"Aw, did you miss me that much?" Violet asked with a teasing tone after Ercale had explained how he found her eye and used the Healing Springs to bring her back to life.
"No," Ercale replied immediately, looking away. "It was because I needed help fighting Arkanis. Which you didn't do. So I already regret bringing you back."
Bram let out a small grin and tilted his head toward Violet. "He's still shy after all these years, you see?"
"I was never shy, you annoying piece of—" Ercale started, only to be cut off.
"So now that we know why I am here," Violet said, her tone shifting as she folded her arms, "and the fact that my eye was used as a weapon by a vampire of all things." She paused briefly, then turned her attention toward Bram. "How are you alive? Did Ercale find your hand being used by a bandit or something and take that too, and throw it into the Healing Springs? Because if so, I am a little upset you got picked before me."
Ercale also turned toward Bram at that, clearly expecting an answer.
Bram exhaled through his nose and shook his head. "As funny as it would be if Ercale kept finding random parts of our bodies being used by random people, that is not what happened." He rubbed the back of his neck, his expression tightening slightly. "Mine was… a much more painful and drawn out process."
He let out a heavier sigh.
"It is long enough that I can't explain everything, so I will shorten it," Bram continued. "I died at the age of eighty-four. After that, I ended up in… the afterlife, I think? Not entirely sure what it was." He shrugged slightly. "Things happened there that caused me to return to the age I am right now. After that, I ended up in Hell. I survived there for a while. Then the portals opened, and I used one to come back to life. Or rather, back to Aetheria. Not even sure if I count as fully alive anymore really."
Silence followed.
Ercale and Violet stared at him.
Not exactly in shock, but in the kind of blank, distant way people look at someone explaining something deeply unbelievable while insisting it is normal. Like a drunk homeless man who had also taken drugs and been driven mad, telling a story they insist is true while actively fighting to stay conscious.
"Stop looking at me like that, goddess damn it!" Bram snapped, throwing his hands up slightly. "That is what happened! I am telling the truth!"
Neither of them reacted.
"I just… find that hard to believe," Ercale said flatly, crossing his arms.
"Yeah," Violet added, tilting her head slightly as she studied him. "I can imagine Winter doing something like that if he came back to life. But you?" She narrowed her eyes slightly, thinking it through. "That is just… too grand. Your charm is being rugged and muddy, not having a grand adventure through the afterlife."
"Okay, whatever you say, miss 'I got my literal eye used as a weapon of mass destruction!'" Bram shot back, his tone sharp. Violet simply lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "I am not denying it or fighting that it is the truth. It is what happened. I cannot change that, and I am not going to lie about it just to make myself sound better," she replied evenly.
Bram stared at her in disbelief for a moment. "I agree! That's why I'm saying what happened to me is true!" he snapped back.
Ercale exhaled and shook his head. "No, you probably woke up buried under something like an outhouse, then crawled out of it. And to hide that, you made up all that about the afterlife."
Bram's eye twitched as he turned sharply toward him.
"Okay, we've had enough fun," Violet said, cutting through the tension as her tone shifted into something more serious. "So what happens now?"
Bram immediately straightened, dropping the aggressive edge. "We go back to what we used to do. Hunting down threats to the world and stopping a demonic invasion."
"Yeah, you two go do that," Ercale replied, already turning away toward the coliseum. "I have a house to hunt down."
"Not going with us?" Violet asked, watching him as he started walking back toward the coliseum.
"No," Ercale said without looking back. "I'll kill any demons or close any portal I come across, but I have my priorities. Right now, it's getting my power back." He continued walking and entered the coliseum.
Bram watched him disappear inside. "What do you think he's planning?"
Violet hummed lightly. "Who knows? But it doesn't matter. We have other things to deal with." She turned away as well. "Ready to head out?"
"As I'll ever be, I suppose," Bram replied, pulling the wolf mask up and settling it onto his face.
"Pervert," Violet said instantly.
Bram gave her a look of absolute confusion. "The hell did I do?" as the two of them walked away.