The warning had not been nearly enough. It was eight hours in. Trillia felt like she hadn't eaten in a month.

She and the others had their arms extended with their palms facing away from them. Blood ran down their fingertips.

Their goal was simple. Push out exactly ninety-nine of the one-hundred mana they each had at their disposal. Anytime they failed, Zymeth would crack them in the hands with what looked like a long thing tube of wood and immediately refill their mana.

If they moved their feet, they got smacked on the back of the knee.

After another hour, Blossom fell over in a heap. Zymeth walked over, whispered a few words, and lifted her back to her feet. Her eyes seemed confused. "I've hit you with a restoration. Keep going."

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she extended her arms. Tempest was brave enough to speak. "This is torture, Uncle. They are not immort-"

"SILENCE!" Zymeth roared the word at her. "Her realm is in the balance. Billions of lives will be snuffed out. You think I am pushing the mortals too hard? What the fuck do you think an eldritch is going to do?" The angry deity stepped in front of his junior. "They don't have the luxury of a legion of pissed-off celestials at their back to save them from death. They stand on the precipice of oblivion!"

Tempest seemed to shrink at his words. "Hate me. Pray to all the gods for my death. Pray that my pillow is always warm and my food always cold. I don't rightly care. I will do what I can to give Blossom the absolute best chance at surviving and saving her realm from the idiotic fucking rules that are in place. If you don't like it. Leave. If you are too weak to handle my training. Leave. Go ahead, little celestial. Abandon her."

"Enough!" Blossom said through clenched teeth. "I'm not quitting. She's worried because we're friends. I won't quit, though. Not until my realm is free."

Zymeth stared at Tempest a moment longer the minor deity stayed silent before turning his eyes to Blossom. "Good. It's ok to hate me. Do whatever you must in your mind to get through this. I cannot assure victory, Blossom. You are against truly terrible odds. But I promise that I will do everything in my power to help you succeed."

Trillia had to wonder what his goal was. It couldn't just be to help her. Before she could silence her thoughts, Zymeth turned to look at her. "My world was devoured by an Eldritch." The deity walked over to stand in front of Trillia as her mana plummeted and refilled. Accompanied by a sharp crack in her hands. "I got to watch everything I know and love get torn to shreds and devoured. I was nearly devoured, Mathias was nearly devoured. I may have a low opinion of most mortals. But I'll spend an eternity in limbo before I turn a blind eye and let one of those fucking creatures get away with eating a realm unharmed."

Trillia's face hardened with a nod. Turning her focus fully onto her hands.

Days came and went. Time blurred together. Trillia thought that the first day would be the worst of it. But the second and third days had proven her wrong. Nearly a week later Blossom let out a cry of celebration. Zymeth stood in front of her with a hand on her shoulder. "Well done, Blossom. Now do ninety-eight, but time it for when your mana regeneration fills. So that the spell is expended but your mana is full."

Blossom didn't grimace. She had thrown herself into the training more than any of the three of them. It was her realm on the chopping block, after all. With a deep breath and a nod, she continued.

Trillia realized that Titan and Tempest hadn't been cracked on the hands nearly as many times. Truth be told, she was surprised they didn't already have a mastery of this.

"That's because I have them working in fractions and scaling up. First half a mana, and they must blend that into a full point. So on and so forth. The Professor is happy to slowly teach you to channel your abilities. To help you find your own way, I am not."

Trillia grumbled silently in her mind. She wasn't keen on how readily and easily he could read her thoughts.

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Everyone's eyes snapped over to Blossom as a bright green light was emitted from her body. Zymeth smiled at her once more. "Congratulations on your evolution. Shall I tell you what it is now, or let you see it as a surprise when you return to your realm?"

Blossom stared up at him with hard eyes. "Will it help in my training to know?" As the deity shook his head, so did she. "Then it's not important. I think I got your next step. What am I to do now?"

A full month had passed. Trillia lay on the floor in Titan's room, Blossom had passed out after flopping on his bed. Despite their words about never needing to sleep, both of the deities seemed exhausted. Blossom had broken through at an absurd rate. She was on the same training as the deities. Trillia had only just graduated to expending exactly ninety-eight on a refill. The mental timing of it seemed impossible for her to grasp. "A single day off. I'm going to eat my weight in meat and sleep all day."

Tempest chuckled softly. "A good way to spend it. I think I'll soak in a hot tub until our next training. What about you, cousin?"

The group was keeping their voices low to let Blossom get whatever rest she could. "I'll watch over Blossom to make sure she doesn't have nightmares and has a restful sleep. She is the only important one in our group right now. We must make sure she has all the tools to succeed."

They all shared a glance and nodded at one another.

One month turned into two, two into four.

The day was upon them. Trillia rarely felt exhausted or tired in the last few days. Blossom seemed to perpetually be full of energy and alert. The Professor and Zymeth were both fiddling with equipment and armor that had been crafted by anyone allowed to help. It seemed to Trillia that the one thing that unified all of the deities was their hatred for the eldritch.

Trillia couldn't help but have knots in her stomach. Worried weighed heavily on her, but she didn't speak it aloud. Too terrified to tempt the fates against her friend.

Zymeth reached into nothingness and pulled out a pendant. "This is the only trinket I can offer you."

The Professor looked at it, and for the first time since meeting her, tears welled up in her eyes as Zymeth spoke. "It... It will devour your soul. If the corruption from the eldritch gets past the point of fighting off."

Blossom looked at the pendant for a long moment before shaking her head. "Those last few moments of clarity before I am entirely consumed may turn the tide for my realm. If that means my soul is lost to the swarm, so be it."

Zymeth clenched the pendant in one clawed hand and offered her a nod. "I pray to all that is that I get to see you again someday. Hopefully, by then, you'll have grown strong enough to kick me a few times as payment for these past few months."

Blossom offered a brave, if empty, smile. "Does that mean I have permission to kick you when we next meet Lord Zymeth?"

"Aye. If you succeed, I'll give you at least two free kicks. I might even pretend like they hurt."

No one laughed. No one except Blossom even cracked a smile. She went down the line, giving everyone hugs, doing her best to keep a straight face and not let her fear show through. As she got to Trillia, she whispered into her ear. "If we never meet again. I hope your realm is safe and that all of your dreams come true. Thank you for being my friend."

Trillia couldn't stop the tears as she clung tightly to Blossom. Eventually, Tempest's firm grip pulled her away. Blossom turned without another word and stepped up to Zymeth. "I am ready."

The deity nodded, and the young woman vanished. Zymeth turned his swirling orbs of mana to the others. "Would you all like to watch what may be her final moments?"

All of them nodded. Zymeth lifted his hand, and an image of a beautiful globe covered in rich blue water with endless forests appeared before them. Trillia's chest tightened as she saw what looked like hundreds of thousands of shards swarming all over the place. To her surprise, there were thousands of warriors that looked similar to Blossom. "She has help?" Trillia crushed the faint glimmer of hope that started to rise.

Zymeth nodded. "The local deities that are not strong enough to leave the realm. If the realm core is destroyed, so are they. There are a few thousand others who have been trained similarly to Blossom." His voice didn't hold any hopeful tone.

"The deities will handle the largest chunks of the swarm outside of the realm's direct influence. Other deities that have clearance will do their best to attack the swarm's flanks and scare it off. The most dangerous fight, however, is on the surface of the realm."

As their view changed to seeing Blossom, something tugged at Trillia's mind. At first, it was gentle, then it became stronger and stronger. Until finally, a large creature jumped out from the shadows of a tree and bounded past Blossom. The creature was a quadruped that was covered in green leaves and bark. Trillia remembered the feeling. It was [Spawn Seeker] triggering. The creature that had run past Blossom must have been a primordial warped creature.

Blossom didn't seem afraid. In fact, she fell into step behind it. It led her through the winding paths of a great forest before a battlefield opened up to her. Trillia's mind slammed defensive walls up, and her divine aura leaked out on instinct. But it wasn't just one shard. There were a dozen in the clearing, with thousands of much smaller ones swarming a village.

Blossom didn't hesitate. She raised a staff in the air and closed her eyes.

Zymeth switched them from seeing the physical realm to seeing the Aetherian one. All hope fled from Trillia.