Rosalea felt Nekana sit at her back, and she felt how large the white wolf was as she rested her jaw on Rosalea’s head and her feet were on either side of her body, like she was holding her.

“Is the God of Many that many-voiced thing I have seen?” she asked as the unusual elf was silent, looking at her.

Amalia huffed, “Leave it to my darling… sister, to go ahead be blunt with a God.”

The elf smiled. “You may all call me by my name, Kartowen. Yes, he is the God of Many. I am the God of Love.”

“Who is the Chained God? What about the woman elf? You are all Gods?” Rosalea asked, since he had a similar feel to her as the woman who had helped her escape the Ieshans and had brought her food once in Mire.

“He is Rayale, the God of Life. The woman is Mysteera, Lady of Chaos. There are others, but I will not say their names here. We are what broke away from the Many when we could no longer tolerate the choices of the collective.”

Rosalea was not sure what to make of that. “What makes you a God?”

“I possess a major key of magic, Love. This is something you will not understand yet, but magic is a lot deeper than it seems in this world.”

“Why do you want to protect Rosalea from the God of Many? What do you mean her side?” Taigan asked, crossing his legs.

Kartowen smiled. “Rosalea freed the mystics from the God of Many. The day that I became a Lost God was the same day I realized that the God of Many had made Ieshans to destroy my works. Rosalea is highly magical and able to stand up to him, so I feel I should ally myself with my enemy’s enemy, if we cannot be friends. I would prefer us to be friends, I have come to you to try and befriend you.”

Rosalea felt her ears flattening out, and she realized that she needed to pay attention to them if she did not want to give away how she felt. “You could have been more forthright with me back in the forest. I almost died in Miron and almost killed Taigan.”

“I could foresee it would bring you together, and I have no regrets,” the elf said, smiling at them in a terribly smug way.

Rosalea lifted up her paw and slowly set it down. I cannot be with Taigan; we’re two different things. It does not work.

Nekana nuzzled her face, and she let that thought go, focusing now on what Nekana asked, “So, the God of Many is the most powerful God. What are we to do with that?”

Kartowen took a deep breath in, and he breathed out slowly. “Well, I have been thinking about going home.”

“What does that mean?” Bazil asked, coming up to sit on the other side of Rosalea.

“He wants to take Rosalea away,” Nauru said with a growl as he came and sat against Rosalea’s belly as far beneath her as he could get.

Kartowen put a hand on the back of his neck, looking up. “Well, yes, the little one is right. You see, I am not from here.”

“But the Gods see all around the world, right? They go where they want,” Amalia said uncertainly. “So where could you take her?”

“The Gods can see everywhere in the world, particularly the God of Many, though he can be at all places at once. It turns out that it takes a lot of energy to control magic, to bind things from growing freely the way he did with all mystics. So, we could certainly try to run from place to place and hope he never reaches.”

“I do not think he can kill me outright,” Rosalea said uncertainly, “I saw that I was cut free from the Gods.”

Kartowen nodded. “Fen was cut free when she joined you, they could not reach her anymore. But, the humans made to kill her were.” His tone was as gentle as he could make it, but there were still a lot of wilted wolf ears over it. “If you stay here, things will come here. People will come. Dragons even, might come, though they are difficult to control.”

“But she cut all of us free,” Nekana said. “We cannot be compelled. If she leaves the forest, she will be surrounded by people who are not free, and she cannot expect to cut the binds to every person she may pass aware or otherwise, every animal, every breathing thing…”

“No. You cannot do that. It is the same problem that barriers have. Even the best barriers can only stop what you can focus on. It is why mages do not always stop every arrow in a volley of them fired at you. It is the same with trying to move through the world with people bound to the God of Many. It will be dangerous, and eventually, it will be deadly.”

“But I am alive,” Rosalea tried and failed to keep agitation out of her tone. “I must be somewhere.”

“Yes. The moon.”

“What?” several wolves all said at once.

“I am from the moon. Actually, growing up as a kid, this was the moon. When I was little, it was a silvery gray colored sphere in the sky.” He smiled wistfully. He pointed to the moon, not as bright in daylight, half risen in the sky.

“There is no way,” Taigan said flatly. “No amount of magic would lift you from here to such a place.”

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“Not lift, um… gate. The closest equivalent is the way your earth magic allows you to move things from one place and point in time to another. I’d like to teach you proper magic, perhaps once we are back home.”

Rosalea just stared at him. “My family is here. Lio is here. What… you are saying… I cannot just… I cannot possibly just leave everything here.”

“You cannot leave me,” Nauru said, pressing to her, “You promised.”

Kartowen nodded. “I agree. So, I propose we go to Demias and get you better trained in real magic without the looming threat of Bay- uh, the God of Many. Then, I will be able to gate us back after some time.”

Rosalea felt a tightness wrapping around her chest that was painful. She felt a rushing in her ears.

“I cannot take you to Lio, she is too far away, and she is much safer where she is. But, I can bring people with us. I do not know what to expect we will find back home. It’s been without most magic for thousands of years. There are lights, so I know there are some people, but beyond that? I do not know. But I can bring, say, Nauru, Taigan, and Taj?”

“We are coming back?” Rosalea said weakly.

“We are coming back. It will… probably be some years, though. But we will return. It will give time for there to be focused from the God of Many on something else, you will be safely out of reach, and we will return stronger than you can even comprehend. I want to help.”

Rosalea really felt that he meant his words, but misery settled over her. She had just found her family. She had been with them awhile, but she had only just realized how they fit together.

Nekana nuzzled. “It is only a short time, my little one. A few years is not really much to a mystic. We will all be here when you come back. We will make sure this forest is the best that it can be, now that we are free.”

Rosalea closed her eyes.

“We cannot just all go?” Raisa asked.

“The more who go, the bigger the gate, the more energy it takes,” Kartowen said empathetically.

“I will go,” Taigan said, “if Rosalea wishes it.” There was almost a plea in his tone.

Rosalea was unsure how she felt. She had always really liked Taigan, but… they were different now. And… she felt that Kartowen was… manipulative.

But, if there really is… some sort of magic in love, and this God can see it, then… She nodded slowly, “Yes.”

She saw more relief on Taigan’s face than she expected. She felt flushed even though she was a wolf.

“You promised,” Nauru started in immediately.

“Yes, yes, I promised. But it does not sound safe-“

“PROMISED!” the puppy howled over the top of her.

“Okay, yes. But, please, you must do as I ask you.”

“Sometimes,” he grumbled. “Sometimes, I will do as you ask. But I can think for myself too.”

Rosalea huffed, but could not help but smile. I am raising a brat, she thought, shifting to scoop him closer to her with her paw.

Amalia pushed her way into Rosalea. “So, none of the rest of us should go, it sounds like… I am disappointed.”

Rosalea nodded and pressed her forehead to Amalia’s.

So, Taigan spent the time bringing his stuff out of earth storage and packing it, since he was suspicious that on that other planet, on the moon, he would not have access to it. It was different earth.

It made Rosalea feel some paranoia also, so she would summon a lot of her own things from it.

She kept with her family, talking with them, soaking up these last moments. Nauru stayed right against her like he was tied to her, not willing to let her out of his sight for even a second as if she was going to duck through a portal without him.

Her heart ached, but she felt reassured that there would be a home here, when she could come back. She felt… that Kartowen wanted to help her fight the God of Many. He had said that he wanted to be on her side.

She wanted to free herself from the will of the Gods. She wanted to be free to live her life with her family. She wanted Lio, whatever a half-human half… mystic, should be called, to also meet her family. She even told herself that perhaps one day she could find Nerric, and cut him free from the Ieshans.

She wanted also to better understand all the layers of magic… and be ready to avoid or confront the One the Gods seemed to have told the Moryshin she was to be with.

So, her family reminded her that all these things were worth trying for so that everyone could live a good, long life together.

She felt better.

It got to be dark. Kartowen drew a shape in the air, which expanded. Inside, it reminded her a little of gem storage. There were cracks and brightly colored panels. Kartowen wobbled as soon as he was done building the gate. “All right, everyone through.”

Taigan went first, bow in hand, Taj on his shoulder. Rosalea gave one last glance to her family, Miri whimpering at her, scooped up Nauru by the scruff, and went through.

There was a disorienting feeling like time and space shifting around them. Then, they were through and the disorienting feeling faded.

The wind howled around them. They were standing on some sort of great big silvery-colored stone, and it looked worn away by the elements. All around them, black hard slate-like stone. Sand drove into her eyes as she put the squirming Nauru down. The air felt hot on her lungs, though the sun was not up. She squinted into the sky. Behind them, was a green moon, with some blue patches on it. It was half the size of the moon she was used to seeing, and it looked completely alien to her.

Kartowen leaned across her back, “Sorry,” he gasped. “Last time… I had a lot of help.”

“Last time you came here?” Taigan had to shout over the driving wind.

“No, when I came to Demylan. Sorry, this doesn’t seem like a welcome place so far, but welcome to Demias.”

Rosalea squinted into the driving wind. The world felt different. There was no glow of magic in the sky, just dark sand against dark rocks, hissing with heat around them. There was emptiness, she heard no animals, and felt nothing.

“I will make a shelter, you can rest. Then, perhaps if we walk somewhere else, it will be better.” Nauru was hiding beneath her.

Kartowen nodded.

Rosalea felt the instant strain as she tried to lift the earth. It was like she had weights tied to her magic, but, she drug it up, making a rough conical shape with a gap she could squeeze through for a door. There was a buzzing sensation in her front paws, as if they were still hands, and her head.

They all went inside. It felt a little better as Taigan spread a blanket over the door, the wind howling, but the heat was suppressed and it was quieter.

“There is no sensation of being watched here,” Taigan said.

“It feels almost lonely,” Taj said.

Rosalea was pleased to hear his voice. But she felt it also. There was no sense of someone over the shoulder here. They were really free from the God of Many and the Chained God. I am going to make the most of this.