As soon as I appeared back into the physical world, I groaned in pain. I could hear muffled shouts near me, but with blood filling my ears, the sounds were too muted to make out. Despite my protests, someone grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me onto my side, but I was glad they did. With my head turned, I was able to release the trapped blood pooled in my throat. After vomiting a couple more times, my chin was raised, and a tingly, bitter liquid slowly poured into my mouth.

It didn't take long for me to understand what the mystery liquid was, and I slowly began to heal. When my mind calmed down, I could feel the slow cloud of mana seeping into my skin. The mana was gold in colour that slowly spread a gentle warmth across my body. I could feel it working to restore the damage along with the potion. To speed it along, I tried channeling mana into my skill, but a new wave of pain met my efforts.

A quick check into my soulspace revealed the damaged pathways sprouting from my chest. The whole scene was eerily similar to when I appeared in the dungeon. Back then, the trip to the void had reduced my body to a broken mess.

I slowly recovered well past the point the potion had run out of energy. What I assumed was Teddy's healing skill was repairing any minor damage it came across, but it ignored my mana channels. Knowing this was going to hurt, I slowly moved my hand into my mouth and bit down. I didn't care if I hurt myself, but I'd rather not scream.

Ignoring the flaring pain, I forced mana to condense in my soulspace. The light-green wisp of light tried to pull away, but I commanded it to come closer. It stopped mid-flight, and I tried to coax it to come to me, but I used a gentler command this time.

"Aine, please. It's okay if you hurt me. I trust you to heal me. It'll be fine."

The wisp slowly floated over, and I tried to smile, only to wince as another flash of pain caused my chest to spasm. Without allowing myself to think, I connected the mana to the wisp and down into my mana channels. The cold rush of mana met a snag, and the sudden pressure created a blaring headache. With a growing rage, I threw more mana at the blockage and broke the thing open. The cold blossomed out of my chest, and I felt the skill activate.

Back in the outside world, Áine appeared, and I felt her put her hands on my face. The soothing comfort of her mana was twice as strong as Teddy's. It was both familiar and comforting. Much of the physical pain faded away, and I could feel the itching feeling of new skin regrowing. Removing the hand from my mouth, I let out a relieved sigh and relaxed.

My hearing came back, and I could finally hear what the voices in the room were saying.

"Teddy, what the fuck happened? He reeks of death and shadows. What did he do?" Isaac yelled.

"Isaac! Enough, let him concentrate. Ask your questions later," Celanae ordered.

"But he-"

"No, he's right. What happened here? You're hiding something; we can tell. You're a terrible liar, Teddy. So don't even try," Igas said.

"Fine. The honest answer is I don't know. He was supposed to be contracting a new familiar. I'm not entirely sure about how that process works, but this doesn't seem normal. Look past the death and dark aspects, you can barely tell, but it's there, lying underneath," Teddy answered.

There were some shuffling sounds from my left, and then I felt breathing touching the skin on my arm. Suddenly, the person scrambled away, and I heard a thump.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing!" Eodyne called out.

"Why, in all the planes, does he have divinity leaking out of him?"

There was a series of mixed replies. I heard Celanae suck in a breath while Igas grunted, and Eodyne muttered something quietly. There were more sounds of shuffling followed by a loud pop.

The silence that followed was worrying. I tried to open my eyes, but something was covering my eyelids, sealing them shut. Shakily I tried to lift my arm, but someone reached out and held it down.

"Master, Grandpa," Áine communicated.

"Grandpa? Are you talking about Cal?"

A thin trace of mana washed over my eyes, and I felt the dried blood peel away. I blinked a few times as I opened my eyes, and my vision returned to normal. Standing above me was Cal, his tails swishing in place as he looked at me concernedly.

"You know, out of all the scions I ever had, you are by far, the most damage-prone. What's that term young humans used back on Earth? Speedrunning? It certainly does feel like you are rushing from one situation to the next," Cal said.

The spontaneous telepathy was startling, but after considering who was speaking to me, I wasn't all that surprised. I blinked once and then gave him a shit-eating grin along with a shaky thumbs-up. "Can't say you're wrong there. How are you doing, Cal?" In response, he reached over with his right hand and flicked me in the head. The receding headache returned in full force, causing me to groan. "Arrgh! Head hurts! Head hurts!"

"Whatever you do, do not drop what's in your hand. Now, let me into your memories. Show me what happened." This time, he spoke out loud with a commanding tone.

One look at his face was enough to stop the idiotic response from rolling off my tongue. With most of my blood pooled outside of my body, I was beginning to feel a little loopy. Instead of replying, I mentally retracted the wall in my mind and willed it to show Cal what happened in the spirit plane. The only problem was I needed help to think straight. At certain parts towards the end, after the guardian started to freak out, there was a large, blurry patch that lasted until the very end. And even that part was fuzzy.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong. I... there was somebody there at the end, and she took something away and gave me something in return. Maybe my brain imploded from too much pain?" I sputtered.

Cal stepped closer, and he stared me dead in the eyes. His eyes swirled with a mesmerizing trio of colours, glowing red, orange, and gold in equal parts. "You said she? Your mind pushed me out when the guardian tried to banish you. Think again; even if it hurts, try to remember what happened."

I closed my eyes and tried to recall everything from the beginning. Images flashed through my mind. Grey soil, red skies, a floating obsidian skull, along with a horde of bones. It was crystal clear right up to the point where a thousand voices asked me about my skill.

Crack!

The memory in my mind shattered like glass. Experiencing the vivid imagery of my mind breaking apart made me taste blood. Before the first piece fell away into the void, a guiding presence pushed the pieces back together and held them tight.

A low, rumbling static started to build. I watched the guardian rage as the world flashed green. The blood pooled at my feet, and I could remember the air leaving my body. When my old self started speaking back to the guardian, the static was loud enough to drown out the words.

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Something I said broke the hold over the shattered memory, and more pieces fell away and faded into dust. The taste of metal was a physical thing that stained memories in a red hue. Even if the static began to cause real pain, I held on to the memory and let it play out.

The guardian tried to warn me of something, a danger that was approaching. My thoughts skipped, and a massive chunk of the remaining pieces fell away. Running out of time, I raced to the climax.

"Sorry, my ______ ascendant. I c̴͙̓å̴͔n̴͔̂n̷̖̎o̴̩͛t̴̗͂ ̷͉̈let you _____ with those memorḯ̶͜è̷̗s̵͈̼͝. That is not kno_____e to be known. And be̷̘̰͂s̵̄͂ͅi̵̝̪̓̏̄̏d̸͚͆̃es, it would have __ushed the frail seal on your ś̴̢́̅͜͝ő̴̘̫͇̥͈̟ū̷̧͖͇̩̤̮̀̈́l̵̨̞̝̪̠̋͑̋͗. Do ____ this as a g_ft in r_tų̴̨͇̟̙͓͂͋͝r̴̪͕͋́n̴̫͈͊̒ for t̴̨̡̨̨̡̧̛̖͓̥͇͈̟͙̔̀͋̈̌́̀͊̽͗̇̀̀̕h̷̛̺̾̓̃̓̍͂̂͒̐̃͘̕͝ę̷̈́̚ ̶̨̢̼̝̙̙̬̂̊̋̀̚ m̶̡̟̺͎̙̠̭̙͐͊͐̾͗͌͘ę̷͇͈̞̖̠̼̻̙̓̒͌̓̋̿̃̐͒̑͑͜͠͝͝m̵̰̹͗̕o̸̝̪͕͉̥͈̻̖̯͚̱̔̐͜͝ͅr̷̛̙̿̌̌̈́̀̆̾̌̉͋͘i̶̖̎̋͗̎͊̂̕e̵̘̬̯͎͖̮̞̺̗͌́̈́͗s̴̢̙̥̼͚͂́̈́͒̓͑̓̋͂̔́̾͛ͅ. And don't forget, my dear L_gac_ Bea̵͓͈͉̤̠͐̊͒ŗ̴̣̎͂̍̍͋͜ͅẻ̵̡̥͎̟̠̩̆̈r. My sist̴̳͎͋̑̀̎̅̍̑̅̔͒̀̈̈̊̑ers and _are wat_____. Ascend s̸̯͙̃̈́͝o̸̻͑̽͝ő̶̥̈́ň̵͇ͅ, and j̴̛̻̣͚͙̪̬͆̉̾̀̀͠ö̷̢̖̫́̓ͅȉ̶̢͌̌̄͂̎͊n̶̨̪͗̂͆̐ us, alr___t? I placed all my b̵̨̙͇̩̉͝e̷̖̍͘͘͠t̷̲͕̞̎ͅs̵͎̪̅͆͛͠ on you, ____ all."

I was kicked out of my soulspace and returned to reality with another wave of pain. Áine's expressed her displeasure when she not-too-gently slapped a tiny palm onto my cheek.

"Fuck. What the hell is wrong with my head? Why can't I remember?" I groaned.

"Ignore the memory for now. I've seen enough to piece together what happened," Cal said.

Something about his tone of voice made me open my eyes and look closer at the god. His tail was still, but the look on his face showed a more extreme emotion. There was rage in his eyes, a fire that burned bright. Only then did I notice that the others in the room were pressed to their knees with sweat beads rolling down their skin.

"Uhm, Cal. You're crushing them."

With a flick of his eyes over at Celanae's struggling form, the anger drained from his face, and he resumed a neutral expression. Straightening his suit, he cleared his throat. "My apologies, children. Forgive my lapse of control."

Teddy slowly stood up and straightened out. With a worrying glance at the rest of his team, he plastered on a strained smile. "No worries, sir. Is there anything we can do to help?"

Cal shook his head. "Nothing at the moment. Thank you for doing what you did, young man. I will remember this favour. Both for your gift to him and your willingness to help."

Teddy bowed his head, looking so much like the perfect knight. The others had a diverse range of emotions but kept their expressions to a thin smile at worst. Only Isaac dared to show his discomfort and scrunched his face in a frown.

"Now, Cyrus. I have to go. Controlling an avatar takes up too much of my concentration. That skillstone in your hand, I won't force you to take it, but you should. I may not like it, but it seems you've gained the eyes of those even I would be warry of. If they think you should have that, it must be for a reason."

"What are you talking about? There's nothing in my hand." I held out both hands and turned them so the palms faced his direction. Besides streaks of dried blood caking my skin, there was nothing there.

He reached over and tapped my hand. Twisting it so that my palm was exposed, he curled my fingers and placed my thumb above them. "Channel some mana into your palm. Not a large amount. The channels in your body are in terrible condition. Remember this the next time you travel between the planes. Just because your spiritual and physical bodies are in two separate places, they are always connected. And for someone like you, even more so."

I motioned for Áine to stop her healing and sank back into my soulspace. Carefully and gently, I pulled a thin strand of mana and pushed it through my body. The tiny trickle of energy caused only minor twitches of discomfort compared to the agonizing pain if I channeled more.

Slowly, my hand started to glow a kaleidoscope of colours. I felt a small glass-like object, barely the size of my pinky, solidify in my hand. Briefly, I glanced over and saw Cal bare his fangs, the anger from before flickering across his face. Once the shimmery light faded away, I opened my hand and revealed a small skillstone.

It was a pink crystal streaked with silver runes too tiny to read. Inside the core of the stone was a ball of the same shimmering energy gently spinning inside the transparent material. I hesitated and turned to look at Cal again. A part of me wanted to ask him to identify it, but I didn't think it was needed. I had already made up the decision in my mind to trust the god, and I wasn't going to begin doubting him now. Another small trickle of mana flooded down my arm and into my hand. With the sound of a tiny bell chiming in the wind, the skillstone broke apart into dust and floated in the air. With a final ding, the cloud of shimmery dust rushed into the center of my chest.

Something inside me twitched and then shattered. My world went cross, and I could feel a bubbling warmth begin to spread throughout my body.

"Master. Wrong, Hurt again." Áine called out in distress.

I tried to reach for her and comfort her, but my muscles refused to respond to my demands. The only thing I could do was move my eyes, and even that was a colossal effort.

When Cal reached over and gently rested his fingers above the fairy's head, I smiled in relief. "Be calm, little one. He is not in pain. Look closer. The skill is changing something inside him. Narrow your senses and feel through your connection," he said softly.

As the heat rose to that of a warm fire, something clicked in place, and my senses returned to normal. Following that, a wave of cooling energy flowed through my veins, and I found myself relaxing. I didn't need to look to know something happened inside my soulspace. If I closed off my outward senses and dived deep, I'd find a small island of black glass rising out of the lake of mana.

With my senses returned, Cal removed his hand, and I smiled thankfully at the god. Not being able to help myself, I raised the tip of my index finger and lightly booped the tip of her nose. The small tinkling giggle was enough to wash the stress away.

"Cyrus," Cal said. He waited for me to turn to look at him before continuing. "I'll be taking my leave now. I need you to listen carefully. What happened today cannot happen again."

A wave of anger pushed out of my thoughts, and I began to protest, but he held up a hand to silence my response. "I know. I'm not accusing you of things. What happened was unplanned and unexpected. Hopefully, this means you'll learn this as a lesson going forward. The lich and the snake were right, do not fall victim to false safety. Not all guardians are friendly, and some may seek to intentionally provoke you in order to inflict harm.

You may not recognize it yet, but you are not some random mortal traveling to the planes to barter for power. The spirits know, more than any other, they recognize what you are. So please, tread carefully. If not for that new skill, I'd have to resort to drastic measures to fix your soul. In the future, do avoid further damage to the memory lock. At the rate you are going, your mind will shatter well before you even ascend to the first tier."

"I understand. Thank you, Cal," I replied seriously.

He nodded his head and turned to look out the window. "I suggest you leave as soon as you can. I have hidden your presence the best I can, but it's impossible to mask the scent of their kind completely. Luckily for us, Zuldraea is a prideful kit, so none of the other gods know about your existence. She's hoping that when they inevitably find out what she did, it'll be too late to punish her properly." He shook his head and placed a firm hand on my shoulder and his other behind Áine's back. "I don't know when we'll talk next, Cyrus. But know that I'll be looking forward to our next meeting. Just please, try to avoid further soul-scarring danger. Even if that new skill is of the highest quality, you are still only on the first step. Put that new familiar of yours to work. And for you, little one. Thank you for taking care of him."

The honest concern and care in Cal's voice triggered something in my brain. A rush of images of Sam and her family flashed through my mind. Through the small cascade of unlocked information, the strongest memory was that of Sam's dad giving me a firm but gentle bear hug. By the time I noticed Cal was gone, a single tear rolled down my face. I lightly squeezed Áine to me, ensuring not to brush against the tiny thimble of juice in her hand. It wasn't hard to guess where she got the drink from, and from the emotion spilling out from our connection, it was a damn good drink.

An awkward cough brought my attention back to the others, and I saw them staring at me with wide eyes. Teddy had a raised eyebrow while Celanae actively clutched at the hem of her dress. Igas had his arms crossed while Eodyne was staring a hole through my head. Isaac, well, his face was hidden behind the shadows of his hood, but from his body language, I could tell he was angry.

"God-touched fool. We could have died," Eodyne spoke. The strange accent appeared despite the translated words sounding like perfect English.

Teddy cleared his throat again and motioned to the others. "So, uh, did you get a new familiar?"

Celanae looked like she was ready to strangle his neck while Igas scoffed. I couldn't help but laugh at the not-so-subtle attempt to shift attention away from what just happened.

With Áine beginning to drain mana from my personal reserves, it would have been smart to wait to summon the new familiar. But who could honestly wait to use fancy new magic powers?

I muttered Status under my breath and pulled up my status sheet.