☀️ Arselia and Akonia

Merel's buff on spirit

Garret had never been to Mysteria before, nor had he met the owner of this restaurant, but one look was enough for him to recognize her. It was her... That motherly woman, whose emotional suffering he had to endure in the Temple at the hands of the Patriarch. Behind the friendly smile and the quirky decorations of this place, they were still visible in her eyes. He stopped dead in his tracks for a moment, the echoes of that pain momentarily stinging his chest.
...Okay. Calm down. She doesn't know anything, and there's no point in telling her; it would only make things worse. He needed to act as if nothing had happened. Just a random guest, completely unrelated to the fate of her family.
With an effort of will, he tried to put on the appearance of a hungry tourist on a stroll and ordered a couple of dishes. In reality, his appetite had vanished instantly, and when the order was brought, the food stubbornly refused to go down. Despite this, he tried to finish the meal as quickly as possible - the place, though pleasant, made him uncomfortable, and the longer he stayed, the more a burning feeling of guilt spread through his body, the very feeling he had tried so hard to erase from himself in his past life, considering it completely unnecessary and even harmful, both in terms of self-preservation and in general for his affairs at the time.

Having finished his meal, Garret left the establishment without looking back, and once outside, he quickened his pace, heading... where? Just away, as far as possible. For some reason, he felt that he would never visit this restaurant again.
One block, two blocks, and he was already quite far away; the shops of Emerald Alley lined up ahead in neat rows. Here, the aster finally stopped to catch his breath and, leaning against a lamppost, wiped the sweat from his brow. And then...
BOOM!!!
Behind him, the central district exploded with a deafening roar, sending up whirlwinds of dust and debris. The blast wave knocked Garret to the ground, and the overturned lamppost hit him on the head, and he, stunned, passed out.

After a while, consciousness began to return... Red circles swam before his eyes, everything hurt, but he was definitely still alive. With difficulty, he raised himself to his knees and spat out dust and blood, then looked back. Only ruins, as far as the eye could see, a vast crater, stunned people... And ahead... Ahead, familiar faces were already hurrying towards him.

Erephir runs after Kalina, overtaking her, looking for new recruits.

Spotting the redhead, Garret shook his head, swayed, stood up, and waved to her, attracting her attention.
— Hey... Boss... Looks like we have something to do here.