A cold wind blew snow over my shoulders, frosty ice settling on my neck and melting in streams of water. Where it ran over my meridians, steam freed itself into the air.

No rest for the wicked, I supposed. I drew my Qi through myself, raising the spear, and once again hoping that potions offered some antibacterial means. I spun the little metal spear in my hand, licking my lips— they were chapped dry in the low humidity of the region. Blood flaked from my hand, chafing where I held the metal, and the first of the Kobolds charged out of the dark. A dozen more followed in a mix of squeaks and roars.

The first monster fell without effort, my spear landing in its skull, and I pulled it free with the same motion I used to kick it away, tripping the feet of the group of Kobolds. They tumbled, one and all, crashing into each other and then the ground. When I fought, I was beautifully unified in purpose. I had trained all my life for this. I dove into the group of monsters with ecstasy, adrenaline pumping in my heart as I turned Kobolds to corpses, my piercing blows landing again and again and again without fail, each motion I took conserved, measured, mastered— I was dancing through the monsters, forcing a creature to live its last moment and take its last breath with every second and then— I was alone in the quiet dark of the caves mouth.

I panted, sweat forming on my skin once again. I needed a shower.

The Qi felt distant now. Fuzzy. With my Dantian attuned, I would have to start the process of slowly refining Qi after turning it to moonlight. But that was far away. The monsters here wouldn’t be enough once I started refining it— it would take me years to advance if I lived in this cave.

I stretched, pulled a potion from my pocket, downing it for the cut on my hand, and then turned to process the rest of the Qi. It might not have represented much in the grand scheme of things, but there was no reason to throw away progress. It would simply dissipate if I didn’t use it. So I slowly brought it into myself, attuning it and feeling it fill the edges of my Dantian.

Then I felt a foreign Qi billow out from behind me, smothering everything.

“Shit…” I cursed, half jumping to my feet to turn around and look at the snow blanketed world as a golden pulse raced over the earth, moving out like an expanding golden ring. “Shit shit shit—“

I had no idea what it was, and I moved to run back into the cave, to avoid it, and by the second I had begun to spin on my heels it hit me— and stopped. I staggered forward, ready to dodge— but it had already disappeared, shattering into golden motes of dust that floated upwards, and then a sound like thunder echoed from the distance of the snowy plain.

A golden figure surged towards the sky, then pivoted in mid air and shot towards me. Oh shit, Willow? I hoped it was Willow. If that wasn’t Willow and was just some other golden demigod coming to kill me I was fucked.

Before I had finished debating whether to start running into the cave, the figure had already arrived above me, turning on the spot again to shoot straight downwards.

A golden, translucent shield materialized in midair, hovering like a platform and slowly rotating.

There was a sound like a car crash if the cars were both buses going the opposite direction on the highway, then a familiar golden figure sat on the shield, covered in resplendent armor. The gold shifted to black and the helmet peeled away, snapping back into an even more familiar set of black armor, and a familiar face.

She tackled me.

“You fucking idiot! How did you get lost in a low level dungeon!” She paused, pushing me back and staring farther down into the cavern, staring at the pile of corpses. It was getting brighter outside, through the clouds, and I could feel the moon growing distant in the light— an effect of my Moonlight Dantian. It was turning to day time here. I pushed her off gently. “You really are my brother, huh.” She stepped down, picking up the metal lance I had dropped, eyes flicking between the blood on it and the corpses. She looked back at me, seemingly sizing me up with new eyes.

I smiled nervously. “Being Awakened runs in the family, right?”

She nodded, once, as if confirming a thought, before tossing the spear— if you could call it that. It was probably the size of my forearm, just a spike of metal.

The spear stuck into the wall, cracking the stone, and without prompt Willow took my hand, looking at the cut on it.

“You’re healed? What class did you get? Tell me you didn’t spend all of the money I gave you on gear. That was for, like, food and clothes, not running off to dungeons without me!” She said, irritated.

“I uh… no. There’s healing gear? I bought potions. Plus the…” I waved at the snowy landscape. “The dive.”

“Oh you’re such an idiot.” Willow said, stretching and staring down at the cave. “What the hell made you want to come to some dirty caves and kill Kobolds anyway? And…” She squinted. “You killed so many by yourself.” The last statement sounded more like a question than a statement, clearly framed with disbelief. Then her face lit up. “You unlocked a class! An early class! You must have! Is that where you learned the skills from? When you unlock it, it’s like a bunch of knowledge just flows into your mind?” She phrased the last question like a statement.

“This one— I gained some minor knowledge of the spear and petty weapons. Its nothing much—“

“The spear! Oh my god, I wonder if we have the same class!” Willow switched to excitement, suddenly grabbing me. “Just think, in a year or two we can go diving together!”

Willow suddenly paused at that, looking out over the horizon— she had dragged me outside in a couple steps— and stopping entirely. When she spoke again, her voice sounded controlled and as if she had sobered to an idea.

“Ah, or not. You know, there are plenty of other good careers.” She said, still not looking my way.

What was that about? There was something bad about the dives she had been on, probably. Something related to the intense killing intent she had, one clearly formed from—

Willow jumped without warning, and I was cradled in a golden barrier as we flew over the horizon.

I gasped for a moment before I realized I was suspended.

Willow was smiling. She jumped by surprise on purpose.

I stared down. The white expanse of snow was hundreds of feet below me. Willow jumped again, probably summoning more of those golden shields out of my line of sight, and I waved my arms in the air. She laughed evilly. I covered my mouth, feeling an old, ancient enemy. One I hadn’t felt since I was a mortal. Motion sickness.

“Put me down.” I said, firmly. Willow’s smile only widened.

“Well, okay!” She said, and we fell straight down together.

I definitely did not scream as we descended.