Leo led us to an abandoned fisherman's hut. The place was black because the windows were closed off with wooden with planks. Dust and cobwebs were everywhere, making the atmosphere unpleasant. Old, broken fishing traps and equipment were lying around and I had to watch my every step.

"Dona mihi ignis," I called forth fire to lighten up the place.

The walls made of dirty, rough planks were surprisingly sturdy, and no water leaked into the hut. Leo picked a place of a creepy atmosphere, but I guess it was the best we could find as an immediate shelter.

The first thing Akios did when we entered the hut was drying off his clothes with magic. After seeing him, I also dried off my and Leo's clothes by magic.

"Mistress, Akios, did you get the cooperation of the water spirit?" Leo asked us.

"Does our current situation look like we did?" Akios sarcastically remarked.

"I found you stranded on the beach in the middle of the storm, but I can't believe that the water spirit wouldn't help our cause," Leo said.

"That just happened," Akios said angrily.

"It happened because you were too aggressive Akios, maybe if we try to ask it again politely..."I proposed.

"No!" Akios cut my words off."I won't ask it for help again."

"Why not?" I asked.

"You were there when it insulted us," Akios explained."We can't expect anything from such a self-centered spirit."

"But you aren't a behavior role model either," I said, trying to make a compromise.

"That's different. To you, I'm different," he said.

"Why?"I asked without having the slightest idea what Akios meant.

"I am your teacher. You have to put up with me, Calytrix, but you don't need to put up with the bad behavior of others," Akios said.

"Right," I said, unconvinced, wanting to avoid a fight. "How will we close the black holes without the help of elemental spirits?" I asked.

"We need three spirits, so instead of the water spirit, we'll have to use the fire spirit. I'll force it out of its hiding place," Akios said that as he strangely glared at me and Leo.

"The fire spirit!" I said excitedly.

The moment I've been waiting for so long will finally happen. I'll finally meet the fire spirit. The storm no longer bothered me, and I wanted to act quickly."Let's get going and find it," I said as I walked towards the door.

"Stop right there Calytrix," Akios stopped me just a second before I walked through the door."Before we do anything I need to consult master Andrezey."

My disappointment at the delay in searching for the spirit caused me to slump my shoulders."Have some fun with your zombie until I return," Akios told me with a slightly evil smile.

"You'll track my location via the contract sign again?" I asked, feeling a bit bothered by how he could easily find me wherever I was.

"Yes." Those were Akios's last words before he teleported.

When the rain finally stopped, Leo and I went outside the hut. Everything around us was wet and muddy. The earth near the ocean wasn't brown or black, the colors I've grown accustomed to seeing my whole life. It was red, and we walked on a strange path of muddy red. That kind of earth was highly fertile, but to me, it simply looked like something out of the place.

I was feeling lost since I didn't know where to go or what to do next, so I just walked forward in the opposite direction of the ocean, without thinking too much.

"Mistress, your eyes are still red. Are you okay?" Leo asked me worriedly as he deeply looked at my eyes.

"It's fine."I averted my gaze."Just give it time and the redness will disappear on its own."

"But it's been a few hours since you got out of the ocean," Leo said.

"My eyes are very sensitive. It will take some time for them to heal on their own," I said.

"Why don't you heal yourself?" Leo, asked.

"I'm saving up my magic, because I don't know what could happen next," I said something Akios would say, but that didn't mean that I wanted to be or end up being a person like him.

Maybe he'll actually save the world, but he's still fishy. Why do I feel something odd about him? It wasn't just connected with him coming from another world. I think he's hiding something else that could be important.

"I'm sure you'll be better after you eat something," Leo's words brought me back from my daydreaming."I'm also feeling hungry."

I wasn't feeling hungry at all and I had more pressing matters to think about. Every time I asked Leo about the bloodstains on his clothes, he didn't want to give me a straightforward answer. He gave me all kinds of answers that explained nothing. It was completely obvious that he wanted to avoid talking about it, but I'll need to find sooner or later.

"I'm not hungry. Let's just keep going," I said as I walked forward.

I wasn't sure where I was going, but I pressed on because that was better than standing in one place doing nothing.

"Mistress, you might change your mind when you see what I can hunt," Leo said and ran in front of me.

"Leo, stop," I said as I stretched my right hand towards him, but he was already far away.

I didn't feel like running after him because I'd be completely muddy. The water spirit gave us a terrible storm, and the aftermath was lots of mud. After the unpleasant encounter, I doubt that the spirit would give us another chance. Akios completely gave up on getting help from it and immediately turned his attention to the fire spirit. I hope our encounter with the fire spirit would be much better, but a sudden fear struck me that the fire spirit wouldn't want to see me. I called it many times, but it never came to see me.

Leo pulled me out of my thoughts."Mistress!" He was holding a dead chicken in his hands.

"What's that? A dead chicken?" I said, feeling slightly disturbed.

"Yes. It's still fresh," Leo said, like he was trying to convince me of something.

"Put it back where you found it," I instructed him.

"No," Leo said shortly and then snapped the chicken's neck while dividing its head from its body. Blood sprouted, and I avoided my gaze.

"Leo, no! Don't do it," I said it too late.

He got close to me with it and I walked a few steps back.

"Mistress, you're acting really weird," Leo said."I'll eat it alone if you don't want it."

I averted my gaze once again and heard strange crunching sounds. Once Leo was done, he grabbed my shoulder with both of his hands and begged me, "Mistress, please look at me. I have done nothing bad."

I felt forced to look at Leo. His face looked like he was crying, but he kept repeating how he did nothing wrong. It was like he wasn't just trying to convince me, but also himself. His eyes were dead as always, but there was still something human about him.

His clothes got new blood spots from the chicken. I hoped that the older stains were the same and not from something else, but I didn't dare to ask anymore and Leo stayed silent. We walked forward in an unknown direction.

"I'm still hungry," Leo broke the silence.

"Leo..." I was at a loss for words and didn't know what to say except his name.

"Earlier I took a bite there." Leo pointed his index finger to the left and hurried there before me.

I had a terrible feeling about it. Even so, I slowly retraced his footsteps.

Leo headed towards a big cemetery with countless headstones. Beneath them lay down the remains of countless loved ones. The gray stones accompanied with green grass beneath and occasional fresh flowers spread as far as the eye could see. Some headstones displayed short poems for the deceased, a testament to their loved ones' deep affection.

I wasn't familiar with the death of a loved one because my parents were alive and my grandparents died before I was born. Imagining it happening to my parents, friends, or the people I knew was terrible, and I didn't want to think about it. I was lucky that I didn't have to go to that kind of grief yet, but thinking about death made me feel uneasy. It was a strange feeling that would take me over and didn't give me peace.

The spirits were supposed to take care of things and the souls were supposed to find their right place, but there was no way to confirm what actually happened and how it felt. To avoid witnessing anyone's death in Leo's mansion, I wanted everyone to survive without thinking about the cost.

"Leo!" I called out, but there was no answer.

I rushed among the headstones because I wanted to find him as soon as possible and get out of here. There was none I had to pay my respects and hanging around a random cemetery was too awkward.

"Mistress!" I heard his voice from the faraway left side.

From the distance, I spotted Leo standing at a place where there were no more headstones. There was a medium-sized altar for worshiping spirits. Sometimes people would use such places to pray to the dominant spirits, the elemental spirits to guide the spirits of their loved ones, which became lesser spirits in the place where they belonged to. Its effectiveness remained unconfirmed. We simply didn't know, because spirits would rarely talk to us humans and even when they did, they never answered all the questions one would want to ask them.

The altar was well maintained: someone kept the flames burning brightly; the water flowing circularly around it, and the air uniquely charged; special plants flourished in the center's fresh soil. An altar that was taken care of like this one was a rare sight, at last back in my village.

As I ran towards the altar, I noticed of another human. Leo and I weren't the only ones there. An unconscious, pale man lay down near the altar. His head was shaved on one side; the other side had medium-length brown hair. It was the sign of an old warrior tribe that used to live near the western ocean. I read a few books about the tribe. Blood completely soaked his clothes, and he suffered some terrible gaping wounds.

"This is it," Leo said.

"What is it?" I said, barely focusing on Leo because I focused on the man in distress.

"Food," Leo answered in one sentence.

"I don't see any food here. Let me focus on healing this man," I requested.

Leo was silent, and I focused on my incantation. BA strong healing spell was necessary because the man was badly injured."Spirituum dona mihi virtute sanitatem."

I chanted the spell as I completely focused on healing the wounds. Leo said something to me, but if I were to focus on anything else, the spell would fail, so I had to ignore him.

The man quickly regained consciousness after my spell and started talking while still being in a laying down position, "My wounds don't hurt anymore, but I am not dead, right?" He looked all around him. "A witch and a zombie."

"What happened to you?" I went straight to the point.

"The enemy gave me a deathly wound, so I crawled to the resting place of my ancestors, where this zombie found me and started eating me," he said as he changed his position to sitting.

I was at the shock about what Leo did and I couldn't respond. For a minute I was standing there without moving, trying to explain to myself who would Leo do such a thing.

"Mistress. This man would make a good meal," Leo said.

Leo's words shocked me again, and I was still at a loss for words.

"You're the zombie's master! Wipe off that disgusted look you're doing. I know it's just for show. There's no point in lying, witch," the man said in a threatening tone.

"I am not pretending!" I tried to justify myself.

"I won't let you defile the resting place of my ancestors," the man said and reached for a knife hidden in the pocket of his pants.

He firmly grasped the knife and directed it toward me.

"Mistress! Don't you dare to touch her!" Leo shouted.

The man threw the knife at me, but I deflected it back at him, narrowly missing his face by millimeters. I noticed how he had prepared another knife in his other hand, but it also got knocked out of his hands by strong air magic.

"Are you stupid, Calytrix? Why are you just standing there and making an easy target of yourself?" Akios appeared very displeased and in a lecturing mode.

"I-I am sorry..." He was right, and I didn't know what better to say instead of a simple apology.

"I leave you for a minute and you find yourself in such a pointless mess," Akios said with a highly judgmental look in his eyes.

"It's been way over a minute," I said."...but thank you for helping me."

"If something were to happen to you, I'd have nobody to extract magic from," Akios said and turned his attention to the altar.

I didn't want to engage in further conversation and also focused on the empty worshiping altar. The man used the chance when I and Akios talked to each other to run away. My healing spell worked perfectly, and that man was likely fully healed.

"That man, the food is running away. What do we do, mistress? Should I chase after him?" Leo said in a hurry.

"No, Leo. Please, stop," I said, sure that he wouldn't listen to me.

As I expected, Leo walked towards the direction where the man ran off to.

"Prohibere et rigescunt indutae motus!"I paralyzed all of Leo's movements and actions except speech.

"Why are you disobeying everything I say lately, Leo? Why are you acting so strange and crazy?" It was high time we discussed things.

"I don't want to do it, but..." Leo didn't finish the sentence and stayed silent.

"He is a zombie that was denying his instincts for too long and now they're out in the open," Akios explained.

"But zombies don't need to eat," I immediately said.

"That's true, but they are a form of existence on the borderline of life and death. They aren't part of the living anymore, but they aren't truly accepted into the ranks of the dead yet." It was the first time that Akios properly explained something. "Because living is more familiar than death, and because they are compelled to stay in the world of the living, they naturally envy the living and long to be truly alive again."

"I'm still don't know why would that mean treating those alive as food," I said with a sad, downcast look.

"Eating is one of the natural instincts of humans, and zombies tend to mimic humans. You must have seen Leo pretending that he's breathing," Akios said.

"I did see it but I didn't think of it... Leo couldn't possibly breathe, it was all a pretense of a living human. " I clasped my hands realizing the truth.

"Zombies feel an intense thirst for humans that transforms into a physical carve for human flesh," Akios finished his explanation."Isn't that right, Leo?"

Leo was silent for a few moments until he spoke, "Mistress, I don't-didn't want to hurt anybody."

Leo looked like he was actually sorry and I felt terrible about him, but I couldn't let this situation continue.

"You've been starving Leo all this time, denying him the right to eat what he needed. No matter how obedient a slave is, if you deny one of its basic functions, it won't listen to you." Akios stated.

"Leo, is this true? Do you feel what Akios just talked about?" I asked.

"Yes," Leo said, simply avoiding his gaze.

"Calytrix, you're really not suited to be a zombie's mistress. Denying a zombie its right to eat is like denying a human to breathe. You can't deny its elemental carvings," Akios said. "And it's especially hard on Leo, since it conflicts with your morals. You've been guilt-tripping him for having its primal instincts he could never even hope to avoid."

"Leo never told me anything about this desire," I said, feeling unsure of my closeness with Leo.

"He could guess you'd hate the idea just by looking at you, Calytrix. You're easy to read, just like a book. People with strong morals are boring, but you tend to be fun in an odd way," Akios said with a smile.

"Is that a compliment?" I said, unamused.

"I personally wouldn't care too much what my zombie ate," Akios said with disinterest.

"You're trying to save the world, but at the same time, you act like you don't hold people in high regard," I said.

"Those are two different things!" Akios said with a stern look. "A normal human should be able to fend off a single zombie. If he or she can't do it, then it's their own fault. If a group of humans gathers against a zombie, it would have a very bad time. Casualties by a zombie would be in tiny numbers."

"Even if they injure a zombie, it will regenerate eventually; however, a well-organized group of humans will defeat it every time it attacks," I stated.

"Now, you're getting it. Don't you see? A zombie can't make much damage," Akios was pleased how he explained everything.

"Leo, how do you feel? Do you want to hurt humans?" I asked.

"I don't want to, but the desire is too strong... mistress, please let me eat," Leo said with a crying face.

I didn't want to hurt others, and I didn't want to hurt Leo. I was in a terrible situation in which either way I'd lose.

"What about Leo's soul? It's close to him? How does the soul react to a situation like this?" I asked.

Having a soul was the most important thing about being human. Zombies also had souls, but they weren't in their bodies anymore. They separated, but couldn't go to the realm of the lesser spirits until the body takes its last rest.

"A zombie's soul? Who cares?" Akios said with complete disinterest.

"I care!" I shouted.

Akios put his left hand on his head and moved his head in a disproving way.

"I already told you to treat zombies like tools. Leo isn't a friend, he is just a thing," Akios said.

"No! I can't agree with you," I said as I glared at this person in front of me, who treats others horribly yet claims he wants to save my world and acts to help it.

I sat down on the soft grass in front of Leo, closed my eyes and focused on concentrating my magic.

"Mistress, what are you doing?" Leo curiously asked me.

"Calytrix?" Akios also got curious.

Their questions didn't break my concentration. I slowly opened my eyes, still focusing on the potent spell I had in my mind.

"I need to check how Leo's soul feels. Is it conveying sadness or some other emotion?" I answered.

"Whatever, just do it quick. We don't have all the time in the world," Akios said with an annoyed look on his face.

"Mistress, tell me what you find out," Leo said.

"Of course," I said, as I looked at Leo.

I closed my eyes again and started chanting, "Spirituum dona mihi unam animam de potestae intueeri!"

The spell slowly worked, and I completely focused on it as I ignored everything else around me. It was a powerful spell that would drain a lot of my energy and could easily fail if I get distracted. I won't be able to take a direct look at Leo's soul, but at least I'll be able to sense the main emotions his soul is emitting.

Sadness... heartbreaking sadness... tears flowed from my eyes too, because I strongly felt the sadness Leo's soul had in it.

"Your souls doesn't want to hurt others either, but your body can't listen to it," I said to Leo as my tears were overflowing.

At that moment, I decided I couldn't keep this up. It was time to put Leo to rest and free his soul. The dreadful sadness it gave off would continue during the entire zombie's lifespan. The part of my journey with Leo needs to end.

"Akois, teleport us back to Leo's mansion," I requested. The place where it started should also be the place where it ends. We will hold the final rest and goodbye there."Calytrix, you're making such a big deal out of this, out of nothing. I don't get it why you're acting so stubborn," Akios said and sighted.

"I'll owe you a favor," I said.

"Two favors," Akios negotiated. "After this, we need to get serious and focus only on closing the black holes."

I nodded and Akios started teleportation back to the place where I first met him and Leo.