It was the second time Sam woke up with a start that day. He was on the ground again, disoriented and out of breath. Above him were three very promising notifications.

You have leveled up! You have leveled up! You have leveled up!

Sam glanced to his right and found an unconscious Trickster lying beside him.

“Waking up next to your arch-nemesis... this is super weird,” Sam mused.

“That’s one way to put it,” Thunder replied.

She was standing over Sam with her hands on her hips. Her hair was a mess with strands sticking to her dirt-streaked face. There was a bloody wound on her brow too. And yet her big doe eyes shone brightly as she stared at him in a way that sent his body tingling.

“Did we win?” Sam asked uncertainly.

“We won,” she confirmed.

Thunder helped Sam to his shaky feet.

“Ouch...” Sam grunted. “If this is winning... then why does it hurt?”

“That’s how you know you did your best, lame-brain,” Thunder said wryly.

The dark clouds that hovered over the hospital had cleared, allowing the late afternoon sun to bathe them in twilight’s light. Sam and Thunder stood there basking in its glow, enjoying the brief silence that came at the end of the fight. It was a serenity that ended with Farsight’s teasing.

“Hey, lovebirds,” she called. “You might want to get your game faces on... the villain’s about to wake up.”

It was true. The Trickster was stirring.

“Get into position,” Crow-Man ordered.

When the Trickster finally blinked his eyes awake, he found himself surrounded by four injured and exhausted but very determined-looking heroes. And yet instead of showing a shred of remorse or fear, the Trickster laughed, and he laughed, and he continued to laugh even as Crow-Man threatened to deck him.

“What’s so funny?” Sam snapped.

“You... ha-ha-ha... are... ha-ha-ha,” he chuckled just before his face turned deathly serious. “You think you’ve won? You think this is the end?”

He let out a mad howl that shook Sam to his core because even an amateur like Sam could tell that this was not how a defeated man would act.

“I have touched the mind of darkness,” he said. “He is coming... and there is nothing you can do to stop his return.”

The whites of his eyes darkened to a terrifying pitch-black.

Then, in a voice that wasn’t his, the Trickster chanted, “A shadow’s curse rises from the earth, immortal in the land of its birth. The great horrors it shall awaken, to snuff the life of all creation.”

Sam felt a tingling in his spine, one far different from how Thunder’s big doe eyes made him feel.

“Even Death shall lose its hold on life, and a hero’s choice might end in strife,” chanted another dreamy-sounding voice.

All their gazes turned to Farsight who was swaying in place. The pupils of her eyes had gone white.

“But if a healing hand gathers the blessed, to face the world and finish the quest,” she chanted in her ethereal voice. “Champions might rise to answer the call, or to fear and pain mankind shall fall...”

After she uttered her final words, Farsight limped into Crow-Man’s arms.

“Was that...” Sam began.

“Yeah,” Thunder answered. “We just heard the second half of the broken prophecy...”

Well, you can’t really have a grand quest without a great prophecy, Chiron commented. And now it’s official, kid.

“A great prophecy,” Sam repeated.

Sam didn’t know how to feel about a prophecy that specifically mentioned his power.

“It really is about me,” he realized.

As the weight of this revelation hit him, Sam felt like he couldn’t breathe. His vision tunneled. He might even have fainted from anxiety then and there if Thunder hadn’t done it first. She swooned into Sam’s arms, causing all of his internal brooding to evaporate instantly.

“Thunder,” Sam wrapped his arms around her twitching shoulders. “Are you... Chiron, what’s happening to her?”

It’s the Blight, Chiron answered. She’s having another episode...

Thunder’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. She was foaming at the mouth too.

“No,” Sam breathed. “This is worse than any of her previous episodes.”

I know, Chiron replied. She used too much of her power... and now her body doesn’t have enough energy to fight off the Blight...

“No, I won’t let her die...” Sam placed a hand on her brow and summoned his life-force to the tips of his fingers. “Healing Hand!”

WARNING! Your health is depleted [HP: 30/730]. [Healing Hand (Δ)] will not activate.

“Godsdammit,” Sam gasped.

Farsight, who had finally snapped out of her own daze, placed her hand on top of Sam’s.

“Use me,” she said.

Sam just stared at her uncomprehendingly. “What?”

“You can take my life-force and use it to restore Thunder just enough to combat the Blight’s infection inside her,” Farsight explained.

“I can’t—”

“Yes, you can,” Farsight cut in.

Her determined gaze reminded Sam of how Thunder often made him believe he could do just about anything. Yes, top-class heroes really had that strange effect on people.

“Master, how do I do this?” Sam asked.

Life-force isn’t exclusive to you, kid... it exists in all things, Chiron explained.

“You mean it’s like the Force in Star Wars?” Sam asked.

Exactly like that, Chiron agreed. Your power allows you to tap into that life-force... to use it to heal others or empower yourself.

“But I can only use my own life-force, right?” Sam asked.

He could almost sense Chiron shaking his head.

Theoretically, you can tap into any living thing’s life-force, kid, Chiron corrected. But it’ll be dangerous because you’d be opening yourself up to others in ways you’re not ready for...

“But if it’ll save Thunder...” Sam insisted.

It might hurt you, kid, Chiron countered.

His own pain didn’t matter. Taking away Thunder’s pain, this was the thing that mattered to Sam.

“If you’re done discussing things with your man-behind-the-chair, Herculean,” Farsight cut in, “can we please get to it already... we have a hero to heal.”

“Can we please not call me that,” Sam stressed.

He took a deep breath. Then he placed his other hand on top of Farsight’s hands.

Feel the flow of the life-force around you... the connection between you and Farsight, what little’s left of the garden’s trees, and yeah, even with the crumbling building below, Chiron explained.

“How?” Sam asked.

Lesson number five, kid... Concentrate, Chiron reminded him. Sense the life energy flowing in her and call on it to flow through you. Just enough to bring Thunder back from the depths. Any more than that and you’ll risk Farsight’s life too.

Sam closed his eyes. He concentrated and then concentrated some more — and nothing happened.

“Nothing’s—”

And then he felt it like a tug in his gut. It was the familiar warmth of a friendly caress across one’s skin. Sam concentrated on this feeling, called to it, and urged it to flow from Farsight and into him.

“Ugh,” both Sam and Farsight wheezed.

Although it wasn’t painful, it did prove a struggle to coax someone else’s life-force into the tips of his fingers. And to push this borrowed energy into Thunder to heal her, that was indeed a herculean effort.

It wasn’t enough though. Thunder’s life-force had become so weak now that she’d gone limp in Sam’s arms. She was dying.

Sam heard the Trickster high-pitched laughter which was mercifully silenced by Crow-Man knocking the villain unconscious with a well-placed punch.

Farsight gasped as discomfort flashed across her face.

Sam instinctively knew he couldn’t take any more life-force from her or Farsight’s own life would be put in danger.

“Godsdammit,” he whispered.

“Use me too.” Crow-Man removed his gloves and placed his hands on top of Sam’s. “I’ve got life to spare.”

“I can’t—”

“We’ve been working on this caper together from the beginning, Sam,” Crow-Man reminded him. “So let’s finish this together as well... Let me help save Thunder.”

The will of self-sacrifice... You kids are giving me goosebumps here, Chiron chimed in.

Apparently, it wasn’t just Chiron who felt that way. Another immortal had been watching the drama unfold.

Time stopped as a familiar golden notification popped up in front of Sam.

Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and Friendship, rejoices in seeing the hero establish more genuine bonds.

This was followed by more pop-ups.

ALERT! You have gained a new [BOND]. A bond is a red thread of fate intertwining with your own, enriching the path you seek to walk. With the dawn of the [LIBRA] bond, your own star grows ever brighter, lighting the way to new possibility. ALERT! The path of the [BATTLE MASTER] is now open to you.

With Crow-Man’s life-force added to Farsight’s, it was finally enough to keep the Blight from killing Thunder. Her pulse got stronger, her breathing calmed, and eventually, her eyes blinked open.

“What’s... up?” she asked weakly.

“Not much...” Sam said as relief washed over him. “We just saved your life.”

Sam knew he hadn’t rid Thunder of the Blight, but at least she was alive, and that truth caused him to feel hopeful. It was a hope that he would one day cure her of this malady.

Thunder’s hand rose up to caress Sam’s face.

“I knew... you could do it... lame-brain,” she offered Sam a weak smile. “My hero.”