“I still do not understand why we must inform Sindra, Myles.”

“If we don’t report this to her, someone might abuse it.”

Monsters couldn’t enter Runner’s Plaza. That was a rule of safe areas. They were meant to be safe places to rest and provided a haven from attack. However, it seemed that monsters born in a safe area didn’t suffer the same restrictions. If Myles could reform slimes, who’s to say someone wouldn’t bring some regenerating monster piece back as a trophy without knowing it?

“It hinders you though.”

The [Monster Tamer] just shrugged.

“In theory, it does,” Myles admitted as they continued their trip, passing by the fountain and a few groups of adventurers. “But what’s worse? Being hindered or being dead?”

The monsterkin was silent for a time as she considered his words. “One leads to the other.”

“Maybe, but you can’t defend yourself in your sleep.”

“Then you haven’t trained hard enough.”

Myles couldn’t argue with that, but then again, he didn’t want to ever be that trained. Sleep was something he always enjoyed when he could get it, and it seemed like a blasphemy to ruin one of the few pleasures that everyone in the dungeon had. Myles shook his head at the thought. It just wasn’t right.

As they walked, something new caught Myles’s attention. There was a new, but very familiar, building down the road to his left, capping the end of the road where there hadn’t been any earlier. The sun had just passed its apex, so what was the harm in a little detour to the new Pantheon’s Keep?

Myles hadn’t had much time to explore the city as it grew, but it had grown steadily each day. This street, which he still didn’t know the name of, was mostly other runner’s residents until now. When he first entered the city, the left had been for runners, the right had been for shops, straight ahead led to the larger homes, and then further out from there was the lake. It was still the same as it had been, but with that in mind, it made sense that the gods and goddesses would be with the Runners rather than the shops.

Ashra’s thoughts didn’t skitter this time as they came to groups of people. To Myles, she felt more confident in her position, or maybe he was confusing that with the fact she just wasn’t as worried about being attacked as she once was. It seemed everyone was going to the Pantheon’s Keep this morning.

“Myles! Good to see you!”

Everyone.

Myles stopped, and Ashra temporally froze as a familiar, though significantly less pissed off voice, came from their left. Myles felt Ashra tense, and he came close to drawing his dagger as Pecca, the [Rogue] from the forest, materialized out of seeming nothingness.

“He will die!” Ashra snapped mentally.

No, he won’t, Myles ordered, his authority in the matter surprising him. Don’t provoke him. You couldn’t hurt him here anyways.

Myles could feel her hesitation, but across their link, he felt Ashra back down from her bloodlust, if only just.

Pecca smiled as a snake might as he looked over Myles and then Ashra. “I see that monster you traded for is doing well. Legs heal alright?”

Myles put on his best face, the one reserved for customers that refused to believe he was in charge when his father was out. “Ashra is doing well. She’s back in fighting shape and has been better than I could have hoped for.”

He gave her the once over, like a butcher examining a hunk of meat for marbling before he answered. “A steal, I’d say. Should have charged you more.”

“Maybe, but what’s done is done,” Myles said curtly. “I see you’re still wearing those gloves I found.”

“They look good, don’t they?” he asked, showing off the slight sheen of the leather. “Best of all, they go with my eyes.”

Myles groaned at the poor attempt of a joke, but he noticed that wasn’t all they went with.

In addition to the gloves, the [Rogue] also had a new cape and cowl, a new vest, and new boots. In comparison to what Myles wore now, Pecca looked like a prince of thieves.

“I see you found more than just that.”

“It’s simple when you know where. Speaking of, I found a way to even those scales.”

Myles raised a brow. “Even the scales?”

“You know, since Marcus and I undercharged you…”

Myles held up his hand, ending the conversation. “No thanks. The ledger is balanced in my opinion. You left me with an injured companion that I had to nurse back to health, pay a healer for, and equip. If anything, you owe me.”

Pecca grinned in a way that made Myles feel slightly uneven. “All the more reason then, friend.”

“We’re not friends.”

“But we can be,” Pecca pushed. “You can recoup your losses by helping Marcus and me with a small favor. Runner to Runner, you see?”

Pecca was being too pushy, too eager… something had to be rotten.

How does he smell, Ashra?

Myles could hear a subtle sniff beside him as Ashra did as he asked.

“He does not.”

Like blood?

“Like anything.”

That couldn’t bode well for them.

“Not sure if you heard, but we already have a party. We’re already making a name for ourselves, taking out dungeons too,” Myles said, dismissing the [Rogue]. “If you want us to join up with Marcus, I can take your request into consideration before shoving it back up your ass as far as my hand can reach. It’ll take some time to process after that, but…”

Pecca dropped the facade of kindness and let a fire kindle behind his eyes as he spoke in hushed, angry tones. “Now listen here, you pile of sket. I’m offering you a chance to…”

“You think I haven’t seen a hustle before?” Myles asked, locking eyes with the man that couldn’t be a year or two his senior.

For his part, Pecca was doing a lot to control his temper, more than he’d seen from the bakery’s higher-end clients. He took a deep breath, sighed, and spoke again. “Look, Myles. I’d consider it a personal favor if you did this. If this is about what happened with your monster…”

“No, it’s about you trying to make it seem like this is payment for something that doesn’t have to be paid for,” Myles said bluntly as a crowd began to gather. “I may not like what Ashra’s told me, but I’ll admit that some of it makes sense. I can’t blame you for attacking her, but it doesn’t change our places. We have a team we are working with. Ashra doesn’t want to work with you, and personally, I don’t like being shaken down for everything I have.” Adding bitterly, “You even took my emberstone.”

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“Hey, you gave it up,” Pecca said, holding his hands up.

“In exchange for not being killed later,” Myles reminded him.

Pecca made a dismissive noise. “I never said I’d kill you…”

“You heavily implied that I’d regret it.”

“That doesn’t mean I’d kill you.”

“And that doesn’t make it any better.”

Pecca grunted, waving a hand as if pushing a foul smell away. “I see our wounds are…”

“Ample words,” Ashra said, gaining a stern look from Myles.

Pecca ignored her and began again.

“I see our wounds are still too fresh to forget the past. Either way, I’ll take your words as you’ll think about it. The offer stands for our raid.” With that, Pecca began to walk away, slowly fading from sight with each step as his body began to grow more translucent with each step before suddenly snapping back into reality. “Oh, and you can bring your party with you. We’ll need at least ten to deal with what we found.”

That piqued Myles's interest enough to consider the offer and enough time for Pecca to vanish into the shadows.

For a time, the two stood there on guard despite being in the heart of the Runner’s power in the dungeon. What the Mists could Pecca and Marcus have found that made them come to him of all people? Someone they’d figuratively robbed at blade’s edge. There were literally hundreds of other Runners here.

Ashra shared the thought with him, but her emotions were more like Kendra’s as she stared off where Pecca had gone. She wanted revenge in all manners of the word, but Myles’s temperament did wonders for her. It was a strange feeling as her burning anger flowed across the link and attempted to mingle with his stoic anger. Ashra had never used the link like that before, and Myles had never thought to try it, but his will was absolute. With nothing to feed on, her anger eventually calmed.

When the two were calm once more, Myles took a step forward and began their trip again. Ashra followed after Myles, one step behind the [Monster Tamer].

“I am not sure what happened.”

It isn’t hard to sympathize.

She said nothing else, just sending a feeling of apology as they reached the opening of the Pantheon’s Keep. Like all the other temples Myles had seen in his time, it was the largest structure around and easily the grandest, large enough to hold a small village inside but majestic enough that no one would ever consider doing it.

Walking into the hallowed halls sent a small shiver down Myles’s spine. His family had never asked the Pantheon for anything. Going back to his father’s father’s father, at least as Maximus told it, Lochlan Chase believed that hard work would always trump miracles and one-time favors. Sure, Myles believed that they existed, but he just didn’t feel like he mattered to them enough to devote himself to one. Sure, his parents had been married by a [Priestess] of Dawn, but that was a little different than worship. Still, he couldn’t help but look at the artistic renditions of the Pantheon of Seven, each in their own alcoves and heads taller than Myles.

The first, as always in the temples to the Pantheon, were the neutral aspects of the Seven represented first by Tella, Time’s Guardian. He was an old elf with a long, curled beard in this temple, though he was just as often a younger one with a muscular frame depending on the region. Crafted from some white stone, the god wore a simple robe and carried a sharpened scythe. From the weapon, different keepers of time hung. From the distance, Myles could see an hourglass, a marked candle, an aether clock, a wound pocket watch, and a few other methods he couldn’t identify. That wasn’t the impressive part. No, what impressed Myles the most was how each of the timepieces worked. They all kept time with one another as if synced to the power of time itself.

Next came his ally’s goddess, Rani, Goddess of the Moon, carved of softly glowing, gray-white stone. Rani was one of the few Beastkin of the Pantheon. She was usually depicted as a Rabbitkin with long, white ears, hair of starlight, and a long, flowing robe marked in intricate patterns. She carried no weapons, but she was never seen without her shield at her side and an instrument, this time a flute, in hand. In this temple, the builder even remembered her helpers, the Moonkin. He’d heard stories about them, but never seen them depicted. Just like the stories said, they were small children, no different from their goddess, and carrying instruments of their own — a lute, a flute, and a tambourine in this case. She was said to be the more chaotic of the two, granting boons only for them to backfire and teach a valuable lesson.

The third was Vul the Farseeing, the prankster oracle goddess. Vul’s face was never seen, but she wore a fox mask to hide from all the other members of the Pantheon, the Beyonders, and the Starfallen alike. She was the only one that had no defined features other than her feminine curves and nine ethereal tails. Sometimes, she had long hair. Sometimes, she had missing limbs. Sometimes, she was also depicted dressed in countless scrolls to show her knowledge. Every nation, kingdom, and region seemed to see her differently. Despite her universal shifting, Vul was almost exclusively worshiped by the Beastkin clans and [Oracle]-adjacent Classes. Oddly enough, she was thought of as a Korgan rather than a Foxkin due to her overwhelmingly diverse, unique powers.

Then came those that were considered the light aspects of the Pantheon: Dawn of the Lifewell, and Talia the Pure. There was quite the crowd gathering here, so Myles couldn’t see the statue of Dawn, but he knew she was usually depicted as a fae and that her statue was never larger than the fae themselves. Dawn represented the aspects of rebirth, life itself, and pure love, so she was quite popular with most houses.

Talia the Pure was a warrior goddess. Defender of the Races was a common title given to her, and the stories always told about how she slew monsters and Beastkin alike to protect the humans, elves, and dwarves in their infancy. Representing protection and safety, it wasn’t hard to imagine she was popular as well; however, Myles noted none of the Korgan or Beastkin were anywhere near her.

Resting against the back wall were the two considered to be the most dangerous of the Seven: Eventide, God of Trials and Oblivia of the End. Eventide had always been one that interested Myles. The god had no form itself, and the statue here was that of a many-faceted sphere cut from a rainbow. The deity was said to appear in a puzzling shape when it did appear and was still the most active of the Pantheon in the day-to-day lives of the world. At least, people claimed as much. Eventide was famous for sending people on trials and quests for the betterment of all, but to take a quest from the enigmatic deity was paramount to signing a death sentence for all but a handful throughout history. There was even a rumor that Eventide was the source of the Grand Dungeons, but no one could ever prove it. It would fall in line with legends though.

As he came to the last, Myles felt a shiver shoot up his spine, a fear that he couldn’t place as he looked upon the obsidian sculpture of Oblivia. Due to her immense power, Oblivia was sometimes thought of as a universal force rather than a goddess. She was the End, the finale, the inevitable individual where all mortals and even the gods would one day journey. She represented the void in all things. She was the end of waking, the end of sound, the end of creation, and the pure adulterated finish, equally revered and feared, loved and lamented, and Myles had never been this close to anything so beautiful but so frightening.

The Seven were the most worshiped deities, but Myles noticed quickly that they weren’t all there was to this temple. To the left and right of the back wall were two doors leading further in. Myles was about to explore further when he felt a tug at his consciousness. He turned back and saw Ashra looking back to the front of the room.

“May I stay?” the monsterkin asked as she felt his attention shift.

Using her voice rather than their link took him off guard but only for a moment. He may not worship, but he wouldn’t deny another. Besides, what trouble could she get into? Opening his inventory and handing her a silver, he nodded. “Rani prefers silver offerings, right?”

She gave him a shallow bow of thanks in reply. “I will wait for you here unless called.”

“I’d expect nothing else, Ashra.”

They parted ways, and Myles went further in. The hallway went deeper than it should have, lined on either side by softly glowing mana stones. As he reached the other end of the hall and stepped into the next room, Myles froze.

The gods weren’t the only deities here.

Beyond the Pantheon of Seven’s domain, Myles came face to face with the Twelve Outsiders, the Starfallen, and other, stranger creatures lining the back wall. Myles took a moment to catch his breath. What madman built a temple and included the Starfallen? The Outsiders weren’t unheard of, but the Starfallen?

Only willing to push his beliefs so far, Myles turned back, ready to leave, when he noticed there was one that stood taller than the rest and had an alcove as grand as the Seven themselves.

There before Myles was the first among the Outsiders, Mournsong.

Unlike the others standing proper and dignified, Mournsong was sitting at his table set for the heroes of old, holding a mug of ale, and laughing with the mirth of a child or a rather far-gone drunk.

The life-like appearance made Myles smile, and for a moment, he regretted never hearing the stories of Mournsong. He knew little of him, just what most people did. Mournsong was an ally to the Seven, but when the Starfallen had been defeated, refused to join them, preferring to continue the fight and prepare for the next conflict that may never come. The way that the room was set up made Myles think that it wasn’t an accident.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? To see Mournsong here like this with the Betrayers and Outsiders?”

Myles didn’t exactly jump, but he was really getting tired of people sneaking up on him. Thankfully, he knew that voice, but it didn’t make things any easier. Myles turned to his right and saw a woman with long red hair, dressed in a simple green sun dress complete with white, runic trim, an over-sized straw sun hat, and a far too gleeful smile.

“Sindra, right?” Myles asked, knowing full well the answer.

“Got it in one!”