Weirdly, everyone else got a bit of pleasure watching the old man struggle with his nausea once they exited Dee’s portal. Everyone, except Eilian who was essentially a stranger, had received training from the old man. While Razark and Dee had faced the worst of it, they all shared a common trauma and received a sort of catharsis when seeing the old man suffer for a change. The group had easily lost their pursuers, and those same pursuers had very quickly given up once they realized the danger they faced. Once the group had exited the area suppressing portals they had managed to make their escape. Dee had placed the portal exit in the middle of nowhere on purpose, which made it easy for them to plan what to do next without being bothered.

Razark noted that a strange calm and an air of serenity had settled on his disciple. Dee was not exactly rambunctious normally, but now she felt different from usual. He had seen something similar before and knew Dee had gained a personal epiphany of sorts. She would most likely need some time to process whatever enlightenment she’d had, and she would most likely also need some time to deal with what happened with Noyala. The four immortals had been hiding out of sight, but their enhanced hearing had been enough to catch the conversation between Dee and Eilian.

“So what’s your plan now?” Dee surprised Razark with her sudden question.

“Now? I’m pretty sure the old man wants to return to his mountain.” Razark started.

“I’ll rather find my own way than take your portals again Dee, thank you very much.” The old man interjected emphatically.

“The rest of us will need to go deal with the separation between the order and the scouts. I also have business with the order afterward.” Razark continued and looked meaningfully at Dee. She knew Razark had revenge plans in mind.

“I will not be going.” Dee announced, to the surprise of the others. The old man just smiled knowingly. He had an inkling about what was going through Dee’s mind. He had seen similar things happen before, and even though he didn’t know what exactly had happened to Dee, he could sense some of it. He had also always known Dee would start walking her own path at some point.

“You won’t?” Razark asked a little confused.

“No. I have other matters to deal with. I also have some decisions to make about my future. I wish you luck, and if you need help you can always contact me. I owe all of you quite a bit.” The last part was aimed at Dagnal and Accirlashk, as it was obvious that the relations between Dee and Razark would continue. Just that things might change.

“Well, I’ll find you with the Four Winds then.” Razark nodded in agreement. He wasn’t sure what was going on but guessed it had something to do with her current state.

The group exchanged some information and some goodbyes, before the four immortals disappeared, leaving Dee alone with Eilian. “Aren’t you afraid to be left alone with me?” Eilian asked with slight amusement. Strictly speaking the two should be enemies, but weren’t really.

“No.” Dee said simply. “I don’t think you want me any harm. I also think I could beat you in a fight if I really wanted to. An hour ago I would have lost, but now? I’m pretty sure I would win.” She could feel her connection with her Domain strengthening after she’d had the realization about the nature of her totem and its connection with her own personality. Before, the totem had just been something vague building inside of her, but now it was hers and hers alone. It represented her true desire, one that she had not even quite put into words before. She had been vaguely aware, but not fully.

Eilian took a long look at Dee, not just with her eyes but with her senses as well. Dee felt different than earlier. Before now Dee had felt vaguely threatening, like someone with the potential to harm you but without any true danger of that actually happening. Now it felt Dee would really be able to fight her if she really tried. “Something has really changed. Can I ask what? It has me curious.”

“Let’s just say that I now know myself much better. The real question is, what do you want to do now? You are outside the forest. For the first time if my guess is right. And I’m pretty sure you’re not welcome to return to the forest anytime soon. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What do you want?” Dee asked the troublesome questions that always foreshadowed change.

Eilian was quiet for a long time, looking at the surrounding valley. “You’re right. This is my first time outside the forest. I’m not sure where to go, but I do know what I want to do. I told you what my preferred path would have been if my parents had not decided otherwise. I want to become a painter. You wouldn’t happen to know a place where that would be possible, would you?”

A sudden inspiration hit Dee. “Actually I do. It also has the added benefit of annoying your sister if she ever finds out.”

“Oh?” Eilian’s thoughtful expression suddenly shifted into an amused one. “Do tell.”

----------

“A painter?” Kawhena the Dagon representative of the Four Winds asked with a blank voice, his face carefully keeping a stoic visage. His attempts at holding his expression gave him a menacing appearance instead. The Dagon were, in general, a very large framed species and the dragon horns they had didn’t exactly make them look less intimidating. Dee noted with amusement that she now had something in common with them. Now Kawhena’s eyebrow was twitching in annoyance.

“A painter.” Dee replied keeping her voice completely serious. They all saw the absurdity of the situation. They could feel Eilian was an immortal, yet Dee had introduced her as a painter that wanted to join the craftsmen of the community. They all also knew Dee had just been to the empire and the news had already reached them about a new queen among the Sidhe. They could also see that Eilian was a Sidhe and identical to the woman Dee had brought before, who was conspicuously absent.

“To be exact, I want to become a painter. Dee here spoke highly of the skill of the Jun artisans and I would like to learn.” Eilian specified.

The Jun representative Shioko smiled warmly. “Well, I didn’t know Dee had such a high opinion of us. We would warmly welcome one of her friends among us. That said, we do things with perfection in mind. I say that as a warning so you don’t go in blind. We don’t tolerate a half-assed attitude towards our crafts.”

“The girl’s a Sidhe Shioko. I’m pretty sure they have even more dedication than you art freaks.” The Anshar representative that Dee still refused to call Smoky pointed out. Him calling Eilian a girl was also a bit of a stretch considering she could be older of the two.

“Oh right, you had that path culture, didn’t you?” The Jun woman realized. She had not remembered the peculiarity of the Sidhe as a race. “Well then. Let me show you around. I can introduce you to some teachers. I’m a woodcarver myself, but I know some of our best painters.” She led Eilian out of the room.

“You bring some of the most interesting allies.” Nyx, Moirai’s mother said trying not to laugh. She had been stifling her laughter this whole time. “If you have any more immortals in your pocket, then feel free to bring them around as well.”

Dee looked at her pants that happened to have a disturbing lack of pockets. They were so form fitting that there wasn’t any room for pockets anyway. She looked back up and lifted her eyebrow in a clear message. Kawhena gave a quick admiring glance before hiding his look with a cough, which still earned him a punch to the shoulder from the much shorter Nyx who had to jump to reach so high, even though the Dagon man was sitting down.

“Speaking of, it seems the negotiations with the Threads of Fate went well.” Dee was alluding to the very conspicuous flying island they had seen outside the city. Dee recognized it as the headquarters of Threads of Fate.

“Yes, we came to an understanding that should be beneficial for all of us. I’ll have to thank you for that. Handling trade has always been somewhat difficult in the third circle. We have great products, but there are no real traders here, and the lesser circles can’t afford the prices when sold in large quantities. Our new friends have the ability to handle such large volumes, so we are rather well-off at the moment.” Nyx replied.

“Hmm, I’ll have to pay them a visit soon to let them know my debts are paid.” Dee mumbled half to herself.

The Anshar cleared his throat. “Anyway, what’s the word with Razark? It never was all that clear if he wanted to become one of us or not.”

Dee shook her head. “It’s hard to say. He has his own worries at the moment. He might eventually once he finds his revenge, but for now, he is still too preoccupied. I can’t and won’t speak for him.”

“Good enough. The offer still stands.” The Anshar grunted with a gravel voice.

“I’m assuming you have some meditation and power consolidation planned?” Nyx asked. “I can feel there’s a turmoil inside of you. The good kind of turmoil, but still. I have a feeling my daughter was right. Your little adventure might be bringing you to immortality sooner than we even assumed.”

“Correct. Unless you have some pressing matters for me, I’ll be spending some time on my own.” Dee nodded in agreement.

“Well, there are a couple of things we’d like you to consider, but they can wait. They’re better handled after you’re done with you consolidation anyway.” Nyx replied. “I expect you to still keep up our gaming habit. These dummies are not a proper opponent, and my daughter is such a bore. It’s hard to keep beating your offspring over and over again. They tend to take it personally.”

-----

Dee was meditating in a simple room that was one of the many that were used for such purposes by the Four Winds. She had her mind inside her soul space looking at the totem. Croestia’s indistinct form was floating next to her. “I now know what this will become.” Dee told the floating ball of energy.

“You’ll need to say it out loud.” Croestia replied, alluding to one of the three doors that were inside the magical storage space. The opening criterion for the door was for Dee to know the form her totem would take.

“My deepest desire is to no longer be afraid of anything. That requires me to become powerful enough to stand above everyone so that no one will be able to be a threat to me or those I care about. My totem signifies that, as it is a throne that represents my desire to stand above everyone and everything, including the gods. The skulls are from those that stand against me or those that I must step on to reach my goal.” Dee explained, feeling the correctness of the answer deep inside her.

Croestia was quiet for a long time. It was clear that she was dealing with whatever was behind the door, and it was not something simple. Finally, she spoke again. “Well. This was unexpected.”

“Don’t keep me in suspense.” Dee replied wryly.

“This requires a bit of explanation. The old me left behind quite a bit of both memories and instructions. Let’s start with the bit that might be the hardest to swallow. There’s no delicate way to put this, so I’ll just say it. The hells were destroyed by your mother Selvaria and a friend of hers.” Croestia said, not quite sure how Dee would react.

Truth be told Dee wasn’t entirely sure how she should react either. So she asked for clarification. “I’m assuming there’s a more specific explanation included.”

“Yes, there is. She and the Dragon that is the embodiment of anti-magic were testing a method to turn the magical nature of the demons against themselves. Not really as a weapon, but as a possible countermeasure. Their method worked too well, and they didn’t consider that the hells themselves were magical in nature. The spell got out of control and started a chain reaction which collapsed all the hells, leading to the deaths of everyone inside. The angels then took advantage of the situation and started the so-called Holy Purge in an attempt to eliminate all demons.” The explanation was a very condensed version of the events. Croestia had received more detailed memories but didn’t feel it was necessary to go into more depth at the moment.

Dee considered the news for a while. She felt like she should blame her mother for the way things ended up but didn’t. She felt no connection to the hells personally. There was some fault involved on Selvaria’s part when it came to Dee’s circumstances, but she wasn’t sure if that was a purely bad thing. She was an experiment of some sort and experiments like this usually didn’t end well for the test subjects. And her mother was certainly not responsible for the reaction of the angels. It wasn’t really the destruction of the hells that drove her hate towards the angels; it was the purge and the attempt to annihilate her kind when they were down. That and their sanctimonious attitude about the whole thing. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about her mother’s role in all this.

“I’m assuming there’s more.” Dee prompted Croestia, trying to distract herself.

“Yes, that was just part of the explanation. Now we’re getting to the real point. As you know, all the great powers involved in the war are skilled with the ability known as Sengir, which is basically them absorbing a portion of the power of those they kill. Now, regardless of it being an accident, Selvaria did, in theory, kill all the inhabitants of the hells with her friend. However, her friend is one of the few beings of their level that can’t use Sengir, so in theory, all that power should have gone to her instead. She did not desire it though. She is also rather bad at Sengir, so most of the power would have been wasted. While your mother is bad at Sengir, she’s really good as a scientist and a researcher, so she found another way. She stored all that power instead.” Croestia continued her explanation.

“So if I understand this correctly, there’s some stored power behind the door?” Dee asked, surprised.

“Yes, however, it’s not quite that simple. First of all, Selvaria could only capture and store a portion of that power. It’s also not a simple matter to try and absorb all that power. The doors were meant to be opened in order. Usually, a person would find out the nature of their totem a significant time after becoming an immortal, and you were not supposed to open this door until long after becoming one. You can’t try and eat all of that power at once. Instead, you have to slowly start absorbing it. And when I say slowly, I do mean really damn slowly, over several years. You haven’t even fully adjusted to the power you gained from the Tree of Life yet. On the upside, the slower you do it, the more effectively you will absorb all that power.” Croestia warned her.

“So was there a hint of what’s behind the other two doors?” Dee suddenly asked.

“Well, yes and no. The first door is unknown, but the last door should have the rest of the power from the hells. This container only has the power Selvaria gathered from one of the hells. One of the smallest ones in fact. Now, this was also the hell where she performed the experiment, so it’s also the place where she managed to gather the largest percentage of the power, but it’s still only one hell, while the third door has all the others. The contents of door number one are a mystery, but also something else entirely.” Suddenly Croestia made a weird greenish-purple orb appear in front of Dee. It was barely the size of Dee’s thumb, but the thing radiated power.

Dee caught in from the air and tried to use her senses to study it. Almost immediately she stopped in shock. “There are souls inside this…whatever this is. Millions of souls. Or whatever is left behind of the soul once it is captured after the body dies.” It was widely known that any magic where the soul was ripped from the body and stored only took a small part of the soul while the rest was either reincarnated or sent to an afterlife of sorts. It was also one of the reasons why resurrection was so hard after some time had passed. The main part of the soul would have already moved on. What remained where scattered memories and scraps of power.

“The best way to store the power from those recently departed.” Croestia confirmed. In retrospect, it was rather obvious. What other way was there to store the power from the dead aside from capturing the souls to be absorbed later? “You should keep that with you at all times and slowly absorb the contents. I’d recommend truly starting after you deal with the power from the Tree of Life and not before.”

Dee spent the next month in meditation. Slowly the power from the Tree of Life was digested by her body and her soul space. She also spent a lot of time getting used to the changes in her body. It was clear her strength and durability had made a huge leap. Dee was pretty sure that she was already stronger than most new immortals physically, maybe even beating those more experienced immortals that had not reached rank eleven yet. Her connection with her Domain was growing stronger by the day, and she was pretty sure she would become an immortal in less than a year. It wasn’t that she didn’t have enough power, she really did, but that the connection simply needed some time to form naturally. It could be rushed, but it would be better to allow it to happen naturally.

For similar reasons Dee also decided to avoid absorbing the souls from the container Selvaria had left her. She would gain the largest benefit if she did so after becoming an immortal, and she was not in a rush. She’d just received a huge boost in power and she didn’t really need to rush the next one. She needed to make some plans anyway. She quite liked the Four Winds and would help them along as much as she could, but that was not a long-term plan. She wasn’t planning on settling down here permanently.

“What do you think we should do?” She asked Croestia for her opinion.

“I would suggest we lay low for a while. Your general plans will take you away from Pantheon at some point in the future but now is not the time. You would still be at the mercy of the angels. Besides, didn’t the seers mention that you would be able to get your dragon side under control if you made contact with the being Selvaria sent us here to meet?” Croestia pointed out.

“A being I know very little about. But then again, the seers also mentioned that I’d be able to meet the being when I grew strong enough. So we wait?” Dee suggested. It was not a very proactive plan, but it would do for now. She could use some rest anyway. Not that she knew what to do with herself when resting. She was a very active person.

Suddenly there was a small burst of power outside the building, announcing the presence of someone wanting her attention. Dee walked to the door and slid it open. Moirai was standing outside. “Something wrong?” Dee asked.

“You tell me. There are some wolves here. Apparently, they want to meet with you. The Winter Wolves to be exact.”

‘Winter Wolves? That’s Shunkaha’s tribe. What on Pantheon are they doing here?’ Dee thought confused.