Rin grunted as he slid off a summoned beast and staggered a bit. I hopped off the one Revery called for us and tramped to his side. "You okay?" I asked.

He winced but flashed me a grateful look. "It hurts when I move it," he stared after his teammates who dismounted and followed Cavya inside the lobby. "Otherwise, I'm fine."

I bobbed my head, walking beside him on our way through Dragnasand. Unlike the flashiness and grandeur of Raventhorne, with the elaborate rays of the sun and all that motifs, for something boasting to be the most elite guild in the most prosperous Tower on the land, Dragnasand resembled a barn I used to see in rural farms. It matched the build of most of the establishments in Mystriae, including the Ivertale—the tavern reserved for people associated with guilds.

We ducked under the door frame whose ornate doors the only indication what lay beyond them was not for the common folk. Rin breezed through, eyes locked on the backs of his teammates who came to get him from Naskali. It was such a solemn moment—how, at one point, Nazran and Ahrian arrived on their summoned rides, given the briefing of what happened, and were told to fly back to Mystriae, and how we're all up in the sky in a matter of minutes—that I couldn't find the horn to ruin it by speaking.

Cavya stopped by the meeting room and turned to the rest of his subordinates. "Take the rest of the day off," he said, more to Rin than to the rest of us. "I'll meet you by the Ivertale later."

"What for?"

I rolled my eyes. Leave it up to Rin to always ruin the mood by asking questions with obvious answers. I smacked him upside the head. "He just wants us to relax and have a drink," I said. "What else?"

"Should I prepare to plug my ears for another screaming match?" Trink prodded. "I've had enough of arguing in my lifetime."

A snort made its way out of my nose. "Thankfully, no," I said. "Kora, here, knows what it's like going against me."

"Ooooooh," came the collective response from everyone involved, excluding Cavya. The party leader merely blinked and twitched his whiskers.

"You seem to be a lively bunch now," he said, cranking the knob to the meeting room door. There were slivers of people waiting from the shadows, but my angle was too skewed to be able to see who. "I'll be heading inside. Go now."

We gave our different acknowledgments and each turned to go their separate ways. "What in the Divines' name got into you to pursue them on your own?" Nazran asked. If anything, I was getting hyung vibes from him. Did he think of Rin as a younger brother? Maybe. "I was told you're with Revery. Why didn't you take her?"

Rin shrugged, grimacing when a sharp sting no doubt reminded him of his injury. "Then she would have come close to death as I did," he said through his teeth. "I don't want to risk any more than myself."

The way Nazran and Ahrian exchanged glances told me there was something deeper with that statement, something I wasn't going to know. Which reminded me...where was that blond woman dressed in blue? She couldn't be busy enough to check on her injured teammate, could she?

"Where's Valren?" came Rin's question as our footsteps echoed against Dragnasand's wooden floorboards. Not even stone or cement. Just wood. Behind me, only Arzo and I from the Crimson Knights remained. Heather and Revery had flitted off somewhere by the time we turned the first corner from the meeting room. Trink, as silent as ever, had vanished not too long after that.

Ahrian clicked her beak. The way her seemingly lifeless eyes quivered inside her socket gave me the creeps. Still, she was a good person. Cared about Rin well enough to be a mother hen. It seemed like he's taken care of this team too.

"He's still out in the Southern Tower, stuck in his assignment," the bird-headed langkoor said. Her entire look wasn't complete without the gun with the long muzzle strapped against a shoulder. Well, it wasn't like I saw her in any other get-up apart from it until now. "He would have visited had he not been held up in the Halwo Chief's induction feast. At least, that's what he said in his last correspondence."

Rin pursed his lips and turned to me. "What are you up to?" he asked, glancing ever so briefly at Arzo who remained muted behind me, looking at everything save for us. "Can you accompany me somewhere? That is, if you're not too busy."

I stuck my bottom lip out and jerked my chin at his two mates. "These two can't make it?"

He didn't miss a beat or even check for their nods or shakes of the head. "I'd rather not trouble them. They're busy enough, as it is," he said.

That's the Rin I knew, after all. He still probably saw them as his superiors. "And we're not?" I challenged.

Rin jerked his chin at the vague direction of the meeting room. "Didn't Cavya say we have the day off?"

"I think he meant sticking your ass in bed and not running around."

A light chuckle broke through our tirades. "And there's the argument we're waiting for," Ahrian raised a hand in a small wave. "You tell me who won this round. I'm off."

Nazran reached out and actually mussed Rin's hair. I didn't know who was more startled—me or Rin. "Keep yourself off sharp things," the summoner said before stalking of after Ahrian.

"Well, I'll meet you in the Ivertale," Arzo scratched the back of his neck and made random gestures around his face. "Just...uh, gonna do stuff. Yup."

Without anything else, he stalked off. Leaving me alone with Rin. Again. He stared after Arzo with an inscrutable expression. Then, it clicked. Oh. He must have been cautious after that stunt I pulled. Dear God, I shouldn't have done that. How much more stuff would I do that would make me regret them later? Way to go, Joon Hye-jin.

"So?" I heard Rin ask. He still hasn't moved from his place in the middle of the corridor. Thankfully, most of the people were out around this time. It's like being a student and being sent home early, so one would wander the halls with some sort of edge or a certain amount of relief.

I blew a breath. Nothing would really stop him once he set his mind into something. "Sure," I said. "It better be good."

The inexplicable grief crumpling his features told me otherwise.

I blinked at the name inscribed in the glass covering this specific niche. Now, I knew this wasn't just some sort of garden for exotic flowers.

This was a columbarium.

"Wh..." the words died in my throat as I whirled from the niches to Rin and back again. What happened? The name greeting me didn't make sense. It said Mirani Vazna. Wasn't that...?

"It's a lot, I know," Rin said. His tone was soft, almost a whisper. There was no wind inside the hall but the strong whiff of flower fragrance was heavy in the air. "But these days, I can't stop thinking about how it all got to this point."

I knitted my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

And then, it all came pouring. Rin told me of the danburki mission and how he led the Dragnasand Knights into their doom. How Mirani died saving him, how he got kicked out of the circle because of that, went back to save them despite, and how he got reinstated into the party. He's...he's been through a lot. Losing someone that fast and that gruesome—it's cruel.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm still walking on eggshells," he admitted. I didn't dare look at him now, but instead focused on his faint reflection on the niche's glass covering. Past that lay a necklace with an ice-blue gem cut and shaped like a butterfly. "That if I make a mistake again, I'll be out forever. I got lucky when Cavya decided to welcome me back, but what if I fail again?"

I pursed my lips. I understood that. All too well. "Everyone knows people make mistakes. Sometimes, those mistakes can even cost too much," I said. "Leaders know that fact because they've seen it happen countless times. But this isn't a company anymore."

My eyes fell away from the glass niche and gazed up at his face. "Cavya took you back in because he saw something in you he can't bear to lose," I said. "That's how I was to Heather, too. Will you believe it when I tell you I was the reason why our license got revoked?"

To my expectation, Rin chuckled. "When are you not involved in trouble, Hye-jin?" he said, inclining his head at me. "What happened?"

I told him. Unlike the dark nights we shared in the house as things slowly fell apart between us, this time, his eyes never wavered from my face. Not for a measly second. I recounted how I challenged the Beast Hunters. "Their leader's a valdyrsi like you," I segued. "Do you know you could duplicate skills and traits without physical touch? Because that bitch can."

Rin bobbed his head, making me raise an eyebrow. "Really?" I asked.

"Really," he replied with a declining intonation. "I think I knew it by instinct once my stats developed the more I exercised them. Think of it as leveling up."

"Huh," was all I said before launching back to my story. I told him how I went to find Haalor's Temple and how I defeated the Guardian by crafting a sword based-off his impenetrable scales. I didn't tell Rin who I got the idea from, though. I think he got it anyway. Then, I continued on to our eventual loss and how a guildmaster on Raventhorne requested a match with me.

"I lost," I said with a roll of my shoulders. The frustration of seeing how fast Karmi disarmed me left me reeling even after all this time. "That Karmi wench just liked to flex on me with her shiny sword and—"

"Wait," Rin raised a hand to interject. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you say Karmi? Karmi Edelreiss?"

I frowned. "The one and only," I said. "You know her?"

Rin hummed. "She's the only guildmaster of Raventhorne," he said. "That alone was a hard feat to achieve, considering a guild needs at least five masters to be able to function properly. Dragnasand has six and they're having a hard time even after that fact."

"That's because Dragnasand is a prodigy of all prodigies, special stuff. Blah blah blah," I crossed my arms. "Raventhorne probably wasn't that big of a deal anywhere."

"The data will have to disagree," Rin said. "If Dragnasand is to the Central Empire, then Raventhorne is to the Eastern Tower. That's how powerful they are and I can't believe you just threw away such an incredible honor over...what? A shot at proving some bullies wrong?"

I blinked. "Are you lecturing me?" I asked. "Did I ask to be lectured?"

"It's not a lecture, trust me," Rin sighed and pushed the hair off his forehead with his hand belonging to the uninjured shoulder. "But I get what you're trying to say. We all make mistakes and most of the time, especially in this world, it could lead people to ruin, or worse, to danger."

There we go. Sometimes, I could go on and on, and somehow, Rin would somehow find a way to bring the conversation to the original point even if I managed to forget it. So, that's what we're talking about. "Yeah, that," I snapped my fingers. "Leaders know what we lack and what we can bring to the table, and they can choose to keep people by their sides if the pros outweigh the cons."

"That, or they simply learned to accept us despite everything," I said. "People like that still exist, Rin. Even if they're only inside this game that isn't one anymore."

A small chuckle resounded beside me. Rin clicked his tongue. "I shouldn't even be laughing in front of her," he jerked his chin at the niche with Mirani's name in it.

"She would have liked it better than seeing you cry over her," I said. "By the way, I know."

Rin faced me, a confused look etched on his face. "Know what?"

I exhaled a forceful gust through my nose. He could be dense sometimes. No, scratch that. He's dense most of the time. "She liked you," I answered. "And not just a comrade or some shit like that. She liked you."

"Oh," was all Rin said.

A wall of silence grew between us. After a few excruciating seconds, Rin blew a breath. "If you're curious about it," he said. "We never got together, and I wasn't sure if I even liked her back. I just see her as someone who I can depend on, since she helped me plenty of times. Like...a friend?"

I winced. "The bestest friend, perhaps?"

"You're the bestest friend, Hye-jin," Rin replied, making me freeze in place. "I just couldn't bring myself to commit to another relationship knowing I was still grieving the...um, you know."

Yeah, I did. I knew what he's talking about. "I felt it wasn't a wise decision and would be unfair for Mirani," he continued. "But...sometimes, I still wonder if I did the right thing."

I could only nod. "It's tough, yeah," I said. Losing people and having them go to a place where one would never see them once more leaves a different kind of hole to the heart, one that could never be filled with anything else. "I'm sorry you have to experience that."

Rin clenched his jaw. "I guess I know now how you must have felt when jangmonim died," he said. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there. For you, both."

"A lot of people need our help. We can't all be there for them. What matters is that you're here now, you're there for some," I said, turning back to the glass panel, watching my own muddled reflection. "And that's enough."

Rin smiled at me and motioned for us to step out of the columbarium. Our footsteps thudded against the wooden floorboards lining the winding paths around the garden. Indoor landscapes curved and swirled around gnarly trees, riverlets, and flickering lamps nailed into pillars or hung over protruding branches. Looking at it now, it's hard to remember we were still inside the building that looked like a cheap imitation of a farmhouse.

Around us, bushes and shrubs with intricately-designed and colorful flowers dotted the vast green carpet of grass, each with their own unique characteristics and quirks. No wonder Rin was drawn to this place. He would have researched each species here if he's given the time.

A wider current came beside us. It's impossible to leap across it without flopping halfway through. I spotted a bridge arcing over it a few paces away. It appeared to be where we're headed anyway.

Our soles landed in heavy footfalls against the planks, the hollow space between the bridge and the river underneath. Rin edged towards the balustrade and rested his uninjured arm against it. Once we're at the highest point in the curve, the entire garden laid out before us. The columbarium stood quite a distance from where we were.

"That night in Jeongsan," Rin's back was to me and he didn't turn to watch my reaction. "This has the same feel, right?"

I crossed the meager space between us and joined him. "We were at the crossroads then," I kept my head tilted forward but watched him from the corner of my vision. He wasn't looking at me. "We're at another now. Which path do you think we should choose?"

Rin ducked his head but raised it promptly. His hair flopped against his forehead in such a familiar fashion. "We don't have to figure that out now," he heaved one of the deepest breaths I've ever heard from him. "I just..."

"Yeah, we don't have to," I answered when his voice died down without finishing his thought. "We have all the time in the world, right?"

To that, Rin smiled as he turned to me. "That, we have," he straightened and stepped away from the balustrade, raising an eyebrow at me as some sort of invitation. "Shall we?"

Together, we made it out of the garden just as the sun was beginning to descend, plunging the sky into a deep shade of purple. Within an hour, we're sitting with our friends and comrades in the Ivertale. At some point in the night, Trink introduced a drinking game and we all ended up with too much to drink. By the time Cavya started hiccuping, he decided it was time to go home. Of course. Leaders still had to maintain their decorum in front of their subordinates.

Not Heather, though.

She started singing some lame patriotic song to the Eastern Tower even though we're smack dab in the middle of the Central Empire. I shook my head, a smile tearing through my lips until my jaw hurt. Even my own vision blurred and my steps weren't quite straight anymore. Trink's game wiped me out.

I collapsed into bed without even changing my clothes and my eyes closed on their own. Tomorrow would be another day.

Then, my consciousness snapped awake. I found myself standing, my bare feet void of the boots I kicked off my feet grounded on the rug decorating the floor. What...?

Scuffling noises rang in my ears and I felt my legs move on their own accord. Wait. Where was I going? Was this a dream? A dream within a dream world? Was that possible?

I gritted my teeth to find out I couldn't. My face was frozen into a flat expression, my eyes fixed only forward. Despite my mental squirming, I couldn't get my body to follow. I was reduced to watching as my body went out of the guild and tramped into the forest behind it. The people I passed by gave me no mind as I breezed past them. My throat locked up against my urge to speak, to scream, to make the smallest of noises.

What's going on?

My legs took me deeper into the forest, until the light from the moon in the sky was nothing more than a faint silver stream past the canopies. Slowly, silhouettes began taking shape in the distance. The nearer I got, the more defined the shapes became.

Soon, I was standing in the midst of more townsfolk, all with strange purple symbols glowing on their foreheads. All of them had the same vacant expression on their faces, staring at nothing. Doing nothing. It reminded me of those brainwashing movies I saw on television as a child. Still messed me up now.

A scuffle of movement from the bushes beside me made leaves rustle. With my neck frozen in place, I couldn't see what's going on. Seconds passed and a figure dressed in a large hood and dark boots stepped into the meager light. Peeking from the folds of his cloak were a beige tunic, a dark brown vest, and a pair of dark trousers.

"It's nice of you to join the festivities," the man, judging from their voice, raised a hand to their hood. "Seline Nightfore."

Then, he pulled the flap of cloth down. I found myself looking at Arzo.