Much to Fader's ramping anxiety, it was much more than an hour or two before their group was ready to leave. Danna and Gi had cried and held each other in a way that made Fader's heart ache for companionship. Noctua and the dragon had spoken in low tones at the far end of the cavern, leaving him with only the impression that their conversation was just as deep as Danna and Gi's, but in a different way.

So when one hour and then two hours passed, he continued to wait. With the heavy air around him, his thoughts turned inward. Much of his soul had settled as soon as he died. He had no regrets around helping the Prince and even after losing to Gi, he didn't regret that.

His belief in the Father, however, had bubbled unsettlingly within him. Watching both Danna and Noctua made him realize why. There hadn't been any true connection between himself and the Father. He'd been used by the god, perhaps simply because he'd been a reflection of Gi.

In fact, his status as a reflection of Gi was probably the only reason that the Father was able to connect with him to begin with considering what he knew of Gi's past. Fader's relationship with the Father had been purely transactional and it was difficult to hold onto the awe of a deity's power after you'd already died.

He didn't hate the god as Gi seemed to, but he didn't belong with him. His belief in him was necessary to help Prince Rellington so while he knew it wasn't the right move now, he still didn't regret it.

It startled him when he felt his soul shimmer like a stone had been tossed into it and then suddenly still. He was still studying the serene pond that was his soul when the rest of their strange party returned to him.

Noctua looked to Danna and Gi. "I think I'm strong enough now to create a portal, but I don't know where we could go. If the Father found you before despite the haze over deities in the river of Truth, he could potentially find us anywhere."

Their group silenced as they all considered the problem, but Fader didn't really care. He was... at peace. Fader wasn't sure how long the silence had lingered, but Danna eventually broke it.

"We need to go somewhere that even the Father would hesitate to attack us. There's only one place that I can think of like that."

Noctua looked thoughtful. "I see. If that's our destination, we might be caught up in things bigger than ourselves."

"If we don't go, we'll just end up back in the Father's dungeon for eternity."

The four of them looked around at each other as they tried to decide if that was the right course of action for them, but Fader could see that they'd already decided so he felt it was his time.

"I don't think I can go with you." He turned to Gi, in particular. "While we may have been enemies in life, my story in death is not with you."

Fader could feel Noctua's gaze on his soul, but it didn't even tremble at the god's touch. "It's time for you to pass on."

"Yeah."

Gi moved to stand right in front of him and stuck out his paw. "You lived a good life, Fader. You had your share of troubles, but most of the time, you lived without hesitation and without regret. I envy that."

Fader took his old reflection's paw with his hand and shook it. "Well, I envy that you kicked the shit out of me in the Dungeon."

Gi laughed. "Sometimes, it's just the luckiest that wins."

"Sometimes," Fader agreed, "but not then." He released Gi's hand and took a step back. "I'm not one for long goodbyes and I can feel my soul trying to move on." Fader looked at the two deities, an otter, and a dragon and thought it strange to pass on in this group of entities where he barely knew any of them.

That thought brought a small wry chuckle to Fader and then he simply... relaxed. His body melted away and he turned into a warm mist that floated away like a bubble. He was aware of those around him, but his gaze had already turned forward towards a comforting, warm place. Peaceful.

He wasn't sure how long he floated there as his soul took the next step of its existence, but he heard the last words of their continued conversation.

"The journey will take some time and things may be different when we arrive, but this is the best path." Even though Fader knew that they weren't talking to him, acceptance spread across his soul.

This is the best path.

That was the last thought that he had as Fader; the human who'd given all of his loyalty to a kind prince.

****

Samba's eyes barely peaked above the edge of the lake. A Priest called Lamb swam beside him, watching the humans swarm off of their ships. The Myshkin Progenitor rose up far above them, one shadowy foot on the Sky Tiers of Igna and another planted beside the base of the Fort on the third tier.

Huge spears of shadow launched itself towards the approaching humans, but each was engulfed by a much smaller spear of flame that rose up to meet it. The leader of the humans stood casually on a rock that was suspended on a wave of mud that never crashed. The wave seemed to be held aloft by a woman in a brown robe who controlled the mud as easily as Samba breathed.

Both the King and the mud mage were well outside their ability to fight. Samba could easily recognize a Progenitor level threat at this point. His chest ached for a moment, but he forced it back. There was still hope for the clan.

The human soldiers reached the docks, thankfully not seeing them, as they rushed towards the ramp that led to the Commons. The ground was still misshapen from its rise through the sky-ocean and from the battle that had played out all along its surface.

That didn't stop the humans though.

Where few monsters other than the Fighting Drakes fought as a single unit, all of the humans did. Those of similar stats formed rows that marched ever upward even as a mixed army of the remaining leaf elementals and goblins rushed down to meet them. Steel and the calculated use of abilities easily met the tide and started to reap through it like a farmer during harvest.

It was only a matter of time before the monster army fell, but that wasn't what Samba was waiting for. Neither side had engaged their elites.

Behind both the army and the leaders of the humans, a few dozen humanoids waited patiently for their signal to fight. While many of them were humans, he did see a few lithe humanoids that if he had to guess he'd call elves and more dangerously, he spotted some blue skinned shorter stout humanoids.

Those were like the one that had given them such a hard time in the Dungeon that had ultimately been converted by Elizabeth. Those beings swam just as well as otters assuming their race all functioned the same way.

"Come on," Samba muttered under his breath.

"Now?" Lamb asked, but Samba gave the Priest a small shake of his head.

"No, not until-" His words stopped as the human elites started moving. His eyes fell on the cliffs of the Bazaar where Slendermen, Fire elementals, and Divine Horrors had suddenly appeared. From this distance, he couldn't feel the strange aura attack of the Divine Horrors, but the army that was still pushing against the goblins and leaf elementals seemed to stumble from its broad reach.

Samba looked away from the impossible bodies of the Divine Horrors with their twisting gold and black picture frame bodies and watched the Slendermen and Fire Elementals started throwing shadow and flames in that same direction. For the first time in the battle, the human army suffered casualties. Somehow, the human elites had sensed the danger and started moving even before it started.

With a huge push of Aether, the mud mage pulled water from the surrounding ocean and merged it with the earth of Igna to form a thin ramp that led directly towards the Bazaar. The humanoid elites rushed towards the base of the ramp and the lead human activated an ability that looked very familiar.

A bubble of light surrounded the Cleric, stopping some of the shadow attacks where they struck and quickly healing any damage done by the monster elites even as they pushed directly into their attacks. The humans seemed invincible, but Samba wasn't willing to count the monsters out just yet. He was confident that more elites were waiting for their time to arrive.

Frankly, it didn't matter to him who won though.

"It's time," Samba said and Lamb immediately disappeared beneath the lake. Lamb had an interesting array of stats for a Priest. She had almost the "standard" Hunter traits with the exception of her healing ability and the lack of [Stealth]. With her increased Agility as opposed to Wisdom, her healing was much worse than the average Priest, but she could move through a battle much more easily than any of the others.

For now, she was Samba's one and only scout.

With the King still keeping the Myshkin leader's attacks restrained, the mud mage formed another ramp, letting the two of them push up and help the current elites. With the mud mage engaged, Samba feared it was only moments until the monsters were routed. Should he have sounded the call earlier? Where were the other monster elites? Had they all left somehow?

Before he had a chance to despair, giant moths started to pour out of the Sky Tiers along with all of the Toucans that Igna had. On the backs of each of the Toucans, a strange ball of flesh and fur sat. It took him a moment before he realized who it was.

The seventh Sky Clan.

He hadn't seen them in any of the battles that had taken place so far so he only knew them from their name and their reputation - Still Gluttons. They were Undead with the power of Death that grew more powerful the longer they were still. Even as they flew down, they began their attack.

Shadows grew around the the Still Gluttons, stealing the very color from the Toucans. Samba didn't have Wax and Wane's ability to see Aether, but the fact that his [Twilight Eyes] couldn't pierce those shadows at all told him that it was something else. The visible Aether had a sense of finality that scraped against the metaphorical hole in Samba's chest.

From those shadows, a river of death fell downward to the approaching human elites. Inside its impossible waters, flickers of white floated up like a soul being snuffed out as it travelled. The scale of the attack was on the same level as the Queen and the Myshkin Progenitor's battle and Samba could see the approaching elites hesitate.

The mud mage rose up to meet the attack, swelling her mud like a tidal wave to form a shield against the impossible attack. Even as she blocked, the river of souls crashed against it and expanded as the Aether used in the mud mages shield empowered the river itself. A wall of death blocked off nearly half the mountain forming an impasse where neither side could attack the other so long as the attack persisted.

The shadow spears of the Myshkin leader had no trouble breaking through the river, leaving all of the big players completely tied up. Now was their moment.

Heart beating in his chest, Samba ducked his head back underneath the waters and sighed in relief upon seeing the procession of otters followed after by the much slower other monsters who made up their clan. As always, his templar led the way, reaching him first.

Samba along with the few dozen templar that remained burst out of the lake. Completely ignoring the battle all around them, they charged past the humans backline and headed straight towards the boats.

"FOR THE UNDERBRIDGE!" Samba roared and a roar from his troops answered back. It was time for them to break free from the humans' trap.