"They'll make their choices. I'll make mine."

James was in that white mindscape once again, the clear waters lapping at his ankles. He sighed.

"Again with you?" he asked Gryff Brenwick, who stood across from him with a sly grin upon his lips. "I'm already getting sick of these vague but slightly useful meetings. Emphasis on vague."

"You idiot," Gryff just said, his head shaking as he laughed. "Tapping into Azura's well of power the first time was already idiotic enough, but to do it again? I'm surprised your ley lines haven't burst from the abuse."

James blinked. "I didn't tap into it. Not directly, at least. I just shouldered the cost of Naomi's ritual."

"Which required her to open that valve into the raw ley lines in Azura's crust. How do you think Rune Gates work? Just good intentions and a vague knowledge of where you want to go? Just poof, and you've traveled from Norum to Vindis in a heartbeat?" Gryff shook his head. "You two are lucky to not be dead or stranded. Any further and Naomi's gate would've shattered whatever was left of Yorktown's nexus point."

"So that's why I'm here?" James said, gesturing to the white mindscape. "You want to give a word of warning or something?"

"Of course not," Gryff said, his lips turning into a scowl. "This…" he waved his hand all around. "Is the result of your ley lines expanding past their old limits. You're having a trip, as you might call it. A glimpse into the realm of spirits and shadows. Such as myself."

"My ley lines expanded?" James asked, his brow creasing.

Gryff nodded. "From a measly five spells a day to a meager eight. Quite a jump for beginner standards. Then again, you're not exactly aiming for the position of Arcane Wizard. "

"Eight spells a day?" James repeated, shocked. Gryff just shrugged, clearly unimpressed.

"I do say it was long overdue. I mean, the Vindis Incident alone should've pushed you to six rather than five. Regardless, what's done is done, and I congratulate you," Gryff muttered. He gave James a side-eyed look. "Do be careful not to repeat this incident. Your body and soul are already strained to their very limits. To keep pushing them would surely result in something breaking."

"Why do you care?" James asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Gryff said, eyebrow raising. "I practically live here. It would be in my best interests to see it all crumble and break as a result of your careless actions. Don't push your luck again, James. You don't want to see what happens when your soul breaks."

Before James could say something biting, the mindscape around the two started to rumble.

"What's that?" James said. He could feel the ground beneath shake, the ankle-high water rippling in response.

"It's time," Gryff sighed. "Your little trip here is over. I'll be seeing you."

James didn't even have time to say a word before the world around him was torn apart and swept away, leaving him floating in darkness.

Kira blinked as she watched Seamus Halvorson turn tail, his boots scraping against stone as he ran away. She had to admit, she was surprised.

"Denying my wants, already?" she said, her grin growing as she ran after him. Her eyes flashed with light as she sent a slash near the man. Not too close, just enough to graze him should he fail to dodge. Seamus reacted with a clumsy dodge, the young man falling over as he scrambled for the nearest corner.

Kira couldn't help but laugh a little at the sight, her eyes blazing as she pursued her target. She felt a rush as she turned into the street Seamus had run off to, her hand blindly gesturing as she sent off another three slashes. They struck nothing but open air and cobbled ground, barely missing Seamus' distant figure. He hurried into a nearby building, slamming the wooden door behind him. His movements were erratic, the actions of the clearly panicked.

"Come on!" Kira called as she followed him, her eyes flashing as she cut the door into pieces. "Your other friends at least had the gall to face me!"

No answer came her way. Smart choice, Kira mused, but ultimately frustrating. She sighed as she stepped into the sparse hut, her gaze setting upon the overturned chairs and table. With another slight gesture, the furniture was turned into splinters, the ground, and walls embedded with deep grooves from her strikes.

Nothing. Kira frowned, her head turning to the open doorway behind her. Empty, as it was before. The Alert's warning call came in a moment later, prompting Kira to immediately back away, her gaze growing bright as she looked for what triggered it. Her throat went dry when she saw Seamus drop from the ceiling beams, sword pointed straight at her.

Without thinking, Kira sent out two random slashes, her body growing warm as her mental commands activated her Beholder eyes. Both Carapace and Dodge were activated in that fraction of a second, Kira's body instantly moving away from the incoming attack.

Seamus' sword missed her by only half a meter, his body jerking as it took one of the slashes, the other missing him completely. Kira backed into the building's interior, her smile falling as she watched the young man roll on the ground. He panted heavily as he rose back up, sword nicked from his blind attempt to block the invisible attack. His upper left arm bled, but not enough to warrant death by blood loss. Kira's instinctive slash wasn't strong enough to do any real damage.

"Idiot," she said. "You really thought it'd be that easy?"

"Worth a try," Seamus huffed, his eyes watching her with unease. His body went still as he raised his sword again, his legs tensing for a moment. Kira smiled.

"Now the real fun begins—"

Seamus immediately bolted for the doorway, leaving her behind mid-sentence.

"Hey!" Kira called, her cheeks flushing red as she watched the man run once again. She tried to give chase but stopped when Seamus dropped a glowing rune behind him, its glyph burning as it released its spell. Fog filled the building, blinding Kira as her target made his escape once more.

Seamus booked it. He ran as fast as he could afford, his legs already growing numb from all the running he had to do that day. Regardless, he kept moving. To fight someone with Beholder eyes alone was a death sentence. He barely survived his own encounter with Eli. To try his luck against someone similar without any backup was pure suicide.

And so Seamus retreated from direct conflict. He recalled a lesson Harald had taught him back when he used to actually show up for training.

'To retreat is to fight another day. To not is to chase after glory. I'd rather you all choose to fight another day than get yourselves killed for something as stupid as glory.'

Seamus had taken those words to heart. Very few fights were worth the risk of dying. Especially if victory granted nothing more than glory. However, leaving a crazed maniac with Beholder eyes to roam about Yorktown while people scrambled to survive was something that Seamus would never forgive himself for.

And so he found a middle ground. Ambush the Beholder user and run the fuck away as he tried desperately to figure out a way to kill them. Very similar to the guerilla tactics James had tried to employ during Yorktown's first siege.

'Only this time, I'm not sure I can even win!'

Seamus hopped through a window that led into a half-collapsed building, where flames started to coalesce. He ran past the blaze in a hurry, the heat hitting his face like a slap. Before he could even reach the other side, his natural alarm called to him in a panic.

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Seamus dropped to the ground without hesitation. Three invisible slashes cut right into the door ahead of him, slicing through the wood like nothing. Seamus watched its remains clatter to the ground, his dread growing as he considered his options.

The woman's laugh echoed right after him, her words calling out to him, "Running away isn't going to make this any easier. Believe me when I say that I'm going easy on you."

Seamus ignored her. He just kept running, aiming to get out of the building. He stumbled through another cobbled road, his eyes looking for any nearby alleyways or side streets. Anywhere that could buy him time to hide and think. If that woman was anything like Eli, then he needed to keep his distance and fight her through enclosed spaces. If she caught him in the open…

Seamus dropped again as a warning blared within his mind. More slashes, this time striking against the ground. He turned to the building he had just been in, his eyes moving to the roof. She stood there with those haunting eyes, their glow reflecting purple energies. More flashes of his fight with Eli echoed within Seamus' mind.

"You are good right there," the woman said. Her hand moved to gesture toward herself. "Allow me to introduce myself, Seamus Halvorson. I am Kira. I have been waiting for this moment for quite some time… I thought of… no, dreamed of meeting you one on one. You're lucky that it's only me here. If Eilif had tagged along, I—"

"Night Spray!" Seamus cast, his hand holding out the glowing rune. Kira reacted slower than she should've, her look of surprise illuminated by the purple fireflies that streamed her way. Seamus dropped the rune not even a second after he cast its spell, his feet skidding against the ground as he ran once more for a nearby alley. He noted the slashes on the cobbled street, their deep grooves indicating to him that his light wound on the arm could've been way worse.

'Wait…' Seamus faltered in his run, his gaze lingering on the cuts for just a moment longer. It was enough for Kira to make her move, her slashes striking the building near him. Seamus cursed and moved away from the alley he was heading toward, his aim now for another side street.

He came to a stop when he saw Kira land in front of him, her purple eyes blazing with barely contained anger.

"It is rude to interrupt a lady's monologue!" she called, her hand raising toward him. Black tendrils of shadowy mist emerged from the ground around Seamus, wrapping around his legs and arms. He panicked for a moment, fully expecting the shadowy tendrils to stab into his flesh, not unlike how Eli's own mists did to him and Nathan.

Yet they remained still, the dark mist strangely static as they held him in place. Now that he got a better look at them, they resembled very little to the ones he saw during Midsommar.

"What the hel do you want?" Seamus said through gritted teeth.

"Now he talks," Kira sighed. "You truly are a pain, you know? Not even your so-called Jarl gave me this much trouble before I killed him. Eilif was probably right in that I should've crippled you first before making myself known."

Seamus felt his blood run cold. "James? You… you killed James?"

"Well, not exactly," Kira said. "Eilif was the one who delivered that killing blow. I did cut up his crew, however. You wouldn't believe the mess I made on that ship." She brushed some of her black hair back, her lips forming into a smile. "Ah, I'm already rambling about good times rather than scolding you for your rudeness. I truly cannot stay mad at you, my love."

Seamus just stared at her, his legs already buckling under the weight of her words. He couldn't even say anything. Not even a curse or a yell. He only thought back to a certain memory from a past that seemed years away.

"Are you alright?" the mysterious blond man asked, his hand extending to Seamus. Seamus was doubled over on the ground, his body aching from the beating he had received from that man Patrice. He never expected this stranger to intervene. The same man that had set off his natural alarm, with that dangerous glint that shone in his gaze and that strange accent he spoke in.

He was trouble. Danger. Yet he had stepped in to help Seamus, to save him from a drunk man's wrath.

"I… I'm fine," Seamus responded weakly, his shaking hand accepting the stranger's.

"I'm James," the man said, his words soft and his eyes now shining with a friendly gleam.

"Seamus," the young refugee said back as he stood.

"Well Seamus," James asked, his thumb gesturing to the bar nearby. "How about I buy something to eat? Tab's on me."

A simple memory. Probably not even appropriate for the Jarl. Yet Seamus couldn't help but reflect on it. James was dead. Seamus gritted his teeth at the words.

"Oh, are you angry?" Kira asked. She leaned in closer to him, her smile growing into a manic grin. "Are you going to break out of those binds and gut me neck to bowel? Will you behead me, like you did with Eli? Please, tell me!"

Seamus pulled his head back and whipped it forward in one smooth motion. His forehead cracked against Kira's nose, the strike sending her stumbling back. His binds broke then, the mist dissipating. Kira straightened herself right after, her grin now bloodied as she faced Seamus.

"There it is!" she said, her hand swiping. Seamus ran to his left, avoiding the set of three slashes that struck into the cobbles where he once stood. He brandished his sword as he set his run toward the Beholder user, his mind counting the seconds.

Kira turned to him with a maddened look, her hand raising once more as she gestured with her fingers. Seamus skidded in place, his sword raising as he judged the distance between him and her. Kira's slashes came right after, invisible to the naked eye.

Sparks flew, and Seamus could feel static prickling his hair as he parried the invisible blades. Kira recoiled at that, her grin faltering as Seamus parried the third and final slash. He locked eyes with her right after that, the silence between them growing thick with the unsaid realization.

'That's right,' Seamus thought with fury as he mentally recounted the seconds. 'I know how to counter you!'

Three slashes. Three blades. All were thrown in specific order and placement after a set amount of time. Seamus wasn't exactly sure about it until he had seen the grooves in the street earlier. The slashes after that had confirmed his suspicion.

Kira dodged his attempted lunge, her eyes flashing as she raised her hands once more. Seamus expected it, his body burning as he brought his sword to bear.

'The first one is slanted right,' he thought as he parried the first slash. 'The second is slanted left.' his blade sparked as it deflected another. 'and the last is perfectly straight.' he simply avoided that one, his body turning as he sidestepped the strike. Kira watched him with growing confusion, both her hands raising as she tried to summon another set of invisible blades.

Seamus rushed forth regardless. He had two seconds before she could form another three slashes, and probably even more if she wanted to increase their number. In the perception of any able-bodied man, two seconds was too short of a window for anything meaningful. However, for Seamus—who was under the effects of an agility potion—the seconds passed by like minutes.

He lunged with his sword, his aim true as it stabbed clear through Kira's chest. She gasped, her hands faltering as Seamus twisted and pulled at his pommel, ripping the weapon out right after the strike. He sidestepped, avoiding another slash that was aimed at his head, and swung hard at Kira's neck.

The agility potion ran out then. Seamus felt his body grow instantly sluggish, his sword strike wavering. Still, he managed to bury its sharp edge halfway through Kira's neck, his gambit rewarded with the sight of blood spurting from the wound. His hands slipped from the weapon's handle right after, his body stumbling as he tried to stay on his feet.

'I got her…. I actually got—'

Pain overwhelmed him. Seamus fell to the ground as something cut deep into his chest, slicing past his cloak and gambeson. He landed on his knees with a wheeze, his jaw clenched with agony. He tried to stand, only to receive two more slashes to his chest. It sent him skidding back against the cobbled ground, the invisible blades cutting deep into his flesh. He could swear one of them even managed to slice through his ribs.

"That really was something," Kira muttered as she walked up to him, her gaze still blazing with the glow of Beholder eyes. Seamus looked up at her, shock overcoming him as he saw her once fatal wounds heal. Steam flowed from the bloodied slashes he left behind, the flesh stitching together like the wounds were nothing more than an inconvenience.

Kira even had the gall to rip out Seamus' sword as if it were an annoying splinter, her flesh already working to mend the jagged injury left behind.

Seamus tried to speak but only managed to regurgitate blood, the left side of his chest feeling as if something heavy was pressing against it.

"Oh, I guess I did manage to nick a lung," Kira said as she crouched down to his eye level. "I do apologize for that. I was more or less aiming for something a little less vital, like your liver or any other organ." she sighed. "Well, I guess this means our time together is short. Too bad. I would've loved to have you struggle a little more. Though I will admit, you put up more of a fight than your friend James."

"Y…You.." Seamus gagged, his teeth clenching as he locked eyes with Kira. She was grinning again, her hand wiping the bit of blood from her now-healed nose.

"What is it?" she asked softly, her manic expression growing as Seamus struggled to speak.

"You… you're an idiot if you think James is dead," Seamus said, his lips curling into a defiant grin. He refused to give this maniac the satisfaction of watching him beg or cry.

"Really?" Kira said, amused. "And why is that?"

"Because if you knew that crazy arsehole just as well as I do," Seamus continued, his grin growing even as his eyelids grew heavy. "Then you'd know that death doesn't really come that easy to him. He has a habit of avoiding it, really." He gave a dry chuckle, the taste of metal overwhelming his tongue. "I'm willing to bet that he's on his way here, already pissed off and ready to tear through anything you throw at him."

"Well, if what you're saying does come true, then I'll make sure to tell him of your final words," Kira said.

Seamus just kept his grin despite the pain in his chest and the blood that coated his lips. He tried to keep eye contact with Kira but failed. For darkness overtook him, sending him into unconsciousness.

My poor son… I am sorry.

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