Daniel lay on his front, a towel draped over him. It felt like he was about to get a massage, though something far worse was going to happen. He’d made it to the church of the Hand around an hour before midnight, the rest of his team including the year old gestalt he’d assumed a full adult having been taken to lodgings Aurus was providing them for the next few days. Thomas had been the exception, coming along for the ride and practically sprinting away once he got there. The Cleric had managed to purge the ‘Enforce Secret’ power, as his phone listed it, so that was nice.
He wanted to rest himself but didn’t know how long it would take to heal his cat body. With the knowledge that there was some kind of floating dungeon to explore that could lead to Hunter’s revival, there was no time to lose. Soraso throwing doubt on what Cloak had told him about giving a voice to Khare did make him rethink everything the god had told him, though. How could he trust anything the literal god of lies said? He had clear memories of how Hammer treated people.
Daniel rested his chin on the table as he brought himself back into the present. There was only one other person in the room and she asked a question as she closed the door. “Are you ready?”
He and Quala were in one of the treatment rooms towards the back of the main hall of the church. It was about twice as large as the typical kind you’d see in a family doctor’s office, though the general layout was surprisingly the same. He did find the linens on this one better than a crinkly plastic sheet. “Yeah.”
She caught the hesitation in his voice. “Do you feel pain from your injuries? I can bring someone to apply a numbing power before you change.”
“I’m not sure if that would affect me afterward,” Daniel replied. “Honestly, I don’t hurt as much in the other body.” That wasn’t to say he liked how his critically injured cat body felt, but that wasn’t the reason for his hesitation. “Thank you, by the way. I’ll just let you know again that it won’t be pretty.”
“I’ve seen worse,” Quala assured him. Daniel gave her a skeptical glance and she nodded in affirmation. “Thomas gave me a brief rundown. I should qualify there have only been a handful of worse injuries I’ve seen on living people.”
“Sigron?”
“No, you have him beat.”
“Is he doing alright?” Daniel asked to delay the transformation by another question.
“He is improving,” Quala answered shortly, before adding, “There may have been a profound improvement following your arrival, in fact, but the extent of his recovery remains to be seen and I cannot say anything other than that we have our hopes. Is there anything else you need to do before you shift?”
“No.” Daniel half-smiled as he knew she was onto him. There was no way she knew the real reason but she could tell he was stalling. “I’ll just do it then.” He braced himself and activated Beast Mode. Switching to his cat form felt like unzipping part of his body. Thomas’ efforts had barely touched the canyon that had been cut into his back.
Unyielding Tenacity was a far cry from the nine lives it had at first seemed. If the acidic shank stomper hadn’t been crushed following the hulk’s death it could have finished him off power or no, and if he couldn’t switch bodies he’d have been crippled for months without assistance. There was also the wound to his right shoulder and upper back, which was less deep as he’d been able to partially avoid the attack. The arm was dead but not fully severed like his human one had been.
There was a moment of instinctual panic as he registered his injuries. He fought and won against it, steading himself. “May I examine you?” Daniel weakly nodded at the question rather than answer. He could somewhat talk, though his lungs and diaphragm had been damaged. He laid perfectly still as Quala removed the covering over his body and with sharp eyes dissected his injuries. She took a few notes after getting permission, and by the motion seemed to be drawing as well. That he had just undergone a full body transformation didn’t phase her at all, though to be fair powers like those did exist. His power was unnatural for other reasons.
After documenting his wounds, Daniel felt a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to attempt a Flash Heal now. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Daniel wheezed, hating how weak his voice sounded.
“Flash Heal,” Quala incanted, and his body shifted slightly. He didn’t feel that different though, and Quala’s continued frown told him all he needed to know. “Flash Heal. Flash Heal.” She used her power twice more, a pause of a few seconds between each cast. The ability was helping, though the healing penalty of Unyielding Tenacity was fighting her every step. Daniel at least felt his breathing grow more even after the third use, though his legs and right arm remained dead.
“How bad?”
“Well, this is certainly the worst positive response to Flash Heal I’ve seen,” Quala commented without any agitation. “I suspect if I had the Limit Break: Healing feature I’d encounter similar difficulties with a level 6 patient. It’s too soon to tell for sure, but I’d estimate it will take a week of healing for you to gain some mobility. Fully recovering your spine will take far longer. That is with my assistance, which I am willing to continue providing.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said with all the sincerity he had. With this matter settled they’d reached the point he’d been hesitant about. He’d left the matter for when he was in cat form since the personality was better suited for not worrying about consequences. “Did Thomas tell you where I’m from?” The question took about twice as long as normal to ask, though it was from pausing for breath multiple times than anything else.
“You’ve told him? No, he hasn’t.” Quala tried to keep the surprise and faint disapproval out of her voice but Daniel’s keen ears caught it.
“He deserved the truth.”
She looked thoughtfully at him and then took a seat herself. “This room is warded. I assume you want to tell me?”
He was having trouble determining if she had some idea, given how she was just rolling with the confession. Either way, he was about to find out. “If you don’t believe this, ask Murdon.” She just stared at him, urging him to continue. “Alright. I’m from another world called Earth, and I was sent here by a copy of myself to find my Dad.”
Whatever she’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. Quala blinked and bought a few seconds idly glancing at the notes she’d taken before asking, “Is there any chance your mind has been affected, made to believe this?”
Technically yes, Daniel thought, but so far there’d only been subtractions to his memory and he was fixing those. Some part of him knew that bridge space hadn’t been faked, even if he couldn’t get there anymore. “No. This, what I am now, is different. I’ve changed. Who you met outside of Hagain, that’s the closest I’ve been to what I was.”
“Your ringcat, did he come with you?”
Daniel stifled laughter, knowing his body wasn’t up to it. “No. You believe me?”
“It’s as hard for me to as it is to deny,” she answered honestly, and he noticed one of her hands holding her Focus tightly. “Faith has been hard. Losing two regions, almost a third, with no way of knowing how the rest of the world fairs. I am wholly devoted to the purpose of the Octyrrum, though I am beginning to wonder if we have taken for granted our confidence in what we know of it.”
A thought suddenly struck Daniel. “You have a mental defense power?”
“Iron Mind,” she nodded, confused by the line of questioning. Daniel focused all he could on the scents in the room, trying to pick out if there was anyone else there. Even with Cloak’s mastery, he was confident the god couldn’t evade him in such a small space.
“There’s more,” he continued with a hint of urgency. There wasn’t any solid logic behind what he was about to do, just a feeling that keeping this secret to himself was unwise given Cloak’s questionable advice on Khare. Quala represented one of the few people the god couldn’t mind wipe, and the only one of those he trusted. “I’ve met at least two of the gods, and one is currently following me in secret.”
“What!?” He’d never seen the Cleric so astonished or unguarded. A shrill note entered her voice as she glanced around. “I, I don’t think you’re lying. Who are you?”
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“The same person you knew. It’s more the things that have happened to me than things I’ve done,” he said with a hard edge. The anger from how Hammer had treated him was still there, but Quala had always been a calming presence for him. “I can’t remember most of the week before the Collapse started. Hammer found me after we stopped the Spiritualists, like Soraso said, and I think he took me to where the gods were meeting to figure out how to respond to the Collapse. In Rikendia.”
She stood with that. “Why haven’t you mentioned this sooner?”
“Cloak’s the one following me. He’s taking the knowledge from anyone that finds out besides me.” And isn’t that a great thing to do to people?
He could tell by the faint stretch of skin around her eyes the feathers didn’t fully cover that she’d grown pale. “I shouldn’t be hearing this.”
“You should. At least half the gods are dead or somewhere the Octyrrum can’t find them.” He considered not throwing more at the poor Cleric but pushed on regardless. “I got the same information Soraso did after I was sent back to Aughal, and more. When I was brought to this world I got merged with Eido’s Spoke. Hammer himself confirmed I have it in me, and Cloak repeated that on the way here. That’s the reason I get so much information, and I learned that a ‘quorum of the gods’ couldn’t be reached.”
“Hold on,” she held a hand to stop him and seemed to be catching her breath. “If anyone else was saying this… Murdon knows about this?”
“Only about where I come from, and he doesn’t know about the other me. Thomas doesn’t know about the gods part. Well, he did, and then Cloak unidentified it from him.”
“Then why are you telling me this?” One of her hands shook as she asked that as if she feared the god would strike her memories at that very moment. He didn’t enjoy seeing the look of fear in her eyes and seeing that severely deepened his distrust of the illusion god.
“Because they’ve lied to you,” he answered. “I’m proof that there’s other worlds. But it’s more than that.” He went into detail about how Hammer had treated him and Cloak had lied about Khare. It was almost funny how much he’d been worried about being labeled an extraterrestrial because of how heretical that would make him, only to now bash the entire religion in front of Quala. “Your history says the gods growing lax caused the last Collapse. What if one of them betrayed the others and caused this one? It’s pretty clear that Hammer doesn’t care much about mortals, so it’s possible”
Quala appeared close to both tears and anger as she continued to listen, transfixed by his pained exhortation. That last comment tipped the balance. “Stop! You go too far.”
He didn’t back down, but he was reminded that she could easily kill him if she wanted to in his current state. “Do I? Take what Hammer did to me and ignore the fact that he’s a god. Say it was some rogue high level Arcanist. Do you still want to defend him?” She didn’t say anything to that and instead of getting angrier, he cooled down. “If it’s worth anything, I’m sure the Hand is one of the best of them.”
“Our world was taken from us and it has been the gods that have given us any chance of survival!” she replied, now talking as if questioning a hostile witness in a court show. “These words, they sound more at home with those who tried to destroy Aughal.”
“And we stopped them. Would Thomas have come with me if we’d done anything to hurt people?” That gave her a moment of pause.
“Do you know what it would mean if what you’re saying is true?”
“Yeah, we’re even more screwed than we think. That’s why I’m telling the one person Cloak can’t affect while he’s stuck at level 1, just in case it’s him and he’s playing the long game.” He was relieved she was at least being reasonable and hadn’t either silenced him or left to grab a holy mob. “There have been some things he said that have been true, but he also seems like exactly the god to throw around truth and lies until you don’t know which is which.”
Quala thought to herself for a moment. “Has the father of Illusion lied to you about anything else?”
“Not that I know of,” Daniel answered slowly. “But would I know?”
“Fair. It is just as fair to wonder if Soraso was lying.” Daniel blinked, realizing he hadn’t even considered that. He started to get a headache from how complicated this was getting. “If this is information Cloak has, in his wisdom, kept secret, then it should be kept secret. The gods have a wider understanding of the world and the experience of handling the Collapse that came before. Have you considered the lives that could be lost if you contested their will?”
“No.” He wanted to adjust his position and glance away from the Cleric, but most of his body was still resisting his commands. “Ever since Hunter died, no,” he corrected, remembering how he’d been with Hammer. “Since coming back to Aughal I’ve been… I haven’t been thinking about things like I should. I challenged a level 5 to a duel and honestly thought I could win. I abandoned my friends during a hunt. Twice.”
“You aren’t well.”
“I’m not crazy,” Daniel said firmly.
“I know.” Some of her calmness returned and evened out her expression. “But you’ve undergone significant emotional turmoil and then went and awakened a rage power, along with what sounds like a one-sided bond.” She gave him a sad look at that point that he didn’t think was meant for him. “World-shattering revelations aside, you need my help.”
He wryly smiled, showing a bit of one fang. “Always seems that way, doesn’t it? I guess I knew that. I couldn’t talk about this without telling you everything.”
“That is how it tends to work.” The green feathers of her face rustled as she lowered herself to stare into Daniel’s eyes. “But we should be clear on something. You are wrong about the gods. They are this world’s protectors. I can accept much of what you’ve said, but on this point I cannot compromise.”
Even with Fearless, Daniel wanted to shy away from Quala at that moment. She’d fully regained control of herself despite his volley of knowledge bombs and taken the momentum of the conversation. “I’ll admit I can’t prove you wrong. I don’t want to.”
“Good.” She returned to a comfortable distance, but before she could say anything else Daniel got an odd feeling. Somehow, he’d awakened another power despite not having tried to kill anything. That couldn’t be right.
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Pack Insight (Wisdom, Feature, Domain: Knowledge, Level: 1):
You possess the Power to improve your intuition into your Allies, improving your awareness of their mental state and battle capacity over a short radius. This is a Magical Effect that functions in an area of Magical Suppression.
- Level: 2: Improve the radius of the effect. This effect has been automatically acquired through gaining the Power at level 2, and no Mana needs to be spent to gain this benefit.
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It was one of the shortest power descriptions he’d seen and, worse, sounded like a Bard power. Evalyn had something similar but this was aimed entirely at those in his team. It must have been his friendship archetype making itself known but even so, couldn’t it have given him a damage boosting ability like Called Shot? Must be because of how much I was trying to read Quala, he thought, a little disappointed.
His opinion changed as he looked back at the Cleric. There was no visual effect like many of his Artificer powers but an innate feeling he could sense while focusing on her like how his Empathic Link had been with Hunter just after getting the bond. More than that, it was like he could tell where her attention was placed as if there were a visual cone coming from her head. It was like a Bard power, and in battle it might help him coordinate with the others if they missed seeing something.
“What?” Quala asked as Daniel continued staring at her.
“Sorry, just thinking.” Getting into all of his new powers with her would be a step too far. “I have about twenty minutes left until I can turn back.” His gaze shifted away before he asked his next question, finding the prospect of asking for help harder in his current form. “Do you still want to help me?”
“Of course.”
The rest of the time was taken up by Quala drawing more details out about his feelings on Hunter, Hammer, and what had been going through his mind while raging. Controlling those powers was apparently a common problem for Berserkers just starting out, though it grew easier with time.
That encouraged him that it wasn’t just because part of the foundation of his oath bond was an abject refusal to be bested. As Thomas had said and Quala confirmed, these types of bonds had historically caused personality changes in those who took them. Like Jeras with the vengeance bond.
With the experiences he’d had on the way to Threst, Daniel willfully admitted he needed more help. Either with everything, or just the rage power if the oath bond would influence him until fulfilled. It showed what kind of person Quala was that despite with all the strain he’d put her under, she readily agreed to see him nightly. Whatever mana she had leftover she could use to help him heal, and the rest of the time his transformation cooldown needed could be spent talking.
At the end of the hour, he resolved to give Quala a chance to meet his mother if at all possible, knowing the good they could do together might make up for all the wrongs he’d done by itself. There was one last thing he mentioned, after reverting to his human form.
“This is probably the least insane thing I’ve said all night, but I’ve got Tlara’s body with me in a bag of holding. She’s currently possessing her wyvern, so the time she’s spent dead shouldn’t matter. She’s not the first person I’d want to bring back, but I still need to find Hunter’s body. Is there someone from the church that can help her?”
Quala froze with that question and left him to sit for half a minute before she whispered, as if that mattered, “I am only telling you this because of how important our work is. Not even Thomas knows, and you shouldn’t tell him. I will, when the time is right.”
“What’s wrong?”
“After Soraso received his vision, something changed in our church. Everyone with the Resurrection power lost it. We can no longer revive the dead.”