Kelsey could perceive Jack the moment he began to dream. Now that she had a contract with him, she was more sensitive to his power and could tell the moment he entered his dreams. While she couldn't tell exactly what he was dreaming about, she could get a sense of it based on the emotions coming off them. She had to make sure to pull him out if he started to pull too much power into the dreams.

Right now it appeared to be an erotic dream that Jack was having based on the emotions coming off it. Kelsey was anticipating the foot rub she was going to make him give her. While she was imagining him on his knees taking her feet into his hands, she was startled when the Supreme Goddess of the court Eramis stepped into the dreamscape.

Swiftly Kelsey bowed and said "Hello, Supreme Goddess Eramis. How may I serve you today?" 

"Please just call me Eramis. Supreme Goddess is only for those I don't like. I have come to talk to you about the system Jack."

"Er, Yes Eramis. I have met this Jack."

Eramis snorted and said "You have done more than meet Jack. I can smell his contract on you."

"I have indeed." Kelsey said concerned. "It has assisted it greatly in my duties in the dreamscape. I hope that it's not a problem."

"No. It's just a little aggravating that he has been signing up with so many gods." Eramis sighed and then looked at Kelsey and said "I have finished clearing up his latest mess. When I met him, he mentioned that you already know what he did."

Kelsey hesitated and said "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I refer to the massive surge of power that wrecked several mountains." Eramis looked around and then said "I'm talking about him wielding the Great One's power."

"Jack informed you?"

"Yes. You and I both know what sort of danger Jack is in from the other gods should they learn of this. So I made up a suitable cover story that we will both go over. I don't think anyone will come to look for you, but if they find out you're close to Jack they might snoop around."

"Of course Eramis." Kelsey rubbed her horns concerned.

"If they ask, you will tell them you felt a blast of magical power in the dreamscape, and that was it. If they ask you to tell them you did sign a contract with Jack, but nothing about him and the Great One."

"Yes, it would be dangerous if it was made known that he was the Great Ones lover."

Eramis looked shocked and said "What?"

"Jack didn't tell you that?"

"No. He just told me he used her power... Of course now it makes sense. She left him the power because he was her lover."

"At least that is what Jack claims."

"No. As much as it irritates me, he isn't the sort to make lies like that. The problem we face is that I believe several gods in the court are working in secret with these outside powers. They might suspect the truth that it was in fact Jack behind the Glowing mountain incident."

"The Glowing Mountain?" Kelsey asked.

"It's what it's being called among the gods. What else did Jack tell you?"

Feeling that Jack was leaving his dreams, and entering the dreamscape, Kelsey said "Not much more. He was going to inform me more about what happened when he came here. He is coming right now."

As Kelsey finished speaking, Jack stepped into her space with apparent ease like always. Most every god had a bit of trouble directly entering the dreamscape. Even Eramis, who looked like she casually walked in had to exert some power to enter. Yet Jack just walked in. She suspected it was somehow related to his soul, as dreams and souls were linked.

The first time he had stepped into the dreamscape. It had surprised her. She had only attempted to awaken him, not bring him into her dreamscape. Jack made her feel nervous, like he was a wolf entering a sheep pen. Then there was the amazing foot rubs he had given her. 

When he entered, this time Jack was wearing a black short and some shorts. The shirt was tight against his frame, and Kelsey caught herself staring at his muscles. Shaking her head, she said "Hello Jack."

"Hello Kelsey and Eramis, I came to talk with you, though I am surprised to see you here as well Eramis."

Eramis huffed and said "After cleaning up that mess you made, I needed to take a nap and speak with Kelsey here about the cover story we are going with."

"What cover story?"

"The good news is essentially the largest source of energy in the area of the Glowing mountain incident is magical in nature. The Great one's energy is mostly gone, and I was only able to detect it because of its connection to you. Your energy is there but at so little levels unless they are intimately familiar with you, it's unlikely that you were the cause of it."

"What is the bad news?"

"Word has got out that you were at the site. I don't know who it was, but I suspect several gods may be in some sort of collusion with these archmages. This Luxurian may have tipped off these gods to your actions. But it's their word against mine so we have that going for us."

"What is the cover story we are going with?" Jack asked.

"Basically we will only tell part of the truth. We will say that the Kingdom of Sevaris had left behind a great deal of magical power in the ruins you went to. A noble got power hungry and attempted to gain control of the magical power and you intervened in an effort to stop him which unleashed the magical energy causing the whole incident."

Kelsey frowned and said "Who is this Luxurian you are talking about?"

For the next several minutes Jack explained to her about the archmages from the Kingdom of Sevaris. After Jack had explained it, Kelsey looked at Eramis and asked "If some of the other gods are working with them and they know the truth won't they point it out?"

"It's possible, but I don't think so. If they do, it paints a target on them as well as Jack. I don't know how many gods are working with them, but it's not the majority of them. Speaking of the court, Jack we will be going to the court tomorrow to introduce you. You will likely be asked multiple questions so you need to be prepared."

Jack nodded and then asked "What about Kara and Sara? Will we be introducing them as well?"

"No. I'm going to wait to introduce them for now. I need them to remain an unknown card I could play for the moment." Eramis then said "So Kelsey told me that you were the Great One's lover."

"I am Maya's lover, yes. We were also once engaged. Whether we married, I am unsure and don't remember."

Kelsey said "You know I actually think I may have met one of these archmages."

"You have?" Eramis asked.

"Yeah, several years ago when I was wandering the dreamscape, I came across this weird woman who was sleeping in the dreamscape. She stank of magic and was actively bringing a blight to the dreamscape. To stop her from infecting the entire dreamscape I cut the dreamscape around her and banished her to her own dream realm." 

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"What was the blight she was bringing?"

"The Dreamscape started to slow down and run out of energy. I started to feel incredibly lethargic around her. At the time I just assumed she was one of those lost gods that had somehow wound up in the dreamscape."

Jack looked in thought and said "It could be one. From your description it does not sound like Luxurian though. What did this woman look like?"

"I thought she was to tell the truth, a foxkin at first but when I got closer to her she was just wearing a pair of fake fox ears and was hugging onto a large pillow."

"Is she still sealed up?"

"I believe so."

"Be careful Kelsey, while they are not connected with most of their power, they are still surprisingly influential. Luxurian managed to briefly control my avatar body by attaching a parasite to my soul. If she comes around, run, contact me. I will come and help you face her."

"Is the parasite still on your soul?" Eramis asked in concern.

"The remains of it are still in my soul. According to a soulamancer my soul has apparently got it under control and nearly destroyed it. I'm going to be trying to access my soul just to make sure."

"This is troubling, with these parasites more gods could be under control then I realize. Do you think you could detect if someone has them?" Eramis asked.

"Now that I know what I am looking for, probably." Jack said. "For the average person at least. For gods, they would likely block my attempts at looking at them. If I signed a contract with them, I could tell if they had one or not."

"I see." Eramis said in thought and said "I will try and convince several of the gods that I trust to sign with you just to make sure we are secure from their influence."

"What about you?" Jack asked, looking at Eramis. 

Eramis looked away and said "Not now. My position is too precarious. If I sign with you, it could be seen as a weakness. A god would likely take advantage of that."

"Are you speaking about Alacanar?"

"He has been aiming for my seat lately and has been gaining momentum lately. He now has several allies among the court and is getting increasingly closer to call a vote of no confidence in me. It wouldn't pass right now, but he's not far away. All it would take is me making a mistake."

"Can you take him?"

"He's not as strong as me for sure, but it's not the old days before the war of the gods. We are now bound to the rules. If I want to deal with him, I need evidence that he is either up to no good or worse."

"If I get evidence, he is working for, or influenced by these archmages will that possibly change things?"

Eramis sank into thought and nodded "If you do, I can get his authority revoked. If it's bad enough, I might be able to get him locked away for a period of time. Alacanar, however, is fucking wily, I don't know if you are going to be able to nail him down that easily."

Jack said "I will take a look."

"Be careful Jack. He is ruthless to an extreme point. While he works within the rules at least on the surface, he won't hesitate to take advantage of any weakness he detects. He may even target your Users."

"If he dares touch my Users, then I will destroy him." Jack said without hesitation. Then he took a breath and looked at Eramis and said "Have you been able to get someone to take a look for Alexia's soul?"

She nodded and said "Yeah, I called in a big favor. He's taking a look right now, I haven't heard back from him yet. I think he'll probably meet up with us after tomorrow's meeting at the court. Speaking of the meeting, you should go in your true form."

"True form?" Kelsey asked.

"Yeah, it's a glowing ball. Honestly, it's a lot cuter than your avatar form. I swear Jack, the more you appear in this form, the more dominating presence I get from you. As such you should go as the ball to make people less suspicious of you."

"You have a good idea Eramis. What time is the meeting tomorrow?"

"I will contact you in your space about dusk in Keston. Only the main members of the court will be in attendance. Be careful of offering contracts with these gods Jack. Most will likely outright dismiss you. Some will take offense. Also on the topic of conversation in the meeting will be the attempted summoning of a corrupted god."

Kelsey said "When I received word of that incident, I have been investigating the dreamscape for any clues regarding the summoning. I have found something interesting, but I still needed more time to investigate to verify it all."

"What did you find?" Eramis asked looking at Kelsey.

"There has been a pattern of seals being broken. Each one is similar to the one in Naraak, though not always the same in strength. I took out the ones that looked like they were just broken out of age and have found a series of seals that looked to be intentionally broken for some reason. Based on the pattern I would guess the next one to be attempted will likely be in Keston."

Jack frowned and said "Do you know where in Keston this event is supposed to take place?"

"No. I was only able to narrow it down to it taking some place above ground. What they are trying to achieve I don't exactly know, but the dreams point to the possibility of them opening a hole to oblivion."

"Oblivion?" Jack asked.

"It's from which the source of all corruption is said to live. At least according to the rumors. Who knows if it's the truth, either way it's not good."

Kelsey saw Jack looking at her, and he asked her "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Dreams can be oracles of a future. Of course, it's not always accurate, but people can get a strong sense of what is happening in their area. That sense often appears in dreams; I look at the dreaming records and spot the patterns which all point to something manipulating these seals as if they are preparing to unleash a massive surge of corruption."

"Can you guess where they want to open the hole to oblivion? If we know that we might be able to track who is actually behind it."

"Yes, I know an approximate area for where it is supposed to open. However, It doesn't make sense." Kelsey said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Why doesn't it make sense?" Jack asked.

Focusing on the dreamscape Kelsey made a map out of the dreams around her and placed it floating and circled the area where she had suspected. Eramis took a closer look and said "That is right. It doesn't make sense at all. That would have to be the least likely place if I had to guess."

"Why?" Jack Asked.

"That's where the Well of Purification is located. It has the ability to purify corruption, as far as I know it is the least corrupt area in the world."

"How does the well work?"

"The well is filled with the fires of purification. A person is lowered down through the intense fires. Eventually the corruption is burned out of them. If the person or thing is completely corrupt, the process will destroy them. Unfortunately, it has no effect on fixing a person's mind that was exposed to corruption. It also has very little effect on corrupted gods as it's not powerful enough."

"Where do these fires come from?"

"According to rumors, it was said to have been built by the Great One, but after feeling her power I really don't believe so. In fact I think it was actually built during the God war in an effort to fight corrupt gods. While I would like to take a closer look at it, the court has all signed a contract agreeing to not interfere or look into it. It's to prevent a corrupted god from destroying."

"I haven't signed that. Looking at the map, I can see that a couple of my Users will likely pass by it. I can ask them to take a look around just to see if anything is off."

"Please do so. I don't like the thought of another corruption incident happening too soon."

"I will also look around Keston."

Eramis nodded and said "I need to get going, Take care Kelsey. Jack, don't forget about the meeting tomorrow. If I have to drag you up, I will be annoyed." Eramis left quietly.

"Hmm looking at it, a couple of my Users will likely pass by it. I can get them to take a look to see if anything is off."

When Eramis left Jack turned towards her and said "I still owe you that foot massage Kelsey."

Feeling the excitement building up Kelsey smiled and said "You do." She made a chair to sit down and sat down in anticipation. Jack was walking towards her and bending down when there was a light cough and a Dark woman appeared from the darkness. Kelsey didn't recognize her and sat up alarmed and said "Who are you?"

Jack stood and said "Nyx, I didn't expect to see you so soon after our last meeting. Nyx this is Kelsey, Kelsey this Is Nyx."

"I did not expect to need to meet you so soon as well. Some circumstances have come about that have forced me to find you. The Queen of Kestonia has just made a move in relation to one of your Users. I thought you should know about it."

"What sort of move? Is she targeting Telvin?" Jack asked.

"No, She is actually interested in your Orc User?"

"Riley? How does the Queen know about her? What does she want with her?"

"She has spies watching the Evercral Mansion. They reported Riley entering the home. It appears the queen has taken an interest in her. From what I can tell it appears as if the Queen will send Riley an invitation to come alone to a certain home that she uses as a base."

"Will the Queen meet her there?"

"No. It's just a screening first. After that they may bring her to the queen. More likely however the queen will make her an offer that she can't refuse. At least Riley would have no choice if she wasn't your User. You could get her out of the city without issue, though she would need to leave the kingdom quickly for she would become a fugitive."

"What do I need to do?"

"Alert her to the threat and keep an eye on her. I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Much appreciated Nyx. I need to go, I have things to think about." Jack said and left.

Nyx looked at Kelsey and bowed and said "Farewell Kelsey."

"Wait a minute. He forgot to rub my feet again!" Kelsey said annoyed.