m sure it will be”, I said, “After all, we’re together.”

I received no answer but the relaxed breathing of my friend. She had already fallen asleep.