Najur had no idea how ‘Resist Death’ worked, and neither did any of Vichor’s other scholars. Death was a state, not a damage type. Eve—and other healers—were certain that when your health hit zero, it was time to die.
Kaden had his own theory. Mana Shock hit when mana reached zero. Maybe Death was similar. The same way that being tier two meant not collapsing from Mana Shock, perhaps Resist Death left him at zero, with a sliver of a chance to heal before there was no going back. He wasn’t eager to try again—or to increase his resistance. After repeatedly thanking Najur, Kaden went to find Trella.
He found her, all right, surrounded by Mages in the market, drinking coffee and accepting all manner of gifts. “You look like you’re doing well.”
“You look like death,” Trella said. Then squinted. “What happened to you?”
Kaden showed her his hand. “Two dragon scales. One more. One more and I unlock [Beast Form]. I don’t know how I was supposed to do it, but I know how I will.”
Ashi and Eve took places beside Trella.
“So,” Ashi said, “How is my home, now that you have seen it?”
“Too focused on what could be to see the power in what is.” Trella took a potion out of Inventory. “That. That’s a tier seven potion. My skill is level four, it’s always possible to brew potions one tier out of range. Here, I’m not sure the limits apply. Also, you should go visit your griffin soon and take me with you.”
Kaden studied the flask. “What does it do?”
“I have no idea. It’s an attribute boost. If my [Alchemy] skill were higher I would have been able to influence which attribute it affects. As it is, I’m damned lucky I was able to brew it at all, but Nieman said brewing higher tier potions is the key to advancing.” Trella passed it around. “Tier five boosts are temporary. Tier ten boosts are usually one point and permanent. There’s a fifty/fifty chance this is permanent.”
“Take it,” Kaden said. “We’re not in a fight. If it boosts your Soul and then drops it, you won’t be hurt. If it raises it permanently, you know and will use it.”
Eve nodded. “You should take it. It’s your potion.”
Trella shook her head. “I used Griffin…extract. They don’t have mana skills, so their magic enhances their attributes. I think it’s going to be strength or HP, and both of those are Kaden’s department.”
“I don’t agree,” Eve said. “You made the potion. You will be able to make more, in time.”
Ashi pushed the potion back toward Trella. “It is your power. Your skill. Your sacrifice and practice.”
Trella grasp the flask, opened it and poured the contents into her mouth, drinking in steady chugs. To Kaden, she momentarily glowed a deep forest green. Then belched, long and loud. “That was disgusting.”
“What is it doing?” Eve asked, leaning in. “Soul. Tell me it’s increased your soul. Assassins always need more soul.”
“Intelligence,” Ashi said. Then, as Trella glared at her. “She was already intelligent. Now she will be more so.”
Kaden kept his mouth shut. “I love you no matter what stat goes up.”
“Weird. It increased ‘Constitution’ by two. Permanently. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like I’m that much harder to hurt. It isn’t what I would have chosen, but any stat upgrade is good.” Trella hunched over. “Oh, it’s so rank.”
Eve yawned. “I would like to sleep.”
Sleep. The idea hit him like a down hill wagon aimed at a line of orphans and filled with lead plates, steered by a mad priest. Which was definitely not something that had happened in Verona more than once. “I’ve got room for three in my house. Ashi?”
“Mother would like to speak to me. I choose to remain.” She smiled as she lay back in the grass and looked at the stars. “Always, these stars were cold and uncaring. Now I see them as beautiful.”
That probably had to do with not having a murderous brother hunting her, but it seemed rude to point out. Kaden half-carried Trella to his house. “Eve, the spare bedroom is yours. We can bathe tomorrow in the public baths.”
The farm-house style decore made Kaden feel at home. The two foot wide wisp who came out to bob back and forth made him less so. He summoned Trinity and Vip and let them climb the stairs. “Vip. Are you with me?”
*Love.* Vip turned into the spare bedroom and leaped onto the bed.
“You said love. And you’re going into her bedroom?” Kaden tried not to shout. Her love for Eve was pure and returned. It would be ok.
He looked to Trinity. “You want me to turn on the heat stone so you can cook?”
She shuffled to his side of the bed and lay down on the stone, resting her blind head where it could stare at him all night long.
“Wake up, you’re wearing armor.” Kaden helped Trella strip down to her wraps, then tucked her in. Her armor still carried stains from Desmona. Kaden lay down next to Trella, tracing the line of her jaw. The gash that had probably been meant for her throat. The place on her scalp where the hair never grew back after one of her accidents. Every last one a trophy of a trial she’d survived.
When the storms rolled through, shaking Vichor with thunder and lightning, Kaden finally found a way to sleep.
###
Morning came late, clear skies, a fresh wind from the south and the screams of terror as a [Lightning Storm] spell grew out of control until it towered over Vichor. Kaden took the opportunity to gain [Resist Lightning] and a good reason to trim his hair.
Trella and Eve waited until the mages of Vichor got control of the weather before joining up with Ashi for breakfast. Ashi seemed worried. “Time. Time has been reset to deal with the storm. We must not abandon Sara.”
“What’s the protocol? Do I need to thank your brother or request permission to leave?” Kaden couldn’t help the unease at having to face Ashi’s mother.
Ashi laughed. “By the blessing of the King, you go out to tend your dungeon and destroy erratic dungeons. We leave as we will.”
“I’m ready now,” Trella said. “I want to go home. This place is amazing, but I don’t think I’m cut out for Vichor. People keep giving me reagents instead of making me take terrible deals. And it’s everything I can do to not take advantage of that.”
Eve clapped, and Vip jumped up into her lap. “There, I’ve packed.”
Kaden understood. Trinity was hunting deer-men in his soul, Rocky was laying in what was probably acid in his dreams. “Ashi, is your spellbook ready?”
She shook her head. “I must find the hide for the cover. I will search the world to find the other pages. Fate will guide me where I need to be.”
Trella was careful to hide her eyeroll. “Will we wind up back where we were? Will we wind up out in the middle of nowhwere like Kaden did?”
“We went there to avoid the eyes of the King,” Ashi said. “We will return to the Grove. Najur sends regards, but the east Librarians have lodged a formal complaint against the south Librarians.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Kaden stopped at the FarPortal. “I’ll go through first.”
“Before you do, Pretash would like to speak to you,” Ashi said. “She waits in the south garden, and says ‘you will need to tell him I wait alone, Mother is not here.’”
Kaden headed to the south garden, passing a team of mages attempting to create a single endless portal which would either allow unlimited travel or turn the realm inside out and kill everyone. He wished them luck.
In the south garden, vast swaths of earth lay ripped up and plants died everywhere. Sitting among the destruction was Ashi’s sister, who hovered an inch above the stone bench beneath her, reading from a book so wide it took both hands for her to turn it. “Asha gave you my message. She spoke of your hatred of [Fate], and your fear of [Destiny.]”
“I never told her I was afraid of…” She’d probably sensed it. “‘Destiny’ is the reason I wasn’t allowed to be a [Ranger] or [Shadow Blade]. Destiny tore away my earliest skills and prevented me from getting a Class,” Kaden said. “And [Fate], I’ve seen what it can do.”
Pretash turned a page. “The Weave of Fate is a guard-fence against Cataclysms. Fate draws the lesser to their purpose. Destiny is more powerful. Destiny increases the strength of those around you. Is this terrible?”
“I don’t mind Sara, or Trella, or Eve getting more powerful, but—”
“The [Shadow Blade]. Your love. Every skill you lost, did she not gain one? Has this set her on a path to power? Or Sara, the end of all. You made a business agreement with her, true?”
Kaden nodded.
“And did it not say, you would share some skills and experience? So you were able to soul bind your first beast, the lovely dog. And her Cosmic Horror grew more powerful, evolving skills and levels as your beasts do. Indeed, each of your companions has grown more powerful, and their pets as well.”
“Not Eve.” Kaden wasn’t certain about Wren, either. “Eve…”
“Was barely human when she met you. The damage to her soul was extreme. Oblivion might have been kinder. And yet she survives, stronger now, and stronger to be in time. You are bound up in Destiny, this is true. It affects all around you, also true. But embrace it, and you will see kings turn away when you pass, and Emperors pray your path runs through another mountain.” Pretash closed her book, and as it did, it shimmered and dissolved into fragments of light. “When Asha is more skilled as a [Fate Weaver], she can counteract [Twist of Fate]’s side effects. That is all I can say for now.”
“Thank you.” Kaden would need to think on it.
Pretash gave him a short bow and stepped aside as an earthquake struck, rending another gaping hole in the garden. “When all is destroyed, it is time to rebuild. Remember that.”
Kaden hated cryptic messages. They tended to precede bloody moments in his life, so instead, he sprinted back to the FarPortal, where Eve had already empowered it.
Kaden didn’t hesitate, heading through. Cold punched him in the gut, not the miserable cold of early winter but the bitter, deep cold of true winter. Right behind him came Trella and then Ashi and Eve.
“Coat!” Trella shouted as she drew hers from Inventory. “We are going straight to the island when we get home.”
Kaden dispatched the Falcrow to Sara. There weren’t many Druids moving around, and when he attempted to summon Trinity, she protested. “Wisp 71, I’d really like to find Sara. Since you’re the smartest wisp in the forest, you can do it.”
Wisp 71 burst into existence—still ridiculously large.
The other wisps that bobbed between trees scattered. 71 showed zero awareness that it wasn’t a miniscule point of light. It led them through various Treespaces and out onto a frozen rope bridge, then down a spiral staircase inside a tree that went ever deeper.
Roots hung down from the floor as they opened out into a cave. 71’s glow cast light across the cave—and the woman who stood, studying plans on the table. Sara’s hair looked tangled. Her armor lay in a heap over by a cot. She didn’t look up. “Go away.”
“Not happening,” Kaden said. He took the last step into the cave, through a shower of beautiful sparks. Sara looked up, then raced to hug him. “You. And you, come here. You, too, Eve.”
“I’d rather—there, there.” Eve said it mechanically as she patted Sara’s back. “How long have you been down here?”
“It’s been three weeks since you left. It’s been ten days since I caught Feris bragging to his friends about how he was using me to level his profession, then had the audacity to demand I treat him to something special in bed that night. I did.” Sara stepped back. “Since then, I’ve been focusing on planning. And putting off Ignus by saying you were in another dimension. And also restricted down here because of what I did to Feris.”
Kaden looked to Trella and used [Mind Speech]. *Is this a tough-love scenario or a woman’s touch situation?*
“Did you kill him?” Trella asked.
“No.” Sara ran her hands over one of her pseudopods. “Ravena says they’ll regrow his—”
Trella burst out laughing. “Ok, then I don’t need to go take care of it, you already did. But you reek. You’re filthy, you’re sad. I don’t know when your last good meal was, and it’s freezing here. Let’s get you back to the Holding. And showered. And fed.”
“I can help with two of the three,” Eve said.
Kaden could help with one problem. He opened a Portal to the surface of the Grove, right by the FarPortal. “After you, ladies.”
Trella hauled Sara by the wrist through the Portal, and Eve followed, activating the FarPortal immediately.
Kaden’s portal wavered, distorting. “Go on, Ashi and I can handle this.”
He let the portal close and gathered up all of Sara’s stuff, carefully stacking the planning documents and her organizer. As he finished, footsteps on the stairs drew his attention.
“Stealth Aura?” Ashi asked.
“No.” Kaden would meet this head on with diplomacy. He recognize the Druid at the lead. “Ravena.”
“Kaden?” The curvy druid with long black hair and deep green robes waved to the others to stay back. “I came to talk to Sara Scylla. The Council has reached a decision, she’s banned from this Grove for a year, which is about how long it will take to regrow…parts. How, may I ask, did you remove her? This area is warded.”
Ashi summoned a portal. “We go as we please.”
“And the spell barrier?” Ravena said. “It should have knocked you out when you set foot in the room, assuming it didn’t outright kill you.”
Kaden checked his notifications. Now his health level made more sense. “Didn’t see anything like that. That would have hit for, oh, probably eighteen hundred and seventy three points of damage. That’s a random number I came up with, not something I read from a notification.”
Ravena crossed her arms. “Well, I came to remove her. She’s gone. You’re still welcome here, and I hope you won’t be a stranger. A year is nothing. Is your [Shield Tree] growing?”
“Slowly.”
“You’re feeding it demons, right?” Ravena raised an eyebrow.
Kaden hadn’t fed it anything. “How would I feed it something it repels?”
“You have an axe. Chop them up, spread them around the roots. It’ll be fifty feet tall by summer.” Ravena sighed. “The Rangers know what happened was Feris’s fault. Any man who acts like that should expect to be dismembered. Literally. But he’s the Forest Saint’s protege. Just—don’t bring her back for a while.”
Ashi bowed. “It will not happen. Unless you call for us. Then it will happen. Or unless the Rangers desire Kaden’s skills. It will happen then, too. It was a pleasure to see you, Ravena. Kaden does not sing often. It is easy to see why you inspired him.”
“The banishment is still a year,” Ravena said. “Hold on, let me reinforce the spell ward. There. I’d like to see you avoid that.”
Ashi’s portal was perfect and rock solid and didn’t shake or rotate or smoke or spill dead cattle like Kaden’s sometimes did. She kept her smile prim. “You should reinforce more.”
Kaden stepped through to the FarPortal and dispatched a bird to a PortalMage at the Guild. He’d grown used to Eve’s work and any FarPortal that didn’t end upside down or in a cartwheel felt wrong.
Snow covered the Holding, fully covering the farmhouse. On one side, a drift reached the second story windows, and the fences weren’t even visible. Ashi climbed onto Kaden’s back and he trudged through the snow to the back side, where he opened the door to the master bedroom, then set down Ashi and shook off the snow.
Trella showered in the spring, and waved to them. “Hey. Good to see the Druids let you go.”
“Sara?” Kaden shouted as he headed to the common room. “You’re banned from that Grove for a year.”
“Not going back there. There are other groves and a FarPortal trip is a FarPortal trip.” Sara’s voice came from upstairs.
An actual fire blazed in the fireplace on top of the HeatStone, and Eve lounged on a couch. Kaden summoned Trinity and let her go over to rest by the fire. “Where’s Vip?”
“She won’t leave Sara,” Eve said with a frustration that Kaden recognized.
The [Assistant] burst into the room, cleaning the floor where Kaden had stepped, before moving on to a spot on the wall. He headed back to the bedroom to find Trella dressed in pajamas, letting Eclipse rub against her face. “You can’t be ready for bed. You’ve been awake a few hours.”
“I killed a Demon’s Daughter yesterday, and no, I’m not going to bed, I’m going downstairs to do some light potion brewing. As in heavy potion brewing. I raised my skill to level four by brewing varieties. Now I need to focus on quality.” She gave him a kiss and headed downstairs with a mini-panther following.
“Kaden?” Sara called. “I have good news and bad news. Would you like the good news?”
He shrugged. “Of course.”
“Ignus is demanding we fulfill that Quest and he’s demanding we do it tomorrow.”
“That’s the good news?”
Sara shook her head. “The good news is, we don’t have to go out in the ice and the snow. We get to escort the mages through a volcanic cave network on the Southern Continent. Supposedly warm.”
“I have actual good news.” Kaden shared his system logs with Sara. “[Quest Master] works. You should ask Eve how many faction tokens she got. Also, I didn’t get a chance to say it, but I’m sorry. I was hoping you’d found someone.”
“Me, too. Eve! How many Faction Tokens did you get for completing that Quest?”
That was the Sara he knew.
The [Prismatic Frog Colony] was hibernating, locked in ice. Rocky would sooner eat the foundation of the farmhouse than come out, Trinity was asleep by the fire. His mind wasn’t ready to sleep so soon after Vichor. Instead, he sent a message to Sevin at the Mage’s tower. It was time to retrieve Skully. A [Plague] spreading undead monster was just the thing to make a farmhouse feel like a home.