“Rachel!”

  Nora slammed into me with enough force to send me several steps back. She had thrown her arms upward to wrap them around my neck, practically hopping to get the leverage necessary. I caught her and angled her momentum just enough so we wouldn’t topple over.

  “Whoa—okay, hi—”

  She locked her arms, squeezing harder. Her face buried into my collarbone, even as her toes stretched to reach the ground. “Don’t—” her voice cracked. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

  “Uh—right. No more… uh…”

  I was going to say dying, but I knew it would land badly and, given the statistics, eventually become a lie.

  Marquis Galenus cleared his throat, ears folding back. “Reunions are not my field of expertise, and with nothing to contribute personally, may I presume that my dispersion is warranted?

  “Go,” Nora ordered without even looking, hauling me downward into something between a hug and a headlock.

  Over her shoulder, I saw Galenus execute a crisp bow before vanishing through a portal of braided vines.

  “Um… we have a lot to talk about,” I wheezed, “but this exact position isn't ergonomically ideal—”

  “You were gone for three months, Rae. Three months!”

  “I’m sorry! W-with the transfer back to CUP headquarters, I think I lost track of—”

  She tugged down harder. “You went back home?!”

  “It wasn’t by choice, and the mandatory commute was slow. Clare summoned me. Apparently, HR takes workplace injury seriously. You’d think they’d also take workplace safety seriously, but—”

  Nora let out a loud, unhinged cackle and finally released me. “So let me guess! No other resources available to help with the project, right? And Clare sent you back empty-handed!”

  “Well, no, it was President Abrams who did that—”

  “Who else did you pass the time with?”

  This was turning from a joyful reunion into a vaguely accusatory interview.

  “I didn’t pass the time with them, okay? It was quick, and they didn’t tell me much—oh, but my mom! She’s not from Earth or Speranza! You were right about—”

  “You’re even calling her mom now…” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  She’s jealous of what I’ve been through?!

  No, that’s not it.

  She just wants her mom.

  “She’s been keeping Mama Perez company,” I added softly. “And Mom asked if you’d found anyone special so she could update her—”

  “Forget about moms.” Nora slapped both hands over her face. “You said you saw President Abrams, too?”

  “Uh… uh huh.”

  “Did you tell him what Euphridia did to Epiales? What started this whole mess?”

  I guess Raedine must have already told her what happened in Paradise.

  “Yes—”

  “And how did he react?”

  “Mm… I think he believed me. He went quiet and said something like, ‘So that’s what happened.’”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “And then you convinced him to send you back to Olethros instead of me. Me, who had your body?!”

  This part, thankfully, was easy.

  “No, no, never. That was his decision. I had a large concentration of animus in my chest—well, my spirit-chest. Is that a phrase? Spirit-chest? Anyway, they had to get it out before I could get back into my body, so—Nora?”

  Her fingers dragged down her face as her eyes flattened into despair. “You sprung him out of his sanctum prison and triggered Relias’s trap.”

  “Trap?”

  She groaned loudly. “Didn’t it occur to you that the place was poorly guarded? Volker and Irijah, of all people? Rae—Relias knows I escaped with your body. Who else in this world would go rescue a proverbial snake like him?”

  “He’s not a snake! I mean, he likes to be seen that way, but it’s not nice to—”

  “That’s why I said proverbial. Proverbial! But now he knows for sure you’re not dead.”

  Especially if he gets ahold of Father Irijah…

  I coughed, probably a bit guiltily. “Well, I didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter and—wait, how long did you know he was trapped there?”

  Nora tried to hide it, but I saw her flinch. “We didn’t confirm it until recently—”

  “But you had a hunch for a while.”

  “And what was I supposed to do about that hunch, Rae? It was just me, Raedine, Ambrose, and Galenus! Amos came later, but even still, it was too risky to do anything about it!”

  I took a deep breath to refocus my rage. It wasn’t Nora who put him there; it was Relias.

  “Sorry… I get it… Some of it, I mean.” I looked down and groaned. “I didn’t even thank you for saving my life yet, and we’re already fighting…”

  Nora pulled her hands behind her back as she let out a long, tired sigh. “Squabbling,” she corrected primly. “This is just squabbling over trivial matters.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Trivial… for sure…”

  “Anyway, you’re welcome. And don’t mention it ever again.”

  “Mmm… But I have to ask. What happened in Paradise? How did you—we escape?”

  She bristled. “A lot. “Too much.” She turned away to stare at one of the mirrors. “Aina had separated us, right? She dropped me into a giant gray box. No doors or windows. She took my journal and said I was being quarantined until further notice. I tried to blast my way out, but nothing budged.”

  “Oh, Nora—”

  “It wasn’t bad or anything at first, just boring. But then I heard the alarms go off again,” she said, her voice constricting. “And then bits of the room just started disintegrating. And suddenly Aina pops up again, but she was glitchy, and her mirrors were cracked—well, all except the center one. She announced, “Emergency assistance required to sustain NAUGHT,” and she pulled me through it.” Nora’s hands curled into tight fists. “When I saw you there on the ground… I screamed.”

  “Yes, I heard the swears, too,” I added lamely. “I know this sounds weird, but they were strangely comforting.”

  Nora ignored my comment. “Aina appeared in front of Relias, rearranging walls around him and NAUGHT’s core to cut him off. But what was I supposed to do with you bleeding out? So, I—”

  “You touched NAUGHT even though you’d been told not to?!”

  She puffed her cheeks. “No! Walls were in the way! But I… yelled at it. Told it to give me the ability to save you. No matter the cost.” Her fingers drifted to her white lock. “And it did. Hence the witch mark.”

  “I think it’s more Sorceress Supreme than witch,” I offered, hoping she could see it was a compliment.

  But isn’t that a weird price to pay?

  Nora gave me a sad, wistful smile that seemed to hide something painful. “In that moment,” she whispered, “In that moment, everything clicked… How magic isn’t just two forces—animus pulling away, amity rushing toward the ideal—but how the ideal can change. How creation and destruction are just two directions of the same motion, depending on where you aim and what your understanding of the target is.”

  She shut her eyes for a moment. “I understood more in one heartbeat than I ever, ever wanted to.”

  There was an ache in her voice, but before I could formulate the right question, she continued. “Some of that knowledge allowed me to heal you, so I can't help but be thankful.”

  “Red mage is best mage!" I blurted.

  “Only when they have access to the full skill tree,” she clarified. “I only seem to have heals on the white branch.”

  “Still! Maybe with some experience...?”

  “Maybe...” she echoed, though she didn't seem invested. “Oh, but our escape wasn’t me. It was Aina. She was losing the battle to contain Relias… but she was strong enough to get us out as soon as your body was stable. So she sent us to Ambrose.”

  I blinked. “Why him?”

  “Raedine’s idea. After she told Ambrose what happened, the two realized their entire falling-out had been engineered. Someone wanted them divided because they were too close to the truth. That animus and amity rely on each other. That demons were created by God herself.”

  I shivered. “I wonder how many heroes got close to that truth before—”

  A flare of light suddenly bloomed in one of the mirrors.

  Ambrose stepped through, solemn and skeletal, a glowing orb clutched between his long fingers.

  “Captain, Lady Nora,” said tightly, no trace of sorrow apparent on his features. “You two must see this.” He thrust the orb forward. “Another broadcast is about to begin.”

  “These things have been popping up in churches everywhere,” Nora said darkly. “You might want to take a deep breath before you look.”

  I leaned in just as his face appeared.

  Relias.

  Sanctimonious. Serene. Radiating false benevolence.

  The face of the villain.

  Orchestrator of lies.

  2/23/2026: Chibi Nora as Red Mage successfully commissioned!

  Art by Aya Akemi:

  Latest Chapter on Patreon:

  https://thelastraeofhope.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page

  Also, feel free to join my