Unwieldy (Fantasy & Hammers)

[Sarius]

Chapter 40: Brothers

The God smiled, relieved at my answer. Maybe it was because he was betting so much on the fact I'd say yes, or maybe he was truly interested in protecting the world as it is. However, this mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. The sentiment was almost unimportant when a Lord God was giving me free reign with his Court's power. The God stood a little straighter, his demeanour a little more official. Even before he began speaking the words, the world around me began to shudder with an intensity I had only felt the barest effect of. The intensity of those pure, emotions he had felt exemplified hundreds of times as the God opened his mouth, his eyes beginning to glow with the flame of the campfire.

"I Gallar, Lord God and First One of the Hearth Court, grant Maximilian Avenforth the Authority and Divine Seed of the Hearth Court, with all its members in concert agreement. With words spoken by only those of the First Ones, does this decree hold true, and our Divine Souls put at stake for the future of a mortal. I grant a Court Blessing!"

With those words, whose syllables individually created pulses of pure authority, everything within me changed.

It was with immediacy that I felt a cord being cut and knowing immediately that it was my only lifeline to go home. I had abandoned my home for what I felt was right and I was only beginning to mourn the loss when the next wave hit me.

Something was being forced directly into my soul, and I had no choice but to simply accept. Every moment that passed pushed the strange thing into my soul. I let the small object in, focussing on the acceptance of it as me, creating a spot within myself for it to exist. The words of Gallar's decree continued and, what I believed to be, the seed pressing itself into me, followed by a power that was quite undefinable to me.

It flowed into my soul like water into a pool, totally different from ether which seemed ever present. I felt it fortify my soul in a way that I was under the assumption was entirely impossible. The liquid metal that I view my soul as was reinforcing itself layer on layer, the pure power it was being offered made it reform itself into a protective casing of sorts, surrounding the seed.

It came as somewhat of a surprise to me that I was actually experiencing pain, in a detached sort of way. In fact, it was the worst sort of pain, one that seemingly cut through and defence you had against it, showing you how you truly mortal you were. I could only guess that this was an effect of my soul rapidly intaking this power and the seed at once, transforming itself to handle these things in concert.

The pain, however, was almost a freeing thing. It was like cutting away useless baggage off of yourself and transcending the need for a primitive body part. I started to get the impression that it was, quite literally, a divine ascension of sorts. My soul was becoming almost unrecognisable in its form and function, and even as the power it was being fed began to settle, my soul even felt like that of a different order. Like a highly advanced piece of technology given to a monkey.

The pain had stopped, but the rumbles of authority still surrounded me. It was authority over safety that radiated out of me, the flame of the fire seemed brighter and more comfortable as I sat near it now, my mind calmed by this visceral understanding that this was my place. My home.

I was truly home.

"Astounding. There has never been a Court Blessing granted let alone a Divine Seed, I had wondered if I would ever see it done." Gallar laughed heartily, and I did as well, a clear connection of kinship strengthening us, "Never, in my many millions of years, would I have thought that I would be the First One to grant it." The God, my God, extended his hand to me, glowing with a warm light. I grabbed it, feeling a link form between us on the highest possible level. An energy circulated between our souls, mutually singing in harmony.

"Welcome, brother, to being the first mortal God," he paused for a moment, enough to allow my face to scrunch together in confusion, "well, more like a Demigod at the moment really. You are little more than what you were just moments ago, but with the potential to be everything." His smile was warm, like an older brother greeting a new sibling into the world.

"You, my brother, are the first God to be created, and not born of lineage or of right. You are the only mortal to receive a Divine Seed. A being only theorised in the oldest tomes that our libraries have to offer. You are the only one, of any number of Gods, who is able to reach the heights of Godhood, and remain entirely in the mortal plane." He smiled, his satisfaction with the statement obvious.

"So, I'm a baby God now?" I said with eyebrow raised, a little amused to be honest. Gallar was quite ticked by that and he began giggling.

"I guess you could put it like that, though other High Gods would probably be upset by you not using the right terminology. Boors, the lot of 'em." He continued to chuckle for a moment until he turned to me, more seriousness leaking into his expression.

"I guess I should explain what you get from all of this kerfuffle. The Court Blessing effectively upgraded your soul to be capable to handling a divine seed, though only to a rudimentary extent. It will make it effectively impossible for anything but another Demigod level being to really do much to your soul, so no enslavement is going to happen any time soon." He grinned at the relief I felt, a worry dissipating, one that I hadn't even thought about before, "Other than that, you are basically the same as you were before with two major changes. Your Soul Hammer should be markedly different, and your ability to control a domain."

Changes to my hammer? The instant that I head those words come out of his mouth, I had a spike of worry. Quickly I summoned the thing, and sure enough, it was even bigger than before, and way heavier.

It had grown at least thirty percent bigger in most metrics, the silvery metal now slightly darker, and the wrapped leather of the handle slightly darker as well. However, the runes and engravings that once used to litter the shaft of the hammer and the axe's head and the spike on the back of the hammer. Now those engravings had deepened considerably, and a soft white energy ran through it.

"Ah, I guess that it makes sense that the divine energy would be visible on the weapon itself. That Soul Weapon is probably singlehandedly one of the most dangerous weapons in existence now. Divine weapons of any sort are incredibly rare. Though, good luck on wielding it." He took a look on my face, a mixture between awe and sour defeat, and just laughed heartily, patting me on the shoulder with his meaty hand.

"You'll figure it out, you are my brother now. We of the Hearth Court have always been good thinkers!" He smiled at me, a playful smile that was almost like a bet over a few drinks of who will black out first. I grinned at the subtext that was so in line with his–our domain.

"Wait, one second before we keep going on this train." I held a hand up to the amused God and he gestured for me to carry on. "What about the God from back home? Won't he be mad about this thing?" The moment I voiced the concern, it seemed a lot more legitimate, the anxiety momentarily coursing through me before Gallar's hand rested itself on my shoulder.

"No need to fear. I don't understand your world's God very well, nor do any others within the Divine Realm. We don't understand what he's trying to do, or even what he wants, but we do know that he hasn't cared about our God's blessing the Champions before, so I struggle to see why he would now." He grinned, and with a wink he moved on to the next topic on the roster within his mind.

"And finally, your domain. For now, you really only have safety as a concept in your domain. It's the simplest to bind to a domain by far. Call it out, you shouldn't have any trouble doing so." He was right, a simple thought and I distinctly felt the surroundings around me become gentler, purer of intention. I felt the domain of safety take priority in the intentions of the world inside of my aura.

"This aura of safety, while rudimentary for now, is incredibly useful. Those around you will feel safer, more secure. You will be able to understand them better while they are thinking straight in your aura. And, even though the Hearth Court is hardly combat focused, the safety domain will weaken an enemy's harmful intentions. When you grow powerful enough, you will be able to mediate a conversation between two courts of warring Gods." He grinned in a knowing way. A quiet word, and a hidden power.

It just goes to show how much power over politics and how much we take the Hearth for granted when it comes to civility. Did civilisation not start with those who are hungry and cold huddled around a fire? I smiled, gaining this strange underlying truth of the world was an odd experience. A lens that I could now view the world through.

"I see you are coming easily to terms with all of this. This is precisely why you were the only candidate. You are possibly the only person that is both capable and willing of being granted this sort of power. The only person we can trust with it in its entirety. And so, with that, it is time for me to go." He smiled and stood from his spot at the fire, his form being illuminated by the slowly dying campfire's light.

"Will I be able to meet you or someone else from the Hearth Court often?" Gallar shook his head sadly.

"The other Gods are… very suspicious of us. We had been hording divine energy for millennia, and they have their ways of keeping track of us, just as we have of them. If there is someone of my profile, or any of the others capable of truly appearing here, constantly making appearances in the mortal plane, then I fear we would bring great danger to you. However, keep an eye out, we will keep in contact in our small ways, brother." He smiled, in a way that warmed you to your very core, a true affection no matter how small.

"You keep yourself safe, Gallar. I will do my best down here." The God nodded, as if it were a foregone conclusion, and then walked into the campfire, disappearing into the warm heat of the coals.

It was in the moment that he left that the sounds of the outside world leaked back in. The soft hum of insects and various wildlife, the sound of wind rustling through the grass and the trees, and, quite amusingly, Alena's snores.

Those moments allowed me to think about what had transpired. A God had made me into a Demigod, tasking me with saving the worlds in truth, past my unrealistic expectations and pipe dreams. A God believed in my goal, so now it was a mission. A holy one, at that.

The heavy head of my hammer rested in the dirt near my feet, compressing it terribly. It was a lot heavier now. Before this 'upgrade' I was able to wield it with clever use of summoning and unsummoning as well as using the kinetic shifting to fill the gaps with attacks. Now that the hammer may as well be twice as heavy, I needed to relearn how to even use it properly. I sighed, wondering idly whether I should just use my hands as weapons for the fight against the forest wolves the day after next. I'd easily be strong enough, but it made me feel guilty that I wouldn't be using the hammer in my first real fight, other than against Mayer that one time.

While I was thinking to myself, there was the sound of rustling coming from the tent. After a moment, Rethi came out of the tent, looking relatively well rested for just a few hours of sleep.

"Up for your shift?" I asked, impressed that he was able to wake without me doing so. He nodded slowly, before noticing my hammer. He had seen the thing probably more than Mayer had in total, there was absolutely no way that it was possible to tell him it hadn't drastically changed.

"What happened to your hammer?" He said, with less of the respect than he usually put into his words when talking to me. I just chuckled.

"Well, Rethi. I met a God." His eyes brightened, but didn't seem surprised at all.

"A God! Wow, Master Max. What was that like?" I looked at him quizzically, a little amusement thrown in there for good measure.

"Not too shocked, are we?" The boy shrugged his muscled shoulders.

"I dunno, you're a Champion Master Max. A human from another world, who actually wants to do good. Why wouldn't a God come talk to you?" He had a point.

"Well, I'm not a 'true' Champion anymore," Rethi's face instantly became one of worry, "don't worry, I think I may have gotten the better end of the deal even still." Rethi's hesitant worry became one of sneaking excitement, and I just grinned.

"I'm a Demigod now, Rethi."

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 41: Right Hand

Rethi has basically been vibrating on his horse the entire day. Knowing that his 'Master' was a Demigod seemed to inflate his excitement and self-worth a thousand-fold. It was hilarious to see, though I think Alena had begun to believe that I'd drugged him with something. She had been giving him herbs and plants to eat for hours now. He would always idly eat them without a word, seemingly too focused on the fact that I was now a fledgling Demigod.

Apparently, according to Rethi anyway, Demigods were beings created by a God having a mortal lover. It did happen on occasion supposedly. Usually with someone who was not a priest, but a mortal that was entirely devoted. They had their legends, but they were old and any Demigods that once existed had either died in the first Champion War or gone into hiding. I had mentioned the fact that they could have died of old age, but Rethi just shrugged. It seemed that a Demigod dying of old age wasn't really all that likely.

If a Demigod had abilities anything like what I have, they probably didn't age much, if at all. That's if they actually existed in the way that Rethi said they did—which was doubtful in and of itself.

The day was pretty long, constantly feeling the need to monitor my soul. It was like receiving a transplanted hand and having to relearn the back of it. A strange thing, something so foreign, yet so truthfully yours. Just looking at the soul was enchanting in its own way, where my old soul I was able to visualise conceptually, generally as the metal that flowed out of my hand, but now when I closed my eyes and introspected, I was able to properly see my own soul.

It was like seeing an organ on a table and examining it. It was weird, but also enthralling to examine. It was manipulatable as well now, I was able to temporarily change its form, changing the flow of the divine energy that courses through and around it. How that would help me in future was totally over my head, but I could do it.

Sighing, I called a break for the last time today. The horses needed a good break or else they would slowly deteriorate until we effectively killed them with exhaustion, though they have been valiant companions throughout the journey.

Rethi had ended up naming his Darksteel, an obvious allusion to the steed's dark coat, intermixed with a silvery colour as well. Apparently dark steel was a mythical metal used generally for weapon making.

Alena had taken the liberty of naming my horse, mostly because it was really her horse now. I don't think I'd ever find that much use for a horse, unless I could find a special one, maybe a monster or divine horse. That'd be fun.

Anyway, the horse had been named Lily, the mare seemed pretty chuffed with the name.

As the two teenagers diligently took care of their companions, just at Mayer had enforced back before we had been sent on our little journey. It didn't take long for Alena to bustle on over towards me with a cross look on her face, leaving Rethi behind to absentmindedly pet his horse.

"What did you do to him!" She whisper-yelled. I was surprised at her restraint, honestly.

"Nothing like you're thinking. I don't even know why you'd think that I'd drug him with anything." I said, eyebrow raised and quickly sitting down on the ground cross legged. She did the same, staring right at me the entire time, trying to assert dominance.

"Then why does he look like he ate a kilogram of sugar?"

"Ah, well. In short, he got a promotion." She looked at me dumbfounded.

"What do you mean he got a promotion?" Incredulity leaking into her voice. I sighed.

"I'm going to be moving up in the world, and I'm going to need help. I'm going to make him my right-hand man." She looked flabbergasted.

"Right-hand– But he's just a kid!" She exclaimed, stumbling over her own words. I shrugged at her nonchalantly.

"Are you a kid?" I asked her. She hesitated.

"Yes?" Her eyebrows furrowed, unable to pick where I'm going with this.

"Well, it certainly isn't stopping you from doing everything that Rethi is currently doing," I laughed, her face losing a bit of its harshness, "besides, Rethi is possibly the most competent fourteen, almost fifteen year old I've ever met. Honestly, he could probably fight with the best of them. He was hand trained by Mayer. If I didn't have all sorts of wacky powers, he'd crush me ten out of ten times." I let that info sink into her for a few moments. I didn't even need to look into her eyes, I could see the struggle on her face, fighting between love and protection, and pride in someone she loves. I smiled at her gently.

"You still seriously underestimate just how powerful he really is." I get up from my spot on the ground and walk over to Rethi, coming close to Lily and giving her a good rub with my strength, something she thoroughly enjoyed. Me and Alena fight for her affection and she gets all the benefits.

"Oh Rethi." I said, rousing the boy from his stupor.

"Ah! Yes, how can I serve you, Master Maximilian." He said, his voice far more official than even the last time he had spoken to me around Alena, I just rolled my eyes.

"You've been out of it all day, and Alena has been feeding you herbs to reverse poisons. I understand that it's exciting for you to know that I'm a Demigod," the boy's face lit up again in excitement, "but, you need to act a little more human for me. I had to fib to your girlfriend so that she doesn't simply learn that I'm a Demigod." Rethi nodded furiously, trying his best to return to what looked slightly less out of it, but then his face scrunched in confusion, my last words finally processing though his excitement addled brain.

"What did you lie to her about?" He was suddenly very concerned, I just laughed.

"Nothing important. By the way, you've got a promotion. Congratulations on being my right-hand man." I stick out my hand, a goofy grin on my face. It took a moment before it registers, and then another second or two before a massive goofy grin spread on his face. He grabbed my hand and shook it as hard as he could.

"It'll be a pleasure." He said, his eyes alight with a whole new excitement. I laughed and yelled out to Alena that we were going to get back on the road. She nodded from afar and in minutes we were up and running again.

Alena seemed even more concerned about Rethi now, paradoxically. The entire time they were riding they were having a secretive conversation. Further and further into the day Rethi got frustrated multiple times, the whispering getting a little louder at points, the offending party always looking over to me to see if I had noticed.

Of course I noticed.

Soon enough It came to the part of the road that those that passed through these areas were talking about being dangerous, potentially where the forest wolves came out to play.

"Alright guys, enough secretive chatting, we are at the spot Mayer talked about. Let's backtrack for a while and set up for the night." The other two were momentarily shocked at being called out like that, then they quickly realised their surroundings, looking deep into the woods as if eyes would stare back.

Following me, we took it back a kilometre or two, and then moving out further into the fields than we had before, giving us more open space so we couldn't be surprised by something coming near us as easily.

The camp was set up routinely, everything in its proper place and order, and as night fell, I created a safe campfire that wasn't going to burn down the fields of grass and our tents during the night. The warmth of the fire was different tonight than it was the nights previous. Warmer, more fulfilling, the road rations were easting tasted better even. The novelty of eating was something I indulged in at least once a day, merely because the sensation was nice, rather than any actual benefit. But now, with me being a Hearth Demigod, a Blessed of the Hearth, whatever you wanted to call me, I felt a far stronger connection to the act of eating around a fire, like it was far more integral to me being now.

But even while the fire was warmer, I could feel a cold wind of discontent flowing over it. I extended my domain of safety and it soothed the discontent but did not stop it from existing. I gave it a few moments, then looked up, directly at Alena.

"Would you like to talk about anything?" I said, my tone neutral and warm. She was shocked by my initiation of the conversation, something that I hadn't bothered to do with her for a while.

"What do you mean?" She asked suspiciously. Rethi looked at me oddly as well.

"You are spending a lot of time talking about topics that are obviously sensitive with Rethi. I have a feeling that those topics involve me, and Rethi's involvement with me." I stated calmly and clearly. Her face grew red in a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"Of course I am!" She shouted.

"And why are you doing that?" I said, unperturbed entirely by her shouting.

"Because you are obviously taking advantage of him! He's only a kid! You can't just make him your right-hand man and call it good!" I looked to Rethi who deflated. He was clearly hurt by her words and how she disregarded his opinion and choice. However, I simply nodded towards her without any specific emotion on my face.

"I see. How do you believe that I am taking advantage of him?" She looked confused at my lack of fighting back but she allowed her anger to keep rolling.

"You force him to fight, to train to fight. You trained him to be this monstrous, brutal thing when he picks up a sword. You want to turn him into a sword slave!" Those words rang out over the fields like a gunshot. I, personally, was effectively unperturbed I had known her opinion of me for a long while.

However, for Rethi, this was something that he had never encountered before. Because I believe, as I looked at his heartbroken face, that he didn't know that the issue they were having was never really about me, it was about him and her relationship with who he wants to be.

I simply nodded at her words.

"I understand that you see it that wa–" I began to speak but my sentence was cut short by Alena.

"How could you possibly understand, you are a slaver–" I fixed her with a look that stopped her dead in her tracks. Not one of aggression, but extreme disappointment. I know, from simply looking into her eyes, that the expression was both not one that she expected, and one that hurt far more that one of anger.

"I understand that you are very passionate about this specific topic and that you love Rethi very much, but I will not accept anyone being talked over in this space. I let you speak, now I would like to speak. Is this understood?" My voice was flat and authoritative, nothing if not neutral. After a moment both Rethi and Alena nodded. I let the domain of safety I held within billow out, the strange and esoteric power covering the ground we sat on, calming those within and sharpening our minds while it eased our anxiety.

"Alena, I understand that you see Rethi's change as something negative, and I feel as if you are unsure if the boy you once knew as Rethi exists anymore," Rethi's eyes went wide, turning to look at his girlfriend in befuddlement as Alena simply looked down at the ground, "Alena, it is important to note, that the time in which you knew Rethi most, was when he had nothing and was entirely destitute with no reasonable way forwards. I gave him a chance at rising above what he once was, and he took it with both hands and pulled. He has done a miraculous job, becoming stronger in personality, body, and mind. He is nothing like the destitute, starved little boy that I asked to show me around town."

There was silence around the campfire. Alena was looking down at the ground and Rethi was looking at her, tears welling up in his eyes at the hurt. I could see little droplets falling to the ground underneath Alena's bowed head. I could feel that each word harmonised with what she felt, and that she was scared and worried and hopelessly in love. I smiled at her bowed form.

"But Alena. There are few things that haven't changed in Rethi. One is his drive to always do better, to reach for higher peaks," Rethi's cheeks reddened despite himself, "his devotion to his mother, despite her pushing him away," Alena let out a little sob, "his wild theories and obsession over long lost legends," that gained a snort out of both of them, even I laughed, "and finally, his love for you."

Alena looked up at me, her face red and warped into one of intense sadness, tears streaming from her eyes. And as our eyes met I understood. I fully understood the problem. I smiled gently to her as she spoke.

"I know! I know all that… But he's going to leave me behind. And then I have to worry if he's going to ever come back home to me, if he will come back scarred from some war he ran headlong into, or if he'll ascend into the history books, left to some place I can never find him." The sobs were heart wrenching, the window into her emotions. No, into her soul. Rethi was crying in earnest now, his eyes overflowing, and his arms extended, desperately seeking the body of she who he loves, but finding himself unable to wrap his arms around her, unable to truly dispute her words and telling her it's all going to be okay, and that he would never leave her. But he knew he'd be lying, and it hurt more than anything.

I simply smiled at the two young lovers, lost in their emotions.

"Whoever said that he would leave without you by his side?"


A/N: Happy new year!

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 42: A Teaching Moment

The two teenage lovers looked at me quizzically, their emotions instantly becoming even more conflicted with a strange bourgeoning hope. I smiled at them, relaxed and uncomplicated in comparison.

"W– What do you mean?" Alena said, her voice wavering with the words. I put on a show of thinking about the words I was going to say and then turned to the two, face a mask of serious.

"I don't believe I ever said that I'd disallow any particular person from joining me on our travels. The only thing that they would need to display is their worth." Alena's face scrunched, eventually equalising to dismay.

"But what do I have to give? I don't have anything valuable–" I shook my head.

"Not what you have, but what you can provide." Alena's face reddened with anger.

"I don't have any of that either, unless you are speaking of bedtime 'duties'." Her expression was scathing, but I just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"You thinking that you do not have worth is frankly absurd," she recoiled slightly at that, confusion marring her face, "you are a life shifter, as well as someone at least rudimentarily trained in the sciences, including knowledge necessary for being an accomplished physician. These skills are incredibly valuable, far more valuable than what your father currently makes it seem to be by wasting his life away in this town of nothing."

"Skills I can't use because no-one would trust me to use them, and taboo shifting abilities that I would be killed on sight for!" Her voice continued to increase in volume, anger overtaking the overwhelming array of emotions. Rethi just looked dumbfounded, staring off into space with his eyebrows furrowed. I looked at Alena with a continually unimpressed expression.

"You are only devaluing yourself and your abilities here. I'm sure that you've tested your medical and shifting abilities in small animals and other specimen, likely at the behest of your father? At least to some degree?" She swallowed down a snarky line at seeing my unimpressed visage and just nodded. I nodded along as well, placing a hand on my chin.

"Then the solution to many, if not all of these problems, is to find a willing subject."

"A willing subject?" Alena shot to her feet, the anger radiating off of her in truth now, "Are you out of your mind? Who would willingly let me experiment on them and accidentally turn them into a monster?" I looked at her dryly, rolling my eyes all the while. I picked up a simple knife out of one of my many side pockets and stabbed myself in the arm, easily going all the way down to the bone.

Internally, however, I was telling my body to not regenerate, something I had worked out I could do in training when Mayer had relented the fact that I would never learn to truly fight with an injury. As almost a joke I had tried to resist the urge for my body to regenerate and I was wounded 'normally'. I don't understand why that would even be allowed, but this was a particularly unique situation where it was actually useful.

I pulled the sharp but common knife out of my flesh, carving a massive chunk out of my arm without even flinching, bleeding profusely from the wound that was staying stubbornly unregenerated.

"Oh gee, it seems that I suddenly have a massive wound that is not healing, in comparison to it normally regenerating in less than a few seconds. Who could possibly help me?" My tone was exceedingly dry, entirely monotone. The two teenagers looked to the self-inflicted wound, and then back to me over and over again. Alena specifically was extremely put out, glancing at the massive chunk of flesh that had fallen into the dirt. I sighed heavily.

"Alena, fix the goddamned arm." I growled, motivating her to snap out of her daze and rushing forward, grabbing a full waterskin from Rethi and quickly dumping the water on the wound, washing away some of the quickly drying blood so that she could see the wound better.

"I'm going to–" She started, looking up to me to explain what she was going to do, but I waved her away.

"Just do it." I said, my voice calm and devoid of the strain of pain. She looked at me, worried by the abruptness of the situation. She closed her eyes, placing her hands on my upper arm and my wrist, leaving the wound between the two hands. She gripped my arm tightly, probably tightly enough to cut of circulation relatively well if I were normal.

Suddenly, energy began to be pushed through the hand that was clasped around my wrist, flowing into my arm with haste that felt hurried and somewhat reckless. I could feel the energy burn through my arm, analysing and surveying its structure haphazardly before reaching the wound.

The energy began freaking out, desperately trying to fix the issue in any way that it could think of. Suddenly it started to draw on the reserves of my own energy which was, as far as I am aware, endless.

The flesh started growing exponentially, faster initially than what I usually regenerated at without pushing it, but as soon as the flesh filled back into the space that was missing, it began to overflow, massive tumours began to form on my arm, Alena's power still drawing on the energy within me to create more and more flesh on my arm. The tumours of fat, muscle, some bone, covered in various layers of skin.

I looked to Rethi, whose face had gone completely white with horror, and smiled.

"Can see why they call them Abomination Makers, huh?" His eyes turned to my smiling face with confusion, and then understanding, followed by a calm curiosity at the rapidly growing pile of tumours. It was an interesting sight to see, the mass growing bigger, slowly taking over my body. It was a curiosity case, really.

Alena opened her eyes and screamed, horror filling her completely. She took her arms off of mine, but it was too late, her own energy was still remaining in my arm, the process now having even less oversight. I realised that it had begun moving further up my arm, closer and closer to my chest.

I wasn't going to let it reach my chest and play around in there, that didn't sound like much fun. I swiftly grabbed my upper arm and yanked. With relative ease my arm, from my shoulder down, had been entirely ripped off. Alena's power went even more berserk, consuming the flesh of the arm to run its own processes due to not having my own energy to run on—eventually self-destructing and turning the remains of the arm into a blob of tumours.

Alena looked at me, horrified. She fell to the ground, too unsteady on her legs.

"Oh– Oh Gods, what have I done." But I didn't let her rest, pulling her up from her kneeling position.

"Be quiet and watch what happens next, Alena. Not everyone gets to see an arm regrow itself every day." I chuckled as her eyes went wide, watching as the bone itself regrew before her eyes, forming like a crystalline structure. The regeneration was normally extremely fast but if I could stop the process altogether, I could both slow it down and speed it up. I had become a master of doing all of these things. I even created a Sharah kata for it, where I would do moves that broke my bones to complete them, and then regenerate before the next step.

The ligaments came back next, bonding the bones together, allowing the bones to hang limply at my side. Next, the layers of muscle starter to come in, as well as the nerves and blood vessels. The nerves were always the worst when growing back, but I was well and truly used to the pain by now. The hand was forming simultaneously, the small bones all neatly fitting into place with a precise perfection.

In only another few seconds my entire arm and hand were fully formed once again.

"There you have it." I said, my voice nonchalant. Rethi looked on in amazement like every time Mayer had done that much damage to me. Rethi hadn't ever managed to entirely take off an entire arm before, though he had mangled my hands a few times.

Alena, however, was borderline shellshocked. Looking at my arm like it was black magic, and then looking down at the puddle of tumours at my feet.

"H– How did you even…" She trailed off, her mind wandering. I just smiled at her ultimately confused face.

"Sorry to break it to you, girly. You aren't the only special one in the world. There are quite a few more that are just like me, as well." I laughed at her shocked and also morbidly curious expression.

"You may not know how to use any of your abilities and skills right now, but what about if you met someone who is nigh unkillable, can heal from almost anything, has infinite energy reserves, and can deal with unimaginable pain like nothing?" I smiled gently at her.

"I am going to make you the greatest life shifter that has ever lived." Her eyes lit up like beacons. And for the first time since I've met her, the maelstrom of emotion that continually whirled through her stopped in its tracks, being entirely subsumed by one emotion.

Hesitant, oh so very hesitant, determination.

I patted her gently on the shoulder. Passing her by and moving into my tent.

"You two can take first shift tonight. Rethi, make sure that you are rested enough to go trapezing through the woods looking for a fight tomorrow." Rethi nodded, a shit eating grin returning to his face as he turned to his girlfriend, probably getting ready to rub in her face how shocked she was, and how he was right all along all that time.

Alena just looked stunned, the girl still trying to process all of the events of only past five or so minutes.

The hours passed in my tent, simply meditating like usual. Before long, Rethi moved into my tent and lightly tapped me on the shoulder before leaving, signalling the beginning of my shift.

I quietly moved outside, my eyes tracking the shadows through the trees, letting my brain be overtaken with the simple task of detecting predators and attacker. I certainly heard things from the woods, my senses sharp from doing similar tasks for thousands of hours. There were definitely wolves, and quite a few of them too. Maybe even multiple different packs.

But they were too close to the edge of the forest, they usually dwelled way further in, preying on smaller prey animals deeper in the heart of the forest. It worried me. It was becoming more and more apparent that there was something else in there, something that I'm sure that Mayer was aware of, but didn't tell us going into it.

I wasn't sure if it was something to be worried about, at my level of strength, but I was now pretty sure I didn't have much of an ability to wield my hammer, bringing down my ability to fight quite drastically.

I summoned the hammer from within me, forming rapidly in my hands before the head thumped into the ground. The soft white light that the runes glowed with illuminated the earth it was lodged in.

I stood and tried to pick up the hammer, struggling with all my might. It was basically pointless. No matter how hard I strained, the hammer wouldn't move enough to actually be a viable attack.

I managed, after a few seconds, to lift the thing to a point where I was able to swing the hammer down into the earth by just letting it fall, which got the head stuck deeply into the ground. I just sighed, looking intensely at the hammer, as if it would float up out of the ground for me.

An even heavier hammer wasn't something that was on my to-do list, and now that it had happened out of nowhere, I suddenly had to figure out how to wield the thing without spending thirty minutes on a single attack.

I unsummoned it and made an attacking motion, swinging like normal, and summoning the hammer into my hands on the way down, which worked, and was the most viable attacking method I had, but when it came down to it, it broke up the flow of the Sharah severely, which was terrible for my combat ability.

At the moment, it was looking more and more like I'd simply be using the hammer for massive attacks to kill something in one hit, and for everything else I'd just be punching them.

Good thing that I was just about as proficient as a pugilist than as a hammer wielder.

I started creating a new Sharah kata to accentuate the odd big hit from my hammer, along with the majority of punches, along with a kick or two. It flowed relatively smoothly but was nowhere near as efficient a kinetic shifting sentence structure, just a little off. It was like if someone was speaking in a second language with almost perfect grammar, but it was just bad enough to entirely break the illusion of their fluency.

It was heartbreaking to see all the work for the Sharah kata, created for usage with my hammer, to go to waste like it had.

If I could wield this new hammer, I was entirely certain that I would be many times more powerful, even with the access to raw kinetic potential at all.

But none of this mattered as I watched the sun creep out from behind Orisis as it slowly orbited Virsdis.

It was the dawn of a long day of battle.


A/N: Jeeze Max, wanna chill out with the whole 'tear off you whole-ass arm' thing?

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 43: Slaughter

I had woken Rethi only an hour or two after the sun rose. The boy needed rest even if he was sturdy; if he went into battle tired, then his injuries would fall on my head.

This was likely as much a test of our physical and fighting capabilities as how well we manage ourselves out in the field. Resources were scarce and sleep was hard to get a lot of, or in a good quality. The only real upside to all of this was that I could totally rise above any of those needs, allowing for those that travelled with me time to rest and relax with minimal fear that anything would happen.

If anything did happen, then I was there to deal with it first.

The boy was getting ready, putting on rudimentary protective gear that wasn't really armour. It was a lot of tough clothing that was flexible enough to not restrict the boy's movements. I myself didn't wear armour. There was no real need to. If I did wear armour, past just generally protective clothing, then it'd have to be magical in some way, maybe give me strength or something. As of now, how quick I could move, and the preciseness of my movements was truly paramount.

"Nervous?" I asked idly. The boy gave the barest nod, his face stoic.

"Same." I said, smile resting on my face. The boy looked up at me sceptically and I returned the look. "Rethi, I've only ever killed one other thing, and I almost died last time." Rethi pondered while he finished up adding the protective padding to his assortment of protective gear.

"But you could survive anything that these wolves could do to you." I nodded in agreement.

"Sure I can. Doesn't make me any less nervous though." Rethi looked down into the dirt, examining the toe of his shoe with a sudden ferocity. "Just because I know I can do something doesn't make it any less nerve wracking. Especially when it matters."

"This is just another training exercise though?" Rethi questioned, I snorted amusedly.

"Mayer said to us pretty clearly that traders were being attacked along this road and weren't making it to the town. It's more than a test or training, Rethi. This is people's lives." Rethi and I made eye contact, a seriousness washing over us.

"This is the beginning, isn't it?" I just nodded, the task of moving a mountain starts with but a pebble.

"Have you said goodbye to Alena?" Rethi looked at me, his eyes full of iron.

"No need. I'll be back." I nodded. She would be angry with him, but maybe that eventuality is better for him than making a promise and never coming back. I began to walk towards the road, a mental map forming of where I wanted to enter the forest a few kilometres down the trail.

Rethi followed me, sheathed sword at his side. A truly sharp and entirely deadly sword this time around. Rethi's hand rested on the hilt of the sword and as we drew closer and closer to the location we had reached the previous day, his grip tightened on the pommel.

"We're here." I said, standing in front of a particularly large opening in the trees, an open maw to our anxious minds.

"Forest wolves are nocturnal, I think. They rest in open areas in large groups during the day, soaking in the sun. We are looking for an area without canopy covering." Rethi nodded in acknowledgement. We stood in front of the gaping maw of the woods, steeling ourselves to what laid within, the battle and finally the return.

I just hope that we are able to return sooner rather than later.

Without a word I began to move into the forest, the shade quickly covering my body, hiding me from the bright sunlight and plunging me into a much dimmer world. The air inside of the forest was still excellent, just like it had been the first day I arrived on Virsdis.

The air and the feeling of the forest was electric. Maybe it was because of the way that I perceived the environment, overlaying it with how I felt inside, projecting the uneasy emotions. But this feeling was different.

There was a nervousness in the air that pervaded my thoughts. Maybe it was my natural empathy? I wasn't sure, but it was worrying me. I had thought last night that there was something driving the wolves towards the fringes of the forest, but something that made enough beings nervous within the forest such that I could feel all their anxiousness in tandem was very worrying to me.

We walked through the forest, keeping mindful of how loud our steps were, making sure to get a good look of most angles before taking a path forwards through the increasingly dense forest.

Me nor Rethi had trained our ability to sneak around, but there was a certain amount you learned by simply practicing in footwork and just learning to be mindful of where you stepped. Something that wasn't at all as difficult as it seemed when it came down to it, especially in comparison to something like the Sharah.

I began to hear things off in the distance, and Rethi seemed to as well. Small growls and yipping could be heard from beyond the few layers of trees that stood in front of us. It was noticeably brighter, bleeding through the various obstructions that laid in its way.

I turned to Rethi, giving him a gaze of warning and received a nod in response, and we proceeded further, taking extra care of each step, approaching to what seemed to be the resting spot. Wolves were more likely to smell us before they heard us, but we could only hope that not giving them any more sensory input would help with not being discovered and sooner than need be.

It was only a few seconds until we reached a girthier tree that block sight from the opening in front of us, a clear hole in the canopy above shining the light through this opening in the forest.

I took a peek around the girth of the tree and saw the collection of at least eleven. It immediately became obvious that they were starved, clearly exhausted. They had a few young with them, who were being fed by one of the adult wolves, yipping and playing, fighting over the strip of meat they had been given.

The rest of the pack were sleeping, shifting ever so slightly in their sleep. I looked to Rethi, seeing him nervously look out to the group of wolves. I tapped him gently on the shoulder and pointed out towards the group of wolves with a commanding expression. His face blanched, but he managed to steel himself to the anxiety. I counted down, with my fingers. Three, two, one.

Then we sprung from cover, moving forward at a speed that we had rarely reached when training. I took only a few steps before I was standing above the sleeping form of my first victim. There was no time to contemplate their deaths, or the morality of killing them. This was a battle, and in a battle, decisions were split second, without the limitations of anything but self-preservation and your goal. I raised my foot, the eye of the wolf only just opening from its sleep, and I stomped my foot down on the poor creature's neck with enough force to create a terrible crunching sound, an instant death.

Rethi had managed to do similar with his first victim, though he had simply drawn his sword and slid it in between the ribs of the beast, letting out a squealing sound signalling the end of its life. I just about cringed before a growl came from my immediate left. I managed to turn to look at the beast that was trying to go for my ankle, likely to try and pull me down, but I simply whipped my foot out and kicked it with a large amount of force to the thing's jaw, a crack of bone dislodging, the feeling of the bone bending and cracking across my foot.

It was a disturbing feeling, but another point of information I was able to collect. The blow had destroyed the wolf's jaw and most of the left side of its skull. It had been well and truly knocked out, if not outright killed. I moved forwards toward the group of wolves in front of me.

I made efficient work of it, not allowing myself to slow down to think about the killing, and turning my brain off and allowing it to simply allow me to dance between the waking beasts and swiftly kicking each one once in the skull. I continued reproducing that first kick over and over, making it a rote attack, only rarely having to stray from the predetermined attack I would use.

In one such case, two wolves thought themselves smart and jumped at my sides, attacking at the same time. Likely to only allow me to tackle one at a time while the other would tear me to shreds. Though, I simply grabbed both of the wolves by the throat and made a fist in their flesh, the fur and skin giving way underneath the strength of my hand, easing my fingers deeper into their flesh and then quickly tearing out their throats with my bare hands.

I didn't stop to see if they were dead, I didn't need to. Each wolf I killed was dead in a single hit. I wouldn't let them live a single moment longer than they had to with the extreme pain that I was sure to be giving them. It was when I reached the pups that I stopped. I had killed eight of the wolves, Rethi was still fighting with the last adult wolves, taking only a smidgen longer to kill half of what I did.

I looked down at the pups, mewling at their dead. I felt the moral person within me experience a piercing pain like nothing I had ever felt before. But the me who was now in control knew that this was the way of this world and the only way that many could survive.

Some would have told me that killing those pups were the only reasonable choice. They might rationalise it from their armchairs, explaining that the forest wolves were vermin, that their attacks on humans were reason enough for them to be exterminated.

But as I looked down at the pups on the floor of the forest, one desperately nipping at my ankle, another nuzzling one of the adult wolves and the rest simply cowering, I decided that I couldn't let that mentality overtake me.

At first it was the wolves, exterminating them for the good of the town, for those that travelled to and from in their business. Then it was the opposition in a war. It was a scared farmer boy who was all but forced to join the army, a spear thrust into his hands and told to give his life for the crown, deceived with illusions of a grand adventure and an honourable battle.

I imagined myself standing on the battlefield, looking into a trench that was hastily dug, and looking in to see five terrified boys, cowering away from a man who could either kill them in a moment, or pass them by and allow them to live.

Maybe it was idyllic. Maybe it was going to get me killed.

But I wasn't sure I cared.

I extended my aura of safety for the first time in battle, quickly mollifying the poor beasts. I reached down towards the growling pup that had been attacking my ankle. It resisted against my touch, but before long it leaned into it.

It was after which began the mourning wails. The little beasts laying down, pacified by the safety aura that surrounded me, began to mourn those of their pack who had been lost to our hands. I heard the soft footsteps of Rethi approach me.

"What's wro–" the boy began, but interrupted himself, staring down into the small group of pups and wailed for their lost ones.

"Look." I growled at him in a commanding tone. The boy carefully looked towards the keening pups.

"This is the beginning. The start of what we do. We leave them alive, realising that it is a poor decision tactically. We know that enemies that we slay will have friends, and we will always leave them alive in the off chance that they survive and thrive despite the risk. We will commit ourselves to the unreasonable decision of sparing the son and knowing that he will return to avenge the father. Am I understood?" Rethi didn't need to nod, a wave of accepting sadness resonated through me.

The moment left as I walked away from the pups, back into the forested areas, receding into the darkness once again, seeking another enemy to lay waste to with a heavy heart.

I knew, then and there, that the wails of those pups would never leave my ears. I would hear those wails in every pained cry, every person slain. It would haunt me as an ever-repeating lesson, a disparagement against my own morality that broke and reformed so completely that day.

I sighed, the boy beside me doing the same.

It was no matter.

We moved through the forest with a newfound and bloody confidence.

Our work was not done.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 44: Bisect

Time passed in a fugue state. My instinctual response had been to shut down completely, my body becoming a slave of the decimation that we wrought.

But no, I didn't allow myself that luxury. I struggled against my own mind that wanted so dearly to recede into the back of my skull, to ignore the violence and the pain that my every movement whispered, promising my targets a final end.

Each blow added to the revulsion and horror that laid within me, but I accepted and embraced those emotions, clung to them so dearly in the face of my actions, to make sure that I never truly lost my sympathy. The mortifying empathy for those that I killed.

The first wolf that I had killed wasn't so bad. Its death was practically pre-ordained by God. It was truly me or it, with no room for emotional arguments. At that point, my mind could only believe the world was a constructed game of sorts, stupid ideals of the world still clouding my mind.

But here I was now, so clearly more powerful than the poor beasts that I hunted, with otherwise no danger to me. It left a lot of mental power for me to consider my actions.

What I was doing could be considered horribly amoral, or moral due to its service of the wider community. Whichever one it was, almost didn't matter to me. I felt bad anyways. If this is how I felt when killing a wolf, a beast about as low you could get on the totem pole, how would I feel when I killed something with human equivalent intelligence?

Would it feel worse? Would it feel better? Did it matter?

No, it didn't matter.

What mattered was that me and Rethi had spent a lot of time doing the hunting, taking turns in between packs. We weren't going so far as to make a sport out of the exercise. But we were trying to kill them more efficiently, with less hassle. It was not only important for the time we spent on the actions, but also for the beings we were killing. I had made it obvious that there was going to be no playing with the beasts, and Rethi didn't argue, basically standing in lockstep with my opinions on the matter.

It didn't, however, stop there from being accidents. Thankfully, none of mine were terrible, only once or twice did a blow of mine glance and not properly kill in one blow. It may not have been terrible, but I could only think of the disrespect I'd be showing someone by allowing them to die painfully with needless moments from an inevitable death. It was something that I slowly, but fiercely tried to rectify in myself.

Rethi's accident was something more severe than mine. While Rethi may have taken to killing the beasts with less qualms than myself, though the boy could barely stand to look at the pups we inevitably left behind. At one point, while he was set to hunt the entire pack himself, he accidentally cut the stomach of a pregnant wolf.

The sight was horrific, and while it stood to make me deeply sad, I think it quietly broke something in Rethi. I still wonder if we would have left the animal, so deeply pregnant that is was of no practical use to kill it. Maybe it, along with the pups we left behind, could have helped populate the forest once again after the issue had been brought into line.

From then on out, each swing of his sword was more careful, more calculated. He used to swing with such fervour and a disregard for what it was that met the bade. Maybe it was a product of training with two people that were so completely above him, someone capable of healing from anything and someone a hell of a lot more experienced than himself. But now that he was facing true living beings, it had drastically changed how he acted.

He leaned further into the preciseness of the Sharah that I had slowly taught him, rather than the pure power that he had sought out of the steps. I nodded approvingly. I wasn't a master of the Sharah, or of battles, but the way he approached a fight now was far superior to how he had only hours ago. The blessing and curse of practical experience

My hands were sticky with blood, holding them far to the sides of my clothes and the rest of my skin that had remarkably seen very little contact with blood, leaving me basically unscathed from blood or injury. It was partly due to my aura of safety that I had not been hit even once. I probably would not have been hit a single time without it, but the aura undoubtedly made it easier. My enemies just a smidgen less alert, less reactive than they would have been otherwise.

It was something that I also felt bad about. I was using an aura of safety, tricking those within it to feel as if there is less danger than there was, and then killing them. It was necessary, I knew that much. I was going to see battle, and not using the aura in battle was a good way to get myself and others killed. But I felt a severe opposition within me.

That opposition was a divine thing, less a moral quandary. The source of my power, my domain, was looking down on my actions. It wasn't condemning them, otherwise I expect that my powers would be entirely shut off, but the domain itself was at odds with the actions caused within it.

I couldn't help but wonder if the other Gods of the Hearth Court felt like this when they killed. Or maybe they weren't capable of doing so, the price that their more powerful Divine forms demanded of them, in contrast to the freedom of choice a mortal existence might offer.

Rethi quickly finished up the rest of the killing, leaving the few pups and another clearly pregnant mother, something that we'd silently decided was appropriate. He quickly walked further into the forest away from where I stood. I followed him slowly. Rethi had started to be more and more effected by the hunt that what he let on. His face was still as stoic as ever, but the emotional toll on him slowly increased and increased, leaving his emotions in a twisted coil, his stomach churning from the strain.

I found him couching by a tree, hand up against it, bracing himself. He was dry heaving, so desperately trying to keep the bile and undigested food down. His bloody sword had been thrown into the grass by his side, too much for his overstimulated mind to handle in his weary state.

I picked up the sword and slashed it through the air, splattering the forest off to my side with speckles of blood. I felt a familiar tingle in my fingers, one that only appeared when I picked up and started to use a weapon other than my soul weapon. It was an insidious feeling, one that slowly crept into an intense pain and writhing disgust, similar to what Mayer had once subjected me to all those months ago. I gently laid the now shockingly clean sword down next to the boy, who had managed to keep his stomach contents down, and now simply looked drained.

I reached over and laid a hand on the boy's shoulder. The protective clothing rigid under my fingers, but he could obviously feel the added weight. The boy quickly stood and turned to hug me. He was so much taller than when I had first met him that you could easily consider the boy to be a short man.

Rethi didn't cry, or even speak. In fact, neither of us did. There was no point, after all. He just hugged me tightly, gripping the back of my shirt hard enough that the weaved fibres strained and a few snapped sharply. We stood there for only a few minutes before the environment changed around me.

The forest had been getting quieter and quieter from the empathic point of view, the emotional weight of the wolves had reduced the anxious energy in the air significantly, but in only a moment the world burned with anger and fury.

It was hard to nor fall into the emotion myself, its weight was truly tremendous. I tore myself away from Rethi and began to listen, and Rethi immediately caught onto what I was doing and turned the opposite direction, searching deep into the forest, instinctively seeking the source of my distress.

We heard it before we saw it.

In only moments, a thrum began to quake at my feet, the forest floor transmitting the charging steps of something big.

"Max!" Rethi called, his voice stripped of anything but urgency as he called me. I turned quickly in time to see a massive tree shake and, with an ear-piercing crack, fall heavily to the ground with a thunk.

I moved forwards, pushing the boy away from me. This was clearly something that Rethi wasn't capable of handling. The fires of rage that surrounded me gave me a good idea of what its temperament was.

The massive steps continued towards us as I prompted Rethi to run a good distance away, seeing the shadow of the beast emerge from between the trees. As soon as I saw its form, my mind took me all the way back to the first night I had been on Virsdis.

As I was wearily dragging my hammer down that river side, I had seen the form of a huge, bull-like figure. This beast, if I was correct, was the same one as I had seen so long ago, returned from the past to face me once again.

It was hulking, its face was twisted into a cruel and vicious snarl. The bestial appearance of a gigantic bull hid the very real and wicked intelligence that it possessed. As soon as I set eyes on the beast, I knew there was no choice but to kill it.

I raced forwards toward the beast, quickly going through a set of words that have become second nature to me on very short notice. I approached with a speed I wasn't able to fully display in any other situation, and just before I reached the beast, I slammed my foot into the ground drawing on that kinetic force and blasting it in the face. The exemplified force brought its full charge to a dead halt in a split second.

The beast and I looked directly at each other just as it began to shake off the admittedly minor force that had actually been used in that kinetic blast, and it let out a screeching roar only metres away from me. The roar left my ears ringing, blinding me to the thing's vicious headbutt that sent me scrambling across the ground.

The beast continued to approach, trying to get its hooves to crush me as I nimbly propelled myself from the leaf-littered forest floor, and slipped away from the beast's advance.

I quickly dusted myself off, the dirt coating my clothing coming off in droves. We circled each other, the anger in the beast's mind subsided minutely to allow it to think more clearly. I could see it start to take me more seriously, despite the fact that I looked no more dangerous than a forest wolf in appearance alone.

The beast took a lunge forward, probing me with its mighty tusks, but I simply met it head on, punching the tusk directly and forcing the lunge to a standstill, following up with a good knock to its head, the beast was forced to retreat. I don't think I had ever truly realised how practically strong I was until then. I was able to fight a creature that was the size of a small elephant like nothing, matching it blow for blow.

The anger returned with a vengeance, the beast was furious at its inability to defeat me as it had its other prey. I extended my aura of safety, but it was only momentarily confused before it snarled and reasserted its anger. The beast charged again, but I just caught it and tried to flip it to its side, hoping to allow for an easy kill.

The beast didn't let that happen, using my grip on the tusk and the force of the charge, it tried to lift me off the ground, trying to fling me away from it. I didn't budge, however, my grip on the tusk too strong for it to shake me off or give me anything more than a rattle around.

The beast had begun to realise just how hard it'd be to kill me, and I felt that it was considering its retreat, so I decided to give it what it wanted. I gave the beast a mighty push, the tusk pushing and twisting in an odd angle, making the beast roar with pain, but beginning to capitalize on its sudden freedom despite what had to be searing pain.

Its freedom was not for long.

With the beast running away, I took a deep breath in and prepared myself. I could easily catch the beast, and bludgeon it to death with my fists, but that was hardly the clean death that I wanted to grant it. I gave a brief thought to letting it go, but that really wasn't an option. It would continue to perpetuate the same issue as long as it lived here.

So I took a powerful step forwards. I drew on the energy that existed inside of me and empowered each step with meaning. The first step was to approach, covering meters with simple steps, the second was precision, the third was of strength, and the fourth was an offering.

With an offering, I swung my arms down from over my head, pulling from my soul deep and fast, the usually cool liquid was burning hot as it leaked from my hands and formed the familiar shape in them. The massive hammer hit the floor with what I'd swear was the sound of a gong being hit. Deep and resounding, the kinetic energy—far more I had ever handled before—coursed through me, and multiplied on multiplied, the force going from formidable to terrifying in moments, and then it was pushed forwards with the exact edge of a razor.

I heard the sound of trees and flesh being cut, but I didn't let my eyes open for at least a minute. When I did, I saw the gruesome splatter of blood and the neatly bisected beast laying on the floor, cut longways, leaving a legged half whose hooves were still twitching with the suddenness of its death.

I just sighed, mind weary and laden with the weight of empty emotions.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 45: Demigod

Our walk out of the forest was long and quiet.

We retraced our steps, the trail of carnage we had left on our path through the forest. It was a deeply unpleasant thing to experience, but I feel as if it was required. To see what we had done after the adrenalin had faded from our systems, leaving only weariness and an overwhelming melancholy.

Rethi hadn't commented on the bisection of the beast that had attacked us, but I think he gained an insight into just how powerful I had become. There were not many that would be able to survive a blow like I had dealt to the beast.

I wasn't even sure if Mayer would be able to survive that blow head on, though I'm sure he'd be able to dodge it with practiced ease.

I was convinced that the beast I had slaughtered was weak, only a step or two up from the forest wolves themselves. The power that I had used to kill it was unrefined at best and needed to be trained correctly before I could possibly face something stronger than that, if the danger factor of these sorts of beasts scaled exponentially.

I could probably win against stronger beings, but it would be a more brutal fight, one that was unlikely to be solved by be sending out a kinetic blade and bisecting them. Especially if they had a more significant intelligence or the ability to shift at all. Any mitigation to my own power would mean that I'd be reduced to a really good punching bag.

We finally made it back to the camp, emerging from the tree line and quickly venturing down the path to our small collection of belongings.

Alena was there, of course. She looked furious. No, incensed. But she took one look at Rethi, who was coated in drying blood, and she began to fuss over the boy in a total shift of temprament. I walked down to the river only a few minutes away from the camp and washed my hands of the blood.

It was a sad action, difficult and frustrating, but something that I was sure would punctuate every battle I am in. After my hand were clean I laid back in the damp grass and just let the sounds of the water soothe me, as if being close the gently meandering water cleansed how I felt inside.

I heard yelling and argument from the camp. Probably an emotional moment between the couple. It went on for a few minutes before it became quiet, and I could only hear the soft sobbing of two children who really shouldn't have to tortured by the world like this.

Impending wars, terrifying monsters lurking in the further reaches of Virsdis, taboo magical powers, and a fragile, juvenile love being strained by a duty to the world and to a strange man with a silver hammer.

We had originally intended to move off as soon as we were done with the wolves…

But I think the town can wait, if just for a night.

---​

I didn't return to my tent that night. I spent my time by that river and relaxed under the dim moonlight, unworried by anything that might lurk in the darkness. I stared up at the other world that circled this one, what was displayed to us mostly shrouded in the dark on night-time. I wondered what life was like there, what was happening on that pearl in the sky.

Had the Champions already started to stake their claims? Had there already been battles?

I couldn't possibly know.

The hours passed as I contemplated, looking up at the stars and into the other world. The sun slowly began to rise, lighting up the worlds erratically at first, and then slowly bringing a more complete shine a few hours later.

I tore myself from the comfortable patch of grass that I had laid in for the night and moved towards the little camp. Alena was awake, keeping watch over a small mound of quiet coals. I nodded to her, and she did the same.

No words were exchanged as I prepared the horses, something that very quickly became second nature on the trail, despite my disuse of the horses themselves. I slowly gave the horse a clean and a brush before preparing the saddles and strapping much of our items to them. Rethi was up by now, being helped by Alena in taking the tents down and packing them up. Before long, the horses were fully packed, and we started our journey back to the village.

After the afternoon of melancholy, Rethi, Alena and I began to joke around again. Idly chatting the trip away. There was lots of discussion on what had happened, and Rethi managed to keep the even remarkably genuine for Alena to understand. Though he did leave out his mistake in cutting a pregnant wolf's belly.

I also began to force Alena into healing self-inflicted wounds, or wounds that I obtained through training spars with Rethi. Most of the attempts were for naught or doing far more damage than the initial wound, but every once in a blue moon, in tens of tries, the wound would heal almost perfectly, disregarding scarring and a certain amount of function loss depending on the injury.

What was impressive about the healing, was not that my flesh was being healed but that the injuries that were being healed were the sorts of injuries that medical science back on Earth had nightmares of. Massive amount of muscle, nerve, and spinal cord damage.

In one extremely exciting example, Alena managed to heal a severed spinal cord, right at the base of my neck, effectively making me a quadriplegic. I don't even need to say how extremely impressive that is. The only issue that I seemed to have retained was a slight numbness in the outer fingers of my left hand. Why that was, I couldn't possibly tell you, but going from entirely functionless to slight numbness in a few fingers?

It was those few days of travel that I think Alena came to understand just why I thought her healing abilities were so impressive. Sure, a generous seventy percent of the time, she turned the wound into a self-perpetuating tumour that would consume any regular person's body in a matter of minutes and effectively eat itself to death or turn you into a totally different organism. But the few times the healing worked, it would turn a person from entirely uncapable of movement or control over parts of their body, all the way to only minorly inconvenienced by their disability.

I had even let her try to heal a brain injury once, a pretty severe one that Rethi had caused by accidentally shoving his sword too far into my eye socket. I was left very confused and unable to find my balance, having difficulty with speech. Though I somehow made it obvious that I wanted Alena to try heal me before I let my 'natural' healing take place.

Let's just say that the feeling of a tumour suddenly exploding inside your skull, and rapidly leaking out of your eye socket isn't the most fun experience in the world. She didn't heal for the rest of that day. Thankfully, I can regenerate my brain from basically any amount of damage at this point, my divine power not being as precious about the head as my other regeneration factor had been for whatever reason.

Though the next day she managed to fix a concussion really easily, so there is definitely potential of healing more advanced or complicated brain injury, which would completely change the landscape of injury as this world knows it.

Alena now willingly does her healing on me whenever she gets the chance, slowly becoming just as excited about the possibilities as myself. Though I wasn't fooled, she still had that deep set of swirling emotions that constantly assailed her mind when the thought was brought up, kneecapping any progress severely.

Otherwise, the ride home was remarkably quiet. No signs from Gallar or anyone from the Hearth Court, which was a little disappointing. I had felt such a strong connection to the man when I spoke with him, it was almost like being separated from an older brother you never knew you had.

As I mused about my Divine brother, the path slowly became better and better maintained, slowly progressing into the road that passed through the destroyed and derelict outskirts of the town and progressing inwards towards the centre, where the road was in far better condition, having been frequented with just about every human and animal that the town had to offer.

I tasked Rethi and Alena with the stabling of the two horses, which was really just a good excuse to leave the two of them alone for a while, say their goodbyes after the weeklong trip. I myself made my way towards Mayer's home. Oddly refreshed by finally being back 'home'.

The sound of the wooden steps up to the door, and the familiar creek as I opened it. The warm and scented air inside, washing over you as the door opened, the smell of tea and the warmth of a clean fire almost ever present. I pulled off the shoes I had been using for the past few days, letting them flop to the flood. Though I had taken time to wash myself each night, even having the luxury of a bar of rudimentary soap on our trip, my feet still smelt terribly from the general sweat, something I unfortunately hadn't managed to overcome, despite my sudden divinity.

I walked down the hallways and poked my head into the lounge room and immediately growing a grin. Mayer sat in his luxurious chair, behind him the fire crackled gently, warming the room against the creeping chill of the eve.

"Good afternoon, Master Mayer!" I said, putting on my hammiest posh accent, drawing out the words in an overly conciliatory way. The older man, bushy eyebrowed and stern face cracked into a smile that you'd swear didn't suit him but did even so.

"Good afternoon to you too, kid." I waggled my finger in front of his face, moving closer teasingly.

"Tsk tsk. I'll have you know that I am no longer a 'kid'! I am a bonafide, newly minted man of faith!" Mayer's right eyebrow rose, posing a question with it.

"Oh? Meet a God on your little adventure did you?" He jabbed. I laughed raucously, and he began to join me, finding hilarity in the notion until I cut him off.

"Of course I did, old pal!" Mayer went very still. The whole mood instantly changed, and his suddenly widened eye bored into mine.

"Who?" He asked.

"Gallar." I responded. His brow creased in half remembrance.

"Court?"

"A First One of the Hearth Court." The older man's eyes widened still with my response. He quickly set down his tea and requisitioned his hand to his lap because it began to shake. I had never seen the man so perturbed, and it was starting to worry me.

"A First One, Max?" He placed a hand against his forehead and kneaded his scalp with the ball of his palm. "I haven't heard of a First One of any Court greeting a mortal on their first interaction with Court." The older man's eyes darkened with worry.

"Well, he did make it pretty obvious that it wasn't exactly normal for a God of his status to go walkabouts. Especially with all that 'the other Courts are watching my Court' business." I said, treating the situation with a little more levity. Mayer was taking this harder than I expected. Maybe interaction with Gods was a little less common than I had brought myself to believe. Mayer was fiddling with his fingers and rubbing against his hair with a look of pure consternation on his face.

"What did this Gallar want? I hope you didn't take any deals, Max." I looked up into Mayer's eyes and he knew instantly from my awkward smile that I had, indeed, made a deal.

"In my defence, the dude seemed genuine…" But Mayer didn't let me even finish my sentence.

"Maximilian. He. Is. A. God." Mayer thundered. I had never seen him so angry. Not even remotely close to when he had mentioned the last Champion War. But this was a seething, explosive anger.

"I understand that, Mayer." I said, a steel working itself into my voice.

"I'm not sure that you do, Max. Making deals with a God isn't something to be flippant about! Gods are historically conniving, almost regardless of their domains." Mayer sighed heavily and got up to pour himself more tea, motioning to me if I wanted some and I nodded. Well, hopefully that meant he wasn't too angry… I better wait until I get my tea before I tell him more of what happened. I might get my cup thrown at me.

A minute later we were both sipping from hot cups of tea, Mayer silently processing.

"What was the deal?" He demanded. I agonised over how to frame the situation, trying to make sure that he got as complete a view as he could of the context.

"Well, honestly Mayer. I think it was more that he was pleading for a deal with me." Mayer's eyebrow twitched.

"He wanted something you have?" He questioned, and I shook my head.

"I mean, in that I don't think he could have forced it on me unless I wanted it. It seemed… steeped in tradition, to say the least of it." Mayer grumbled, but nodded.

"So, what were the conditions?" I shrugged emphatically.

"Everything I was already going to do." He gave me an odd look, his expression stuck between bewilderment and darkening.

"So they just wanted a Champion on their side? You've made yourself a pawn in their game?"

"In a way. I think they've been planning for this eventuality for a while. From what I could glean, it seemed like the Hearth Court has been forced into a 'subservient' role to the other Courts." Mayer thought for a moment.

"Is that simply an effect of their domain?"

"No, I don't think so. I think they may have been forced into subservience because of their political power and their ability to gather information. I think that they have had to sit back and watch horrors committed and ignored by Gods that are too vain, power hungry or paranoid to act.

"They want me to save the worlds from another Champion War."

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 46: Gods and their Involvement

Mayer looked at me, holding back his suspicion while thinking through this supposed 'help' from the divine.

"I don't know the past between the wars and the Gods, but I can have a guess and say probably not good." Mayer nodded solemnly.

"The Courts treated it as a power grab. Most of the Upper Courts controlled a very powerful Champion, blessing them with some mundane power and using the Champion's drive to get home to achieve their own ends. Which, conveniently, has been disregarded as a few priests getting uppity and supporting Champions. Most God involvement in the wars has only made things worse…" Mayer growls but gives up his anger with a frustrated sigh.

"Well, honestly, as far as I can tell this 'deal'—if you can call it that—was in good faith." Mayer scoffed but I just shot him an unamused glance, "I think they were gambling on me."

"A gamble? Gods are too 'wise' to gamble. What's the catch?"

"The catch is that there is no catch. I think they are putting all their money on black and crossing their fingers, Mayer." My seriousness started to dissuade him from his scorn, slowly bringing him to the important questions.

"You say that, but how can you know that really did bet everything on you. It seems remarkably stupid for a court of Gods." I shrugged.

"Maybe it is stupid, Mayer. But maybe the lack of 'smart' and 'tactical' decisions is what saves the world, rather than appealing to the conservative route. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hearth Court was currently up in flames, having a collective existential meltdown because of the massive risk they just took." The man was well and truly serious now. Almost scared by the thought of Gods being that willing to take a risk on the scale that I was describing. And then it hit Mayer's brain that he had forgotten to truly extract out of me what I'd gained from the 'deal'. With no small amount of worry laden in his voice, he asked:

"What, exactly, did you get out of this, Maximilian." I felt like I was about to get dressed down by the principal. I put on my grandest shit eating grin and, with no small amount of bravado, exclaimed:

"I, Master Mayer, have been made into a living Demigod."

One second passed, then two, and before long it was clear that a fuse had well and truly fried within Mayer's brain. I huffed with mock offense.

"Honestly Mayer, Rethi dealt with this news better than you." With a laugh, the man started to slowly smile, before manically cackling for a good five minutes.

"A Demigod! Honestly?" He said between peals of laughter My own laughter his only affirmation.

It took far too long for the both of us to calm down to the point where it was possible to have a halfway reasonable conversation. Even then, most of it was a babbling mess.

"Well, what did becoming a Demigod do?" The first reasonable question to come out of Mayer after his laughing fit was a good one. Something I'm not all that sure of myself.

"Well, a few things. One is that my Soul Hammer is even heavier, which kind of pisses me off," Mayer let out a harsh bark of laughter, "other than that, my soul is apparently unable to be enslaved by anyone under Demigod level themselves. Can't imagine there are too many Demigod level beings just walking around, enslaving people willy-nilly." Mayer assumed a thoughtful expression.

"I don't really know what constitutes as a Demigod level being, Max. I'd still be careful about it, because I have a few people in mind that could probably count as something similar in strength alone. What else?" I screwed up my nose at that. Don't be worried but be worried anyways. Perfect.

"It totally mucked around with the structure of my soul, and also planting a soul seed in there. Not sure what it's going to do, or when it'll happen, but we'll get to that when we get there." Mayer looked perturbed about someone 'mucking about' with a soul, but just nodded, "Along with that, I gained access to the domain of a Hearth God. Which makes sense, seeing as I'm effectively a baby Hearth God." Mayer chuckled at the thought of a 'baby God'.

"So no major jump in power then?" I shrugged.

"Well there is definitely some power gained, mostly in utility with the domain aura I can use. It makes people feel safer in the aura, which is pretty handy in social situations, obviously, but it can also be used to help in battle, though it feels icky to use it that way. Apart from that I think my regeneration is more powerful now." Mayer nodded solemnly, understanding the sentiment.

"So that's it then, just adding to the potential you already have." He hummed at the thought for a few seconds, "Gotta say, not the worst divine deal I've heard of. The only better deals I've heard of at pure legend. No idea if it ever happened." I snorted indignantly.

"I'll have you know, Gallar specifically said that he'd never seen someone be given a Court Blessing before, let alone a divine seed. So I think we are safely in uncharted territory." Mayer raised a questioning eyebrow, "I'd trust the guy that threw around statements like 'millions of years' without a moment pause, Mayer. He is a First One, after all." Mayer just rolled his eyes, about to quip back before I stopped him with the clearing of my throat.

"I guess there is one more thing. I think being Court Blessed and having that seed put in me cut me off from the God of my old world. I have no access to the screens anymore, or any achievements. I gained nothing from killing the wolves or the big boar-like thing in the forest. So I think that's the last line cut off." I smiled, more bitterly than I intended. Mayer, in his absolute seriousness, took the information in stride. He got up from his seat, walked over to me, offered me a hand which I took, and pulled me out of the chair and crushed me in a hug.

"That wasn't an easy sacrifice to make, Max, no matter how you spin it. The sentiment you spoke to me about all those months ago convinced me of your virtuousness, but this…" He patted me heavily on the back, "you are nothing short of a hero. If anyone was going to become a God, I don't think I could complain with it being you, Max. A man willing to leave behind his entire world for another." I hugged the man back strongly and we stood there for a good few minutes.

I had already come to terms with never going back home, leaving my friends and family to live without me, and truly cutting myself of was merely the funeral after the death. In a way, it was barely an emotional topic anymore, it was almost relieving, knowing that I was unable to be tempted, to be entirely committed to my own word. It was the most terrifyingly overwhelming decision I could have made… but now that it was made, I felt focused.

I parted myself from the man's embrace and smiled cheekily.

"I'll treat you good if you keep serving me tea, Mayer." We grinned at each other as we both sat back down.

"So, how did the actual subjugation itself go?" Mayer asked, finally getting around to the proper discussion he was intending to have.

"Well enough… and incredibly unpleasant." Mayer nodded knowingly.

"Rethi?" He asked, question implied.

"Same as myself, really. Lost a bit of his bluster but came out of it better than he was before. I think he found a new respect for his sword and what he was doing with it."

"Good. I was worried about that. The kid is a savage when it comes to fighting us, but fighting that way against things that you are actually hurting and killing is very different. You said something about a big boar?" I nodded

"Was what was causing the forest wolves to push further out, I'd guess. Terrible thing, full of all sorts of rage. Ended up killing is pretty easily, especially with the upgrade to by hammer."

"You actually managed to swing it?" Mayer asked, eyebrow raised.

"Just once, summoning mid-swing of course. Managed to bisect it." Mayer grimaced.

"Can't have been pretty. Groust, the boar thing you fought, are massive pests. All they do is disrupt and destroy. I had a good feeling that it'd be what you'd find but, well, it's Virsdis. Could have been anything, really."

"Well, either way, the day was a harrowing experience, as well as an interestingly romantic experience." I grinned as Mayer looked at me glumly.

"So she was with you two then? Did Rethi smuggle her into a pack or something equally as silly?" He asked.

"Nah, apparently she ran behind us the whole first day." There was a small hint of surprise in the man's eyes. "Obviously, I let her tag along after that little display of madness. I didn't feel like adding another two days to the trip when I could just prop her up on my horse and I could run beside the two of them. Lots of teen romantic drama that I managed to mostly avoid."

"But blew up in your face anyways?" He gave a knowing grin.

"Of course." I nodded sagely. "But I did find out some interesting information either way. Turns out that little miss Gram has a specialty of her own, she's a—"

"She is a life shifter, I know. I've known for years." I was left with my mouth hanging open, words slipping from my lips. I pouted and crossed my arms childishly.

"You're no fun." He grinned, full mouth of pearly whites gleaming with mischievousness.

"Hey, you just dropped a world changing bomb on me, I can at least know about the Apothecaries' daughter." I rolled my eyes and waved away the conversation.

"Anyway, just giving you a heads up that I've been letting her use my body as a test case when I get hurt." Mayer exploded from his chair.

"What?" He said, dangerously low.

"I said I—" I began smugly before I was so rudely interrupted.

"I know what you damn well said. Gods, kid, Life shifters are dangerous! One accidental move on their part and they've created—"

"A massive walking tumour who is constantly eating itself, mindlessly wandering under their indirect command. Yeah, got that one from the mediocre rundown on why life shifters are bad from the girl herself," I scoffed "it's all semantics anyway."

Mayer looked at me flabbergasted for a moment before sitting himself back down in his chair and rubbing his brow in a vain attempt to combat the aneurysm waiting to happen in his head.

"So what, in your infinite wisdom, have you let her heal, Lord God Maximilian?"

"Oh, you know, just a few minor arm injuries, fingers, broken bones," he nodded, breathing a sigh of relief, "A spinal cord injury and a severe brain injury as well. Y'know for prosperity." Mayer groaned, I just snickered.

"Honestly, it wasn't even that bad. When it all went wrong and tumours started to grow out of my eye socket, it was actually pretty easy to wait for the pressure inside my skull to pop the top, with a little help from Rethi's sword, and then excise the tumour out of my brain, along with a bit extra. Easy peasy."

"You could have properly died, Max. I know you have healed from minor brain injuries before, but one as extreme as that could have crippled you." He said, but his tone was defeated.

"I know, Mayer. But I think I might be as close to immortal as I ever could be while being actually mortal. I'm not sure that anything short of some crazy shifting stuff or having my body literally annihilated could kill me. Even then, I might just regenerate from a small bit of errant flesh. The regeneration is probably linked to my soul itself, so that's handy." Mayer let out a long sigh mixed with a humourless laugh.

"Well, at least I don't have to be so worried about you dying on me then." He took a few moments to recentre his thoughts, "What do you intend to do with the girl?" I shrugged.

"Nothing special. She can tag along if she wants." Mayer rolled his eyes forcing a grin out of me, "But when she does, because she definitely will, I'm probably going to try and make her into the world's greatest healer that has ever existed with a side of medical revolution. You know, the standard Demigod fare." Mayer considers for a moment before hesitantly nodding.

"I can… certainly see the logic to it. She'll be fighting an uphill battle against public opinion though." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"She can change that. Especially when she will one day be able to cure whole villages of fatal diseases and immunise the entire future population against that same disease, effectively wiping it out forever." Mayer had that look on his face that just meant that his head was hurting from all the bullshit I was throwing him.

"Goddamn Champions and their innovation." Mayer jokingly shook his fist at me.

"Hey, I'm not a Champion, I'm a God, I'll have you know!"

"Curse the Gods and their meddling." He said, now shaking his fist at the roof.

I laughed, Mayer laughed.

And then the fireplace laughed.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 47: Unsettling News

Mayer whipped around, quickly springing up from the chair and staring at the fireplace, hands glowing with a cool light.

"Now, now, no need for that, Mayer." A jovial voice, not too dissimilar to Gallar's, but reedier and more bookish than the heavyset innkeeper's.

"Who are you?" Mayer said quietly, though underneath the level-headed dialogue was a fiercely caution.

"Well, I can't tell you that, Mayer. Unfortunately, the other Gods have become very good at tracking us, and with our First One coming to greet young Maximilian over there, they've become highly suspicious of our activity." The fire crackled, as if adding a full stop to his sentence. Mayer nodded slowly clearly still suspicious, but I had another plan. I took in a breath and slowly extended my aura of safety outwards, reaching towards the fireplace and felt it snap to another domain, like a magnetic piece of metal.

"Ooh, very good little brother! I was just a bout to ask you to do just that." The pleased voice thrummed through the fire, then after a moment a feeling of relation was sent through the connected auras, just for a moment, and then cut off.

"What was that?" I asked, cautiousness gone, replaced with curiousness.

"Bah, nothing complex. I believe that a similar technique is possible with shifting. I believe the kingdoms use it to verify the blood of an heir to the throne. I may be mistaken, the topic frankly bores me to no end." I turned to look at Mayer, a questioning look.

"A bloodright ritual?" He inquired of the fireplace.

"Ah, yes that is the one. Though less spilling of the blood and more swapping of the divine energy that lies within us. If the divine energies are mutually compatible, you are of the same Court, it's as simple as that. Some courts simply connect their divine energies together permanently." There was a motion in the fire that you could have sworn was a shrug.

"Why doesn't every God do that?" I asked, earning a look from Mayer that said something along the lines of 'Is this really time for question and answer?'.

"No, this is the perfect time for question and answer! Well, for the limited time I'm able to be here before the other courts start sniffing in the right direction. The answer to your question, brother, it that it comes with the benefit of true connection, but with the downside of individuality and physical freedom within the divine realm."

"You can use the bloodright ritual to take over someone's identity?" Mayer asked, perturbed by the possibility.

"Absolutely not. The worst you could get from a bloodright ritual is a blood curse." The fire said firmly, "Though the basis of the ritual itself is nigh identical, divine energy is a fundamental part of a God's being. To link yourself to a collection of Gods for a long period of time is to sacrifice identity for power. Somewhat like an army versus a small mercenary group." Mayer seemed mollified with that.

"I can imagine why the Hearth Court isn't interested." I said with a knowing grin.

"Of course! I couldn't dare to sacrifice any of my superb intellect and charm!" I could feel the grin through the fire. Mayer laughed heartily, finally putting down his guard and moving his chair to face the dancing flame in the fireplace.

"Oh Gods, I can't possibly understand why you decided that Max was a good fit for the Hearth Court." I did the same to my chair, pulling closer to the fire.

"Hey, that's hurtful!" I say, smiling all the while.

"Yeah, Max was a perfect fit." The unnamed hearth God chuckled, "Though we only found him because we were trying to track you down, Mayer." Mayer's head quirked to the side in surprise.

"Why would your court be looking for me? I can't imagine that I ideologically fit with the hearth court very well." The flames stopped dancing for a moment.

"Do you want to save the world from the impending war with the Champions of Earth?" The voice asked, curiously. Mayer's nose scrunched up.

"Of course I do." The fire made another pseudo shrugging motion.

"Then we were willing to deal with any other ideological difference. We wanted a warrior, a Champion of our own cause." There was a crackling hum as the God on the other side of the fire thought. "Though, I don't believe you would have been given a divine seed. You wouldn't have been compatible with our domain closely enough to have survived implanting it within your soul. Maximilian was exceptionally compatible, which lead to a rather last-minute decision on our part."

"I see, so I would have been given this grand blessing by itself, then?" The fire does a facsimile of a nod.

"Indeed. It would have made you quite powerful. But after seeing Maximilian and his work throughout his time in our worlds, as well as his aspirations? Well…" The God paused thoughtfully, "you could say that we had the longest and most intense argument the Hearth Court had ever seen. I believe that it lasted a total of two months, if I remember correctly." Mayer chuckled along with the fire.

"Causing problems for everyone was he?"

"Ooh yes, we were deciding the biggest bet that had ever been made in the entire history of the universe, barring the initial creation, I presume. We are betting millions of years of wealth on our little brother, no pressure." The fire smiled, laughing at my now slightly more pale face.

"That's a lot to be betting on a kid." Mayer said, seriousness creeping back into his voice.

"A kid you say?" The God questioned, "A kid would be hard pressed to make any difference whatsoever in even a town as small as this. During being here, he has managed to employ a poor beggar and help turn them into a capable warrior, deal with a complex social issue that has been inbuilt in the culture of Virsdis and Orisis for thousands of years, manage to set a child who tried to kill him on the correct path, leading him to find a talent in woodworking, convincing those on their deathbeds to give their bodies to science, creating a culture of being conscious of the greater good, and then convincing a young girl that she is capable of changing the world? I'd consider that something a man would be capable of."

Mayer turned to me, amusement clearly written on his face, his thick eyebrow arched high.

"That's quite the rap sheet you have there, Max. Even I didn't know about a few of those."

Even I had forgotten about a few of them. The woodworking one I definitely didn't know about. It was the Jothian boy who had come to attack me, and somehow I'd managed to scare the kid straight. I had said that I'd go check up on him, but I honestly forgot entirely. Good to hear he was doing well for himself, though. Other than that? When you put it that way, it sounded pretty damn impressive. Though I couldn't help but feel that the God was trending towards the more story-telling side of things. I just rolled my eyes in response.

"Either way, we found him exceptionally fitting for our cause and our Court. We had been searching for a long time for someone in the mortal world to properly embody out domain, and our First One has been searching far, far longer. To see him so excited about Max…" The God's voice took on a fond tone, "It was compelling to us. Many of us see him as a father. To see him so excited to bring another of his own ilk into the world? It was compelling in and of itself." I could feel my cheeks reddening as the seemingly endless supply of flattering remarks were made.

I certainly didn't feel impressive, even after I had legitimately become a Demigod, I felt no different than I had, bar some mundane qualities. It slowly reinforced within me just how much I needed to accomplish, if not for me, for those that seemed to trust in me and see that degree of potential within me.

"Oh look, you're making the boy blush!" Mayer said, a grin drawn across his face.

"Of course! We are the next closest things to seducers you know! It's out Godly duty to make people feel better about themselves." The warm but slightly nasal chuckle from the fire just made it hit home how quickly the conversation had been shifted from the immediate suspicion that Mayer had shown. I guess Gallar didn't remark that the Hearth Court were the peacekeepers and Gods of quiet political intrigue for nothing.

"Regardless, I just wanted to let you know that we are here, and I'll likely to be the one contacting you in future. Other than that–" There was a sudden cut off in the God's voice, which seemed odd at first, but over the next few seconds the concern became a real worry when the fire flickered and the voice returned.

"Maximilian, Mayer. A sister that is helping survey your surrounding area just told me some potentially worrying news."

"Go on." Mayer said, not a lick of anxiousness in his voice, sounding entirely task focused. His emotional state was quite similar. In a way, he felt uniquely at home in this sort of situation, which would be more odd to me if I couldn't feel the man radiate his emotional state to the world.

"A few towns over, maybe ten day's ride, there is a–and I quote–'man cloaked in shadow' wandering in your direction. She managed to catch a conversation between a farmer and another man where the farmer recounted being asked by the cloaked man about inn prices. He had no horse of companions, and talking to him seems to have given the farmer a bad case of the shakes." Mayer thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Any more information you can give us?"

"Nothing. That was the only lead we have. We don't have much time, and I won't be able to contact you again for a good while. We won't be able to get you any more information. Be careful, Maximilian." The fire suddenly disappeared, somehow sucking the warmth out of the room with it.

Mayer and I sat there for a few moments, staring perplexedly into the quiet fireplace.

"That didn't sound good." I said dumbly. Mayer didn't bother to respond, his affirmation obvious. A moment later, the man clicked his fingers and a small flame sputtered to life, floating mid air, somehow surviving without wood to fuel it. A testament to Mayer's shifting abilities that he can read and to other tasks and maintain a completely safe burning fire in the other room, even.

"I believe I know who is coming towards us and if I'm right, there is no amount of running that would get us away from them." He said as he stared into the fire.

"What do you mean we can't run away from them? Surely I could." Mayer just shook his head in the negative.

"If this were anyone else, I'd have a large amount of confidence that you could get away from them. But if this is who I think it is, then there are few people who could dream of running from them." Mayer sighed deeply as he slouched back into his chair, "You are fast in a very mundane way, Max. You can run forever at a truly impressive speed. But when you add shifting into the mix, and the sheer amount of experience that they have with it? No. We can't run." He began to rub his forehead gently in a circular motion, an action that seemed to calm him slightly.

"So who is this person then?"

"A Keeper." I turned to the man, eyebrow raised.

"Keeper? Like a beekeeper? Do they keep monsters or something?" Mayer chuckled dryly.

"Close enough, but no. Keepers are a small collection of people that have sacrificed everything to protect the world from what they keep." I rubbed my chin in thought.

"Does that mean there is, or is not a Keeper for monsters?" Mayer just shrugged.

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised. But, I haven't ever heard of one. They seem to focus more on singular categories of things, generally very destructive or harmful, especially in the wrong hands."

"So they go around and collect crazy dangerous stuff? How do they even determine what is dangerous and what isn't and what should be kept from the world and what should be left to help us advance?" I asked, trying to understand the morality of it myself.

"The Keepers are pseudo priests of the Court of Mysteries." I was about to ask how he knew that, when the Court of Gods of Mysteries were involved, but he waved my brewing question away, "They are an open secret. They have their own fairy tales associated with them. Rethi would probably be able to recount a good amount of legends off of the top of his head." You both share a smile at that. The boy loved his stories. We had a bet going that he'd try his hand at writing his own at some point. I took nay just for the sake of it, but we both know he will try at some point, if he hasn't already.

"So, their Gods tell them what to take and where it is?" I concluded.

"Basically." He sighed again and then turned directly to look into my eyes, "Now, the question is, whether they are here for you or me."

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 48: Keeper

I learned much over the next few days, after the dire warning from whatever Hearth God had communicated that a Keeper was coming in our direction.

Mayer had called a group meeting between myself, Rethi and even Alena, to discuss this new info.

The reaction from Rethi had been that starstruck look he always got when Mayer and I discussed some legend in a realistic capacity. It's frequency was slowly declining, as he got used to the fact that his 'Master' was a bona fide Demigod and ex-Champion, for what it was worth. This moment of amazement was quickly washed away when Rethi started to recount what the Keepers actually were to the rest of the group.

The Keepers were a group aligned with the Court of Mysteries, their sole purpose is to track down and take control over dangerous items, artifacts or even beings within their own purview. They were positively legendary, true fairy tale material, according to Rethi.

Mayer, however, thought differently.

"They are entirely real, and have been around a hell of a lot longer than our records of them show, though they have been busy for the last few decades." He had said.

Alena, who wasn't given precisely clear information on just how I got the information, didn't seem to understand why she was involved in this situation all of a sudden. She simply sat her chair and gawked, being thrust into the presence of Mayer himself and learning that the Keepers are real, and not just a feature of a bedtime story.

"How… close are they to their fairy tale counterparts?" She had asked timidly, unsure of how impolite she could get away with being in front of Mayer. Mayer, however, didn't take note of the girl not referring to him in full politeness.

"Fairly close. Though they are far less giving than they seem in the stories. They do not dole out swords and magic items like a merchant would, asking for something in exchange. They take far more than they give, but when they do give items of power out, it's almost always at the behest of the Gods that they work for. They are also far more dangerous."

Which was about all of the information that anyone got out of those hours of discussion.

Mayer knew more, and I suspected he'd actually met a Keeper before, but he didn't elaborate on any past experience he may or may not have had. Though he had said that he was questioning whether the Keeper was there for him or for me, which I found interesting.

Mayer had all sorts of things that a Keeper could potentially want, like that wand for one. Being as valuable as Mayer had said it was gave it a certain possibility, but he had also alluded to people being able to actually make them and I wouldn't be surprised if they were relatively commonplace amongst certain shifting types in Orisis.

I had learned next to nothing about Orisis during my time with Mayer. Too busy doing literally everything else and devoting my time to making pretty footprint patterns in the dirt. But now that it was becoming clear that the day where I would leave was drawing ever closer, it was becoming a point of interest.

However, the days drew closer to the approximate ten days that the hearth court prescribed before the Keeper himself made it to the small nameless town we were anxiously waiting in.

It was indeed nameless as well, in fact this conglomeration of towns along the road Rethi, Alena and I had travelled along were simply called road towns. They rarely lasted longer than a few decades and there were constant influxes and outfluxes of people due to immigration between towns, most likely because of constant issues with bandits and monsters. I didn't even actually know what kingdom I was in, or if there was a kingdom owning this land at all. Mayer would probably know, but if I asked the man every possible question I had about the outside world, his brain would start leaking out his ears from boredom.

It was day eight of the ten-day approximation when the town was set alight with whispers. Apparently, a mysterious man had rented a room at the bar the night before, which happened infrequently enough that the townsfolk actually cared. Especially when they were 'spooky', as the innkeeper had so eloquently put it.

Rethi had brought that information back with him after he made a trip out to Alena's home, being told by Michael Gram who seemed to almost be the towns secret seller, probably for the man's own amusement if nothing else.

"Well, looks like we'll be having a visitor in the next few hours then." Mayer said calmly. Very calmly in fact. You'd be entirely fooled by Mayer, thinking that he had everything well in hand, but I could see into the man's head, so when I took a peek and saw what amounted to factory creating contingency plan after contingency plan blazing with all the speed of anxiousness, I gave Mayer's statement a nod and pretended I had never looked.

"Rethi, I'm going to ask that you sit this one out, mate." I said, trying to put on a similar anxious less guise. Rethi looked at me, scandalized that he was being sent away.

"What do you mean sit this out? We went and mowed down a forest full of wolves, but meeting one guy is too much?" I was pretty obvious he was just being petulant, and even he himself knew that the two things he was comparing wasn't even remotely comparable.

"You've heard what Mayer told us, Rethi." I said warningly. I wasn't going to let the kid convince me that it was a good idea for him to stay while this went down. Rethi huffed, irate. There was that clear frustration that I could feel, the one that everyone has felt once or twice, exclusion. I just raised my eyebrow and the boy rolled his eyes and walked out of the door, probably going over to see Alena instead.

Rethi was usually respectful and understanding, but I can see why he might not be happy with me excluding him from something so big. But I couldn't risk the boy's life if this Keeper really was just as dangerous as Mayer says he is. Mayer walked into the lounge room and plopped himself down into his chair, reclining into as comfortable position as he could.

"Managed to get Rethi away?" He asked quietly. I just nodded and the room was absorbed with the silence.

There wasn't anything to talk about, just waiting for something to happen. The warmth of the midday sun was leaking through the windows, brightening the magnificently crafted wood structure that was Mayer's home. The small trinkets and warm carpets covered the walls and floors, a bookshelf full of books that I had no doubt contained some advanced knowledge on history, though I had never read then and really should have at least tried to.

This room had slowly become one of the only places on Virsdis that I felt I could relax, if only for a moment. For months I had been so consumed by the need to empower myself, feeling distinctly underpowered and overwhelmed by the new world around me. Maybe the other Champions had made better decisions than me, choosing to read and learn and train all at the same time. But I didn't have the mental capacity for all of them, so I chose one and it was learning the Sharah at the cost of everything else.

The silent relaxation that I was able to experience in this room calmed my anxiousness, allowing me to simply think. I knew that at any moment the man we had been anxiously awaiting would arrive, and with him there would be more craziness thrown my way, and that it may very well be the tipping point that will begin my journey across the worlds.

A nail was put in that relaxation, suddenly killing it when the sound of the front door opening and closing rung out through the hallway and into the lounge where we were waiting. I saw Mayer take in a deep, slow breath and look up towards the doorway.

"Keeper." He greeted. I turned to look and saw a tall man, maybe six foot and a bit tall, entirely cloaked in an exceptionally dark travelling cloak with its hood pulled up.

"Mayer Renue." The man said. As soon as the Keeper opened his mouth, his dry and cold voice ringing in my ears, I could feel something distinctly familiar yet so very foreign about him. As I dug deeper into that feeling, I started to be able to sense a sort of aura surrounding the man. It was quiet and understated, secretive almost, but visible enough to know it was there but not enough to know what it truly was.

"A domain." I said without meaning to, surprised to see another domain so soon. The Keeper's head turned towards me slowly, the face underneath the hood totally obscured from my vision. When he looked at me for a few moment I felt that same domain make contact with me and, as if it were blind, feeling over every centimetre of my exposed body.

I felt the need to make the domain stop, but let it happen anyways. I could tell that the domain wasn't doing anything malicious, just incredibly invasive. The tendrils of the domain aura pulled away from me, but with a whoosh the Keeper stepped closer to me, steeping over me like the towers on a gothic cathedral.

"A Champion." His voice boomed with a quiet might that made every hair on my body stand on end. In that very second I realised just how dangerous this Keeper was. He was, no doubt about it, a Demigod level being.

"Keeper Armament," Mayer said calmly, "what are you here for?" The Keeper continued to steep over me, sweat glands that hadn't been properly used in weeks—if not months—started to fire up again, leaving my hands clammy. I desperately tried to see inside the man's head, see any emotion at all, but there was a shroud covering his thoughts and feelings, and without being able to see his eyes at all I wasn't able to pry any further.

"Many reasons." He said unhelpfully. Mayer nodded, as if the answer was entirely reasonable.

"There are many things that are coming to light in recent months, especially on Orisis?" Mayer questioned and the Keeper nodded, shifting to look at me out of the side of his hood for a moment.

"Some are more secretive than others. One is dead. I have their weapon in my care." The Keeper pulled a hand from his cloak. What caught my attention first was not the weapon that he held, but the hand that held it. It was horrifically scarred, mangled almost. If I had seen anyone with injuries even remotely close to the Keeper's I could only believe that they had been flayed or been tortured.

But I didn't keep my eyes on the man's hand for very long, because I soon saw the crossbow that he held. It was mostly a silver looking metal, covered in runic patterns, and a fine wooden stock that was almost silvery as well. It was almost like…

It was. It was a Soul Weapon of another Champion. One of the other fifty that had been brought over to these worlds and one was already dead. I couldn't help but gawk at the weapon. I had assumed that the other Champions were so smart that they couldn't possibly die so early, but apparently they weren't immune to the dangers of this world as much as I had thought. That just meant that I was even less immune.

"They died to the hands of a death shifter a day after their summoning. The death shifter was summarily killed." Mayer just nodded, hiding his surprise. If a life shifter was as dangerous as I knew it to be plus the stories of them creating living abominations, I couldn't imagine what a death shifter could pull off. Apparently they were dangerous enough the be able to kill a Champion.

"Do you know the locations of other Champions?" Mayer asked grimly. The Keeper was still for a while but managed to shake his head.

"No, they are illusive to us. Except for this one." He turned to me and I swear I could feel a blade slicing through my skin, with the same pain as I used to experience before I had become accustomed to the pain of battle.

"And what do you intend for him?" Mayer asked, his tone darkening. The cloaked Keeper turned to look back at Mayer, and in an instant the air was on fire. As they looked at each other, fire shimmered in the air, becoming by far the hottest temperature I had ever experienced. The two men, however, stood stoic against the fire that hung in the air around them, licking at their skin to no effect.

The Keeper, Armament, took a step forwards toward Mayer and the heat rose even further, singeing my hair and lapping at my skin like a ravenous dog.

"I intend to take his Soul."


A/N: Hey there guys, I'm sorry about the short and unintended hiatus. Unfortunately my pup passed beyond the veil, and I've needed some time to just spend time with her before she passed.

Hopefully I will be able to return to normal schedule from now on.

 

[Sarius]

Chapter 49: The Successor

"I see." Mayer said, tone agreeable, but expression stony. "However, I do not think that would be in your best interest, Armament."

"Oh?" The ghastly form intoned.

"Maximilian over here, is not a Champion, but an ex-Champion." Keeper Armament was silent for a while, the heat of the room cooling ever so slightly.

"Explain." Mayer nodded taciturnly and I stayed thoroughly silent, sweating bullets.

"Another Court of Gods reached out to Maximilian and blessed him and cut his ties with the God of his world." The cloaked Keeper turned towards me, giving me a long, hard look from underneath his hood.

"What relevance does this have? Others were blessed by our worlds' Gods, yet they remained Champions in action and principle. Cutting ties with his God, while intelligent and perhaps a correct step, does not change much to my mission."

"Indeed, it does not." Mayer agreed, "However, you might find it pertinent that it wasn't just any blessing that court gave him." The Keeper stopped dead still, the heat and flame leeched out of the air entirely.

"A Court Blessing?" He said softly, and Mayer nodded.

"A Court Blessing and more, Armament. He is a mortal Demigod, the first of his ilk."

In fact, the flame and heat wasn't just leeched from the air, it was getting colder and colder as time went on. Then he spoke to me, his voice the sound of shattering ice.

"Summon your weapon." His order was almost overwhelmingly powerful, a mixture of anger, surprise and possibly… hope? I pulled my hammer from my hand in record speed, leaking from my palm like liquid fire. The fully formed thing was gigantic, even against my own form. The slightly darker silver contrasting with the extremely bright divine light that coursed through the runic markings that adorned the flat, block head to the horn at the back, and travelling down the haft towards the wrapped hilt and pommel.

I laid the hammer head on the floor of Mayer's home with as much grace as I possibly could, the wood groaning under the stress of the hammer's gargantuan weight, though Mayer probably had the floors super reinforced on the odd occasion you might need an immensely heavy Soul Weapon summoned in the lounging area.

The Keeper immediately moved closer, scouring the hammer with his obscured eyes. He seemed specifically interested in the markings on the hammer themselves, silently analysing it. Though it wasn't long before a hand came up to touch the hilt.

I started to open my mouth to tell him to not touch, but it only took a quick shake of Mayer's head to keep my lips sealed tight, especially with that doomsday expression on his face.

As the Keeper's scared and mangled hands caressed the dark silver metal gently, I realised that his touch wasn't unpleasant. I don't know what it was, but he managed to make it a not entirely uncomfortable experience, despite him quite literally touching the manifestation of my soul as a weapon.

"It is true then. This is undoubtedly divine energy, much greater in quality then what a God themselves could provide another, so it can only be your own energy." He mused, even as he picked up the hammer by the furthest end of the hilt easily, hefting the unknowably heavy hammer without even a hitch in his voice when he did so.

"Which Court granted you Godhood, child?" He spoke softly as he admired the hammer in his hand. Even the floors underneath his feet didn't groan with stress as he swung the hammer without so much as a worry that he might hit something within the home.

"I don't think it'd be fair of me to say, Keeper Armament. I'm sure that a man such as yourself would be able to hazard a guess." I said, keeping my voice as neutral as possible in the face of the terrifying man swinging my hammer around more skilfully than I had seen Mayer wield a short sword.

The Keeper's clouded hood turned to me, and for just a moment I could swear that I could see the barest hint of a face, smiling.

"Ah, the Hearth Court then." I managed to school my own expression, though I couldn't be sure it escaped either Armament or Mayer's notice.

"What leads you to that conclusion, Armament?" Mayer asked, as if her were only curious. Armament deftly laid the head of the hammer down at his side, letting it rest while he thought.

"There are not many who can hide from the Court of Mysteries, Mayer Renue, and far fewer still that can hold secrets from them. In fact, I believe the Hearth Court to be the only Court to hold a secret from them for more than a few thousand years. This, however?" He hefted the hammer and tapped at the side of the hammer head, where the larges conglomeration of runic patters were inscribed.

"This is a far larger secret than I could have ever expected. I had always suspected they held something just out of the Court of Mysteries' reach, but to manage this right underneath their noses…" The Keeper trailed off.

"Do you mean the seed?" I asked. Mayer gave me a look, but I ignored it. This man was easily strong enough to wipe all of us off the map, and I'm not even sure that I could bet on Mayer and be confident. He also already seemed to know everything that was important. At this point, it felt stupid to ignore it. Maybe it was my Domain of safety, which I had unknowingly extended after things started getting sketchy, but I was willing to risk it.

"The seed, is a Divine Seed." I nodded at the man, already knowing that little factoid, "But it also isn't any normal Divine Seed."

"How so?" Mayer asked, a hint of worry making it into his voice.

"A 'true' Divine Seed is something far too powerful to plant into a mortal's soul, even those as strong as Champions. Even mortals as strong, or stronger than I." I scrunched my nose up at that.

"Then how could it have been planted into mine? I know that Ga–" I stopped myself, "the God who granted my Godhood said a lot of it had to do with my connection and alignment to the Hearth domain." The hood bobbed in acknowledgement.

"You are correct, it did. However, even still it would have surely killed you. However, this seed is far different. This is manufactured, somehow, someway, to be a seed of a seed."

"So wait, does that mean I am or am not a Demigod?"

"You are, in every sense of the word. But to move past simply being a Demigod, this seed will have to grow to become more than the precursor of the Seed of Divinity." I couldn't help but let a confused expression leak onto my face, desperately trying to unpack the Keeper's words, but he seemed content to let me question.

"Though I will note that not just anyone would be able to meld this seed to their own soul. For I would most certainly perish within moments of this seed being planted within me, any energy my soul contains being drawn till it was dry and then dying with me. I only know of a handful that would survive the process, even fewer that would wake up from the endless sleep they would find themselves in faster, and no-one that could possibly stand before me like you do only days, maybe weeks since the seed was planted." The man picked up my hammer and placed it back at my side gently, almost reverently.

Honestly, I just took it all as a compliment. It just seemed that I was an anomaly of an anomaly, and to think that I legitimately though that I was nothing special, huh?

"Regardless of the Demigod's hammer. I also wish to speak to you Mayer. Of Hindle." Mayer froze at the word, though made no other expression.

"What of it?"

"The sword has been in your possession for far too long. I gave it to you during the war, however, the war has long since ended. The sword is far too likely to end up in the wrong hands the longer that it stays out of my care." Mayer took a deep breath in and slouched in his chair.

"I understand, Armament. I'm not as young as I once was, and fighting in the war will only kill me, now. But…" Armament looked at Mayer, graciously allowing him to ponder for a moment before returning to his thought.

"I understand that the sword is dangerous, and that it should be kept in the correct hands. But I think that I may have a successor." Armament walked towards Mayer, a chilly breeze following him.

"This was not in our agreement, Mayer. The sword was for you and only you. The Court of Mysteries lambasted me for that decision even still."

"I know. But I think he has a better chance of making a difference in the new war than even I." The Keeper stood very still, you'd almost believe that he was a mannequin if he hadn't walked around and swung my hammer about.

"This successor. Where is he?" The Keeper demanded. Ever since the whole 'I'll take your soul' thing, he seems to be far more agreeable than before. I feel like Mayer and Armament know each other better than they let on.

"Right outside, of course." Mayer said casually, "Rethi! Get yourself in here."

I watched silently as, after a short pause, the front door softly creaked open and a set of nervous footsteps travelled down the hall and a black-haired youth popped around the corner. I gave him an unimpressed look, and he responded with a wry smile.

Then Rethi saw Armament. The bolt of fear that hit him as he did was almost amusing, if I hadn't been experiencing the overwhelming presence of the man since he walked in.

"This is your successor? A village boy?" Armament asked, though decidedly without the derision that you'd expect.

"You and I both know that being a village boy has nothing to do with how well you can learn the sword. And I can tell you that, while Rethi is… unexceptional in his swordplay," Rethi grimaced at that, unable to argue, "he has the ruthlessness and drive that he needs to be truly great. Besides, we both know that skill was hardly ever the requirement to wield Hindle."

Armament stood, unpersuaded. He looked towards the young man that stood in front of him. He was slightly taller than the average for his approximate age, and was well built, clearly having put in an inordinate amount of work to create his physique.

"But he is just that. Unexceptional. In my travels I could find others just like him. I'm likely to find another in this very village." The Keeper countered. Rethi was well and truly pale by this point. Apparently being argued over by a Demigod level being and Mayer wasn't pleasant. Though I guess I had my own taste of that.

"True. But none are dedicated to serve a Demigod of the Hearth, to aid him in his quest to save our worlds from destruction." Mayer shot back. Keeper Armament, if I could see his face, probably looked suitably unimpressed.

"What is the real reason, Renue?" The older man looked thoughtful for a moment before he returned his gaze to the Keeper.

"Because he has what it takes. All he needs is the opportunity."

The resulting silence lasted a long, long time. Minutes maybe, but the look the two men shared was it's own sort of intense conversation in and of itself. I could pick up some of the emotions coming from Mayer, mostly a stubbornness and pride, but still nothing from Armament.

"I see." The ghastly Keeper said after a long while. "I will take this risk, if not for what you have given the Court of Mysteries in the past, then for honouring our agreement for all these decades." Mayer nodded thankfully, not one to become exuberantly excited when things go his way.

"However." The Keeper continued, "I require to see Hindle passed on in front of me. I will not let it happen on your leisure." Mayer's jaw clenched, the muscles tensing up the side of his face in an almost-grimace.

"Of course." Mayer said slowly, which Armament seemed to take as good enough. The Keeper turned back to look at Rethi, scouring his eyes over the young man like he had for my hammer.

"You are in for an extremely unpleasant experience, young warrior. I hope that it is worth it. For both of our sakes." Then he walked right past Rethi, footsteps absolutely silent and cloak barely moving. You'd swear he was floating.

"I, uh, what?" Rethi stammered out. With all of the heavy conversations and clashing ideals, the bou hadn't even managed to get a word in edgewise.

"'What' is the word of the hour it seems." Mayer said, sighing heavily as the Keeper closed the door on his way out.

"What's this about successors and 'Hindle'?" The boy said frustrated, looking to me for answers. Come to think of it, neither Mayer nor Armament explained what was actually being discussed to Rethi, and even I was blindsided by all this talk.

"Don't look at me. This was all sprung on me as well." Rethi's frustration grew as he turned his fiery gaze towards Mayer.

"Tell me." He said commandingly, and Mayer just chuckled ruefully.