Ignatius sat in his chair, his feet sticking out over the edge. He held James' glass of red wine in both hands and took a sip.

"Are you old enough to be drinking," James joked.

Ignatius laughed before setting the glass down on the side table, "That is absolute horse piss, James. You should be ashamed of using that as an offering to your god."

"I wasn't aware I was," James said as he grabbed a wooden chair from the table and sat near Ignatius, facing the fireplace.

"Perhaps that was the problem with your prayers," Ignatius continued with a smirk.

"Hrm, I will have to try that sometime," James grunted while watching the fire. After a moment, he looked at Ignatius, "I figured you were in a rush to say something. How you don't have much time and all that."

Ignatius waved his hand, "We have some time. Not much, but a bit. How are you holding up?"

James raised an eyebrow, "Fine. Why the concern all of a sudden."

Ignatius eyed him for a few seconds before responding, "One of my contacts has heard that your name has come up more than once in certain circles. I fear that some of the attention that I have on myself will be redirected to you. It makes sense that if you die, I won't make the cut-off point and will be demoted to a demi-god. And you know what happens after that."

James did know. He knew that Ignatius would be killed, and he wouldn't be far behind. "Did you know I found someone in my room earlier today?"

"Here?" Ignatius asked, looking around.

James was confused, "No. At Ferdinand's. I figured you would know already, being my Patron and all."

Ignatius smiled, "No offence James, but I can't watch you all the time. There are other duties which I must attend. I wish I could do more to protect you, but I have already extended my credit as much as possible."

James wasn't sure what he meant by extending his credit, but that wasn't his problem. "Do you think one of your enemies sent the person who attacked me in my room?"

Ignatius considered it, "Maybe. But I doubt it. Sneak thieves in the dark are not their thing."

James raised to the bait, "What is their thing? Can you tell me something about the enemies you expect to attack me?"

Ignatius conjured a wine goblet that suited his smaller hands more and took a sip. "Ah, much better." Looking over at James, he nodded, "I can give you some background, but I don't know what they will do."

"Fair," James agreed.

"The first is a woman by the name of Inferna. She is an ex-flame. She runs hot with passion, but our passion burns out long ago. I fear she still carries a torch for me, but I don't for her."

James groaned, "Can we, perhaps, do this without the horrible puns?"

Ignatius narrowed his eyes, "Those weren't puns!"

James rubbed his eyes, "Great. Well, continue."

"The other is a man by the name of Pressura. He is a brute of a god and has very little in the way of a funny bone. I played a prank on him a few centuries ago, and he has held a grudge ever since."

James shook his head, "And what made you think it was a good idea to play a prank on someone like that?"

Ignatius smiled, "It was funny. We set up a whole scene with these goats and..."

James interrupted the deity before going too far, "Any others?"

Ignatius glared at James but just took a sip of wine before continuing.

James looked over at his Patron, "Well?"

Finally, Ignatius folded, "The other is a Major god by the name of Obitus."

Ignatius waited for James to react. When he didn't, his eyes bugged out, "You don't know who Obitus is?"

James just shrugged, "Not my world, remember?"

Ignatius leaned back, "Must be nice to be ignorant of such things." Taking a breath, he started again, "Obitus is the god who arrives the moment before you die. His job is to ensure that when you die and your soul is directed to its next destination and makes it there. If someone prevents the soul from reaching its final destination, he steps in and kills that someone. He is not a nice god to piss off."

"So, how did you piss him off?" James asked.

Ignatius looked at James for a moment before continuing, "By summoning you to this world."

"Because I was already dead when you summoned me?" James asked.

Ignatius nodded, "Yes."

"And because you interrupted my journey to the afterlife?" James asked, unsure if that was the correct question, but Ignatius nodded.

"Why would that piss him off? Isn't that one of the options to get Champions?"

Ignatius scrunched up his face, "Well... Sort of. Not really. No."

"What?" James was perplexed now.

Ignatius frowned and thought about his answer for a moment, "When the gods summon a Champion from another world, it is expected that we collect live individuals. Not dead ones. Those individual spirits are brought here for the duration of the Challenge. When the Challenge is over, they are usually returned to their world along with whatever any additional reward."

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"And... You decided to get a dead soul instead of a living spirit." James asked.

"NO!" Ignatius shouted, "No. I didn't summon you! Well, I did, but indirectly." Ignatius took a moment to collect himself, "I didn't even know you were a dead soul until only a few days ago when Obitus came to visit me and advised me of what he planned to do to me when I lost the Challenge."

James sighed, "Zita?"

Ignatius nodded, "Zita."

"She screwed us both over, didn't she," James asked.

Ignatius nodded again, "Yup. I suspect she was hired or bought out by one of my rivals to do this."

James thought about the situation for a moment, "Does that mean you broke the rules? Are we going to be penalized?"

Ignatius shrugged, "No, it is not against the rules. A few gods prefer to deal with dead souls for their Champions, but you expect it from them. You know, Letum, Mors, that sort of crowd. But I could lose the support of the few friends I have left if this gets out."

"What about me?" James asked.

"You are my Champion. I am your Patron. Everything falls on me. The worst they can do to you is kill you." Ignatius said dismissively.

"Where I come from," James commented, "Death is pretty serious."

Ignatius looked up at James for a moment, "You're right. I am sorry. I don't mean to be dismissive of your existence."

James chuckled, "Okay. So, what do we do if this Obitus god comes after me?"

"Run," Ignatius said with a straight face. "If he has his sights set on you, there is little you can do. He is two tiers above me in power and can unleash some serious hurt on you. He also has a cult following which he could direct to try to kill you. Either way. He is not someone we want to tangle with."

James sighed, "Have you been able to contact Zita at all?"

Ignatius shook his head, "Nothing. She may have been using an alias."

"Can you file a complaint with the Greater gods and have them find her?" James asked.

Ignatius chuckled and shook his head, "They won't care. So long as none of the rules have been broken, they won't do anything."

"I am sure that if you find a rule she broke and brought it to their attention, they would have to summon her to their presence and speak with her. When they do..." James trailed off.

Ignatius smiled, "You are a clever man. I am a minor god for a reason, James. I don't I have the head for these kinds of machinations."

James shrugged, "I can't take credit for that idea. I had a senior officer pull that trick on a CIA agent who was difficult to track. When the brass called him on the carpet, he appeared, and before he could disappear again, our commander had her hooks in him. It worked out better than we thought it would."

Ignatius blinked a few times and then shrugged, "Sounds delightful. Well, I should be going. I have to tend some irons I have in the fire."

James smiled, "Before you go, may I ask you a quick question?"

Ignatius sat back down, "Sure."

"What do you know about PSI Lords?"

Ignatius thought about it for about a second, "Never heard of them before. I thought you were going for Shadow Lord?"

James shrugged, "I am, but I want to keep my options open. What can you tell me about making a Shadow Squire?"

Ignatius cocked his head to the side and thought some more, "Well. That is a bit more involved. To make a Squire, you need to find someone below level 5 who is willing to be your Squire. When they turn level 5, they will become a Shadow Knight. So long as they meet all the other requirements."

James chewed on that, "Good to know. Do you know anything about Astral Space?"

Ignatius raised an eyebrow, "Yes. It is the space between worlds. You want to be careful when travelling there. There are some places where even the gods fear to tread."

"Can the gods travel there?" James asked.

"Most, but not all. Some gods prefer to deal with our world and not interfere with other worlds, especially if those other worlds have their gods. Gods are very territorial, you know."

James continued since Ignatius answered the question quickly, "What do you know about the races of Astral Space."

Ignatius shook his head, "Not much. I know the race you choose is from that place, but I would be hard-pressed to name another race from there. I know you can use Astral Space to travel our world very quickly. Not as fast as teleporting, pretty good otherwise."

James nodded, "It is. Thanks."

Ignatius smiled, "Can I go now?"

James laughed, "Sure, thanks for the chat. It was nice."

Ignatius stood up and looked at James seriously, "It is going to get worse before it gets better, James."

James woke up with a start. He was sitting in the chair, and the fire had burned down low to a bed of embers. His glass had spilt and stained the front of his shirt and ran down to his pants. At least, he hoped the wine made his pants wet.

----------------------------------------

"So, you spoke with Ignatius again," Rocko reiterated for the second time.

"Yes," James agreed.

"And he confirmed that there were at least three gods after us," Rocko continued.

"Yes," James agreed again.

"One major, one minor and one lesser," Rocko clarified.

"You would know better than me. I know of the major one," James confirmed.

"We're Fucked. You know that, right? I mean, Fucked with a capital F."

James chuckled. He had left Glezda's Dungeon early that morning and then used the Astral Anchor to return to Ferdinand's. Now, they were walking through Ash Rumbo towards the warehouse that Ferdinand had set up as a drop-off and pick-up point. He wasn't sure why Ferdinand didn't make the exchange at the house, but all Jones said on the matter is that you don't shit where you sleep. James understood that. The other location James was familiar with was the Guild house, but Jones mentioned it was under surveillance, and they didn't want to draw undue attention to him. So, that left a nondescript warehouse that was more than large enough to store six hummers, and all James had was a small box of poison and a bag of gold.

After James left Ferdinand's, he had made his way into the city and found a quiet tavern to make a quick change. He changed his appearance and clothes and then made his way out of the building. If people knew what he looked like, he needed to make sure not to keep the same face for more than a few days. While continuing to the warehouse, James told Rocko of his chat with Glezda and his dream/chat with Ignatius. Rocko had not been pleased with the notion of three gods having a grudge against Ignatius and taking it out on James.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but we were fucked from day one," James corrected him.

Rocko fumed but didn't argue the point.

"The big question is, what do we do next?" James continued.

Rocko was quiet for a few minutes before suggesting, "I would have to say doing another Dungeon." James groaned at the idea.

"Hear me out." Rocko started. "Dungeons are a great Experience. You get some decent Enchanted items, bringing you closer to Level 20."

"Which is a bad thing," James corrected him.

"Why is it a bad thing?" Rocko asked, confused.

"I am not ready. My Skills are shit. I need to double all of them to be ready for Shadow Lord, and I can't do that if I am getting levels as quickly as I am."

Rocko nodded, "Then what do you suggest?"

"Training. Focused training on specific Skills to increase their level as quickly as possible. Then, when the Skills are where they should be, finish up to level 20." James suggested.

Rocko chewed on the idea for a few minutes before responding, "That is good and bad. It gets you the level in the Skills you need, but it may make you vulnerable to attack from other Champions. Also, we have two Dungeons which haven't been completed yet. There is a major bonus to getting the Dungeon First Title."

"What does that do for me?" James asked.

"Honestly, not that much. But also, a lot. It gives you a bonus to your Ranking among the other Champions. The Challenge has a very complex system to calculate your Ranking. Since you have three Dungeon First, that would give you a decent bump. I would expect that at this time, it probably improved your Ranking by 50 to 60 spots."

James was shocked; he was currently Ranked 751, "Why is my rank so shitty?"

Rocko laughed, "Because you are not doing very well. I suspect about fifty to one hundred Champions are dead. A small group is holed up somewhere with their heads in the sand, and another small group is barely squeaking by. Even with your boost of 75 ranks, you are still behind."

James was not as amused as Rocko, "It is not how you start. It is how you finish."

Rocko sighed, "Joking aside; I agree that you need to improve your Skills. The ideal situation is to have your Level and Skills increase simultaneously."

They had finally arrived at their destination. James stopped by a door and looked down at Rocko, "How do we do that?"

Rocko smiled, "By working your levels outside of Dungeons. But after we clear the next two Dungeons."

James shook his head in disgust as he opened the door, "I hate spiders."