Mira guided Kal further down the hall to another door that led to what Kal assumed used to be the barracks. The room was dull like all the rest, only lit by the floating lights and glowing runes along the walls. There were several rows of beds in the room. These were the first true signs of occupation to Kal. Each of the beds was in various states of organization. Some were made, their sheets neatly tucked in. Others were a mess of scrunched-up sheets and blankets. Kal had assumed the fabrics in this place would have deteriorated by now since it had been at least a hundred years since anyone had been here according to Mira. Kal was going to ask about the people who were once here but he was just too tired right now. He picked one of the made beds and leaned his knife-sword against its side and collapsed into the bed. No more nightmares plea-

Kal was asleep before finishing the thought.

Kal stood atop a burning mountain, its slopes ablaze with white flames. Below on an infinite plane of wasteland, millions of abyss spawn charged toward him and his three friends, no, his three brothers. Kal turned to see a man with golden eyes and hair looking back at him, behind him was a gray skinned man with dark purple eyes and a plain-looking man with a mischievous grin as always.

Kal turned to the golden-eyed man, "Dhinir, have you made any progress with the ritual brother? We cannot allow the Dreadlords access to our domain any longer. Our people are in more danger every day."

Dhinir smiled with all his usual arrogance, "Of course brother, we must only delay them for a few mear decades before our preparations will be complete."

The plain-looking man spoke up next, “When am I going to get a look at this ritual Dhinir? Quotz wants a look too, I’m sure that with her expertise at least we could speed it up a year or two.”

Dhinir frowned, “The Oculus, forced me to accept a soul binding preventing me from showing any other pantheon members. You and Quotz both know this Dhoerin. We don’t need another enemy on top of these foul creatures.”

“Whatever brother, then you can tell Quotz that yourself. She won't get off my back about it,” Dhoerin complained, waving his hands as a pair of celestial glass vials appeared, both glowing with intense light.

“Stop squabbling you two, the enemy comes again,” the third brother said, his voice a quiet hiss.

Kal turned back to the horde of abyss spawn, they had gotten close but they were not what Uton had warned them of. From the churning waves of abyssal flesh, portals erupted from the masses like meat grinders killing hundreds of thousands in the process but from within each of the gorey gateways monstrous arms reached to pull their great bodies onto this plane. It was time to return to the fight, but he would fight for as long as it took to protect his charges.

Kal’s dreams became less coherent but still quite vivid. He walked along a beach beside a sea of infinite stars. Walking beside him was a beautiful woman with pure white hair and almost pearlescent eyes, he didn’t recognize her but he never thought to ask who she was, he felt that he didn’t need to know.

Kal woke slowly but when he finally regained his faculties he felt amazing like this was the first time he had ever truly had a good night's rest. He checked his status to see that of course his resources were all full but something did catch his eye. Below his status was a tab labeled conditions. Kal concentrated on it and a new view appeared with a single entry.

Caretaker’s Blessing

You have been welcomed and blessed by [ERROR] hostess. After a time of rest under the hostess’s protection you will receive a temporary 5% bonus unity to all attributes.

Kal immediately checked his attribute screen.

Kalum Lesta

Status

Class:

Slayer [Epic]

Level:

4

Race:

Human?

Health:

450

Stamina:

630

Wrath:

26

Attributes

Strength:

55

Agility:

26

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Endurance:

63

Vitality:

45

Intellect:

16

Perception:

30

Will:

52

Wisdom:

25

Titles

Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker

Skills

Soul Forge [Corrupt], Wrathful Regeneration [Common]

Race

Birthright: Slumbers

It didn’t look like anything had changed but he definitely felt better in almost every way. He shrugged and looked to the closest rune and asked Mira.

“Oh yes, the bonus granted by resting here improves your unity. An attribute’s unity does not exactly mean increased strength or agility but affects it in more subtle ways. You may find that you use less stamina during combat or that your thoughts are more focused than normal,” Mira replied, seeming quite happy to discuss the condition’s effects.

“Right, since there is a way to temporarily boost my attribute’s unity does that mean I could do it permanently?” Kal asked.

The runes flashed again, “Of course though from my records significant progress in terms of one's unity is slow until after an ascendant's second-class evolution.”

Kal would have to try and judge its effects when he got the chance. Though it might be difficult to do while leveling with his current attribute improvements he would feel stronger with every single fight for a while he suspected.

Kal threw the knife-sword back on his hip and made his way back to the kitchen to grab some more vegetables. There was plenty of meat but he didn't really feel like figuring out how to cook down here just yet so he simply munched on a few more of those carrot-like things and spoke to Mira about the past inhabitants. She didn't know much about the people's culture since she was only created very late during their planet's final years but she knew that they all were incredibly grateful for all that her creator had done for them. Kal listened while she spoke but his thoughts kept drifting back to the dreams he had the night before. He hated Dhinir, well all gods at this point. They had tried to smite him for Abyss’s sake and Dhinir had tried to do something to him and had broken his core in the process, of course, he hated them. But in the dream, he had seen them as brothers and friends. Was it another attempt at manipulating him? Kal didn't think so those dreams were much more… lethal for lack of a better description. The continuation of his dreams after that also led him to believe it was just a strange but normal dream.

After Kal had finished his carrots he turned to one of the runes again, “Is there a way to the top of the plateau from inside here?”

“No, due to the risk of demon assaults my creator was forced to hide this bunker and contain its entrance within an obfuscation field,” Mira replied, her tone apologetic.

“I was able to find it easily enough, and I didn’t even know I was looking for the place. How hasn’t one of those demons found this place already? It’s been centuries right?” Kal asked, honestly confused.

“You are both fortunate and talented to have discovered a path to this bunker. I could tell that you were able to detect the flow of mana within this structure so I assume you were able to follow the flow of mana to this place correct?” Mira asked, her runes glowing a bright green.

Kal shrugged, “Yeah it wasn’t really that hard, it took a while but once I got the hang of it it was easy to see the flow down here.”

“I must disagree with you Kalum Lesta, visualizing atmospheric mana is no easy feat, especially on an abyssal plane. Exotic mana like what is found here would normally take a specialized mage to detect and visualizing it often took years of study. Many would not get that chance, the mana on abyssal planes is lethal to mortals and barely tolerable by the gods. So I have a question for you Kalum Lesta. How do you live?” Mira’s tone changed again. It was subtle but it made Kal’s hair stand on end.

“Uh right, well I think I kind of understand how it could have happened,” Kal muttered.

He discussed his last moments in his home world and the events he experienced upon arriving in the abyss. He didn’t leave anything out, he didn’t see the point. If Mira was going to kick him out he would rather she did it with all the facts. She was most interested in his core construction though she didn’t comment on it directly, but asked many clarifying questions mainly regarding how he forced the hostile mana into a thread.

“I have added our discussion to my records. I see now why perhaps my creator added your name to my records. You are clearly an outlier for a mortal,” Mira’s tone had gone from tense to intrigued very quickly during the discussion. It reminded him of Melisia, “But I must ask, do you understand the possible consequences of your forceful resource manipulation?”

Kal cringed a bit at that, “Well, no. I have no idea. I didn’t really have any options at the time. It seemed that I either do something with the hostile mana or die. So I picked the former.”

“I understand your predicament, but I feel I should warn you in case you find a way to return to your plane against all odds.”

“Do you think it will prevent me from leaving!” Kal said, panicked as the thought came to him.

“No, I’m sure it will not prevent your return but it is likely that there will be severe physical side effects for the duration of your stay on your home plane. However, it is impossible to be sure without prior information on the topic. I have no records of previous successful attempts at using an abyssal planes mana as a resource, though I have records of thousands of failures,” she said, sounding excited about the new information, “would you like me to list some of the past failures?”

Kal grimaced, “Uh, no. Thank you.”

Kal climbed down from his spot atop the giant dining table and stretched his arms and back, “I think it’s time I started exploring this plane and began leveling in earnest, “ Kal smiled at the nearest rune, “Thank you for allowing me to stay here. I will return here to sleep and eat if that is ok.”

“Of course Kalum Lesta, you will always be welcome here. I am sorry that I can not assist you outside of this bunker.”

Kal looked around the barracks for anything to wear but it looked like they didn’t bother storing clothing in this place. Kal guessed that whoever was here probably used their own dimensional storage for such things. Well, he would have to continue shirtless for now so he was as ready as he was going to get. Kal made his way up the annoyingly long staircase back to the darkness of the passages. They felt far less foreboding now that he knew that there was a place of respite within the darkness. Now Kal just needed a way to get to the top of the plateau, of course, there was no easy option. Not that he could see anything outside the radius of the light and strange anti-mana pillar. Kal spent a moment activating his mana sight and finally ventured back out into the darkness. The oppressive feeling of the passages returned immediately the moment he exited the pillar but he continued deeper into the now torrent of foul mana until he found the stone wall of the clearing he was in. Kal took off his sword and sheath and secured it over his back to keep it out of the way of his legs as he prepared himself to climb the stone wall.