Chilly crested Mount Teluria and beheld the lush plateau with tired eyes. Behind him, the rest of the villagers chattered and recounted tales about the grand battle whose telling got more extravagant and extreme with each passing. There was a general air of celebration, with raised voices, exuberant steps, and even a couple of alcohol flasks procured from somewhere being passed around.

Chilly himself mimicked the jubilation outwardly, but the constant pats on his back and bombardment of names and congratulations just served to remind him of his exhaustion at the end of the day. Still, he tried to not ruin the mood, but those more familiar with human behavior would easily tell that his heart was not in it. Luckily, few of the aliens could properly read his body language and the mood only brightened with each of Chilly’s half-hearted nods and wane smiles.

The last couple of days and weeks had taken their toll. He led the procession, but that only served to hide his downward turned brows from the masses. His shoulders were slumped, and his steps dragged as if he was afflicted with ten stacks of Exhaustion.

The villagers didn’t notice. Whether that was their unfamiliarity with humans, or if they couldn’t see past the valiant warrior that only a couple of hours past, they had witnessed charge directly into a melee of titanic proportions. Whatever the reason, it pushed Chilly to quickly separate from the main group and beckon Chaeli and a curious Rahlin to join him on the forest floor.

In no time at all, they came upon the screeching cries of a horned, sharp-eared maiden emitting a deeply uncomfortable aura of frost. Chilly felt it chew at his extremities but he had long since outgrown the damage that the Guardian outputted by virtue of existing. Likewise, Tel only seemed slightly miffed by the smoldering embers sparking across her bleached summer dress, though Chilly made sure to stay out of Star Fuel’s range.

[What do you want human.] Tel spoke, hatred and disgust coloring her tone. [Come back with more lies and false promises?]

Chilly didn’t bother turning to the penguins for a translation. The tone by itself was clear even if the words were not. Unbothered by the unadulterated rage, he waved Chaeli forward and she summoned a blue broken heart locket from her Essence Vault.

Tel’s Broken Heart

Unique Essence

Grants 100% increased cold damage

Does not require a crafting bench to use

Can modify races

Dissolves upon contact with air

Chilly took it and held it up with his left hand.

“Got your heart, Tel,” Chilly said, then held a placating hand when Tel’s face twisted in a grimace. “Not a threat, jeez.” He dumped his dirt-filled helmet and retrieved the red heart locket tamped within. “And Ria’s.”

Tel froze, and the waves of cold spawning from her faltered as her eyes tracked the motes of light rising from the two essences. She licked her lips, a layer of rime forming a second later. She gulped audibly, then - in an explosive burst of motion - threw her arms skyward.

Cold air blasted out of the icy elf, razor-sharp snowflakes materializing and spinning at high speeds in a nascent blizzard. Her arms came down and deep blue armor melted into existence. She threw her - now armored - gauntlets forward, and a stream of meter-long ice lances torpedoed out of her open palm and raced directly towards Chilly’s head.

Chilly flinched back, his exhausted mind completely unable to keep up with what, or why, or how. Instinct took over and he raised his shields and hunched low as nearly constant battles since his arrival had taught him. This brought the two broken hearts close and, with a magnetic click, they snapped together and fused into a single crystalline heart.

“Woah!” Chaeli shouted, jumping back and vanishing as Rahlin raised his fists and his red scales took on a metallic cast.

The lances of deep ice rocketed through the air, displacing the air with an ominous whistle then crashed into Chilly’s shields and...fell to the floor as if all their momentum had been sapped. The lances clinked on the ground, bouncing twice before melting away as the skill-empowered manifestation ended.

Stillness ensued.

Chilly peeked owlishly over the top of his shields, not comprehending what had just happened when his gaze was drawn to Tel. The elvish maiden had dropped her arms, a hopeless expression twisting her expression as her summoned armor melted away. She fell to her knees, head boughed as if awaiting punishment.

What in the... Chilly thought. He glanced down at the slowly pulsing essence in his hands and blinked in shock at the system notification.

Teluria’s United Heart

Reified Soul

Grants 125% increased fire damage

Grants 125% increased cold damage

Grants racial skill >

Grants racial skill >

Does not require a crafting bench to use

Can modify races

The owner of this essence gains 100% less damage taken from

Before Chilly could properly process the information, two new notifications popped up.

Soul Prison :

Your physical form becomes laced with gossamer Etherium threads, making your skin impermeable to souls, and enabling the imprisonment of the ethereal.

Consume a soul and store it within your body.

12h cooldown

3s cast time

7 maximum souls

Soul Warden’s Immunity :

You become able to channel the unlimited potential of souls and translate the divine power into concrete strength.

1% increased damage per soul in the Soul Prison

1% increased defenses per soul in the Soul Prison

100% less damage from Simulacrums whose soul’s reside within the Soul Prison

“Ah! I told’j’ya she’d whack y—,” Rahlin said, “wait, why’d she go all limp?”

“I...” Chilly started, forcing his tired mind to process the information. The united heart was a more powerful version of the original pair. It had gained a couple of new lines while losing the time-sensitive component. The most interesting was that it appeared to provide two skills to his race, which may or may not be separate from his normal skills. The issue was those skills looked super evil, and...Ah.

“One second, guys,” Chilly said, holding up a hand to forestall the pair as he stepped up, and kneeled before the maiden. “Hey, Tel?”

“Yes...master?” a feminine voice played directly in his mind, somehow vibrating the crystal heart in his hand at the same time.

Chilly’s lip curled in revulsion at the title as more puzzle pieces fell into place.

“Hey, Tel,” he said again, this time gently placing a finger under her chin to get her to look at him. “I told you at the start that I would help you. I don’t want...this. Whatever it is.”

A brief flare of her previous fire lit up her cold dead eyes. “Well, now you have it, master.”

“Stop that,” Chilly said, recoiling slightly and dropping his hand from under her chin. “You are your own person. How can I make that happen? Do I break—”

“No!” Tel winced, pure panic poisoning her gaze as she tensed. Her shoulders trembled. “...no. Please don’t break it, master. I’ll do anything.”

“Sorry,” Chilly placated. “I won’t break it. Promise.”

Tel looked down, though her posture didn’t relax.

“Hey, kid,” Rahlin rumbled. “Mind filling us in on what mojo you’re cookin’ up?”

“Just...a second,” Chilly snapped. “Let me handle this.”

A well of frustration welled up in Chilly’s heart. He had a long day. Really bloody long. He had fought Leviathans, met the Wendigo, ran back across the Wastes, and convinced Gar-Khan and Rahlin to help him. Then he had gotten a brief nap, before he was once again marching through the frigid tundra, only to culminate and a huge stressful battle with two walking disasters.

It had been a long day.

“Damn it, Tel. I’m trying to help you.” He hit the dirt in frustration, then his gaze darkened. “If I’m your master, I demand you tell me why the hell you wanted this in the first place.”

“...Master?” Chaeli muttered, but Chilly ignored her.

Tel winced, “it’s my soul, master.”

Chilly’s eyes narrowed, “Yeah, I got that. Says it on the tin. Why did you want me to get it for you in the first place?”

“I wanted,” Tel’s gaze shot to the side, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her dress. “Wanted to be close to my soul?”

“That would be a lot more convincing if it didn’t sound like a question.” Chilly snapped, frustrated and tired. “Fine, whatever. One last question. Will you spontaneously combust if you touch this?”

Chilly waved the crystalline bichrome heart in front of the elf’s face.

“No?” Tel thought at him, furrowing her brow.

“Good,” Chilly said, getting up, and tossing the heart at her. “You hold on to that. I’m going to bed.”

Tel fumbled with the heart, almost dropping it before clutching it to her chest with an awed expression.

“You’re giving me my heart?”

Chilly gritted his teeth. Apparently, the telepathy didn’t terminate when he lost physical contact with the accursed essence.

“Yep,” Chilly said.

“...Willingly?”

“Yes,” Chilly repeated testily. “It’s yours in the fir—”

Tel gasped, cutting Chilly off as the blue half of the crystalline heart lit up like the sun, shining through Tel’s clutched fingers and revealing the mosaic of blood vessels under her skin. Chilly shut his mouth with a click as the frigid winter surrounding the ice elf melted away and warmth returned. Flowers began to bloom, breaking through the rime, and the red half of the heart glimmered.

“Fusion...fusion...fusion!” a penguin took up the call.

The flowers grew taller and taller, wrapping around each and coiling together to form a pillar of thorned plant matter. Sparks played across the stems, charring and causing bits of soot to swirl in the air.

“Fusion! Fusion! Fusion!” more and more penguins raised their voices.

Suddenly the pillar withered, growing gray and brittle as the flowers topping the pillar wilted. The pillar split, revealing a blushing Ria standing in her red and gold summer dress. The Spring Guardian took a deep, content breath then met Tel’s teary gaze with her own. The two remained like this, as each passing second caused the brilliant star in Tel’s grip to grow ever brighter until it looked as if her hands had become an incandescent lightbulb. Then, Ria reached down and with hesitant, almost reverential motions, she touched the red half of the united heart.

The light grew to blinding levels, only for Ria and Tel to block the light with their bodies as they hugged. Sparks collided with swirling snowflakes as a storm of fire and ice grew around the two. It swirled in a tight spiral, partially obscuring their forms, but couldn’t completely block the shifting kaleidoscope of colors that emanated out of them as their bodies rippled and began to sink into each other.

A penguin with a hard hat and a measuring stick squinted at the light show, then played around with the measuring stick before turning to Chilly with a somber expression.

“Ratios.” the penguin said.

Chilly took a step back, motioning for his two companions to do the same as the glow of the heart melded with flesh until all that was left was a vaguely human-shaped lump of glowing light.

“Never seen somethin’ like that,” Rahlin rumbled, raising a silver arm to shade his eyes. “Prep for combat, people.”

“Don’t you dare,” Chilly threw him a withering glare.

The Dragonborn met his gaze with flinty eyes. “I trust you kid, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared when we don’t know what’re we dealin’ with.”

Chilly grunted and crossed his arms. He didn’t have a clue that this would happen when he had tossed the heart to Tel, but he was glad something did. The whole master this, master that had pissed him off and made him really just want to step away from the whole situation. He hoped that this wasn’t powering up the two and starting a hidden boss fight as Rahlin seemed to think, but...Yeah. Hopefully.

He noticed that while Rahlin was covered in metallic scales, Chaeli was visible and had lowered and sheathed her two swords.

The blob of light dimmed and then exploded outwards in a perfect sphere that shredded the bark off of trees but stopped an inch before reaching Chilly.

“Ratio,” Mr. RF nodded appreciably, then vanished in a puff of rapidly dissipating black smoke.

A woman crouched in a meadow of spring flowers. The flowers were clearly magical, containing vivid colors and spouting gouts of flame or puffs of freezing mist. The woman slowly stood, turning her arms this way and that as if admiring them for the first time.

It was Ria, or...Tel. A combination of both. Her feet were bare, with a summer dress of reds and yellows covering her body. Two ice-blue horns curled out of her temples and framed her heart-shaped face.

The woman opened her bichromatic eyes with a snap. The bewitching orbs of red and blue locked Chilly in place. They watched him, scanning his face as a plethora of emotions flashed across the woman’s face.

“I’m free,” the woman whispered, awe in her tone. “You spoke the truth.”

“Duh,” Chilly grouched. “Why’s that so hard to believe. It's not like the default response for people is to be absolute gits.”

“I...” the woman closed her mouth, then shook her head as a wry grin spread. “Thank you Chilly. This means a lot. Everything. I’ll repay you, I promise.”

“Look, I didn’t help you ‘cause I wanted something from you,” Chilly replied. “I did it ‘cause you looked like you needed a friend.”

“...a friend?”

“Ye and friends don’t count favors, so shove that tit for tat talk where the sun don’t shine.”

Her smile grew even wider and her eyes sparkled with barely contained joy. “Alright then, Chilly the human. I will refrain from speaking in such a manner in the future, but in the meantime...”

She wrapped her elegant fingers around her left horn and with a jerk that seemed far too gentle for the task, snapped the horn off her head and held it out to him.

“...I have a gift for you.”

“I told you—”

“Look, I’m not giving this to you to repay you for anything. I’m doing it because it looks like you need a friend.” She said with a cheeky grin.

Chilly crossed his arms with a frustrated expression.

The elf giggled placing a giddy hand over her lush lips in delight. “And don’t give me any of that tit for tat talk you hear?”

“Uhuh,” Chilly said then reached out and took the broken horn and identified it.

Horn of Equivalent Exchange

Convert up to 10 Essences of Ruby to Essences of Exchange

3h cooldown

Chilly raised a brow, then identified the Essence of Exchange

Essence of Exchange

Swaps two random modifiers between two pieces of gear

“Cool beans,” Chilly waved her away, turning away. “I’m going to bed...uh. What can I call you? Tel or Ria?

She smiled, “Teluria. My name is Teluria.”

“Huh, like the mountain.”

“Yes.”

“Right, d’you need anything? Food, a bed, shoes?”

“I...” she started.

“Hold on a second.” Rahlin bulled his way forwards, his slitted eyes narrowed dangerously. “You changed. You’re no longer a guardian.”

Chilly blinked then identified Teluria, as the elf's eyes went misty as she checked out her interface.

“Well, would you look at that.” Chilly scratched his growing stubble.

“I am free, Dragonborn,” Teluria said, the wide smile on her face just didn’t seem to be able to dim. “Free forever. I am no longer part of this dungeon and can leave just like you.”

“Monster’s’ll whack ya?”

“Yes,” she giggled. “I am just like you in that regard.”

Rahlin hummed. “Suppose you’ll be needin’ to join the village now, eh?”

“If you will have me,” Teluria bowed shallowly. “I wouldn’t want to impose. I can handle myself well enough in the dungeon if you do not have the space.”

“Nah, we got room,” Rahlin said. “Gar-Khan’s gonna throw a fit though.”

A penguin cheered. “Worm your way into the worm.”

“That’s disgusting,” Chilly replied.

“Wormy worm,” Mr. Birb giggled and winked, making a rude gesture with its flipper.

“Who are you talking to?” Teluria asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Don’t worry about it,” Chilly waved her off. “Anyway—”

Chaeli, who had been practically buzzing in her boots, chose that moment to burst forwards and march up to the elf.

“Hi hi!” she said, looking down at the smaller woman. “I can show you around. Find you a place to stay, and maybe get you food. Hey wait, what do elves eat? Can you eat essences like me, or are you gross like Chilly?”

Chilly scratched the back of his head as he watched the exuberant Warforged lead the elf away.

“I’ve got so many questions! Like. Why are you so high level and how come your armor sucks so much?! Like honestly, how could leave your house in that dress. It’s so ugly! Wait! Sorry, sorry. I guess you didn’t have a house up until now. But don’t worry you have a home now, and I’ll find you a proper set of gear to hide away all that pasty skin of yours. Maybe we can get a tiara for your horns...”

The two walked away, Teluria throwing Chilly one last grateful glance as she let the young Warforged lead her away. Chilly absentmindedly nodded, waving after her, before he stretched his arms high above his head, feeling his back click in a half dozen places.

“Looks like you were right,” Rahlin rumbled at his side.

“Eh,” Chilly shrugged. “That was the weirdest interaction I’ve had in a while. I’m going to bed before I start sleepwalking.”

“Ha!” Rahlin chuckled. “Fair enough. We all need our rest. Before you go, what are your plans for tomorrow?”

Chilly gave the large Dragonborn a side-eye. “I can go into the Wastes and get level nineteen, if...you’re ok that I’m a day late.”

Rahlin chuckled again, deep and low. “Seven days, eight days. Both are impressive. I’ll hold up my end of the bargain.”

“Good, thanks Rahlin,” Chilly said, nodding in appreciation. “So yeah. Level nineteen, then head over and free Sooty.”

“And after that?”

“I’m takin’ a vacation, my dude. The rest of the dungeon can wait a week or two.”