Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 66

"Who does he think he is?" Awesome Dude made a face. "That guy's just a bully!"

Severance shrugged. That had been his first impression, too. But now he wasn't so sure. "Don't worry about it. It's fine."

"Nuh-uh! It's not fine. Sev, you're just too nice! You can't let these people bully you!"

Severance sighed. "He had a point, Dude. There was a plan, and I decided to kill a player instead of following it."

Most of the players were wandering off now that their entertainment had ended, but a few still lingered, strange expressions on their faces. Severance decided he didn't want to know what their issues were, so he began walking towards a quieter section of Ascendance.

Awesome Dude scowled, but followed. "What'd this player do to make you so mad, anyway?"

Severance's jaw tightened. He walked faster, forcing Awesome Dude to all but trot just to keep up. The town was crowded today, and maybe it was his imagination, but it seemed like more than a few were looking at him.

"Sev?"

He didn't really want to talk about it, but Awesome Dude was like a dog with a bone. He wasn't about to let it go. "C'mon, Sev. If she's a bad person, tell me so I can watch out for her too."

It wasn't often Awesome Dude came up with a good point. With a heavy sigh, Severance gave in. "She killed one of my clan members. Permanently."

"Oh." Awesome Dude blinked. "That's uh, that's not good?"

The Shade didn't understand. Severance hadn't really expected him to, but he still felt disappointed. To Awesome Dude, the people of Eliona were merely NPCs. They were just game data. If something wasn't real, did its death even matter?

But they are real. They are alive.

Severance knew he was probably the only player in all of Eliona who knew the truth. It wasn't like he could tell anyone either, and without that knowledge, the clans would live and fight and die all merely for the players' entertainment.

"Never mind," he muttered.

"But—" Awesome Dude's eyes widened. "Dude! There's—!"

A hand lightly grasped Severance's shoulder at the same time a velvety voice cooed, "Severance, darling."

The hand tugged lightly, making him turn towards the speaker. Having recognized the voice, Severance didn't try to shrug off the hand, knowing it would do no good. It was only Nedra, and though she'd wrapped the lower half of her face with a black scarf, he knew she was smiling. Her ebony eyes twinkled as she looked him up and down, before settling on his face.

He suppressed a shiver. It felt like she was dissecting him. Little creases formed in the corners of her eyes as her smile deepened.

"You've been busy," she purred, and she reached up and lightly ran a finger across his cheek. It came away red.

Severance flinched. He tried to hide it behind a frown. "You saw?"

"I did." She sounded disturbingly delighted about it, too. "Beautifully done, darling."

It felt strange getting complimented on what he'd done. He felt like he had to explain himself, because he wasn't someone who just went around slaughtering people for no reason.

"She was one of Rasin's killers."

Nedra stilled. "Oh?"

"Yeah."

And then her eyes narrowed into dark crescents, something vicious and gleeful sparking within their depths. "Good."

She placed a hand on his chest. He couldn't really feel it through the leather, but watched in uneasy silence as she dragged light fingertips up until they reached the hollow of his throat. He held very still, confused and increasingly uncomfortable.