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The sore throat never happened, mainly thanks to the pranites that worked tirelessly to fix Vir’s body—a luxury he’d still not quite grown accustomed to.

Unlike the tall skyscraper where Vir had first told Ashani of the outside world, this time, she’d taken him to another spot—a location on the very outskirts of the city.

The Mahādi Realm’s periphery was… bizarre, to say the least. Its land extended in all directions, yet where the city itself had buildings, all that remained outside was a wasteland of nothingness, ravaged by lightning and covered in soot. Nothing grew there. It was a perfectly flat, infinite expanse devoid of any features.

“I once ventured out, soon after the fall, millennia ago,” Ashani narrated, gazing wistfully off into the distance. “After three full days of travel, I happened upon another city. I have no words for my excitement at the time—perhaps others were alive. Perhaps some had survived the Fall. Maybe we could rebuild, together…”

“I assume it was abandoned?”

“As abandoned as Mahādi,” Ashani said wryly. “The buildings became more and more familiar as I drew closer, and a sense of wrongness assaulted me. It wasn't another city at all. It was Mahādi. I thought I may have gotten turned around, but no. I approached from the opposite end of the city from which I’d departed. ‘Tis as if this realm is its own, tiny globe, and I’d traversed it to end back where I’d started.”

“I think I can relate,” Vir said, thinking back to his time in the Ash.

“Oh?” Ashani asked with a raised brow. “You encountered a similar phenomenon?”

“Think so, yeah,” Vir replied. “Cirayus and I would often wander through the Ash for days, only to come across the same landmarks we’d already passed. It’s why no demon has ever mapped the Ash. It changes, for one, but even if it didn’t, it seems like reality is somehow broken inside, making navigation nearly impossible without an Artifact.”

Once again, Vir had to wonder how Artifacts designed to cross the Ash came into being. There had been only a single realm before the fall, and after, who had survived to create such things?

Janak, for one, Vir thought darkly. He looked back at the center of the city, where Wyrms circled its many tall spires. I have to learn more about him. About his goals.

It was becoming increasingly clear that Janak had some sort of plan. What that was eluded Vir, but he was now certain there was some plan. And for some nagging reason, Vir had a sneaking feeling something terrible would come to pass if he failed to uncover it in time.

He shrugged off the feeling. If there was a threat, it could be centuries or millennia away. This was just unsubstantiated fear, and he squashed it in favor of a fear that was far more palpable.

They had been here for hours, with Vir bringing Ashani up to date on his travels. Several times, he’d considered broaching the topic of her Ash Gates, and several times, he’d failed to muster the courage. Either she’d ask a question, or Vir would have some other detail to tell her, which would launch them into another long discussion. Somehow, Vir allowed his fear to win every time.

“What is it?” Ashani asked.

“What do you mean?” Vir replied, flustered.

“You’ve been trying to say something ever since we got here,” Ashani said with a knowing smile. “You know you can say anything to me, yes? I shan’t judge.”

Vir’s lip curled up at her unusual choice of word. And at her perceptiveness. “I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

Ashani patted her chest proudly. “I am supposed to be a goddess, aren’t I? This feels like the sort of thing a goddess ought to be able to do.”

“Well, I give you top marks,” Vir said with a laugh.

“So?” Ashani said, smile fading. “What is it?”

Vir thought of giving her some excuse, but he’d had quite enough of skirting around the bush. The time had come to tell her.

“It’s regarding something I want to test,” Vir said cautiously. “Can you create an Ash Gate for me? It doesn’t matter where it goes. I just want to see it.”

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“Of all the things…” Ashani trailed off. “Of course, I can. I am curious to see where this goes, but Ashani knows patience.”

There it is again, Vir thought wryly. That inflection…

He didn’t bother correcting her. Both out of a desire not to interrupt her concentration as she cast her spell, and because he honestly didn’t mind it. Quite the opposite, really.

Ashani planted her rod onto the rooftop, and an Ash Gate materialized.

Vir observed the process with his undivided attention. Unlike his own power, there was no creation of an unstable Ash Tear, before subsequent stabilization into a Gate. Ashani simply willed a fully stabilized Gate into existence.

There was one thing that struck him, though. The creation of the Gate involved a massive surge of prana—not from the surroundings, but from Ashani’s prana core. Sustaining the gate required much less from her, but still drained her.

“How have you managed to keep Gates open for so long when it consumes that much prana?” Vir asked.

Ashani gave him a small smile. “It is quite tiring, I admit. Thankfully, my core has plenty of reserves.”

Vir knew all too well just how much prana Ashani’s power cores could store. It’d taken him weeks of channeling as rapidly as possible to just partially fill them. And that was with channeling the absurd levels of prana only found in this realm. Levels that would have killed him, had it not been for her intervention.

Which served as yet another reminder for why Vir couldn’t fail. Forgetting about her power, or the fact that both realms would prostrate in front of a living being from the Age of Gods… Ashani was a friend. A friend who’d saved Vir’s life. A friend who deserved better than this blighted cage of a realm she was trapped within.

Vir frowned in concentration. No matter what, he’d overcome this hurdle. He’d bring her back and show her the world. Maybe it wasn’t quite the world she’d once known, and maybe she’d think it a pale imitation. It didn’t matter. She deserved to see it.

Focusing on the Ash prana fueling the Gate, Vir extended his palm to the portal’s surface.

“Be careful!” Ashani warned.

“I’ll be fine,” Vir said. “I want to try something. Can you… reduce the amount of prana you feed the Gate?”

“Of course… Though if I do, it will destabilize. It will become unsafe.”

“I know,” Vir said, feeling his pulse quicken. “That’s fine. Great, actually.”

“Very well,” Ashani said uncertainly. “Though, I fail to see where you are going with this.”

Vir cracked a small smile. “That’s fine. It’ll all become clear.”

If it works, he didn’t add. He refused to give Ashani a false sense of hope until he knew for absolute certain that this gambit would succeed.

The Gate destabilized the moment Ashani pulled back her prana. Too much.

Before Vir could react, it winked out of existence.

Ashani blinked at Vir, no doubt expecting something of him.

With slumped shoulders, he turned and faced the goddess. “Would you mind doing that again? Just, maybe don’t reduce your prana output as much this time.”

“Oh,” Ashani replied, frowning slightly. “My apologies.”

“No, I’m the one who ought to apologize. I should’ve clarified.”

“Not at all, it is I who was at fault—” Ashani began, before Vir put up a hand, cutting her off.

“We’ll be here all day if we let this continue.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Ashani said with a chuckle. “Very well. I shall reform the Gate. Ensure you’re ready this time?”

She said it teasingly, but Vir activated Haste, just in case.

This time, Ashani reduced her output only slightly, and with the slowed time, Vir had plenty of opportunity to inject his own prana.

The Gate re-stabilized. An expected result, considering their prana was of the same affinity. As far as he knew, they were the only sapient beings in any realm to possess Ash affinity. That was the easy part. The difficulty had yet to come.

“Okay,” Vir said. “I think I have a handle on it. Keep decreasing your prana output, but do it slowly.”

“I… Understood,” Ashani said, her voice breaking slightly. Though naive in some areas, she was an incredibly intelligent being. The finest creation of the ones mortals called gods. Vir knew she understood where he was going with this.

Ashani backed off her prana flow, and as she did, Vir ramped up his own, until the Gate was entirely stabilized by him.

By him… and by the ambient prana.

“I don’t understand,” Ashani breathed, carefully approaching the barrier. She reached a hand out tentatively. As if the Gate would swallow her whole.

When it didn’t, and her hand passed through without issue, she turned to regard Vir. Tears streaked down her cheeks.

“How?”

Vir took a moment to re-center himself. Dizziness assaulted him, though it wasn't prana starvation or other any ailment. It was the sudden and instant lifting of the burden of responsibility that had weighed upon him ever since he’d left Ashani behind in this godsforsaken realm.

“It’s the prana,” he said, after a few deep breaths. “The ambient prana sustains the Gate. I don’t know why I can harness it and you can’t, but when I create Gates, they sustain themselves… Unless the ambient density is too low. Then, they slowly decay, but even that takes weeks, usually.”

“Do you know what this means?” Ashani said, walking hesitantly up to him. Her tears continued to flow unabated down her cheeks. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

Vir cracked a smile. “It means you’re no longer trapped, Ashani.

“Years ago, I asked you to join me. I said I’d show you the world outside. I can finally hold true to that promise.” Vir extended his hand. “Come with me. Come to the Demon Realm. I’ll show you what this world has become. It may not impress you. But I assure you it’s so much better than here. At least… At least you won’t be alone.”

Ashani stared at Vir’s hand, her face screwed up in anguish. “I…”

Dread filled Vir’s veins. She’d refuse. He knew it. For what reason, he couldn’t fathom, but she was about to—

“I accept!”

Vir froze.

The smile that adorned the goddess’s face at that moment outshone even the sun itself. It was perhaps the most beautiful sight Vir had ever seen. It was so pure… So innocent.

For the rest of his days, Vir would never forget that smile. For it was the smile of divinity.