— Asshole. Moron. Dweeb. Jerk. Weasel face...

Daena observed the almost cloudless blue sky, trying to remember if she had already said "stupid". She was lying on the dirt and grass road, grumbling in frustration after spending almost two hours trying to free herself from the chains Darka had placed on her feet. The sound of approaching footsteps made her stand up suddenly, startled. She saw two hooded people and covered in knee-length cloaks, who stopped when they saw the girl sitting on the floor. They appeared to be wearing masks that covered the upper half of their faces.

— Who... Are you travelers? Can you help me?

The two just looked at each other in silence, until one of them approached Daena's shotgun, which was thrown out of the girl's reach.

— Hey, that's mine! — Daena began to worry when the person approached even closer with the gun in hand. — Wait... What are you going to do??

The figure straightened up, pointing the shotgun in her direction. When trying to unlock the gun he noticed that it was jammed, and in a quick movement he released the lock with some agility. Daena broke into a cold sweat when she realized that he was aiming at her and closed her eyes, waiting for the shot.

— No!

The sound of two gunshots reached her ears, but the pain didn't come. She quickly opened her eyes, only seeing that the chains were now in pieces.

— Oh thanks! Ha, ha, for a moment I thought you were going to shoot m... — Daena was interrupted by a hit on the back of the head.

✰★✰★✰

The guard station inn was simple but also surprisingly well equipped. The rooms had comfortable beds and a single bathroom, much to Darka's happiness. He had discovered in the middle of his clothes what was apparently his wallet with a good amount of draks, the game's currency, so he managed to pay a room for himself and Miko. This made many questions begin to arise about what happened to his inventory in the game's conversion to a "reality", and a quick investigation resulted in only a few consumable items in small pouches on his belt. Things like refinement stones and event items seemed to be gone, as were large objects and potions.

The strangest thing was having memories of having acquired items as "Lauren", but not as "Darka". She realized that her character's body memories were a little different from what had happened in the game, especially in gameplay, so she came to the conclusion that she probably wouldn't have a warehouse full of items in every city, available at her disposal.

— If you don't mind, I'll take a shower first. — Darka began to tie up his long hair. — I hope there's hot water...

— I think they just have a huge tub of cold water. — Miko observed as they took their bag off the shoulder and placed it on the bed. — Hot water is only available in big cities.

Darka sighed in disappointment, already expecting this result. At least cold water was still water and a cold shower was still a shower. He shrugged and headed to the corner of the room where the bathroom project was located, which was separated only by a wooden divider and a curtain ensuring a minimum of privacy.

Already without clothes, he took off the cloth that covered his face last when he entered the huge tub. Despite its old appearance, it looked like one of those chic hot tubs you saw in a decor magazine and it even had a type of stool inside like a jacuzzi.

When a shiver ran through his body as he sat in the cold water, he noticed the marks on his own skin, the stigmata that symbolized his origin and channeled his power. Darka watched the blue patterns for a few seconds, feeling the energy flowing through them. His fingers traced the marks until they reached his face, where they ended in a crescent moon design beneath his eyes. A giggle escaped his mouth when he realized what he was doing.

— Good thing my androgynous customization is pretty. Imagine if I had messed up and used that ready-made model of Michael Jackson in a thong? How crazy.

His thoughts were interrupted by the curtain suddenly opening.

— I brought a towel!

He froze in place when he saw Miko staring at him.

— Miko! I...

— Is everything fine? I just came to bring an extra towel I had with me, I noticed you didn't bring one.

— Oh, thank you? — He watched Miko place the towel in a corner within reach, trying to decipher the small creature's attitude. — Are you okay, Miko?

— Yes I am! Why the question?

— Nothing... Actually, do you... do you happen to know who I am?

— Oh, should I know? I am really sorry! — Miko hurried to strike an apologetic pose, lowering their head. — It's just that I'm kind of bad at remembering people's faces and so I don't...

— Wait, do you have prosopagnosia? — interrupted Darka, sounding relieved.

— Sorry?

— Anyway, I'm not important, I was just joking. — He waved his hand to change the subject. — Actually, my name is Darka, call me that from now on. And this is not a request.

— Yes, Mr. Darka!

Miko thought for a few seconds, processing the unexpected information about their problem having a name. They wanted to ask Darka more about this, but also didn't want to be inconvenient, so they just nodded and turned to leave.

— Wait, Miko. You said earlier that the Unpronounceable had destroyed Talphen's cathedral, and you also said something about a river of blood... What else did he do?

— Oh, he did a lot! No one really knows where he came from or how he appeared, but it's been almost two years since strange events began to happen. My uncle said that the first thing was that the poisonous mist from the Ravens' Ruin disappeared!

— But wasn't that a good thing? — Darka remembered that this was one of the first main missions in the game. — After all, it was a toxic fog, right?

— Yes, it was toxic, but since the Ravens' Ruin was an old body disposal camp, many zombie corpses were kept trapped there by the fog. After it disappeared, they escaped and attacked nearby villages.

— The game didn't show me that... how strange. — Darka stammered, going over the story in his head.

— Then my cousin was in town when he burned down the entire study wing of Norian's Library, destroying priceless manuscripts! To date, they have only managed to recover half of the original collection... My aunt's friend also saw him throwing a person off the Clock Bridge, in a macabre sacrificial ritual!

— My God, Miko! It wasn't... I don't think he would perform a ritual sacrifice. Maybe it was just a broken scarecrow that he happened to find lying in the middle of the bridge and that was getting in the way. And the part of the library that he burned were law books and biographies of rich people, nobody reads those things.

Darka sighed and sank a little deeper into the tub. What Miko said matched the routes he had chosen in the game, and apparently the consequences were not very well explained. Amara never mentioned anything about things related to the player's journey, but Darka knew that he was aware of where he was because whenever he returned to his workshop after a quest, Amara would comment something about the place where it happened.

— You really don't know The Unpronounceable? He is the son of Yrina, the witch who almost decimated the continent a thousand years ago! He's definitely the kind of person who would make a sacrifice. They say he's trying to get his mother back...

— Miko, you don't even know him personally! What if he's a nice guy who was trying to do nice things, but it ended up seeming like a bad thing? Has it ever crossed your mind that people might not be what they seem?

— Huh... Not really. But that's what happened, there's no way to say he didn't do those things. Miko shrugged. — It seems that a few days ago he was in Zieg, a village near here and set the city on fire! They said that if it weren't for the heroine Katarina, everything would have turned to ashes. She even said that she managed to corner him and hurt him, but he chickened out and ran away.

— Hey, she started the fire when she released that damn power of hers!

— You were there?? Have you seen him?

— Err... no, I didn't see it, but I saw Katarina knocking over some barrels of oil when she was running after him, okay? The sparks from that sword of hers that started the fire.

— Really? But she dropped it because she was chasing him... so technically it's his fault, right?

Darka just grumbled, giving up on the conversation. He didn't want to think about it too much, otherwise he would end up trying to "continue the game", solving the problems and clearing his name. But that would take him off the path to Amara, and honestly he was already getting impatient.

— Oh! Steam is coming out! — Miko pointed to the water in the tub, from which a subtle smoke was coming out. — I didn't know there was hot water!

It was only at that moment that Darka noticed the pleasant temperature of the water. When he looked, there was indeed a layer of steam coming out and the marks on his skin that were under the water glowed a very faint reddish hue.

"Damn, I'm a heater too?? I didn't know my passive magic did that.", he thought as he rubbed his arms.

— Yeah... actually, it got hot with the force of my indignation at taking a cold shower. — Darka joked, with a grain of truth. — If you want, I can warm it up for you later too.

— Oh, I would love to! The road to Caadis is long and a hot shower will give you plenty of energy for the journey.

— Wait, are you going to Caadis too? We can go together!

Darka got up from the bath excitedly, scaring Miko for a moment.

— Y... Yes, we can go, it would be an honor! But... — Miko lifted the towel towards Darka. — Better cover up before you catch a cold.

✰★✰★✰

The day dawned lazy, with heavy fog and cold air. Miko said it was a sign that the day would be sunny, and a few hours after leaving the station they were actually in the morning sun.

— Is this map you gave me really reliable? — Darka asked as he walked. — I don't remember everything being so far away.

— I bought this map from a cartographer in the capital, I'm sure he's trustworthy. Talphen is a few kilometers away, we can check other maps in the city if you want.

— Nah, I just really want to get to Caadis. But there's no harm in cutting corners there.

— It's a shame you don't want to go by train, it would be a very quick trip...

— It's just... I get very sick on trains. — In fact, Darka just didn't want to increase his chances of being recognized, since trains were always crowded.

— So by walking, I think we'll get there tomorrow afternoon, if we don't spend too much time in the city. But may I ask what you intend to do in Caadis, sir?

— I already told you not to call me sir! And actually I want to go to the village of Olsid. I need to find someone who lives there. Do you know mechanic Amara? He's about 5' 6" ft tall, has pink hair tied into a bun, has a cute smile and amber eyes.

— Sorry, I never heard of him. But I would love to meet him! Do you mind if I go to Olsid too?

— I don't mind, but don't you have other things to do? By the way... sorry to ask, but you don't work for anyone, do you?

— No, I just like traveling around! It's fun. Except the part where they don't let me sleep at the inns.

The two continued talking, without failing to notice how traveling together seemed to be much quicker. They soon arrived at the entrance to Talphen, the capital of the province of Oenith.

The first thing Darka noticed was the contrast of the urban landscape compared to the villages they passed through, and even though he had visited that city many times in his years of playing, seeing everything in person was like being there for the first time. A large amount of people walking from one side to the other, horses and carriages sharing space with steam-powered vehicles, buildings and constructions made of a mix of stone and metal, a noisy market with products from the four corners of the continent... everything so alive that Darka had to take a moment to compose himself, remembering to pull up his hood and put on his scarf mask.

Miko noticed their traveling companion's emotional reaction, but just as they was about to ask if he was feeling okay, a voice resounded above the others in the crowd. A guard officer on a horse called for everyone's attention and began reading a document in his hands.

— Attention, people of Talphen! As everyone knows, "The Unpronounceable" is terrorizing our kingdom in search of revenge for his mother!

The people who began to gather around him booed at the mention of Darka's title, who just watched from a safe distance. The officer continued:

— Unfortunately, his latest atrocity was the final straw. He kidnapped our precious princess!

The crowd sounded amazed at the news, many cursing "The Unpronounceable" for things that left Darka feeling uncomfortable. It was one thing for Katarina to call him pompous things, whereas a large group of people who wanted to lynch him was much more intimidating.

— Who the hell is this princess?? — Darka tried to hide his discomfort by crossing his arms. — I didn't even know there was a princess here! Has this become Super Mario? And why am I Bowser?

— That said, gentlemen, the governor declares that there will be a generous reward for whoever brings Lady Daena back safely!

Darka stopped.

— Daena...?!