POV: Joshua

I took a deep breath and focused on my center, I reached out for my mana with a calm mind.

“You know you aren’t even human don’t you? I almost pity you… Poor little Joshua, you can never live up to that name can you? I wonder what your mother sees when she looks at you? Does she see a son, or just a failed clone of the man she once loved?”

I let my mana wash over me, let it flow throughout my body and soul as my mother had taught me. It felt like power was rising up from every cell of my body, I felt like I could face anything in that moment.

“You really think I’ll let some weakling like you control me? ME!? I wield power beyond your wildest imaginings boy! You think just because your little trinket holds my spirit that I’ll obey you like some pet!? Oh, you best hope I never find release boy… I would hunt you Joshua, hunt you and rip YOUR spirit from YOUR body to stuff it into some trinket of my own. Then I’ll bring you back with me to the depths of the abyss, after all that’s were abominations like you belong!”

I felt the power of my mana wax and wane as it flowed around my being. It was a solid and steady stream of grey that wrapped comfortingly around me, touching my mana pool I was once more surprised by the small amount of mana I could bring to bear. Where Cassandra’s mana pool was like a vast lake and mother’s was like an endless ocean, my own mana pool was like a mere bucket. When I was younger I had felt inferior because of the size of my mana pool, and when I discovered that there was no real way to grow one’s mana pool outside of legends I had been depressed. Now I understood that the amount of mana one had was only one factor to practicing magic, what was far more important was the control one had over their mana.

I excelled at control.

“Would you like to know how you’ll die Joshua? I could tell you, you know… The abyss is a funny place you see, it’s temporally locked in a cycle of recreation and destruction. Even the youngest of my kind have seen your world die and be reborn countless times. We’ve seen your precious goddess’s birth, and we’ve seen her fade to dust in the ashes of existence… What could a mere mortal hope to accomplish against a being such as myself?”

I coaxed the grey floating around me to flow toward the shield resting in my lap. As the mana flowed towards the shield it merged in with the dense cloud of grey that hung on the abyssal steel. Mana flowed into the dark grey chains that wrapped around the shield, the dark grey symbols that floated within the grey cloud, and into the shackles that held back the writhing mess of clear distortion.

I shivered and averted my inner sight away from the distorted thing that was held within my shield. I hated looking at it, each time I did it seemed to worm into my mind and try to eat away at my very being. It was so much worse than a demon.

“Hahahahaha… Really? Comparing me to a demon? Oh, poor weak little Joshua, you are so far out of your depth… Demons are nothing more than insects that can only survive in the upper levels of the abyss, they’re practically mortals themselves. Nothing more than distorted mirrors of the life that inhabits all worlds, they’re all mere analogs and echoes. Demons are nothing. We eldritch are as different from demons as your goddess is to a flea…”

I flooded the shield with all the mana my meager pool could hold and then guided the mana into each position, reinforcing each binding and ward individually with the full force I could muster. I kept working, even through the telling pain that spiked in my head and warned of the mana down I would be facing when I was done. The sickness that awaited me was merely another price to pay, mana down wouldn’t kill me.

“Bah, you really are no fun Joshua. You don’t even go insane correctly, must be because you’re an abomination that can only barely be considered mortal… I miss that angel that sealed me in this damn trinket, at least slowly driving her mad and causing her to fall from grace had been fun…”

I let out a deep breath as I opened my eyes, I felt empty and sick. Even still I was much more relaxed now that I had added to the latest layers of protections, the voice was much quieter now in my mind.

Maybe soon I’ll be rid of it entirely, after all I have managed to weaken it considerably in the last two years…

“Hahahahaha…”

I heard a tentative knock on the door, turning I heard my sister’s voice call out from behind the door to my room.

“Joshua? Could you spare a minute? It’s about mom…”

END POV

***

POV: Loki

I looked around at the council that had gathered and knelt outside the entrance to my tower.

“What are you all doing?”

The elder closest to me looked up and made the sign of respect by touching his index fingers together and bowing his head slightly.

“Loki. Our seer’s have all had a vision. Every single seer in Felhaven has had the same vision. They see death, carnage, and war on an unprecedented scale that Eden has never seen before. The humans, the elves, the dwarves, the beastkin, and even we arcane… What the seers have seen will reach each of Eden’s high races…”

By the Mother…

I shook my head at that, whatever was coming would have to be of the same severity as when the great brown true dragon was entrapped in the abyss. It would be something on a scale that would be all but unimaginable.

The council elder looked up at me from where he knelt, his face was the very picture of desperation.

“Loki. We need you. All of Felhaven needs you! You are the only one who could possibly forestall the disaster that approaches… Please! You must help us!”

I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh, if I had known this latest cycle of rebirth would be this difficult I wouldn’t have bothered using my blessing of the phoenix.

“Alright. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do, but I promise to do all I can…”

The elder’s face lifted up at my words and tears budded up in his eyes.

“We’re saved… The scion of Chaos, Loki the immortal will save us…”

I moved back into my tower and shut the door on the knelling members of Felhaven’s elder council, I would need to prepare my best if even half of what I suspected about this shared vision of doom was true.

Damn… I always hoped those dragons were lying when they said the Mother would go to any lengths to “Test” her children… I suppose this proves our kind and benevolent goddess is actually a sadist at heart…

END POV

***

POV: Milly

I swiped the hair out of my eyes and wondered again if I should just cut it short like Yara had. I really didn’t want to get rid of the golden brown locks I had gotten from my mother, but I also really didn’t want to die because they blocked my view at the wrong moment.

“So, we’re getting a new member?”

I looked up at Trish, she was picking at her nails with one of her twin daggers.

“Yes, a hunter called Carter.”

York snorted at the name.

“Great, we get to work with the loner who’d rather get mauled by a hind bear than actually work together with someone else. So boss, why does the huntsmaster want to torture us again?”

I just shrugged. I had no idea what the huntsmaster was thinking, after all my hunting party was already a balanced out and effective unit. We really didn’t need a new member, and certainly not one who had a reputation for not working well in a team.

Yara looked up from her book and flashed a bright smile at the rest of us.

“I think it might just be an overly complicated plot on Grant’s part to get us all killed. I mean, we did sort of botch that chorin hunt a while back…”

Trish huffed.

“Not our fault. Our client insisted on tagging along…”

I just shook my head at that, we had never lost a client until that job.

What sort of idiot tries to ride a wild chorin anyway? That’s just asking to be peaked or slashed to death…

“Regardless it’s a direct order from our huntsmaster, so we don’t really have a choice. At least this Carter is a class C, so he can at least handle himself…”

York just grunted at my words.

“When do we pick up our newest “Teammate” anyway?”

I winced.

“Tomorrow, he’ll be at the tipsy boar…”

Yara laughed.

“First meeting us in a bar, classy guy…”

END POV

***

POV: Henry IX

I felt my eyes begin to widen as my body began to slump down in my seat. My eyes turned towards the goblet that I had set down not long ago before my gaze turned back to my sister.

Saria was sitting elegantly and smiling that same soft innocent smile I had known for fifteen years. There was no trace of malice or hatred in her expression, she didn’t even seem to be gloating.

How? How could I not notice? How can she just sit there continuing the meal? Why doesn’t her expression change? Is that really my sister? The same Saria I watched grow up?

As my sister dapped at her mouth gently with a napkin she turned to face me.

“I know it may not seem like it given the current circumstances we’re in, but I did love you. You had always been a good brother to me Your Majesty, the problem is that you’re a horrible leader…”

I felt my guts clench as a shooting pain went through my stomach.

“Sunmire is an empire that was built on slavery. Everything from our economy to our military might depends on the use of slave labor, that is a fact that is irrefutable no matter how distasteful you may personally find it. It was your job as a ruler to cast aside your own personal desire for the good of the empire, instead you antagonized the slaver houses and tried to abolish the very thing that keeps the empire stable…”

My sister took a sip of wine out of her own goblet before sighing and smiling that same innocent smile I now found so horrifying.

“Still, if it was just your crusade against slavery that was occupying your time I could forgive you. After all, I’m indifferent on the matter of slavery and I do truly believe that we can build a stronger foundation for our empire without it… No, the final straw was when you began preparations to invade the northern lands of Avalon and Kalo. Did you learn nothing from the example of our grandfather’s failure? Invading a kingdom full of powerful mages is the height of stupidity. At best it’ll ensure our two nations’ mutual destruction…”

I couldn’t breathe, my throat was closing up…

“But don’t worry brother, I’ve already worked to restore the imperial family’s relations with the slaver houses. I’m also working to establish favorable trade and nonaggression agreements with both Kalo and Avalon. We might even be able to establish an alliance with both nations against the elves of the sea of trees, I understand our northern neighbors are quite troubled when their own northern borders are so violently contested…”

As my vision began to darken my last sight was of my sister standing up from her seat.

“I’ll ensure that your wife is well cared for, my niece as well… May your journey into the Mother’s arms be swift and painless brother. I’ll be sure to be a good empress in your place…”

I felt the world slip away…

END POV

***

POV: Kate

I was looking at a small cave alongside the water on a small beach. I really hoped that this would be the ONE this time. I had already checked out four dungeons, but I just hadn’t found what I was looking for in them.

Not that I really knew what it was I was looking for, my mom hadn’t been very clear on that point. I just got a lot of “You’ll know when you know” and “Don’t be hasty, when you find the one for you it’ll all your patience will be worth it…” from her. It all seemed reasonable in theory, but in practice it was proving to be more than a little difficult.

I mean really, what am I supposed to be waiting for anyway? Some magical spark? Some message from the great Mother that this one is my fated partner? What? I have no idea why I’m still doing this, so far every dungeon has felt pretty much the same. After I core pop them they’ll growl or hiss at me and won’t listen to a thing I’m trying to say… If it’s just going to be like this every time, why bother to keep looking for some mythical ONE?

I let out a small sigh, this hadn’t turned out to be nearly the magical courtship I had imagined when I was younger. I guess mom’s stories of meeting Akash had just spoiled me to the cold reality of Eden. I mean when your expectation is for your fated dungeon to be able to measure up to one of the oldest and most powerful dungeons to ever exist you’re bound to be let down.

I guess I might as well get this over with then…

As I began to fly forward towards the beach cave I froze, I had felt something strange. It was like the aura of an unbound dungeon, but it was just so immense. The dungeon’s core would have to be huge to put out such a large aura, but that couldn’t be it. Dungeon cores were all about the same size, so this had to be something else.

Trying to ignore the impossible aura and focus on what I’d say in my first meeting with my future dungeon I flew another few feet forward before stopping again. Any interest in binding myself to the dungeon core in this beach cave had disappeared under the huge aura I could feel to the south. The feeling of the aura promised me that this new dungeon would be worth my time, that it would be different from every other dungeon I had encountered so far.

Well, it wouldn’t be so bad to just take a quick would it? If the aura disappears before I get there then obviously it wasn’t meant to be, but on the off chance it doesn’t… Well if one dungeon is just as good as another then this one would be fine for me to bind myself to…