When he woke up, Gabriel had no idea where he was.

His head swayed, his stomach was roaring, and his bladder felt like it was about to explode. Around him was darkness, but only for a few seconds. His eyes adjusted to it very fast. He could tell that he was in a shallow grotto, which exit opened into a forest swarming with green. Judging by the light, it was midday.

But it wasn't his bodily need that woke him up. It was the cries.

He remembered the sounds he was hearing. He had already heard them before. He heard them on the road that led him, Liz, and Olivia to Kanceldom.

Gabriel got up, shaking those thoughts away.

Around him was nobody. He had been undressed and placed under a cover. Thank God, this time, he still had his underpants.

Gabriel had no idea what had happened after they left the Dungeon. His last coherent memory was of jumping through the sky in an utterly uncaring, fearless way.

Was that memory really his? He didn't care. What he cared about at the moment instead was Liz's presence. Where was she?

He could feel that she was not distant. However, his Bond with her felt… stretched. There probably had to be a limit to how much they could be apart, maybe even for how long they could be distant. What was important was that she wasn't in danger. In fact, focusing, he could feel… thrill coming from her. She was enjoying herself.

Gabriel was instead alone. By the entrance of the cave stood a campfire. It was being maintained low, for it was useless at this time of the day. But around it, he could see traces of passage. At least there were people with him, and judging by how he had been treated, he was not being enslaved. Then what could have happened? Did he just faint and forget everything after that jump?

Gabe decided to check on his resources to guess the passage of time through his Mana pool. It was full, which meant that he had been sleeping for around two days, at the least, or- no. He couldn't even tell that now because when he stood in darkness or dark places, his Mana regeneration doubled.

At this point, I just need to get out and find somebody, maybe Olivia, to tell me what-

A flash of a memory stopped him in his tracks. He had spoken to Olive before, right? Like the previous day? What did he say to her?

Yet, no matter how much he tried, Gabriel couldn't remember.

He shook his head. It was better to focus on the moment.

After a quick burst of corruption-tainted Mana, he pulverized everything soiling his body; then he quickly did the same with his ruined armor, which was resting by his unusable backpack. The whole process did barely consume three points of Mana. He had started having perfect control over it.

As much as his armor was unusable, he had to wear it, it acted as general clothes, and it was all he had now.

Wait! There was one thing missing, the Sk'rayr spear.

Gabriel shot out of the grotto wide-eyed, his heart beating like a drum.

Right away, he found himself squinting. There was quite a bit of light right in front of the grotto. It came from above, but it seemed unnatural, incongruous with the rest of the vegetation. Lifting his head up, he noticed that the natural ceiling formed by the trees' crowns should have been covering the grotto's entrance.

It had been cut away, removed. It now looked like a perfect hole in the vegetation and spawned for roughly twenty feet, enough for covering the space around the cavern.

But his main problem was still his spear. Who had taken it? Where could it be? Then he slapped his forehead. That was no problem at all, not anymore, anyway.

Gabriel stuck his arm out, palm open, Recall.

The spear manifested like he had seen Dikez axes do. It materialized like a form purely made of Mana before solidifying in the same second. Gabriel smiled. I wonder how's Dikez is doing.

We could have said bye, now that I think about it, he realized. Yet that thought as well was put aside when he heard a voice in the distance saying, "He's awake."

In a matter of seconds, Gaia and Olive resurfaced from the thick of the forest in front of him.

"Gabe! You had me worried sick!" Olive said before letting him sit by a rock near the walls of the grotto, then she started passing hands infused with Mana over him and summoned a couple of Magic circles around his head and torso.

He didn't answer, just smiled, letting her do her work. Gabe instead looked at Gaia. The girl had a huge smile on her face as if she had just met her beloved after a year in the army.

That sure makes me uncomfortable.

"Is Liz with Brill?" Gabriel asked Olive.

"With Brill and Crystal, yes," Gaia answered for her. "They're out hunting. She should have actually made even some progress while you slept."

As a matter of fact, Gabriel had the peculiar notifications of defeated monsters at the back of his mind, waiting for his confirmation. But he could feel a level up for, and with a quick mental check, he noticed that Spirit had reached level 31.

He went as far as planning to place the 2 new Spirit points into Power when he felt pressure from his mind. It seemed that the Anchor was warning him about something. Then like a distant feeling, he recalled Varcivald's teaching.

Attributes could not be too divided among themselves, especially those that were connected. Like Recovery and Resilience, Power and Resilience, Alacrity and Stamina, Affinity and Recovery… their lowest couldn't be less than half of the other. This meant that given Liz's baffling Resilience, he would have to increase Recovery to sustain it. Otherwise, she would start to receive constant damage.

I don't even get what she would need Resilience for, but… he shrugged. Placing the two new Spirit points into Recovery and bringing her Recovery to 8.

Gabriel nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief from having done that.

Back to important things.

"So," he started, "what's happened? Where are we? Did I fall into a coma? I swear to God if you've undressed me again…" He finished jokingly, pointing his finger at the azure eyed and haired girl.

Gaia smirked, "I did not. We're even, remember?"

Gabriel squinted his eyes, "No… No, I think we are not even. You stripped me twice if I remember correctly! And I even saved your life, back in your damned gigantic mansion!"

"Hey!" Gaia said, "I saved your life too! And I've only stripped- I've only removed your blood-soaked clothes once, I don't know about any other times!" Though she was feigning outrage, she was amused. Gabriel could say from her eyes.

"Mmh… touché!" Gabriel clapped his hands, "So, where are we?"

"We're at the feet of the Crying mountain range. We've been really close to this place before," Olivia said, making her Magic circles disappear.

"So, how am I, doctor? Can I still have children?"

"You should be fine. Your virility, however…" Olivia answered, shaking her head.

Gaia, by her side, raised an eyebrow in misunderstanding.

"Oh, dear. What will I ever do now!" Gabriel said, bringing his free hand to his mouth.

"Well, try to stay positive. Ever tried being on the receiving end? I can certify it's rather pleasant," Olivia answered.

Gabriel lowered his hand and revealed a big smile. "I missed you, you know? Your training, though? Not so much."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure about that?" she answered with a smirk.

"Alright, I'm confused. What is going on? Is he really… you know…" asked Gaia, with an almost terrified expression on her face.

"What? No, of course not. It was a joke," Gabe answered, a little taken aback, "But why would you care anyway?"

Gaia reddened a little, and getting up; she didn't answer, instead, she changed the topic.

"To answer your other question," Olivia interjected before Gaia could add anything to the conversation, "Yes. You have been in a coma. You've slept for four days straight. I think it was related to the period in which you were, well, away. I can see how you've grown, almost at my rhythm, and I was helped by… by my connection. What were you doing instead?"

"Ha… that's one hell of a long story. You've got the time to listen to it?" He said.

"Of course, Gabe. There's no possible way you'd… change so much in such a small time frame. And I'm not talking about your level… you feel as if you'd been on the frontlines. And the way you moved back then? That couldn't possibly be you. Please tell me about it," Olivia said.

Gabriel sighed. A little bit of a panic attack made him sway when he thought about recounting what he had been through. But he had always been strong, and talking about what he had been through would make him even stronger. He had never believed in the men who keep everything for themselves. They would explode in the end, doing things they would regret for the rest of their lives, or ending up entirely wasting their lives. He had already been through counseling back in high school, and the thing had only helped him break through his self imposed barriers. So talking about his experiences would only help him heal.

"Well," he said, letting go of his tension, "let's eat something first. At least."

A lump of venison-like meat had already been cooked and was waiting to be consumed since the previous night. He gobbled it up with pleasure aplenty. He even let himself moan some. It had been too long since he actually ate at all.

When he started recounting, he did so in small bursts. At least until he started becoming more comfortable with it, he did not refrain from shedding tears, and halfway through his telling, he could see the red-eyed girls sobbing with him. Maybe he might have imagined it, but he thought he even felt somebody else's presence hidden behind a tree nearby. It probably was the kid.

By the time Gabriel finished speaking, the sun was about to go set, and they all felt… spent, their eyes puffy. At that point, Darte made his entrance, and shortly after, the Spirits returned as well. Each carrying a trophy.

"You!" Gabriel said when he saw the lizard. "You've been out the whole day, even had me worried about you! Don't you have a little compassion for poor old me? In a coma for four days straight!" Liz limited herself in getting on top of her now thick legs and licked his cheek with her long tongue.

Liz's current length was five-foot-six. Yet her body-tail proportion could be simplified as respectively, 4 to 6, which put her height, when standing on her feet, at around two-foot-three.

Her tail was, in fact, really long. Maybe, now that her Power and Resilience were so high, they could start to weaponize it.

"You're up. Good, because we must start moving," said Darte, placing the leg of what could have been a Cervidae monster on a rock by the grotto. For some reason, his eyes did not connect with those of Gabriel.

"Not before the night passes, Darte," said Gaia.

Gabriel got up, taking another piece of meat they had previously put on the fire. "Why not?" he said, "I recover Mana faster at night. He obviously has some powers related to darkness, I've seen the way he moves, and you, Gaia, you glow. If we're in trouble, we might even move. Although where are we headed exactly?"

"It's the mountains. The Crying mountains are cursed, Gabriel," Gaia answered.

"Cursed? In which way?"

"The worst way," Olivia said, "The Hundred Years War has shed too much blood. It has cursed the land. My people have tried healing it even given our vicinity to it but, we've failed."

Her people? Those exterminated by the Priests and the Shaman? But Gabriel didn't ask. He planned to. There was instead another thing itching at his memories.

"The Hundred Years War? How come it sounds familiar?" Gabriel asked.

Olivia smiled, "Com and Garena. They've escaped from it. They must have told you about it."

Gabriel nodded, "Yes, now, I remember. Though the details elude me."

"These lands are tainted with blood. The Curse of blood is that of the Risen," Darte said, sitting and biting into a piece of meat, "Undead. Revenant, zombies if you want, but not of the Romero kind."

"How old are you, really?" Gabriel asked him. Darte answered with a scoff.

"Risens are tricky creatures to deal with. Their bodies ignore the rules of the Attributes."

In Gabriel's mind flashed the problem he had just met when he woke up. Attributes equilibrium?

"Everything that dies in these lands, comes back alive whenever the main source of light is Luna. We should be thankful that it only affects this region," it was Gaia.

"No wonder people run away from the place then."

"Though, he's right." Darte said, "We should have no problem during the night. And we've tested this place; levels are low. The Ambient Mana is exhausted in resuscitating the monster more than spawning them."

"Well, let's vote then," Gaia said, bothered. "Mine, you already know."

"I'm with her," said Olivia. At that, Darte raised his hands, "No story in reasoning with you, I'm going to sleep."

Gabriel interjected, "Don't I get a vote? Don't our Spirits?"

Gaia and Olive both smiled, but it was Gaia answering, "You know nothing of this world, Gabriel. I'm sorry, but you definitely don't get a vote, not for now anyway. And Spirits? They are part of you. They would be okay with whatever you'd be okay whit."

Yeah? Gabriel wasn't so convinced of the second part of her answer, but he decided to answer only to the first, "I don't like this kind of democracy. I say something's rotten." He gave her the tongue, then sat near Olive, she still looked haggard, like him after the recount, but he decided it was a good moment to ask her about her people.

"So, you told me about your people once. But I understood that your place was, by the Infinite Forest. Didn't you say it was on the opposite side? By The Den or something?"

"You're sharp when you want," she answered, giving him a gentle shoulder push. "I haven't actually told you everything, Gabe. After I lost everyone, I knew. I went to look for my mother's side of the family. And I did indeed find them. Those are my people now."

"Oh… oh! But that's great news! No? Although, I thought you were essentially an orphan?"

"Well. Yes, that was indeed the truth. But I had someone taking care of me," Olive continued, with a scoff from Darte, which had already taken his place inside the grotto, the massive panther curling up near him. "I just didn't want to intrude on them too much. They are not… regular people, they are kind of important."

"I can't believe it…" Gabriel said, half-joking, "You are from a big shot family too? What the hell? Wherever I turn, I find rich kids around me. Is that some kind of curse too?"

"Fuck you," Darte answered, turning the other way in his sleep.

Gaia instead laughed, "It doesn't work like that here. Although we are among the 'rich,' we are those that put their lives on the line in Alter. When the threat comes from elsewhere, and it is not internal, people stand united. They don't try to suppress one another. We are the banner defending Yggdrasil. Olivia here is a descendant of Tiamat and his spouse, the Witch of the Depths. They are the ruler of The Deep. An Empire that spawns half the Oceans in Alter."

"Distant, a very distant descendant," added Olivia.

"Enough to incarnate The Witch, so maybe not that distant, uh?" Darte said.

"Alright, now I'm officially confused. I think I'll just get to sleep," said Gabriel massaging his temples, a lot of stories intermingled here, but what hurt him were the lies and the things which didn't add up.

Olivia had a concerned expression, "I'm sorry, Gabe. I just couldn't tell you. But that changes nothing among us, okay? I never meant to mislead you, just… to keep you out of harm's way."

"Out of whom? These people," Gabriel said, gesturing toward Gaia, and something he had yet to address started surfacing, "Aren't they those who let me in? They could have killed me right away if they wanted or used my abilities, as you said. But they didn't. So why did we run, why did we ended up in that fucking place!?"

"I-" Olivia tried to say, but her voice broke, and Gabe took advantage of that to pile something more on top. "Was it all fake then? No strings attached, eh? Was that you? Your eyes always turned green, you know? Who was I making- being with? You? Or some damn Witch?"

"Listen!" Gaia intervened, "It's complicated!"

"What?" Gabriel was starting to get really angry now, "What the fuck does that even mean? What do I care if it's complicated! I wanted to go home, and instead, I was forced to play your fucking games! Tell me one good reason why I should even stay here with you now, one! Come on!"

"It was me, all right?" Darte appeared in front of him at his otherworldly speed. "Olivia had you leave that place because of me. I did not believe in you, okay? I just wanted to kill you. To prove to my father that he did not need Heralds."

"What? But why are you here, then? Change of heart? Enthralled by my fucking beauty?" Gabriel was really about to lose his temper; his cool, he had already lost.

Darte snorted. "Because of her." He pointed at Olivia. "She told me of my role if we manage to retain at least a semblance of the original prophecy. And I want that. I'm not as foolish as to ignore a true Seer when I meet one."

 

"Alright! Perfect! So you are here for personal gain; you're here for personal gain," Gabriel said, pointing at Darte, then at Gaia, which had her face distort at that, "and you? What are you here for? Uh?" He extended his questions to Olivia.

"I'm here for power, for the Witch's power. I want them, and she'll personally train me if I bring you to her. I want the power to eradicate the Shamans and the Priests. And I'd stop at nothing to do it."

Gabriel's arms fell at his sides, "At least you're honest to your feelings. There's some truth to you after all." He turned away before shifting to her again.

"Was it all planned? Where did real Olivia end and the Witch start? Was my ending up in that place planned too?"

"No!" Olivia said; her no was weakly echoed from Gaia's. Then Olivia began explaining, "It all started going to shit since the beginning! The prophecy talked about a Herald of incredible might, but you were only level three when we ran away! Then again, the prophecy talked about an island in the sky, that you would stop a mad king and save his people from him. But not one thing went as planned; nothing of what was foretold happened. The Tyrant was not defeated, and the people were not saved. While we were there, Kanceldom was fighting against a coalition of Priests and Dragons; there have been hundreds of deaths..."

"What?" Gabriel asked, confused, "I don't know about Kanceldom. But I defeated the Tyrant. Although I couldn't save his people, because they are forever stuck in the Dungeon, as Spirits… or at least that's what he said. But I did indeed defeat a King."

"I- I don't understand. You talked about a mayor, not a King," Olivia asked.

"Oh, but he became one. He lived like a King in his village; he had a crown on his head when he turned into a monster. I saw it from his Challenge, the one I failed at the beginning. Then again, he ruled like a damn god inside of the Dungeon Challenge's chamber. If that's' not a King that, then I don't know what is!" Gabriel exclaimed.

"Then… a part of the prophecy did indeed come true." Saying so, Olivia turned toward Gaia, who did not answer. After that, Olivia's eyes became green, and she excused herself. Passing by Gabriel, she entered the grotto and sat in meditation.

"What the hell?" Gabriel said.

Gaia took Gabriel by the arm, "Let her be. What she just discovered is game-changing. The Witch might find out something important with it."

"You are absurd as well," Gabriel said to Gaia, "First you write me a letter, pushing me into danger, while you could have just come to talk to me, then you let your brother have his, definitely disturbed, way; and finally you come looking for me."

"Seriously now, why should I trust any of you? Why don't you just take me home? I'm level thirty now, by the way. I could pass through that rock thing, no? I remember Commodo of the inn saying so." Gabriel finished. Seeing that Gaia lowered her head, he understood that it was a no.

So, now I'm trapped because these three fuckers are each stronger than me. Should I just take my chances? I might take Olivia down if I take her by surprise. Gaia doesn't strike me as strong, or maybe it's just that attitude she has with me. However, the kid. He's way too fast for me. Gabriel hadn't even finished thinking when he started feeling sick for what he had just thought. He had even been with Olivia, and now? He just thought about killing her? What the hell had happened to him? He had never even taken a human life before that. All he had killed had been imaginary things and monsters. As Gabriel shook his head out of shame, Gaia said something.

"Okay."

"Okay? Okay, what?" He asked.

"Okay. I'll take you home. However, Darte and I will come with you. It's too dangerous for yourself."

"What? Are you crazy?" Darte intervened, taken aback.

"We get him home. End of the story." Gaia was once again serious as she was when she ordered the Tier 6 around.

"It might be a good idea," added Not-Olivia, opening her eyes from the meditation. "I'm coming too."

Gabriel was baffled. I'm going home? Holy shit, I'm going home…. Thank you, oh, god, thank you.

"Now eat, and sleep. The sun is setting," Gaia continued.

"You know it's gonna take us at least three days to get there from here, right? And what if the Priests are still patrolling The Expanse? If we don't pass through there, we will have to take the road into Vulcan. It's gonna take weeks like that!" Darte.

"No, need, we'll be there tomorrow morning," Gaia took something out of a satchel she had tied to her right thigh. A rock, made of what looked like marble, was unnaturally pulled out from it. It was twice the size of the small satchel. With runes inscribed on it. Gabriel knew only one of those, the rune for air. The rest were new to him.

"You took the Waystone with you!" Darte placed his hands on his temple, "Are you fucking crazy!?"

"It's mine to do whatever I want with it. I'm Yggdrasil Guardian. If I don't have fast access to the Leystone, who does?" She smirked.

"Shoo, now! Tomorrow we depart with the first lights."

Gabriel did not know what to say anymore, only two words he managed to express once they were all lying in the grotto, with their Spirits lending them warmth or, in Gabriel's case, taking it, and those words were: "Thank you."