The eyes of both Razark and Dee snapped towards the sky. They both sensed the approach of someone with great power. Dee wasn’t quite sure what she was sensing because she lacked experience with immortals, but Razark knew the significance. He knew that the person was informing him of their presence on purpose, so as not to surprise them. Amarog noted the approach only slightly later, though his job was made easier due to the obvious reaction by the master and disciple pair. Thus he knew where to look. He also knew that he was no match for the newcomer should it come to a fight. Shraeska pretended not to notice or care. Fights were not her job. Her job was to take care of the aftermath.

Dee wasn’t sure what to think when she saw the crimson armor worn by the women who landed. She did recognize one of the crimson clad women as Alexandra, the crimson witch in charge of the Crimson Witches sent to deal with the rift. Her presence here was telling, and made it clear that their presence here was due to what happened in that area. Not that it was much in doubt even without her presence, but coincidences did happen.

She remembered an old quote she had once read. “I believe in coincidences. Coincidences happen everyday. But I don’t trust coincidences.” This however, wasn’t one of those coincidences.

As the Alpha of the Winter Wolves tribe, Amarog was the one to approach the witches. The blond haired lead witch waved the other four back, and approached Amarog alone, possibly as a sign of good faith. The two approached each other while keeping their hands far from their weapons. A fairly useless gesture considering neither of them actually needed weapons, but there it was nonetheless.

“Honored members of the Crimson Path. What brings you to the lands of the Winter Wolves.” Amarog greeted the newcomers. He tried to act warmly, but the presence of so many powerful beings near their homes was a bad sign and a slight tinge of worry creeped into his voice.

“Be at peace Alpha of the tribes. We are here for information. If we had known our search would bring us to you, we would have sent the swords that came from your tribe to seek for the information instead. The fates find us here however, and we would like to exchange words with your guests.” The lead witch replied courteously, seeing through his nervousness. It didn’t cost Anastasia anything to be courteous, and she was much more of a diplomat than most of her kind.

Amarog took a glance at Razark. Razark had been prepared for a fight as soon as he had sensed the approach of the witches, but relaxed somewhat and nodded his agreement. He still remained vigilant and ready to fight though. Perhaps in a show of solidarity, or to show that his promise of keeping Dee safe within their community held true, Amarog stayed with them. None of them would’ve blamed the wolf for drawing away to protect his people. This brought a small smile from Anastasia, and she appreciated the wolf’s courage, even if it was misplaced and a little inconvenient at the moment.

‘We’ve seen her before. Or at least I have. She was the one that tossed you through the portal when we went to the previous rift.’ Croestia suddenly whispered to Dee, prompting Dee to almost reveal her surprise on her face.

Anastasia approached Dee and Razark. “Greetings. My name is Anastasia, and I belong to the Crimson Path, as you probably already noticed. It is my job to investigate what happened to a particular group of our warriors, and I’m fairly certain you can help me with that.”

Her words prompted a rather scowling look from Razark, who assumed they were here for vengeance. Anastasia pre-empted his reaction though. “Do not worry. We are not here to harm anyone. We are fairly certain about what happened to them, and only want to confirm the facts. We are aware that they met their end at the same time this young lady got injured. Whether they were in conflict with her before that happened is rather irrelevant.”

This confused Razark quite a bit. The whole reaction from the witches seemed too reasonable. Even if the witches did pick a fight and were killed for it, it was weird that the witches were not seeking revenge against the one that was at least partially at fault for the deaths of their own. It was not a matter of justice. Strong communities had to take a strong hand against those that acted against them to deter others from doing the same. That deterrence could take other forms than just fear and violence. Those were simply the most common methods and ones previously used by the witches. More reasonable methods were usually reserved for those that the witches didn’t want to antagonize. And justice? Things like justice and who was truly at fault only mattered when dealing with someone roughly equal that the witches couldn’t simply oppress by force. Even the paladins defaulted to maintaining an iron grip on order when things got too complicated.

Dee didn’t know exactly what Razark was thinking, but she could make a rough guess. She needed to make this discussion at least somewhat private. She wasn’t opposed to sharing the details of the discussion with Razark, but the timing was inconvenient. She would still be questioned by the order, and she needed to watch her words for both giving and receiving certain information. “Master, I would like to speak with her alone.”

This of course raised Razark’s suspicions even more, but he had faith in his disciple. That and he knew Dee would not place herself at a risk like this for no reason. He was fairly sure he would find out what was going on soon enough. “Permission granted. However, we will stay close just in case. You can make it so we can’t hear. Does that work for you?”

“Perfectly. Thank you.” Dee gave a small smile. She had known Razark would be quick on the uptake.

Anastasia watched with amusement as the trio moved away from them. She had not expected this, but in retrospect she should have. Of course the girl wouldn’t advertise her blessing. She also appreciated the girl’s guts to stay here alone and unprotected. Anastasia could snap her neck in less than a second, and there was nothing that could prevent that. Even the blessing must have something to stop it activating again so soon. That didn’t prevent the angry god from taking revenge in other ways though. “I see they are not aware.”

Dee stopped Anastasia from saying anything further by raising her hand in a stop motion. “Before you say too much, I should mention that I will most likely be questioned by the order about the events later on. There will be spells to determine if I’m lying. There’s a difference between knowing something happened and suspecting something to be true, if you catch my meaning.”

Anastasia gave an amused chuckle. What a delightfully devious little minx! “I understand perfectly. We shall avoid going too deep into certain subjects. Your request alone already confirmed what I needed confirmed. It is our assumption that you got into conflict with the swords in question. Do you mind sharing the details?”

Dee gave a quick rundown of the situation leading into the battle, and even allowed Anastasia to check the truth of her words with a small blood-ki technique the latter had picked up. Less intrusive and less effective than a truth spell, but faster and easier to use. She avoided going into the fight itself, and Anastasia seemed satisfied not to go into it too deeply as well. They both had a rough idea what had happened and there was no need to confirm the exact details.

Anastasia gave a small sigh. “It really is unfortunate that our warriors acted like that, and I apologize for their behavior. Still, it’s pretty impressive you managed to fight them. I wonder…the strongest among them and the one who picked the fight with you had a minor Authority. Would you know what happened to it? If it passed on to you, then you can keep it as an apology. I would simply like to know. I would dislike it being used against me without my knowledge of its existence.”

Dee frowned for a bit. “Authority…are you referring to the weird method she used to reflect my own attack back at me?”

Anastasia was genuinely surprised. “Oh? She used it against you, and you survived? You must have really pushed her if she used that. Yes, that is the main ability of that Authority.”

‘Croestia?’ Dee asked silently.

‘No idea. It’s not within your soul space in case you were wondering.’ Croestia quickly replied.

“I must admit I have no idea what happened to it. In all fairness I just woke up some hours ago, so even if I did have it, I wouldn’t know. I have seen no sign of it if that is any indication.” Dee said apologetically.

“Ah, no matter. That Authority has its uses, but it becomes almost irrelevant if your enemy knows you have it. If it does turn up, you can keep it, though I would like to have it confirmed. It would be a small price to pay for building a better relationship with you. In fact, if there’s something else you might like as an apology, I’m all ears. We really don’t want to antagonize someone with your ties. In fact, if you ever run into trouble with the order, we might offer you and your master shelter.” Anastasia said sincerely.

Dee grimaced. “We might end up needing that shelter.” She knew there were problems between her master and the order.

Anastasia looked sympathetic. “It’s not easy to be a being of darkness and chaos in a group dedicated to order, is it?”

Dee quickly realized the woman in front of her had misunderstood her a bit, but decided not to correct her. Besides, she too felt that she would run into trouble with the order at some point. She was about to reply when Croestia interjected silently. ‘Ask her for any information they have on soul spaces and domains.’

‘Why?’ Dee asked. She would do as Croestia asked; she simply wanted more information to work with, so she could phrase the request correctly.

‘There might be a problem. You remember some of the books left behind by your mother? I went through them before in case there was any information, and there were some hints between the lines that made me a little worried. The witches should know more. I’ll explain later.’ Croestia replied hurriedly.

“There is something you could help me with. The information that the Radiant Sun has is limited, and my access to that information is even more so. I need information on soul spaces and domains. The more you have the better.” Dee proposed.

Anastasia was slightly surprised. Dee was strong but this was a bit early. Still, it was not an unreasonable worry for someone at Dee’s level. “I’m not sure our methods would help you. In our techniques we have our own methods for creating a soul space, and those methods are not applicable to others. You should also understand that we're not keen on sharing that information either so others won’t find out potential weaknesses. You could always join us.”

Dee shook her head quickly. “I can see why you wouldn’t want to share that information, and that’s not what I need to know either. Surely you have information on how others do it? It’s vital information on your rivals after all. You would search out anything you could find out, for the same reason others might be interested in your methods. That’s the sort of information I’m interested in.”

Anastasia smiled. This was a deal she could go along with, and if it bought good will then it was a cheap price. “That can be arranged. The information is not perfect, but it should help.” She took out a magical crystal used to store information and tossed it to Dee after concentrating on it for a few seconds. “That’s what I have on hand. It’ll take a bit of time to gather everything. I’ll send someone to deliver it at a later date. Perhaps the Winter Wolves would agree to do it for me, as some of their tribe are members in our community and in the scouts of your order. Anything else? This is your chance to ask. I can’t promise anything much, but that information seems too little as a repayment for the attack.”

Dee thought for a moment. “There is a question I’d like answered. What’s your interest in the elemental rifts? You seem more interested in them than you should be according to what I can figure out. Even in the remote ones. I can see they can be beneficial, but your interest seems a bit excessive when compared to the benefits.”

Anastasia grinned. “Ah, such sharp eyes. There are many benefits that come from them, but there are two main ones. First of all it keeps them away from the hands of our rivals. The Revenant need the rifts for procreation and the Spider Cult for death mana which makes creating their most powerful creatures and immortals easier. Secondly, we don’t need all of them. We need particular types of rifts.”

Anastasia considered for a moment before continuing. This wasn’t secret information exactly, but not something they liked to spread around either. Still, Dee seemed like someone who could keep a secret. “Our techniques allow us to draw on great power, but it comes with certain…risks. Drawing too deeply can drive us insane. Certain types of mana can help us return from the brink, and even maintain our sanity when we draw too deeply on that power. There is a great war coming, and we need all the advantages we can get.”

“Great war?” Dee asked, shocked.

Anastasia frowned. “I can’t go into specifics, but suffice it to say that there will soon be an opening in the first circle. All the most powerful communities in Day city will be scrambling for the spot, and it seems likely that some communities from the Night city will decide to make their play as well.”

This was news to Dee. Useful news. The rest of their meeting was rather short, and both of them were satisfied with the result. Anastasia had managed to create bonds with Dee, and Dee had gained information. Information that was useful enough to be almost worth the pain of losing her hands.

As Anastasia was leaving, she suddenly snapped her fingers as if remembering something. “Oh right. As we mentioned being able to say some things without lying, I also need to do something.” She pulled out what looked like a basket filled with fruits and various little items. “Here. This is for you.”

“A gift basket?” Dee asked, thoroughly confused.

“Don’t ask. You don’t want to know, believe me.” Anastasia said with a wry grimace, before leaving.

--------

Dee finally had some peace and quiet. Razark had tried to grill her for answers for almost an hour, and all Dee could say was “Later” in an attempt to placate him. Now she was resting inside the infirmary. They would return back to the order tomorrow, and afterwards they would make a couple of short trips with Razark. Being questioned was something she could handle while missing an arm, and so was talking to some people that might be able to help her with various things.

Now was the first time since waking up that Dee had the chance to pay attention to her soul space. As she entered the difference was obvious. The number of skulls that were forming what she suspected to be the foundations of her totem had increased by a lot. Where there used to be thousands of skulls, now there were hundreds of thousands. They had also started to form a second layer on top of the first. The second layer was ever so slightly smaller than the first layer.

“Yeah that’s been growing a lot.” The ‘glowing orb’ form of Croestia floated close.

“Is it just me, or does it look like the beginnings of a pyramid?” Dee suddenly asked.

“That’s one option yes.” Croestia replied. “Not the only one that came to mind, but the most obvious. You might find it interesting that the skulls are not placed in order of the time they died. Instead the skulls of the most powerful beings are at the top. Or in this case the second layer. A bit too early to draw real conclusions, but something to speculate on.”

Dee tilted her head a bit, and suddenly the foundations grew in size but fell back down to single layer. Then it changed again back to normal. Dee tried to change it to grow more layers as well but couldn’t.

“That’s new.” Croestia said.

“I get this weird feeling that I can modify it until it is finished. Also you were right about the powerful ones being at the top.” She shook her head. This was interesting, but not really relevant at the moment. “It seems all the people that died became part of…whatever that is. However, I didn’t gain any power, not even from the one witch that died before I lost consciousness.”

“So. It seems people dying around you contribute towards that thing, but you have to consciously devour their souls to gain any power.” Croestia theorized. “Seems logical. In a twisted sort of way.”

“Anyway, what’s this about reading books stored inside you? I didn’t even know you could read, not to mention turn pages.” Dee asked with amusement. She had gone through the books when she was much younger, but hadn’t really found anything that seemed relevant at the moment. There were books on alchemy in particular, but her chances on practicing that had been rare lately.

“I’ll have you know I can freely study anything stored inside myself. The things I have access to anyway. I also went over the information the witch gave you. It confirmed some things, but we need more information on the subject. And we could use it soon. What I’ve found so far isn’t exactly great.” Croestia said with a worried tone.

“Now you got me concerned. Do tell me.” Dee prompted.

“First you have to understand that this is not just about the information you got. You know that much of the information that the previous me used to know was forgotten, right? Well that doesn’t mean it’s gone. I’m not learning something new from the information the witch gave me, I’m remembering something old. I also sometimes remember things besides the stuff I’m reading tells me.” Croestia wasn’t quite sure how to explain it properly.

“Ok, so you get three pieces on information from somewhere, but suddenly you know four things due to old memories. Something like that?” Dee suggested.

“Something like that. Anyway, the old me had a lot of knowledge on subjects like this apparently. The fact that your soul space, or domain as it were, opened early isn’t entirely unheard of. It comes with both good sides and bad sides. The good side is that you can start expanding the domain and building your totem early. While normal people start from zero when they become immortal, you have a head start.” Croestia explained slowly, piecing together information she was barely aware of.

“Ok that’s the good side. Now what’s the bad?” Dee asked apprehensively.

“Normally a person’s soul space or domain and totem reflect their deepest personality and power. It is something we choose almost instinctively, although those without domains have a bit more control over choosing their totem. However, your totem and soul space are already developing, but you aren’t connected to them fully. Thus, you aren’t the only one able to influence them. You still do influence them and they are based on your strengths, but others can meddle and tilt things in certain directions.” Croestia’s explanation came to a slow stop as she gathered her thoughts.

“Others?” Dee asked with a bad premonition.

“Well…” The orb of light suddenly gestured towards the four holy symbols around them.

Dee’s premonition came true. “How much can they influence things?”

Croestia was quiet for a moment. “I’m not sure. That’s part of what we need to find out. Like I said, the totem is still based on your personality and strengths, but it looks pretty clear that it has been influenced by a certain deity. I doubt it would’ve taken this exact form, whatever it will end up being, without her meddling in things.”