The darkness fled, my eyes opening as healing power flowed into me. Danivra, now back in her humanoid form, and Olata, much recovered from last I saw her being crushed, now hovered over me.

Whatever was wrong with me was bad as they struggled to keep me alive. I was still able to add my own healing energy to the mix and suddenly became aware of all of my injuries. I’d lost both of my arms in the blast. Most of my skin on the upper half of my body had been blasted away. The arms were repairing in their demon and human forms, though I had to actively rebuild my human arm where my demon arm just needed energy to regrow.

I realized then that my eyes hadn’t actually reopened but had in fact reformed. Now that I was adding to their efforts, I healed up quickly.

“Two hundred Constitution is not enough,” I groaned once my jaw had regrown. “Natom?” I added immediately afterward, finding it hard to believe that wasn’t my first question.

“Gone,” Danivra said. “His body is destroyed, but we have not received notifications for his death. I believe he must have attained at least stage one of Godhood like you, Clive. Who knows, perhaps more. I do not know the requirements.”

“Shit. So we’ve got at most three hundred days before the crazy motherfucker is back terrorizing us again?” I said, slowly sitting up.

“That is likely,” Danivra said. “There are Paladins of Justice here now, too. Ten of them, all high leveled off to the west. They aren’t a danger to us, but you should know they are watching.”

I got to my feet and turned toward them, only just about able to make them out. It felt like, almost as soon as I stood, they turned and disappeared through individual portals.

“Well, that was ominous as hell,” I said, turning back to my allies, if only temporarily in the case of Wind of the Wild and Stada.

They stood either side of what remained of Natom—some badly damaged armor and a wide blood stain in the snow. The mouths of Stada the Gran, and Wind of the Wild were covered in blood, and I had the horrid suspicion that they had just eaten what remained of Natom.

Everyone seemed calm, so I assumed some agreement with Stada had been reached not to attack me again, but I couldn’t be sure.

I eyed him carefully. “What now then?”

“You should die,” Stada replied. “You brought all of this trouble here and killed the Isthalings.”

“But even if you killed me, I’d just be reborn in three hundred days,” I replied. “So you may as well remain an ally.”

“Come on, Stada, make peace,” Wind of the Wild said. “You know fine well that he didn’t mean anything by it. And let’s face it, the Isthalings are feral, nasty things. You only keep them alive yourself to keep people away.”

Stada laughed. “We should still kill him. Stop him becoming another Natom.”

“But Natom isn’t gone. As we all suspected, we couldn’t kill him even after doing all of this. Clive had given us a chance here to kill him once and for all, and we failed. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be a permanent failure. If Clive here can develop and stay sane, he should be able to do what we could not. The universe is changing, and I’m convinced killing him will only bring it sooner.”

“Perhaps I don’t care anymore,” the Nanook replied despondently.

“What about your descendants?” I asked Stada. “Grastad and his offspring have found a home with me. A place to strike back against Destruction and Justice. Is that worth nothing?”

“If they can’t protect themselves, then they do not deserve life.”

“That makes absolutely fuck all sense. So a child doesn’t deserve to live if it can’t protect itself?”

“Children are different.”

“Ah, so when do you become an adult?”

“When you are fully grown,” Stada said flatly.

I realized something as we spoke. I strongly suspected Stada hadn’t been putting any points into Intelligence.

“What’s fully grown? When they are all Nanooks? Either way, being weak isn’t something you should die for. You could have been protecting your people when Kalabri was invaded instead of hiding up here.”

“Stada the Gran doesn’t hide!” he roared at me, and I feared I had overstepped the mark.

“Leave it, Clive,” Wind of the Wild said and stepped in front of Stada.

To my utter astonishment, he morphed into a normal sized man. He was about five foot ten, with a black well kempt beard and hair, his deep-set eyes a striking bright blue. He had no wolf like features at all.

I had to do a double take at his identifier.

Ewan: Level 72, Elman (Human II).

“He’s never listened in a thousand years. I doubt he’ll start now.”

Stada snorted at the man in front of him, pushing his massive head down to the smiling Ewan. I thought he was going to eat him, but he just gave him a light nudge in the chest with his nose.

“I’m happy here, Ewan. Get him out of my land before I change my mind.”

Ewan patted him on the head, and Stada the Gran turned and bounded off through the snow, causing further vibrations across the land.

“Well, I can honestly say I did not expect to survive that.”

“You did well,” Ewan said. “You’ve even made a friend of Stada, which is no mean feat.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I laughed, then turned to watch as I felt Sania coming closer quickly.

She dropped by my side, then dove into my arms. We held each other for a long moment. Then she turned to Ewan and bowed.

“Daughter,” he said to her with a gentle smile.

“Wait, a fucking minute! This is your dad? You told me he died. That Chusk killed him.”

“Clive,” Sania said, holding back laughter. “Ewan is the father of all Wultr. Don’t you know anything?”

“No, not if nobody tells me. It’s not like I have an internet search bar in my head with all this other shit.”

“What will you do now?” Ewan asked me, ignoring the dramatics.

“Recover, get stronger. We’ll go back to Far Reach and somehow protect it. Oh and come up with a way of killing Natom Hilgresh on a more permanent basis.”

“Good plans. My pack will join you. Too long have we hidden away. Soon there will only two places left in Kalabri that haven’t been overrun. Here and our small plateau. Then where will we be?”

“I think Darkness will have control of the surface soon enough.”

“Why? Because Justice and Destruction have almost wiped out the neutrals?”

I nodded sadly. “Pretty much.”

“And what do you think happens then? Will Darkness kill them all and return into the Nideland?” Ewan said with a wry smile. “Once every neutral is dead? They aren’t trying to just whittle down Justice and Destruction, Clive, and I can promise when they do come to the surface, it won’t be just to retake Kalabri. The lands of Destruction and Justice will fall soon after. Then Knuntang and Malatia. Then whatever remains to the south.”

“That’s not what he told me. He said he has no interest in taking over.”

Ewan laughed. “You do understand the principles of Darkness, don’t you, Clive? His entire make-up is dealing with what is hidden. I have a small challenge for you. Imagine if what I said is true and look at what is happening through those eyes for a moment. Tell me if you cannot see the truth in my words.”

I did mull everything over that had happened, and there was no doubt Ewan had a point. It didn’t take too long to see it either as I already had strong doubts about his motives. If something sounded too good to be true, it usually was.

“So what do we do? Because Darkness is ingrained in the setup of Far Reach. Though we aren’t on good terms with the Dwarves any longer.”

“I am aware of their involvement in Far Reach. For now, it is best to say and do nothing. It is still an excellent net to catch all of the survivors of Kalabri. But plan to move. You are allied with Malatia now. She is as Darkness pretends to be. They wish only for peace and balance. One day, Darkness will turn on Devotion and all of us once more, and we should prepare for that day as much as we prepare for Natom’s return.”

I stress-rubbed at my face. “Ah hell. We certainly have some shit to work through.”

The End of Book One.