The next day I got in touch with Zeke. As our resident master Enchanter (sort of) he was the first person I needed to talk to about my idea to offset the soul strain from my pseudo Domains. I hadn't considered it before really because it seemed easier to just not use them, but in reality I kind of needed at least Gluttony to survive this shit.

"What?" Zeke asked me in an overly dramatic shocked and appalled voice. "You're saying you completely ignored my instructions, did the opposite of what I told you to do, and almost died in the process because you thought you knew better? I am shocked. Shocked I tell you."

"Well, I guess I could have just done nothing, failed my trial, not completed my mission, and let Black Sorrow wear your ribcage like a hat." At Callie's glare, i winced. "Sorry, that's not my only option, I could have talked to you about this before I started using my domains, and maybe gotten some help managing things before I hurt myself." She nodded approvingly and I chuckled to myself. Still in the doghouse, it seemed.

Turning back to my uncle, I cocked my head. "So, as to our question, would it be possible to make something like that? Maybe not you specifically, since there's no way I could pay for it, but for anyone?"

"Why would you need to pay for it?" he asked lazily. I opened my mouth to respond, but froze. "You…you can enchant things for me now? Since you're not my guardian? I knew that your geas was broken, but I didn't think…"

He waggled a hand, "I can't go overboard. If I deck you out with a ring full of disposable weapons, it'd be considered breaking the rules. But making a gift for my nephew to celebrate him reaching D-rank? That should be permissible. When Callie came to talk to me I started thinking about your problem, actually, and I think I have the perfect solution." He reached out and plucked a mask from the air. It wasn't real, only a shadow copy, since he had the real one with him, but he grinned at me. "This is a false face, C-rank, and based on my own duplicates.

"Basically, what you're looking at is a fake soul connected to yours. You won't need to wear it, since I know that abomination Black Sorrow ruined is necessary for now, but when you use your pseudo Domains the mask will absorb the soul damage for you." He sounded pretty proud of himself, and I could understand why, it was a perfect solution…too perfect.

"Ok, but nothing in history has ever been that convenient," I pointed out. "So what's the catch?"

He shrugged. "Finite amount of use. I managed to pack a recovery ability into there, better you don't ask how, but it takes time to repair itself. I'd guess you get…five minutes of use per day. Maybe a little less. Past that point you'll start taking soul damage yourself again. You should be able to tell and cut it off if that happens, but I'd aim to keep things under five if you can."

"I can work with that," I said with relief. "It might not completely offset the trials, but it'll sure as hell help. I really appreciate this, Zeke."

He passed the mask to Callie, who slipped it into her ring, and I snagged it from mine, withdrawing it on my side. The paired rings were absurdly useful, allowing us to exchange items at any given time. Probably my second favorite wedding present after Callie's starpluck bangle.

When I pulled out the mask, the first thing I did was study it. It was Zeke's normal white porcelain, but with Eye of Revelation open, I could see something deeper to it. The soul stitching he used was an ability I had no real context for, but something about the process made the porcelain almost breathe. I'd never examined one of Zeke's masks like this before, and something about the vitality of the mask made it feel like I was holding very glassy bone.

I also couldn't see the runes carved into it. Running my fingers over it, I found the material completely smooth, perfectly slick and shaped flawlessly in a way that was almost mechanical in perfection. The curvature of the mask was completely symmetrical across the face, and unlike the last one Zeke had given me, this one had actual eye holes.

"So, how does this work?" I asked him excitedly. "I can't put it on because I'm wearing this one…" I squinted at it. "Wait, does it go over the other one? Or maybe under it?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

He rolled his eyes. "You can't stack powerful artifacts like that. Not masks at least. It has to do with their nature. Putting that on top of or underneath the one you're wearing would break it. Your current mask is…well it doesn't exactly have a rank. It's got the adjustments I added so it'll rank up with you, but those stopped at D-rank. After Black Sorrow messed with it, you could consider it a deferred S-rank item, almost. She did something to it that makes it wearable, but not in a way I've seen before.

"Honestly, once this mission ends I'd love to study that thing. I can replace it with something…well, not better, but more functional for you right now. Divine concealment won't be too useful for you anytime soon. Your call though." Despite his casual words, I could tell the thought of studying some mysterious god forged mask was exciting to him.

I just shrugged. "Sure, I don't want it. Once I'm out of here I'd prefer to get a mask more in my original style." I paused. "Although…I guess there's something to be said for updating my look based on my current gear. If I keep this once I'm back with everyone else. I'll have to figure it out when the time comes. Anyway, do you guys want to meet my new bonded companion?"

I'd been keeping Archie out of the room so I could surprise them. Callie already knew in broad strokes about my new buddy, but she hadn't seen him yet.

At their confused nods, I grinned, then called for my companion. "Hey, Archie, come on in here!"

There was a silvery trill and a green flaming blur exploded into the room. Doing a full circle of the ceiling, Archie pulled up with an exultant chime, wings spread out behind him as he flared his beautiful green flame feathers.

I snickered at the display. "Are you sure you're a phoenix? I'm beginning to suspect you might be part pig, because you're really hamming it up." He cawed angrily, wings sweeping forward to smack me in the face with a wave of flames. They were Life Nova flames, so I didn't feel anything but a rush of pleasant warmth, but I still rolled my eyes. "Mature," I said flatly.

"He's beautiful," said Callie in an awed tone. "He feels so…alive. He's a Life Nova phoenix right?"

I laughed, stepped over to hold out my arm, which Archie landed on quickly, having held his majestic wing spread pose a bit to long after puffing me with fire. He staggered a bit on the dismount, but I didn't call him on it. "He's definitely something special. Being there for his birth healed my soul damage. All of it. I kind of wish I'd been able to have Felicity here. How have her treatments been going, by the way?"

"Really well," said Callie with a grin. "She's been emoting a lot more. Cass has decided she's the coolest person around and follows her everywhere. Cark isn't thrilled, but he's suspiciously willing to spend time with her himself, I think he might have a crush."

Given Sage's dark aesthetic, the fact Felicity was Cark's type wasn't even remotely surprising to me. Still, I thought it was sweet, even if it never went anywhere. Cark came along for training with my mom, same as Mel, but I know he felt a bit rootless. He often got left behind the main team, and I was hoping either the training or the new friendship might help.

"So, why is he a Life Nova phoenix?" Asked Zeke, yanking my attention rudely away from my wife. "I thought Genesis Burst was the soul repairing technique?"

"It is," I admitted. "But it's too specialized. Genesis Burst heals souls because its a quantitatively huge amount of Life Nova, with just a little bit of tweaking. I decided the original technique was better suited to be the basis of a living being. More balanced. He can still repair souls, as you've seen, he just also has all the other abilities of Zagan just as strongly. Plus, he seems to be able to use my techniques, or at least Zagan versions of them. I'm pretty sure he can use Genesis Burst himself."

He nodded with interest. "It's certainly novel. Eggs like that aren't unheard of, but they're usually much lower rank. The birth of a D-rank beast compatible with your path is a huge stroke of luck, kid. I hope you did your best to make the most of it."

"More than that, my energy is…weird. My Path has grown into something unusual and pretty powerful after all the changes. Speaking of which, Callie told you about my disciple?" I asked cautiously.

"She did," he said casually. "Good for you. Teaching can be a good way to learn. We all take a disciple eventually. You reach a certain point where you need an outside point of view to go further along your Path. A disciple is a good way to get it. They're influenced by your own way of doing things but can have their own epiphanies. More importantly though…these trials. How are you doing?"

"Could be worse," I admitted. "I'm good at enduring pain. I've gotten used to it. I only have three more left, and I've placed pretty well in all of them. One of the hosts let slip there's "points" which is how I assume they pick who gets an invitation to pledge themselves. By any metric I should be doing well, so hopefully I'm almost in."

He grimaced. "Just be careful, kid. Even with that mask hiding you, this is dangerous as hell. Especially if you make it through the selection. You'll be swept off to this other world. Do you know what to do when you get there? Or how to tell?"

Callie cleared her throat. "Your grandmother actually gave me something for you. It's supposed to stay in the ring until you leave. She said I shouldn't even mention it to you unless you passed. It should help with that." She withdrew a black stone (though it was made of shadows and was just a representation so it honestly could have been fucking chartreuse for all I knew) and held it up. "She said this will detect what you need to find once you get there."

"Great," I groaned. "I assumed I'd just send up a signal flare or something. I have to FIND a place?"

She stepped forward, hugging me tight. "I know, I'm sorry. It'll be ok though. You're doing great, and with the new mask you can use your full power again so you'll do even better. Just…take your time. Slow and steady."

Her voice was light and casual, and she didn't mention how scared I'd made her…but she didn't have to. She was still terrified over the soul damage and even more scared I'd do something worse trying to get through this. I hugged her back, then pulled away, turning to my uncle.

"Alright, well now that we've gotten the mask out of the way, I suppose I need to know how to use it. If I don't wear it how does it work?" I held the thing up, trying to distract Callie from her worry with loot, the only thing she loves as much as me. I grinned as I saw her eyes focus intently on the mask, mission accomplished.