The following morning I found myself nervously bouncing my leg as I sat across from Aunt Helen in my room. I sat on the edge of my bed with her taking the chair, my left arm bare as she examined it. She gave me a wry smile as she gently touched it and sent some chilling mana into my arm.

  “Hmm. This is interesting.” She muttered quietly then straightened herself and sat up straight. “You see, I heal using the divine power given to me by my patron Luma. as soon as I pushed my mana into you I detected an unfamiliar divine mana coursing through your body. Odd, don’t you think? I’m fairly familiar with the divinities of all fourteen gods that claim this world as theirs.”

  She stared at me as though waiting for an answer. I looked away after a few moments, thinking of the seed and of Miamora, the god who gave it to me. I opened my mouth to say something but she interrupted before I could.

  “My patron, the Goddess Luma, wishes to commune with you directly. She will not say why. She wishes to visit your soul space in order to grant me the ability to heal you, otherwise she refuses.” Aunt Helen looked frustrated, her tone held that same frustration. She nearly spat out the words by the end of her statement.

  “She’s holding your power ransom in exchange for a conversation with me?” I tilted my head, my heart racing. This couldn’t be good for me, the attention of a god or goddess seemed above my paygrade. Even Miamora’s attention was too much already. “What could she possibly want to speak with me about?”

  “All she has told me is that she wishes to speak to you about a mutual friend, and that you have nothing to fear from her. And that if you want your arm healed you will need to invite her, through me, into your mindscape.” Helen growled at the part where my being healed was conditional on speaking with her patron. “She has never done this before. I’ve healed thousands if not hundreds of thousands of folks and never once did she deny me the ability to do so for any reason.”

  “I have a fair guess on why she would want to speak with me, though I can’t help but feel a bit put out that one of the highest regarded deities of Ravos would deign to speak with a small adventurer like me. Fine. I want to see what this goddess has to say.” I tried my best to keep the frustration from my voice, this wasn’t Helens fault in the slightest, but a hint of a growl escaped my throat.

  “I see. I do apologize for this. As I said, it's quite unusual. You’ll need to invite me into your soul, I trust you know how to do so?”

  I nodded then began the process, pulling her mana into me and welcoming her after laying back down on the bed, aware that if I was sitting up there was a real chance of me falling over in my sleep. It didn’t take much for her consciousness to flow into my soulspace or for me to follow. Within seconds I was standing in that small outdoor chapel once again, a fire blazing in the firepit.

  This time, however, I was not alone. For one, there were dozens of beasties fluttering, running, dancing among the trees around us all made from elemental mana. There were more than the last time I came here, confirming my theory that once I had established some life [Syncopate] would automatically convert excess elemental mana into more creatures from my past.

  The second group was more important at this time though. Two women, one being Aunt Helen, and the other was presumably Luma. Both wore white, though Helens was a fair bit more modest. Where she wore a white robe littered with some gold filigree, Luma wore a tight fitting, revealing dress with gilded trim and some gold lace. Her fingers, wrists, and neck were adorned with gold jewelry and a half dozen different types of gems. Even here within my own soul space I could feel magic radiating from the various baubles.

  The third group, the ones I had invited along simply because they had curled up at my feet as soon as I laid down, were Luka and Sky. The foxes had been into my soulspace before since I created the animals, I had invited them some time after, but this was my first time with so many beings inside at once. They looked at all the critters jealously, but didn’t want to leave my side as both hovered near my legs.

  I noticed Helen looking at all of the moving creatures with great interest. I hadn’t been in too many soul spaces, just mine and Sky’s at this point, so I had no frame of reference for how mine compared. Still, the look in her eyes as she observed the critters playing and dancing harmoniously brought me a sense of intense satisfaction. She followed a few wolves who were chasing a pair of deer. Once they caught the deer they let the deer get back to their feet with a head start before restarting their chase.

  “So, Luma, what can I do for you?” I asked and put my hands behind my back, turning toward the quiet goddess.

  “Well, Alexilios was it? I have a number of questions for you. You will answer them.” She spoke matter of factly, a small smile permanently on her unblemished visage. “In exchange I will allow my saintess to access my divinity to heal you.”

  “That doesn’t seem like the best deal for me, if I’m being honest. How about for every question you ask me I may ask one in return? Oh, and should you be unable to provide an answer you'll allow me to ask another?” She paused for a second before nodding in agreement. I started to walk towards my usual meditation spot, the Kings Rock. She wordlessly followed me. Helen started to follow but Luma raised a hand up.

  “I do apologize, Helen, but I think it would be best to speak with the boy in private.”

  I glanced back at the goddess frowning but nodded after a moment. “Sorry Aunt Helen, feel free to explore. This place holds special meaning to me as you might imagine. Luka, Sky, accompany her. Or go play. Please.”

  With that the two of us walked until we reached the rock that overlooked the Washtub, a swirling pool of water that was fed by and fed into rocky rapids that were perfect for tubes. Not too powerful nor too weak, the river formed a fantastic natural ride. Above the washtub my core floated peacefully, the mana a pale blue with flecks of my various elements flowing through it.

  “A pretty soulspace, if I do say so myself. Your inner world is peaceful. Not what I was expecting with your relationship to the foreign god.” Luma spoke after I sat with my legs dangling from the overlook. She looked like she was debating before she sat down beside me, her dress hardly creasing beneath her.

  “What do you know of Miamora?” I asked before I could stop myself. I had known he was foreign but having it confirmed brought dozens of questions to my mind that I had been asking myself since meeting the ever shifting being.

  “Your first question? I’ll bite. Not much. We know he is a god of entropy and that he was cursed eons ago. He seems to be using you in search of a cure to his curse, but we are unsure how. The last thing I know is that this god is... old. Ancient. Powerful beyond my pantheon. My turn.” She turned toward me slightly. “How did you survive a seed while within the first threshold?”

  It took me a few moments to form an answer. During this time she stared at me intently, as if trying to discern my reply before I had formed it. After giving it some thought I glanced in her direction before focusing on the water below us. “I’m unsure. I didn’t do anything specific, I just absorbed the power from the tribulations. Perhaps my survival can be attributed to either my natural affinities toward elemental magic, or it could be due to my companions absorbing a portion of the divine energy that battered me. Is that a sufficient answer?”

  “It is. You may ask your next question.” Her voice was soft yet held power, commanded respect. If she was miffed by my lack of decorum, my lack of reverence she didn’t show it. Her voice was steady and her face only displayed contentment, no negative thought appeared to seep into her regulated expression.

  “What are the origins of the system?” This was a question I had been curious to know the answer to since meeting the god Miamora. I didn’t have much hope that she could answer but there was a zero percent chance if I never asked the question.

  “What a broad and dangerous question! Chaotic indeed.” Mirth flowed through the goddesses words, a touch of emotion, before she shook her head. “Unfortunately only a few beings in the universe are privy to this knowledge, and I am not one of them. Ask another.”

  “Fine then. Who can I ask that has the authority to answer that same question?”

  “Clever. You could potentially ask one of the primordial gods, the progenitor of the system itself, or - Gah” She was interrupted as she started to choke from seemingly nowhere. It took a second to register her words, that there was a creator of the system. Did this mean she had lied before when saying she wasn’t privy to information regarding the origin of the system? Or was that all she knew of it which was not a sufficient answer for our deal?

  I watched with minor concern as she sputtered then recovered, spitting a bit into the whirling river below. “Gah. I hate system restrictions. Did that answer suffice?” I nodded silently, ready for her own question. “Good. Then it’s my turn. What did the seed you were granted gift you?”

  I blinked, I thought for sure she could sense that much at the very least. I wasn’t sure why but there was some satisfaction in her not knowing, though I supposed I’d have to answer. “It changed my class from [Wayfaring Craftsmen] to [Wayfaring Craftsman of the Tumultous Maelstrom] and seems to have given me some control over the maelstrom while crafting. That's the best I can tell at this time.”

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  “The Maelstrom? My oh my, Ertai would be very interested in that. You should seek him out.” She gazed off into the distance as she thought. “You’ll want to visit the dwarves in the north. Marthis I believe the country is called these days. If you do, find the Undying Artisan. I am unsure of their name. They are the conduit of Ertai. For now, I have time left for a single more question. Ask rapidly.”

  Her body seemed to be slowly turning translucent, not quite see through just yet. “In that case, what is the significance of a divine seed?” This felt like a more immediate concern than many of the questions stuck in my head.

  She smiled a touch wider, almost imperceptibly, as though she was pleased with the question. Maybe it was common knowledge but I didn’t think that was the case. “A divine seed is a small portion of power contained within the soul of a powerful individual. Most commonly gods will bestow seeds to those mortals that impress them, but occasionally other great beings can bestow one as well. Contrary to their name they rarely contain any actual divinity but they allow the user to draw from one of the realms that the beings themselves draw power from or hold power over. In your case this Miamora is the caretaker of a massive constant storm within the universe, The Maelstrom, among other domains. The effect of a seed depends on several things; the individual's predispositions and classes, the donor's domains, powers and strengths, and the strength of the user's soul. A majority of the time, a user for the seed is chosen based on the strength of their soul which can be measured by their achievements, strength, and disposition. The significance is that the donor, in your case Miamora, permanently loses that shred of their soul but should you grow powerful enough he will also gain some ripples of power and grow in the long term. That is if you succeed and survive to a high enough level.”

  I took a few moments to process before simply nodding and waiting for her question. It would certainly be the last based on the status of her body and how quickly it seemed to be dissipating.

  “My final question then. What are your machinations on Ravos?” She tilted her head, a flash of light glinting in her eyes as she used some form of magic, likely a truth detection. Perhaps she had been using a spell or ability from the start, but I didn’t know for sure.

  “Me machinations? I simply want to go on adventures. See all the beautiful things this planet has to offer, fight the big bad magical beasties that no one else has been able to stand toe to toe with. Current plans are to participate in a swordsmanship tournament, stop this strange cult from ruining it, and possibly behead the strange cult's leader.” I had no reason to lie. My motivations seemed surface level but after a life of mediocrity, after dying with the regret of never trying my best at anything, never achieving anything more than middling grades and a mid level job, I knew I wanted to live a free life and become the best at what I did. It seemed trifling to others, but that's because they didn’t have my memories.

  “I see. Then I have no reason to worry. Miamora was correct on that front. By the way,” Her body was now fully transparent, it would only be moments before this segment of her was pulled back to her divine realm. “Miamora, or whatever the god’s name really is, I believe he is a primordial. I have no proof of this, mind you, but a strong suspicion. I’ll let the rest of the pantheon know you are no threat, even should you shake up the world on your adventures. Goodbye for now, Bladedancer.”

  I furrowed my brow as she mentioned my class name, positive that I hadn’t said anything about it to her. Before I could respond to her, though, the remains of her ghostly body shimmered with a bright light and scooped her out of my soul space. Sighing heavily I laid back against the rock, my feet still dangling, then pulled myself back up to reality, pulling Aunt Helen with me.

  Blinking my eyes open, eliminating the crusty bits that had gathered, I turned toward the saintess of Luma and smiled tiredly. That conversation had taken a bit out of me but I’d be fine for the day. A little bit of mental fatigue wouldn’t kill me. I felt that the questions she had asked wound up being fairly innocuous which I didn’t think was necessarily a good thing. I knew that this would not be my last divine conversation, that parts of the pantheon would seek me out on their own. That Luma would keep an eye on me to a certain extent. I couldn’t be bothered to care, to be honest. I wouldn’t let a bunch of powerful beings dictate my life.

  “I take it your conversation went well?” The healer interrupted my train of thought, pulling me back to the small room I had called home the last several months.

  “I suppose so. No offense, but I think I'd like to have fewer chats with her. She’s unsettling.” Perhaps it was just the amount of power that she had within her that unnerved me, but I think it was something else. Perhaps the banal smirk she always wore, or the air of superiority that surrounded her. Or the fact that she knew the name of my class.

  “She can be rather intense. The plus side is that she gave me a sliver of power to regrow your arm, if you're ready. I haven't any pain nullification skills and I am not a warrior or alchemist, do you think you could manage some pain for a few minutes?”

  I nodded and held out my stump to her, having to sit back up. I pulled the sleeve over to my shoulder, they were loose enough to do so with little stretch. Aunt Helen took my arm just beneath the elbow with both hands, gently pushing mana into it once more. She didn’t ask for my consent a second time, nor did she warn me she was going to start. The only warning I got was from cold, hot, confusing white mana flowing into my channels.

  I gritted my teeth as it felt like I was being burned and frostbitten at the same time. I felt a heavy pulse of mana flow into me, spreading throughout the stump and reassigning connections with flesh that had been gone for months. Then something even worse. Like a zipper in my flesh at the end of the stump rending itself, splitting methodically. It tore open with a sound not too far from velcro and the sound itself made me flinch worse than the pain it caused.

  Muted as it was from my resistance skill, I still had to bite back a scream as the bone creaked like an old wooden door on rusty hinges. It cracked like my hammer against the forge and bone started to materialize, surrounded by gold white light. Holy mana. Luma’s divinity. I had to close my eyes for a moment as tears threatened to spill out. When they blinked back open, blurry, I saw the bone had reached my wrist. I wondered briefly at why it hurt so much, there were no nerves in the bones themselves as far as I could tell. I didn’t know though, I was no doctor nor healer.

  My hand took another several minutes as I watched on, taking occasional deep and sometimes gasping breaths as Helen focused on one bone at a time. She meticulously built out each bone in turn, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead. After those moments passed I was able to look down and see a skeletal hand. Out of curiosity I tried to make a fist but nothing happened. I had no tendons or muscles to move the appendages.

  My disappointment at this was quickly replaced with agony. It felt like it came from my shoulder but I knew that my body was just confused on what it felt. It was similar to how a toothache could cause one's back or ribs to ache, or getting smacked in the groin could have someone hurting in the gut. Our bodies were strange, and my inane comparisons helped me to focus on something else for a few moments as tendons began to form. Again, they weren’t connected to nerves but my body didn’t seem to care. It felt like instead of making new ones she was using my tendons like a fiddle, constantly grating against them with a steel wire bow and plucking away at them without remorse.

  In the back of my mind I registered a ding, a notification. It wasn’t the first to pop up. Soon after it came another, and then I registered a yelp, a cry, a scream. A wet tongue lapped at my face as stars swam in my vision. My right hand found fur underneath it as Luka pushed his way under it. I chuckled slightly at the foxes comforting me. Distracting me for a few mere moments, mere moments that felt they lasted half a lifetime. Then the pain faded for the time.

  I blinked away tears and realized the foxes had been trying to talk to me as well, but I hadn’t been able to process their words. Instead, I gazed down at an arm with tendons. Muscles and skin would be next I was sure. With a start I thought my arm should be bloody but found that the gold white mana was holding the torrent of gore from escaping the regrowing arm. While taking several deep, thoughtful breathes I turned to Helen who had paled a little bit. She gave me a weak smile.

  “It isn’t normally so difficult to reconstitute a limb, particularly for your level. What have you been eating for your body to become so... mana rich?” She sank back into her chair and downed some water, one hand still holding my now boney arm as she continued to pour just enough mana in to keep from soiling the sheets with my viscera.

  “Lightning bolts, I think. Would not recommend.” I joked halfheartedly, thinking perhaps this was a benefit of the seed. Mana enhanced bones and muscles, or perhaps it was due to constantly flooding my body with mana using the enhancement dances.

  I could see her questioning it before she seemed to put two plus two together. She opened her mouth to say something then thought better of it, closing her mouth and returning her focus to healing me. Again, there was no warning. Not that I needed one. Muscles started to sprout out of seemingly nowhere. The fibres wrapped around my skeleton and connected at seemingly random intervals. I was no biologist nor was I a doctor, in fact I was pretty medically ignorant, so I couldn’t say for sure what was happening. But this time it didn’t hurt so much as it itched warmly. Very warmly. It was as if I allowed fire ants to build a farm beneath my skin, as though they were slowly tunneling throughout my forearm. Okay so it hurt a little. It was an unbearable itch, almost worse than the pain caused by the tendon repair.

  Under my breath I started muttering curses at Arabella for making me go through this. I normally didn’t wish harm on people but in this moment I hoped that her injury was unhealable. That she would be suffering more than I was. That I could meet her in battle again, stronger than before, and fire a fireball down her throat. Granted, she wasn’t a particularly good person so I had no qualms wishing this pain on her.

  And then, as I was distracted by my plots of revenge, Helen started on the skin. This was even more itchy. There was no pain, at least it wasn't comparable to what I had just experienced. But boy, did it itch like a motherfucker. I was vaguely aware of Luka and Sky again whispering, or rather speaking, into my head with comforting words and consolations. I could feel their concern as my jaw clenched and my right hand squeezed a pillow I had found, crushing it. If a hand or arm had been under it, it would have needed Aunt Helen's attention.

  I opened my mouth to say something but all that came out was a silent scream as my discomfort reached a maximum. My eyes closed and I shut my mouth hard enough to rattle my teeth, my jaw clenching until an audible pop resounded in the room. Then it stayed that way, with me taking only short, almost panicked breaths through my nose. I growled as the itching reached a crescendo, screaming at me to run my nails over it. It was almost enough for me to want to remove my arm all over again, just to make it stop. And then it did.

  The itching stopped. All I heard was the panting of my healer as sweat dripped from her face. As it soaked into her once pristine white robes. She looked exhausted as she smiled weakly at me. “It’s done.”

  I watched her with concern, reaching out with both hands to steady her then stopping. Both hands? My hand was back. I clenched it into a fist. Then released it, then closed it again. Helen giggled from beside me.

  “This is always the best part. When someone realizes they are whole again.” She stood up and staggered slightly. “What say we get some breakfast? I’m famished. I’ve brought folk back from near death before and this is the most energy I’ve spent during a healing,I believe.”

  It looked like she was thinking of saying something more but I didn’t wait to hear it. I stood, grabbed my swords and belted them to my hip. Then I turned to her and offered her my arm. “Breakfast sounds fantastic. I don’t know how I’ll repay you for the energy you just spent but -”

  “Alexilios, there will be no talk of repayment. You are a friend of my favorite nephew, don’t tell the others, and you saved thousands of people in Linden from being further massacred. Do not disgrace me with talks of debt.” She said sternly, fire in her eyes. Then she took my arm and her weary smile returned to her face.

  I nodded my understanding, but still mentally vowed to return the favor to her in some way someday. It would come to me. With that we turned our attention to breakfast and went to the guildhall proper where none of my friends had yet to gather. We were up rather early, after all.