Yn’ulk sat in the darkness of the Lizakh inner caves, meditating while standing guard over the precious eggs. The mounds of football-sized protuberances were beginning to emit a slight heat and warmth, which meant that they were approaching the hatching stage. Per tradition, he had spent the first portion of the day spreading the ashes of fallen Lizakh warriors across the different clutches, so they might inherit some of their predecessors' bravery when they were born.

This year, they had a depressing amount of ashes to spread. The grey particles lay thickly over the eggs like an old knit blanket.

Patron of the Sun, please guide our people. Yn’ulk’s hands tightened into fists as he thought of all the warriors they had lost over the past month. The image of D’min tossing aside his faith in the Patron of the Sun and serving as the avatar for the guardian deity of Expira also featured heavily in his mind. His mood sank. Hear our prayers and know that we are doing our best, every day, to accomplish your will-

Then something strange happened. Though it was from a great distance, Yn’ulk felt like he was laying on a rock on a warm summer day; his whole form was illuminated, as though he was basking in the sun. The sense of connection and fulfillment that came upon him then was intoxicating. He sat sharply upward, his breaths coming more quickly. His confusion morphed smoothly into utter stupefaction as the light flickered in front of him and a figure slowly formed in the air.

“Patron…?” Yn’ulk asked in a disbelieving tone. For no one but the Patron of the Sun could feel so intimately connected to him, yet also seem so unfamiliar. The youthful Lizakh turned back and forth around the cave, his eyes seeming to take in every detail. Yn’ulk didn’t doubt that the Patron, finally here to reward his people’s faith, was examining their exact situation.

If anything, the Patron of the Sun didn’t seem disappointed by how far the Lizakh had fallen. He simply offered a small smile to the heavy stone walls of the cave. “Interesting. You have even kept several worlds within the space? But you probably didn’t even think of this backdoor, eh? Heh…” Finally, his golden eyes settled on Yn’ulk. “You, my precious descendant. I have need of your body. Some accounts need to be settled.”

Despite the fact that a miracle was truly unfolding in front of him, Yn’ulk felt his scales prickle at that tone. Even a casual reader of the gospel of the Patron of the Sun would quickly realize this was not a forgiving god. “You… you appear to know that one of our number recently forsook the faith. But… please, have mercy on him. He only wished to protect our people.”

The golden light in the Patron’s eyes flash. Yn’ulk almost flinched from the scorching heat contained in the figure’s gaze. To his relief, the Patron shook his head slowly. His mirage-like projection rippled. “You misunderstand. I can vaguely sense the circumstances; I would never punish one of my own for turning to a more ready source of aid. I can sense the desperate straits you have endured. It is my greatest shame that this proud Lizakh was forced to turn away from me. In this matter, I will be delicate.”

Feeling reassured, Yn’ulk acquiesced to the force sliding between them through his bond with the Patron. Then he was falling and settling in the warm embrace of darkness, where his consciousness went dormant.

Within the muscular body of the Lizakh warrior, the Patron of the Sun stood and stretched. His shoulders and spine popped from Yn’ulk’s long vigil. Then he showed his sharp teeth to the empty cave. “I can easily forgive one of my own flock for straying… but the figure standing behind him, who dared interfere with my descendants? Heh.

“I hope he has a god to pray to.”

*****

Vye usually felt herself being exhausted by the looks of deference that her Order Ducis uniformed earned, but amongst the throngs of people at Donnyton’s festival, it was a welcome relief to have people stand aside and let her pass. Delilah bobbed along behind her, gaping and ooo-ing at every new site or performance or piece of armor that caught her eye.

Around them, Donnyton and more largely all of the powerful Classers in the surrounding Zones were finally letting loose and celebrating. Specialty drinks had been imported with alcohol content high enough for even people with powerful Stats to feel briefly inebriated. This was the release that the people had been waiting for since the Calamity had begun.

They had won. They had survived. It was time to celebrate before they started dwelling for too long on the price they had paid to make it here.

“Can’t we stop to look at anything?” Delilah complained behind her. Vye found it somewhat ironic that the girl could struggle and fight so viciously at Vye’s side, the two of them finding and evacuating small villages in the Wilderness during the worst of the Calamity, and then put on such an aghast expression simply when she was bored.

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Vye followed Delilah’s gaze to a well-insulated tent in which several brightly colored and completely weather inappropriate dresses fluttered. She shook her head, even while inwardly thinking, this girl inherited the worst traits from both her parents. And the best, I suppose. “Not yet. There’s something that we need to do before we can play around.”

Even considering the fact that Expira was finally calming down, Vye had little interest in such a celebration normally. But her Divine Internal Compass Skill had activated three days ago and led her unerringly to the festival outside of Donnyton since. The duo now sidled past large groups of people clamoring around carnival games as she searched for the exact source.

At the very least, it seemed like their target remained still. That was a relief.

Vye glanced briefly to the side while waiting for a man to leisurely wheel his stroller through the small space between the bodies waiting in line along the sides of a lane. On a small stage, a trained monkey dance back and forth, doing cartwheels while the customers emphatically folded over pieces of stationary to construct small paper planes.

A man with gritted teeth and a scar on his lip threw the plane forward and then activated a wind-based Skill to guide the plane directly for the monkey’s body. At the last second, the monkey leaned backward into a bridge position and allowed the plane to sail over his belly button. Then the monkey stood, cackling with laughter, and smacked his ass in the scarred man’s direction.

The man grimly handed another dollar over to the proprietor and began folding another plane. Vye shook her head again. I guess they needed to make carnival games more difficult to deal with Stats, but this is a bit ridiculous.

“Why did that man keep trying? Does he really think he can hit the monkey? What a waste of money.” At the very least, Delilah seemed pretty dismissive of his efforts as she followed after Vye.

Vye shrugged. “Pride makes people do strange things- ah, here we are.”

Congratulations! Your Skill Divine Internal Compass (L) has grown to Level 303!

Her instincts sung as soon as she laid eyes on the place; Vye scanned the end food stall, wondering why her Skill was so certain that she would want to visit this soup stand. Her heart sunk as she saw the long line of people waiting to be served, as well as several others standing nearby and cooing with pleasure as they dipped biscuits into small, handmade pieces of pottery that toed the line between cup and bowl. Beyond them were a group of athletic-looking young man loudly laughing and surreptitiously sneaking glances at the lovely young woman in the maid costume taking soup orders.

“Soup?” Delilah blinked. Then her expression brightened. “Oh! Do you think Neveah’s here? She’s such a great cook. I hope she’s making beef stew!”

Vye nodded slowly. “I suppose that must be it. Come on, let’s get in line now or we will be here all day.”

Once they stood in the soup queue, the line actually moved quite quickly. In only ten minutes, thirty or so people had filtered through the stand, most carrying away their soup to hurry toward the shows or vendors on the other side of the festival grounds and some other delights. The whole time, Vye glanced periodically up at the sky, wondering if the heavy clouds would soon break and dump a wave of precipitation on them all.

“Hello!” The woman in the maid costume greeted them when Vye and Delilah stepped forward to the front. Her eyes were bright and blue and her long blonde hair was perfectly done up. “What can I get for you?”

Now that she was pressed for the purpose of her visit, Vye was somewhat tongue-tied. She didn’t want to out the fact that Neveah was here, but she didn’t want any soup, despite the threatening storm above. She glanced down at a glass jar stuffed with cash, which had a small but precisely written label on the front.

Working here to acclimate to my new image. Tip if you like it!

Vye shook her head, thinking of the sort of looks those boys were giving this woman, while also suddenly sensing how powerful she was. The woman possessed such a sophisticated image that she hadn’t noticed her power until she stood in front of her.

And that powerful image that Vye sensed was likely not what the boys thought they were tipping.

Meanwhile, Delilah had been scanning the menu. “I’ll have a cup of the goulash, with a biscuit please.”

“And I’d like to speak to your chef,” Vye added. When the maid woman gave her a suddenly pointed look, Vye smiled helplessly. It had been a while since somewhat had been so suspicious of her while she was wearing her uniform. “Tell her that its Vye. If your cook is who I think it is, then she will let me come speak to her.”

“I hope it really is her,” Delilah smacked her lips as the maid bid a lizardman to go back and ask. “Her goulash is to die for…!”

The lizardman quickly came back with the affirmative and the maid gestured them into the stand. Delilah happily sipped her soup while Vye led the way and pushed open the wooden door into the kitchen area.

Congratulations! Your Skill Divine Internal Compass (L) has grown to Level 304!

The first person that Vye saw wasn’t Neveah, but Randidly Ghosthound bent over a hot stove with a dirty apron wrapped around his athletic limbs. He looked up at her and smiled, earning another affirmative pulse from her Skill. “Heya stranger. Could you sense that I was here? Oh, and look, isn’t that Delilah? Wow, you’ve grown quite a bit since I’ve seen you last, huh?”

Delilah froze and gulped very audibly. Randidly seemed puzzled by the reaction, but Vye just rolled her eyes. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that Randidly didn’t seem to understand the effect he had on people. Vye was quite positive that Delilah remained scarred from playing hide and seek with Randidly, years ago.

But before the conversation could continue further, several shouts drew their attention out of the food stand.

“Oh my god!” A woman’s loud voice cut through the excited mutterings. “Is that Raina?!?”