Inside a dense forest wanders quite a few monsters. Beasts of great size lie further in as a small figure stealthily avoids them with a bow in hand.

  They get further from the monsters without being detected as they approach a small rabbit.

  An arrow is fired at the Rabbit but misses, the rabbit dashes off, thr figure emerges from the bushes revealing them to be Nari on a hunt for Lina.

  Nari chases after the rabbit still not used to her new bow but she wants to help Lina who made her feel seen.

  Meanwhile back in the clearing of a forest, Ashen is sharpening his chipped dagger while Lina is practicing her magic. They sit in silence as they are at odds regarding Nari.

  Lina tries to break the silence as she doesn’t want to fight with Ashen who is the only person to stand by her choice to flee from the church trying to do something good. She speaks,

  ”We haven’t had to face many monsters lately, maybe your luck is turning around?”

  Ashen says nothing as he quietly sharpens his dagger. Lina frowns and looks back towards her hands before clutching them in determination, she turns towards Ashen and says,

  ”Please say something, I know you don’t agree with what I’m doing with Nari but she’s just a little girl.”

  Ashen pauses in his sharpening before saying,

  ”A little girl who had been spying on us, she could be on orders from whomever owns that collar of hers to kill us when our guards are down.”

  Lina gets annoyed as she raises her voice to Ashen,

  ”That isn’t fair, you can’t think that everyone is going to betray you, next are you going to become suspicious of me next?”

  Ashen says nothing for a long while before he sighs,

  ”You’re right, I’m sorry, you’re the first comrade who has stood by me despite my situation, I’ve just had to live like this to survive.”

  Lina opens her mouth to speak but nothing comes out. She starts feeling guilty when Ashen was just living by like he always had to for survival.

  Ashen speaks again seeing Lina’s hesitation to,

  ”If you trust Nari then I will stop making such a fuss over it.”

  Lina softens her gaze as she goes to sit closer to Ashen, she’s glad they have moved past that because she has been struggling to advance her magic alone. She asks,

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  ”Now that we are talking again, remember when we talked about our blessings? It was interrupted from Nari but… I know you said not to get frustrated at our weakness but I haven’t made any progress.”

  Ashen calmly responds though he looks towards his own hands, still unable to use his blessing at all.

  ”I have also been trying to figure out how to use my blessing without souls, I feel useless not being able to use my blessing without sacrificing something.”

  Lina knows Ashen while being a skilled fighter, he still feels useless not being able to use his blessing without souls. She remembers when he took a piece of her soul, how well they fought together utilizing their blessings like that against the skeletal dragon. Lina says,

  ”If you ever feel weak you could just take part of my soul again.”

  Lina expects a long silence but Ashen responds immediately with conviction,

  ”No, I don't want to survive sacrificing my only friend, I would rather sacrifice my own soul.”

  Ashen pauses, then asks,

  ”Wait would that work?”

  Lina remembers that incredible pain from when Ashen had to sever part of her soul. She turns to talk him out of it, but he is already trying it.

  Lina shouts for him to stop but freezes as Ashen calmly pulls a black shadow from his left forearm using his right one.

  Ashen isn’t in any pain though as he tries bringing the shadow to his dagger for some magic, the shadow goes tight as it doesn’t reach. He lets it go and it pulls itself back into his skin, a rare look of wonder fills both Ashen and Lina’s eyes.

  The corners of Ashen’s mouth twitch up, the closest thing to a smile he’s ever done, before he says,

  ”I can’t believe that worked.”

  As Ashen tries it on other parts of his body. Lina stares off into space as buzzing fills her ears. She can’t hear anything as one thought bounces around in her mind.

  ”You’re falling behind, you are nothing but a burden.”

  The day ends quietly as Nari returns to camp with a single rabbit, Ashen immediately stops his tests not wanting to reveal information to Nari.

  Meanwhile Lina just sits there in self pity, the image of Evan using the golden thread is so engraved in her mind yet she can’t do it.

  The next day the group is traveling when Nari notices some DireWolf monsters are encircling them from the tree cover.

  A fight breaks out as Ashen and Lina immediately prepare to fight then engage the DireWolves.

  Ashen still can’t use his blessing in combat but with his survival instincts he fights them off quite well.

  Nari has great senses and speed but isn’t used to her bow yet so struggles to use it in combat. Yet with her speed she distracts 3 of the 5 monsters while Ashen finishes the one he’s fighting.

  Meanwhile Lina is struggling to fight the wolf on her as her mind is distracted. She eventually finishes it off as Ashen assists Nari by stabbing another then going for the third.

  Lina still has trouble hearing as she’s too engrossed in her thoughts yet as she stares at her friends fighting with no hesitation, she notices another DireWolf sneaking up behind them.

  She shouts to her comrades to alert them to the danger but her voice goes silent as does the world.

  She reaches out her hand towards the lunging beast. Not to heal, not to pray, just to grab.

  Light swirls around her fingers as it materializes around the DireWolf’s big hind leg, she pulls the thread now also wrapped around her arm as she saw Evan do.

  The Wolf is heavy but airborne so as the thread goes tight, it exerts enough force to divert the beast’s path as the claw misses Ashen’s back.

  The DireWolf charges at Lina but she pulls the thread once more with all her might making the beast fall over.

  The beast raises its eyes with a snarl only for Lina’s knife to plunge into its skull, killing it instantly.

  Lina breathes heavily as she stands there in shock before muttering to herself,

  ”I did it?”