We passed the fallen body of the Baatazu as we made our way back into the town. My mind boggled that we were even able to kill such a creature. Though it gave me a hell of a lot of satisfaction to know that the people of our group were as capable and as tough as they were.

Once past the huge demon body, we entered through the gaping hole in the less tough, less capable fence. Only the previous night we’d rejoiced at our accomplishment, and it offered about as much safety as underpants versus a wet fart.

I aimed straight for Joel who was coincidently walking toward me with Lierin in tow.

“What the hell’s happening, Clive? Is that an army of dwarves?”

“Guessed it in one, mate. Did you see what happened?”

“I did. Was that the same Paladin who spat at us on day one?”

“Yup, that was here alright. I shot her in the face, then by some miracle these guys popped up and saved me. Apparently, they want to trade with us, too.”

Joel’s face took on a doubtful expression. “Trade what exactly? Angry embittered arseholes?”

“I’m sure they’ve got their fair share of them already. But they’re offering tools and stone blocks for real walls. There words, not mine.” He was barely listening. I knew what question was coming next.

“Did you ask them about a portal home?”

“Not yet. Part of the trade agreement is that I go and meet Darkness. I’m pretty sure it’ll just be some priest or something. You still keen to go home?”

“After this shit show? More than ever. Look what they did to my fucking walls, man.”

“Yeah. That’s why the dwarfs are giving us stone, if I meet darkness. And you remember how good you were at bricklaying, right?”

“You’ll find someone. Some of the Krysan are really fast learners. You could even just pile the stone up against the palisade I’ve built. I’ll obviously do something better if it’s gonna take a while for a portal. If I have to prove myself or something.”

I was devastated by his response. I knew he wanted to go home, but I thought now he had a purpose here, one that would help all of these people including me, he’d stay. We genuinely, really needed him. On top of that, he had a native of Falritas as his partner. My eyes drifted to Lierin, and I may have been emotionally imprinting here, but I got the impression she would have stayed.

“You sure, man? You're kind of a big deal to us here. You can build an entire town from scratch. Hell, you’re probably the most important person here now.”

“Sorry, Clive, but I need to go home. Someone still needs to tell Daz’s family he isn’t coming back for starters. You might have forgotten about that, but I havent.”

“Of course I fucking haven’t, you prick. He was as much my friend as he was yours,” I snapped. “Fuck it. You wanna go back so much let’s get this done,” I said storming off back to the dwarves who were inspecting our stream for some reason.

“Do you not think you should talk to your soul mate about this first, rather than acting like an angry whelp, lashing out in every direction.” Sania said across the bond.

I railed against the accusation for a few seconds before accepting she was completely right. “Shit. I’m sorry, Sania. I love Joel, so that sort of shit cuts deep, but as you said. You’re literally my Soul Mate. If I die, or risk my life, I risk your life too. What should I do.”

I felt humor through the bond. “As long as you know where your priorities lie, I am content. You should absolutely visit Darkness.”

“Huh?”

“I thought this group of Wultr were strong, but those dwarves are a whole other level. There mid rankers are level 50, and they just saved all of our lives. We’d already be dead if it wasn’t for them, Clive. They also came with very fair terms to help us build our village. Even if we don’t have a builder, I’d rather have a badly constructed stone wall than an expertly constructed wooden wall that can be burned down with a single flame.”

“We can probably use a fire retardant, but I get where you’re going with this.”

“On top of that, one of your goals at least in relation to Joel, was to somehow infiltrate darkness so Joel could get home. They have come and offered you an audience potentially with the god himself.”

“Yeah, but I like doing stupid self-defeating stuff and spitting my dummy out.”

“I don’t know what a dummy is, but I agree with the rest of the idea. I will say you’re getting much better.”

“Because of you,” I replied with meaning.

“We all have our reasons for getting better. You have improved both my life and outlook?”

“Honestly? I mean how many times have you nearly died because of me?”

“Death is more a part of life than anything else. I do not want to die, but I do not fear it,” She replied.

“Well, I’m fucking terrified of your death. But you’re right. As it stands, the dwarf's offer is damn near perfect, and they haven’t given any reason for us to mistrust them yet.”

“Yet. Keep your eyes open, Clive.”

The turnaround of her telling me to trust them and then not trust them had my head spinning, but I understood what she meant.

I was diverted from my path to Fakasta and Stilbraker by shouting and snarling. Close to the existing whitan I saw Grigor squared up to Niko. There wasn’t much between them in size and stature, and there was only one level between them.

“…and you led them back here!” Grigor snarled.

“We would have all been killed if I did not.”

“If it wasn’t for the dwarves appearing, most of our pack would have been killed!”

Niko spat, “If we need saving off that scum, then we don’t deserve to live.”

“Niko you go too far. The dwarves have offered their aid.”

“And you trust the sly, selfish bastards?” As Niko roared with outrage, his eyes fell on me. “This is all your fault, Demon man. They were here because of you.”

Niko moved away from Grigor as he ranted, charging me in a sudden burst of speed. I had no time to act beyond throwing up a guard to defend myself.

But the blow never landed as Grigor pile-drived the bastard into the ground inches from me.

Niko tried to get up, but Grigor was relentless, dropping him again with a heavy swipe to the knee.

As Niko went down, Grigor dove on top of him, his Claw of Rending Salvation flaring to life.

“Grigor, stop!”

I hadn’t meant to use compulsion on him. He was doing exactly what I’d told him to do on the first day of being here. Which was to protect me if any of his people attacked me. And now, in the middle of a fight, where Niko was one hundred percent arsehole, I’d used the bond in a way I said I wouldn’t. Yet feeling bad would have to wait till later.

Niko didn’t waste any time freeing himself morphing into a huge wolf to leap away and instantly turning back into his humanoid form to hit me and Grigor and the dwarves, and basically everyone with the meanest look he could pull together. I ignored the whinging shithead as best I could.

“The Demons can fucking track me, Grigor. There’s every chance they were coming any way!”

Grigor growled at me. I could feel the rage inside of him, at me, at Niko. At the whole damn world. “That may be, but he didn’t know about that and still brought them here were our children play, by his own admission!”

“You’re a fool Grigor. You just heard him say they were coming here already.” Niko interrupted and activated his own Claw of rending Salvation.

“There is no choice but to fight Clive, Do you agree?”

I was impressed by how Grigor asked for permission. But I wanted to deal with this myself. It was pretty much my own doing. I began threading out a tendril of power to attack with before I answered.

“No Grigor. The demons hunted me here. I should have expected them after the last appearance of Grashuyk. But that doesn’t absolve Niko, so I will fight him. Niko took full advantage, of the opportunity and lunged at me.

I was ready and I lashed at his Claw of rending Salvation as he came in. I realized my mistake instantly. I should have sent him into the trees again. But he rode the deflection of his empowered arm and lunged at me. I evaded the blow by a fine margin and managed to score a right hook as I moved out the way of his lunge. He rolled and came back to his feet. Lunging at me with his empowered arm once more. Then he just stopped suddenly. It took a moment for me to process what had happened. As he fell back only a few feet away from me with a black axe imbedded in his forehead.

Just like that, Niko was no more, and the fucking dwarves were laughing again. I turned to face them in shock.

Stilbraker shrugged. “I was sent here to make sure you didn’t die. And come on. He lead them here on purpose! Even worse than all that, he called the dwarves, scum! Not once, but twice.”

I turned back to my friends to gauge their reactions. Grigor’s in particular.

“You still okay with this, Grigor?”

“I have not been okay with anything for a very long time, but we cannot turn away freely offered aid. They were not wrong in killing Niko, but It should have been me. Give me a moment to think before I fully commit.”

“Sure thing.”

“Kuhn, here,” he barked.

Kuhn came over quickly. “Yes Alpha.”

“Did you knowingly lead the demons here?”

“Yes. Niko said he had a plan.”

“And you believed him?”

“You put him above me, and I cannot beat him in single combat. What could I do? I have fought today as bravely as I could.”

I didn’t think Grigor could sag lower. He looked at the dead form of Niko. The axe had disappeared. “Did you try to stop him?”

“He did!” A huge Nystiobek almost as big as Grastad bellowed. “We all did. But we have an order. We stood by the order and Niko betrayed us all.”

Grigor nodded sadly. “Kuhn, Grastad, Scralex, will you maintain the camp while we visit Nuinaer?”

They all came up to face Grigor. Bowing low as they arrived, they each agreed with reverence. Sania, spoke across the bond to Grigor.

“Would you please include a member of my pack to, please. Sanyl or Rilaz will be best.

“Of course,” he replied shortly.

“Sanyl, will you work with them to protect our people?” He asked.

“Of course, Alpha. I would be honored to do what I can.”

Tyl shot up from where he was sitting, “Hey, I’m the next in command of our pack!” he said to Grigor with as much heat as he dared.

“We are one pack now, Tyl. And you are next in command of nothing,” Sania replied before Grigor would need to.

He fish mouthed for a moment, looking around for support from others. Unsurprisingly, he found none and shamefacedly sat back down.

With that done, we walked back over to the waiting dwarven army.

“You ready then?” Fakasta asked.

“I am, but I will be bringing some of our strongest warriors with us from the pack. Is there any chance you can have someone keep an eye on the place while we’re away?”

“We haven’t stopped watching the place since big boy there showed up,” he said pointing at Grigor.

“Yet you haven’t offered any assistance until now, even though we crossed your lands in desperation.”

Fakasta shrugged. “You buggers move too fast and were not defending the surface for now.”

“Why not?” Grigor asked with a grim expression that mirrored his mood.

“Hehe, you must think I’m as daft as him,” Fakasta said pointing at me. “Can’t be giving away military secrets to any random passerby now, can we?”

Grigor sighed and gave up. I liked the two dwarves, but as much as they both talked, they were damn hard to pin down on specifics.

“So, back to my earlier point. While we’re gone, are you willing to keep an eye out for our people?”

“Sure, sure. I, Fakasta…

“And I, Stilbraker, solemnly swear that your people will be in a similar or better position than they currently are now,” they both finished in union.

“Then lead the way,” I said. Wondering what the hell I was walking into now, as we walked away from Far reach.

As we headed up the slope of the valley walking behind Stilbraker and Fakasta at the head of the column of dwarves. I made sure to assign my points for reaching Level 38. After my brief conversation with the two of them regarding stats and the fact that I was going to speak to a God, I decided to invest in my horribly low Charisma. I couldn’t bring myself to put all ten points in to it and I figured speaking to a God would require Intelligence more than anything else. It would probably be against what Sania would advise, but I didn’t think speed or strength were going to cut it for the trials ahead. I wasn’t prepared for the what my statistic display would throw my way.

Level 38

Physical statistics:

Strength: 50

The capacity to exert and resist force.

Dexterity: 20

Skill and ease in hand-based activity.

Agility: 20

How effectively the body can move into a range of different positions.

Speed: 50

Rate at which the body can move.

Stamina: 50

Period at which body can effectively sustain prolonged activity.

Constitution: 101

The ability to withstand physical punishment.

Mental Statistics:

Intelligence: 30 (-5 Racial Trait)

Knowledge and its application. Warning! You have reached the limit for Intelligence.

Charisma: 18 (-5 Racial Trait)

Charm, coerce, inspiration.

Perception: 20

Awareness of surroundings

Spiritual Statistics:

Ethereal Awareness: 0

Attunement with the Gods and spirits of Gulithea. (Necessary for Ethereally supplied magical ability.)

Internal Connection: 31

Attunement with oneself. (Necessary for cultivation of one’s own inner power)

World sense: 2.11%

Knowledge of Gulithea.

Xp to next level 800/1500

“Did either of you see where these Dwarves came from?” Sania asked distracting me to the fact that I’d apparently reached a limit in Intelligence. While it was deeply concerning, it wasn’t something I had time to work through at the moment.

“I was distracted,” Grigor said seriously.

“Me too,” I replied. “They seemed to just appear from nowhere.”

A hundred meters up the valley face, just as it became almost impossible to walk without the use of hands, Stilbraker brought us to a stop and solved the mystery.

“Here we are,” he said with a broad smile as Fakasta began waving his hands in a weird pattern in front of him. A fifteen-foot-high circular hole appeared in front of us leading into the mountains. To my surprise, there was a smooth tunnel ahead of us with lights on the walls providing plenty of illumination. I still felt the old pang of claustrophobia rear its head, though I was able to subdue it more easily after my prolonged experience in the grobbler tunnels.