Astraea opens her eyes, finding herself lying in a dark room. With a grimace, she sits up and allows her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. She whispers to herself, “This is…”

  Pushing her hand against the wall, she awkwardly forces herself to her feet, but she immediately falls back down. Ten minutes pass as she struggles to get up before she decides to simply wait for her body to recover.

  After a while, she hears slow footsteps and the sound of something being slid along the ground outside the room. She holds her breath and remains still as the door opens. Light enters the room, allowing her to see ?elare, who is dragging an unconscious man behind him.

  His eyes widen as he looks down at Astraea, and he speaks.

  “You're awake! Here, absorb this man’s life energy.”

  He brings the body to her and steps back, observing as she places an unsteady hand on it. The man shrivels up over half a second.

  The blond covers his mouth with his hand and gags, but continues watching as Astraea's wound-marred body is repaired, with new flesh growing over the exposed ligaments and bones.

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  “Thank you,” she says with a quiet voice, and he helps her stand and sit on a nearby wooden chair.

  The healer takes a deep breath.

  “I ask that you would explain to me the situation.”

  Nodding, the mage says, “Dolus is dead. I… killed him.”

  He swallows and glances at his shaking hand before continuing, “You were right about the mind-control thing, but I used the favour from the Elementals to clear it, then I snuck away from Novus and used his weird door thing to travel here.”

  “What of the others?”

  ?elare averts his gaze.

  “They’re still under his control. I'm sorry, my mind wasn't clear enough to think to free all-”

  “Stop. I understand.”

  The boy clenches his fist and opens his mouth to speak again, but Astraea stands up and wraps her arms around him and he stops.

  “Do not worry. We shall make it through this together.”

  He swallows audibly and hesitantly reciprocates her embrace for a few silent minutes until she lets go and steps back.

  ?elare smiles despite the obvious concern on his face and says, “You're right. We need a plan, though. How are we going to free Hunter and Vis?”

  The healer closes her eyes and hums a note, visibly thinking.

  “We must do something that Novus, with what seems to be limited precognition, cannot predict.”

  “What like?”

  She looks at the blond for a few moments.

  “You and I must make a deal with a Unique Monster.”