“Hecatolite,” Amethyst snapped her fingers trying to regain her sister’s attention, “this is very important! We are diplomats in a foreign land, what we say and do could have a huge impact on not just how the Elves see us, but how they see the Empire as a whole.” 

    Hecatolite groaned as she sank into her chair, letting her head fall onto the small table in front of her with a loud thud. “Why though! Can’t you just take care of it like before?”

    “We aren’t sharing a body anymore, meaning you will have to do it yourself.” Amethyst sighed, patting her sister's head, “Come on it’s not that hard. Just don’t antagonize anyone, and don’t make any promises you can’t keep yourself, be as noncommittal as you can while being respectful, and do not eat anyone.” Some lingering crew members snapped their heads to the side at Amethyst's last warning. Given the girl annunciated it as if to punctuate the point, making it clear that the words were not the joke they thought it was as she continued, “even a little bit. I don’t care if they deserved it either. We have to be really careful; it would probably be best if we both tried to hold back if anything does happen too.”

    “Hold back? If they attack us, I’m not going to hold back, I’ll crush them.” Hecatolite shot up, slamming her hand on the table as she glared at Amethyst.

    “That’s not what I mean,” Amethyst sighed. “If they outright attack us then no, we won't hold anything back. But I will be honest with you, we kind of attract trouble; but, on the same hand you’re a bit… much. Just remember we don’t want people to fear us… like maybe try to remember that people aren’t as strong as you are.” 

Hecatolite turned her head from side to side, clearly confused by her sister’s words as she replied. “But wouldn’t it be better if they know we are really strong, people like strong allies; and there is a war going on.”

Amethyst nodded, “That is true but… it's hard to explain.” She bit her lip, Hecatolite was not wrong but on the other hand her habit of smashing things into the ground and eating what’s left might have the opposite effect. “Just…. Just try not to hurt anyone, ok?” Amethyst sighed, resigning herself to just watch Hecatolite closely. It really shouldn’t be that hard not stand out too much, with Hecatolite’s bands on as long as I keep her from putting things in her mouth and I don’t go teleporting around, we should be fine.

Hecatolite nodded, “Fine, fine. It's not like we are going to get into a fight, we are just going to meet some Elves. Besides, it’s not like we are going to stay for super long anyway.”

Amethyst nodded again, “That’s true, I don’t think we are going to make it home this year at this rate but if we hurry, we can at least make it to the mountains before winter. I hear the Dwarven mines are really nice for weathering the winters.”

    Wolf, standing on the side of the deck watching the dozen smaller Elven ships that were escorting them, couldn’t help but feel… annoyed. Well, there goes my plan of hiding in Felnnor until the war blows over. He clutched his fist as he recalled the elven man’s reluctance to allow a human ship even close to their lands. 

    It shouldn’t have been a surprise really, of course the elves would not openly welcome a human ship given the state of the world; but now what? He couldn’t go back to Algamir, and Felnnor was no longer an option. The closest place he could even consider remotely safe was Ocelina, and even they were in an active war with Gala. Not to mention he would need to go though Gala territory to get there. Maybe Crown? I mean I am with two nobles of the Empire; I could probably get there and be… he overheard the twin’s conversation, giving him pause. 

“The… Dwarves?” He froze as the two of them looked at him. 

“Yea, my dad said they are on this side of the Dragon Maw mountains.” Amethyst looked off to the side as if thinking, “I don’t think we can make it all the way to Crown but if we travel a little more south, we can get to the mountains before snowfall then we can get home first thing next spring.”

“You’re… leaving the ship?” how could I have forgotten! Shit, what now? Without the four of them what the hell am I supposed to do? Wolf hated to admit it but despite all the annoyance Hecatolite caused him, he had gotten used to having the group around. Sure, he was terrified of Hecatolite, but she was damn near unstoppable as far as he could tell, not to mention the bonus of having an actual saint aboard the ship for healing. 

“That was the plan,” Amethyst couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the man. “You were there when we made the plan.” 

“Yes,” Wolf swallowed, quickly straightening himself. “I just… thought that may have changed given the situation. I mean if we resupply you could sail home much faster…” 

“Why would it change?” Hecatolite rolled her eyes, “We were always going to “walk” home. Going to see the world, want to see lots of beast kin, and find the gnomes! You…” Wolf could almost see the gears turning in Hecatolite’s mind as her eyes went wide. “You… won’t be coming with us… will you?”

“I…”. To see the always smiling face twitch as she realized that the crew, her crew, would not be able to come with her on the next leg of her journey. Something about the slight tremor in her voice caused Wolf’s stomach to sink. Hecatolite had constantly harassed him, causing no end of trouble; even going as far as to force the unstable woman Saris onto him… I should be… happy. To finally be rid of this unstable monster… but… “Someone needs to watch the ship.” All he could do was weakly smile as Hecatolite frantically looked side to side. “Besides, Saris won’t be able to walk that far.” 

“I could carry her… I mean…” Hecatolite blinked several times as if trying to think as Wolf looked to Amethyst for help. 

Amethyst pressed her lips into a thin line as she took a deep breath; having been inside Hecatolite’s mind she knew better than anyone just how fragile her sister could be, what she feared… “Hecatolite…” she called to her sister who snapped her head to the side. Hecatolite may not always be the best at showing it, but Amethyst was sure she enjoyed the eccentric necromancer. The fact that he obviously was terrified of Hecatolite and still managed to keep his composure… Now that I think about it, Hecatolite always latches onto people who can talk to her, doesn't she?

“Of course!” Hecatolite let out a weak laugh, though she was still smiling it was clearly strained. “I knew that. That’s why Eryl gave him the job of list maker.” Hecatolite blew through her lips, “Pfff, she was training him to take over the ship. I mean… we would need someone we can trust to bring our ship home for us!” Amethyst smiled as Hecatolite snapped her attention to Wolf, quickly glaring at the man as she jabbed a finger at him. “You’re going to take good care of my ship! And Saris, you hear me? I expect them to arrive safely in… our towns…” Hecatolite quickly looked at Amethyst and whispered, “What’s the name of the small town next to home? The one with the ships?” 

“Sandstone.” Amethyst couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Yes! Sandstone.” She jumped from her chair and stomped over to Wolf, placing her hands on her hips as she looked up at the man. “You will bring our ship to Sandstone and be good pirates along the way, got it?!” She jabbed a finger into the man’s chest.

Wolf stood stunned for a moment, his mind racing before realizing this was his perfect chance. Hecatolite may be insane, but she is still a noble, and if her family was indebted to him, it would only help his chances when he got there. Sure, it wasn’t exactly the best plan in the world, but Crown was about as far from the war as he could get, and he had already considered fleeing there in the first place… 

“Why not, I can bring your ship home for you.” Wolf couldn’t help but smile as he looked down at the somewhat serious face of Hecatolite. For the first time when looking at her he didn’t feel the creeping fear, even if he did think he would eventually regret his decision. He silently swore to himself that he would do everything he could to be sure that not only this ship, but Saris would make it to Sandstone. He wasn’t sure why or how but he had a creeping suspicion that if he failed, Hecatolite would make him regret it, besides It was really a small price to pay to keep the tiny monster that eats people happy.

Hecatolite smiled wide as she began digging in the bag on her hip. “Good.” With blinding speed, she jumped up and slammed a large hat on his head. 

He staggered back, looking at the smiling girl as he slowly reached up to remove the large tri fold hat from his head. “I think it suits him,” Amethyst laughed, “But we can’t leave our ship named the Copper Tusk, can we? Maybe something like the “Crystal Tusk”?”

“Pff, Amethyst we have a necromancer captain on a pirate ship, this is practically the Flying Dutchman at this point. It needs a cooler name, like… Styx?” She patted Wolf on the arm as she smiled. “I’ll just give you a…” the three of them were quickly silenced as a thunderclap shook the entire ship.

“Wilfred Graves, Blessing received. Blessed by Hecatolite Lapidary, X47 the mad devour. Skill acquired… Error. Skill incompatible with soul composition. Error, soul incapable of supporting aether.”

“Blessing?” Wolf was barely able to react as his entire world went white, his final conscious thought; as if it was the most normal thing in the world he came to a very simple realization, Oh, of course, she’s a god. Again surprised at the ease that he just accepted the thought as if it were simply fact. Just a single calm thought before he felt the hard wood of the deck rise up to greet him.

Wolf may not have been a soul mage but being a necromancer, a magic that was a vague mixture of healing and soul magic, he had a very sound understanding of things like souls. An understanding that did little to help him now as the taste of iron filled his mouth; after all, does it matter if his body is actually on fire or just felt like it was?

“Inutil?” Hecatolite called out with wide eyes as Wolf collapsed before her, his body suddenly going rigid as a horse scream filled the air. 

“Congratulations Hecatolite,” the sarcastic tone all but dripped off the terminal that floated above the now vibrating Wolf, “you have finally succeeded in creating a human bomb. I warned you about flooding people with aether…”

The terminal was violently flung off the side of the ship as Hecatolite’s tail slammed into it. “I didn’t flood him with aether. I was trying to give him a blessing! Like I did with everyone else!”

The terminal appeared again as if nothing happened, “Which would not have been a problem if you blessed him properly! Instead, like always you just dumped power into him and hoped for the best. What skill did you even try to bestow on him?”

Hecatolite hissed, “I don’t know. Something useful, like maybe the ability to control the water around his ship…”

“That is another god's domain!” the terminal bellowed as it flashed several different colors, “You don’t even have that kind of skill either! How did you plan to give someone a skill you don’t have!”

    Hecatolite went to reply but was cut off by Amethyst who was now kneeling beside the man who was now bleeding from… well everywhere. “Enough!” Amethyst snapped as she rolled Wolf onto his back. “Babylon, can I help him?” she asked, looking down just as Wolf convulsed.

    The two of them looked down at the amazingly pale man whose entire body seized, blood pooling in his mouth as his wide eyes slowly started to haze. Bloody tears running from the corners of his eyes adding to the mess that was slowly forming around him. Amethyst could see dark black veins coiling around his arm, pulsing as they slowly made their way up his neck. She could see the vague outline of Hecatolite’s “mark” as it tried to form on his arm; the mark forming like a blurry memory before fading away repeatedly.

    “Unfortunately, assisting him at this point would be impossible,” the terminal replied. "Much like the time you received too many blessings at once, the main difference is he doesn’t have Hecatolite running around his soul space to assist him. If you attempted to “help” all you would do is overload his soul with…” both girls looked to the terminal as it paused, flashing a rainbow of colors as it calculated. “I apologize, yes, Amethyst you may be able to assist Wolf in his current condition.”

    “How?” Hecatolite was the first to ask, unable to contain herself as a strange feeling washed over her. This was the first time ever she had seen a “box” change its mind. Normally they simply give the answer and refuse to accept anything else…

    “You must act quickly, Amethyst if you wish to save Wolf, please push your own mana into him.”

    “Wouldn’t that be exactly what Hecatolite did?” Amethyst went to protest but another violent spasm from Wolf stole her attention. 

    Wasting no more time Amethyst grabbed onto Wolf’s arm and carefully tried to push mana into his body. She knew her mana pool was large, far larger than the average persons, meaning she had to be careful; over-filling his mana pool would damage his soul and unlike her, Hecatolite would not be able to repair his if it were to fracture. 

    The entire deck fell silent around them as time ticked by, a single minute seeming to stretch as they both held their breath. Then Wolf started to glow. The black veins on his arm snapping into place as the mark that had failed to form several times in the last few minutes finally appeared on Wolf’s forearm. Just above Amethyst's hand the broken black moon with the jagged claw marks snapping into focus. She watched as the image shifted, tiny black lines branching out as if searching… “Don’t stop.” Amethyst was unsure who had said it but the feminine voice in her ear urged her forward.

    She pressed on, pouring even more mana into the man passing the threshold of what she believed safe as for the first time in a long time Amethyst felt her own mana pool dipping. It was not a lot, the pull on herself that she would often feel when performing a large spell; but she knew it was more mana that Wolf should have been able to withstand, even if he was a mage himself.

    Then it happened, appearing just below Hecatolite’s mark another formed. A pure white circle with the faint outline of what looked like… wings? She leaned closer to inspect the new mark on Wolf’s arm, an odd feeling welling in her own chest as she realized that it must be her own.  

    As she got closer the two images flared in a dazzling light causing her to snap her head back, blinking rapidly in an attempt to remove the new spots in her vision. After a moment of rubbing her eyes she managed to finally catch a glimpse of the new symbol on Wolf’s arm.

    Amethyst could see it in its full now, Hecatolite’s broken mark of a moon torn by a deep claw mark linked to her own radiant white full moon with the faint image of wings hidden within its glow. What looked like black vines branching from Hecatolite’s marks intertwined with tiny silver chains of her own, linking both images on opposite ends of a circle. she inspected it for a long moment, something about it seemed… incomplete? As if there should be another part in the middle of the two orbiting moons? 

The chime of a notification broke her thoughts. “Congratulations, Wilfred Graves, traits acquired; Blessed by X47, the mad devour. Blessed by Singularity, the lucidity of bedlam. Blessings combined, Blessing of the Twins of Twilight. Skill acquired, Gates of Pandemonium.”

    “Well… that was unexpected.” Amethyst was finally able to recognize the voice, looking up to see Eryl standing over her. “I cannot say I am exactly happy about you two granting skills like that one, but nevertheless, good work keeping Wolf alive.” Amethyst was about to reply when a very surprised Himari was unceremoniously dropped onto the unconscious man.

    “Fix!” Amethyst could help but laugh at her sister as both Wolf and Himari groaned.