Dag, Gridd, and Reidar followed Kjell and Sander, who after entering the ground-floor room, stopped.

"Your woman is in there, along with her brave brother, who hasn't separated from her for a second, sleeping on the floor all night long" Sander exclaimed, smiling and pointing to a door ajar.

Dag nodded his head and without thinking twice, entered that room, which seemed a kind of infirmary, judging by the amount of medical material resting on the shelves by the walls.

Freydis was there, lying on a bed, with Karl sitting next to her, holding her hand and gently stroking it. 

When Dag entered, they both turned to him, happy to notice that he had returned to normal and didn't even have a scratch.

"Hey... h.e.l.lo..." he whispered, approaching Freydis's bed and continuing to look at her, while her eyes, even if half-closed, reciprocated his gaze and a slight smile lit up her face.

"You're alive!" Karl exclaimed, who judging by his tone of voice, had not closed his eye all night.

"Yes, let's say yes... how are you?" Dag asked, shaking Freydis's hand and moving her hair, to better see the condition of the wound he had caused her.

"She's already feeling better, she will fully recover in a few days. Her body is devoid of energy, but her mind is back to the same as before, as well as her eyes" Karl added, looking pleased with his sister.

A sterile and damp bandage rested on her neck, which seemed to have stopped bleeding. 

"Rest, my love. When you will regain your strength, you'll tell me how you felt when we fought against each other. Sleep, Freydis..." Dag whispered, continuing to caress his woman's hand and cheek, who after seeing him, calmed down and closed her eyes keeping a serene expression.

Dag left the room and headed to the upstairs library, followed by all three of his companions, after Freydis had fallen asleep.

In addition to Sander and Kjell, Ellen was also sitting at the room's large wooden table and sipped mead from a large mug resting in front of her.

When she saw Dag, she just smiled at him and nodded her head, sketching a greeting.

Her face was covered in scratches and bruises, and once again, Dag felt guilty, realizing that he had contributed to the wounds of his companions.

The four teammates sat around the table with the other three Masters, while the elderly librarian walked slowly up and down the upper-floor stairs, bringing more mead to serve to guests.

Spending some time talking about Dag's powers and how he felt after the Roar's body absorption, he found that his new allies felt no grudge against him, paying more attention to the victory than to its manner.

Although they had been wounded and their sacred square had been half destroyed, Sander and the other two only flooded Dag with questions, asking him to describe even the bodily sensations his physique felt when his blood and that of the demon mingled before his skin turned black, his eye red like a ruby, and his teeth long and sharp.

He explained everything, in detail: he told of the insatiable appet.i.te, the blurred gaze, the loss of memory and cognition of what he was doing.

He also told them the reason for his escape, which would help prevent further damage to property and people.

"How did you know that the liquid that Freydis's veins were filled with had to be extracted like that?" Ellen asked, who briefly looked at Dag suspiciously.

"I didn't know. I saw her veins swell under the pressure that substance was exerting inside them, and I thought that because of the ability my lungs had at the time, I could use the wound as a quick channel to extract that junk out of her body" Dag said, in a tone of voice that hinted at his honesty.

After a chat that lasted just over an hour, the curiosities of the three Masters had been almost completely fulfilled, except for the perpetual sense of wonder that enveloped their minds, not knowing any individual capable of doing the same things as Dag, who in addition to showing excellent strategic and combat skills, had proven to himself and to others to have an equally firm spirit, capable of retaining such a high amount of evil energy.

"In all my years of life, I had never seen a demonic creature like that and witnessed the total loss of control of one of my warriors" Sander said, continuing to drink and referring to Freydis and when her eyes turned black and purple.

Dag nodded, confirming that he agreed with his statement, but Sander continued: "From my intuition and Roar's words, they were the Xis who gave him all that power and took over the body of the young Freydis, is that right?" 

"Yes, that's it" Dag replied, pouring more alcohol into his almost empty gla.s.s.

"What I'm asking is... what do these beings want from you, Dag? I mean... I don't even know how they look like, the only things I know reside in the stories I heard as a child, when my parents told me the legends of the Earth, because in turn they had heard those stories from someone else, maybe an earthling, I don't know" Sander continued, reflecting aloud, drawing the attention of his colleagues, who turned their gaze toward him.