Victor awoke with a sharp breath. He grabbed onto the collar of the nearest person and pushed them away without even looking at them.

“Calm down, would you?” Amadeus asked with surprise. He pushed Victor’s hand off of himself and looked at him with a frown.

“S-sorry, Am. I didn’t realize I- What time is it?”

It was night. Or what constituted for night in here. The sky was a purple filled canvas with various stars hanging outside of reach.

“Long enough. I brought back a few villagers to heal you, but even they were exhausted,” Amadeus told him.

“And Amit?”

“He… didn’t make it, Vic.”

Victor scowled and lowered his head.

“Don’t have to blame yourself for it, Vic, even you’re not omnipotent,” Am consoled him.

It was a true enough statement. Victor just couldn’t accept it as such. He’d have to go back again, save Amit and the village perfectly. With that came a burden to the young Timewalker. He eyed his notifications and dismissed them one by one.

His Bladebody Edge was at the front of his mind. Victor spread his nails apart, entertaining a dark thought. No… I have to wait the whole ten years before I can use it again. If I even want to.

Would he really go back just for a single man? Could he even recreate the events that led him back to that point? Maybe it was just better to accept the world for what it was…

“We ended up checking his body for belongings. Anything that we could bring back to his family. Apart from the supplies he kept, he only had this,” Amadeus showed Victor a small pin.

There was an engraving on it that Victor had to light up with his phone’s flash to even see. It showed a four-armed man with three eyes, and a separate item held in each hand. A book, a spear, a horn and finally, the world.

“Does it mean something?” Victor asked. Amadeus shrugged in reply.

“Maybe he was a part of some cult or another. Not that it matters at this point.”

But Victor was transfixed with it. He stowed the ring away in his pockets and nodded to Amadeus. The Altesians around him were watching silently the entire time, waiting for their move.

“Are you feeling alright enough to get up?” Amadeus asked him.

“Never better.”

Amadeus pulled him up by a single arm as they started walking. The Altesians followed, and it was not long after that they’d reached Pepin village.

****

“Brave warriors one and all, I thank you for your aid,” the leader of the village, Renalo, said. He was like most of the other Altesians there, but somehow looked older. His balloon-like skin was less shiny, more matted and rubbery looking. He moved slower and the bounce in his step was less pronounced than other Altesians.

Victor was still haggard from his fight, so he just idly nodded along with the speech the leader gave. He, Amadeus, Lillie and Qeeny were positioned around the fountain that served as the centre of the village. Water flowed in from the top and dropped down, and the leader picked up several scoops with a ladle to bring to them.

“A drink from this makes you one of us, travellers. Victor Amadi, who slayed two of the Tanhas for us, we would be honoured if you’d accept this water,” Renalo told them.

Before taking a sip, Victor took a look inside the ladle. Far as he could tell, it was just simple water. So, he took it off the hands of the leader and slurped it down. He wiped his face with his sleeve and gave it back to the leader in the same breath.

“For you who helped us, Victor Amadi, we offer this Seed,” Renalo said.

He produced an actual, literal silver tongue from his back pocket that glowed to Victor. The man took it graciously, though he thought the guns they’d gotten were more than enough payment.

“We do apologize for not being able to get you anything greater, Victor Amadi, but the other Seeds were already taken away from us. This is the only one they deemed useless enough to keep,” Renalo told him.

[[Whisperer’s Tongue]:

A Seed that provides its user the ability to communicate with others more easily and send messages along the wind. Borne from the need to understand among people.]

“It’s…. fine,” Victor said. But it wasn’t something that would help him grow stronger, which was the main issue. He stowed it away in his pack despite that, hoping to find a user for it somewhere down the line.

“Ah, and next we have Amadeus Levine, who breached the wretched bulwark keeping our village captive and subjugated,” Renalo continued on for Lillie as well, until finally he reached Qeeny.

“And a customary drink for our very own Qeeny, who brought these wondrous heroes to us in the first place!”

Qeeny puffed out his chest, enjoying the attention given to him by the crowd. Those Altesians bounced and cheered for him loudly, which made Lillie chuckle awkwardly.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Sucks we didn’t get that kind of reception,” she said.

“He’s a villager, we’re outsiders. They’re going to be hella suspicious of us, even if we helped them,” Victor told her.

“Least we got some rewards out of it,” Amadeus said, showing off a shiny ring on his finger.

“What does that even do?”

“Makes a shield. That’s why the elder called that Daughter I took down the Bulwark.”

“Chin up, both of you, he’s coming back around,” Lillie said under her breath as the three straightened.

“And now, let us get the festivities underway!” the elder announced, and the whole village got moving.

The party that he held lasted for the entire night, while Victor and his crew spent most of it on the sidelines. There were exotic drinks and food aplenty, though most Victor found barely palatable. The Altesians danced to their hearts content, and Qeeny was so immersed in the middle of them that Victor and the rest barely got a glimpse at him.

Victor and his group had a table to themselves. Sometimes the Altesians would drag one or more of them away from it but they always made their way back to that same table of drinks to relax.

When all was said and done, and the party had started to wrap up, is when the funeral pyre was brought in. It’d been Amadeus’ idea, and he watched intently as Amit’s body was loaded onto it.

“We can’t carry bodies, right? Might as well take something back in that case,” Amadeus told him sadly.

Victor watched from the side as the entire event was setup. Spotting him from afar, the village elder came close and stopped beside him.

“I hope we’re doing your tradition justice,” he told him.

“You’re doing the best you can,” Victor replied curtly.

“Did you enjoy our party?”

“Somewhat.”

“I see you are still somewhat hesitant to mingle with us. Is there a slight we have done against you, Victor Amadi?” he asked.

Victor looked down at the little Altesian. Though the colour was different, he couldn’t separate the image of the Altesian he saw before him to the ones that had pelted him with stones in Los Angeles.

“I’ve met your kind before. They didn’t really like me as much as you,” Victor said.

“Really? What did they look like?”

“Lots of shades of blue.”

“Ah, our cousins in Angel Falls. They’re not an inviting kind, I will admit,” Renalo said. “It comes from their devotion to their Angelos. It is in essence, their one ticket out of those wretched caves and into the illustrious surface of Angel Falls itself.”

“Then they must have hated when I killed one of them.”

“You killed an Angelo?” Renalo looked at him with incredulity. He looked startled, viewing the human in a completely different light.

“More or less. He came for us first, can’t really feel bad about that.”

“I suppose… if you could trick a Titan, an Angelo is not far off…” the Altesian muttered to himself. Then he looked back up at Victor intently.

“I would keep that information with yourself, Victor Amadi. Many would not appreciate knowing that you ended one of the Stars.”

“Why is it such a big issue to them, anyways? What’s stopping them from just going to the surface?” Victor asked.

“Angel Falls is a dangerous place without a Star to support oneself. That is why our cousins spend so long in the mines, searching for Hallowed Iron to feed to Angelo larvae. Once the larvae has had enough, they pupate into a full Angelo that can protect them.”

The larvae? Like the ones he’d seen back in the caves before. That was probably some mining group’s prized possession that he’d destroyed mercilessly.

“And the fighting of Angelos, it can be brutal to watch. It is no wonder they saw your act as despicable, when they live in constant vigilance of the Stars that rule over them,” Renalo finished.

“They could escape, couldn’t they?” Victor asked.

“Some could. Others think Angel Falls their only haven. Even we are lucky to have our nourishment of water, for without it we would suffer as the other Altesians around us.”

“It’s not that easy, then, is it?”

“Not at all.”

Victor leaned back against the frame of the table.

“I’ll ask that you antagonize no more of our cousins.”

“Noted. But I won’t make any promises if they get in my way.”

“I understand that. Thank you, Victor Amadi,” Renalo said.

In the length of their conversation, the flames had engulfed what was left of Amit, leaving nothing but ashes gathered as a reminder of him. The Altesians were kind enough to gather all of them up and put it in an elaborate looking jar, which Amadeus stuffed into his pack.

“Where are you headed now, Mr. Amadi?” Qeeny asked them.

“We’re going into the mountain range. There’s a specific Gate we have to cross,” Victor told him.

“Ah…. Will you be back?” Qeeny asked expectantly.

“I-I don’t know,” Victor found himself stuttering. Lillie caught the troubled expression and jumped in.

“But we’ll try, little guy,” she said, rubbing the top of his head. It flustered Qeeny, who escaped her grasp.

“Thank you guys, for what you’ve done for us. We won’t forget this,” Amadeus added, finishing his packing and slumping his bag over his shoulder.

“And thank you as well. We hope our food lasts you the journey,” Renalo finished.

With nothing more to do, Victor and crew left the village behind. Two new pistols hung from Victor’s sides, opposing elements but of near perfect symmetrical design.

****

[[Frigustone Pistol]: STRENGTH: 150 ABILITIES: Encolden

A gun forged from Frigustone metal. Enchanted in such a way as to endow the bullets with ice on impact. Another product of Wayland’s, though whose base materials must have been harder for him to get. This was probably one of his weakest pieces, probably made as a test.]

“Are you sure you don’t want it, Lillie?” Victor asked as he climbed a rock. He’d offered the Frigustone pistol to her, but she’d rejected it. Shame too, considering how good the weapon had been in the hands of the Tanha.

“My aim’s terrible. It’s better off in your hands,” Lillie replied. She grabbed another rock and hoisted herself up easily, “and; any more weapons to carry and I’ll get crushed under the weight.”

“You’re holding onto your pack better than before though,” Victor told her.

“That would be the boosts I’ve been getting. If it keeps up, I don’t think I’ll ever be tired again,” she said, continuing the climb.

“Don’t count on that. They taper off real quick,” Victor said. “Or at least, become a bigger pain to unlock.”

“How do you know that?” Lillie asked.

“I’ve got three Seeds. Experience?” he said, unsure of if the gambit would even work. But it seemed to do the trick, as Lillie was too busy getting up to even call him out.

“Whatever. If I need the gun, I’ll borrow the gun,” Lilie finally said.

They were exhausted by the time they finished their climb. But in the end they’d made it. Victor looked around at the scenery and confirmed the destination of the Gate in front of them. Luckily, there seemed to be no one around at the time, so they snuck inside and out the other end.

Earth air never smelt so good to Victor and his crew. The sounds of crickets and fireflies were still abundant in the surroundings they’d landed themselves in. the air was humid but not hot, and Amadeus knelt down beside the grass to grab a handful to touch.

“Oh, it feels good to be home,” Amadeus sighed. Victor pulled him back up to his feet and kept him moving.

“Sorry, Am, we need to keep moving. Gates are a terrible spot to stop,” he lectured.

“And we wouldn’t want you getting eaten by a Vintaric,” Lillie added.

They chuckled a little on the way and Victor could see Amadeus straightening up as he walked. He was going to get home, going to see his family again, and that excited Am like nothing else.

Victor hoped it’d go differently this time.