Veph had her feet up on the desk while she twirled her wand around her metal fingers. Her chair was balanced precariously on two legs as she stared at the ceiling, completely ignoring the woman before her.

Sylmare stood silently to the side, trying to pretend she didn’t notice the 7 Shard Hero’s glances. What was she going to do for Althowin? The hero had come specifically to visit Veph, who now was acting like a child.

Sylmare could say something, but then Veph could just rip her to shreds. They had known each other for twenty years, and Sylmare could confidently say that Veph was never one to shy away from those stronger or bigger than her. She didn’t lose her hand sitting idly by. But the 7 Shard Hero was something else entirely. Althowin was a god, and she was being forced to wait like some commoner.

“Is this normal?” Althowin finally asked.

“No,” Sylmare said quickly.

An index appeared while Althowin pointedly stared at Sylmare. “A right hand without shards? What good are you?” Her face scrunched a little. “Poor wording, but I’m sure you get my point.”

“I do as instructed.”

“Sure.” Althowin reached into her jacket and pulled out a tiny glass vial. “Watch this.” She pinched it between her fingers and smashed it onto Veph’s desk.

A sour odor hit Sylmare immediately, and within a second, the entire desk collapsed, causing Veph to nearly fall over. She was deft with a high enough dexterity to recover in an elegant, casual manner.

“Dammit, Althowin. That was an antique.” Veph kicked at part of the desk, which crumbled further as soon as it was touched.

“Oops. If you carefully glue it together, you could reconstruct the fibers that I just disintegrated. That’s what assistants are for.”

Veph raised an eyebrow before tilting her chair back again. “What do you want?”

“What are the other hero companies doing? What are you doing?”

“About?”

Even Sylmare knew that was a stupid question. Veph was being intentionally difficult, which was a new level of arrogance.

“Veph,” Sylmare said quietly.

Veph grunted. “Egnatia wants to attack him as soon as he leaves the Ocean, but murdering a 1 Shard Hero is in bad taste. Most heroes are too concerned with their public image to do that, even if it is a goblin.”

“And you?”

“I’ll kill him myself when I get the chance. I’m no criminal.”

“In a dungeon?”

Veph shrugged. “Andres was an idiot, but he understood the danger. You get it too, don’t you? No upper limit. No level cap. When you can double, triple, quadruple unlimited attributes, what do you become?”

“The strongest hero of all time,” Althowin said calmly.

“And you’re not worried?”

“My assistants adore the goblin. I’ll be watching everything he does, ready to lean either way. If I need to crush him, I will. If I need to crush you . . .” Althowin let her words hang.

Veph didn’t flinch. Her eyes stared lazily at Althowin. “Even if I wanted, I can’t stop Engatia or the Three Heads. Some of the independents met with Engatia too. I don’t know how that went.”

“The independents will listen to me. You think Kikuno is going to go on a manhunt for a few pieces of gold?” Althowin rolled her eyes. “If someone like Voolyn or Zevvrin are stupid enough to get involved, I’ll cut my support. They’re stalled anyway.” Althowin leaned forward. “Are you?”

Veph barely raised a single eyebrow. “Stalled? Me?”

Sylmare was so uncomfortable. It was a question she had asked Veph just a few weeks before, and one Veph didn’t appreciate ever being asked.

“No.”

Yes, she was. She had the talent and power to get her fourth shard, but that would require her to actually step foot in a dungeon again. It had been years since she nearly lost her jaw.

“I’ll make you anything you want if you get your fourth shard.”

Veph slowly lowered her chair onto all four legs. “I thought I was banned.”

“I’ve been banning a lot of people lately, which has given me some openings.”

Veph stopped flipping the wand in her hand and rested it on her knee, casually pointing it at Althowin. Even at 7 Shards, could she survive a Power 7 spell? Sylmare wouldn’t live long enough to find out.

“You want me to get stronger even though I plan to kill the goblin?”

“You’re my safety net. If I misjudge Owin, I need you to be able to fix my mistake. And I owe it to your father. If you get a fourth shard, stop by in Vraxridge. Indulf will let you in.” Althowin stood from her chair, gently kicked at the mush of what had once been a desk, and walked toward the door.

“I’m not going to spy for you,” Veph said.

“I’ll see you in Vraxridge before you go. See you soon.” Althowin waved over her shoulder. Her fox tail swished from underneath her jacket as she calmly walked out.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Sylmare watched the 7 Shard Hero with awe. With how fast Althowin had moved the last time Sylmare saw her, she was stuck wondering if it took effort to move so slowly and casually. The 7 Shard Hero was at least a hundred years old and was still so calm, casual, and friendly. And also terrifying.

“You’re going to go to the Subterranean Dungeon?” Sylmare asked.

“Apparently.” Veph slipped the wand into her sleeve. “I’m not going to argue with her.”

“What if Egnatia or the Three Heads try to assassinate the goblin when he leaves the Ocean?”

Veph stood, walked over to Sylmare, and leaned on the wall beside her. “I think they’re about to get a visit from Althowin. And what about that umbra protecting the goblin?”

“Vondaire? He’s incredible.”

“Do you know why?”

Sylmare shook her head.

“He’s almost maxed out his level. He likely will before he even has three shards. Useless umbra spells keep it hidden like he’s afraid of people knowing he’s powerful.”

“But you could beat him.”

Veph grunted. “I’m going to get my things together. You’re coming with.”

“Why?” Sylmare’s heart thumped in her chest.

“You need to start your own shard journey.”

Sylmare nodded quickly. Whatever Veph needed.

***

Myrsvai was acting strangely. As soon as Shade, Suta, and Thalgodin rejoined them, Myrsvai and Suta embraced for a long, quiet moment. Shade tried to do the same to Owin, but Owin kept pushing the skeleton away.

“Did you see this?” Owin asked as he held up the new gray bone.

“How would I have seen that? I don’t have eyes!”

Owin sighed and handed the bone to Shade. As soon as the skeleton touched it, it poofed into gray dust, and he crumbled right after.

Summon the Withered Shade

Everyone was silent as Shade reappeared with an emerald green vest. He still had the Vile Fiend’s hands attached to his shoulders and arms, the purple scarf, and the white olm skin glove.

“You need pants,” Owin said.

“Pants?” Shade looked down. “Oh, nice vest.” His hands immediately started patting his hip bones and his upper legs. “Wait.”

“Don’t say it,” Owin said quickly.

“Where’s my penis, Owin?”

Owin sighed.

“It is a nice vest though. Isn’t it?” He put his thumbs through the arm holes. “Look at this fancy man. Big fancy skeleton man.”

“Is that all that changed with another bone?”

Shade narrowed his eye sockets. “No. My old master was . . .” His eyes widened. “My old master was the hunter Fadia Tranio. She died horribly and Crusader wept before the gods whisked me away back into my box. I . . . I cried too. As much as I could.”

Thalgodin awkwardly patted Shade on the back.

“Sorry, Shade.”

“For what? You’re not putting me back in that box. We’re going all the way.” The skeleton turned to Thalgodin and screamed. “What are you?”

“You didn’t notice the big demon when I summoned you at the chest guardian?”

Shade looked up at Thalgodin. The multi-limbed demon stared down at the skeleton. “I, uh, was preoccupied panicking over Myrsvai.”

“Then let me introduce the two of you,” Myrsvai said. Suta stood directly on Myrsvai’s left. Owin had a feeling the familiar wouldn’t be leaving that position anytime soon. “This is the Withered Shade, a Cursed, and Owin’s familiar.”

Thalgodin nodded.

“And this big piece of demonic meat?” Shade asked.

“What a weird way to phrase it.” Myrsvai gestured to the demon. “This is Thalgodin. A neural demon from the Plains of Awakening.”

“Oh, I saw Owin eat your boss.” Shade pointed his fingers at Owin. “Tore him to shreds. Delicious. A feast. Incredibly bloody and actually rather disgusting.”

“I know Owin and his tendencies,” Thalgodin said. “I watched him devour countless cathkabel.”

“Disgusting, right?”

“It brought joy to my life,” Thalgodin said in a calm, serious voice.

Even Myrsvai looked unsure of that response.

“Okay. Let’s keep moving. We just got the chest guardian and the wandering boss. We probably have a floor boss left and the secret, if we can find it.” Owin gestured toward the rest of the floor. “I want to get out of the smoke and see what else is here.”

“Lead on, Owin,” Myrsvai said.

Straca, the crab boss, dropped some white crystal or chitin item. Owin couldn’t really tell what it was, but Myrsvai and Suta were excited about it, so he didn’t mind letting them have it. He took a lot of loot before anyway, so it was only fair.

Once the boss was properly looted, and Sutah had kicked its corpse a few times, they continued through the dark smoke into the rest of the seventh floor. After they found the stairs and descended to the eighth, he wasn’t going to see Myrsvai or Suta again until he left the Ocean. They could stay and talk and relax for a long time, but it would only delay them separating again.

Myrsvai didn’t comment on Suta using spells. He only nodded to Owin and kept the familiar walking at his side. Shade was quieter than usual with his eye sockets partially squinted.

“You’re stronger,” Thalgodin said. “Your name is already known throughout the Abyss.”

“Elysium too, I guess.”

Thalgodin grinned. “For different reasons. I suspect you will find more cathkabel out for your head. If you encounter any demons with names, they will know you as a friend. Just avoid eating those demons summoned such as myself. Those not forced to be mobs are able to be killed permanently.

“I don’t want to kill you.”

Thalgodin nodded. “But we can kill more priests. You will have a death priest after you soon, I suspect.”

“A what?”

“You will know when you see it.”

“Okay . . .” Owin walked at the front with Thalgodin easily matching his stride. Shade wandered close behind while Myrsvai and Suta fell a bit behind. They didn’t talk, but Owin knew there was enough mental communication they did that they didn’t need to properly speak to understand one another.

The smoke felt like it thickened, obscuring the space in front of Owin. He soon saw a dense cluster of tubeworms, which he dispatched long before anyone else could react. If he found something to eat to get his dexterity up, he’d been even quicker.

“Myrsvai, is there a mob I can eat to get my dexterity up?”

“Uh. Let me think. That may be a question to consult with an alchemist or Potilia if I can’t think of any. It is not a question I’ve been asked before.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Shade said. “Can you imagine why?” The skeleton put his hands on his hip bones and looked above. With the black smoke and the general darkness of being so deep underwater, they couldn’t even see the surface anymore. The crystals lighting the ground had grown dimmer and more spaced out, making the whole second half of the floor feel treacherous.

The ground sloped downward at a steady decline, making it look like the black smoke flowing from the hydrothermal vents was drifting down the hill toward whatever lay at the bottom.

“I bet the boss is down there,” Shade said.

“Why?” Owin tried to spot anything far in the distance. Some streaks of light flashed in the smoke.

“Why? Because of the five heads sticking out of the smoke over there.”

Everyone followed where Shade was pointing. There were some huge, monstrous heads sticking out of the smoke far below.

“Oh.”