Why did everything have to hurt as much as it did?

If the last portal made my body feel wrong in every way imaginable, the journey from the dungeon to the goddess' realm was like raking raw wounds against a road made of salt and limes.

It hurt, and it cut deep. But a gentle pressure squeezed around me, shunting the pain to the back of my mind while my familiars got to work. They soothed the pain away, mentally and physically. But they couldn't ease the hurt inside my very being.

If I wasn't allowed to scream in the physical, I did so inside my soulrealm. Atop the throne, I gripped the cold crystal and tried to anchor my thoughts onto the sensation.

Anything to distract me from the agony.

My familiars crowded around me, pushing themselves against my chest and neck. Zharia started first. She brought heat, both skin-melting and gentle.

Another sensation, another thing to focus on to help.

Sturmrorex buffeted my face with the biting cold of the storm, and the flash of heat from the lightning roiling inside the clouds.

Erebus siphoned it away into the void that was death and shadows. Digging his limbs across my arms while Magnus pressed onto my legs.

Even Zagreus tried to help, bringing along the sweet decay and the acrid tang of copper.

Only my last familiar sat atop the throne itself, watching, and waiting.

He pressed his head to mine, gripping my cheeks as he forced me to look up.

Time was a blur but I kept my gaze locked onto the runes that slowly spun inside Chomperz's eyes. Eventually the pain slowed, and the pressure squeezing my body lifted as something warm wrapped around my flesh.

"Cyrus," Cal whispered.

I blinked through the crust and peeled my eyes open to see Cal staring down.

"You look different," I coughed.

Cal's eyes burned like the sun. His horns were aflame with bright gold with scarlet wisps crackling like miniature fireworks. And on his cheeks were cat whiskers, while his fangs poked through the grimace he displayed.

The flames weren't just around his horns. Like a haze of light, the scarlet flames covered his arms and spread over me like a blanket.

I caught the furious flick of Cal's tail, the fur pointed and far longer than usual.

"Is that really all you have to say?" he chuckled.

I leaned back and stared at Zolnja and Ysanna standing far away, their faces tense.

"Where's my friends?"

Ysanna raised her arm and a giant bubble extended from the waves below. Broken Tower and Sereza were inside, floating freely with wild eyes.

They look like scared children while swimming around like space cadets. I wish I had a camera. Oh wait!

"Cal," I whispered.

He leaned closer. "Yes?"

"Camera."

"What?"

"Camera."

"I'm not giving you a modern camera but you can have this memory stone."

Cal's tail reached over his shoulder and tapped my hand. I opened my fist to reveal a small black crystal with a silver lattice caging it in.

"How do I use it?"

"Hold it to your eye, and channel mana through it and the crystal. It'll take a recording of what you see and store it inside the core."

I did as he said and laughed as the flash brought the fish-eye stares from inside the bubble.

"Now activate the second enchantment," Cal instructed.

As I did, a flat screen made of gray light shot out of the crystal. As the mana reached the core the gray exploded in color to reveal a true-to-life image that I just took.

"Perfect," I grinned. "Thanks."

Cal sighed and slowly lowered me onto his couch. Áine and Galarion hopped off his tail and slammed into my chest.

"Why were you on his tail?" I asked.

One of Galarion's limbs exploded into confetti before it reformed. "Fun!"

Áine nodded and settled in after dragging one of the pillows under my neck.

I turned to see Cal stalk toward the divine pair, his tail leaving streaks of fire in its wake. With each step, the waves underneath bubbled and hissed. Steam rose into the air before the flames latched on and devoured them before they emerged above Cal's head.

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His growl reverberated throughout the realm, vibrating my bones. "I sent you to save him. Not rip apart his soul."

Zolnja reared up, wrapping around Ysanna. She bared her fangs as the waves around the platform turned titanic.

"We did save him! You should be grateful."

Cal's next step split the churning ocean to reveal a swirling abyss underneath. The flames along his horns elongated to match Zolnja's height, shifting into an even deeper red.

"Funny words. Try again."

As he spoke, the sky darkened, going from bright daylight to darkest night. He stepped forward. The clouds exploded into ash and flames ate through them like paper.

"Zolnja, enough. Back down," Ysanna said. Zolnja thumped the water, sending a wave crashing into the sea beyond but Ysanna met her defiance with a cool stare. After Zolnja lowered her head she turned to Cal. "She did not mean those words, Calstrax. I apologize on her behalf."

Cal stopped, his tail spearing the ground and carving more of the water away as he slowly flexed his claws. He snarled but the towering flames above his head receded and stuck to a flickering haze around his horns.

"No, do not apologize. I did not return your lives just to hold it over your heads. But you will apologize to him."

"That will be done. We swear," Ysanna said, bowing.

When Zolnja didn't comply, she grabbed onto one of her scales and yanked her down. Zonlja didn't fight the grip and dipped her head below Cal's waist.

There was a pregnant pause with neither party moving first.

I cleared my throat and waved from the pillow mound. "So what exactly happened? And how did you find us?"

Ysanna's eyes flickered from Cal to me. Cal nodded slowly and she looked directly my way.

"Your perk. It's a mark on your soul. I believe you know this?" I nodded and she stepped out of Zolnja's coils and approached the couch. "Did you feel anything before I grabbed you?"

I replayed the memory, with Galarion adding bits of information he helped suppress. As it hit me, I winced and sank into the pillows.

"Yes. Like a cold knife fileting my chest."

A wave of water turned to steam but Ysanna kept her gaze locked on me. Cal's tail retracted slowly while he glared off into this distance.

"I apologize, sincerely. That feeling was your perk warning you of the danger I presented."

Huh.

"Right. But why?"

She sighed and pointed to my chest. "Your evolution. You assimilated the divinity you took, correct?"

"Yeah?"

"You were a divine being forcefully squeezed into my realm. No matter how small that spark is."

That made an annoying amount of sense. I chalked it up to having to travel such far distances from a place we definitely weren't meant to leave–not the way we did.

"Wait a moment. If that's the case, why was I rejected? Weren't you dragging me in here yourself? Willingly?"

Cal appeared next to Ysanna, the heat from his flames cooling the area.

"That's because she didn't truly accept you into her realm. As gods, we are accustomed to other divines deploying their tricks and traps," he explained.

"And during the chaos, my realm naturally repelled the divinity,” Ysanna added.

"So you were rejecting me like I was a fly, hardly worth your notice," I said.

She winced. "I noticed only after you reached the portal's edge. Again, I apologize. It was not my intention to hurt you."

"Mmm," I rolled over and hugged Áine into my neck. "Well, it's not the craziest thing that happened to me. Apology accepted."

"Cyrus, wait," Cal interrupted.

Zolnja slithered over, dipping through the waves and rising from behind the couch. Her head stayed low, lowering even further as Ysanna and Cal glared at her.

"I apologize as well. It was my duty to watch for anything unexpected. In this I failed."

The longer I thought about our interaction from before and now, after having Sturmrorex in my life, the more I recognized the similarities.

"Are you part dragon?"

Zolnja's snorted, the air knocking a pillow off the couch. "I am a close cousin. Why?"

I chuckled, catching Cal's smirk. "You remind me of someone, that's all."

"I-"

Ysanna shook her head and Zolnja calmed.

"So, I'm afraid to ask, but where's Gimbal and Neolenn?"

"The dungeon-core and its fairy?" Cal asked.

"You haven't looked into my memories, have you?"

"Not yet, I was... Preoccupied with other thoughts."

"Well, maybe sit down for this one?"

Cal hesitantly sank onto an opposing couch that appeared as he sat. He looked almost pained as he extended his hand.

It was strange. I could feel Cal's touch, his mana ever so subtly poking its way into my thoughts. Galarion slammed his tentacles through my head, earning a shock from the storm duo, but he grabbed onto Cal's mana and pulled it in.

As he did, a door appeared, one made of endless stars that stretched into the sky.

"Calstrax!" Ysanna shouted.

Cal groaned and dropped his head into his knees. "Just let him in. He can be trusted."

The door itself had a hint of familiarity to it.

"Is that Eraztis?" I asked.

"Are you sure?" Ysanna pressed. "Truly?"

"Just let him in before he throws a fit. Hide the mortals. And reinforce your realm."

"Why would... Nevermind. I'm allowing entry."

The void split, and Eraztis floated in, his tentacles furiously wiggling.

"What did you do?!" he shouted, voice sending titanic waves crashing throughout the realm.

"Eraztis," Ysanna began, bowing.

"Silence!" He floated to Cal, stopping an inch from the couch. "I'll handle you later. I'm talking to him. What did you do?!"

Instead of answering, Cal's tail wrapped around Eraztis' waist and dragged him onto the couch. As he did he slapped his palm on his forehead, a burst of flames sparking off the hit.

Despite what I expected, Eraztis froze. His eyes glistened over and he stared at the sky, slowly deflating into the cushions.

That bad, huh.

"Why? Why does the Weave hate me?" he muttered.

"It does not hate you." Cal growled.

"Yes, yes it does. I had a peaceful job, but all it took was less than a year. Not even a decade. Cal. It hates me."

"What are you talking about?" Ysanna butted in.

The gods on the couch rolled their heads to stare at the goddess. They both groaned and Eraztis snapped his fingers.

It took less than ten seconds for Ysanna to join the two and collapse into the cushions.

"Anybody want to share?" I asked.

Eraztis sat up and pointed a claw at my chest. "You! Aaaagh! Whatever. It doesn't matter. What's some more forbidden knowledge into this apocalyptic fire?"

Dramatic much?

"Cyrus," Cal said, sitting forward. "After you exited your soulspace and opened your eyes. You remember how everyone was frozen in place?"

"Yes. And it makes no sense. I thought dungeons can only fuck around with time dilation, not outwardly freeze it. And chronomancy outside of a rift isn't a thing."

"How exactly do you know that?" Eraztis interrupted.

I shrugged. The information was something I absorbed from being a temporary dungeon core. That and maybe the whole 'Keeper' thing had its perks.

"You are correct about the dungeon's limitations and chronomancy. It's something that not even the gods get to play with. Maybe if you're tier eight or above, past the divine system, but those are just rumors," Cal continued. "But Cyrus, what you saw was correct, but more than you know. Widen the scope."

"We talking the entire dungeon? Was the dungeon frozen just for me?"

Ysanna curled her knees into her chest, prompting her companion to rest her head against the couch. She grabbed onto her scales and rubbed her fingers against the ridges, looking off into the distance with a thousand-yard stare.

Okay, seriously?

"So why are these two catatonic?"

"Cyrus. It wasn't the dungeon the Grand Weave froze," Cal said softly.

"Then what?"

He dragged his hands down his cheeks and inhaled. "It froze all of Inoria."