White Flower, Black Feather

Calm…

Helping Roxanne to relax was difficult, she had been trembling for as long as she hugged her…

‘It doesn’t say that she lost control, you know?’ but once Brenna noticed and pointed that out ‘She also was in control when we fought together against… hey! Why I don’t have that Battle Companion Title?!’

‘You two fought together…?’ her outrage distracted the bunny enough to stop shivering

-It’s because… eh… I’m not sure?-

‘What…?’

Brenna didn’t liked that answer…

-As I said before, I’m not connected to Roxanne like I’m to you. All I can do, is guess what Titles combined to form that one. Do you remember the original Title or Deed when you fought with her?-

The message oriented itself to point at Roxanne

‘Ah… Ally…? Alli-something?’ and after an unsure answer, the screen pointed back to Brenna

-If it was related to the Unlikely Alliance Deed, then you are not going to get it. That Deed involves forming an alliance where there is no clear benefit for the participants. You and Miriam had a clear benefit with killing that wyvern. But I can’t confirm it, due to the Dragon-

‘What? Is Miriam doing something else now?’

The wind picked up, sending a shiver along both of them

-It makes sense for this Dragon to be Miriam. But I have no way of confirming it right now, because in this case it’s not exactly her fault… I had a host the last time a Dragon appeared, and the System always gets overwhelmed when that kind of event happens. Tomorrow I might be able to confirm the Title, but I’m not sure of when, for now, you two should get ready to sleep-

There was some truth in that statement, the sky was darkening around them…

‘Ah, hole? Hole? Hole? Hole?’ and Roxanne looked around them in all directions, getting out of the hug ‘No holes, time to dig’

‘Wait, we can go up a tree…’

‘I don’t eat meat and I don’t sleep on trees!’ her familiar sounded annoyed

‘They hide me at night…’ Brenna pointed that out…

‘Eh?’

And after a brief explanation, Brenna floated a screaming Roxanne to a tree, and eventually they settled to sleep for the night…

/////

Without noticing that a tree looked different the next day

Mostly because two loud roars woke them up

CAW?! Squeak?!

‘Nonononononononononononononono!’ she started to run in circles around the tree…

‘Do you even know what that means?!’ while Brenna was feeling cranky due to the abrupt awakening, and her familiar’s reaction…

‘If one is scary! Then all of them are scary!’ Brenna couldn’t make herself say that Roxanne was overreacting…

So, she kept screaming while running…

‘Ugh…’

-Good morning!-

‘Morning… is the Dragon problem is still affecting you?’

At that point the tree made two fruits next to her and she ate one while waiting for an answer

-The System is still overwhelmed, so I’m guessing that it was caused by a really strong Dragon…-

‘But you are fine?’ her Helper confirmed that ‘All right. Roxanne! There is some food-’

She had thought about dropping the fruit for her, but the bunny easily jumped to the branch and started eating the fruit once she saw it…

‘Why did I floated you last night…?’

‘Because you were making me sleep on a tree?’

‘It worked!’

‘And I’m still a bunny!’

With the fruit finished she hopped back to the ground and started to run around the tree for a lap before stopping…

‘Why I was running again…? Ah! Right!’ and she resumed her running

‘Stop that, we need to talk about Miriam’ Brenna sighed at how Roxanne froze and flew to the ground next to her ‘You know… what… companion means?’

‘That we killed things in the same fight?’

‘No… otherwise I would have that Title too…’ she felt a bit annoyed at her not having that Title

CAW?!!!

Brenna froze after cawing in surprise at the screens that appeared, which also made Roxanne start running around her in panic

Until the screen with the Title peeled off to reveal a second message full of laughter…

‘Ugh…’ she could feel a lot of annoyance towards the sender of the prank ‘Roxanne stop…’ but choose to do her best to ignore the thing… ‘Companion means friend’

‘W-what’s that?’ she was hitting the ground with a foot, not constantly, but she was doing it often enough for Brenna to notice it

‘It’s…’ she looked around… not seeing anything out of place… ‘You eat plants’

‘Yes. I don’t eat meat, but I’m made of meat and the Ruler eats meat so-!’

‘Let me finish…!’ it took a few moment for the bunny to stop trembling, but she eventually did it ‘Let’s assume that there are more plant eating creatures here, big ones. Now, if one of those creatures doesn’t let you eat the plants that you like, then, with Miriam as a friend, she will scare… or eat, that creature and let you eat the plants that you like!’

It felt good to figure a way to calm her familiar…

‘What’s stopping her from eating me afterwards?’

‘Eh…’ but that was an ugly question… ‘Look… she wants to… I was told that she wants to protect me…’ because it made her mind go back to their first encounter… but she shook her head to keep going ‘So! If she hurts you, then she hurts me. See why you are safe?’

Roxanne just tilted her head…

‘Besides… we are going to the same place that she is going to, we-’

‘No!’

Just as she was starting to tremble, Brenna placed her wings to her sides

‘Listen… we need to go. There is a group of bad humans there, that is making a group of good humans suffer. To the good ones, that place is awful and they hate the bad ones as much as you hate boars-’

‘No way!’ it was obvious that the bunny got angry at that statement…

‘Yes way!’ and she kept pushing that idea forwards… ‘Eh…’ but… ‘Well… ugh, I mean… that’s why we need to go there…’ had no idea of how to keep going from there…

‘Oh! Idea!’ suddenly she cheered up ‘I kill boars, the Ruler eats them! That way she doesn’t eats me!’

With that Roxanne started to nuzzle against Brenna…

‘That’s… ugh…’ who sighed in defeat and nuzzled back…

Neither of them noticed how the tall insect started to separate from its hiding spot, after losing its patience for them to get closer-

CRUNCH!!!

CAW?!!!

Nor noticed the huge white blur that suddenly got its whole torso in her mouth until she was already there with her whole body coiling everywhere as she stopped

Followed by a gust of wind that ruffled her feathers and Roxanne’s fur… that neither of them noticed due to sheer weight of her aura on top of them…

Like the last time, her aura wasn't aimed at her… but unlike the fight against the wyvern, this time her aura wasn't an immediate scream that she was incredibly deathly…

No, Miriam was incredibly deathly, this time her aura just made sure that anyone inside it, knew that she was more than that

Brenna didn’t heard the trees rustling, she just met her eyes for an instant before she looked away. Covering the direction to her head with her beautiful wings-

Crunch!

‘ ‘Eh!’ ’ making both of them flinch at the sound of her eating…

‘What’s that?!’

‘The Ruler!’

‘Rude! The thing she is eating!’

‘I don’t know! And I don’t know what “Rude” means!’

Miriam was done with the creature quickly, already making a pair of insect-like blades with dirt and stones, that Brenna had no idea where they came from, and placing them under her wings when she started to move-

“Miriam!”

She was glad that her talking spell stopped her… no, Miriam froze, except for the tip of her tail that was… wagging?

Before hissing at the sky, with her three horns shinning with the sunlight-

“You told her my name?!”

CAW?!!! Squeak?!

Making both of them jump in surprise, because they understood what she was saying…

‘ ‘She can talk?!’ ’

Both of them could just stare as Miriam started to held her head… the tip of her tail, and the feathered fins on her head, becoming wilder as she did so…

‘Ah…’ which pulled Brenna’s gaze towards her long body, her beautifully shaped scales, with a few of them having colors along the edges. She noticed how the sunlight reflected in those scales…

And in the enormous amount of shiny scars she had…

Miriam turned to look at them, and Brenna met her gaze, noticing the scar around her right eye…

‘Pretty-’

Squeak?!

‘What?!’

She understood what they meant, but she found herself liking them, even if she had no idea why. Still, she realized that what she thought was a bit weird. Mostly due Roxanne’s reaction… who froze as Miriam looked at her

“I wasn't supposed to learn it?” Brenna decided to ignore that topic, and shook her head as she asked that to Miriam, trying to not get too distracted by the shiny crystal in her… ‘Chest…’ that shifted under the surface like a green kaleidoscope, that showed an infinity of edges and reflections…

“Oh…” her voice came in hisses and grumbles, but both of them were able to understand her “You need a spell to talk… it looks interesting…” she didn’t understood what she meant by ‘Looks’ but Miriam shook her head before continuing “Sorry… I wanted to be the one that said it…”

She looked away while her hands opened and closed in… what Brenna believed to be anxiousness

“I’m Brenna and this is my familiar Roxanne, nice to meet you” the bunny squeaked once she was brought to attention, but the Ruler didn’t seemed to notice her reaction

Because Brenna extended a wing at Miriam…

And after she stared at her claws, she extended her own wing to touch Brenna’s

“Beautiful name… ah! I’m Miriam, and I have to say that your singing is just as beautiful! I! Ah…! I would have never gather the courage to come out like that! Hmm… but, what’s a familiar?” the girl sounded nervous for a moment, before she arrived at the topic change

She didn’t particularly minded the change, because being associated with the word ‘Beautiful’ made her feel funny, and started to compose her answer…

‘I-it’s from a spell that I got by- n-no, wait. I should explain my summoning of a- no… eh… eh! Do I start with my Grimoire…?’ she asked Roxanne

‘Eh?’ but the bunny just sounded confused

‘Argh… wait…’

“Wait. What do you mean by ‘Coming out’?” why would she think, that she needed to come out?

“Ah? You were already out…? Well… I don’t remember ever talking with you… ah…” the trees started to rustle “Yes, I know! I just realized that I should tell her about my Magic Drain! Any-”

Miriam stopped and looked up…

-Maybe you two should leave that topic to the side, until both of you can talk without needing a spell? There is also the problem with the slavers-

After Brenna read that message, Miriam sighed and said that the First Mother told her wait until both of them were humanoids to have that conversation

“Also, the slavers aren't that far away…” she looked to the east as the trees were rustling “By tonight we should be next to them…”

A shiver made all her feathers stand…

“You know where they are…?”

“The trees said it and… I marked a few of them… eh… of the survivors of the group when I was…” she looked to the ground “I’m sorry… I… I…”

It was subtle, but her aura started to feel melancholic…

“That woman reached a house outside of the forest! And the people inside helped her!” so Brenna told her what had happened, trying to cheer both of them, but… “Without you…!”

She hesitated… her memories of that day were… tainted, with the terror she felt at that moment… but even so, she did her best to push forwards and try to calm the other girl

“They might have caught up to us… and I have no idea if I could have stopped all of them. Besides… eh… I might have needed to have my shield get broken like that. I promise you, that I have learned from that day… a lot of things”

Miriam’s aura still felt melancholic, and she wasn't looking at either of them… but she nodded

“Let’s go to the river, I could use some water and we can talk about what to do” she looked to her wings for a few seconds, before turning north “Sit between my wings, nothing should get closer to us now that I’m a Dragon”

“What about boars…?” Roxanne’s question was repeated by Brenna in a deadpan tone “Sorry, Roxanne hates them”

“Understandable…” she turned to look at them, her melancholy softening a bit “There is one that I know will charge at me, no matter what… but I don’t think the rest will be insane like that, and if they are, I’ll eat them…” there even was an amused tone with that last thing “The gods know I eat a lot…”

Squeak!

‘More reasons to hunt boars!’

Brenna sighed at her familiar’s reaction, without bothering to translate what she said…

/////

Miriam was fast, to the point where she had to hold tightly to her wings with her talons… she didn’t caused any wound in the other girl, thankfully, but Roxanne’s kicks on her back did caused Miriam to look at them and ask if she needed to slow down…

Which considering how loud the kicks were… gave both of them an idea of how resistant the bigger girl was

Once they were next to the river, Miriam had offered to fish for Brenna before sinking her head in the water and swallowing a large fish, as she got out. But she refused and told her about the fruits the trees gave them, which made them talk a bit about those with Miriam commenting about her being happy about those, since she became omnivorous

But the Dragon avoided talking about how she became omnivorous, even after Brenna asked…

“It’s complicated…” that was the answer to that question, and to the question about how she could turn invisible in water “I’ll tell you later, because…” she shook her head, sending the water that was making her shine, away “It’s complicated… huh… now my horns are red…?”

Brenna didn’t knew if she should answer that question, or if she should keep pressing for details…

That message made Miriam look up and around them

“I just got a message from Aufiea, you get those too?” giving her something else to ask about

“Hmm? Ah, yes. It’s just that now that I’m a Dragon I can actually hear their voices, and sometimes I hear them whispering… so, I assume the second thing happens even when the message is for someone else?”

She looked up again and after a few seconds of silence she tilted her head

“How did you make a chainsaw, sound like talking…?”

Caw?

“Nevermind, apparently I can only tell that to specific people, so it’s a good thing that it’s only us three here” at that point Brenna focused on the purple tongue that kept coming out of her mouth, and she noticed many tiny purple dots on Miriam’s ‘Nose’ as if she had freckles

As the white girl extended her hands, a sword made of condensed dirt and one of ice grew towards each one

“Anyway, relevant to what we have to do: I have affinities for swords, water, earth and healing” she spun the weapons on her hands, before stabbing the two in the ground, while a ball of water flew from the river and clung to her right hand, turning it invisible “I also can do this, like you saw, so… I’m guessing that you two can hide under my wings while I cover myself in water? To get in, I mean”

Brenna looked at her hand and by moving her head in different angles, she saw that it wasn't perfect, and could notice distortions on the edges of the general shape of the hand…

“Doesn't gets cold?” she knew that snakes had trouble with temperature… but the idea of not being seen was interesting

“Not anymore, now that I evolved like this, I’m more resistant to cold, so we can go there at night, where this is going to be more effective” she let the water fall back to the river “Now that I think about it, these things I made are useless, if we sneak in” she pointed to the insect swords that she had

The idea of making a sneaking snake joke, came to her mind… but it felt rude, so she focused on her spells

“Well, I can use all kinds of magic, literally. Plus I have a sword that I can summon, eh… I can only summon her once, for now… I hope, but if we need her, then I’ll give her to you to fight”

She hoped that her nervousness about Sapphire’s magic consumption and attitude, weren't transferred in her voice… but the girl just nodded at her comment, not asking for details…

‘Oh, well…’ it did felt a bit unsatisfying… ‘But Miriam is a Ruler of Death, those slavers will probably run the moment she looks at them’ but that thought helped her to ignore that feeling and the possible problems with Sapphire…

But by ignoring that… she just made one of her worries rush to the front of her mind…

“Are you ready to… kill… who knows how many people…?” she had no idea how the girl in front of her, could do that kind of thing…

“I’m not…” she didn’t expected that answer, or the melancholy on her aura coming back “But this is not the first time I kill humans… willingly… the first time… I killed two monsters in human flesh…”

Brenna saw the shiver that Miriam had run along her whole body…

“It disgusts me… and it feels wrong…” but she continued before she could say anything “But the alternative is… ugh… sorry, I don’t want to justify it. I’m not a ‘Morally superior’ person… I…” she looked away, to the stones on top of the cliff “If they surrender, then I won’t hurt them… still, if we do fight, let me do the killing. While coming here, the First Mother told me that you can remove the slavery collars?”

She nodded accepting the topic change

“So, we get in, silently and undetected, if possible…” Miriam nodded to the water and lifted her dirt sword “Then we find and release the people there quickly, so I can dig a tunnel out of there once you remove all the collars, in and out. If a fight starts, then… stay behind me” she then turned to Roxanne, who flinched under her green eyes “You… you were a creature of this forest, before becoming a familiar, right?” the bunny nodded “How do you fight?”

Roxanne’s horn glowed as she spun around herself for a moment, before focusing on the river-

FUUUMMM!!!

CAW?!!!

And a loud beam of light came out of her horn, making the area around the impact become a cloud of steam…

It only lasted for a second, but Brenna was sure that it would her killed her if she had been hit…

Her familiar didn’t stooped there, the next thing she did was grab a small stone with her mouth, and threw it up, before jumping after it and kick it to the river-

Splash!!!

That made the water jump a few meters in height…

“Good, those kicks should hurt most of the creatures in this side of the forest. I leave Brenna’s protection to you” she nodded at the bunny “But that beam used all your magic, didn’t it? If so, in my opinion, you should use your magic to make yourself hit harder, instead of using that beam, still, do as you wish”

‘How did she knew that?!’ Roxanne flinched again

“How did you knew that?!” and asked at the same time Brenna did so

“Lucky guess, mostly. I got the Magic Sense” she gestured to the two of them “To me, both of you glow, just like the trees do, and now her glow diminished by a lot” there was a moment of silence “I think Brenna glowed a bit more before the beam? So, I’m also guessing that she has more magic”

Both Bunny and Crow stared at each other for a moment, before looking at the Dragon

“‘-How did you/she buy that?!!!-’”

“Ah… it’s complicated… but I only got it yesterday!”

-That’s not something that a Dragon gets for free!-

She would have loved to ask more about it…

But seeing how Miriam flinched at the same time she got that message, she pushed that urge back and tried to focus

“The plan sounds simple. Are we missing something?” this wasn't like a concert were she and her friends could just look at the checklists Carmen made, and it was the first time the two of them prepared together, Brenna also had no idea of how to even prepare for…

‘A rescue mission… this is that… only that…’ Roxanne gave her a curious stare, but didn’t said anything

“Hmm… supplies, for them I mean?” Miriam grumbled “I don’t use things like armor, or backpacks, no matter how much I tried to do that before, and if I need to block something I can use walls of dirt. Food is something that I need to hunt for… and I can eat it raw, so… depending on how many people we save, that’s going to be a big problem”

She liked that Miriam said it: they were Saving people… it was a rescue mission…

“I don’t think we’ll be able to carry much in terms of supplies from that place either…” she gestured to the forest “Not the best place for a wagon, nor do I think we’ll have much time to grab many things if we want to be quick”

“You are right, they are probably not going to like the idea of eating what they have been eating so far either…” Brenna could try to be pragmatical and argue with them that it was a temporal thing until they were safe… but as she thought about that, a new idea came to her “Can I ask you all for fruit for them?! I’ll return the favor!” so she asked to the trees for help

And they rustled…

“Is that how you all see me?!” making Miriam cross her arms with annoyance on her hisses “A tasty magic dispenser?!” her Helper laughed instead of translating the sounds “Or course I’ll do it! We are talking about innocent people here!”

The girl hissed and shook her head, and while it was amusing to see her talking back at the trees…

“Sunny didn’t asked for my magic you know?!” she made Brenna shiver…

Miriam was Sunny’s mother… somehow… and she was asked to not mention that to her…

‘All right! You all not telling me the Ruler bit, that I can understand, I’m still angry, but I can understand it. Why I can’t tell her that she is Sunny’s mom?’

‘Eh…?’ she was about to tell her, regardless of the answer… but the fact that it was the “Serious one” the one that answered her question, made her hesitate…

And just as she saw how Miriam looked at her after getting that message

“So, since we want to keep my magic full for the collars, how about you tell me about yourself?”

It was obvious that both got the message at the same time

Brenna’s feathers ruffled and she started to flap her wings while cawing up a storm, while Miriam covered her eyes with her hands while the tip of her tail smacked the ground

‘W-what’s going on?!’ terrifying the poor bunny…

/////

Eventually all three of them recovered from the prank, with Miriam needing some more time than the other two, and were moving along the river to the east at the ridiculous speeds she could get to

Brenna was sure that with her spells and while flying, she could be as fast, if not faster, than her, but this was Miriam without using her own magic…

Or that teleporting thing she did before…

“I was a normal girl…” but she didn’t had time to think about that… “Or as normal as I could be after being born from those two…”

The, metaphorical, venom in that word caused both her and her familiar to shiver, thankfully Roxanne didn’t kicked Miriam during that trip

“They were terrible, abusive, bastards. And I’m not just talking like it’s a ‘Teenage moment’ like… I don’t know who said that, but they were probably an asshole too…”

Her mind went to the previous counselor of the school, he was an absolute bastard that punched big boobs guy, because the twins beat the crap of a bully that had been trying to ‘Jokingly’ strip a female classmate…

He got fired, the principal was right there talking with (Apparently) someone from the mayor’s office, so…

“Anyway, they kept trying to make me abuse the people around me, to cheat at every turn, to make sure that I knew that the only purpose in my life was to make money… I was six”

Caw?!

Her cawing made Miriam slow down to make sure that they were still holding to her wing, but the girl continued moving once she saw that, and that there weren't creatures around

Brenna still remembered her parents, the idea of them doing something like what she was saying…

Was horrible…

“At least they only did that with me and spared Max of the abuse… most of it at least” that name was familiar to her “Oh, Max is my younger brother and Jess is my younger sister” both of those names were… “He is an artist, but I had to work part time to get both him and Jess to art classes, those two would never allow him to be ‘Unmanly’ like that… ugh. Our excuse was, that since Jess was born mute and deaf, he was there to tell her, in sign language, the instructions from the teacher, but… but… the classes needed to be paid for both of them anyway, even if the teachers were understanding… ah…”

Miriam slowed down as Brenna’s shock grew with every word…

‘Big boobs guy?!’ finally screaming that in her mind, and making the bigger girl turn to look at the wincing Roxanne as she finished stopping

‘What happened now?!’ her familiar was annoyed by the scream

“Did you got a message…?” after asking, she looked up for a moment “Ah… sorry…” and covered her face for a few seconds “I forgot. Yes: Brenna, I was born in the wrong body. And yes, I had that stupid and over-complicated fancy name, they tried to force on me…”

Brenna was about to start asking a lot of angry questions…

“I…” but… “Sorry, I suppose that I’m trying to forget about that… ah… can you help me? I don’t remember if Max went to the same school as we did…”

Her despair filled voice…

“He did… I heard that story… as he told someone else…” squeezed her heart…

“Oh!” her answer cheered the girl, and the fins in her head flapped slowly “Good…! I was getting afraid that they didn’t paid for his education since they had me… they barely paid for Jess and us learning sign language… I… I can’t believe that I lost those memories in my Magic Drain…”

“What else did you lost…?” she hadn't mentioned her twin…

He was the one that had told that story…

“Ah… well… in the end, I don’t know. I thought that…” she took a deep breath and started again “I remember, the abuse, the times we changed houses, Max, Jess, changing her diapers too… I guess most of the things that I learned… the jobs I had… and you, beautifully singing on the stage… oh!” she met her eyes again “I remember that I had someone that I called ‘Bro’. I know how this sounds, but do you know if I had a friend? I remember telling him that I was a woman, but I don’t remember who he was”

Her eyes teared up with the painful, steely, grip that suddenly appeared around her throat…

She couldn’t stop herself from flying to her head, land on a horn, and hug her as best she could…

Crying for the surprised girl…

‘How do I tell her?!!!’

Crying for everything she lost…

/////

Eventually she calmed down… her mind was still a mess, and Roxanne was nervously running around too, because she had no idea what was going on, nor was she able to understand what the things Brenna was thinking meant…

“Thanks you” once she separated from Miriam, she noticed that she was blinking some tears away too

‘What does that means…?’ she didn’t understood her

‘Ask her?’

But she couldn’t do what Roxanne said, because Miriam grumbled

“Ugh… they are right, we should talk about… let’s wait until we are in a safe place at least?” it was an annoying idea… mostly because she still wasn't sure what was the deal with Sunny

“I have never seen a snake blink…” but she accepted… at least until the slavers were dealt with…

“We don’t, like that teacher said all the time. I can do this since I evolved, but yesterday I forgot about blinking until my eyes hurt”

There was some humor there…

“What teacher?”

“The one obsessed with snakes, I forgot his name and nickname, but I kinda remember that he existed” Miriam looked up, tilting her head…

“I don’t remember a teacher like that, was that before you moved to… what’s wrong?” there was a subtle change in her aura…

“Mordauntless just said ‘Since back then?’ and now all of them are keeping quiet no matter what I ask…” she gestured to Roxanne to get back between her wings “If they keep having secrets, then I’m going up there and smack them…”

There was less humor there, and judging by the way she groaned, De had said something…

“Why did you thanked me?” so, Brenna distracted her

“I’m the oldest” she said, as if she had said that many times before “I’m… I was the one that was supposed to worry about them… it feels good to have someone worry about you”

“I’m sure… your siblings worried too”

“Thanks you”

/////

The travel along the river for the next two hours was a silent one, until Roxanne got bored, and her nagging made Brenna ask Miriam about her birth in that place

Both of them had been shocked when they heard that she was born from a woman inside a city…

Just reaching the point where she was escaping from arrows towards a ranch, when she stopped far enough away from a tributary river

Miriam instructed them to drink water from the river that they had been following, and to not touch the new one…

It smelled like human’s…

She didn’t needed to finish the explanation, instead she fished from further back in the river, for both Brenna and her, while Roxanne ate some of the plants further away from the water

With that done, and with Miriam carrying a few extra fish for later, the girl carried them following the tributary to the southeast for hours. Jumping over the thing once it became easier to not touch any of the water with her body

Silence was their new companion from that point on, not even the trees rustled to guide them as the forest became more and more filled with cliffs, that the trees ignored, growing wherever they wanted… Miriam’s mood seemed to decay the longer they kept moving

Just as many, many slabs of rock that looked too rectangular to be natural things appeared…

“Oh… these things…” which meant that Miriam knew about them, and tried to talk about them… “These rocks used to be-?!” but she stopped suddenly, almost making the other two fall

Neither said anything against her

The aura of the Fourth Ruler of Death was filled with the intent to kill as she glared to the south with her long fangs bared…

None of them made a single sound for a few seconds, until she closed her mouth and hissed slowly…

“Shit just got complicated…” every sound was filled with hostility…

Caw?

“They have a Dragon Slayer with them…”

‘ ‘ -Oh…- ’ ’