Deacon dropped the cup and spun around. The monstrous dimension eater was finishing off the swamp region and was about to chomp down on the first of the rocky outcroppings at the base. It was much smaller now. Deacon surmised that days without eating must have forced it to consume its own mass. Standing, he moved to the cliffs edge gauging whether or not he could make a run for it concluding the distance down the mountain and then across the rest of this environment was too far.

Not knowing what to do next, Deacon racked his brain for a solution. Sun Wu was obviously manipulating the situation in his favor. If he gave in then the trickster god would be holding all the cards. He took two calming breaths and looked over toward Sun Wu. There were two clones of the monkey king feeding him fruit while a few more were throwing rocks off the cliff at The Unsatiated. It almost looked like the monkey king was CEO of company about to stage a hostile takeover. That was a concept Deacon could work with. Now all he needed was some leverage and a little more time.

“Back to my point about the gods just dumping us back in here. How do you intend on avoiding that?” Deacon asked angling himself so he could see both The Unsatiated and Sun Wu.

“Fair point. Once you take possession of the shard my deific powers will be greatly diminished. I’d probably retain ten percent of my power. Hardly more than you already exude on that level,” answered Sun Wu before another version of him popped a grape into his mouth.

“What guarantees do I have you won’t just take over my body and burn the countryside down?” questioned Deacon as a plan finally sparked in his mind.

“Simple, they have blocked me from manifesting in that dimension. As well as that creature. This prison was just a containment method to keep us in one place. Unless you travel to another dimension, I’ll be stuck inside you. Why are you stalling? We do not have much time left,” said Sun Wu standing and waving a hand. As he did that his clones burst into puffs of smoke.

“The soul still burns,” stated Deacon as his pupils blazed a red-yellow flame. He turned and looked over the cliff firing out Infernal beams in all directions. Not needing to aim with his hands anymore thanks to his upgraded Apparitions Aura, beams of Infernal flame coated the side of the mountain he was standing above.

Deacon remembered from the first couple of days that The Unsatiated did not like the taste of Infernal energy. If he could coat enough area with those flames, he might be able to hold the monster off a little longer granting him time to make a better deal with Sun Wu. It was a gamble, but his luck stuck was high. He didn’t know if the flames would actually hurt The Unsatiated but neither did Sun Wu. That’s his leverage. The flames continued to burn on whatever surface it touched. After a few more moments, the lines of fire stopped lancing from around Deacon.

“You think I didn’t attack it with fire? You may have sealed your own doom—” Sun Wu was cut off as The Unsatiated stopped chewing on rocks. It just stopped at the base of the mountain with its mouth closed.

Hundreds of eyes were staring at all the Infernal flames coating the mountainside. It shuffled to the left a little and tentatively opened its mouth and closed it again. Its shovel fingered arms kept gathering anything around it and pushing it toward the maw but at this point it looked to be just thinking about its next move.

“I’ve never seen him do that?” Sun Wu was now right next to Deacon staring down at the beast.

“These Wode prisons are designed to give what you need to succeed. They just don’t make it easier. Now back to our conversation. What are you offering in exchange now that we know I won’t be eaten immediately?” Deacon asked, earning him a furrowed brow from Sun Wu.

“Fine, I’m willing to admit that was an impressive move. You don’t seem very monastic. I can teach you the magic I know…” Sun Wu started before Deacon held up a hand.

“Can’t use magic. Next,” he replied.

“Ok my staff, it’s a holy relic from our world. You wouldn’t find its match anywhere on the mortal plane,” said Sun Wu with a flourish, spinning the staff around his body then lengthening it to poke The Unsatiated in one of its eyes from atop the mountain. Finally it shrank back to normal size.

“I love that, but I can’t hold weapons,” said Deacon shaking his head.

“What kind of Monk… I could teach you Hóu Quán. Sorry, I’ll translate. Monkey Fist style Kung Fu. I have reached mastery in that fighting art. As well as many others,” said Sun Wu.

“I think we are close to an agreement, anything else?” Deacon asked, moving over to the small table where the shard lay.

“Shape changing! I can teach you to shape change. It’s not magic, exactly, more like soul manipulation. Telling your body it’s something else from the inside. Very tricky. I can sense that halo you recently received has a powerful connection to shape changing,” offered the monkey king as he hovered around Deacon’s right side doing his best impression of a wide eyed youth asking for some more.

The corner of Deacon’s lips began to curl up in a smile as a loud bellow could be heard through the sound ward from the direction of The Unsatiated. It seemed to be throwing a fit that the mountain didn’t taste good. It spat out several rocks that were still on fire at the top of the mountain. It almost looked like a localized meteor shower as the rocks began pelting the small temple setting it ablaze.

“Is now a good time for you?” Sun Wu said snatching up the Shard of Divinity as a bowling ball sized stone covered in Infernal flames slammed into the small table.

“Yea let’s do this,” Deacon replied holding out his hand.

Sun Wu placed the shard in Deacon’s hand and went down on one knee. Divine power flowed from his form into the shard like someone kicked open a fire hydrant. His body seemed to lose it’s vibrancy and started to visibly shrink. Once he made it to a comparable size of a chimpanzee all the energy stopped, and the Shard of Divinity began to glow softly. Sun Wu then clambered up on to Deacon’s back.

“I am defeated,” Sun Wu said as his body turned to pure energy and soaked into Deacon’s mortal form.

There was a loud barking and huge flaming boulders began to descend upon the mountain top. Then the world began to swirl around Deacon depositing him in the exit chamber he remembered from the first Wode. Everything was black around him. He only now realized it reminded him of when he first met Cheshire and the fates. There was a pedestal with thick book on it before him. Deacon walked over and touched the book.

New Item: Dimensional Shift, Spell Book- This spell allows the caster to slip between dimensions without agitating any natural guardians. Originally created by the brash Sun Wukong from the planet earth, it wasn’t perfected until after several dimensions spanning incidents resulted in his capture. Requirements; Any Mage class with access to Tier four Planar Arcanum. Would you like to learn Dimensional Shift Yes/No?

Deacon knew he wasn’t going to be able to learn this spell, but this seemed too powerful to take from this place. He hoped his Trailblazer perk would be able to rework this into something he could use. Deacon selected yes.

You do not meet the requirements to learn the Tier Four Planar Arcanum spell Dimensional Shift…Rule Breaker has activated, all requirements removed.

Trailblazer has activated- Dimensional Shift has been converted to Palm of Damnation.

New Ability Learned: Palm of Damnation- This power will thrust the user forward delivering an open palm strike to a target. That target will then been sent directly to the hell of the users choosing. Cost is two hundred soul energy. Lunge distance is half level rounded down.

Deacon felt the dark void around him shake. He hoped there wouldn’t be any unforeseen issues from Rule Breaker activating in this space.

“Oh shit, I can actually slap a mother fucker to hell!” Deacon exclaimed.

Warning: You have a soul parasite that will drain small amounts of soul energy to sustain itself.

Deacon knew this was coming. Zageracks had the same condition, siphoning off small amounts of soul energy to stay anchored. He would now have to be mindful of not dropping to zero percent soul energy again. That was a brief period of respite.

Title Upgraded: Wode Guardian II- This title will allow you access to any Wode you may find. You can now sense a Wode whenever you are within ten miles of one. Beware that Wode prisons are not to be entered lightly.

“Neat,” Deacon said as he read the message. Then the darkness surrounding him began to dissolve. He found himself standing amidst the ravine stones again. Only this time there was no dungeon notification. It seems this time it remained a Wode. That made sense since The Unsatiated needed to remain inside.

Looking around, Deacon could see it was early morning. He hoped he hadn’t been gone for over a week. It seemed like time moved faster in that Wode. Deacon knew the first one was a slower time than the outside world. He pulled up his slate map to see what direction he needed to go in to reach the village.