“Nateysta!? Ro!?”

Zalia stared at her godly friend. He looked in bad shape, the leaf feathers covering his body going a yellow colour, patches already falling out dead.

The portal closed again, the brief look Zalia got into Cormaine sending shivers down her spine.

“Zalia, where am I? How did you bring me here?”

His voice was rough, whispery and sounded as if he was in pain. She looked down at where he lay on the floor, still in shock. This is what the starlight wolf had bargained for.

As he painfully stood up, she rushed over and helped support him. Then, she grabbed the large nature crow into a hug.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m glad you’re alive.”

She pulled back and inspected him a little closer. The yellowed feathers were looking healthier by the second. Ro-ak was also beginning to look around as if just noticing the nature-covered surrounds.

“Where am I?”

“This is the kingdom of Endaria, on the planet of… uhhh, well, something. It’s the sister world of Cormaine, the place I came from when I arrived on your world.”

“Ah, of course. And... did you bring me here?”

Zalia stepped aside to where Aylie was still holding the wriggling starlight puppy.

“The starlight wolf, your old friend, made a bargain to bring you here.”

The puppy finally broke free of Aylie and ran over to sniff about Ro’s feet. It then looked up, tilting its head.

“What did you do, dear friend? How did you end up this way?”

He knelt back down, leaf feathers now back to a healthy mottled green.

The puppy yipped, taking a step back and getting down low, as if preparing to jump at Ro.

“It was part of the bargain. To keep the balance, I think.”

Ro looked up sharply, dark, beady eyes glinting with light.

“Balance.”

Zalia looked back at Ember, then realised she was waiting for her to introduce them.

“Oh! Ro, this is Ember and Aylie. You’ve met Boreal as well, of course. They’re my family. Ember, Aylie, this is Nateysta, spirit of the forests and mysteries. God? Spirit or god, something like that. I also know him as Ro-ak, though that was before I knew he was a powerful spirit.”

Ember stepped forward, while Aylie looked like she was staring right into Ro’s soul. Remembering her powers, she might actually have been doing just that.

Boreal was looking onwards from beside Aylie, eyeing the starlight puppy with suspicion.

“Good to meet you, I’ve heard a thing or two about you from Zalia. Thank you for keeping her safe in Cormaine.”

“Greetings Ember, Aylie. Hello again Boreal. Zalia must have not told the tale in its fullest, as she was the one to protect me, in a way. I was dormant when she arrived there, only revived thanks to her actions.”

Ember turned to look directly at Zalia.

“Is that so? Maybe you should tell me your version of the story sometime.”

“I’d be glad to.”

“Actually, that’s a good point! What did happen to you after you sent me and Boreal through the portal?” Zalia added, her attempt at deflecting the conversation defter than she usually managed.

“The fight was painful. There was not much I could do against the two Thousand-eyed ones. I managed to tear the avatar of one of them apart, yet the other subdued me. It has been… attempting to put me back into dormancy ever since.”

Zalia frowned.

“The avatar?”

“Like this form you see before you. It was not dead, simply put out of the fight for a long time. It reformed eventually. I survived this long thanks to you again, Zalia. I felt the faith you had in me, the rituals you dedicated to my name. The altars you built in my honour. I owe you once more.”

“I didn’t really know what I was doing, to be honest. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t forgotten once more.”

“Which you did. I sense a few others venerating my name. Who are they?”

Zalia looked at Ember, then scratched at the back of her head.

“Huh?”

He turned his head to look in what had to be the direction of the war camp.

“That way, you do not know who?”

She thought about it, trying to figure out who it could possibly be.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Some farmers maybe? I never told them about you though so I don’t know how that could have happened.”

“Some of them kneel at my altar, even now.”

Oh.

“Ahh, shit I didn’t expect them to go in there. Well, I guess you have some devoted… again? You used to have a religion right?”

Ro actually managed to look uncomfortable.

“Well… yes? I had those who made prayers to me. I did have temples, after all.”

It was weird to consider. She had just thought of Ro as her super powerful friend. It only really hit then that he was a god that people worshipped. Sure, she had been in the temples dedicated to him, she had even made prayers to him herself but having other people who were actually alive that were praying to him? It nailed it home just a little bit more.

“Huh. Anyway, it’s actually great you’re here. We need your help.”

She went over and sat down on a log seat that Ember had probably put there, considering the other two that formed a rough circle with it. Ro came over and settled in on the ground, wings folding around himself. He kind of looked like a bush like that.

“I figured as much. I see no other reason the starlight would have brought me here.”

She didn’t miss that Ro simply called them “the starlight”. She thought it was probably due to him seeing the world differently. To her, she only knew the starlight wolf by that very form. Ro probably saw that form as an avatar only, the power behind it being the real person.

“The demons have invaded this world, just as I feared. I didn’t succeed in stopping them.”

Ro’s head bobbed a little.

“I see. Can the people of this world not fight them off?”

“Well… they probably could if that was all. Unfortunately, there are others in this world that are responsible for bringing them here. They aren’t exactly helping the demons per se, but they are definitely a threat. Also, there is one of the thousand-eyed ones in the capital and the nature spirits of this world will not act to remove it. I think that’s why the starlight wolf brought you here.”

“I see… it is very like the starlight to sacrifice their own power and being to bring something here that may fight this creature, rather than doing so themself. I would love to help Zalia, but I fear I may be too weak to defeat it.”

Zalia sighed, looking down. No, that couldn’t be right.

“What about with some time? There is so much nature here! Surely you can recover your strength quicker.”

She gestured to Ro, indicating the already healthier looking leaf-feathers he now had.

“Yes, perhaps. I had not considered how much easier it is to recover my strength. It will also be much harder for the thousand-eyed one to maintain its own strength here. Yes, I might be able to defeat it with time.”

Better.

Ember was still standing, looking between the two as conversation continued.

“How strong are these ‘thousand-eyed ones’ you two are speaking of? Can’t you kill them with your aura at Silver now Zalia?”

Ro’s head stretched towards Zalia, piercing eyes inspecting her closely.

“So that is what I sensed here. I thought it was just the life around us. How did you get that skill to Silver so quickly, you became Bronze not so long ago.”

“No Ember, even with this I couldn’t kill one. I’ll be able to survive in its aura, maybe even still be able to fight. These things are ascendant though, so no, killing it on my own is definitely off the table.”

Aylie sat down right next to Ro, then started inspecting his leaf-feathers.

“What are you doing child?”

The starlight puppy came up and started inspecting the leaf-feathers with Aylie as well. Ro looked to Zalia in confusion and she shrugged, indicating she didn’t know either.

“You’re… different. Your soul isn’t on the inside like everything else.”

Ro looked back down at Aylie and Zalia raised an eyebrow.

“What powers do you have, child?”

Aylie didn’t answer, so Zalia did for her.

“A few, but she can see the souls of things as well as having the ability to know things from something called the astral?”

“Curious. How did she come by these classes?”

Zalia pointed at the starlight puppy.

“A blessing from our dear friend.”

Ember perked up.

“What is the astral? Both Zalia and I have been trying to teach Aylie about her powers but we don’t really know what they do ourselves, some of them at least.”

“The astral is… complicated. Most will not learn or have need of it until much higher ranks, as it is unusable to you without a certain level of power. To have access to it at the rank of Tin is a powerful ability indeed.”

“Just… complicated? Is there anything at all you can tell us about it?” Ember pushed.

“I will try. The astral isn’t really a place so much as where thought exists. This isn’t to say that anything that thinks is on the astral, so much as to say it is a plane where thought is free to travel. Your mental communication power uses the astral as a method of transferring thought from one creature to another, for instance. The bonds you share, both with people and with heirlooms make use of the astral as well.”

Zalia remained silent, thinking over the information. It was certainly interesting, though not necessarily useful to her at that moment.

Ember wanted to know more though.

“Aylie’s ability says that part of her soul walks the astral. What does that mean then?”

“Very interesting. She may be able to pick up on things through the astral then. Thoughts, bonds, mental communication. All of these might become visible to her as she advances in rank, much as the trees and sky are visible to us.”

That got Zalia’s full attention.

“Really? That seems extremely powerful.”

“It is, in certain circumstances. Dependant on how her abilities advance, she may be able to manipulate those things as well. That is a power that must be used very, very carefully.”

In her mind, Zalia saw Starfall as Aylie’s most powerful ability. On paper, it certainly was. Even just through the most recent demonstration of the ability during the fight with the shapechangers it appeared to be so. That opinion shifted slightly hearing what Ro had just said however. The power to manipulate people’s bonds, hear their thoughts or even change them. A dozen questions rose to her mind. Would she be able to break someones bond with their heirloom? What about bonds between people? What about putting thoughts into peoples minds?

Even based on those things, she immediately agreed with Ro. They would have to be really careful.

“She is able to interact with people’s souls as well. What does that mean?”

Ro turned back to Ember.

“She also has this ability? That is… quite something. She will be dangerous when she grows older. Very dangerous.”

Zalia looked at Aylie who was still inspecting Ro closely. The weight of raising her suddenly grew ten times heavier on her shoulders. Raising a kid normally, well that was a hard task as it was. There was so much you could get wrong, so many things you had to keep in mind. Adding in the fact that she would grow up to be extremely dangerous and powerful, well, that added a whole extra layer.

“Oh. Wonderful.”