Epilogue Part 2 - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Witt was sitting on the rooftop patio of the safe house he, Ariadne and Silea had fled to after the prisoners’ escape. Of the various places he had set up around town, this one might be his favourite with its stunning private view of the fields outside the city wall to the east.

He’d originally acquired the place because it also had a view of the Viscount’s castle, but the beautiful vistas had long since charmed him.

“Tada!”

The flames of the lantern on the table in front of him flickered in the dim, early morning light as he heard his daughter’s exclamation. He turned in his seat to see why she was trying to draw his attention.

Standing there was Ariadne, jazz hands vibrating as she gestured to a woman who tentatively walked onto the outdoor patio.

The woman was blond, a little shorter than average, and looked to be in her mid twenties. Her legs shuffled like she hadn’t used them in far too long and she was unsteady on her feet. Her face was thin and it was clear she hadn’t had a good meal in a while. Her hair had been tied up with braids worked into a ponytail and she was wearing a pretty pale blue dress that he remembered buying Ariadne but that she always refused to wear, claiming it was too girly for her tastes.

But what struck Witt more than anything else was the woman’s face.

“I know, right!” Ariadne exclaimed as she noticed his surprise.

For the first time in as long as he could remember Witt was completely and utterly without words, his jaw hanging open.

Ariadne had insisted she’d take care of Silea when they’d gotten back and had hurried off with the woman to the bath. Witt had expected that Ariadne would help her clean up and give her proper clothes, but the effect far exceeded anything he’d expected as he’d been sitting on the patio planning their next moves.

But what struck him most of all was Silea’s face. With the dirt cleaned away, and a far more peaceful countenance, he saw her features for the first time.

She looked shockingly like his former wife had when they were younger. So much so he couldn’t fathom how the resemblance could be so close. Far too many questions crossed his mind.

“See Silea, I told you he’d be speechless!” Ariadne puffed up proudly.

Silea went red and tugged at her clothes as Witt stared dumbfounded.

After a too long pause he finally snapped back to attention and stood up a little too quickly, a little too sharply, offering Silea a seat with a stiff gesture.

Ariadne couldn’t help but laugh as she helped the unsteady woman into a chair.

“Uh, sorry…I was just…anyway…” Witt blushed as he sat and mumbled. Eventually he gathered his thoughts and tried to speak again.

“You’re probably wondering who we are, and what we plan to do next?”

Silea looked over at Ariadne. “I did, but your daughter answered many of my questions while helping me get cleaned up.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

“And I can’t thank you enough for freeing me from that prison. I…” Tears welled in her eyes and she turned away with a guilty look.

“I didn’t know it would be like this when I helped to summon you both. I’m so…so sorry…”

Witt watched as the first tear streaked down her cheek.

“It’s…ok.” He finally let out. He resented that he and his daughter had been dragged to this world, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate the people who did it.

“We understand why you did what you did. But we’d certainly appreciate if you could help us. Help us go home.” He smiled at his daughter. “I promised her I would find a way. No matter what.”

Silea wiped a tear away. “You really don’t want to fight the demons, do you?”

He timidly scratched his cheek. “We’re not even sure we could, not on the scale you were hoping for. Our best guess is that she and I are at most half as strong as your mythical heroes are supposed to be. We assume whatever weird power we have is split between us. More than enough to win a one on one fight like I did today, but whole armies…”

“But hey, that doesn’t mean we can’t help along the way!” Ariadne chimed in. “We’re looking for a way home but maybe we can help you in exchange for helping us!”

Witt couldn’t miss the eager expression on his daughter’s face. She looked so desperate to please Silea. Knowing it had to be in part due to the way she looked made his chest hurt and his usual calculating approach crumbled.

“We…can try to do that.”

“See!”

Silea looked at both of them and smiled. “Thank you. But I have no idea what I should do. What do you plan to do next?”

Witt thought for a moment before responding.

“First, we need to get you healthy. Good meals and some exercise so your body gains back its strength. We can’t travel right now with you so weak.”

A sad look crossed Silea’s face, like she was disappointed to hold them back.

“Don’t worry,” Witt continued “We have plenty still to do in town. We need to try and track down those books you told Ariadne about and see if we can find any other summoners. One of my covers hangs out with demons, so we’ll start there.”

Silea nodded. “It won’t be an issue that you…killed that demon? You seemed to know him.”

“It’ll be fine. The moment he saw my face we didn’t have much choice. And that other demon, the woman, might have tried to resist our attempts to use her if she didn’t witness what we could do for real. We try not to get too fussed over doing what needs to be done.” He shrugged but Silea thought for a moment she saw a hint of something she couldn’t place in his eyes.

“One thing you’ll figure out pretty quickly Silea is that dad here plans way, way too much. He might not have known Xorn personally would be there but he’d worked out in advance what he’d do if someone strong showed up.”

“The only difference here is that the death of a greater demon will likely bring an incredible amount of interest to the city as the demons try to figure out how he was killed.”

“Is that bad?” Silea asked.

“Actually, no. More interest means more people coming and going as they investigate. Since we know some of the demons are looking for summoners like you, we can actually use them to do our field work for us. Plus now we have someone inside the castle who will do pretty much whatever we want.”

Ariadne looked over at her father.

“You know dad, you’re smiling a lot more than usual today.”

Witt considered the comment for a moment. “I guess I am. I feel for the first time in far too long like we’re getting somewhere. I look forward to what we can do next.”

By now the sun was rising on the horizon as they talked. Ariadne noticed that Silea was staring in rapt attention. She also spotted her father staring at the woman, clearly entranced by the beautiful moment she was having.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this in so long.” Another tear dripped down her face, this time in joy.

Ariadne leaned over and hugged the woman tightly.

“Stick with us. We’ll make sure you see as many sunrises as you want.”

It had been a long time since Witt had seen his daughter look this happy. He wasn’t sure if her feelings were misplaced because of Silea’s appearance, but right now, seeing that smile, he couldn’t bring himself to think of it as a bad thing.