“Ahhhhh!” Kyrion awoke in the pond after who knows how long, his body fully healed and put together, although he felt entirely drained of energy. He had managed to break something when he dumped out that much power, and a price seemed to have been paid.

Gamodren sat on a rock at the stream’s edge, his body covered in rainbow scales. His serene expression told Kyrion that he was more than irritated for some reason. Although the gaze hadn’t been on him.

Volain lay on the ground, exhausted and badly beaten. As though he had barely managed to win a fight and had to work his way back.

“So, Kyrion, what did you accomplish in your week of time?”

“Took over a tower, freed a goddess, and found Psycho’s ex-wife. She’s also Midas, and I am concerned about my new sister-in-law.”

“Second time someone you thought was male turned out to be otherwise.”

“Third. And they all have designs on me that make me feel like I’m being hunted. Volain, are you single?” Kyrion added.

“I mean, by orcish customs I guess we could technically be engaged. Although I was unaware that they were of the opposite end.” Volain scratched his head.

“You slammed her through six buildings?” Gamodren scowled.

“Seven I thought he was just a pompous ass and wanted to make it known how little I regard them.”

Gamodren shook his head in pity. “At least you have one thing going for you. She still has to consent to the engagement. But if she manages to slam you through seven buildings then there isn’t much we can do.”

“She’s pretty strong. Almost ogre-like. You should really focus on your training, Volain.” Kyrion added.

Volain winced. “I’ve died six times so far. This place is dangerous. How did you manage to beat anything?”

“I know I’m an expert but that doesn’t matter much here. It’s about the strength of your soul.” Gamodren scowled.

“That and you went into the valley of death.” Kyrion tilted his head to the side and scowled. “How did I know that?”

Gamodren’s face became expressionless briefly as he accepted something as a fact.

“Valley of death? What kind of place is that?”

The serpent above them looked down and answered the question. “It’s a place where the strongest souls go to battle, killing anyone and everyone without warning if possible. If you want to learn how to fight it’s where you go to train your senses and innate prowess.”

Volain looked up at the serpent and sowled. “You couldn’t have warned me earlier?”

“I tried; you said that you had to get back at that bald guy who pushed you off the cliff. I assume he beat you every time.”

“Nope. I got him during my fourth trip; even then, he was strong.”

“How many times did he push you off the cliff?”

Volain didn’t want to answer that but decided better. “Three times. He apologized the second time as he eased to my side and kicked me off. The third time was a fight but he managed to sweep my legs and transfer me off the cliff with ease.”

“And your other deaths?”

“Well, I kept going, and the enemies turned out to be humongous. So, after getting stepped on, I managed to find some weaker enemies in the outskirts and have been fighting them. Weaker than the giant and bald guy, but they were still quite dangerous.”

“Gamodren. Mind taking him to the tower down there?”

“Is that the tower that exploded with fire the second day we were here and Light four hours ago?” Gamodren asked.

“Probably. I had to dump an absurd amount of Soul Force that entered my body.”

“Soul Force? Are you talking about Divine Essence?” Gamodren asked.

“It’s the power of your soul. So Soul Force.” Kyrion stated.

“The gods call it Divine Essence.”

“Do I look like I care what so-called gods call it?” Kyrion crossed his arms.

“Animae vis.”

“Why are you talking about the shows Cecil used to watch?”

“It’s Latin.”

“And I speak Imalan.”

“...You speak Folis. That’s the universal language of this universe that all living beings can understand. Humans here haven’t done much to create their own unique language systems.”

“Wait. Cecil also knows Latin. He’s mentioned it once or twice. He isn’t from our world though.”

“Neither am I fully. Although that’s another story and I suck at telling it.”

Kyrion felt his eye twitch. “How connected is our world with Cecil’s?”

“Oh, that’s simple. It’s the second universe to form; ours is the third.”

” Due to the wavelengths our worlds live on, this one is quite close to the second if you know what you’re doing. Time is much faster here however.”

“What is the universe after ours then?”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“There hasn’t been one capable of that yet. I’m not saying that we’re the only three, it’s more that the others haven’t been able to sync up properly and have either separated from the chain or imploded. The powers at been haven’t been able to wrangle them together.”

“That is quite complicated.”

“Hopefully, you won’t become a shepherd then.”

Kyrion saw Gamodren’s face briefly move to a shocked expression and scowled.

“Yeah… Anyways, Volain and Gamodren. I’ll lead you to the tower but then I need to get somewhere…Oh right.” Kyrion pulled out his bag and began cycling through his inventory before he pulled a confused person out of it.

“Who? What? Where?” Mike looked confused.

“I also saved this guy. Mike, can you lead them to the tower in my place?”

Mike shot Kyrion a death glare. “You put me in a bag for six minutes. I was starting to suffocate.”

“You don’t have lungs. You can’t suffocate.”

“Wait. We can’t drown? Then how did…” Volain started.

“We can still die if we believe we’re dead.”

“Oh. I was too stupid to die.” Kyrion put a hand over his face.

“Now then. We need to go rescue that princess of yours.”

“Already did that.”

“You climbed ten floors in six minutes?”

“Something like that.” Kyrion didn’t want to tell him it had been about six days.

“There’s also a large group of bandits with bows that way. You’ll need a shield to avoid being pelted by endless volleys of arrows.”

“Or you can dodge them.”

“You didn’t have a shield?”

“Do I look like I would use something so bulky?”

“Are you a mage or monk type?”

“Yes? That was also before I got to you, by the way.” Kyrion answered, not understanding the question.

“What are you going on about?” Gamodren asked.

“A monk is usually speedy and unarmored while a mage would use magic to stop the arrows.”

“Oh. Yes for me as well.”

“I don’t think I’m fast enough to evade endless arrows.”

“Guess I do have to come. Alright follow me.”

Gamodren shook his head as he followed, not saying what he spent the week doing.

As the group of four entered the area where endless arrows were supposed to be shot, only a single arrow came and landed a reasonable distance with a note attached to it.

Gamodren picked up the arrow and removed the note. He proceeded to read it out loud. “We won’t attack you, please don’t kill us again, great one.”

Mike scowled. “Great one? I never got such a greeting.”

“It’s because they know better.” Kyrion stretched and looked far off and into the soul of someone he shattered a few days ago.

“What did you do to them?” Mike asked.

“I gave them a taste of their own medicine. I made them understand that they aren’t the only people who can make others feel helpless and that they aren’t that good at it.”

“Kyrion. You didn’t…”

“Torture no. But I did put on a show. Can you pass me that arrow?”

“Do you need to read it?” Gamodren asked as he passed it over.

“No. Just watch.” Kyrion made the arrow disappear into the mist and flow into him, adding more power.

“You can absorb power from arrows?” Mike asked, concerned.

“Arrows, spells, bodies, objects, and even the air. Although too much, and I can explode. Or destroy my own body.

“How much power could you absorb in six minutes?”

Kyrion sighed. “You’d be surprised by how many stupid things I’m capable of doing unsupervised. Now, let’s go, I’m sure Almira is tired of waiting.”

“What do you know?” Mike scowled as he led the way towards the swamp.

Or what had once been a swamp. The area had been turned into a forest while plants and native creatures seemed more lively and vibrant. The ground was completely solid, and they met no trouble. It almost appeared as though some plants were bowing in reverence towards them.

“Why does your path seem so easy?” Volain asked, confused.

“Because I captured it and asserted my dominance over the area. The plants here know better than to impede us.” Kyrion stretched both arms and stood up straight like a tree. The plant’s understanding emulated the motion.

“How far ahead are you?”

“Less than you think but more than we know.” Kyrion smiled wickedly as Mike stopped.

“What in the abyss happened to the betrayer! I was only gone six minutes!”

“My student is very troublesome. I believe it’s in his blood.”

“Not my side then. While I made some trouble, it was never this bad. Also, Mikey, it’s been six days.” Said a tall floating figure that projected itself from Kyrion’s prosthetic eye.

“Days? You left me in a bag unsupervised for days?”

“You were safe right? And trust me, you wouldn’t be the only soul in that bag.”

“That makes me feel worse. You’re insane.”

“No, I’m Kyrion. Duh.” Kyrion said flippantly.

Gamodren took a deep breath and let it out. “Did you manage to meet with your father?”

“He’s better at disguises but he’s worse at lying. I’m sure you’ve already figured out who he is?”

“That does sound about right. I bet he’s hiding somewhere pretending to be a farmer.”

“Well, he is a farmer, so pretending isn’t complicated.”

“Stop. What happened to the betrayer’s head? It’s supposed to have been here.” Mike looked about the now barren area thick with soul force that was siphoned towards a tower in the distance. As Kyrion arrived, some flowed into him, rapidly refilling his soul and spreading out vastly due to his range.

“Channeled some power and killed it. Get with the program.” Kyrion crossed his arms as an aura of power enveloped the group.

“Do you know how to make soul armor?” Mike asked.

“Yes.” Kyrion answered.

“No,” the ancestor answered.

“What do you mean by that?” Kyrion asked.

“The soul armor I lent you was mine. While similar, you need to build your own, and I’m sure you know what you need to do before doing so.”

“That explains the focus on fire. I didn’t get that affinity until recently.”

“The fire wasn’t mine. It was yours; my power just allowed you to consume your opponent’s spells and turn them into your own well of power; your body wasn’t strong enough to handle all that power. If I had my way, I could have used my blood magic to kill it internally and save us some time.” The ancestor said in a strange tone.

“Yeah. I could do that with my water affinity. I will not kill a human by boiling its brain from within their skull. I did that to a snake once. It was not pretty.”

Volain shot Kyrion a strange look. “You can boil someone’s brain with magic? How in the hell did you die?”

“Listen, to boil a brain, I need to either open up a head wound or be a lot more powerful than my target. Undead dragons don’t exactly need a brain to function. I, however, need a brain to stay alive.”

“We’ve arrived.” Mike said as he arrived at the unguarded tower, his face sunken as he stopped outside the door.