Gi and Ellen flew for four days straight to reach the Thousand Islands. With the liquid light that shone from him, they didn't want to approach without first resting. Ellen navigated him to a small island that was within a few hours flight of Gwydh, the largest island in the kingdom and the home of its capital.

The island they landed on had a large roughly cone shaped rock in the middle with a single tree growing out of its base. It was an odd combination considering the island was probably only the size of his old house and mostly sand.

While his flight was passive and a single summon didn't even break through his natural regeneration anymore, churning Aether for four days straight was still exhausting. If it came to a fight, he needed to be at his best.

"Good night," Gi said, even though it was still daylight, and he laid his head back against the rock. Ellen, who'd been able to rest on the way over, moved to the other side of the island to look towards the rest of the Thousand Islands.

Tired, Gi drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

A pulse of intent emanating from [Divine Spouse] woke him many hours later to find Ellen standing over him. She had no blade in hand nor visible energy, but Gi's Soul senses were strong and he could sense the Aether burning within her as she'd looked down at his sleepless body.

Before his death, Gi would have taken the threat as an attack. He'd have instantly launched out with as much power as he could to defeat her. Gi was not that Otter anymore.

Though her Aether had all the characteristics of well trained blade at his throat, her expression looked conflicted.

"Is something troubling you?" Gi asked instead.

She sighed, dropping down on the sand beside him as she released her Aether. She didn't answer him, but Gi had found some patience for difficult conversations. He took the brief silence to a send a prayer of thanks to Danna for her intervention.

He'd have killed for such a direct form of communication in the before times. Danna's power hadn't increased much during his death. Their new bond was entirely thanks to his Skill and the closeness of their Hearts.

"I...," Ellen finally said, breaking the silence. "When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be the strongest. Before my Knot was developed, I was constantly trying to beat up all the boys or doing the training that I saw warriors doing. The priests on my island didn't like that. They said it wasn't becoming of a young woman."

Her eyes seemed far away in memories so Gi didn't feel it was appropriate to interrupt. Sometimes, the only job of a friend was to listen and he would like them to be friends.

"I hated that. Larger islands were full of women adventurers I told them and they hated that. Head Priest Gil of Hyshtel was the greatest offender. There was no traumatic moment in my life, but everything I've done has come from that little seed of spite from the Head Priest telling me ,'no, don't do that.'"

"Bloodshed and heartache aren't the only ways to water change."

"True. Sometimes, I think it was my destiny to grow into the person that I am. If it hadn't been the priests, then something else would have driven me into the swamps to hide and meditate so I could grow my Knot.

"But it was the priests."

Gi stretched out his neck as he sat further upright, pressing his back against the rock. It didn't seem like she was likely to kill him at this point so he'd rather be comfortable. "I'm guessing that was how you found the First One?"

She laughed. "Sort of. While not right, I viewed both the priests and their opinions of me as much more intense than they were. I actually thought I was a monster for a bit. I grew out of it, obviously, but it didn't change who I prayed to in my heart or my childhood goal of strength."

"Worshipping the god of monsters must be unique for a human, no?"

"Not nearly as much as you'd think. There was always some edgy cultist or eclectic scholar who'd offer prayers. I never aligned with them. I always thought the First One was more pure and that all she cared about was power. Turns out I was right."

She lulled back into silence, only the light waves against the shore and the slight breeze provided any backdrop for their conversation. Gi wanted to give her time to work through her emotions, but he also felt the pressure of a deadline quickly approaching.

One he didn't want to meet with her still considering his death.

"And now you feel conflict with her commandment?"

She nodded. "I do. That almost feral child meditating in swamps did become the strongest just like she wanted. When you do, people start to have expectations of you. Protect us from monsters, train our children, fight in our wars. All of those were a burden to me, but... it was also a connection.

"I fought with the Prince during the civil war. With his rule, stability was returned to the Thousand Islands. He and I worked together to defeat the leaders of the fire mountain that appeared during the Monster Surge. So then I have to ask, what is more important - the monster that I needed as a child or the humanity I found as an adult?"

And that was the crux of it. Gi's response was quiet, gentle enough not to break her precarious thoughts. "I don't intend to kill him."

"But you will. He will never agree to work with you. Even ignoring his father's legacy, he hates you and it's not just a hate fueled by loss but fear. His first Dungeon experience was what turned the Prince from a whiny noble into the King that he'd become. Even if I don't lift a finger in your fight with him, I'll be betraying him."

"So what will you do?"

Ellen gave a little yell and then flopped back against the sand. Her frustration now at least partially vented, she responded. "The greater good, I suppose. I've seen the demons' armies and we're not prepared for it as we are. Something has to change."

"No one should be put in a position to make the decisions that you're having to make."

"Then I suppose it's up to the strongest to make them." Ellen kicked back to her feet before stepping across the sand and holding a hand out to him. "Come on, let's go."

Gi clasped her hand and let her pull him to his feet. Gi started to a summon another otter, but she waved him off, instead summoning her own Aether and using the sand and water to form a platform for herself.

"I'll go find the scheming priests and play my role. You go find the King and maybe I'll be wrong about how it plays out."

"Good luck, Ellen."

"Good luck, random beaver thing that my goddess told me to help."

Gi smirked and drifted into the air as he watched her surf away on the ocean. He realized that Danna hadn't been warning him of the danger that Ellen possessed. She would have worked through it on her own. No, Danna had woken him so she wouldn't have to work through it alone.

"My love, your heart is infinite. I suppose it is only natural that you became a goddess."

Letting his warm feelings pass, he steeled himself for what came next. Gi swam into the open air and activated [Concealing Light] to hide the signs of his liquid light from giving him away. Being only a D ranked Skill, it's formerly obscene activation cost was much more manageable to his upgraded Soul. It probably wouldn't hide him from C or B ranked sight Skills, but it should be enough for what he needed.

Once Gi had gotten a decent height, his destination became visible.

The sun was dipping towards the horizon, but dark clouds hung heavy in the air, making the sunset seem darker than usual. Strul, the capital city of the Thousand Islands, sprawled across the island of Gwydh. Every inch of the island was inhabited with docks seeming to encircle its entire perimeter.

Along one edge was an unnatural plateau with a castle perched atop its peak. At this point, the King was most often in his room at the top of the South Tower or in the war room off the main hall. Gi flew towards the South Tower first.

The walls didn't quite meet the pointed roof around most of the tower, forming a circular open window that allowed the owner of it to see perfectly outside and Gi to see inside.

A giant four posted bed dominated the center with a large armoire set against one of the few tall walls in the room. A desk was tucked along the window so that the owner could look outward towards the city.

Sitting at the desk was a man he'd not seen since the second Dungeon - King Rellington.

No crown adorned his head, but as Gi landed in the window, the man stood with all the confidence of a King. The rich red robe he wore was clearly woven of enchanted thread to match his affinity with fire.

Despite his prim and orderly appearance, his aura felt like a tepid pool suddenly disturbed as though a stench came from a pit within.

"Is it you, Aberrant?" The King turned and his face looked drawn and weary. It was completely at odds with the venom of his words.

Gi wasn't sure if the King's Soul senses were tuned enough to track the Aether used for [Concealing Light] or if it was simply a higher ranked detection skill, but it was clear that his presence was obvious.

Gi hadn't intended to stab the man in the back anyways. He let [Concealing Light] drop.

"King Rellington, I've come to speak about an alliance between our peoples." The Amulet of Many Tongues translated his words to the King, but Gi wasn't even sure if the man had heard them.

As soon as Gi had revealed himself, a barely constrained rage fell across his face. "And now you speak? Just to come here and beg. Was Fader not enough? Were my childhood friends not enough? Now you seek my kingdom as well?"

"I apologize for our past conflicts. We were both victims of a system that forced us to fight. Together thou-"

"No." The King's voice dripped with finality. "You're a monster. Learning to speak doesn't change that. It doesn't change what you've done.

"And the only good monster is a dead one."

The King's Aether spiked, but it didn't seem as though he was fueling any Skill. What Gi was feeling in the man's aura made little sense so he hopped backwards on the railing of the South Tower.

"We don't have to fight. We can break the cycle of violence." He hadn't expected this conversation to work, but he had expected a bit more of a dialogue. The man's rising Aether keened like a slowly breaking string on a violin.

Gi didn't come back to this world to commit more violence, but neither would he damn the world for his past sins.

Fighting against the rising tide of the King's Aether, he poured his own in [Divine Commandment]. The aura of an ancient divinity erupted from his hand in the form of light, crossing the distance between them in an instant.

The string of the King's Aura snapped.

An explosion of power rippled out from the man, pushing back Gi's attack. A torrent of violet flames followed, but instead of launching towards him, it burned through the King's flesh in a strange array of patterns that seemed beyond his brain's ability to comprehend.

Despite that, he knew them.

As they burned into the King's flesh, the runes that covered him flared with his very life force through the filter of the beyond. Until Gi's rebirth, he'd worn the scars of those very same runes on his body since he was a Child.

The Old Ones had corrupted the King.