Crossroads had just woken up from her nap after seeing Tyrranis gone
and decided now was a good time to work on her project. She sat on one
of the couches in the living room working, ears straining for the
sound of the front door opening which would signal his return home.

A dull thump sounded from the front door before the door handle
jiggles a few times. Then, finally the door's handle is caught and
opened, and Tyrranis slowly makes his way inside, doing his best to
keep from falling over.

Hearing the thump, Crossroads quickly stuffed everything into her
pockets and stood up. There was a clatter of something small as it hit
the coffee table and bounced shortly after. She quickly picked it up
off of the floor and stashed it, walking towards the hallway. "Welcome
home Tyr." She said cheerfully, however the smile on her face quickly
vanishes when she catches sight of him. Crossroads’ eyes widen in
horror when she sees the blood, and she draws in a sharp breath.

Tyrranis managed to give Crossroads a weak smile before weakly
stating. "I am home." His magical form faltered as the giganto
forcefully leaned against the wall and tried a few more steps
forwards. "I hurt."

"T...Wh" Is the only sounds she managed to make as Crossroads remained
frozen for a moment, unable to move. Then she suddenly she screamed
out his name and rushed toward him in a panic.

Tyrranis looked a bit blearily at Crossroads, and then opened his left
hand, showing two grief seeds in it. "There was trouble." The giant
slid down the wall into a sitting position as his magical form finally
broke, and winced in pain. "I could use some help."


Crossroads held out her hands and knelt down as he slid, intending to
try and slow his slide down should his legs suddenly give way from
under him. But she had no idea where to even safely touch him without
bringing him pain. And now he was asking for help. She looked over his
body, trying to determine what she could do if anything. Tears started
welling up in her eyes and she shook her head as she realized she knew
absolutely nothing about first aid and was absolutely useless to him,
and any attempts she made might only make things worse. She didn't
even know where to start! "Tyr I'm..." Slowly, she reached for his
hand, taking it gently within hers. "Tyr, I am going to go get the
healer. If there is something I need to do before I go I need to
know."

Tyrranis looked at Crossroads solidly for a moment, and uttered a
single word. "Breathe." Then he leaned his head back against the wall
and did his best not to bleed all over the place.

Crossroads squeezed his hand a little harder at his suggestion. She
tried to take in a few deep breaths but her throat was tight and it
her attempts seemed to be cut short by choking sobs. She wiped at the
tears starting to run down her face with her free hand but it did
little good as more soon replaced them, "I'll run as fast as I can.
Please. Hold on." She forced herself to her feet, legs shaking,
"Please."

Crossroads let go of Tyrranis's hand and ran out the door, half
stumbling in the process as her eyes fell upon the drops of blood
making a trail outside of the house. She clenched her fists and
continued towards her destination, hoping she'd make it back soon.

***

Truce - North of Fountain
A crunchy gravel road traces a path from the center of Truce towards the
northern city limits. You catch a glimpse of a beetle scurrying over and
then into the gravelly bits. Eastwards stands a sky-blue dome, and a side
street branches to the west.

With a sob, Crossroads pounded on the door of the healer's dome,
receiving no answer besides the healers lazy cat staring at her
through a nearby window. The sign on the door indicated that the
healer was away on another call. "Please..." She said weakly, knowing
that her pounding would yield nothing. Still she had no idea what else
to do now. She had no idea how long the healer would be away, or if
she should be running back to Tyrranis to try to do her best in
bandaging him up. Defeated finally Crossroads turned back to the
street, cursing her helplessness. Her eyes landed on the trail of
blood on the street leading from what appeared to be the fountain. She
clenched her fists again, quickly directing her gaze out into the
crowd of people passing through. "Is anyone a healer!?" Crossroads
shouted, voice cracking. "Please! It’s an emergency!"

As Aemilia walked through the streets of Truce in much the same way
she had many times before, she yawned and her gaze drifted here and
there, not quite focusing on anything in particular. She was quickly
brought to attention, however, when she heard something far out of the
ordinary-a cry for help? She ran towards the source of the commotion,
finding a woman sobbing at the foot of the healer’s dome, pleading for
help. Upon approaching her, Aemilia asked hurriedly “A-are you
alright? Are you hurt? I can help!"

Crossroads looks up at the young girl who approached her and wiped her
eyes, "Its Tyr. He came home badly injured. I-I don't know what to do!
The healer is gone! He's lost a lot of blood!" She sniffed, wrapping
her arms about herself. "Please! If you have any sort of healing
skill, help him!"

"Okay, it's okay. Just calm down, deep breaths. Can you take me to
him? I'm not exactly...an expert, but I'll see what I can do," Aemilia
replied a little more slowly than before.

Crossroads nods and quickly led the younger girl back to her house,
ignoring the comment about taking deep breaths.

***

Front Hall - Crossroads' Home
The main hallway to this home is large, as if designed by a person
who intended to be carrying heavy loads to and from the area. Two
side hallways branch away from here, one smells somewhat of fresh
baked goods and roasting meats, and the other leads to a large open
room. Dirt clings stubbornly to the tile floor, regardless of the
welcome mat in the entrance.

Crossroads had left the door to the house open in her hasty exit so
she was able to enter the house immediately when she returned. She
quickly ran to Tyrranis's side, looking at him worriedly.

Aemilia couldn't help but cringe when she saw the mess that she
assumed was her patient. She had dabbled in healing, but could by no
means be considered a hardened veteran. Regaining her composure, she
leaned down next to the wounded giganto and started looking over the
damage. "What...how...erm, never mind," she stuttered. She needed to
focus. "Okay, um...cuts, swelling...well, first things first. Let's
get those lacerations on your head closed up," she mumbled mostly to
herself, getting to work reconnecting blood vessels, stitching
together muscle, and closing the wounds.'

Tyrranis' eyes flicked as he felt the familiar kiss of magic working
on his body, and he looked hazily to the newcomer that Crossroads had
brought. "Ah. It is good to see a medic." His voice was a bit weak,
but doesn't sound like it's fading. The giganto looked over to
Crossroads and speaks again. "You did well Cross. A good job."

Crossroads tilted her head down slightly. Why was he telling her she
did a good job? She couldn't do anything when he stumbled in like
this! All she could do was run out and find someone that could! She
swallowed, then quickly glanced back to Aemilia "I-is there anything I
can help with?"

Deeply engrossed in her work, Aemilia hardly heard the woman-Cross, as
the man Tyr had referred to her-offer help. "Oh, uh, yes. Try to put
pressure on whatever's bleeding the most until I can get to it," she
responded. Turning back to her work, she finished the first few cuts
and almost moaned out loud after discovering that at least two of the
giganto's ribs were, in fact, broken. Digging deep down, she tried to
remember the incantations for fractures that she had learned oh so
long ago. Finally coming up with them after a few moments, Aemilia
began the long process of restructuring Tyr's ribs.

Tyrranis groaned, but kept his body from flexing in pain as his ribs
started re-knitting. The giganto closed his eyes and focused on
breathing, trying not to focus on what hurts and push it away from the
front of his mind. At the very least, he seemed extremely proficient
at this. The scars all over his body might have given some testament
to that.

Crossroads stood up and stepped into the bathroom, returning a moment
later with a small towel and applying pressure as instructed to his
arm. She glanced at the young woman as she worked, wanting to ask if
Tyrranis was going to be alright but at the same time afraid to break
her concentration.

Aemilia swore under her breath after stumbling on a word, then quickly
apologized and began the incantation anew. Fortunately, the process of
repairing fractures, though longer than most other procedures, was a
multiple step process and did not require completely starting over.
Still, each mistake was time lost, and that was something nobody in
the room could afford. After a painfully long time, she was finally
finished with the ribs and moved onto the gashes on the arm, motioning
for Cross to start applying pressure elsewhere.

Tyrranis' breathing steadied as his ribs ceased being in pieces, and a
good bit of the strain from his face left. He opened his eyes and
watched Aemilia move over to his arm, and managed a soft chuckle. "If
you need to Healer, you can just stop the bleeding. I have lived with
worse wounds." It's not a command, but spoken as an offer.

With Aemilia's direction, Crossroads folded the rag over and applied
pressure to one of the cuts at Tyrranis's stomach. A wave of relief
washed over her face as she noticed that Tyrranis seemed to be doing a
little better now. "I really don't know how to repay you for coming to
our aid like this." She said, softly. Her cheeks were still a little
damp from her tears but at least now she had stopped crying.

"Ah..." Aemilia uttered, taking a few steps back and looking down to
view the remaining damage. "I...thank you. I'm not used to this kind
of exertion, and...I'm a little exhausted." She closed her eyes for
just a second, then tore a few long pieces of cloth from her shirt and
started dressing the remaining wounds. Looking to you for a second,
she smiled and said "I'm just happy I could help. Just...help me tie
up the rest of these cuts, and he'll be perfectly fine."

Tyrranis presented his arm to let it be bandaged, and managed a smile
directed at Aemilia. "Magic is not like might. It takes a different
way to train it. At least, that is what I was told once." The giant
looked to Crossroads, and put his uninjured hand out to try and hold
the side of her face. "Crossroads. I am sorry for this."

"You can stay here and rest for a little bit if you'd like? I could
get you something to drink too." Crossroads said, then closed her eyes
and placed her hand on Tyrransis's as she felt him touch her cheek.
"Don't scare me like this again." She said, then a little louder she
adds "Why did you take them on alone anyway? Why didn't you come and
get me? I could have helped you! Or at the very least been able to
prevent some of these injuries!"

Aemilia nodded to Tyrranis, a half-smile crossing her face. "I would
think so, unless you tent to train strength by sitting down and
memorizing incantations all day." After getting the final wound
bandaged up, she laid back against the nearest wall and tried to
relax. "Okay, you should be fine. Your ribs will be a little more
fragile than usual for a few weeks, but they'll probably hold up well
enough unless you have a habit of taking hammers to the chest.
Speaking of which...how exactly did this...happen?"'

Tyrranis looked from between Crossroads and Aemilia, and sighed
heavily. "I went to the Wish Granter to deposit the most recent grief
seed, when he informed me of a Witch nearby that was cloaking itself.
Apparently, it was young, unmatured fully, so I took on the mission to
kill it before it caused any deaths. When I got to the entrance of the
Witches domain, I found out it was not a singular witch, but two of
them, acting as one. In the form of massive, fanged worm-like
creatures, they attacked me. I used multiple weapons to kill them, but
they managed to inflict a good bit of damage on me regardless. As for
why I did not call for help, there was none around, and I wanted to
take the Witches down before they noticed we knew were they were, or
matured enough to attack people. It is as simple as that.'

Crossroads frowned at his explanation. She really couldn't argue with
it but at the same time she felt guilty for not being there. "Tyr...I
don't care what the circumstances are, please don't do anything so
reckless again." After all, what if he had died? Crossroads would have
never seen him again or even found out what happened! She pulled her
face away from his hand, though she still held onto it. She
straightened her posture as she spoke, "If I cannot fight them alone
then neither should you!"

Aemilia cocked her head in confusion. "...Wish Granter? Witches? Grief
seeds? You're...going to have to explain."

Tyrranis hummed, and started his explanation back over again. "I, and
Crossroads are part of a group who have taken a mission from the Wish
Granter. He has given us the power to fight large monsters called
Witches that threaten to slowly kill the entire populace. This power
has manifested in this form." He held up his soul gem, the grey
egg-like thing he often held. "We can use these to enter into a
magical form, to combat the Witches."

"Unfortunately, the process of fighting Witches corrupts us. If we
become too corrupted, we will become monsters ourselves. So, we need
to use these." Tyrranis took one of the Grief seeds he got from the
battle, and pressed it against his Soul Gem. Immediately the inside of
the soul gem, which had been a grey mixed with black and floating
particles of neon green, cleared. Now, it stood a grey with only a few
traces of black fouling. "These are grief seeds. They cleanse our
corruption."

Crossroads nodded at Tyrranis's explanation and stood up with the
intention of getting Aemilia the water she had mentioned earlier. "If
we don't fight the witches and yoma and take care of our corruption,
then we become that which we fight against." She sighed and took a few
steps towards the kitchen door, pausing just before entering the
kitchen to look back at the other two. "So I guess, we are the
protectors and eventually the threat unless we fall in battle or are
killed by some other means. Would you like some water too Tyr?"


"I...I see," said a shocked Aemilia. "I'm sure this will all make
sense, I just...need a minute, I think. I'm still having a little
trouble focusing." With a sigh, she rested her head against the wall
and closed her eyes, going over what the two had said. After a few
minutes, her eyes opened again and her expression had become somewhat
more collected. "I've seen some strange things since I got here...I
believe you two. Exactly...how many of you are there?"

Tyrranis nodded to Crossroads. "Some water would be nice, thank you."
He heard Aemilia's question, and mulled it over for a little while.
"There is me, Crossroads, and Lorastine here in Truce, and Kyrk and
the Twins near Viorar. There are also more people inducted by the Wish
Granter, but we do not know of all of them. Oftentimes they will go by
the title 'Wishborn'. Though, I myself dislike the term. I am not born
of a wish. I am enhanced by it. Understand?"

Crossroads stepped into the kitchen upon Tyrranis's answer, listening
in on the conversation as she pulled a couple of glasses from the
cabinets and filled them with cold water from the refrigerator. She
came back shortly after Tyrranis finished his explanation and offered
the glasses to each of them. "Kyuubey might have a better idea as to
the exact number." Then she quickly added "--Oh Uh, Kyuubey is who
Tyrranis calls the Wish granter-- Since he is the one who makes us
this way and has to keep something of a balance between the number of
wishborn and witches it is likely that he would know."

Aemilia nodded and accepted the glass from Crossroads with a "Thank
you." Turning back to Tyrranis, she replied "Yes. I understand. What
do you choose to call yourself?" Then, her eyes returning to
Crossroads, she added "What exactly...is this Kyuubey?"

Tyrranis looked at Aemilia with a puzzling expression. "I call myself
Tyrranis. I do not understand the need people have to change their
name when they enter into a different group. It is a silly thing."

"Kyuubey looks a lot like a white cat with red markings. He has some
sort of weird long appendages coming out of his ears." With a smile,
Crossroads settled back down on the hallway floor, "I don't really
care about the wishborn title myself. I am okay with it either way. It
gives us all something in general to be called," She then looked a
little surprised and covered her mouth, "Oh! That reminds me! We
haven't asked for your name yet. I call myself Crossroads." She
offered out her hand to the young woman.

With a small laugh, Aemilia responded "I'm sorry, in all the
excitement I clean forgot to introduce myself. My name is Aemilia.
It's nice to meet you two." Taking your hand and shaking it politely,
she continued "It's not everyday I get to meet, let alone help, people
like you."

Tyrranis nodded to Aemilia. "It is nice to meet you as well Aemilia. I
do not think your aid could have come at a more opportune time, given
my injuries."

"I cannot express how grateful I am that you were there when you were.
I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart, Aemilia." Crossroads
said. She didn't even want to think about what would have happened if
she hadn't been there. "Unfortunately at the moment we are kind of
broke so I can't really pay you at the moment for your help." She
looked embarrassed upon admitting this, and hung her head, "But
please, if there is anything you need let us know."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all! In fact, I was happy to help," Aemilia
responded quickly. "There...actually is a request I would like to
make. Would you consider allowing me to travel with you and provide
healing when you need it? I know I might not be much help in combat,
and I know I'm not the best healer out there, but...well, at the very
least, it could prevent something like this from happening again." She
sighed and looked away for a second, then added "To tell the truth,
I've been having a hard time finding a purpose, you know? I'd be
honored to be a part of something as big as this."

Tyrranis hummed for a moment before looking over to Crossroads. "What
do you think? I personally am for it. The only problem I can find is
that we do not have any extra rooms in the house besides... That one."
Tyrranis took a sip of water, apparently unwilling to elaborate on
what he meant by that.

"I think that would be a great idea actually, considering how
hazardous our job is. And maybe I can learn a little first aid from
her too if she is willing to teach me." Crossroads answered. Though
when it came to... that room, it didn't seem fair to give it to her.
"Maybe we can talk to Lora about sharing for the time being? At least
until we figure things out."

Aemilia opened her mouth to ask what was wrong with the room in
question, but decided that it might be better not to ask and said
instead "Thank you! I promise I won't make you regret it." Then, in
response to Crossroads' comment, she said with a smile "I'd be more
than happy to teach you what I know. I believe I still have some of my
books if you would like to use them."

Nodding with a smile, Tyrranis began attempting to stand from the
place he had been. "Then it is settled. Now." Tyrranis managed to
gingerly shove himself up before looking at both the girls. "I am
going to go to sleep. Then I think I will wake up and take a bath, and
then go to sleep again. Crossroads, I trust you can show her the
house?"

Crossroads stood up again, offering her support to Tyrranis should he
have need of it. "Yeah, I'll show her around the house while you get
some rest. Though I think I should let you use my bed for now. It’s a
bit more suited for someone your size than the couch and with you
still recovering...." She trailed off, looking up at him with another
worried expression.

Aemilia rose as well, still a little uneasy on her feet but far
steadier than Tyrranis. Giving the giganto another smile, she told him
"Good night" and stood behind the two, eyes wandering about, taking in
the house for the first time since actually entering.