I was half-expecting to receive another notification about a level up or something from that fight. It felt more real than my previous ones, but maybe that was just because of the limitations I’d enforced on myself. I was actually in less danger in this fight than probably any other fight I’d been in up until now, except for those Razorboars.

Perhaps it just felt like that because it was the first battle I’d prepared for and gone into with the knowledge it was going to be a fight. Everything else was just me reacting, but this one I’d actually charged in with the intent of killing my opponent. I’d done my best to create the tools I needed, instead of just tripping into success.

Finishing off the rest of the food I’d summoned, I stood from the bench. My pets were still contenting themselves with their kill, but I was itching to explore. I wasn’t so foolhardy as to dispel my water whip, so I just dragged it along behind me while moving up the aisle towards the back of the temple.

Sculpted into the very wall itself seems to be a statue of a woman. A sword in her right hand was raised skyward, while a chain hung from her left. On the other end of it was a shackle around the wrist of what looked like a human arm, submerged in the ground below the elbow. What the woman wore was most interesting, mostly because I couldn’t tell what it was. At first, it looked like a suit of armor without the helmet. When I blinked, it was a set of flowing robes. I blinked again, and it kept changing into outfits I didn’t know of until they manifested on the statue.

For a moment, I tried to place the loud crack that reverberated throughout the Temple. My body had already jumped back from the statue by the time I realized that the sword in the statue’s hand had nearly split my skull if not for my reflexes. Though, the statue was no longer a statue.

The grey stone littered the floor in chunks of variable sizes, showing itself to be little more than a thin shell coating the woman before me. Her skin was dark, nearly purple, and a pair of red eyes full of amusement met mine. Her lips were curled into a wide grin that showed a mouth full of sharp teeth more befitting of a shark's mouth than a human, which is what her form bore the most resemblance to. At the moment, her outfit seemed to be the flowing robes I’d seen before, which were full of reds and purples and blacks. As she lifted her sword back from the ground, I noted the scar it had left on the stone floor.

“You always were a quick one!” The woman noted. “Not even an eternity in Limbo could dull your reflexes, I suppose! Let’s see if you can keep it up though!” I didn’t have time to ponder the words. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to roll forward, and so I did. I rolled right under the sweeping edge of my new opponent’s sword and came to my feet.

Flicking my wrist, the whip that had so easily put even that gargantuan rat down leapt out for the robes of the swordswoman. The moment it touched the cloth though, the water turned red and began to bubble. I was also assaulted by a terrible smell that I’d only grown too used to this day, that of fresh blood.

“Now, now, Wulfric. You know petty tricks like that won’t work on me. No magic! Get your blade out. I know you have one, I saw you kill one of my children with it.” As the woman spoke, the whip detached from my dagger. The red liquid that made up the construct contracted together into a small orb.

Keeping one eye on the ball of what I assumed was now blood, and one eye on the mysterious statue woman, I relinquished the Sharkfang Dagger back to my inventory and replaced it with my longsword. Gripping the handle tightly, I kept my shield raised while watching her for any sign of movement.

The woman reached out with her free hand and took the rapidly condensing orb of blood in between her thumb and forefinger. She seemed to be ignoring me for a moment as she rolled it in between her fingers and hummed in thought. “I see. So, you’ve lost your memories then. What a shame.”

“Who… are you? And do you know who I am?” I finally forced myself to ask. Every instinct that had kept me alive up to this point was telling me this woman was dangerous, and I believed them. Still, she might be able to help me pinpoint something about myself.

“I am Igazi.” She stated, looking around. “You really have made a mess of my temple, you know. Still, it was getting so boring with my children having taken over the place. They hardly ever even fought amongst each other, and none of the nearby tribes have properly taken it upon themselves to reclaim this place yet.”

“Grom mentioned something about Igazi.” I really didn’t want to think about that. He had referred to her in no uncertain terms as a goddess. That might explain why she knew about the Void and knew who I was. “Are you going to kill me for murdering him?”

Igazi’s grin widened before she burst into laughter. “Of course I would do no such thing! You proved your worth when you won against him. Even if you were brand new to this cycle of lives that those Outsiders take such joy in propagating, it would matter not. Those who are strong enough to keep hold of their lives deserve to live them. Those who cannot deserve to be crushed. It is that simple.”

She opened up her right hand and I watched as her sword shattered like glass, though none of the fragments fell to the floor. In fact, it was as if one moment they were falling in a shower of silver snow, and the next they simply did not exist anymore.

“I won’t tell you about your past.” Igazi explained after a moment. “Clinging to what has been is the surest path to stagnation. Only by continually moving forward can you find the strength you will need to overcome the Garant Outlands and those who call it home.”

For a moment, I thought about arguing with her, but there was something about the look in her eyes that stopped me. “That said, mistakes of the past are the best way to grow. I shall aid you in some way. You always were such an… entertaining acolyte, so you’ve earned that much.”

Turning her back to me, she gestured to the stone lectern which her statue had looked over only minutes before. “Move the pedestal that my vessel stood upon. Below it, you shall find a passage below the temple. It is teeming with my children, born of the residual power I used to bless this ground. The mortals call this sort of thing a Dungeon.

“If you can get through the Dungeon in one piece, there is a relic that might aid you. Bring it back here. When I can feel its power in the chapel, I shall return. I will not give you your memories or tell you of your past but prove your mettle to me and I shall point you in the right direction to begin reclaiming them yourself. I am curious if your worth was contingent on your skills and experience of your time in the Eternal Cycle, or if it is inherent to your very being.”

Quest [Under the Floorboards] added.

[Under the Floorboards]: Igazi has told you of a Dungeon below her Temple that guards a relic of her power. If you can manage to return it here, then she’ll tell you how to find out more about your past.

Rewards: Unknown Relic of Igazi, Information from Igazi, ???, ???

The notification appeared before I could respond to the goddess. By the time I’d finished looking over it and dismissing it, Igazi was nowhere to be found. Looking around, the statue wasn’t either. There was only one piece of evidence she’d ever been here. A small, red bead sitting atop the pedestal where the statue once was.

Blood Essence (Chaos Conduit)

A small bead of blood infused with Igazi’s power that can be used as a Conduit for Chaos Magic. It gives off an unsettling aura.

Picking it up, I looked over the bead for anything that might make it special. I don’t remember Eve saying anything about any kind of Chaos Magic, and there didn’t seem to be a Skill for it either. For the moment, I put it in my inventory and looked at the pedestal.

“Come on you guys. We’re not done quite yet.” They began approaching me even before I replaced my sword with the Charcoal Wand so I could make another Witchlight. After that, it was back to the Sharkfang Dagger so I could get my Water Whip back. There was no telling what was going to be in this Dungeon.

Despite that, the grin on my lips was easily competing with the one Igazi had worn a few moments ago. Things were really getting exciting.