Eusebius the Madi came back within five minutes.

He had a hole in his chest, right below the sternum. He staggered into the shelter, then collapsed with a rough grunt. He lay still. When Severance leaned over him, he saw that man was unconscious, and most definitely dying.

Severance gritted his teeth, pushing aside the brief flash of panic—what on earth had done this?—and set about healing the bearded Fang. Bone fragments were pushed out of the wound as the flesh healed, and Severance could only hope that none were left inside.

He sank back on his heels after casting five Mend's back-to-back. At a 20%hp restoration per Mend, Eusebius would have been healed completely after that. And sure enough, Eusebius' eyes were already open. He turned his head, gave Severance a crooked smile, then sat up.

"Well," he said, "that didn't go very well."

"Hm." Lothaire frowned. His gaze went to Aeneas, who was already standing. The two exchanged a brief nod and then Aeneas left.

Curiosity and dread ate at Severance. He was next, he knew. And seeing how two of the Fang came back...

"What happened?" he asked Eusebius. "How did you get that injury?"

"Heh."

That was the only response Severance got. It was as annoying as it was useless. He nearly ground his teeth, trying to ignore the way his heart skittered against his ribcage.

"Is there a reason you're not telling me anything?"

Eusebius tilted his head, looking at Severance through one eye. "Yes, cibel. Because what we could tell you won't make a difference."

With that, the wildman stoked the fire, encouraging the flames to liven up. Severance had no choice but to sit in frustrated silence.

Lothaire didn't move the entire time. He simply gazed into the fire like it was the most fascinating thing in the world, not even twitching when Aeneas came staggering back.

Like the others, Aeneas was a bloody mess, but most of it came from his arms. The fur sleeves had been ripped apart, allowing everyone to see the arms were horrifically broken with bone piercing out of his flesh. Severance took one look and felt sick. What made it worse was the fact that Aeneas didn't seem to show any signs of pain. He simply plopped down by the fire, his useless, wrecked arms resting limply in his lamp.

Severance took a moment to mentally brace himself. It wasn't the first time he'd seen such injuries, but it was still a bit of a shock to see. He crouched beside the wounded Fang.

"It'll be easier if we push the bone back in first."

"Oh?" Eusebius tilted his head. "Doesn't your Outsider skills fix anything?"

"Almost. But in this case, it'll ah, hurt less if the bone is close to where it should be. Otherwise, it'll forcefully drag itself through skin and muscle that's in the process of healing." Severance met Eusebius' eyes, a little annoyed. "If you don't want him to suffer more than necessary, then feel free to help."

Lothaire shifted for the first time, his gaze shifting from the fire to Eusebius. He nodded curtly.

With a quiet grunt, Eusebius got up and came over. With his help, Severance managed to force the bones back into the relatively correct position. Aeneas didn't move or utter a single sound, but his face went a few shades paler.

Severance winced internally. He knew exactly how it felt. The good news was that it would be over very quickly. He put up a Radiant Dome and cast Mend. Within a few minutes, Aeneas was good as new.

Eusebius shuffled back to his original position, and Aeneas gifted Severance with an unreadable look. An awkward silence settled over the shelter.

It was obvious that it was Severance's turn to go outside. He stood, hiding his uneasiness. If he could withstand a Knight's full-out assault, then surely he could survive whatever was out there.

"Which way do I go?" he asked quietly.

"Left," Eusebius answered. "Thirty steps or so. Look for the stone pillar."

"And then?"

Eusebius grinned. "Try not to die. But if you do, don't worry. We'll come find you tomorrow and we'll try again."

What was this? Severance had a strange feeling in his stomach. Something about this whole situation felt wrong. And it wasn't just the Fang's complete disregard to brutal injuries or death.

He narrowed his eyes a little, but said nothing. It seemed he'd have to find out for himself what was going on.

He stepped outside and turned left. Then he started walking.

Vast immediately joined him, and Severance felt inexplicably grateful. If there was danger, then the beast would alert him to it.

The icy fog swallowed them up, and soon, Severance could barely see his own feet. It reminded him of the strange skill that he'd been trapped in earlier, where the fog was thick and disorienting and the heaving ground was full of treacherous magma traps. Only this time, the ground wasn't heaving and there was no magma.

What traps did this fog hold, then?

A dark shape loomed before him, tall and narrow. The pillar. Severance approached, wondering what he was supposed to do now. There was nothing but silence and fog here.

He shivered, rubbing his mitts together to try and generate some warmth. Now that he was away from the campfire, the cold started seeping in again. He brushed his mitts across the pillar's surface, rubbing off some of the ice crystals. They fell in a shimmering flurry, little sparkles glittering in a gray world.

Then he heard the quiet crunch of a footstep behind him.

Severance whirled, only to see a slender figure step out of the surrounding fog. It was a boy about twelve years old, and he was slender with curly red hair and freckles covering his pale cheeks. He wore a baggy T shirt and gym shorts. The bitter cold didn't appear to bother him in the slightest.

The boy looked up at Severance, and smiled.

"Hey, Seth. Do you want to hang out with us?"

Severance didn't move. His mouth went dry. This boy. He knew this boy. It was the only 'friend' he'd had in middle school. The only kid who actually tried to talk to him.

"How are you here?" Severance asked, his voice a little strained.

This was impossible. Not only would humans not be able to survive dressed in so lightly in this horrible place, but this boy was from Severance's—no, Seth's—past. He should not exist!

The boy tilted his head. "What do you mean? I just came over to ask if you wanted to sit with us."

Us?

Severance lifted his gaze and saw several dark figures in the fog. He couldn't make them out, but it was easy to tell it was a small group of children. Sitting at the tables against the back wall of the cafeteria, watching and waiting to see if their red-headed friend could convince him to join them.

There was a horrible twist in Severance's stomach. This was just like...

The fog swirled around him, briefly blinding him, and then it cleared away. Severance sat in the cafeteria, a tray of food before him on the table. His new friends sat with him, chattering loudly over his head. The redheaded boy sat beside him, grinning.

Gabe. That was the boy's name.

Severance clenched his jaw. This was... this was impossible. Wasn't he in the ruins in Eliona? How did he get back here? Yet the more he looked around in confusion, the more real the moment got. Especially when Gabe's group of friends all turned to him, grinning.

"Hey, wanna do something really fun?"

No, Severance thought. Not again. He couldn't do this again.

His gaze flew to the table across the room, where a girl shamelessly watched with her own circle of friends. She caught him looking at her, and she covered her mouth as if to hide her giggles. She abruptly turned away, said something to her friends, and the whole table around her erupted in giggles.

He swallowed, finding himself pulled back into the old bog of dread. If she was having a good time, then he knew he soon would not. Even back then, when he was naïve and foolish, instinct had told him she had something to with this.

"No," Severance said. "No, I don't–"

Gabe slapped his back, cutting off the rest of Severance's protest. "Come on, don't be a flake. It'll be fun, I promise. I wouldn't lie to you. We're friends, right?"

Friends! Severance shook his head. What a farce! He knew better now, but even though he wanted to get up and walk away before it all went to hell, his body was rooted to the chair. Even though he knew this couldn't be happening, the cafeteria still closed in around him, as real as it had been in the past.

He gritted his teeth, and then the scene changed. Just like last time, he found himself standing in front of a soccer net, with a group of boys lined up before him. They wanted to play a quick game before recess ended.

Come on, it'll be fun!
It's okay if you don't know how. We'll teach you!
Just stand there, okay?
All you have to do is stop the ball. Just like a real goalie!
Haha, and if you do good, maybe you'll get on the team!

And Severance—no, Seth—had foolishly agreed because for once, he was being included in something. He should have known better when Carly and her friends turned up on the sidelines to watch.

"Stop this," Severance hissed, clenching his fists. This wasn't real. It was just a memory from the past.

But even though he closed his eyes and willed the stupid memory to go away, things proceeded exactly as he remembered.

Gabe took the first shot, kicking the soccer ball straight into Seth's gut. Seth doubled over, and with him, Severance. It was every bit as painful as he remembered. He groaned.

The next ball bounced off his head, making a dull thud as it hit his skull. The boys laughed hysterically. One of them ran to retrieve the ball before it could roll too far, and he lightly kicked the ball over to the next boy. They kept taking their shots, again and again, aiming for Seth with impressive accuracy.

Severance wanted to dodge, to run, to grab the ball and huck it back at them. As Severance, it was something he could have easily done. He had the agility to evade such simple things for days.

But Seth just curled up in a ball, arms over his head. The balls smacked into him with bruising force over and over again, before the bell rang, signalling the end of recess.

Gabe and the boys ran off giggling, leaving Seth alone in the grass. He didn't move until a teacher found him and hauled him back. Severance watched, feeling angry and helpless. Even though that was nearly six years ago, he still felt the hurt and betrayal as if it were fresh.

He'd truly believed Gabe was trying to be his friend. But he should have known that Carly would have gotten to Gabe first.

Really, he should have known better back then, but–

I was stupid.

Severance ground his teeth. The pain of fresh bruises blossomed all over his body, as real as anything else. It wasn't much to him, but to Seth, it was crippling. Seth had barely been able to get out of bed the next morning.

The fog returned, enveloping him in a frigid embrace that only enhanced the sharp pain of his bruises. Severance was vaguely aware of a flashing health bar, but he was more focused on a second figure approaching out of the fog.

It was a slender girl, just starting to ascend into the ranks of womanhood. While it was an awkward stage for most girls, she wore it a maturity and grace far beyond her level. She practically stalked towards him, her lips curling into that smile that wasn't quite a smile.

"Oh my," she cooed when she approached him. "That looks like it hurts, dear brother."

Severance stared down her, tension filling every line of his body. She was small now, only twelve or thirteen. Yet not a single thing had changed about her. She was the same little monster.

"You told them to do that," Severance growled. Back then, he'd only suspected. But now, he knew better. Her manipulations always had gone before him.

"So what if I did?" Carly stepped closer to him, so that there was only a couple of feet of space between them. As if it were perfectly normal, she tilted her chin up so she could look up at him. As Severance, he positively towered over her.

He ground his teeth. "You aren't real. You're not even here."

"Aren't I?"

She smiled beatifically, like she was in a pageant and had just been crowned Queen. She lifted a hand and lightly dragged her fingers across the furs covering his abdomen. Her eyes flashed. And then her fingers dove inward, piercing fur and skin and flesh like it was nothing but air.

Severance let out a choked gasp and doubled over. Only the fact that he was very used to pain let him keep standing. He lifted his head, saw her withdraw one bloody hand. She grinned, fierce and smug, and licked one of her crimson fingers.

"Mm. Your fear is always such a delicacy, Seth."

He stared at her in mute horror.

With a soft giggle, she lowered her hand, letting his blood drip from her fingers. "You can fight it all you want, dear brother. But you'll always be the same cowardly boy who cries himself to sleep every night."

"No," he gasped, clutching at his stomach.

"Oh yes. Now go on. I'll be waiting here for you, so do come visit again."

With a flash of perfect white teeth, she stepped back and melted into the fog. Severance collapsed to his knees. He had the presence of mind to heal himself, but he still knelt on the ground, trembling. All the old despair and dread came rocketing back, all too eager to welcome him into their familiar arms.

He growled and punched the ground. He barely even felt the pain of it. What the heck was this? Why did she have to be here?

A low whine alerted him to Vast, who stood beside him like he'd been there all this time. The vastlhidan looked agitated, his tail lashing side to side.

Severance reached out and grabbed the beast's silver head with slightly shaky hands. "Vast! Where were you? Where did you go?"

Vast lurched forward and dragged his tongue over the strip Severance's face that was bare. Severance jerked his head away as the slobber began to freeze on his skin. He adjusted his scarf and stood, feeling a little unsteady and a lot confused.

There was something seriously wrong with this place.

"Let's go back," he muttered. With a soft huff, Vast led the way, stopping every few steps to make sure Severance hadn't gotten lost.

Not even a minute later, the stone shelter appeared, a warm yellow glow emanating from the fire within. Severance wordlessly stepped inside, his gaze falling to the fire. It somehow didn't feel as warm and inviting as it had before.

"Ah, you survived." Eusebius the Madi greeted him cheerfully.

Severance's lavender eyes shifted to him. For a moment, he said nothing, simply looming in the doorway. A dark tangle of emotions burned within, some of them rather unfamiliar. Severance didn't even know what he felt, exactly, except that it was rather ugly.

"What was that?" he asked quietly. His voice came out rather calm and steady, surprisingly.

The question was vague, but Eusebius knew what he met. The man's expression twisted into something between a snarl and a grin.

"It's what we have to conquer in order to move deeper into the ruins." Eusebius rose, as did the other two Fang. Hoods were pulled up and tattered furs were adjusted to covers as much of their bodies as possible. "Now let's go. There's no point remaining now that we have all failed. We can try again tomorrow."

Severance grimaced. He didn't want to do that again. Whatever that was.

"Why exactly do you need to do this, anyway?"

His question was ignored as Lothaire and Aeneas took the lead once more. Eusebius, however, took it upon himself to walk next to Severance.

"These ruins in the Untold are a bit funny. Normal logic doesn't apply here. You can't strategize, nor can you really prepare for what they hold. All you can do, cibel, is think about what you've seen and strengthen your heart."

After sharing that piece of advice, Eusebius fell silent. It was just as well, because Severance fell deep into thought.

Strengthen his heart? Against what? Memories? Nightmares? The thing that tormented him the most? It was one thing if it was just hallucinations. But it had left terrible physical wounds on all of them.

They couldn't leave the ruins fast enough. Unfortunately, there was no handy teleportation. During the walk back to the big dead tree, Severance opened up the Map. He found all the locations grayed out and inaccessible. Only when they reached the 'waystation,' which was what the Fang called the little teleport platform, did the locations become available.

It was another oddity to the Untold. It seemed like it was well out of the System's reach. Which made him wonder... what exactly did he see in that fog? And where had it come from?