Jin didn't like waiting around while the others began creating a makeshift raft using Liraz's sticky slime as an adhesive from the bramble they collected, and decided to scout more. Running on the water was an oddly thrilling sensation for her, probably because it made her feel magical in a slightly sacrilegious way. Like walking on water was a baseline for being touched by divinity. After meeting some actual gods, she was reaffirmed in her dislike for them.

Being in and out of the hospital growing up, she had met plenty of people with various viewpoints on the whole concept of beings with a higher authority and unfathomable power that went with a variety of goals. However, most boiled down to the same underlying rule that Hadia had so bluntly pointed out back in the Trial of Aspects that they had fought and puzzled their way through: Bow down or die wishing you had.

As she ran across the murky water with her perception giving her warning enough if a monster came close, she tried to run away from the thoughts that threatened to creep up in the quiet. Exercise had always helped clear her mind in the past, and as the questions of what the gods were doing to Basima's soul now, she pushed herself harder. It seemed the only enemies nearby were the base they were trying to claim, but that didn't slow her down as she ran wider circles around it, almost hoping a monster would interrupt the spiral, both literal and figurative.

She couldn't see into the base to know whether a monster lay in wait like it had on the first floor, but she doubted there was one with the way the Guardian seemed to react. Perhaps she could [Leap] high enough to attack it from above…

"That doesn't seem like a smart plan if your goal is to live inside it," Clover's voice said within her mind, and Jin froze, almost tripping into the water beneath her.

"What the fuck?" she said aloud, glancing around to make sure she hadn't actually mistaken what she sensed. After verifying the little cretin hadn't manifested again, she glared at her own stomach and said, "Oh Abyss no. You are not going to talk in my mind like some manic episode or haunting spirit. You wanna talk, you get the fuck out of me first."

Like a stream of jade smoke, the color leached from her hair as Clover's form reconstituted on her shoulder with their tail wrapped behind their neck like a balancing tether. "You don't have to get so angry, you know," the Familiar said, returning to the sulking they had been doing after getting snapped at. "I was just trying to point out that destroying your new home wouldn't solve this problem. You didn't seem happy to have me around, so talking telepathically seemed like the obvious choice when no one else was around to stop that insane line of thinking."

"You shouldn't have heard that line of thinking!" Jin retorted, running a hand through her short hair, yanking out the tie in annoyance as it caught, and redoing her little half-tail to give her hands something to do. "Can you always hear my thoughts, or is it just when you're merged?"

The little dragon gave a small sigh, "It's clearer when I'm merged, and it's only those stronger surface thoughts that I really get before you start freaking out that I'm sifting through your memories like some creep. When I'm manifested like this, I basically only receive intentions as a way to respond properly as your Familiar." Clover's head dipped slightly as they quietly admitted, "Despite being a magnificent beauty worthy of ruling the cosmos… I'm still your Familiar, Jin."

"Why?" Jin couldn't help asking, walking over to a slightly drier spot to sit down at, feeling like she was overdue with this particular conversation. "Why pick me? How does that even work? If you knew about Basima, why would you agree to join me when you obviously don't care about how I felt about her?"

"I care," they quietly replied. Clover took a deep inhale before sitting up more and shaking slightly while saying, "I need to put my 'mama pants' on for this talk."

"Do dragons even wear pants?" Jin asked in a tangent thought, picturing tiny britches that would probably turn out looking more like a diaper with a tail sticking out on the little dragon.

Clover huffed as if releasing a retort and breathing in infinite patience, then turned her snout towards the Guardian Home as she explained, "When I received your contract, I actually debated for a few days in Limina if I should accept. I don't get many contract offers anymore, though. Many older dragons don't, when we become more… aware of who we really are. What our soul has become over the centuries or millennia of our existence. That was the first point in your favor; the second was that it also said you seemed drawn to 'chaotic sunshine' personalities. I assume that's what Basima was, even if that's a broad categorization."

Jin scoffed but couldn't really find a rebuttal to actually say in response. Instead, her head dropped as she glanced down at the soft ground beneath her, like it might hold some secret answer. When it didn't say anything, she reluctantly admitted, "Maybe that's true, but why would that matter for your acceptance?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Emerald eyes with slitted pupils turned to look at her, and even with the reptilian mouth, Jin could make out the smile as Clover replied, "Because it meant you still reach for light when everything around you is dark… even when you embody that darkness."

"You mean like when I murder people in cold blood?" Jin asked with a huff.

"I mean, when you do what's necessary to ensure that light survives."

Jin's nose crinkled at that, trying to hold back the sudden surge of tears that threatened to break through as she muttered, "Yeah, well I fucking failed at that, didn't I? My light is dead now. Her soul is probably being tortured by sadistic gods right now just because she had the audacity to like me back."

"Gods might be able to touch willing souls, but they cannot follow one beyond the Veil," Clover said, shaking her head. "While I can't say much more about what happens to souls after that, rest assured that your sunshine is not being punished by the gods on this planet. Deities in most realities are simply concepts given sentience. What shapes they take or names people give them might vary, but that base nature remains consistent. The layers of a reality remain constant even if some of the rules or makeup within the Mortem differ."

"The Mortem?"

"Where mortals live. The physical reality that is comprised of elements and magic, but I doubt what you need right now is a lesson in cosmic metaphysics."

"And what exactly do you think I need right now?" Jin said with a slight sneer, annoyed at being told by someone else what she needed.

Clover stared at her for a moment, the arrogance and bravado seemingly stripped away as she answered gently, "To say farewell to the person you cared for so you can focus on moving forward."

Jin felt like her throat had suddenly swelled to trap her words and emotions within her, not wanting them to spill out and consume her. She forced herself to swallow and managed to ask, "What if I'm not ready for that yet?"

"Unfortunately, you don't have the luxury to get ready," Clover replied, sounding genuinely regretful. "I tried to distract you when I arrived with outrageous chaos—which wasn't a lie because I am definitely sovereignty and wonder incarnate—but right now I can see you beginning to fray at the edges with you making rash choices and continuing to clutch that Talent to bottle your grief, like if you simply ignore it for long enough then it will vanish on its own."

"That's how I've had to deal with it in the past," Jin growled out, clenching her fists around nothing. "A lot of the friends I made in the hospital didn't last long. Phoenix was probably the only one to last despite the odds, which probably helped keep me from going mad in there, but I've had to hear about friends dying without ever getting a chance to say goodbye."

Clover slowly climbed down from Jin's shoulder to perch on her knee instead, kneading into the silvery fabric of his Sliksilk pants like a cat before saying, "Saying goodbye to a departed soul can feel painful, but not doing it can eat away at you like a poison, Jin. And I breathe poison, so I know what I'm talking about." The little dragon gave that tiny smirk that Jin was starting to understand was the Familiar's true smile. "I can act ridiculous or like a mother, if that's what you need in a moment. You can treat me like your pet, your friend, or your confidant. Whatever relationship you need, if it helps you keep moving one step in front of the other, and surviving. I am your Familiar, and that means I've chosen to serve you for as long as you let me and so long as you don't completely lose the core of who you are."

Jin scrunched her nose again as she asked, "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that unless you banish me or start murdering innocent babies just because it makes you feel happy or powerful, then I'm dedicated to remaining by your side for the rest of your life, Jin. That's what a Familiar is. A companion through every trial and tribulation and stolen moment of joy."

Jin paused, thinking through everything that Clover had just revealed, feeling like it was both too much and not enough at the same time to calm her swirling thoughts or fully answer her questions. She was relieved that Basima's soul wasn't being punished in the way she had feared, but it was also disconcerting to really know that souls existed and that there were rules to realities that she had never learned before. Getting a handful of answers only led to more questions, and she wasn't sure anymore if she really wanted to know what the Veil was or what lay beyond it.

She reluctantly had to admit that Clover was right about one major thing: she didn't have time to procrastinate in her mourning. This tower didn't allow for it, just like it didn't when Daren and Celia died at the threshold of their last base, or when Mary and Kian sacrificed themselves to give them a chance to survive just a little longer.

Clover was also right that her idea of leap-slamming onto the tree was a reckless and potentially suicidal move. Who in their right mind would rush a monster when death was more of a guarantee than a calculated risk? Despite all the shit Jin had endured so far, and even identifying as a nihilist that didn't believe in some greater meaning to life beyond mere existence, she had kept showing up and moving forward. Kept waking up each morning, even when all she felt like doing was giving up.

Thinking back to the last conversation she had with Phoenix, she had been ready to die—wished for it even. Wanted the pain and endless rollercoaster of hope and despair to just come to a screeching halt. Felt like her life had gotten to the point where there wasn't any point to waking up in the morning again.

That had all changed overnight, though, when she was given a new body and a second chance—even if it was a shitty one in a messed up dystopian society. She hadn't thought about giving up and dying since the people here finally gave her a reason to keep getting up. Even with Basima gone now, she still knew she'd keep waking up because Karam, Hadia, Alim, and Liraz were still here, asking her to lead even when she wasn't sure where she was going half the time.

Jin exhaled a heavy breath, letting her exhaustion and grief out with it. She shook her head as she wiped away the tears that fell and asked with a renewed sense of resolve, "So, how do we tame this Guardian base so we can give Bas a proper funeral, Oh Mighty and Magnificent Dragon of Infinite Cosmic Wisdom?"

Clover seemed to perk up slightly at the title and gave the tiny smirk again as she replied, "We do what works best with most wild critters who lash out at their allies." The smirk turned into a toothy grin as Clover said, "We give it snacks."

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