Anna Mary's mouth hung open for a long moment, her eyes darting between Stephan and the horned woman standing silently near the door. Death's pale skin glimmered faintly in the firelight, her eyes unreadable, like two shards of an ancient night sky.

Yennefer blinked, trying to process what she'd just heard. "Wait...the Asriel? The one who burned the last human empire to ash? The one who..."

"...killed everyone of the humans in this realm. The one Fizzwigg talked about?." Stephan finished quietly. "Yes. That one."

Anna Mary threw her hands into the air. "You've got to be kidding me! You made her your soul servant?!"

Stephan leaned back on the wooden chair, expression calm, almost amused. "It wasn't exactly a choice. Her soul was sealed under a mountain in the heart of the desert. I didn't even know what I was dealing with at first. She appeared to be strong, so I thought I'd add her into my collection. I thought she do come in handy."

Yennefer frowned, glancing at Death. "And she just… listens to you now?"

"Bound by the soul pact," Stephan said. "Her power is mine to command, her will tethered to mine. She can't act against me, not anymore."

Anna Mary folded her arms, still glaring. "You say that so casually, Stephan. You're talking about a witch who slaughtered millions."

Death finally spoke, her voice low and soft, almost melodic. "Millions who were already dead in spirit. Humanity's fall was inevitable. I simply hastened it."

Anna Mary recoiled. "You hear that?! She's insane!"

"Not insane," Death corrected, tilting her head slightly. "Enlightened."

Yennefer took a slow breath. "So… what now? You're just going to keep her around? Like some kind of bodyguard?"

"That's the plan," Stephan said. "She's useful. Stronger than any soul I've ever bound. And besides..." He cast a sidelong glance at Death. "....she's not the same creature she once was. The pact changes a soul. Strips away corruption, reshapes intent."

Death lowered her head slightly, her tone almost reverent. "He reforged me. My purpose now is bound to his will. To serve. To protect."

Anna Mary paced across the hut, rubbing her temples. "So let me get this straight, you found a sealed soul of a genocidal witch buried in a cursed desert, unsealed her, and now she's your personal knight."

"That's about right," Stephan said, lips twitching faintly.

Yennefer sighed. "Only you would find something like that and think, 'yeah, I'll keep it.'"

For a moment, the tension broke. Even Anna Mary let out a reluctant laugh, shaking her head. "You're impossible, Stephan."

Death remained silent, her expression calm but distant, as though she didn't quite understand the warmth that filled the small hut.

Stephan stood and looked toward the flickering candlelight. "What's done is done. The soul desert hides worse things than her, I assure you."

Yennefer's gaze sharpened. "What kind of 'worse' are we talking?"

Stephan hesitated, recalling the carvings he'd seen on the stone where Death's soul had been bound, symbols written in a language even Grief couldn't decipher. "There could be other gods," he said finally. "Before the first kingdoms. The ones that sealed Asriel."

The room fell quiet. Even Anna Mary's humor faded.

"So," she said softly, "you think something's waking up out there."

Stephan didn't answer, but his silence said enough.

Death's eyes flickered with a faint, eerie light. "That is true," she murmured, "there are lot of things to worry about ."

Yennefer glanced between them, unease crawling into her voice. "You mean… there could be more like you?"

Death's lips curved faintly, not quite a smile, not quite a threat. "There were always more."

The fire crackled. No one spoke for a long while after that.

At last, Anna Mary sank back onto her stool, exhaling hard. "I'm starting to miss the days when our biggest problem was a band of orc raiders."

Stephan smiled faintly, his eyes on the dying flame. "Those days are gone, Anna. Whatever's coming next… this is only the beginning."

Death bowed once again, her shadow stretching long and sharp across the floorboards, her voice soft and final:

"As long as you walk this path, master, I will walk it with you...until the end."

Stephan nodded.

"These news might be the least of our problems," Stephan began, his tone grave as the firelight danced across his face. "On our way to the Soul Desert, Olath and I came across a massacre....an entire squad of dead orcs. Dozens of them, ripped apart like paper."

Anna Mary's brow furrowed. "Orcs? Out there?"

Stephan nodded. "Yeah. We followed the trail, thinking maybe a beast did it. But what we found was worse. A survivor....a human."

Yennefer stiffened. "A human?" she asked, then her eyes widened. "You mean..."

"A player," Stephan confirmed.

Anna Mary swore under her breath. "So there are others."

"Three of them," Stephan continued. "Or… there were. Something happened between them. The strongest one turned on his own team. Killed one, nearly finished the other. The survivor's the one we found."

Yennefer leaned forward, suspicion sharp in her eyes. "Tell me you killed him."

Stephan hesitated, then shook his head. "No. I let him live."

Yennefer slammed her hand on the table. "Are you out of your mind, Stephan? You let an enemy live? Do you want him coming back to slit our throats in our sleep?"

"I don't kill the wounded," Stephan said flatly. "He'd already lost everything...his team, his pride, his purpose. Killing him would've been mercy."

"Mercy gets people killed," Yennefer snapped. "You think because you play hero, the rest of us won't pay the price?"

Anna Mary frowned, her voice quieter but edged with the same concern. "Yen's right, Stephan. This could backfire. You don't know what kind of powers these players have...or what drives them. What if he heals, levels up, and comes looking for a challenge?"

Stephan's expression didn't change. "I'm not worried about him."

Yennefer crossed her arms. "Then who are you worried about?"

Stephan's eyes darkened, the faint hum of Ki energy flickering around him as he leaned forward. "The one who killed his team."

The air in the hut seemed to tighten.

Anna Mary's voice was barely a whisper. "You mean there's another one?"

Stephan nodded slowly. "An S-rank. The survivor told me his name before he passed out."

Yennefer's face drained of color. "An S-rank… here?"

"Yeah," Stephan said calmly, almost too calmly. "His name is Belanor."

For a moment, no one spoke. The fire crackled softly, and outside, the wind whispered through the wooden cracks of the hut.

Yennefer was the first to find her voice. "Belanor…" she repeated, as if testing the weight of the name. "You're saying there's a god-tier monster wandering the same lands we're in?"

Stephan nodded once. "And he's not hiding. The massacre we saw...that was a message."

Anna Mary's throat tightened. "A message for who?"

Stephan met her gaze, eyes cold and certain. "For other players."

The hut went quiet. Only the stove hissed and the thin night wind scratching at the shutters.

"I think we're going to run into this Belanor sooner rather than later," Stephan said at last, voice flat. He folded his arms. "And other players besides. Anna's healed... we shouldn't waste the chance. We came here to hunt, not to hide."

"Are we not safe here?" Anna Mary asked, worry still raw in her tone.

"We didn't come here to hide," Yennefer snapped, impatience sparking in her words. "Staying put won't make the tournament stop."

Stephan met Anna's eyes. "She's right. This village isn't a sanctuary, it's a target. If we sit on our hands, whatever's out there will pull the strings and bring trouble right to these people. We can't do that."

Anna bit her lip but didn't argue. Her gaze drifted to the doorway, to the dark beyond the hut. "You're asking us to drag the gnomes into our war."

"No," Stephan said. "I'm saying we move the war away from them. We take the fight out there...where it belongs."

Yennefer folded her arms, the decision clicking into place like a blade into its sheath. "He's right. We'll finish what needs finishing, fast and clean. And we keep Magodilin out of this mess as much as possible."

A hush fell again. The clock on the shelf ticked loud in the silence.

"There's only twenty-four days left," Anna Mary said, the number tasting like a lie. "Twenty-four days until the tournament closes."

That landed in the room like a flat stone. All the bravado drained out of them for a heartbeat, replaced by the raw, inevitable math of it.

Stephan pushed to his feet. "Then we don't waste time." He slung his cloak over his shoulders; the motion was small but decisive. "We move at first light. We strike the players before they can get comfortable. We protect what we can of Magodilin, and we make sure no one else drags these gnomes into their bloodlust."

Yennefer nodded once, sharp and certain. Anna Mary steadied herself, fear and resolve braided together.

"We will talk with the King then leave."

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