You have killed the Demon Slave Harrigan.

You have gained experience.

Cutter laughed as she kneeled down and lay over—then fell still.

Eve desperately healed Kaden again and handed him a potion. “Drink!”

“Won’t help.” Kaden pushed it away. His body was cold. The rain was cold, and it fell in bands as the ship shook and shuddered and lifted.

“She did it.” Eve wasn’t looking at Kaden. “Ashi flooded the island. She summoned a storm so large it flooded the island. How the hell did she do that?”

Kaden watched his health drop. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.

You have resisted Death.

He lay still as the rain washed the red from his eyes. Breaths kept coming, even though his health sat at zero.

“Kaden?” Even leaned over him, water dripping from her blond hair in a waterfall. “How are you still alive?”

“Resisted Death.” He’d survived. But he wasn’t exactly alive. “Small healing.”

His health surged to fifteen—and then ticked down again to zero.

You have resisted Death.

Your skill with [Resist Death] has increased.

“It’s not over. The blessing, or its curse,” Eve said, as the ship lurched sideways. “I didn’t want this.”

“It’s ok.” Kaden drew a dagger from Inventory. Nicked his arm. Again. A third—

GENESIS STATE DETECTED.

ERROR_ENTITY_NOT_IN_NODE.

No Resolution Available…

GENESIS HALTED.

You have died.

DIVINE INTERCESSION IN PROGRESS

Oh, that was a wicked trick, resisting death.

You almost escaped me.

We should talk. Eve and I aren’t exclusive and she won’t be jealous. We will talk. When you return to your home, I will be waiting.

END OF INTERCESSION

RESUMING OBLIVION IN 3, 2, 1…

You have been resurrected.

You have suffered a level penalty.

Your health is critically low.

You require healing.

Kaden slid across the deck and gasped as someone caught his hand. Trella. She kneeled over him, one dagger driven into the deck. “I really can’t stand Nurav.”

His health surged upward as Sara’s title kicked in and Eve used [Life Endowment] on him. Kaden struggled to his feet as Sara helped Cutter up.

“Get below deck. All the sails are down and I’ll steer us. Right now it’s just ‘into the waves. I still don’t understand how she flooded the island.” Trella said.

A bolt of lightning split the sky and lit up the storm clouds. Kaden finally understood exactly what Ashi had done. “Oceanus. She called the Sea Dragon. With no skills and a children’s toy, she summoned the sea dragon.”

Wing beats like storm gusts rocked the monster ship like a child’s toy in a tub as Oceanus in his vast majesty hovered just above the ship, extending his head downward to turn an eye to Ashi. She spoke, her voice a part of the wind and rain, of the waves and the hail.

Blue mana crackled in a ball of lightning, and Ashi’s cage rattled down in fragments, bouncing off the ship and into the water. A second later, her manacles followed. Ashi glowed brilliant blue inspite of her wraps.

*Kaden.* Her message came in the crash of waves. *I have bargained for our freedom, and safe passage home. But I cannot earn this alone.*

As the waves pitched the ship, Kaden stood and ran for the mast, climbing higher and higher until the need to pursue the mana grew so strong he couldn’t have stopped if he had to. There was only the draw of dragon mana and his answer.

Ashi hovered next to the mast, a rope tied around her waist, and she grasp him. “I acknowledge I owe you a favor, great Sea Dragon.”

*Indeed. And this one, too, to balance the debt.* Oceanus’s eye was as large as Kaden was tall, and now it shifted to him. *You chose poorly your first scales, Solar Mana and Fire are weak. My servants cannot be weak. You will accept the Ocean. Or you will experience the Ocean.*

The world was made of debts and repayments, of risks and rewards. Kaden didn’t hesitate. “I acknowledge I owe you a favor.”

You have acknowledge a favor to Oceanus, incarnation of Sea Mana.

The same blue mana that had surrounded Ashi surged around Kaden, and his hand burned.

*I will call when it is time. You will answer.* Oceanus swung round behind the ship and began to flap his wings.

Kaden untied the rope around Ashi’s waist and began to climb down, dragging her with him until they touched the deck. The ship surged forward, driven by waves more than wind, as though the sea itself grasp it, guiding it forward. This wouldn’t have been alarming, except not a single sail stood high to catch the wind.

Oceanus himself slowly disappeared on the horizon, though Kaden had no question the dragon’s attention remained on the ship. Soon, passengers, prisoners and a few lucky pirates covered the deck. Kaden had no illusions about why Harrigan’s prisoners didn’t want to be below deck. He sought Trella and found her near the wheel, watching three [Sailors] take turns manning it.

“Doesn’t matter how we turn the rudder, the ship only moves that way,” Trella said.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Kaden sat against the deck, reflecting on the battle. [Relive the Moment] gave him the ability to know it all again. See every attack, every missed opportunity, every mistake. Harrigan had been stronger, yes, but Kaden’s own mistakes had made the battle harder. Mistakes he wouldn’t repeat.

Near the front of the ship, Sara stood with Rey. Kaden couldn’t imagine it lasting but he could see her happy for the moment, and that was enough.

“Beast Master.” Cutter’s voice drew him from his reverie. She handed him the [Levicon Blade]. “I want to use that ritual knife for now. Just until I can solo a dungeon and get something better.”

Kadden accepted it back. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ll live. I have seven levels to recover, thanks to that bastard. I was level thirty two, close to thirty three. Did she speak to you while you were dead?” Cutter’s tone filled with dread, something Kaden expected with seeing Circe Karn, not listening to her.

“She did.” He’d thought about her words. “I’m not eager to meet the blood healing goddess again. I’m not eager to accept her blessing again. I’m not eager to lose another level. Even when I hit zero health, the curse stuck. It wasn’t ‘until you hit zero,’ it was literally until I died.”

“I’m sorry about abandoning you. I had to build up enough buffs to be able to fight him. And I had to get my men out of the mine and rescue some of the healers. I can out damage you, but only when I’ve had time to build up. On the plus side, I had enough healers to let us outlast him.” Cutter glanced behind them. “That was a dragon. An actual dragon.”

“Oceanus.” Kaden wouldn’t be afraid to see the dragon again. And if there were a price for the blue scale traced out on his palm, it was one worth paying. “I have no idea what a man can do for a dragon, but if it’s the cost of getting home, it’s what I’ll pay.”

Five days into the journey, the ship slowed and stopped.

Trella worked with the sailors to raise the sails that hadn’t been ripped, though most of them had been savaged by the storm long before the flood wave came through to free Harrigan’s ship. Which Trella insisted was hers, the source of constant bickering between her and Sara.

Kaden had his own problems. He dove off the end of the ship and sank down. The scale embedded on his hand glowed as it came into contact with the salt water, letting him breathe and increasing his healing, but this was a meeting.

This was a farewell.

Explodius held still, drifting in the water. *You can go.* Kaden sent it with the image of the boss squid terrorizing whales, attacking random ships, leaping from the sea to eat unwary [Storm Condors].

Far beneath him, Squivard lay cool and rested on the ocean floor, toying with the masts of two ships like a child sword-fighting.

*You, too. Thank you. Thank you both.*

Explodius unfurled a tentacle to touch Kaden—then jetted away into the distance. Kaden swam upward and then climbed a rope to rejoin his party on the deck high above.

“Land!” Trella shouted from her spot at the wheel. “Land ho! Looks like Krevat. You know there’s nowhere this ship can dock, right? It needs a smaller ship just to transfer cargo to.”

“Or Krevat needs larger docks,” Sara replied. “There’s turmoil in the north. The Mercari hired Beserker clans to fight the pirates and the Beserkers reneged on the contract due to a civil war. The Justari are furious and demanding justice, the Mercari aren’t shipping to the north until it’s resolved.”

That sounded like bad business for everyone.

“Cutter won’t be heading to the Iron Gear Empire, but she shared with us what she did know. Every party to reach the empire has reported back arriving safely. Three to five days later, they stop reporting at all.” Kaden still hadn’t gotten rid of the nightmares that happened every time he thought about going to the Iron Gear Empire.

Trella yielded the ship’s wheel and joined him. “Every time I think we’re getting things done, ten more arrive. I have to take Arden to Shadowvale. You can’t come, and you don’t want to, either. You know what’s going to happen to a traitor? Nothing good.”

Kaden nodded. “I need to spend time with Trinity. I need to get Skully repaired. I need that Inheritance package. I have a level to gain back and probably a dozen erratics to deal with. And Sara will be busy. So busy. She’ll fight anyone for this ship.”

Trella looked around. “I’m not interested in running businesses. I want to do. I want to see. I want the coins, but only for what it will let me experience.”

Sara wanted it for the xp and the experience, an advantage of her profession. Kaden? “I want to experience things with you.”

A day out, ships sailed to meet them, probably as afraid of a ruse as much as answering Sara’s messages. With a full crew, they sailed into the bay and anchored. Kaden woke to find Trella had returned to ShadowVale and would return when she was done.

Kaden left the business negotiations to Sara and Eve, and headed straight for the Far Portal, and from there, to his dungeon, with Ashi close behind. When he arrived, a party was preparing for a run—only to find the dungeon door locked.

“Give me a moment,” Kaden said. He placed his hand on the door. “Oh, that’s not good. I think there’s a level thirty boss. Let me go clear it out for you.”

Once he was inside, locking the dungeon left Ashi free to put her hands on her hips and strip the mask that covered her face. “There is no such boss. If you do not wish them to enter, say it.”

Kaden headed straight for the blocked section which would lead to the Bearserker’s den. His will made the trees melt away, leaving an open path. “Stay back.”

“Trinity!” Kaden shouted.

From deeper in the dungeon, her blind head’s roar answered, a warning that Beast Emotion translated as *You should be running.*

But as Kaden turned to warn Ashi, dozens of smaller roars echoed.

Trinity’s serpentine head gave a sharp shriek that silenced all the smaller calls, and she lumbered out into the clearing where Star Shadow would normally wait. Every head looked in different directions, then all three looked to Kaden.

“Hey, girl. How’s the brood?” Kaden waited, hands down, as she approached. Trinity’s serpentine head looked over his shoulder at Ashi, but he waved his hand. “She’s a friend. You know that. I want to meet your children. You’re not the only TriTerror anymore. You’re the original.”

He sat down on the ground as she approached. “I have friends for you to meet later. A friend, one with a deadly aura.”

Trinity’s bone head lowered to stare at him, then nuzzled as gently as an armored club-head could. Trinity’s emotions tended toward the more violent end of the spectrum, but now, grattitude and relieve streamed off her as she circled him twice and lay down, putting one head on each side.

Kaden ran his fingers over her—and felt ribs. “You haven’t been eating?”

Her memories overflowed to Kaden, who understood in moments. “Not enough food. How much do these little guys eat? And when do I get to meet them? Hey, I know what you can have right now!”

He flung an ex-pirate-king out of inventory. The prisoners had given strong opinions on leaving enough of Harrigan to resurrect , and Kaden respected that. “He hurt a lot of people, girl. He hurt Ashi. Ashi, come out!”

Ashi peeked from behind trees, then slowly approached while Trinity gorged herself on Pirate King. “Thank you, Trinity. He called himself a king, but cruelty was his only rule, greed his only precept. That he will never draw a breath makes me sleep easier.”

Trinity settled down with a femur, and her blind head let out a rumble. All around, them, the underbrush began to rattle and shake, and one by one, miniature tri-terrors poppped out. Red, greeen, and blue, each had exactly three heads, and not one was taller than Kaden’s knee, though their center heads weren’t blind, instead looking a great deal like Suridev himself.

Trinity’s soft trill was *They’re a little bitey. And always hungry. I was never this hungry.*

Kaden hesitated to toss them more corpses. “We really shouldn’t be teaching them people are food. Twenty four? Twenty. What happened to the others?”

The memories this time were thick with emotion. Trinity was a real Wyvern parent, constantly hovering over her brood, but even with three heads, she hadn’t been able to keep all of them safe. A red had snuck away and challenged the dungeon boss. A blue and green had fought to the death and died of wounds. Another blue had been eaten by their siblings after repeatedly attacking everyone.

Kaden would have been a nervous wreck. Trinity saw it as nature’s way. As she lay there, watching her brood devour what was left of Harrigan and fight over his bones, she sent a thought. An actual question. *Help?*

“Of course.” Kaden removed a Tri-Terror attempting to gnaw on Ashi’s feet. “I’ll get them food.”

*No.* Trinity’s left and right head circled to stare at Kaden, and a new image hit him.

This time, he waited to make sure he understood. “We can do that. I’ll need help from the Druids, and I’ll need permission from the Southern Island druids, but we can take them there.” A vast network of islands left over after the destruction of a continent, some were so small they barely housed a tree and others so large they hid the remains of cities. As a Ruby Hydra, Trinity had grown up there.

It made sense she’d want her brood to have the same chance. While an [Emerald TriTerror] repeatedly gnawed on his boots, Kaden dispatched the Falcrow to Olidar, who would know who to ask to find them a permanent home. “I promise I will make it happen.”

“Must they try to eat me?” Ashi asked, hovering three feet off the ground while a pack of [TriTerrors] discovered that while they were capable of many things, leaping was not one of them. Instead, they cooperated, letting others climb on their backs, forcing Ashi higher and higher.

Trinity raised her middle head and gave a short bark Beast Speech interpreted as *You’ve had enough junk food for the day. No eating the [Polymage].*

Ashi drifted downward as the horde scattered. “Kaden, a Centurion waits at the door. I do not know more.”

Kaden willed a portal into existence, connecting him straight to the antechamber, and the moment it closed, willed the doorway to close to Trinity’s brood chamber. He looked to Ashi. “If they’re hostile, the dungeon floor will swallow you and spit you out after they leave.”

With trembling hands, he prepared to fling the dungeon door open.