Lyria, Minara, and Bloody Steve were all leaning over me. I was on my back in the cave where we’d left the townspeople.

“What?” I asked. The last thing I remembered was the briarwraith, freezing everything and drifting toward me. But no… That wasn’t true. I’d had a dream. Or was it a memory?

“Hey,” Lyria said. She crouched down, gently pushing me back to lay. “Don’t be stupid. You just went head to head with a briarwraith. Lay down for a minute.”

I went to rub my eyes and felt only the hard edges of my helmet. It was easy to forget I had it on because of the strange magic that let me see through it unobstructed.

Fragments of the vision rushed back. It was me—him. Seraphel. Had those been the other gods? And what threat were they talking about? If they were gods, what could have had them so concerned?

Morathai. I thought of the black-haired man I noticed in the memory—the vision? Something about the corruption I’d sensed on him had worried me more than the others, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. I realized with a jolt that I recognized one of the faces in that room from Riverwell. The gorgeous woman covered in ash I’d seen being taken into a carriage by the two Golds. That was Azmeria.

A chill ran down my back.

I’d seen the wildfire on her hands in my vision and the ash covering her body in Riverwell. I immediately thought of the scorched trail of destruction in the forest that was littered with dead creatures. It was from her, wasn’t it? I supposed I couldn’t know for certain, but I heavily suspected I’d seen her handiwork in the flesh.

If she already had that kind of power… I had to hope I did choose the right prestige path. It was hard to imagine any advantage catching me up to abilities like that. But I wasn’t sure if I was competing with the other gods or planning to work together with them to face some looming threat. Part of me worried the true answer wouldn’t be quite so black and white as either option.

“I’m fine,” I said, sitting up this time, ignoring the stern look from Lyria. “You said I went head to head with a briarwraith? All I remember was everything freezing.”

“Yep,” Bloody Steve said. He was still caked in glistening blood. It wasn’t even dry yet, so the battle hadn’t been that long ago. “Everythin’ froze. Then you smashed your face into that little ball.”

“That’s not how I remember it,” I said.

“He’s right,” Lyria said. “It was right in front of your face, then you just kind of… head-butted it. I thought you were going to get sucked in like the old man did. But it blew apart as soon as it touched your helmet.”

That was when I noticed the text my helmet was trying to pull up.

You’ve reached level 24!

…

You’ve reached level 40!

[2] Unread Achievements

[Epic Accomplishment] Defeat an enemy two ranks above your own without assistance. [Reward - Epic Weapon Token] “I won’t pretend I’ve seen everything, but I’ve certainly never seen that. Usually, briarwraiths suck memories out of people with so much force that… well, you saw what happened to The Acolyte.

“I’m not entirely sure what happened back there. I wonder if your erased memories went to the Deep Stream to be watched over by the briarlord? It’s almost like… well, no. I won’t make any more guesses!

“But hey, in other news… Level 40 already! That’s great. Sure, it’s the slowest out of all eight, but you’re working with no memories, so we’ll cut you some slack. Right? And that path you picked is supposed to pay off down the line, not right away!”

[Epic Accomplishment] Your actions prevented the certain, imminent death of five or more individuals. [Reward - Epic Armor Token] “Be glad you didn’t discover what happens when a briarwraith is fully fed. Then again, maybe you should be sad that you didn’t earn the iron ascension token you would have gained from defeating such a thing. Even if you didn’t want to use it, those are worth a fortune in your world.”

Holy shit. 17 levels?

I also mulled over the new information my secret messenger had provided. She made it sound like all the other gods were rapidly advancing while I was getting left in the dust. It was hard to imagine. I’d only been here for a few days and was already pushing toward the boundaries of Wood. How fast were they all climbing in power? I wished I had more information. With what little I knew, it was still impossible to make anything but wild guesses about what it all meant.

Everybody took turns coming by to check on me and thank me. Even Perch gave my arm a squeeze and nodded slightly to me. From the quiet man, it was practically a kiss on the cheek.

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Half of my mind was still reeling from the vision I’d seen and what it implied. The other half was busy feeling like a fraud. Saved them? All I’d done was spill some bait potion on our kidnappers and black out. It hardly felt like heroics. And if those people had been trying to summon something other than a briarwraith, I had to assume the best outcome we could’ve hoped for would be running for our lives while it was busy killing our attackers.

That had been the plan, after all. I thought I could spill some of the bait potion on one of our kidnappers, disrupt the sleep spell, and escape while chaos reigned.

Instead, I got myself two epic accomplishments and seventeen levels.

Hard to complain about that.

Kass enthralled a few villagers in a small story circle as he told a highly embellished version of how I’d saved everybody and then headbutted a briarwraith into “little zig-zagging stars.” Perch moved to a spot near the cave’s entrance and produced a pile of arrows, which he was sharpening with a round stone. Bloody Steve summoned a huge stack of dried meat and began tearing into it, occasionally burping loud enough to echo within the cave.

Lyria wandered over to sit beside me. “You know,” she said, “I followed you so I could save your ass. You weren’t supposed to bail me out.”

I itched for a private moment to explain the vision to her. I also thought about explaining that I hadn’t killed it by headbutting it, as they all seemed to be assuming.

She nudged my arm. “You good?” she asked. “You’ve been awake at least five minutes, and I haven’t even seen you trying to practice your abilities.”

I chuckled. “You’re right. I should get started.”

“That was a joke, Brynn. You should rest. Bloody Steve says we should be able to make it to Thrask by evening tomorrow. We’ll all get some good sleep while we’re safe tonight.”

Honestly, I was still irritated with Bloody Steve and Perch for their decision to go after the nectar. But what was done was done, I supposed. There wasn’t anything to gain from starting a fight over it now. There was also no need to tell them we were about to leave them to their fate if Rake hadn’t stopped us.

“What happened to the guy with the knives?” I asked suddenly.

“I’m not sure. He just seemed to kind of vanish once you head-butted the wraith. He probably ran. Bloody Steve killed the mage, and the wraith got his other friend. I doubt that guy with the knives could take us by himself. He probably knew it and split. Then again, he may have just been killed by those frozen trees the briarwraith was raising. Everything happened so fast, I can’t say for sure.”

Great. I had a sinking feeling Rake wouldn’t give up on getting my helmet or that legendary token for himself. But he’d have to know he only had until we reached Thrask to pinch the token off me. Maybe that would stop him from trying. Or it would just push him to try harder.

Lyria offered me her water flask. “Drink something.”

I took it, tilted my helmet up slightly, and swallowed a few sips.

“You know,” she said, “some people go entire days without nearly getting killed. Have you ever tried that? You might enjoy it.”

I cracked a smile under my helmet. “Yeah?” I asked. “Sounds boring.”

Minara sat on my other side. She lifted a hand to my head, and yellow light bloomed from her fingertips. I felt a warm surge passing through me, then flinched back.

“Sorry,” she said, even though she didn’t look or sound sorry in the slightest. “I keep worrying I’ve missed some sort of damage. It shouldn’t have been possible for a Wood to come into contact with that creature and survive.”

“What are you thinking should have happened?” I asked.

“I can’t claim I’ve ever heard of a briarwraith before,” she admitted. “But I would expect your body to collapse and be consumed like the man it contacted before you. Or…” She hesitated.

“Or what?” Lyria asked.

She did the thing with her hand again, shaking her head. “I’m just being cautious, but I’ve heard of powerful enough entities taking living hosts.”

I shivered. The massive number of levels I’d gained and my achievements convinced me nothing of the sort had happened. I doubted I’d get experience for being possessed. Still, becoming a host for an evil spirit wasn’t a pleasant thought.

The conversation eventually drifted to mundane topics, like everyone’s plans once we reached the city. It was a welcome distraction for me.

For my own part, I knew exactly what I wanted to do in Thrask. I would turn in my bed tokens, including the cursed one. I’d already decided as much. If the worst happened, I’d use my divine ability to remove it, and that would be that. If I was going to be lucky enough to have a “divine ability,” I was going to use it. I was also extremely excited to see what I would get from the epic weapon and armor tokens. As powerful as my Alchemist’s Kit was under the right conditions, I would love something more straightforward.

I had more on my list, though. I wanted to find a way to get my hands on a Heart class corestone. Adding healing abilities to my repertoire would be a very welcome addition. The only concern would be ensuring nobody but Lyria realized I was using two classes simultaneously.

I also wanted to see about finding books on alchemy and herbology. A list of plants and properties would be hugely useful. The power of my Elemental Projection and Forge Echo abilities were directly linked to what was in my Alchemist’s Kit for now. That meant understanding what I could brew and where to find it, which could be a huge boon to my power. I was also very curious to explore what kind of additions I could make to my personal space. For starters, I would love to expand the room so my bed didn’t take it all up. Then again, I’d kill for my cramped personal space right now if it meant not sleeping in the forest another night.

“Have you ever been?” Minara asked once we’d been talking about Thrask for a while.

“No,” Lyria admitted.

“It’s quite the sight. The entire city is inside an underground cave system. A huge spring drains down from the sky above it. The Thrask palace sits inside the water walls.”

“Water falls into the city?” I asked.

Minara nodded. “With ingenious magic, the tomte turned the water into a magically fueled barrier for the palace proper. At dawn, the sunlight cuts straight through it all like a rainbow. It’s beautiful.”

I tried to imagine it but decided it was something I’d need to see for myself.

I eventually drifted to sleep, thoughts of the tomte city swirling in my head. When sleep came, my dreams were filled with the Crystal Court and gods full of unlimited power—gods who all looked terrified of whatever was coming to Eros. Terrified of something I must have thought I had a chance to stand against by activating this prestige path.