Gilbert groaned as he felt himself regaining consciousness.

He had no idea what had happened between getting stabbed through the back by Duke Grindol and telling Grimsley to use the Djinn's wish subtly up to this point in time.

He tried to wiggle his toes. That was always a good sign to see the condition of the body but he got no response which was not good, not good at all.

Gilbert then attempted to pry his eyes open which also failed. Now he was starting to worry. 'Did I survive the attack but in some sort of vegetative state?'

"Oh, heavens no. By all accounts, you're dead," a cold and simply chilling voice stated without any emotion. "Here, let me give you a bit of sight. I'd rather talk face-to-face for this as I'm sure you would as well."

Gilbert was shocked to find that when he was granted vision again by whoever was speaking that he wasn't in Milindo anymore.

Well, that much was expected on account of the Djinn's wish, but, more accurately, he was surprised at the fact that he seemed to be... underwater.

Everywhere Gilbert looked he could only see a never-ending ocean of grey and lifeless liquid. Bones and bodies drifted through this sea of the dead, all of which were devoid of any semblance of life.

Standing not far from him was a featureless figure, a grey mass which appeared to be looking at him though had no eyes with which to look from. "I've heard of this place before..." Gilbert muttered. "Death's domain in the Land of the Primals?"

The grey being nodded. "As expected of a child of the White Dragonkin. I am Death. I've brought your soul here to give you an offer, one which might save your mortal life, if only for a short time."

"... So I survived?" Gilbert asked. "I'm still with Grimsley and Shana?"

"Yes, the human who stabbed you is also present with your physical body. A mistake caused by the Stone Dwarf whom you entrusted the Djinn's wish. Regardless, you will die if I stop interfering with the natural forces," Death claimed.

Gilbert furrowed his brow. "I'll be honest, I don't know much about you. Not many people do, in fact. I thought this place was a legend, hell, it still could be. Who's to say I'm not hallucinating?"

"Me," Death replied. "Still, I can see your viewpoint. I rarely awaken beastkin, rarer still do I even approach the mortal plane of Altros to speak to my chosen few. My interests there are limited. I will be frank though, one such interest has crossed paths with you. I tend to ignore strong emotions linked to me unlike my brethren, however, saving you holds merit."

"... I don't suppose you'll tell me what this 'interest' was, would you?" Gilbert asked.

The being shook its head. "I do not mind. The one known as 'Lone Immortus'. He contains both Sky and Void within his soul yet he still lives. That mortal has evaded certain death. I wish to know why."

Gilbert frowned. "Void? Is Void a Primal?"

"Of course. Why would Void not be?" Death asked in confusion. "We worked very hard to bring that being down to our level. Has history already forgotten about this?"

"So there aren't only eight Primals..." Gilbert was, suffice to say baffled and a bit lost.

He was, as a beastkin, a rather religious person. To find out suddenly that he had been worshipping eight gods and all along ignored a secret ninth... well, that disturbed him.

Death nodded slowly. "Such is how the flow of time works, I suppose. All things die and are forgotten sooner or later. Regardless, my offer to you is simple, I will awaken you, save your life, and grant you a fraction of my power. As is customary for when us Primals awaken beastkin."

'That's it? No further comment on 'Void'?' Is Lone in danger from this ninth Primal? What kind of Primal is it? Is it chaotic like Darkness and Land? Neutral like Death and Sky? Benevolent like Reality and Illusionary? Maybe it's an unknown like the silent Life and Radiance...' Gilbert wondered.

He took a deep breath then asked, "Am I safe in assuming that this isn't a one-sided arrangement? This... 'deal' of yours. I can't imagine a godly being such as yourself would save me so freely when you don't interact much with us mortals."

"Indeed, I would ask of you a few things, occasional tasks which need doing, perhaps," Death responded. "Most pressing of which would be to reunite with Lone Immortus. I wish to talk directly with him. Should you allow me, I will establish a link in your soul which I may travel through at the right moment."

Gilbert chuckled. "I don't have much of a choice, do I? Can you just answer one question for me and then make a promise? I know it's a bit presumptuous of me to question a Primal, but some things matter more to me than my religion."

Death's figure nodded. "I am not above granting such freedoms. Speak."

"Will I... will I start ageing?" Gilbert asked with a bit of fear in his tone.

"Lying on death's very doorstep yet still concerned about entering the natural ageing cycle like all other beings. How curious. Yes, you will. I estimate that you'll have 40 to 50 years remaining after I awaken you," Death answered.

"I see... Okay. Oh... That's... that's going to be hard to come to terms with but I'm sure I'll manage," Gilbert said with a short laugh. "Well, please promise me this then; you will not cause any harm to Lone. I'm perfectly happy dying now if it can keep him safe in the future."

Death was momentarily taken aback by the resolve and courage which was radiating out of Gilbert's soul. "So curious, mortals are. One moment you are lamenting over death becoming a natural end, the next, you're willing to toss your life away to save another's."

Gilbert felt no shame in being called out like this. He had principles which he would adhere to, even if doing so cost him his life.

So what if he was scared of dying one day in his sleep from old age? His fear of harm befalling Lone far exceeded such a petty and natural worry which all other living beings besides the unawakened beastkin already dealt with.

For what he had let the boy endure this much was a small price to pay.

"Hahaha... I do not deal with you mortals much. I never cared for your kind, only for Altros itself. However, when I do rarely make contact it is always... enlightening," Death chuckled.

Then next moment, Death separated a small portion of its own body and then sent it towards Gilbert. It fused with the lingering soul almost immediately.

Gilbert could feel himself being sucked out of the grey and lifeless ocean and, just before he left, he heard Death utter a few more words, "I promise to do as you requested."

"Heeeh!" Gilbert sucked in a deep breath of air as his torso flung up.

He tried to open his eyes only to find that his right one wouldn't budge. Raising a hand to his face he felt the leathery texture of his skin going all the way from his cheek to his forehead, covering his entire right eye.

"Ye made it... Ah, fook. Thank the Primals. 'At's one less thing tae worry aboot," Grimsley sighed in relief as he approached the confused and disoriented White Dragonkin.

He inspected the man a bit before frowning. "Grey-tipped horns an' the centre ah yer eye's turned grey anaw... Ye awakened tae Death?"

Grimsley wasn't a beastkin and he was young for a dwarf, but he knew of every Primal and how they exhibited their traits in the ones they awakened. Death's marks were clear as day to him in Gilbert.

"Yes, I did. It was the only way to avoid, well, dying," Gilbert explained. He looked around and saw that they seemed to be in a primitive hut of some sort. "Where are we?" he asked as he took stock of his body's condition.

His body was scarred badly and he seemed to be missing his right eye. Gilbert also noticed that he'd grown a second set of horns. Not unexpected considering what he'd been through. All in all, Death seemed to have kept up its end of the bargain thus far.

He felt groggy and hungry, but his body seemed perfectly healthy outside of the scarring and missing eyeball.

Grimsley shrugged. "Ah'll be fook'd if ah ken. Djinn toss'd us ov'r an ocean an' left us fae deed. Ah had tae carry ye, Shana, an' 'at pisspot of ah duke who gutted ye like a fish on ma back as ah swam tae shore. We're on an undiscover'd, unin'abit'd island as far as ah can tell. Ah'm nae build'r but ah tried tae gae us some shelter."

"I'm sure I can make a home for us once I've got my bearings back. I think I know a nature magic spell or two about turning trees into houses," Gilbert remarked off-handedly. "Duke Grindol... He hasn't hurt you, has he? Or Shana?"

Grimsley laughed. "Nah, fook'r's been ah good little shit, doin' what ah tell 'im tae. 'E cannae swim, see. Ah also melted 'is sword down after I 'eat'd it up tae cauterise yer wounds. Ah'm sorry aboot that, by the way. It was messy but it was all ah could think ah doin' tae buy ya some meer time."

Gilbert smiled wryly. "Don't worry about it. I'm checking my system notifications right now. While my Dexterity and Agility have both fallen by a few hundred - presumably due to the whole eyeball situation, I've gained several new resistance skills as well as an endurance-based one."

"Silv'r linin' an' all 'at, ah suppose. Well, wanna talk tae Lone then? 'E's safe, by the way. Fook'r killed the king an' fled tae Krieg Moor. 'E's apprenticed to an old mentor ah mine noo," Grimsley claimed as he pulled out the orb of communication.

"Haha, sounds like him. I'd love to. I hope he's doing okay mentally. What he went through..." Gilbert shook his head sadly.

Grimsley nodded. "Aye. We've all got oor demons, eh? Lad's probably got meer than most. Bugg'r seems tae be recoverin' well though. I can 'ear it in his voice. There's sadness there but also 'ope."

"That's, good- no... that's great... Well, give me the orb then, would you?" Gilbert asked as he extended a hand.

"Aye, 'ave it, ya ol' goat," Grimsley laughed.

A group of four teenagers were walking through the streets of Milindo's capital, Ranton.

They looked a little bit out of place but after what the city- no, the entire country had just been through no one really paid them any mind.

Before long they had come across a simple-looking two-story lodge of sorts called the Amberbark Inn.

The tallest of the four teens, a boy called Scott, asked, "You're sure this is a good place, Hazel?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. I've been using my skill and got a vague picture of this place being friendly to all comers since it's run by a demi."

As far as her fellow companions from Scotland were concerned, her unique skill could only detect emotions and very vague mental images. Letting them know she could read minds at all times and that it wasn't optional didn't seem very wise to her.

Ben, probably the most excited of the four, smiled. "I'm just happy to stop having to scurry around that broken down wing of the castle for once."

Alisa, the short blonde-haired girl, frowned but said nothing. Neither did Hazel.

Ben was a touchy subject. No one really liked him since he was, well, a bit of a douche. They couldn't just leave him though since he was one of them, even if they weren't exactly his biggest fans.

"Anything else special about this place?" Alisa asked Hazel, trying her best to avoid meeting Ben's... odd gaze.

"I've heard whispers that a pretty famous beastkin stayed here for a while. The one who got The Adventurer's Guild to crack down on this country. I'm thinking we can learn more about him there too," Hazel answered.

Alisa looked up at Hazel. "The one who, um, looks like Mister McCullen?"

Hazel nodded. "Yup."

Ben scoffed. "I don't see why we should even bother. I say we go to a not so broken down kingdom, show off our unique skills then reap the rewards. Records say the old hero of this kingdom was doing pretty well until that beastkin poked his nose into things."

"And exploded the cunt in front of thousands of people," Scott chuckled as he supported the back of his head with his hands. "Ain't no one stoppin' ya, Ben. If that's what you wanna do, mate, go do it. Just leave us out of it, yeah? Hazel's got brains. I'd rather listen to her since we're kinda, y'know, up shit creek without even a boat, let alone a paddle."

"Speak for yourself," Ben muttered. "This is great. There's so much... potential here."

Before long the four of them had entered the Amberbark Inn and were greeted by a rather lazy-looking young man a few years their senior. "Can I help you?"

"We'd like a few rooms, if possible," Hazel answered. She narrowed her eyes briefly as her unique power read the man's emotions without neither her not his consent as it always did, converting it into words in her mind.

'More humans... Always with the bloody humans...'

'He really doesn't like us just because we're humans? He's a human too though...' she thought.

The languid receptionist - Philip, sighed faintly. "A room's five silver coins per night. Price's have gone up while we wait for the guild to restructure the kingdom. We only have two rooms left, by the way. Some unlucky noble kids whose parents got killed and estates seized by the guild are staying here in the meantime, so we're a bit short on space."

"Two rooms is fine," Hazel answered as she slid ten silver coins across the counter. 'I know it was immoral of us but taking the dead queen's jewels and selling them was certainly helpful, if not risky. Ben's a risk but his idea paid off there, for sure. Now, nobles? Ah, Emma Malik and... George Leston, huh? I wonder if they could help us...'

"Here," Philip said, passing over a set of brass keys to the girl. "We don't serve breakfast but we can supply you with hot water for three copper coins a night."

"Thank you, uh, this may sound strange but do you know anything about a man named 'Lone Immortus'?" Hazel asked.

Philip's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "He stayed here a while ago. Almost half a year ago now. Why?"

Hazel laughed. "He looks a lot like my big brother. I've seen his, uh, wanted posters. You know, the decommissioned ones. I kind of was hoping I'd be able to meet him."

'A mysterious nine-tailed Golden Foxkin appears out of nowhere and he looks just like Darren?' Hazel asked herself rhetorically. 'I don't have an accurate timeline since he showed up in Milindo a few months after Darren went missing, but this is a clue I have to chase.'

Phillip shrugged. "Tough luck then."

Alisa peered up over the counter and asked, "Why?"

"Lone's missing," Philip stated. "The local guild has been looking for him for a while now, both him and the guildmaster. If they can't find them then I doubt anyone in Milindo can. I question if he's even in the country anymore after what those bastards did to him."

Hazel grimaced. "I... I've read the announcements from the guild. I wouldn't stay here either if they did... that to me."

Philip's gaze softened a bit when he heard the genuine tone of grief in her tone. "Look, Lone was a friend to me. The guy was a good, genuine honest bloke, right? The kind you can just get along with even if you ain't very sociable. If you really want to meet him I actually cannot help you but maybe the noble kids here can."

He leaned back in his chair and added, "They're good, innocent kids, hence why Sloth's magic didn't kill them. That's one scary adventurer that Sloth... But yeah, they're both kids of former dukes of the kingdom. The very same dukes who supposedly attacked the guildmaster before he and Lone vanished."

Hazel bowed her head. "Thank you. I appreciate this."

Ben clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'This is stupid. Who cares if some random local looks like your dead loser teacher of a brother? I need to get out of this place and away from these idiots as soon as I have enough money to make a trip anywhere else.'

Hazel contained her wrath. Smacking Ben would do neither of them very much good, she felt. For now, at least.