Poe's shriek of joy interrupted the night's calm. Gi stopped their flight and hovered in place, but Ellen looked warily about not able to understand the language of monsters.

"Are we under attack?"

"No, just an old friend."

Gi's [Twilight Eyes] made out Poe's form as he raced across the sky to him. A few lights shone below in Wavecrest, but even from here, the town seemed still.

Poe slammed into his chest, flattening himself out to give him a hug. When it wasn't quite enough, he used [We Might Be Giants] to make himself just big enough to wrap fully around. He was already blubbering before he even made it to him, not quite crying and not quite talking, but either way not understandable.

"Are you sure we're not under attack?" From her perspective, it must have looked like Poe was trying to eat through his chest.

"Yes, this is Poe, my oldest friend."

Ellen looked like she wasn't quite sure, but she did look away as though to study the night sky. Poe finally got his words out.

"Boss! I missed you so much! Everything fell apart while you were gone and I tried to keep them together, but it all happened so fast. Kumo got mad at Samba and left and then Tiria was all... wahhhh."

Gi returned the hug, gently rubbing Poe's back. "It's okay. I built a weak house so it was inevitable that it would fall apart. I shouldn't have asked you to fix my mistakes. I'm proud of everything that you've done."

Poe looked up at him with wide multifaceted eyes that seemed to shine from his tears. "Don't say that about the clan! Even following behind you, everything was so scary until the clan started. The clan is my family!"

Perhaps, Gi was being too hard on himself. The conflict between his Elites had been small, maybe only that which existed in a normal family. Having never had a normal family, he didn't know, but he did know that grief amplified things.

Grief was the most mundane horror. Its passing forever altered the paths that those who experienced it walked. When a child loses their parent or worse a parent loses their child, it creates this ragged hole in people's lives that spawns chaos.

"I'm sorry. You're right, Poe. There was something special that we had despite my mistakes."

"It was special, wasn't it? Now everyone is split up and Wax is still gone." Poe grew quiet for a moment and the little dragonfly's turmoil broke his heart. "How do we fix it?"

"I'm not sure that we can. Relationships aren't as simple to repair as a broken bowl, but I can promise we'll try and the first step is to get everyone back together. That's where I need yours and Tiria's help."

Poe pulled back and straightened up like a child pretending to be soldier. "Tell me what to do, Boss!"

With a thought, Gi activated [Danna's Realm] and a door opened. It was a an old white door with glass panels that reminded Gi of his home from his first life. It made him a touch melancholic to remember the home he'd shared with Danna and Noah.

He pulled it open, but thankfully, it wasn't a mirror of his old home. Instead, it was a small pasture about the size of a bedroom with a little river running through it. On a large rock near the shore were all the things that he'd had in his [Expanded Pocket] before it upgraded.

He placed his hand inside and it magically crossed the space to the rock without him having to enter.

He plucked a piece of paper from it.

"This is a map of the world," Gi said, turning it so that Poe could see. One large continent sat directly in the center of the page. The left side was completely covered in depictions of tree. The right side was rocky and mountainous. "This is Veridia and Frosthelm."

"Green and cold, got it!" Poe shouted. Curious, Ellen tried to lean forward to see what he'd pulled from [Danna's Realm] so he shifted his summon to fly her to a better angle. He also fed a small stream of Aether into the Amulet of Many Tongues.

"These dots represent our scattered clan or probably allies." Gi pointed to each of the dots on the map. The first one was Wavecrest, the second was at the base of the unnatural plateau that split the continent in twain, the third was the village Poe had been at, and the last was deep into Frosthelm.

"Samba, Nori, Georgia, and Kumo," Gi said, pointing at each in order again. "Kumo's the furthest away. I need you to get her and Georgia and try to get them to Nori's as fast as you can."

"You're not coming too?"

Gi shook his head and pointed to the southwest section of the map where the Thousand Islands bordered Igna. "I have to go back and recruit some more warriors if we want to win this war."

"Ooooo! Who's there? Who's there!"

"A few different potential allies, but the one you'd be most excited about is Rocky."

"ROCKY?! Why is he still in Igna?! He's not with Samba?" Fear raced through the little dragonfly and he flew in a tight circle before looping back to Gi. "Is he okay?!"

"He's fine. Not all the monsters were purged by the humans there."

"Really?," Ellen said, "We missed some? Huh."

"Not the best time, Ellen..."

Poe looked wildly back and forth between them. "What did she say? What did she say?!" Poe switched to telepathy. Also hi human lady, I didn't mean to be rude. I just haven't seen my Boss in awhile on account of him being dead and all.

"Wait. You were dead?"

Gi sighed. He felt like he was going to have to be explaining things a lot. "Poe, I'm so happy to see you, but I'm on a bit of a tight timeline. Can you get everyone together for me?"

Poe took the map in his legs and then glued it to his chest with a wad of web. "You can count on me, Boss! Out of the way, people! We're in a hurry!" He started to zoom off towards Wavecrest, but stopped to look back at him.

"I love you, Boss!"

Gi smiled. "Love you too and see you soon."

"Weeeeee!"

Gi took a moment to watch Poe leave and was impressed by the dragonfly's sheer positivity. He'd give anything to keep Poe's view of the world safe.

"That's the first time I've ever heard the monster tongue sound cute."

"I'm surprised it translated."

"So... tell me more about this whole being dead thing. I feel like the First One left a lot out."

Not wanting to waste time, the two of them returned their journey out across the ocean. It would take some days for them to reach their destination so Gi had plenty of time to catch her up on the current state of things.

They didn't talk the entire time though and in the lull, Gi checked his Status page for the first time since his return. It had a lot more information than it did before.

Name: Gi

Race: Gang Otter (Archbishop - C)

Job: Cleric

Class: Archbishop

Level: 40

Squad: Gi's Squad

Knot:

Quicksilver Body

Heart of Crossroads

Soul of Rebirth

Realized Aspects:

Heart-Body: Blood of Nobility (Combined Aspect: Liquid Light)

Body-Soul: Mind of Forged Destiny (Combined Aspect: Stream of the Goddess)

Soul-Heart: Will of Subverted Fate (Combined Aspect: Light of the Heavens)

Stats

Strength - C

Agility - C

Vitality - C (Core: Waterborn Vitality)

Wisdom - C

Leadership - 5

Domain:

* Papal Legion (B) formerly Archbishop

Traits:

Intelligence(Inherited)

Twilight Eyes

Scales

Unorthodox Mind

Trait Skills:

* Divine Spouse (C) - From Danna's Conduit

* Concealing Light (D)

* God's Passage (B)

* Divine Commandment (C)

* Unstoppable Nobility (C)

* Endless Torrent (D)

* Celestial Inspiration (D) - formerly Rally

* Danna's Realm (D) - formerly [Expanded Pocket]

Skills (6/6)

* Religion (E)

* Light Armor (E)

* Persuasion (E)

* Platoon Leader (D)

* Blunt Weapons (E)

* Fighting Style (Five Hands Firefly) (E)

*******

Samba slumped against the broken walls of Mark's home. It was poetic that he'd been the one to smash through it last night. He physically destroyed their home just as much as he figuratively did.

Mark was gone.

He'd been unable to save him. Tiria was the one person he'd really trusted among the leadership of the clan and she'd killed Mark.

And just to bring that bastard back.

Samba had a lot of anger and hate in his heart for both of them, but what did it matter? Neither would bring back his best friend. Neither would they save everyone from the demons. He hadn't been strong enough to protect them from that either.

Night had turned to day at some point. The humans were milling around outside. While a few looked his way, they seemed more confused than anything. Tala had left to go help the clan settle and to get Elizabeth to help translate. They had to rely on another bastard because Samba had failed.

The morning continued and order didn't quite return to the town. A heavy weight pressed down upon Samba that was impossible for him to shake off. It wasn't even the death of his best friend that caused it. It was the family that had survived Mark.

How could he ever look them in the eyes again after bringing the Underbridge here?

A bowl of soup was placed into his hands. Samba blinked and Tala stood above him. She pulled his head into a hug and gently kissed between his ears. "I know you're hurting, but you're not alone. You're loved and I'm here for you. Don't worry about the clan for now. Just do whatever you need to do."

Samba didn't answer. Her words and presence were comforting and might have helped if it weren't for the nature of his despair.

He had a family still, but Alice didn't.

She pulled back from him to look him in the eyes, but he couldn't quite meet hers. She placed a claw on the bowl of soup and helped guide it towards his mouth.

"Please drink the soup. I'm going to try and figure things out. I'll be back. I promise."

Dully, he drank the soup. If it had any kind of flavor, he couldn't have commented on it, but he drank it all. It didn't stop him from thinking about Alice and Rae.

In the past as long as he'd been there, he'd been able to protect others. Maybe in a chaotic war, there might be some that had fallen through his fingers, but those at his back were always safe.

What did you do when you couldn't protect someone? What did you do when it was your fault that the enemy came?

By himself, he had no answer, but as he continued to churn away at that question. He thought of Gi.

When the Illusor Clan had sent Elizabeth and the trolls to attack them during the funeral, Gi had been enraged. He went to their lair by himself and demolished it. Every single one of them died to the monster.

Samba's dark thoughts allowed him to consider that. What it would be like if he hunted down Tiria, Orchid, and Gi just as his Progenitor had done to the Illusory Clan.

But no. That wasn't him. He'd never be like that monster.

The dark detour of his thoughts wasn't fruitless though. While Gi had done something horrible, he'd also evened the scales. Samba wasn't a murderer, but he did believe in fairness.

And that's when it came to him.

A way to fix things.

Samba got up. He walked into the great room of Mark's house. Chunks of wood were still missing from his fight with Tiria and Mark's body was still there though someone had covered it with a sheet.

Near the door was an axe. The same axe that Samba and Mark had used to chop trees when they first met. If that memory wasn't tainted with loss now, he might have smiled remembering the two of them pantomiming since neither understood the other.

Samba grabbed the axe and stepped into the backroom. Rae must have cried herself ragged a long time ago as she lay in the bed asleep. Alice watched her sleep, one hand resting on her daughter's, but she looked up as Samba entered.

Her eyes were ringed with red as though she'd been crying almost nonstop. The anger and hatred that he felt was mirrored in her eyes, but it wasn't muted like it was in him. She didn't seem happy to see him.

He understood that too.

He placed the axe at her feet. "For your family," Samba said in broken human. "I'm sorry for not being better friend."

He got onto his knees before prostrating himself before her, ensuring his neck was exposed.

The axe scraped against the wood flooring as she picked it up. The light from the candle that had been lit by the bedside made her shadow flicker on the floor as she hefted the axe.

Good. Samba thought. I hope my death brings her piece.

The axe barely disturbed the wind as it was brought down and its handle lightly bonked him on the head.

"Samba," Alice mumbled. "You're an idiot..."