Ethan didn’t know where Targe had hidden sugar, but he wouldn’t complain. After relaying the true events of what happened with the orcs, the Fighter worked on making a dish. He cooked the pears in their blackened pan over the magical fire, allowing the juices to accumulate and simmer in the bottom. He then added the sugar, and something else that thickened the liquid into a sauce. While they had more provisions, there was something about the pears that filled more than just their bellies.

The plan to find Lucantele a [Dungeon Core] was shady, Ethan realized. There would have been easier dungeons out there to do the job. Perhaps it was the party’s eagerness to understand the orcs in the Fangstone Mountains that drove them to the risky task. Or the Caller’s impulsive need to rid himself of the weight brought by Void.

The group sat on the ground floor of the ruined temple, shoveling pear-halves into their mouths. Ethan watched his companions, especially Twist’s revealed face, as they ate. Then he got curious.

“Luca,” Ethan said. And the spirit appeared.

Lucantele hopped around the temple’s floor, bounding over the fire excitedly. He came to rest in front of his caller, tilting his head. The squirrel didn’t need to smile. The spirit exuded the sense of happiness that came with a big grin. “I cannot consume more [Dungeon Cores]. Not for a while.”

Luca must have sensed that need within the Caller. If he could expand the Great Spirit’s influence, he could use them as tools. Too bad.

“You read my mind,” Ethan said, reaching out to pet the spirit. “Can you tell if Radiant and Pit are alright?”

“They’re working their way to the temple. Searching for refuge for the night,” Luca said.

“Good. And Parabaxis?”

Luca settled onto the ground, resting his head on his forepaws. He let out a breath, stirring the dust of the ruined temple. “An obstinate child. You’ll find her to the south of the mountain range. Likely near the river. When you draw near, your [Caller’s Core] will sense her.”

Ethan nodded, turning questioning eyes to his companions. They shrugged at him. He’d forgotten they couldn’t understand the Great Spirits. “How long will it take us to reach the south side of the mountain range?”

Targe tossed more halved pears into the skillet. He tilted his head from one side to the other, humming for a moment. “Well, that’s hard to say. A week? A month? It depends on the path and the orcs.”

“The orcs have contracted inward. Into the mountains,” Luca said. Ethan relayed the information.

“Two weeks, then. At most,” Targe said, pulling the pan off the heat and holding it high for a moment. He adjusted the flame on the magical device, lowering it considerably. “We’re stocked with provisions. Can even take some pears.”

Ethan craned his neck, looking out one of the usable entrances of the temple. Moonlight dappled the forest floor outside, creating spots of light that shifted as the wind blew. Luca’s soft silver glow fought with the yellow-orange of the open flame. Waves of contentment rolled from the spirit’s body, bathing the temple in more than just his comforting glow.

“Your friends approach,” Luca said, standing at attention. He gazed off to one entrance. Waiting.

Heavy footfalls came from outside. Twist replaced his mask. Pit was laden with Radiant, who he was carrying over his back like a backpack. He held his massive sword in his left hand, letting it drag along the ground behind him. It clattered to the ground, then he set the Healer down without ceremony.

“May I?” Pit asked, gesturing to a bedroll. Targe agreed without objection.

The group watched as Pit tenderly cared for his charge. He rolled out the bed, then placed Radiant within. He pulled the edge up to the Healer’s neck, then secured the clasps at the side. The man approached the fire before falling on his ass and letting out a breath. Without asking, he plucked a cooking pear from the fire and ate it without letting it cool.

“Hell of a fight,” Ethan said.

“Indeed.”

The group settled into an awkward silence for some time. Radiant seemed to be asleep, unaware even after the group talked again. PIt didn’t seem eager to join the conversation, and Luca watched from the sidelines. The Great Spirit seemed taken by Pit and Radiant. Interested in them for a reason Ethan couldn’t determine.

“We’re likely to cross into a few Rank 2 zones,” Targe said, finishing up another batch of cooked pears. “Hopefully, nothing too crazy.”

“Then there’s the matter of contacting the Lesser Spirit,” Ethan said, blowing out a steady breath onto his cooked pear half.

“She will agree to help you,” Luca said.

The party, including Pit, turned their attention to the Great Spirit.

“What do you hear when we talk to each other?” Ethan asked. He remembered Targe describing it as ‘babbling’.

“Like this,” Twist said, throwing his head back to make ululating chittering.

Pit choked on the pear he was eating, reaching for a skin of watered wine.

“Why would she agree?” Ethan asked, ignoring the men as they cackled.

“The spirits are many things. But we’re all hungry for power. For influence. Reach. Whatever you want to call it, we want to serve our purpose,” Luca said. “She is the Lesser Spirit of Mending Broken Things. And Void is as broken as they come.”

“Good enough for me,” Ethan said, stretching.

The day had been long. When he fought on that hill, Ethan thought that would be the end of his time in this world. An emotionally exhausting battle. The near death of Radiant didn’t help with that, although the Healer seemed fine by now. He stirred in his bed, but never woke.

“Where are you headed?” Pit asked.

“South along the river,” Ethan said. “How would you describe Parabaxis, Luca?”

“A wayward child.”

“To find a wayward child of a spirit,” Ethan said.

“You lead a strange life.”

The conversation died down, and the pears stopped coming. Everyone was full beyond bursting by the time Targe snuffed the magical flame. Pit and Radiant didn’t have bedrolls, but the party had several spares. They were acquired by Twist, who had taken advantage of the Caller’s good graces in town for more free crap. The group set a double-watch, starting with Targe and Pit. They would wake Bells and Twist in the small hours of the morning.

Ethan took this as a sign to get to sleep as quickly as he could. Luca vanished as he fell into his comfortable bedroll. When he drifted off, he dreamed of what the Lesser Spirit Parabaxis would look like.

Groggy and grumpy, Ethan was awoken in the middle of the night. He rose from his bedroll like a zombie, shuffling off and yawning as he went. Twist joined with him, steering him to his station before heading off to brew some tea. Pit and Targe found the used bedrolls, falling into them without a word. They were snoring shortly after that, the even breaths of Radiant a constant reminder of his presence.

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Ethan was stationed near one of three good entrances to the temple. Insects chirped outside as he stood at his station, nodding off against the wall as he fought against sleep. Luca spun out from nothing, bursting from the wall to stand before the Caller. He padded over the ground, then did a shuffling dance.

“That would have woken me up when I first got here,” Ethan said, keeping his voice low.

“The watch isn’t necessary,” Luca said. “It would take an ascendant ranked adventurer to even challenge me.”

“Is that so?” Ethan pushed off from the wall. He moved into the pale moonlight outside. He stood there for some time without saying a word to Luca. When Twist approached sometime later, with a cup of citrus tea, he was broken from his thoughts.

“This will help,” the dark elf said, pushing the steaming cup into the Caller’s hands. He walked away, saying nothing else.

The tea helped, of course. Ethan didn’t know if it had caffeine in it. Maybe there was some magical version of the stuff in there, but it perked him up right away. This wasn’t the Golden Ox Inn, but it was nice. There was a peace to this place. A somber reverence that the Caller held tightly in his heart. A breeze kicked up, sending a shuffle of fallen leaves scattering through the forest’s floor. Luca preened in the moonlight.

“The tea helps. He was right,” Ethan said, wandering out of the temple and onto the forest path. “How big was your following back in the day?”

“Extremely large,” Luca said, bounding off into the forest with absurd speed. The leaves followed him, rushing off as the spirit created a gust of air. He was back in moments. “Hundreds of worshipers. Thousands of followers. That was a long time ago.”

“The duke agreed to help rebuild this place. As you planned, I imagine,” Ethan said.

Luca looked up at the Caller. If only the damned squirrel could smile. “You’re not a child. You must understand what it cost me to bring you here. The last of my power, before you brought me the [Dungeon Core]. Even that is borrowed power.”

“Unlike Telbarantis, you don’t have followers.” Ethan made the logical leap easily. He didn’t understand the cost of bringing him to this world, but it couldn’t have been cheap. “Why didn’t you give me a new body?”

“It was easier to bargain for the same one,” Luca said, casting him a knowing look.

“Oh, my first hint!” Ethan said, laughing. He winced, looking back to make sure he didn’t disturb his sleeping friends. “No, I get it. We don’t know each other well enough for that. We’ll get there.”

“How completely reasonable for a mortal,” Luca said. “I selected you for a reason. Do you know how many people die in the multiverse daily?”

“I can’t, actually. Because I don’t know what the multiverse is. Multiple universes? All connected and whatever?”

“Exactly.” Luca paused for a long moment. He often seemed distracted out of nowhere. “Have you considered returning to your world?”

That wasn’t even a question, though. The implication was that there was some higher power that Luca had contracted with to get Ethan here. That meant that if he wanted to go back, he needed to offer that being something worthy of trade. He wasn’t a Great Spirit, and he wasn’t even a decent adventurer. He was a Rank 1 guy with a decent enough core. A rare core that let him talk with the spirits. That was all he had going for him.

The more Ethan thought about it, delaying his response to the Great Spirit, the more he realized there was little for him on Earth. Avansea was a nice enough place. Well, the Duchy of Wexenhal was nice. People treated him well, and even the Kingdom of Slonen was fair enough. People lived simple lives here, and maybe that was better. But there was still war. Disease, famine, strife.

“I don’t know,” Ethan said, finally breaking the silence. “My body is dead on that side, isn’t it?”

“My connection with your universe faded the moment I brought you through the void,” Luca said. “I was sifting through the infinite souls when you reached out to me. I only saw your mortal form for a moment. It seemed beyond repair.”

That tracked with the system message Ethan got when he died. It even gave him a cause of death. “Hard to say if there’s any point in going back. No matter what, I don’t want to give up these powers.”

Luca brushed against Ethan’s leg, making a happy chittering sound. It was the same sound the Great Spirit’s Symbol made when it was excited. A [Dig Deer] pushed through the brush in the distance, making a half-hearted grunt. The Great Spirit blinked on the spot, and the monster fell to the ground. That was one way to keep the temple clear.

Even at night the forest was full of life. It was the perfect place for a Rank 0 person to plop down. A place where they could learn how the world worked. There were many other places Ethan had visited that would have been a nightmare to get transferred to. If he had arrived as an outworlder in Oudsted, there would have been problems. This haven set the caller up for success in the world, and tied him closely to the spirits.

They were bound now. Ethan on the mortal end, and the spirits on their end.

Ethan had made some progress in the dungeon and on the slopes outside the temple. He noticed his [Caller’s Core] crawling up in experience, not nearly as fast as when he was Rank 0. That core was stuck at level 4, while his [Evoker’s Subcore] was almost at level 10 of Rank 0. With his [Healer’s Subcore] approaching level 5 of Rank 1, he’d have several skills to pick for each.

Then came the concerns for the skills of his Symbols. Luca already got his Rank 1 level 5 ability, but Telbarantis was edging closer to his Rank 1 upgrade.

The wind shifted again, bringing with it more smells of the forest. Decaying vegetation and uprooted earth filled Ethan’s nose. Then the smell of something familiar. He turned to spot Twist walking the temple’s edge, waving awkwardly as he patrolled. The Caller walked to join him, watching as the Great Spirit followed.

“Excited to track down Parabaxis?” Ethan asked.

Twist grunted a response, shaking his head. “The tea helped, but I’m drowsy. The river might be fun.”

“Oh, maybe we can take a boat,” Ethan suggested.

“That might work,” Twist said. “We’d need to find one, though. One large enough for Tulip.”

The massive beetle would never fit on any boat they could afford. Ethan wasn’t willing to part with his creature comforts for the trip. He’d rather take a month to find Parabaxis than go without those things. But Void was a ticking clock, wasn’t she?

“What do you think about Pit and Radiant?”

“Pit is a known mercenary. He’s good. Just like Targe and I. Got his core late in life. Radiant as a…” Twist paused for a long moment, cupping the chin of his mask in his hand. “How to put this? A good guy.”

“What does that mean?” Ethan asked.

“He’s a man who is concerned with doing good in the world. A real holy dude,” Twist said.

“Is that a good thing? I can’t tell if that’s good.”

“They normally end up dead.” Twist picked up a leaf and crunched it in his hand. “Embroiled in a war. A cause. Some god’s vendetta.”

That tracked with Ethan’s impression of the Healer. They shouldn’t have gone down into the [Orc Dungeon]. Before they left Oudsted, off on the duke’s new orc-killing contract, he expressed a desire to scout the area. Radiant was going to bring information back, keeping himself and Pit safe. Instead, they plunged right in and almost died. Targe was right. They both needed more training before they went in. Compared to Ethan’s team, they didn’t have an ideal team composition to make delves worth it.

Targe’s party had a tank, a damage dealer, and a generalist. Radiant’s party was a healer and a damage dealer. Without a tank, the Healer was vulnerable. That reminded Ethan of his solo dungeon, back when he got the [Rank Seal] for his advancement. He could solo the dungeon because he always had something to take the hits. And it didn’t matter if his Symbol died, he could just summon it again. Maybe [Caller] was an excellent class.

“Am I right about this?” Ethan asked. “They lack a tank, making it hard to keep Radiant safe.”

“That’s my thought. It isn’t uncommon to go without a tank, but those teams are usually burst teams,” Twist said. The more the dark elf came to know Ethan, the more he’d talk. The Caller enjoyed this side of the man. “You see teams with four damage-dealers and a generalist who provides heals. Making a duo is the hardest. Usually that’s a generalist and a damage dealer. Or a tank. But not a healer and a damage dealer.”

“Think they could make it work? Maybe a tank sub-core for Pit and a damage-dealing sub-core for Radiant?”

“That might work,” Twist admitted. “They would need to be good sub-cores, though. Better if Pit evolves his class into a tank, and Radiant evolves his into something more general. Radiant wouldn’t do that, though.”

There were so many combinations of classes and sub-classes someone could do in this world. The combinations were infinite, and as Ethan had observed the evolutions were cool. Twist was going for the [Blood Rogue’s Core], which shifted him from burst damage to damage-over-time. Targe wanted to be some holy paladin-like tank, which might take the need for healing off of the Caller. Whatever roles they took, he could adjust his tactics with more Great Spirits.

The pair walked the forest until dawn threatened in the distance. While Ethan didn’t know what Pit’s plan for the next day was, he assumed it involved leaving the temple and heading for Oudsted. They’d lick their wounds, but Radiant wouldn’t give up. Not if he was smart about it. The Caller thought they should build their team out, trying for a more traditional setup for delving dungeons. Otherwise, they could find a living doing scouting missions. There was nothing wrong with that.

Ethan watched as Luca faded just after dawn. When he and Twist returned to the temple, Targe was already preparing breakfast. The Fighter was ready to issue orders for the day. The collection of pears and their preparations for traveling south. He wanted to escort Pit and Radiant east until they hit the river, then follow that south to where Parabaxis was.

As Ethan hoisted his pack over his shoulders, staring off into the forest to the east, he felt Luca’s light spread through his chest. Adventure awaited them in that forest. Beyond where he’d first fought the orcs. Where Twist had saved him and they’d started this journey. It felt like his first steps into Avansea all over again.