Eliona's War 1: Hesitant Healer

Chapter 43

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Severance opened his eyes to the bustle of Two Bridges. Like in Ascendance, the city's spawning point was close to the city center. From here, he could travel in all four directions either by street or sky bridge. But right now, he didn't need to go anywhere in the city.

The same blue window from before floated before him:

Choose the path you will walk:

Moon Scribe
Battle Dancer

When he tapped on it, nothing happened. It wasn't going to close until he made his choice. Rather than make that decision now, however, he just moved the window to the side.

Even after a full day of sleeping in and going to his new job, he still wasn't any clearer on which class he should choose. It made him really wish Fenn was back, because he knew his uncle would have some answers for him.

It couldn't be much longer, however. It'd been a few days, and according to Lydia, he should be back at any time. Severance was tempted to wait, but he knew Awesome Dude would be eagerly moving ahead and he didn't want to be the one left behind.

He sent a quick message to Awesome Dude and let him know he was online. Then he touched the ring on his thumb. The tiny blue gem glittered softly beneath his touch.

"System, Teleport: Clan House."

A whirlwind of snow swept him away. There was the briefest sensation of being tugged elsewhere, before the snow fell away. He now stood on the gray stone of the Veiled House's courtyard.

But unlike before, it was no longer empty.

Two small children ran about chasing a yellow butterfly, their giggles filling the air. An older woman with a graying braid swept the cobbled ground with a worn broom, her movements swift and firm. By one of the walls, there was a pair of shirtless men repairing a deep crack in one of the stones. And near the open doors of the Clan House, a solemn young woman stood motionless. Her back was ramrod straight while her eyes followed the children like an eagle might watch her young.

There weren't a lot of people. But the second Severance saw them, he froze up. Strangers. All of them. They were clan members, his clan members, and that made it all the worse. What if they hated him? What if they didn't want him in their clan?

The young woman watching the children noticed him first, her gaze snapping over as if spotting a tasty looking mouse. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing. She only watched.

There was no obvious hostility, but he still tensed. She was intimidating.

"Hey!" One of the children saw him and ran over. It was a little girl, her long black hair tied in cute pigtails. Butterfly forgotten, she stared up at him. "Who are you?"

"Who?" The other child, a boy who was only slightly bigger than the girl, turned to see what the big fuss was about.

"Him," the little girl pointed at Severance. "See?"

"Oh." The boy trotted closer to Severance, who felt increasingly uncomfortable. He wasn't good with kids. They were strange. Like now, they just stared up at him like he was an alien.

"What happened to your clothes?" the girl asked.

"Huh?" Severance looked down and immediately wished he could crawl into a hole and die. He'd forgotten how mutilated they were. "Oh...uh, I was in a fight?"

The girl considered this. Then she pursed her lips and put both hands on her hips. "You need to be more careful. If you're gonna fight, you have to do it right. That's what Uncle says."