I closed the door, my eyes on Laurel, who was still pleading in front of the statue with a voice close to breaking. The pleading in her voice reminded me of something I'd rather forget. A moment when I'd pleaded like that, but for a different reason. For a moment, I was lying on the sidewalk again, the kicks landing hard on my curled-up back. Then the moment passed.

I couldn't recall the last time I'd remembered it this strongly.

Rathica's statue began glowing brightly, and a moment later, her voice echoed through the room.

"Laurel, I am here."

With the words came a wave of comforting warmth that was mostly directed at Laurel. A little found its way to me, love combined with the desire to do justice. Rathica must have noticed my episode just now.

"My mother! Did he kill her?" Laurel asked, her voice cracking as she spoke.

Her mother? I moved forward, not sure what to do to comfort Laurel and wondering what had happened. It sounded serious.

"Nimron is blocking me, preventing me from scanning inside Vorchal," Rathica responded. Her voice was hard and angry.

"What happened?" I asked, stepping forward.

Laurel turned to look at me, and I almost took a step back when I saw the pain and anger in her gaze. "Nimron killed two of the elders… my mother…" she pounded with her fist on the ground. "If he killed my mother…" The hate in her voice clearly showed what she wanted to do.

I turned to Rathica. "I thought he was supposed to be one of the good guys?"

"Nimron was always a loner, but I would never have called him evil. This, however..." Rathica's voice petered off, then she hissed, and I felt her presence fade.

"He felt me watching and-"

A loud boom rattled the walls, dust falling down.

"Stay inside, and whatever happens, don't come outside," Rathica said.

"Haltir is still out there," I shouted as Rathica's statue became inert again.

Laurel got up and growled, staring daggers at the door.

She isn't going to- I barely had time to jump between her and the door. Laurel stopped in her tracks, glaring at me.

"Out of my way, Est. I'm going to go outside and-"

"And what? Throttle a deity? Rip his head off?" I shot back, holding up my hands in an attempt to placate her. "There is nothing you can do right now, and you know it! If you go out, chances are you will die and never find out what happened to your mother."

Laurel hissed, her four hands clenched into fists as her muscles bulged outwards. For a second, I thought she was going to try and go through me, then she tilted her head up and roared at the ceiling. It lasted until she had expended all the air in her lungs, and then she slumped forward. I barely caught her before she hit the ground.

"Sit down for a bit," I said as I guided her to a chair. She didn't answer and just gazed at the ground, a lost look on her face.

Just as I sat down, a roar of anger that dwarfed the one Laurel had let loose came from outside. It was quickly followed by explosions that shook the entire room. The plants began swaying, causing the lights to dance around, and a crack appeared in the wall beside the door. A moment later, another crack followed, and the explosions gained in intensity until my ears rang.

For what seemed like hours, Laurel and I were staring at the door. I fully expected it to break down at any moment, but even when the entire wall was cracked, it held. I had no idea how long it lasted, but at some point, the explosions just stopped. The silence was as deafening as the explosions had been, and then I heard the screaming. It sounded like hundreds or thousands of people being tormented.

A soft knock on the door made me shoot up, my heart racing. I exchanged a look with Laurel, who was white as a sheet, then moved towards the door. This close, I saw it was covered in tiny fractures and looked like it might crumble to dust at the merest touch. It didn't, and I managed to slide open the small panel covering the window. A pair of forest green eyes looked at me amidst a scorched bark face that blocked the entire view from the small window.

"Ulderion," I muttered, noting that the Deity’s leaf beard was burned completely from his face.

"Yes. Ulderion, savior of other people's Primes, apparently," the deity snapped. "Now, open this door before I kick it in."

I scrambled to open the door and quickly stepped out of the way as the second angry person stormed past me. With the door open, the screams from outside became louder. About to close it, I stared outside and froze. The area surrounding the temple was a pile of rubble and none of the chaotic maze of alleys I'd passed through only hours before remained. Far beyond it, I saw the rest of the city, parts of it collapsing.

"Close that door," Ulderion snapped from behind, and I slammed it shut immediately.

The plant deity barely fit below the ceiling, and he stared at the small statue of Rathica.

"Well, at least you know a bit about woodcrafting," he sniffed.

"What-"

"What happened?" Ulderion snapped, interrupting me.

"Nimron happened. That one has turned completely insane, attacking Rathica as soon as he detected her here. There was no talking with him, no placating." Ulderion stomped his foot, causing a small tremor to run through the ground. "He burned my beard… he knows I like that beard!"

I swallowed. "Did you fight?"

"Yes we fought! What did you think that was, dancing?" Ulderion shook his head before sitting down and staring me straight in the eyes.

"Rathica asked me to keep you two safe. Nimron is chasing her around, and I can't move as those two youngsters can. Not anymore."

Ulderion sniffed as he looked at me.

"Don't give me that! I'm not that old, got it!"

"I thought-"

"That Rathica released Nimron, so he should be grateful?"

Released? I thought, confused. I hadn't even known Nimron was locked up somewhere.

Ulderion laughed coldly. "Who do you think locked him up there in the first place?"

"Wait, so Rathica-"

"Locked up Nimron in a chaos rift a few thousand years ago? Yes, and I'm starting to think she should have left him there."

I was starting to get annoyed with people and Deities constantly interrupting me. Instead of asking my next question, I just gazed at Ulderion, waiting for him to pick it up himself. The Deity just looked at me without speaking, and as time ticked by, I realized he wasn't going to answer without me trying to ask.

"What happened-"

"In the city?" Ulderion snapped.

I wondered why he seemed annoyed. He was the one who didn't just answer me until I began talking.

"Stop thinking so much!"

Ulderion's roar made me and Laurel jump back.

"Nimron rushed towards this temple, intent on destroying it. With the current state of her pathetic realm, Rathica couldn't fight him head-on, so she called me for help while she scrambled to get out and fight him. Nimron didn't like it so much that I came to interrupt him, and he tried to force his way past me to crush this place."

Ulderion fell silent as he looked at the door. The air around him vibrated like in a heat haze, and green plants began sprouting in front of his feet.

"He is strong. Far stronger than he should be. And different. But nobody, NOBODY," Ulderion roared, "burns my beard!"

I could barely believe him getting so angry over that beard. Who was the one that imprinted on him long ago? A dwarf?

"No. It's not the beard. It's what it stands for," Ulderion said, the anger suddenly dissipating, and he sighed.

"To answer your other question. The city should survive, but many were killed. From what I can see, Nimron has told his followers that it's Rathica's fault. They will likely believe him."

A rapid knock came from the door.

"Open it. It's that ax wielder," Ulderion said.

"Haltir," I hissed as I ran towards the door. I opened it before realizing I hadn't double-checked. It wasn't needed, luckily, as Haltir jumped inside and slammed the door shut behind him.

"What happened?" he snapped before noticing Ulderion’s presence.

"Nimron came to kill us, and Ulderion stopped him. Nimron is currently chasing Rathica… somewhere," I said quickly.

Haltir shoved the bag he was holding into my hands and moved towards Laurel. To my surprise, he sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I heard," was all he said. Laurel didn't reply but just put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

I looked at them for a moment, wondering when they had gotten this close. Then I turned to Ulderion and sat down on a bench close to him.

"So now what?" I asked, happy I managed to ask the whole question.

"You are going to stay here until Rathica tells me she ditched that old devil," Ulderion said.

"Do we have any-"

"No. I don't know how long that will take. Go practice your woodcrafting," Ulderion snapped, seeming out of patience. He waved his hand, and a sapling grew beside him, thickening and lengthening into a small tree. Its grey leaves shone like metal, and the slight movements of its branches sounded like steel cables bending in the wind. With a second wave, the tree fell, and it rolled beside me.

"Go and make yourself useful and create another of those bear-bodies you made," he said before turning his back to me.

Bear-bodies? It took a second before I realized he was talking about Barry, the ancient TreeBear spirit that had helped me in Ulderion's realm. Seeing the back of Ulderion, I sniffed before I bent to the ten-foot-long, waist-thick log. It was cold to the touch, and I wrapped my hands around it, deciding to lift it and take it to an empty corner. It felt like trying to lift something chained to the ground.

Surprised, I focused, and with a grit of my teeth, managed to move the log a little before it slammed back to the ground.

"Stop playing around," Ulderion snapped without looking. "Unless you get fifty strength, you're never going to lift that. Just carve it where it is!"

As if, I thought. I was about to tell him to shove it and leave the log when Laurel's voice interjected.

"Is that an underground Gour Tree?" her voice sounded amazed, and as I turned, I saw her leaning against Haltir, who had an arm wrapped around her shoulder. Her puffy red eyes were wide with surprise.

"Someone who actually knows a thing or two," Ulderion rumbled, sounding surprised. "You'd do well to listen to that one, little Prime," he said as he turned to gaze at me. Then he got up. "Now stop disturbing me. I'm trying to create an area around this temple that will prevent any other Deity but me or Rathica from getting to it!" He moved to the door and sat down with his back towards us.

I looked at him for a moment before turning my attention to Laurel. She was still looking at the wood but made no move to get up.

"What's so special about this tree?" I asked.

She sighed, rubbing her eyes, and pushed herself away from Haltir. The warrior just followed her with his gaze for a moment before taking out his ax and rubbing it with a dirty cloth.

Laurel put her hand on the tree, rubbing it gently. "These are supposed to be extinct. I've read about them in some of the older tomes on ancient vegetation in the lock-" she sighed and shook her head as if to clear a nasty memory. Then she continued, softer. "They supposedly used to grow deep in the caves below the harrowing hills when the giants still roamed them. According to the books, some of the best weapons and armors are made from this material, imbued by magical runes."

My eyes were glittering as ideas of creating a weapon came to me. Then an awfully familiar ping came from my status. One I hadn't heard in a long time and one followed by a dull beep.

Dreading what I'd find, I called up my status window.

> Knowledge is now at the 444 maximum

> Any further external knowledge will cause the least used previously learned knowledge to dissipate.

> Be careful.

The last line gave me the same uncomfortable feeling as last time. There was a difference, though. Last time, I'd been in a situation to increase my maximum by learning new spells.

"Est? What's wrong?" Laurel was looking at me in surprise, and Haltir had stopped polishing his ax blade.

I slowly raised my head, knowing I had an ugly scowl on my face but unable to remove it.

"I just reached my maximum knowledge," I said, realizing I'd just gotten another reason to return to the library.