A surge of cold water splashed my face, and I bolted to my feet, coughing up the cups worth that had gotten into my mouth.

I heard some laughter from a few feet away, followed by something large moving behind it. I coughed up some more water and got the last of it before I banged my fist on the floor.

The laughter had stopped, and all I could hear was running water. Slowly, I panned my head up and found myself standing in the middle of the sea. Water as far as I could see from one end of the world to the other. It was a continuous ocean of moving waves, leaving only the large platform I was standing on alone.

"So, what do you think? I find the waves calming, myself."

[https://i.imgur.com/jhCOYra.png]

I tore myself away from the swimming fish I saw underneath the waves and looked up. Standing before me was a woman about my height dressed in a bright orange robe with a simple white shirt underneath. Her blue skirt floated casually amongst the waves, somehow remaining dry as the water splashed against it.

And behind her, with its body weaving in and out of the ocean's waters, was a giant sea serpent with equally bright scales reflecting the sunlight shining down.

The great serpent opened its mouth, and a distinctly female voice rumbled in my head. "Perhaps we should not splash the little hero. It would be a rude reward from a goddess."

The woman sighed and put her hands on her hips. "But he wouldn't wake up. I thought being a goddess meant mortals would be all super respectful. Last I checked, sleeping in front of a god is not that."

"While I agree. Given the circumst-"

"Listen, I really don't care about god this or goddess that right now. If you're who I think you are, thanks for saving me, but uh, I don't understand why I'm here. Is the siege over?" I asked, my voice tired as I still felt drained emotionally and mentally.

I almost said 'rift,' but I realized that telling a goddess she was a riftborn could complicate a lot of things. And as suicidal as I could sometimes act, pissing off a goddess that way would mean certain death.

Still, I felt my anger bleeding through; my mental cage to keep the thoughts tame, not at its strongest. I was ready for pain and misery, not waking up to be splashed in the face under a small deluge of water. And now that I was standing in this weird realm faced against two divine figures talking about me like I wasn't in front of them? I just wanted to rest.

I summoned my chair from my inventory, half surprised that it worked. I placed it on the invisible barrier beneath my feet and collapsed as I sat down. It took everything I had not to groan.

"Well, now. If we're that tired, I can join you in sitting. Standing and talking to people is too stifling," Ysanna said.

She came closer, parting the waves lapping at her robes, and stepped onto the invisible platform. Behind her, the serpent dipped beneath the waves and reappeared only a few meters away, her body coiling together.

When Ysanna stopped, she sat down, and a small water throne rose beneath her. It hardened into a coral chair decorated with bright, colourful seashells. A carved motif rested on the chair's back in a perfect replica of Zolnja beside her.

Now that she was sitting, I finally got a good look at her. Her skin was dark, not tanned, but dark. Her hair was black, and it shined almost blue when the rays of sunlight hit it just right. She had on light makeup, and when I looked into her eyes, I found the blue slits staring right back.

A churning ocean with titanic waves clashing together. The sky roared its lightning, a battle cry against the deep waters. An island of calm sat in the middle, where the waters whirled into a deep pool that threatened to drown any that came near.

Untouched, a ship in safe harbour.

It was a promise of peace to those whom the ocean loved. And for those that sought to anger the slumbering typhoon would find themselves food, the Blue-eyed serpent swimming underneath the waves.

I shut my eyes and looked away, a faint pounding in my head.

Uggghh. Not what I needed right now.

When I opened my eyes again, it was to the sight of the goddess leaning in only a couple of inches away. "Uhm, hello there, Lady Ysanna. Is there something you want?"

"Take off the mask. It shouldn't be working in here, but it's blocking my senses from penetrating through," she ordered.

I cocked my head and raised a hand to my face. Sure enough, the mask was there.

Then, how did the water get through?

I tried to will the mask to harden and block my fingers, but they slipped right on through. With a frown, I removed the mask and placed it on my lap.

It looked normal, but the ink was unmoving, entirely static. I tried to probe for the enchantments carved into the inside of the mask, but there was no sign of mana within the item.

Chalking the oddity up to being in a weird realm controlled by a pseudo-goddess, I brushed some hair out of my way and waited as Ysanna examined my face. Luckily, looking into her eyes didn't trigger the strange daydream, so I was content to sit and relax.

She finished examining me and sat back in her chair. "Hmm, there's something weird about your soul, but other than that, you look normal to me."

I blinked a few times. "Thanks? What's weird about my soul?"

"Mmmm..." Ysanna hummed. She turned towards her companion. "What do you think, Zol? Can you describe it?"

Zolnja lifted her head and cracked open an eye. Her gaze would have frightened me about a month ago, but not now. At this point, giant monsters staring at me was becoming the norm.

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Zolnja's voice was crystal clear despite her mouth being closed. "It feels heavy. There are marks on your soul that I can sense but not determine, yet that is not what causes your soul to feel different. I can see that a part of it is locked away while the rest is wrapped in nearly invisible threads."

She leaned forward, her massive jaw coming closer to my face. She pulled back before she smacked into my head, and her eyes widened. The slit in her pupils narrowed, and I could see scales flare up.

The reaction was such a drastic shift in the current vibe that I nearly stood up. It felt like an attack, like the giant serpent was ready to swallow me whole.

Ysanna got up, but instead of smiting me where I stood, she placed herself in front of me and held her arms out. "Zolnja! Calm down. We're here to thank the hero, not eat him."

Within seconds, Zolnja returned to resting her head on her coiled body. She stared at me with narrowed eyes, showing no signs of impending aggression. The whiplash of everything that just happened only served to tire me out further.

Ysanna sat back down and gave her companion a curious glare. When she nodded a moment later, I realized they were mentally communicating. It shouldn't have surprised me, considering Teddy and Arturous could understand each other.

Ysanna turned and gave me a bright smile. "Sorry about that. Something Zolnja recognized set her off."

"I can speak for myself," Zolnja cut in, glaring back at her companion. "Boy, you're not an ordinary mortal," Zolnja rumbled.

I shrugged. "So I've been told."

She scoffed and turned her head away. "Flippant. Arrogant."

I frowned and took a deep breath. I was more tired than I realized. I lowered my head into a bow. "I apologize. My emotions are getting the better of me."

She cracked open an eye and then closed it, returning to her rest. "Better."

Ysanna cleared her throat. "Well, now that the issue has been resolved, hello. My name is Ysanna, the patron goddess of Moldrula. And this is my soulbound Zolnja. It seems you have been rather busy protecting my city while I fought."

I raised my head and sat back. I searched the goddess's body up and down, but for someone who had been in battle, she was surprisingly uninjured.

"Ahh. It's an easy thing to hide in my domain, but since you are not one of my flock, I can reveal the truth."

In an instant, gone was the sight of the goddess in pristine robes, her skin unblemished, and in its place was a woman with half her hair missing and several lines of black scars crisscrossing her arms and shoulders. Black ichor stained her robes, mingling with bright orange specks flecked with blue.

I turned and saw Zolnja had been hiding under an illusion as well. Several patches of scales were missing, while deep claw marks marred her flank. One of her eyes remained shut, and dried blood decorated her scales.

The world dimmed, and I saw the ocean still as if the illusion of the chaotic tide was a bluff to hide the vulnerable divinities resting inside.

And within a blink, the goddess was back in pristine robes, her bright smile reflecting back at me. "As you can see, it has not been an easy week. The god Melzauthuum refused to die no matter how many times I tore off his limbs."

I cracked a smile, my fangs on full display. "Personally, I could do with less tentacles and rot in my life."

"Exactly! And thanks to you, we can both rest easy. My people included."

We sat there in silence, my brain satisfied with the lull in conversation. Ysanna seemed to understand I was tired, so she let me get my thoughts together.

"Was it you who saved me before I fell into the void?"

"Yes. Effective use of the crystal even if I mourn its loss."

I tried to wince but couldn't summon the energy to do so. "Sorry, it was the only way to keep Callen alive. Speaking of which, is he your chosen?"

"Indeed. So thank you for that. His death would have been... devastating."

I shrugged. "No problem. I'd be dead otherwise, so no worries."

"Mmmm... I'm not so sure about that."

"What do you mean?"

"How about you tell me why the Grand Weave is trying to send notifications to you? And why my city is inside a rift."

I felt real danger radiating off the goddess. Her smile was still there, but her eyes were a chaotic maelstrom waiting to be unleashed.

It would have been intimidating, but she didn't scare me the way a dimensional horror the size of a planet could. "Do you want the real answer? Because if I tell you, I'm not sure how you'll take it."

Her eyes narrowed, and I caught Zolnja staring at me while trying to feign sleep.

"Tell me everything."

I sighed and let my head fall backwards. I closed my eyes and began with everything I knew. She asked questions about the rift and the history of the island and the city. I had to provide her with less-than-detailed answers because my knowledge of the centuries between the city's fall and the re-establishment of the village could fit on one hand.

Next were questions regarding the rift and the dungeon and how everything came to be so crazy. At this, I had to reveal my status as a Reborn and why that mattered to her rift. Zolnja stopped pretending to rest and kept her attention on me after that.

By the end, Ysanna sat back in her chair and looked even more defeated than I did. I couldn't tell what was running through her mind, but she at least kept a calm facade throughout my explanation.

"You're handling this surprisingly well."

Zolnja snorted and coiled herself around the coral throne. Her head came to a rest next to Ysanna's hand, and the goddess idly placed it on her snout. Ysanna rubbed it while staring into the sky, not a word spoken out loud.

A few minutes passed, and suddenly, there was a knocking sound. The knock rang three more times and then stopped. I debated getting up, but this wasn't my realm, and I wasn't running the show around here.

Zolnja tightened around Ysanna, who stared into the distance, her hands subtly clenched.

"Do you know why a god wearing a silver suit is knocking on my realm?"

I sat up and stared. "Silver suit? Cal? Uhm... I think my dad is here? Does he have a fox tail and crimson hair?"

She nodded.

"Then yeah, that's my god. I didn't know he could enter rifts. Actually, I thought gods can't touch rifts since the system controls them."

"Normally, no, not unless the rift is something we made and control ourselves." She paused, her head turning to a sound only she could hear. "Do I let him in?"

I shrugged again. "Go for it. He shouldn't be a problem."

She slammed her fist on her throne, and I felt an insane amount of mana wash over me. It came as a shockwave with enough physical pressure to blow my hair back.

After shaking the hair off my face, I watched a familiar door appear in space next to my chair. The stone door flared with mana, and swirly runes appeared along its frame. When it opened, Cal stepped out with a smile on his face.

He gave me a broad smile before turning to the divinities and bowed. "Goddess Ysanna, Divine Serpent Zolnja, it's good to see you again."

Zolnja rose, and the waters around the platform became choppy. "I remember you now! You're Calstrax the -"

Calstrax raised a single hand, but I could see a line of swirling runes crawling across the fabric of his gloves. "If you'd be so kind as to leave the titles out of my name, that'd be great. For now, I am simply Calstrax."

The waters raged but never once came close to crashing around us. Eventually, she settled down, circling tightly around the throne, her scales rubbing against the coral.

Ysanna put on a polite smile and did a shallow bow. "Greeting's Calstrax. May I ask how you are visiting inside this rift?"

Cal walked closer to me and summoned his own chair. It was the couch from the last time we talked in Edolus.

I laughed and then got up to join him on the couch. He gave me an appraising look, and I nodded my head. The access to my memories was instant, and his eyes widened.

"We're going to discuss what you and Chomperz did, but not right now." He turned towards the goddess. "Your rift has been unclaimed for years. Nobody in the pantheon would allow anyone else to touch it."

"Yet, you have?"

"Indeed, I currently have little love for the pantheon of Solunaria. And as is my domain, I claimed it."

This time, the waters underneath the platform rose and coiled around the throne, creating a raging stream. "And what is it you plan on doing with this rift? I may not be the original Ysanna, but I will not let my people's memories be thrown away."

Cal remained unbothered, his expression calm and collected. "Simple. I'm here to return it to the goddess who made it."

Ysanna blinked. "What do you mean?"

Cal leaned his arms on his knees, resting his chin in his hands. "I've come to officially welcome the fallen goddess Ysanna back into the Weave."

Oh.

"Oh."