"I feel like this is becoming too familiar of a sight." Will poked his head above the roof hatch to find Grace sitting on the roof, looking out into the moonlit night.

"Yeah? Well, stop making me make all your decisions for you…" Grace muttered as she helped Will up onto the rooftop. "I swear we spent two hours discussing that proposal, and all we could decide on was 'lets let Grace decide.' I don't know why you all trust me so much." She folded her arms around her knees, hunching close together against the mild chill of the night air.

"You're our leader after all." Will sat down next to her, casually wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Who else would we delegate the hard decisions to if not you?"

Grace chuckled bitterly. "Being a leader's truly a thankless job."

"Not when we're winning." Will gave a sly grin.

Grace snorted. "I suppose, but I'm not exactly the kind of leader that stands out especially."

"Maybe so." Will shrugged.

The light banter eased some of the tension in Grace's shoulders even as her thoughts returned to the problem at hand.

"I just don't know who to trust," She sighed, hugging her knees closer. "We went to the guild for more information, but I feel like we just stumbled into a spiderweb hiding in the dark. It's less that we know more and more that we are simply entangled in more."

"I did warn you about that." Will squeezed her shoulder.

Grace exhaled sharply. "I hate that you're right."

"It's not like it really changes anything, it's just…" She continued.

"The precipice thing you were talking about?" Will finished for her.

"It feels like we're teetering on the edge of a choice, the only problem is I have no idea what the two choices entail. Fighting the Demon King, ok, sure, but if he's the enemy of humanity: why is only the Kingdom of Aver at war with him? Is Ferrera lazy, stupid, secretly serving him, or do they simply know more about this situation than we do?"

"That Besari Trade Company seems pretty influential here, I wonder if they have sway in the policies of the government."

"Sure, but even if we knew for sure one way or another who's controlling things here it wouldn't matter unless we knew what they were using that power for. What are the true intentions of the Demon King as to war, subjugation, or even humankind in general? All we here from the war front are just things any warlord would probably do in the same situation."

"I wonder if our classmates on the front lines know more…"

"Maybe, but it's not like we can talk to them." Grace sighed.

"But is getting involved with the trade company really that big a deal? I mean it shouldn't be irreversible right? We can always back out if they ask something we're not comfortable with."

Grace didn't know why, but suddenly her danger sense suddenly pinged rapidly, and the words that she was about to form died on her lips.

Will didn't miss her sudden alertness and stood up to look around, but after a breath Grace sighed. "It's nothing, sit back down."

But Grace knew that if it wasn't a nearby monster then it had something to do with the words she was about to say. The gods…I haven't thought about them for a while, but if they're really that involved with us, are they watching right now? What would they do if we turned our backs on the purpose they put out for us? Are they really as homogenous as they seem? Why did Will's god die, and why has no one come to tell us what's happening?

All of a sudden a whole new channel of thoughts opened in Grace's mind, and she could only pray that her thoughts at least remained hidden from the gods who had summoned them to this plane. They summoned us here to fight the Demon King. If the Demon King's not a calamity, like they made him out to be, what does that make the gods?

Suddenly Grace felt very cold and very afraid sitting on that small rooftop in that modest port city. "Sorry, I must be tired. Why don't we go down and get some sleep." She turned to Will. She wished she could tell him the thoughts that were racing through her head, but she was too afraid now, afraid that even the smallest word could have consequences beyond what she could imagine.

Will looked at her concerned, but decided to let it go. "Alright."

***

I woke up with a groan, early morning sunshine filtering through the curtains in the guest room I'd been provided in Rivi's mansion. I slowly pushed myself up to a sitting position, but for some reason everything in my body felt…weird somehow—sluggish and unfamiliar. I was about to examine myself to see if something had happened while I was sleeping when I heard a ding of a system alert, and a screen flickered in front of my face, though for some reason it was brown rather than its usual blue.

[Humanity System initializing!]

[Welcome host! Regain your lost humanity by completing quests logged in your system panel. Successfully complete missions will grant HP (Humanity Points) which can be used to complete the host's journey back to the land of the living.]

[As a special starter package, the host has been gifted a special Time Reversal power that allows the host to revert back to their pre-death state for a few hours at a time.]

[Complete quests to unlock new powers and further your progress towards regaining your humanity!]

[Time Reversal Power (activated): Reverses user's body to its state at a fixed point in time for four hours. (Cooldown: 1 week)]

I froze, staring blankly at the screen with incomprehensible terror. No.

I felt like I couldn't breathe, but somehow I found myself standing, rushing towards the mirror hung across from the wardrobe.

No, no, no, NO! My legs gave out as I stared at my form in the mirror with terror in my heart.

"It can't be…" I murmured as my breaths starting coming heavy and ragged, my mind reeling inwards. "How am I a guy again?"

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