<br/><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/aLrNm7k.jpg)(https://i.imgur.com/IDWdc9w.jpg)<br/></div><br/>Katra's help with the fires was well appreciated, and as a result the farm hands were able to very quickly get the flames under control. In the end a good chunk had burned away, and the smell of burnt popcorn was more than unpleasant, but the vast majority of the field had been saved, and for that Jeb was greatly appreciative, "Thank ya so much, all of y'all. I knew it had be some kinder wyrm" Jeb mused, walking over to the corpse and giving it a few nudges with his foot, "yep yep yep, tha's pretty darn dead alright. looks like tha crops will be safe, what's lefta 'em at least. Hehehah just kiddin' with ya, there's plenty enough tha's safe and sound to get a good harvest, Ava be praised. I'd rather take a big cut here an' now than let that varmint gobble away the whole field over tha next few months. Jus' be careful goin' after random barrels when ya don't got no idear what's in 'em" Jeb said, a rather light reprimand considering the damage caused, "An' it looks like I be ownin' ya a reward. Lemme run back to tha house to fetch the ol' coinpurse" he added before trotting away.<br/><br/>The silence that answered Valna's questions wouldn't change any time soon unfortunately. As Juro approached he would see the thief trapped underneath the large, unmoving elc. Grella's back was badly burned, charred black in fact, "Umm, is Master ok? She's not....oh no..." S murmured, letting out a small gasp. Juro would feel the hilt start to tremble in his talons.<br/><br/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 16pt;">The Black</span></span><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/CS3RlYF.jpg)</div><div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/eRkqbtO.jpg)</div>While her first death had not been comfortable by any means, the feeling of the flames washing over her was something else entirely. The choking heat, the searing pain, the smell of her own flesh charring. It was easily the most agonizing experience of her life, made only slightly better by it's merciful brevity, the elc losing consciousness quickly from the shock of explosive trauma.<br/><br/>When she next opened her eyes Grella was no longer in pain, nor was she laying face down in a ditch. She wasn't laying<em>anywhere</em>in fact. All around her was darkness, endless black that stretched into infinity in all directions. It was scary for sure, though oddly comforting in a way. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, the heavy yolk of life's burdens. She floated weightlessly for a time, before suddenly her feet found ground beneath her, or at least the sensation of ground,<strong>"You're back"</strong>a voice gently spoke to her. It sounded strange to her ears, foreign yet familiar, as though she hadn't realized she had forgotten it until the moment she recalled it. Suddenly a skeletal visage appeared before her, rising up from the blackness as though it were water. It was Madama Muerta, The Black Bride, Goddess of death itself. She stepped forward and put a boney hand on the elc's cheek, feeling both cool and warm at the same time, and impossibly smooth and soft for how skeletal it appeared,<strong>"It is not often that I meet someone twice. Though it is becoming strangely more common lately. Not that I am not happy to see you again my dear"</strong>she said, standing up on her toes to give Grella a kiss on the forehead, the feeling of soft lips that should not be there pressing against her skin,<strong>"Ohhh...my poor dear. To see you have suffered even worse the second time. I am truly sorry"</strong>she said, as though the kiss had shown her what had transpired. A gold tear dripped down from one of her eye sockets, and she pulled Grella into a warm hug, running a hand up and down the elc's back, which fortunately was not burnt to a crisp as it was in the physical world.