Thirstfall - Memory of a Returnee

Without an answer for Rhayne, I turn to Boris.

"You need to run to the tower, kid. Or give her our potion."

"I’m not turning her into a zombie."

"Then you need to find the solution fast." Boris nods toward the tower on the horizon, the twisted coral helix still pulsing against the false sky. "That’s the clock."

"Damn it..."

I drop to one knee in front of her and touch her chin, lifting her face so I can see her eyes.

They find mine immediately.

Gray. Close. Our faces a few inches apart. For a second neither of us moves. If this were any other place, any other two people, I’d call this something it isn’t.

I feel her breath against my wrist.

"I’m fine... now..."

Her voice is still thin, but her breathing has evened out a little bit.

No. Not that. I’m checking vitals.

I force my eyes down a fraction, off her gaze, onto her pupils instead. Unfocused. Tired. A little wider than they should be. I push the strap of her vest aside and look at the shoulder again.

A small hand moves into my field of view from below.

Lola presses a brightly colored bandage onto Rhayne’s shoulder, right where the tattoo is fading. It’s one of the kid-sized ones she keeps in a pocket I didn’t know she had—bright blue with little yellow stars on it. She smooths it with her thumb twice, like she’s patting a dog.

"There. Doesn’t hurt anymore, pillow."

Her face is completely serious. She looks like she just solved a difficult engineering problem.

Rhayne pushes a small smile onto her face for Lola. "Thank you..."

I don’t laugh. But something loosens in my chest for the first time since I heard the ship horn.

Boris moves us along with a thump of his palm on his knee.

"Kid, I think Elisser finished your gear. She’s been working non-stop since the day you left. Five days without sleep. Grab the stuff and move."

"Take me to her."

Boris whistles for a guard nearby. The man drops what he’s doing and jogs over, snapping the one-armed salute of Lost Ark—fist across the chest, no flourish.

"Fetch Elisser. Tell her Dryden’s back. He wants his items."

The guard takes off at a full sprint across the plaza.

Something I notice: Boris didn’t word the request as a request. He worded it as Elisser wants to see him. He already knows.

Five minutes later, I see her coming.

She’s about thirty feet out when she starts on me.

"Oh, for crying out loud! You idiot boy, how could you leave an old woman worrying like that?!"

Her cane is sinking into the sand with every step. She doesn’t seem to care. The cane is a weapon of narrative emphasis, not a walking aid today.

I try.

"We had problems. My squad—"

She pulls up alongside me and cracks the cane sharp against my shin.

"Ow—"

"Your father would be furious with this level of irresponsibility! Dying without ever testing my work! Absurd!"

"So even you knew my father? What was he, some kind of politician?"

I rub my shin. She ignores the joke and ignores my shin.

"Don’t waste my time. Here."

She opens her inventory with a flick of her fingers and draws out the first item. A long wrapped bundle. Her eyes lock onto my face as she unwraps it—hungry, waiting for me to read the stats and react the way she wants me to react.

The bundle opens.

[Name: Black Sea Embrace]

[Rank: B — Tide]

[Type: Battle Ribbon]

[Durability: 100/??]

[LORE]:You are not fighting a warrior; you are struggling against the gravity of the inevitable. A Monarch does not need to strike to conquer. She only needs to remind you that you are already drowning in a place with no water. Stop reaching for the surface. In this court, the silence is mandatory.

[Sovereign’s Debt]:Every time the ribbon touches an enemy, it imposes a "Debt of Existence." The target feels the physical weight of the Void, reducing their attack and movement speed for a duration. Stacks.

[Void Dancer]:If the wielder keeps the tip of the ribbon alive without letting it die for ten continuous seconds of handling, the weapon amplifies its cutting power and enchants enemies in range. Requires a Charisma check.

[Hidden Effect]:The wielder can channel their touch-based powers through the ribbon to restore its durability and increase its attack power.

I read it twice.

"Can you see it?" Elisser asks, a mischievous grin opening up across her face.

"You got the item to channel Rhayne’s power. And you boosted the battle output through the dance."

Elisser puts a hand to her chest and sighs, pleased, almost girlish for a flash of a second.

"Oliver walked me through it. He told me what this young lady can do."

She winks at me.

I turn to Rhayne and hold the ribbon out.

"Fight beside me from now on."

Rhayne’s cheeks pink up. She reaches for the item with both hands, and her fingers are still faintly trembling as they take hold of it. For a moment she just looks at it—the ribbon appears to be black silk, fastened to a purple-metal handle that curves slightly at the grip, adorned with tiny engraved lines that catch the pyre light.

Then she unrolls it.

The ribbon falls toward the ground in a long smooth arc—and the instant it hits the stone floor, it makes a clang. Metallic. Clear. Not the whisper of silk.

Rhayne blinks. She pinches the ribbon between her fingertips and feels it properly for the first time.

Maleable alloy. Sharp at the edge. A Thirstfall alloy that bends like cloth and cuts like a razor.

She rolls it back into a perfect coil with a care that surprises me—like she already knows how to handle it—and stores it in her inventory.

I’m going to get you to the peak you reached in the last life,without you having to walk through everything you walked through. Without the ending you chose for yourself.

"Now, young man." Elisser’s voice pulls me back. "Your armor set."

"Yes. How did it turn out?"

"Before I show it to you, I need to tell you something."

"Sure. What?"

She looks me in the eye. No mischief this time. No theater. Her stare is flat and steady, and there’s weight behind it—she finished something whose cost she doesn’t fully understand.

"Are you willing to sign a blood contract?"

My heart skips a beat.

What the hell did she do?