After another two and a half weeks in the Mirage Fields fighting nearly nonstop, Leland, Glenny, and Jude each hit their goals. Jude was the first, achieving rank twenty with each of his Legacy abilities. While waiting for the others to catch up, he and Jude Two practiced the “Song of Battle,” as they decided to call it.

Occasionally Jude worked with his mom and touched upon a basic aspect of time. Diana classified it simply by helping him understand that time was man made and subjective. This, of course, went over Jude’s head like a bird soaring high in the sky. Lucia and Spencer were brought in to help, them being the resident mages after all.

In the end, a metaphor helped Jude understand. “Time is a thief.” Time steals moments from man, and defending those moments from theft interferes with time.

How did this correlate to being a time warrior? Jude didn’t know, only that his mom and Lucia forced him to light and relight a candle again and again until he figured… something out. By the time Leland caught up and achieved rank twenty in all of his non maxed-out Legacy abilities, the only thing Jude understood was that he didn’t need mana to augment time.

How did he know this? Well, that was simple. The Berserker Legacy didn’t provide any mana whatsoever, yet his mom had made the candle flame revert. She had only done it once and had yet to figure out how, but she had messed with time enough that the candle had never been lit.

“When you visit the Dream Realm and speak with the Berserker Lord, make sure to ask about—”

“I know, mom,” Jude had replied when she failed to recreate the effect.

Diana pursed her lips. “I know you know. Sometimes you forget things…”

“Mom!”

“I can’t help that it is true.” She looked around and leaned in. “I think you get it from your father,” she whispered.

From that day onward until each of the boys had finished ranking their abilities, Diana reminded Jude not to forget about the candle.

Leland and Glenny kept telling him to just sleep and get the Dream Ceremony over with, but Jude insisted on the three of them doing it at the same time.

“It’s a solidarity thing,” Jude said, which the others just couldn’t argue with as they would probably do the exact same if they were in his shoes.

Leland finished next.

Fracture is now rank 20.

Crow Massacre is now rank 20.

Curse of Collapse is now rank 20.

Harbinger Halo is now rank 20.

Circle of Souls is now rank 20.

Curse of Collapse, of course, took the longest to progress, and not for a lack of trying. As it turned out, being able to kill large groups of enemies near instantly was a detriment to the curse that didn’t provide any offensive threat. Sure, slowing a monster was great and all, but Leland had primarily used it as a defensive tool.

In the end, his dad opened a portal to a sand prowler, a four legged speedster of a beast. Continuously cursing the monster, and its mirage, with Curse of Collapse while flying over its head gave the boost he needed.

Since Lodestar’s evolution, Leland had been hesitant to actually summon the parasitic weapon. He had yet to speak to the Lord of Souls like the weapon suggested and opted to wait until his Legacy evolved to speak with the Lord of Curses. If the weapon was trying to trick him, she would know.

That didn’t stop him from contacting other Lords and creating contracts with them.

Cursed contract of the Lord of the Lexicon:

Use: As a passive effect, all known languages translate directly in your mind to your most fluent language.

Return: Aid in documenting new appearing languages.

Stolen novel; please report.

Leland didn’t really know how to feel about this contract. The effect was exactly what he wanted, a way to know and understand the Archon language. The Lexicon Lord even showed interest in learning what an Archon had said to him. The issue was the cryptic warning the Lord gave him.

"Cognizant of the continuous influx of novel vocabulary into our ever-evolving world, I lamentably find myself without the assistance I require to meticulously catalog their intricate syllabic compositions and poetic resonances. I implore you to join me in this endeavor before an inundation of uncharted lexemes jeopardizes our understanding."

“Err, what?” Leland had asked, while sitting in a grandiose library.

The Lord of the Lexicon had looked at him like he was a dullard. “Emergent perils draw near. Will you lend your aid, or shall you abstain?”

“I just have to bring you knowledge on these new words?”

“Literature, including books, poems, stories, and reference materials such as dictionaries. Anything spanning the full spectrum of these new languages, especially their expression and knowledge.”

Leland slowly blinked. “How are there new languages?”

The Lexicon Lord sipped a cup of tea, slowly putting it down and saying, "How could it be otherwise? The ongoing evolution of our world into a realm of creation is readily discernible, a direct consequence of recent impactful endeavors."

“Ah, well. Okay, I guess?” Leland looked around, shelves taller than mountains sat silently around him. “How would I bring you these books? I take it you don’t want me to come here every time?”

“Nothing of the sort. Simply place your offering on a shelf and I promptly attend it.”

Leland accepted the contract yet couldn’t help but feel something larger was happening than just books. New languages meant new people, new beings. Had this something to do with Sapphire returning home and bringing her findings to the other Archons? Had new realms and worlds already been connected?

In the end, he didn’t dwell on it long. Whatever would happen, would happen. The Lord of the Void seemed to think helping Sapphire escape was a good thing. Who knew? Maybe these new beings will be a good thing.

A day later, Glenny finished ranking-up his tongue ability. He spent hours a day using his tongue for mundane tasks. Writing, cleaning, cooking. It was gnarly and gross, but after a while, everyone just accepted it for what it was. The march of progress.

Woven throughout the days, Glenny also practiced blade dancing with his father and ambush attacking with Isobel. For the former, echo-attacks were coming easier and more frequent, something his father took pride in. For the latter, well, it was Isobel and she nitpicked until the sun went down.

Regardless, Glenny, Jude, and Leland all reached rank twenty in each of their Legacy abilities. A small party was thrown for the accomplishment, Spencer even headed to the closest town and brought back fresh desserts.

“And who would have thought it would only take three and a half weeks for us all to reach the realms of the elderly!” Leland mused aloud after a speech from his mother about how she was ten years older than him when she reached the milestone.

“’Elderly?’” Lucia echoed, her hand on her heart. “Thirty is not old.”

Jude, who had his guitar in hand, said, “Yeah, it kind of is.”

His mom smacked him on the back of the head.

Carmon smirked at that, saying, “He is right, Lucia. These boys got to where we were after ten years in less than one. Maybe we are elderly.”

“Oh not you too,” she muttered, downing her drink.

Roy laughed, his greasy beard frolicked with food scraps. “We are old, aren’t we!?”

“Some more than others,” Diana quickly said, being the youngest of the parents.

Isobel glanced over, not saying anything.

After a few songs by the quartet of Judes, the night wound to an anxious end. It wasn’t every day that one met a Lord, except for maybe Leland, so liquid courage flowed. Glenny had it the worst, for some reason. For most of the festivities, his knee bounced and his throat remained dry despite the mugs of beer. Jude wasn’t much better off, luckily the music helped in this department. Even Leland found his mind wandering, and not because he was meeting his Lord but because it was a big moment.

The third Dream Ceremony wasn’t like the first two. They were pushing into the real leagues of the world, not the “baby” stuff they were accustomed to.

Though, some might argue they had been exposed to the “adult stuff” from the very start of their journey.

“I think it is time,” Roy, the jolliest, heaviest drinker of the group, said.

“Oh? It is unlike you to end the party early,” Spencer said.

“Normally, sure. But my nerves are rising and I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep at this rate!”

Carmon chuckled. “Me too.”

“Then it is decided. Bed time!”

Within thirty minutes, everyone was in their bedrolls.

Laying awake, Leland thought over the last month or so and all the craziness. Sybil came first, along with making sure his name and everyone else’s were untarnished. Next came making sure Floe was able to leave the dungeon and finding a place for her and Gelo to stay. Would a town accept them as residents or would that have to find a secluded forest and be forced to deal with poachers again.

He sighed, there was a lot to do any—

“Something on your mind, my child?”

Leland looked up, finding a change in scenery. Gone was the darkness of an open desert and in its place was the darkness of a spindly forest full of crows and souls.

“You know, some color and furniture would do this place wonders?” Leland said, the Lord of Curses popping a smile.