Novaris. Septer. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. Waxing Crescent ?? . Day 5.

  Back in the city, the party immediately split.

  Rose headed to the temple, knowing Sol's protective aura would make her feel better. Even then, she would still be getting nightmares about the event, and it would be at least a day or two before the fear was stripped from her very bones. After all, even with the presence of her god in her soul and feeling so safe within his temple, the experience was deeply ingrained and required time to be overcome.

  Of course, Rose was not the only one in the party who had gods in their souls. However, everyone processed things differently, and more importantly, not all of them were on good terms with said gods. So, Arelion did not have a temple to go to, and even if he did, he wouldn't want to. He might have been shaped by the dark goddess, but it didn't mean he necessarily liked what she stood for. It also didn't help that her presence was not calming or hopeful, but rather one of uncaring darkness.

  With that in mind, it was totally possible for Arelion to remove the memory from himself. Not that he was going to or that it would help him, since his very body and soul remembered the fear. If anything, removing the memories would just leave him confused.

  Arelion could also understand that some experiences were necessary for him to improve and learn. And he knew that next time he met a dragon, he would not be as afraid as he had been. Granted, he doubted it would be useful since he would probably still be scared out of his mind due to the sheer difference in power. Yet there was something to say about the fact that the fear would not be as surprising, which could be useful if he ever fought one.

  Of course, Arelion still had to do something about the feeling of fear and the sheer dread he still felt. The thing was that he wasn't one to mope around and try to make himself feel safe. Not that he could fault others for doing that, it just wasn’t him. So, he went back home and, after getting a change of clothing and redoing his armor, Arelion headed to the guild. He needed to kill some things and make some monsters feel the fear he was experiencing. He needed to battle and remind himself that he still had some control.

  The last member of the party with gods in their soul was Alyx. However, the two deities were not much for comfort. They were all about magic and knowledge. Granted, it didn't mean they didn't care for their followers, but just that their presence, though assertive and reassuring, was not meant to give someone hope, love, or a sense of safety beyond the safety one could gain from being in the presence of their deity. It was something Alyx had learned early on after his first few encounters with soul-altered victims. After all, the victims in the cave were not his first encounter with the terrible things people and creatures did to each other.

  To deal with the various messed-up things he had seen over the years, and when he was truly stressed out, Alyx usually did one of two things to regain some control and calm down. The first and most common thing he did was research and study. Whenever he was scared, stressed, angry, or feeling any other overwhelming negative emotion, Alyx always launched himself into researching a new topic or learning anything he could get his hands on.

  As for the second thing he did to keep his mind off things, well, it was something many people did, and it was technically two things.

  Arriving at Ally’s shop, the sea elf was surprised to see him.

  “Alyx! What a nice surprise! What brings you by so soon?” She said sweetly, turning to him after giving a customer their sweet cold treat.

  “Just needed to talk to you. Something happened, and well…” Alyx told her, being more reserved than she was used to.

  Ally noticed this and, seeing him trembling slightly, she knew something was up.

  “Got it, come inside,” The sea elf told him, already moving to start closing the shop.

  Only minutes later, Alyx was in Ally’s embrace, as he told her about running into a dragon while out in the forest. The news shocked her, since that was usually newsworthy stuff that would quickly spread, and a dragon hadn’t been spotted on the island for a while. However, she wasn’t an adventurer and didn’t know too much about such things. In her long life, she had met a sea dragon before, a friendly one, and that had been haunting enough. So, she just listened to Alyx and made sure to hug him tightly, at least until he calmed down enough to move on to other things that would keep his mind off the issue.

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  After splitting off from the party, Tesilim, Lili, and Drex returned to the inn. Lili was feeling much better now that she was no longer in the dragon's presence and was mostly back to normal. Mostly being the keyword, as coming so close to death was never fun. Especially when she had no power to do anything, after all, it was one thing fighting a dragon to the death and another being killed like an ant underfoot. However, even if she was still feeling a little bit shaky, her worry was directed at Drex and Tesilim.

  “Tesilim, are you okay?” she asked, genuinely worried.

  “Yes, and no, I can still feel the fear throughout my body, and it's incredibly unnerving. It still feels like I can die at any second. I also keep replaying the memory in my head, which doesn’t help. Though, honestly, the fear is the worst thing, not the actual death part. I have faced death before on Earth, and it always came with fear, but nothing like this,” he told her, his voice shaking at times as he tried to keep himself together.

  Hearing Tesilim's words, Lili squeezed his hand in hers to reassure him until they got to the inn.

  “What about you, Drex, how are you feeling?”

  “I am fine, it was scary, but I think having died before makes it so it isn’t an issue. Also, I am not like you guys. Sure, I can get scared, but as a drake, it all feels like part of life,” The drake answered in his gruffy Tesilim-like voice.

  Upon hearing his answer, Lili said nothing in return. Drex was already an odd existence, being made from Tesilim's soul and also being a summoned creature, so she couldn't say how he would experience anything.

  After arriving at the inn, Drex split off, going into Jolly’s realm, no doubt to see his drake companion. Of course, Lili and Tesilim headed up to his room, whereupon they showered before getting in bed to cuddle. That being said, cuddles eventually turned into something else, as they channeled the fear they had experienced into their lust for each other, ensuring that their night was wild as they kept the close-to-death experience off their minds and bodies.

  Nodel. Waxing Crescent ?? . Day 6.

  The day after their encounter with the dragon, the party felt much better, but most of them still had no plans to meet up and continue adventuring. Alyx was still at Ally’s place, Drex was doing whatever he wanted, Tesilim and Lili were in bed, with plans to spend the day lazing about or going on another date. Even Arelion returned to the city late in the night after slaughtering some monsters out in the forest.

  That being said, there was one person who planned to make the most of her day. After a night of good rest at the temple, feeling her god's aura, which kept her calm and safe, Rose felt much better. She still wasn't fully recovered and felt some lingering fears running through her body, but she wanted to follow up on her resolution from the previous day. Hence, after breakfast and her usual morning routine, Rose made her way to Jasmine's tree house. Of course, she knew Jasmine wouldn’t be there, at least not in the usual way, but that was the whole point.

  Arelion hadn't been awake for long when he heard a knock at the door. Now he doubted it was the party since they had yet to make any more plans, and they usually met up at Lili’s shop, but he decided to check just in case. Opening the door, Arelion was surprised to find Rose standing there. Out of everyone that he could have expected to be at his door, the redhead was not one of them. She was wearing her usual tomboyish look—tan shorts, a dark shirt, and leather boots.

  He had seen her in such clothing enough times throughout Jasmine’s life, and even if it exposed her beautiful, now fair skin, which would cause many guys to look at her beautiful legs, curvy body, and large assets, it did not even tingle Arelion. He wasn’t sure why he had yet to find women attractive, and could only reason he had just not met the one to spark his interest, since men did nothing for him either.

  Smiling at the surprise on Arelion’s face, Rose decided to speak, considering the dark-clothed half-elf was lost in thought.

  “Hey, you feeling better?” Her words finally brought him back to reality, and after shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, he responded.

  “Yeah, you?” He asked, surprising her by sounding like he actually cared.

  “I am better, though it would be great if I could come in,” She told him, trying to prompt him into action.

  “Uh, yeah, yeah, come in. Sorry, this is odd. Do you need help with something? Why are you here?” Arelion said, trying to be polite but also getting straight to the point as he moved to the side.

  Walking in, Rose waited until the twin closed the door before answering.

  “Well, I came to check on you,” She said, like it was the obvious answer.

  “Right, right, I get that. What I don’t get is why? After all, I am me right now. It just doesn’t make sense. And please don’t act like it's normal.”

  When Rose heard Arelion’s words, she was glad she had come. It was apparent she had created a rift between them, even if she hadn’t said anything specifically; the half-elf was smart enough and surely picked up on how she acted.

  “I know,” Rose answered with a sigh, “Which is exactly why I came.”

  “Okay, care to elaborate?” Arelion said as he finally sat down.

  Seeing him finally sit, Rose took a deep breath, adjusted herself in the seat, and began to tell him about her shift in perspective after the previous day’s encounter.