Eclipse was unable to move. He was inside a pitch black void with nothing but darkness surrounding him. He couldn't hear, see, or feel anything. Just pitch black emptiness.

  He opened his mouth, but no noise came out. He wanted to fade out of existence and sleep forever, but Duozian’s will rang inside his mind.

  Eclipse couldn't sense time. He couldn't tell if only a few seconds had passed or a few days. His eyelids felt heavy. As they drifted down, an image of Duozian erupted through his mind. His eyes were sorrowful, and blood trickled down his lips as he lay by the cliff near the ocean.

  Eclipse let out a grieving roar, but it got engulfed in the void. He tried to shut off his senses from the sight, but he was unable to, no matter how hard he tried. He gritted his teeth so hard he heard crackling from inside his mouth.

  Suddenly, the scene shifted. It wasn't Duozian, but rather a boy of his age - a boy whom he had gotten to know over the past couple of days.

  Chael.

  The vision of Chael's pupils losing colour as he dropped to the floor under Dragos flashed vividly in his mind.

  Eclipse’s bloodshot eyes flashed open rapidly, and he shot up off his back. His body was soaked in sweat, and his chest undulated heavily, gasping for air. Spontaneously, excruciating pain flared through every fibre of his being, and he cringed in pain.

  Grime and sweat trickled down his body and soaked the bandages, which were wrapped around his upper body and most of his arms. Eclipse finally got a hold of himself and quickly grew alert before scanning the surroundings.

  He was atop a bed inside a dull room that didn’t have anything particularly notable. The mountain breeze washed in from the open window, but Eclipse didn't relax in the slightest.

  Suddenly, the event of what had transpired leading to this situation played in his mind. His pupils quivered, and his mouth opened robotically, "Shadow? Ch… chael?! Chael!"

  He frantically crawled out of his bed as he called Shadow’s and Chael's names despite the agony his body was feeling at the moment. He lost balance and then stumbled out of his bed. "Chael!"

  Only after he rolled on the floor did he properly come to his senses. He saw Shadow, incapacitated and bandaged, curled up into a ball, resting beside the bed. And there was another bed in the room, adjacent to his own, and covered in bandages, while lying soundlessly was Chael. Eclipse let out a huge sigh of relief.

  Just then, a woman's voice echoed from another room.

  "So you're finally up, you brat." A woman came in through the doorway, a half-serious yet half-playful expression on her face.

  She had long, raven-black hair that reached all the way down to her waist, and she wore a red tank top that revealed her navel and an army-style camo pair of trousers, black and grey, that exposed one of her legs from the thigh down, held by an exotic black leather belt. She wore a silver necklace which was dipped halfway into the valley of her breasts, and a small grey fur ornament over her back.

  Her black pupils gleamed in amusement as she leaned on the door frame.

  Eclipse frowned, eyeing two black katana in their sheath, which was attached to her hip, then took his gaze back to Chael, "Is he alright?"

  The woman raised an eyebrow, then looked straight into his eyes, "He's dead."

  Eclipse stood there, as if he couldn't process what she had just said. Or better defined, he refused to process it. He stood there soundlessly and felt his spirit diminish ever so slowly.

  "Kahaha!" The woman suddenly let out a mischievous and heartfelt laughter. "I was kidding! You should've seen the look on your face just now!"

  Eclipse scrunched his brows. Although he felt like a lead plate had been lifted off his chest, he couldn't relax just yet. His mind was teeming with questions.

  “Why… did you save us?” He asked.

  The woman let out a groan, and in the most mocking tone imaginable, she said, "Wow, what happened to ‘thank you for saving us, my queen’?"

  Eclipse narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to respond, but then a familiar groan interrupted him. Eclipse and the woman turned towards Chael, who grimaced in pain as he got up.

  "Where… am I?" Chael slowly asked. He looked up and saw Eclipse and someone else. This rang a sudden alarm inside him. A wary look flashed across his face, and he stared at the woman in surprise.

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  "Don’t worry." Eclipse assured, "She saved-"

  "You've got huge breasts!" Chael smiled brightly and raised his thumbs up.

  A red vein popped in the woman’s forehead, and she swatted Chael across the head.

  "Aww! Are you trying to save or kill me?!” Chael rubbed his head.

  "Now, now! If you can joke around like that, you should be fine." The woman huffed.

  Eclipse cleared his throat, suddenly remembering something. “We… don’t have money. If it’s repayment you’re expecting-”

  Celestia blinked at him, her expression twisting into confusion. “Repayment? What repayment?”

  “You saved us,” Eclipse said.

  For a second, Celestia just stared, then burst into laughter so loud it echoed through the whole house.

  “That?” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “That was nothing. I was on a walk, and you kids just happened to be getting bullied by those ugly-looking men. It was quite pathetic, so I decided to step in; that’s all.”

  Eclipse didn’t laugh. If anything, he stiffened more. His lips tightened as if he wanted to say something else, but the words remained locked inside his throat.

  “Alright then,” Celestia crossed her arms, smirking. “At least introduce yourself.”

  Eclipse froze.

  The silence dragged out, and thickened the air.

  Chael sensed it immediately. His smile twitched, and he raised a hand awkwardly. “Uh- I’m Chael! Nice to meet you! And this-”

  Eclipse’s eyes cut toward Chael like a cold blade.

  Chael laughed weakly. “... is Eclipse! Ahaha… We’re good friends!”

  Celestia squinted at Eclipse, unimpressed. “What’s up with this guy?”

  Before Eclipse could react, Celestia stepped forward and smacked him on the head casually.

  “Tch!” Eclipse grabbed his head and glared daggers at her.

  “He just introduced you to your benefactor, brat,” she said, flicking his forehead.

  Chael’s jaw dropped, his expression blank with disbelief.

  Eclipse’s eye twitched, and Celestia smirked.

  "The name is Celestia, and I'm just a mountain hermit living by myself." The woman smiled as she introduced herself.

  “Wow, Celestia. Pretty cool name.” Chael beamed.

  Celestia giggled, completely full of herself, “Kahaha, of course it is! They even call me Sword Saint Celestia, I’ll have you know!”

  “Sword saint? No way! Your names keep getting cooler and cooler.”

  Celestia’s face looked all mushy, as if this were the first time she had received compliments in years. While Chael and Celestia exchanged pleasantries, Eclipse simply grumbled and looked away.

  Celestia saw Eclipse’s lack of interest and sighed dramatically, “Don’t worry about why I saved your sorry asses, or complicated things like debts. I’m going to kick both of you out the moment you recover, anyway.”

  “How did you save us from them anyway? You look pretty weak.” Chael said bluntly. “You're a woman, after all.”

  BANG

  “Awwww!” Chael moaned again as he clutched his head under Celestia’s smoking fist.

  "Well, I gave 'em a taste of this fist. That's how." Celestia said passively-aggressively.

  Eclipse's eyes grew wide, and though his face remained expressionless, a flicker of admiration crossed his eyes.

  "Now that we’ve broken the ice..." Celestia looked at both of them, "Don’t you guys have words to share with each other?"

  Eclipse's eyes grew wide, then he slowly bowed his head down, his mind clearly chaotic at the moment.

  Celestia sighed, then walked out, "rest a little longer until you've fully recovered. I’m going to bed."

  “Huh, we're literally in broad daylight.” Chael’s gaze followed her out before he took it to Eclipse, who was struggling to find the words.

  “No need.” He said, “We’re all good, so don’t worry.”

  Eclipse finally met Chael’s eyes, “Um. After we recover, we should go our separate ways.”

  “Pffft!” Chael burst into a hysterical snicker, which promptly opened up a few wounds, so he stopped laughing just as quickly, “Stop being so cringe, man. What are we, married? Ahaha!”

  A vein popped in Eclipse’s forehead, and he lay back down on the bed and pulled his duvet over, “Never mind, you should’ve died.”

  “Eh?!”

  The next couple of days passed without anything noteworthy happening. Eclipse and Chael stayed in bed for most of the day since they were recovering. Shadow woke up one of these days, too.

  However, after a few days, when they could finally walk without any issues, Celestia assigned them various chores as rent for staying in the house. Really, she just couldn’t be bothered to do her own chores.

  They were tasked with cooking, to which Chael would completely mess up, but Eclipse handled it with such precision that it was better than when Celestia had done it herself. Though sometimes, or rather most of the time, he’d doze off in the middle of cooking and would be woken up hours later with a smack to the head by a hungry Celestia.

  They also had to do her laundry, and Eclipse came across some pieces of clothing he would rather not have to deal with, but Chael would stretch them lewdly until his nose puffed. During their free time, Chael would go through her bookshelf with scrolls which contained useful knowledge he hadn't come across, while Eclipse would spend his time snoring away.

  Celestia went out at noon every day and brought animals back home for their meals. For the first few days, she brought home animals like chicken or rabbit, but as the days went on, she would start bringing in boars, alligators and even Blood Beasts if she felt like going on a night stroll. She would easily carry those creatures, which were twice her size, over her shoulders.

  Eclipse would usually take care of his chores first thing in the morning and would only wake up to cook lunch or dinner, while Chael would procrastinate and stall his work by arguing with Celestia over the stupidest of things.

  However, today was slightly different.

  "Yo, you finally woke up?" Chael asked Eclipse, who ignored his presence and just walked past towards where Celestia was.

  Chael’s eyes widened when he noticed his expression. It was an expression of Eclipse’s that he knew all too well. Chael furrowed his brows, then followed Eclipse.

  “This isn’t a good idea, but ahh, but fuck it, I guess,” Chael said calmly.

  He knew full well what Eclipse had in mind.

  Without saying anything, they walked out into the front yard, where Celestia was happily sunbathing, despite it being winter. Noticing that Eclipse had just come out, she raised an eyebrow, "What do you want, kiddo? Lunch ready yet?"

  Eclipse walked until he was right in front of her. Chael rested his back against the wall of the cottage and just observed what was about to unfold.

  Noticing the fierce look in his eyes, Celestia finally realised something was amiss.

  "Fight me," Eclipse demanded.