Most of the time, you didn’t even need to believe in the narrative. Long accepting that I had some part to play in some destiny, it still managed to surprise me when the thread of inevitability was so overt. No shame in plucking me into some new bullshit in front of my companions on my first Mids mission.

And now I was falling.

Something like the dreams I’d had frequently. An infinite void of darkness, as I tumbled forever. I half expected to see the Rat God, who had been rather silent as of late. While he usually spoke to me in my dreams - this was my waking mind. But then again, he was the reason for the familiarity as I had touched the door.

The odd passageway beneath that pigman township with the odd chest that granted me boons. Something greater - or at least different - than demons. Just a connection through the planes. Was this one of those? So far, my chips were on yes.

Perhaps I should pop out my wings to assist the-

Any further thought was shaken from my head violently as I struck a solid surface. Both legs shattered, and I collapsed into a pile. A cold, metallic floor that stretched out into the darkness in all directions. Some warning would have been nice.

I looked out to my left, as a pulse of amber flame illuminated an edge of the platform I appeared to be on. Still possibly miles out - it was hard to tell. Another burst of silent fire, this time higher and brighter. It reminded me of a volcano. A few warning shots before the main event.

And then, there it was.

Force whipped at the air around me as a great power reverberated through my ears, threatening to turn what remained of my brain into mush. My eyes rose to meet the plume of bright light that continued impossibly high into the air. Billowing clouds of smoke gathered in pockets to form the shape of muscles. A head composed of a burning ember with two dark pits that remained pitch black. Into their hand, a colossal hammer as large as a city block.

“What pitiful fragments blights my anvil?” The voice thrummed through the endless expanse, causing pain inside my skull. Still, at least he was talking relatively normally.

“Pretty sure you invited me here, pal.” I pushed myself up to a seated position, my inert legs flopping out of the way.

“Lantern,” he boomed.

At least there were no maggots - and other than the excruciating pain of my demonic regeneration trying to assemble my legs again, I wasn’t feeling crazy.

“Want me to just call you The Blacksmith?” I asked, more in hopes that I would be smashed like a bug and could go home after.

“You are not the original. You are fractured.”

Probably wasn’t referring to my legs, but they were currently a sore spot. Hadn’t heard from Rodney yet, so wherever I was must be somewhere outside of the Mids. “Let me guess, you’re offering to forge me anew so I can blah blah fate, and so on?”

The Blacksmith was silent for a moment, his skyscraper sized flames flickering wildly against the darkness. “I can break the chains of your sullied ascension. Temper your energy into its true form…”

“But there is a cost?”

“Always.”

I winced as the word bore into my head. Up until this point, I thought I had a reasonable grasp of things. I had demonic power. I had divine power. I had the essence of Balance to ensure neither side got too strong and broke my mortal form. If I was being offered something that gave me a boost right as the final battle loomed…

“Just what are you offering, and what is the cost?” I flexed my fingers as I looked up at the mountainous figure. “Speak plainly, so I may make an informed decision.”

As much as I was all for a last-minute ass-pull of a power-up, what I’d expect to pay was the main sticking point. Most people just wanted me to stop the resurrection of whatever old god or destroy the Org. Two points that were plotting closer together the more information we uncovered.

Killing the demon who had murdered my family and Pearl’s ex was my personal goal. Rest of the mortal plane would be nice as a side objective. I wasn’t… desperate for whatever was being dangled in front of me, which is how I knew this one wasn’t a demon. There must be something going unsaid for so many being outside our normal scope to be interested in my success.

“Something very simple,” the voice thundered out. “When your destiny has been fulfilled, you will no longer be able to return to the mortal plane.”

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I furrowed my brow - or rather, frowned even harder than I already was. What kind of ask was that? No more mansion, or seeing Rodney again. I struggled to think of any else I really liked about the real world. Pancakes? In truth, I expected to die during or right after the final fight, anyway. No longer being able to return to Earth wasn’t much of a penalty at that point… and if I was doomed to stay in Hell, then I’d be with Pearl until the corruption eventually destroyed me.

My mouth turned into a wide grin. “I accept your blessing with open arms, and the curse that comes along with it.”

Power hungry? Not exactly. I was here for a reason, and willing to trust that this was for the benefit of the greater world. Hopefully, this guy wouldn’t haunt my dreams to give me pep talks on occasion.

“Very well.”

The hammer came down. Something I had been expecting from the start, but was still totally unprepared for. Just the sheer size of it - the weight and mass that displaced the air and blocked out the light before it struck.

I was flattened, ironed out to what felt like an atom thin, across the wide anvil. No pain or elation. I didn’t feel like a veil had been lifted or that the weight was truly on me. I just existed, very briefly, as an impossibly large two-dimensional version of myself.

And then there was light. A jagged thing just above me. Something eclipsed the scant illumination to glare down at me with pearlescent eyes.

“For fuck’s sake, Eric Redd. What are you doing?”

I grimaced and looked up at Pearl standing in what remained of the doorway she had opened with her sword. About twenty feet up or so. “Ah. Thought the mission was going too well, so I had to improvise.”

“Ass. Are you hurt?”

The pain radiating from my legs determined that the breaking part was all real. Maybe I’d just hit my head on the way down this… unfinished stairwell? The start of an elevator shaft? Only things around me were dust and some of my own blood. Walls a dozen or so feet in every direction, dimly lit by the ambience from above.

“Broke both my legs. Shall we just head home?”

She sighed and turned to murmur something to Wight.

//Lost you for a brief moment there. It was… odd.

I grunted. “Hey, Pearl? How long did you wait before using your can-opener on the door?” My voice echoed around the empty space, causing me to shiver.

“Pretty much immediately. Didn’t want you to… hurt yourself.”

Must be other reasons than that. I wasn’t sure if she knew anything about other planar entities in her position as a Grand Executioner. Despite not being much of a people person, I seemed to be drawn to making new friends. And in a split second, as well.

“Just head back home then - I think we’re done here. We’ll wait for you.”

“Understood.”

Rather than focus on my pact device to return to the basement, I instead took a second to focus on my core. Needed to know that it wasn’t just another bad dream brought on by the influence of Hell.

My energy was… gone.

Brief panic had me shudder again, working against the pain of my legs. No demonic, no divine - and no balance in the middle. Was this a trick? Had I now become inert and my powers had been stolen?

But no... I understood.

Couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Instead of having a malleable core of different powers sloshing around inside me… I was the energy. As if someone had walked around my insides with a bucket and roller full of paint and covered every inch. I smiled, because I didn’t know what else to do.

And then vertigo, as I returned home. Stepped through the portal into the basement on legs that were sore but functional.

The projector went inert as soon as I had left Hell, so both Rodney and David turned to me. The latter looked pale, but too far traumatized from the day before to be emptying out his breakfast after seeing today’s home movie.

“I… thought your legs were broken?” The Blank looked concerned, but otherwise calm.

“They are.” I grinned. “At least to some degree. I stepped gingerly over to my recliner as a flash of pink and swirl of dark mist signaled the return of the rest of my group.

[I feel very good about that venture.]

With a long sigh, I settled down and closed my eyes. Peeked them open once more to see that Pearl had moved in front of me with her arms crossed.

“Are you going to leave us all in the dark, Eric?”

“About what?” My eyes closed once more. Wasn’t even that tired, really… just processing.

“You fell through a solid door and broke your legs. That’s not a common enough occurrence that I can allow you to hand-wave away the explanation.”

[I had a familiar feeling briefly after you fell.]

“Alright,” I held up my hand to quieten them and leveled a glare through the room. “It’s going to sound… well, you remember the Rat God?”

They all nodded, except for David, who just looked more out of place.

“Well… imagine that, but different.”

“Really?” Pearl shook her head. “You were alone for four seconds and you managed to meet another outer planar entity and break both legs?”

“The legs were the easy part.” I nodded.

[What did they offer you? Did you accept? Who were they?]

Wight looked more eager for answers than the rest, which was unlike him. Of course, he had been along for the ride when I had met the Rat God, so perhaps he felt a little left out that I got to make new friends solo.

“My energy core has been forged into one whole piece by a gargantuan blacksmith entity.”

The words sounded pretty believable in my head, but the further along with the sentence I got, the less I felt like I was in the right. Perhaps I had hit my head. To check, I removed my hat to feel around my hair for any bumps. Pearl sought to assist, as she sat on the arm of my chair and lent her own fingers to the process.

“What does that…” David looked like he might spontaneously combust. “What does that mean?”

I shrugged, as the impromptu skull massage had the unintended side effect of turning my working brain into mush. No bruises or cuts located, but my demonic partner continued her probing.

[As Eric was not the original destined Lantern, the powers he has are somewhat cobbled together. Stolen or borrowed strengths from the respective parties involved. My assumption is that the Blacksmith made Eric whole.]

“Sure.” I smiled. “We’ll go with that.”

Pearl gripped at my head. “You do not feel any different. What can you do now?”

I looked up at her, my smile turning into a wide grin. “Plot us a course back to the Mids, and let’s find out.”