To say Kyrion awoke feeling a bit peckish would be like saying that a category five hurricane was just a minor storm. Kyrion was starving. So much so that he began to consider the taste of fried hobgoblin before his mind snapped together.

“Ceres!” Kyion coughed. He was covered in quite a few bandages.

“Right here master.” Ceres wheezed on a cot parallel to his.

“Bless the stars.” Kyrion looked up at the stone ceiling.

“Our regeneration ability grew suddenly. If it hadn’t I might have been more injured. It was very close. But we did it. Glad to see that they couldn’t get you. People on the surface think you’re dead. We also missed the court date. Apparently you’ve been out for a week.”

Kyrion consumed a white berry and took a deep refreshing breath.

“Much better... Wait a week? I missed Brion’s cake day!” Kyrion got to his feet too quickly and felt his legs give out. His body hit the floor soon after.

“Master!” Ceres tried to move to pick him up, but she wasn’t in a much better state either. “How bad is it, Ceres?” Kyrion looked up at his friend restrained in a full body cast.

“You’ll need to re break and set one of my wings, and some of my organs were destroyed. I won’t be able to move much until I can fully repair those. I’ll need to get a check up when we get back. I also won’t fight unless I have to.”

“Lucky you.” Kyrion got to his knees and attempted to. Call a whole roasted boar from his domain.

“Master?”

“I feel lightheaded. I can’t use magic, no thats not it. My body is low on magic. Need to eat something quick.”

“You used quite a bit. You need to get to the surface and start absorbing mana as fast as you can to refill your stores. There isn’t enough in the air here to sustain your pool.”

“Great. So who’s carrying us?” Kyrion asked.

And right on time, a large hobgoblin with a pot on its head as a helmet and a large two-handed ladle in its grasp approached Kyrion. “Ah yes Chef.”

“It’s Cook, Walter Cook, to be exact. This one greets the great Odin.”

“Uh huh. Well Mr.Cook, do you require my presence? I am not in the mood for any hot butter bathes if you catch my drift.” Kyrion smiled as his threat was stated.

“I apologize for my insolence. I did not understand what you were.”

Kyrion didn’t know what he was, so he changed the subject.

“You can do me a favor then. Find me, Atimn and all will be forgiven.”

“Shall I carry you to your throne or help you back to your bed.”

“One such as I, needs no assistance getting to their feet. Hip hip. I don’t have all day.” Kyrion summoned his favorite staff and was relieved that it appeared. However, the pain that hit him when he used his magic hurt quite a bit, and he winced.

“You ok?”

“Why are you still here, Mr.Cook.” Kyrion used his staff to get to his feet and took a few practice steps. He felt closer to the ground though that could have more to do with him being hunched over. Walking felt a bit hard at the moment, but he could do it with his staff’s assistance.

“I’ll go.” Cook left the room.

Kyrion sighed. “How long till you can move out of that cast?”

“Later tonight. They went a bit overboard wrapping me up and I’m not strong enough to break out on my own yet.”

“Got it.” Kyrion stumbled out of the makeshift roofless room he was in.

“Hey. You need to go back to sleep.”

A white-haired woman with a clipboard scowled at him. “I just need some food and I’ll be good as new.” Kyrion stated.

“Are you sure? We don’t have anything you surface dwellers will call edible.”

“You have butter.” Kyrion eyed the woman.

“It’s closer to a type of lard and it isn’t exactly delicious once you figure out what it’s made of.” “Try me.”

“It’s made from a type of insect larva that has fermented before preparations are made to make it more palatable. It’s made from the unhatched nest of a mother, Gigaroach.” Kyrion had eaten bugs. It didn’t mean he enjoyed them, but they were full of protein, and he needed that to rebuild the parts that still felt broken.

“Where can I eat this mother Gigaroach?” Viole shivered. Kyrion waited a moment before starting over. “Where can I find the mother Gigaroach?”

“You don’t eat the gigaroach. The Gigaroach eats you. They make the golem you fought earlier look weak and they leave their nests everywhere. If we didn’t eat them then they’d spread here.”

“Ok. So I need to eat the larva to regain my energy.” Kyrion stated. “If you can stomach it then go ahead.” Viole led Kyrion to a mess hall where a pungent smell almost made him sick.

Viole sat him down before getting a plate of odd white, almost see-through eggs. “Now go on. Eat up.” Viole watched Kyrion with contempt.

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“You don’t like me very well. Not that I mind. It’s better that way.” Kyrion popped one of the white things in his mouth and let out a cry as it tasted much worse than the area smelled. But it gave him a jolt that seemed to revive his nearly empty core. The jolt then turned into a type of shredding as two forces in his body began to fight. The new thing getting shredded almost immediately.

“How was it?” Viole asked with an odd look in her eye.

“Effective but never again. Disgusting.”

“You don’t feel any different?” Viole asked questioningly.

“Why? Did you do something to the food?” Kyrion asked, adjusting his staff so he could flip the table over if necessary.

“No. The larva made me sick the first time I ate one. Didn’t feel the quite the same afterwards.”

“Is that so?” Kyrion didn’t eat anymore, his intuition telling him something was off.

“Must not have much of an appetite. I heard you could eat a lot.”

“I’ll be fine. We leave in 5 hours. So what’s with your numbers?” Kyrion glanced at the spot where the tattoo he had glimpsed earlier had been. “What are you talking about?” Viole seemed to grow agitated.

“You know, the numbers, 84653.”

Viole drew a hand cannon and pointed it at Kyrion. “That’s none of your business!”

“No, it isn’t, but I’m sure your master wouldn’t want me dead,” Kyrion said calmly, analyzing the familiar weapon in Viole’s clutches.

“If I kill you now it’s over. All of this torture will be over. Icaron will…”

A shadow shot out from across the room, grabbing the shadow of Viole’s arm and moving it to the side. This caused Viole to mirror the action. As Viole fell, Kyrion launched forward and tapped the girl on the side of her head, cutting off circulation and putting her into a temporary coma.

“You can just poke people to death now. Why didn’t you do that to me?” Atimn asked, quite irritated. “She isn’t dead.”

“That makes it worse. You were beating me half to death. I almost met her lady personally quite a few times.”

“It isn’t anything to write home about.” Kyrion shrugged.

“The beating or me almost meeting the goddess? Because that sounds like blasphemy.”

“She’s near practitioner rank in physical strength, I knew how much pressure I needed. You my friend are squishy, I had to find your breaking point before knocking you out.”

“So… That was you trying not to kill me with one hit.” Atimn walked and examined the unconscious girl.

“If you didn’t stab my shadow the first time it would have been simple.” Kyrion shook his head, both of his palms up.

“You’re saying I did that to myself.” Atimn said as he took the cannon from Viole and curiously pointed it at the wall before pulling the trigger. A red ball shaped like a wolf’s maw shot out of the cannon and hit the wall causing an explosion that left a wolf-shaped crater in the wall.

“Paritaly. But you weren’t in the right mind. Some patients need to be physically restrained.” Kyrion seemed unbothered.

“Why don’t you seem surprised by this amount of destruction?” Atimn looked at the cannon and then at the unconscious Viole. Then, he took a few steps away.

“It’s not the strongest cannon but it is made to be held in a hand. So this is where Cecil’s technology had been brought after the captain paid for it. She must have built this after taking apart his work. Pretty smart, despite her stupid decisons.”

Kyrion threw Viole over his shoulders before his soreness caught up, and he almost fell back. Atimn took that as a sign he needed help, and the two carried the unconscious girl to the medical tent.

“Kyrion what happened?”

“We had to double team Viole.” Kyrion said, gasping for air.

“Don’t say it like that.” Atimn scowled. “She’s with the empire. The beast one….” Kyrion and Atimn lifted Viole onto a bed, and the red-haired boy pulled out a syringe, which was injected into the unconscious figure.

“With that she should be out for three more days, that needle had enough vitamins to keep her healthy for that time which is very generous given that she tried to kill me.” Kyrion stated.

“Yeah with this thing.” Atimn held up the cannon.

Ceres laughed. Kyrion laughed.

Atimn shook his head with worry. “Didn’t you see what this did to the wall?”

“Tim? That isn’t a weapon. I can see why you think that, but it’s a specialty mining laser. It looks intimidating and is entirely impractical given what it shoots out, but… Shoot me and see what happens.

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can get….”

“Master, you are weaning my cloak….”

Atimn shot Kyrion, and the wolf passed through him and hit them all, leaving Kyrion primarily alone. His clothes had been all but destroyed.

Atimn. Looked down at the giant’s lack of a skirt and quickly turned around.

“Its a weapon that destroys nonliving material. It’s a tool for gem mining with some special runes in place that make it pass harmelsy through living material.”

“I don’t need an explanation just put on some pants.”

“Well I can’t. Access to my mana is very limited. Find Atimn and ask if he and the oher hovs can find me something.”

“Huh?” Atimn partially turned around before remembering.

“What’s with him?” Ceres asked.

“He’s just a bit shy. I don’t know why though.” Kyrion put his hands on his hips and laughed.

“Listen. Why are you looking for me?”

“Atimn knows the way out. Is what Imala said.”

“Imala. The goddess told you I knew the way out?” “If you are Atimn then yes. Now go.”

“Kyr. If you think I’m going to leave you alone with two young women in that position, you’re dumber than I thought.”

“Ah, right. Nicole was always quite shy when it came to stuff like that. Lead the way.” Kyrion rolled his eyes.

On the way to the trap room, Kyrion was graciously given a black armored beetle shell skirt which seemed to calm Atimn down quite a bit. The trap room stood in front of Kyrion, and Atimn, who was going to lead the way forward, soon found himself over Kyrion’s shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“This place is trapped so I’m skipping to the end.”

The red-haired boy bent his legs and leaped across the room, traveling forty feet forward. Landing in a crouch to evade the arrows that passed over him. Atimn screaming all the while. The door opened, and Kyrion carried Atimn in.

“Huh that was easy.” “What was that?” Atimn asked. “The difference between a fledgling and a practitioner.” Kyrion stretched, his blood finally flowing correctly again. “That isn’t an answer.”

“It is. Build your body up a bit more and you could do stuff like that. When you hit a practitioner. Eventually. Maybe. You’re kinda scrawny.” Kyrion stood still and looked around, eventually eying the unopened chest.

Atimn stayed silent.

“You didn’t open this.” Krion kicked the chest.

“How do you know?” “It’s still sealed. I thought you were a thief.” Kyrion raised an eyebrow. “I’m more of a free agent. More of an acquisitions expert if you will. I don’t just take it because I’m greedy. People hire me to find stuff for them. It just so happens from time to time said lost or missing items are in the hands of someone they don’t belong to and I correct these mistakes.”

“Are you an orphan?” Kyrion scowled as he asked.

“No. But my mother was a servant of Imala. She’s a nun in charge of an orphanage, the other kids are kinda like my siblings.”

“Your father?” Kyrion asked.

“Don’t know the bastard and don’t care to. He clearly isn’t donating any money.” Atimn turned away.

“I see. Well you’re lucky in your own way. You get half of whatever’s in here.” “Only half? I could have looted the entire place.”

“But you didn’t. Do you love your country Atimn?” Kyrion seemed to smile.

“Of course.” The goateed young man said sharply. “So you won’t leave it even after all the drama you have seen?”

“I can’t because my family is here.” Atimn said.

“What if they could go with you?” Kyrion asked.

“It’s not the best place, but it’s home. I won’t abandon it.” Atimn stated.

“I see. Well that’s a shame.” Kyrion pulled a flower out of thin air and winced.

“What is that?” Atimn asked.

Kyrion just smirked.