“This smells really good”, Alex sent.

I looked over at her. She was sniffing the air, looking at the big pot of potato soup kept warm on ignis crystals.

“Really? Is that your memories talking or can you actually eat normally?”

She blinked.

“I… don’t know. I think I should start with the thaumium…”

“Do that”, I nodded.

Soon after, every goblin and dwarf had a filled bowl in their hands. I had told Chef about the restaurant in Serrington and the food I had there which he took up as a bit of a challenge. The food he prepared was meat boiled just for a short moment in the potato soup and then fried on a simple copper pan one of the apprentice smiths had made. He had mixed it with freshly drained blood just before serving to give it a little more juiciness. I was excited to try it.

Before that, Roguk stood up to address everyone.

“My friends and family. I almost can’t believe where we are right now. Only a year ago we were struggling to feed everyone with risky hunting down in the valley. Now, we have smithies and forges and more space than we could ever use in a bunch of new tunnels. And that’s all thanks to Fio, here!”

He grinned at me while everyone cheered their agreement.

“She risked her life for her friend Alexandra and has finally returned to us. I know how scared we all were that it wouldn’t happen but it did!”

This time the dwarves joined in with loud hollering.

“Thanks to her efforts, we are all off for the better. To a great future!”

The noise got almost too loud for me with how it echoed from the walls. It took almost two minutes for everyone to calm down again.

“That’s enough talking, let’s party!”

Within moments everyone was digging into their meal. Chef had used the potatoes and some meat from the storage to make a tasty meal. The first harvest of fruits was in as well letting them have a second course of apples and plums. Somehow, there was alcohol as well and the noise soon grew again.

I dug into my bowl with gusto. Chef had honestly surpassed the restaurant. Mostly because he had no spices and it was juicier. I preferred this simple and sating all-in-one meal. It had not even hit my brain that I was hungry until the first slice reached my stomach. Since I had not eaten for nine days, I easily devoured three bowls. When I was done, I noticed Alex watching with amusement.

“You were starving as well, huh?”, she asked.

“Not according to my Status…”

“I suppose the menu isn’t all-knowing.”

I bobbed my head.

“It definitely has its failures.”

The living fortress picked up another thaumium ingot from her decidedly small pile and bit off a large chunk. I could see her chewing motions but heard no noise of metal being crushed or bent.

“Tasty?”, I asked.

“Yes. Very”, she sent, mouth too full to speak.

I glanced around. Almost everyone was still eating the pot of soup still filled about halfway.

“So, what happened to the place we dug up?”

“You’d have to ask someone else. I didn’t take much interest in it the last few days.”

“Right.”

She had sat by my side all the time I was unconscious.

“I think we have a lot to do in the future. Regarding thaumaturgy, at least.”

Alex mumbled in agreement.

“When do you want to leave this village? Or do you want to stay?”

She rubbed her chin.

“I think… I’ll stay and see if I can enrich my Core as you did. After that, I want to see the world a little more.”

“Sounds good.”

We sunk back into silence simply enjoying the atmosphere while Alex finished her thaumium. After the last bite, she licked her fingers.

“This was great. Thanks, Fio.”

Her voice still sounded like bells but the choir had settled down to a single note. Filling out her body with mass had some significant results.

“Right! [Identify] me again.”

Alex blinked at me.

“Okay?”

I felt the telltale pull of information being pulled from my soul. The next moment, her eyes widened.

“What? Fio Catori? Since when do you have a last name?”

“It’s not a last name. It’s my name from before.”

Alex’s mouth could have swallowed a goblins fist at that moment.

“You remember!?”

I nodded.

“That’s what took so long over there. Truth gave me the push to find myself. Now, I Am.”

Two metal arms picked me up and my friend’s face was just about to nuzzle me. I dodged in the last moment thanks to [Eldritch Shift].

“Keep your hands to yourself!”, I berated her, “I’m not for petting!”

“But what about hugging? You let me hug you earlier!”

“That was a special circumstance. I don’t like hugging.”

“But how? Everyone likes hugging!”

“I’m an owl.”

That shut her up. At least her pout was almost cute. Alex had the body of a soldier so anytime she tried to act girly and demure it looked a little off.

I huffed.

“We can be friends without hugging, right?”

Her pout deepened.

“It’s just not me. My instincts scream ‘get away’ whenever someone touches me like that.”

She sighed.

“Fine. Once a month?”

I flexed my wings.

“… maybe.”

“Yes!”, she pumped her fist.

Roguk took that moment to walk up to us.

“You’re doing well, Fio?”, he asked.

“Yes. No problems. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. My Status didn’t show starving or anything like that so it was probably not a problem.”

“Really? You were kinda between alive and dead, right? That’s probably the reason.”

“Might be…”

He nodded at Alex.

“You’re good as well? No longer starving?”

“I’m good, yeah. Thanks. Starving completely disappeared from my Status. Don’t even have hungry or something like that. I could use a little more thaumium to fill out the last bits but I’m fine as is.”

“That’s good. Well, going forward, what do you plan on doing?”

“I just said to Fio I want to try enriching my Core for a bit. After that, I’ll want to see the world.”

“Sounds good. You have to wait anyways with Stormbringer just passing.”

“Stormbringer is here?”

“The first rain hit just this morning. We should be in the eye at some point soon.”

“Oh! Let’s get a look, Alex!”

“What?”

I pulled on her arm with a tendril of darkness to make her follow and soon we were moving.

“We barred the tunnel, Fio”, Roguk called after us, “Please don’t flood the village!”

I sent an affirmative answer before we ducked into the tunnel. Well, Alex ducked. She would fit just fine but the ceiling was only about ten centimetres from her head. As we got higher and the tunnel smaller, she had to carefully squeeze through. Until she decided to change her properties.

“A bit of stone won’t be an issue now!”, she declared and simply pushed through the tight passage I had dug where the stone node was before. Rocks and pebbles broke off the wall at her passing. She was still slow so I shifted to my metal and glass form to help with my excavation focus. A minute later, we were past the hindrance and rushing up to the entrance. This part was wide enough for Alex to squeeze through if she wanted to.

I listened carefully and only made out a bit of heavy rain and the occasional thunder. The barrier was set into the wall with Roguk’s alchemical solution and while I could pass with [Eldritch Shift], Alex could not get through without breaking it. Then, I had an idea. It felt like it should work so I decided to just go for it.

I shifted my body back to the real one and got close to Alex’s leg.

“What now?”, she asked, “Want to snuggle?”

“Don’t panic”, I sent before encompassing her in my darkness.

[Eldritch Shift] had always brought me into the Empty for just a moment. Now that I knew what it was like, I felt like I could take someone along. I just had to make sure it was my real body they were travelling with. Otherwise, they might get stuck when I left back to reality.

I activated the Skill with my intent fully focused on Alex. The darkness around her felt right and I quickly put a complete cover over myself. The next moment, we were beyond reality. Two spheres of white crystal hovered close to each other separated by pure darkness. They were still both visible and clearly different with the patterns of colour within them. Then, we were out.

“What the fuck was that!”, Alex exclaimed as her body was pelted by rain. I shook my feathers and quickly shifted to my metal form.

“I teleported us.”

“Yeah. I can see that. Phew. That felt… weird. And familiar.”

“That place we went through is the Empty.”

Her answer was swallowed by a crack of thunder. We looked up. Above us, through the ravine, we could see the eye of the storm. Clouds darker than the night were lit up by violet lightning and segments of a snake-like body slithered in and out of vision.

“That’s Stormbringer?”, Alex asked through [Telepathy].

“Yup. Third time I see the storm. Second time I’m inside.”

“Wow.”

“Mhm”

I had half a thought to fly up and try to talk to the being responsible for so much destruction. Then I saw the raw amount of energy contained in the lightning and changed my mind. It almost felt like the crackling shots were creating air wherever they struck. My [Owl Senses] was just barely able to make out the disturbance in the essence that told me I was right. Stormbringer was making more air. But why?

I gulped. I would have to be a lot stronger to get to the bottom of this. I saw the wall of rain coming up the ravine and decided it was time to get back inside.

“Get ready!”, I told Alex before first shifting my body back and then taking my friend along into the tunnel.

My friend shook her head.

“This feels so strange…”

Just moments later, the barrier was practically rammed by water even though it was almost two metres up the tunnel.

“Well. That was interesting. What’s he doing, though?”

“I think he’s making air. I don’t know what for, though.”

We speculated a little more while moving back to the village finding no answers to our question. The party was still in full swing, the dwarves having started to holler songs and everyone dancing in the central plaza.

“Well, let’s have some fun?”, Alex suggested.

“Sure”, I agreed, “Let’s.”