Dailin had noticed something was wrong when he passed the halfway point to Sanctuary. The Rivers he controlled swelled, their currents flooding down so much that the Oasis was swimming through them as they carved everything away. There was also all the noise assaulting his ears. The realm around him seemed to be crumbling, the echoes of breaking stone were enough to be a chorus. When he neared Sanctuary or the spot it should be, he instead found a growing lake of Mana trying to obscure his version. There was something else too, a different sound, one he’d heard frequently in lesser forms as it crackled to life from his hands.

Thunder. The kind that ratted wood beams and cracked thin windows, and had people wake in fright as a bolt of lightning struck a little too close. That sound reverberated loudly in the realm, and more than once there had been a blinding flash coming from above.

The Oasis slowed and moved up lazily towards the spot Sanctuary should have been. All the while he felt a growing nervousness take him as events went outside what he'd envisioned. For it wasn't just the city missing, the stone was all gone too. Leaving behind a ceiling of writhing Mana flooding the realm and much of it trying to fill an already full Oasis. While he stared numbly at the sight Bliss took the entitative and had souls begin feasting on the lake trying to drown them. Her constructs enlarged, the sight both reassuring and alarming. If Bliss was able to bolster itself so easily it meant the same for the Giver.

“Do you see her around here my dear Bliss?” He asked the creature nested in his lap. A monster that had shrunk itself to that of a child so it could better curl up against him. It was sitting sideways, legs folded in with its head resting on his chest.

“Yes, and she’s heading this way now.” His creature answered its eyes closed as if taking a nap. The other versions of it formed ranks around the Oasis and floating crystals that followed along. The area shimmered around them as barriers encompassed the Oasis leaving Bliss thousands of constructs outside and ready to attack.

The Giver made her entrance with a volley of lightning that arced straight towards him. Bliss launched its own and he watched a display of lightning dancing with itself. At times a spark got though and hit the barriers causing portions to flare brighter but nothing more. Even then, if the barriers failed Dailin wasn’t worried, not from what he was seeing so far. With eleven layers, eight of which stored Mana, the Oasis wasn’t something that could be destroyed. Not with the unknown amount of excess Mana churning around them, looking for any means to find a place to be held within.

It let Dailin relax and watch the fight taking place with the allowed luxury of enjoying the spectacle. For a little bit anyway.

That began to slip away as more versions of the Giver kept propping up, wave after wave they rushed forward to collide with Bliss’s own. He remembered the Sanctums, the three he’d gone to, all the dead, all those she’d sent her offer to. It didn’t matter if most refused, there was still thousands of Vail in each Sanctum. Even a small portion accepting would have netted the Giver a large undying army.

That thought got his mind to fill with worries again and caused him to be less detracted by the fight taking place. The Giver had effective stopped Bliss from growing swiftly, and in the same stroke allowed herself to continue her own expansion. He didn’t know if the numbers between the two monsters were even or not, but Bliss had feasted on many souls once lodged inside Nightmares. If the worst came to pass, he could plunge the Oasis back into the depths and have Bliss feast again.

The Giver didn’t have the means to do the same, and what Vail still remained to her were those blest souls allowed within Sanctuary. Which he still couldn’t find. Even with the ever-widening and destructive battle between constructs taking place. the Oasis was still moving forward, and by now they should have sitting in the spot where the city was to be situated. Yet all he found was a growing emptiness as the Mana circled about carving away more stone.

His observations were disrupted as a bright all-encompassing flash blinded him and rocked his mind and ears with a thunderous boom as lightning hit nearby. The echo rumbled across the realm before cutting off as he pressed his hands to his eyes.

“Was that the Givers doing Bliss?” he half-shouted as alarm spread in him. He quickly used Mana to remove the bright spots in his vision while his anxiety doubled. He believed in the defenses around him, that he was safe. But that flash and accompanying boom had made an impression, and he didn’t want to test the Oasis defenses against a volley of that kind of spell.

“No,” his creature said shuffling in his lap and trying to press itself closer to him. “It’s coming far above us. Somethings up there Maker, a Chant I think.”

“You think?” he pressed.

“Its quite the distance Maker, and its, so large.” The creature opened its eyes and look up at him. “It appears to encompass the whole upper realm.” Its eyes grew distance and unfocused for a moment before shifting back to him. “It’s not lessening either.”

Dailin found he was already chewing on his lip as his worries mounted. With one eye closed he reached out to the panel and watched Bliss and the Giver battle each other as he studied the realm. Sanctuary was still missing, and with how the Giver had been acting, he was of the mind that it had destroyed and Consumed what souls it could rather than letting him get his hands on it. Yet that wasn’t the most pressing thing on his mind.

The crown held his attention or the lack of one. All he could see above them was endless Mana, as if he was submerged under a sea of it.

“I know you’re busy my dear Bliss, but do you perhaps see the Crown at all?” His creature stared up at him again, where before it was returning to a sleeping pose.

“There are pieces of it at the edges of this chamber, though they're quickly deteriorating,” the creature stated. “I’ll send some scouts, but from what I can see Maker the Crown is gone, ground to dust by the essence around us.”

“No, that can’t be,” he mumbled. His eye scanned the side of the chamber, studying the walls. It slopped upward and given its shape it would have formed a ceiling above them if it wasn't for the Mana. “It supposed to be indestructible like the sides of the realm.”

“Maybe, my wonderful Maker, the crown wasn’t the top of the realm?” His monster helpfully said. “The distance above goes for a long ways Maker, enough that I can’t see its end.”

Dailin took deep breaths and pushed down his nagging worries. With a push of will he forced himself to think on what his creature said. A simple look made it plain his creature wasn’t wrong, the Mana went up and up. He didn’t like the sight of it, for many reasons. But mostly because of the unknown element it brought to mind that left him stumbling in the dark.

“This Chant you’ve spotted, do you see who's casting it?” He asked

He felt the monster shake its head against his chest. “It doesn’t appear as though someone is casting it, it just is. Just cycling over and over.” His monster answered unhelpfully.

‘A self-casting Chant?’ he wondered to himself, and not liking the thought at all. It was the only option if his monster was right and there wasn’t a thinking force behind the spell. He wanted to throw out the option, say it wasn’t possible. But that would be a blatant lie and willful ignoring of the facts. He himself had cast plenty of spells that maintained themselves. His amplifiers, Bliss itself. It wasn’t hard to achieve, though making one to encompass an entire realm certainly would. And that was using his methods, rather than the Vails who carved everything by hand.

Dailin hissed as another flash from above blinded him as he gazed through the Wards. The quaking thunder that followed suit a reminder of the power behind the spell. “Are those kinds of strikes common up there?

Bliss answered with a swift, “Yes,” and added. “It’s not the only type of Chant either, it’s just the only one able to reach this far down.”

‘Terrific,’ he thought, blinking the spots from his eyes before gazing at the realm once more. Unlike the calm in his chamber being snuggled to death by his monster. The realm outside was a chaotic tide of power being sling about. Lightning was dancing everywhere, as was wind blades that he could see physical thanks to the thick Mana encompassing everything. Bliss and the Giver were tearing at each other, both monsters fighting viciously and gaining nothing from it. Constructs on both sides just mended back together, and with the endless amount of Mana around them, the process wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. Or ever, if more of the substance continued to flow down.

Was this how it was going to be? Two monsters going at it for all time, or by some miracle the Mana ran out and the drama before him would cease? Majority of him agreed that wasn’t likely to happen.

He breathed in deep and sighed, removed a hand from the panel and pointed it towards the inert amplifiers he’d yet to activate. A push of his will and out the Mana flew coating the amplifiers and bringing them to life. They hovered upright like the others, calling endless to the Mana. After he returned his hand to the panel and leaned forward causing Bliss to shift and wrap its arms around his chest.

Hovering a hand over his favored rune, he looked down at the child shaped monster. “I’m going to active the Oasis primary weapon, unless you find it will only hinder things?”

He felt the creature shake its head again before it moved to reveal some of its face to him. “I’ve been forming more constructs away from the fight, the Oasis chant won’t cause me any problems. But the Giver is likely doing the same." It paused before adding. "Still it would be pleasing to have her constructs swept aside for a few Breaths."

He grunted, and returned his focus back to the realm, at the mess of a battle taking place. He studied the layout the best he could, found no clumps of enemies. The two monsters had spread themselves evenly across the area. So he simply aimed the Heart at the center of the fight taking place. Knowing the heat of the Chant would get everything if activated long enough.

His hand fell and the realm was consumed in light and fire. The beam shattered the barriers around the Oasis, and its eruption caused the lake of Mana to part where it exited. It remained that way as he swiveled the Oasis back and forth, vaporizing both Bliss and the Givers constructs. It was odd how much excitement the action brought him. The power he felt by simply pressing down a rune and wiping away all his problems.

He let himself dwell in that feeling long enough to empty a layer before releasing his hand, and the Oasis submerged in Mana again. The instruments showed the third layer quickly reaching full capacity in a few seconds as the Mana seeped into his home from all directions.

Dailin scanned the aftermath of his work, the hypnotizing dance of lights the two monsters had been weaving were gone, leaving behind only the glinting white of the Mana as it moved about. The scene tried to show him that the fight was done, the Giver unmade, but he knew better. His attack only dispersed her, she wasn’t harmed in any true manner. He would have capitalized on the Givers temporal paralysis and claimed all the Mana in sight. But there was too much and more just kept coming from above.

Dailin eyes squeezed shut as a barrage of lights from Chants blinded him as the Oasis was struck from multiple sides. Lightning hammered his home, and for a brief frightening moment he thought it might be from the Chant far above.

But as his eyes refocused, he saw all was fine. The panel displayed the attack did little, not something the lightning from above would have done. Not to say the attack taking place wasn’t having an effect, the runes on the panel showed the third layer reservoirs were fluctuating. The rapid change taking place had the runes giving off a pulse as they kept cycling between showing the layer being full to it being drained. It stayed the latter for a moment as the intensity of the spells launched at him doubled. The Giver seemed to be pouring all she had against him, but the lake was undoing all her work.

As the lightning traveled across the surface of his home, he went about pressing runes, activating the hundreds of Hearts covering the outer layer. Beams of light shot out in the directions the Giver was attacking from. Slowly the attacks against him diminished or changed angles forcing him to do the same. Then new spells joined the ones already filling the air. Bliss brought forth the constructs she’d been condensing and the Hundreds of Mountain sized versions of her went surging towards the locations the Giver was attacking him from.

Soon enough Dailin witnessed his vision be filled with constructs of Bliss and the Giver. The rampaging forces of the two armies swiftly returning to their original strength as more constructs formed all around. In moments they blossomed to small hills and continued to enlarge as they went rushing forward to join the widening melee. Sending forth more chants in an already dizzying number of spells filling the area.

“This is getting us nowhere.” He said in an irritated tone as he leaned away from the panels to slump into his cushioned armchair.

“We’ve made progress thanks to your wrath Maker.” His creature said in a soothing voice filled with warmth. It hugged him tighter while it continued to rest its head on his chest, not bothering to even open its eyes and look up at him. “But this is a fight that’s going to take a long time to reach its conclusion. Leave it to me, as you wisely requested.”

He lowered his head enough to glance as his creature, seeing it still acting as though it was sleeping. “I know that my dear Bliss, but.” He paused connecting to the panel with a string of Mana as he closed an eye to watch the performance outside return to its original display of light. “I hadn’t really understood, or perhaps grasped the time it was going to take.” With the state of things, Dailin only saw this fight ending if all the Mana in the realm was spent, and there was no telling how long that would take.

The thought of it had him ask: “Are you able to see where the source of all this essence is coming from?”

“No,” it answered. “The Chant up there obscures so much. It's left me as blind as you are to the events above.”

He bit his lip, mind searching desperately for a solution other than letting Bliss and the Giver fight till their exhausted themselves. In his desperation, he considered methods of attacking the souls that comprised the Giver. Warily looking at the possibilities even though last hadn’t gone in his favor.

The memory flashed before him, being helpless on the floor and souls raging as he dared go against what they desired.

But that had been when he faced the problem alone, he had Bliss at his side now. It could hold off the rampaging souls as he removed them. Or at least tried to, if not the act alone would provide his monster opportunities as the Giver focused on him. Maybe in that state, with the souls already fighting him, they would be vulnerable to Bliss again. That perhaps they could sing and make an enemy into a friend. Then like all the others when the time was right they would be freed once he…

Changed Bliss.

Dailin became very still as the thought washed over him, ‘Change’ he reconsidered again. His mind beginning to spin as the idea bloomed. It had his lips twitch as a smile slowly formed.

“My dear wonderful Bliss,” he said sweetly, hands moving up to cup its face so he could look into its eyes. “The Giver, how much is she like you?” he questioned. “Was she made, or does she have an original soul?”

The creature didn’t answer quickly enough for his liking. Not with his body coursing with hopeful euphoria at the prospect of his idea having some merit. His monster for its part reclosed its eyes as a pristine and pleasured smile marked it as he moved his hands to lightly brush it face.

“She is like me, my Maker.” The creature answered and Dailin smile grew. “It was made from desires, it has no will to begin with, the same as I.”

“Wonderful,” Dailin said softy, a small chuckle escaping him as he felt the feeling of relief swell. A solution found that didn’t require him to wait till the end of things.

He pulled his creature close giving it a tight hug, even hummed to it and bathing it in his own spell of warmth. The creature sighed pleasingly as it tightened its own grip pressing itself close as he leaned forward eyes fixed on the panel. His scanned the area, saw the same carnage taking place as lightning danced about, barriers were formed and shattered. Blades of wind surged randomly and constructs were destroyed and reformed just as swiftly on both sides. The sight of it pushed on him, urged him to try his scheme.

If the Giver was just like Bliss, it should be connected by invisible strings. The foundation that kept the monsters fighting uniformly. And perhaps was the true body of them. Strings wrapped around trapped souls, tricked into believing that was the fate they wished to experience for the rest of existence.

His plan then was to target the strings and not the souls themselves. To target the Giver, the construct that she was.

Looking into Bliss had made that clear. For all its sophistication it was, in the end, a puppet itself, acting on shallow or simple ideas. The Giver would hopefully be the same, a construct made of desires, only made living because of the Mana. And like any structure made of Mana, it could be changed if another will came about and desired strongly enough. Or in his case and enough Mana at his command to force the change.

Dailin centered himself, taking deep breaths to dilute the nervousness coursing in him as he scanned the scene and targeted one of the Givers Constructs. He extended his will and thoughts through the panel and out into the Wards, reaching for the reservoirs of Mana in the many layers of his home.

He called to it, as his eyes remained fixed on the chosen construct. He desired to the Mana, over and over, imagined it surging out towards his target. To course through the strings that made up the Giver. Desired it to change her, to sway the Giver to see him and Bliss as friends, as Vail in need of her protection. That she should aid them against the Nightmare coming.

After five sending’s the Mana he called to obeyed. It moved through his Wards quickly, navigating the network and poured out into the frenzied fight taking place. The Mana under his sway had a golden hue about it as it rushed out, a tide which streamed forward towards the construct he'd fixed his gaze on. The many constructs of the Giver stopped their squabbles, their eyes wide as the tide washed over them, ignoring all but one which it all poured into.

All of them still flinched however as the Mana wormed its way in. Then came the screams, a deafening amount as Dailin felt his spell spread through the strings of the Giver. It traveled the length of the beast, trying to change its workings as it went. There was little resistance at first, the Giver likely surprised and in shock as it took notice of what he was trying to do.

His Chant sank deeper into the beast, made contact with something else within, and when the two touched a violent reaction ensued. The Giver constructs contorted in pain, there Vail looking frames went frigid and twitched. Their faces were hard to look at as they morphed to unnatural shapes of anguish.

The resistance inside her working escalated instantly. She tried pushing out his spell, using Mana of her own to do the deed. But Dailin only sent more in, demanding all the while the Giver be turned into an ally. To make her understand and see he was no threat.

Her wails increased even more as his Mana continued to seep in. Bliss watched with the widest smile on its faces, his monster staying back satisfied with witnessing the show and gathering its strength.

The Giver began to lash out, large streaks of lightning came racing from many directions striking at Barriers that instant appeared around his home. The constructs, with their twisted looks of agony, launched forward as well, heading straight for him. Bliss blocked their path, and the battle continued anew, this time more animistic in its ferocity. Dailin sent more Mana out, tried drowning the obstruction in the Giver that was holding his Chant back. Sadly, the Giver did the same. Her constructs sucked in the substance and sent it coursing through her strings.

“Don’t fight it,” Dailin called out through his Wards, his voice amplified and echoed above the noise the monsters were making. Heads turned his way, faces covered with anguish and rage. “I don’t want to be your enemy Giver.” He continued his voice booming, and Mana rushing out to consume her. “There can be peace between us, we can work together, make this realm into something to be proud of.”

The anger on her faces grew, then as one the constructs flinched and locked up. Dailin felt it through his Chant, the resistance strengthened. The other spell within the beast dug deeper, blocking his own from trying to reach more important aspects of the Givers functions.

The Givers constructs twitched again, broke from their frozen postures and battled anew. The looks of anger were replaced with features caught between pain and bliss-filled smiles. A laughing cry echoed from her many lips as all the faces turned in his direction. “The Elders will play with you. Make you dance to their cutting whips as they break you down and you remember your place. And I will have my turn after, I’ll turn you into a weeping pet that wi-

Dailin sent another large wave out, having it enter through other constructs as it flooded into the labyrinth of strings that made up the beast. This wave had a different purpose in mind, one that had it heading for the other chant that didn’t appear to be part of the Giver. And when the two met, his wave began tearing at it. The Giver froze and the faces once full of pain and laughing glee went blank. Her eyes were round as plates as his second spell clawed and pulled at the obstructing Chant.

“I’m only trying to help.” Dailin said casting a third spell, his warmth seeping out with the words and bathing the realm around his home. “Trying to make existence better for the Vail.”

The Givers constructs hissed as his warmth touched them, and they flew backward away from his home. Bliss tried grabbing some, force them to stay within his Chant. But those caught undid themselves, turning to a different hue of Mana that swam away.

‘Progress,’ Dailin thought, and seeing such, performed yet another working. A small one, he focused his mind on a construct, desired to the Mana to let him see inside. To study its mind, to hear her thoughts. The Mana answered and he was assaulted with a maelstrom of weeping and raging screams. The Giver was at war with herself, some portions of the whole called out that the Maker needed to be protected. The majority strove to remove the damaged ones. But between both was a similar thought. Bindings the Giver referred to them as, it was the chant in his way. A Chant meant to keep the construct obedient and loyal to those who’d made her.

‘Is it now?’ Dailin thought as he pulled away from the Givers inner working and the chorus of screams.

One eye watching the Giver in the throes of agony, Dailin called to the ever-refilling reserves of his home. Collected it, and sent another wave out, instructed like the last. It was to rip and sunder apart the Chant getting in his way. To clear a path for his first Chant to finish its work. The Givers wailing reached new heights as the wave struck and seep inside. He felt the pull on his chant and kept sending more out as the demanded for it remained.

He both saw and felt when the job was done. The demand withdrew, and the Giver went still as stone. The wailing replaced with instant silence as the monster stared with glazed-over eyes.

Then new life bloomed within them, soon followed by a smile, large, wicked, and promising of things Dailin didn’t want to be part of.

“See, all better,” Dailin said in his warmth infused voice that slowly reaching out towards the Giver. “We can be friends you and I, help each other to better this realm” He spoke gathering Mana to finish what he started and turn the Giver from an adversary to an ally.

The Givers many constructs, no longer withering in pain, still surged away from him and Bliss, each sending troubling smiles his way. Dailin felt his Mana being expelled from the Giver as she pulled more from the area to fight against his.

“Friends?” The monster said in a mocking tone that turned to laughter. “You’re a usurper, here to take what is mine!” The Giver said, the latter laced with hate. “Trying to chain me like the Elders, trying to keep me down and subservient.”

“But,” she continued, her voice stilled heard clearly as she retreated. “I will find a place for you under my rule, once you’ve been beaten down. You’ve earned that by shattering my bindings, freeing me from the Elders commands.”

“Bliss,” he called, urgency in his voice as he returning his attention to the panel chamber. “Help me capture one of the constructs or souls, that's all I need.” He added as he began activating Hearts, and moved the Oasis forward. Bliss listened and the amassing army rushed forth as the Giver scattered in all directions. Chains and hands formed from the Oasis following Bliss as they raced to claim one of the monsters trying to get away.

“I trying to help you Giver!” He shouted to the fleeing masses. “There’s no need for us to fight, there’s plenty of room for the both of us to watch over this realm.” Warmth expelled from the Oasis as he used a whole layer worth of Mana to power the spell. It bloomed wide enough to capture some Constructs inside its area. Said constructs jerked and slowed turned towards him as he sang his song.

“That’s right,” Dailin said sweetly. “We don’t have to be enemies, we can be the best of friends, comrades in dealing with the Nightmare below.” The influence constructs moved closer, while the rest sped away faster. Chains wrapped around the constructs that were slowly heading towards him. Their faces giving looks of elated pleasure as they listened and felt his song.

The chains pulled them close, and with a push of his will the Chant he had at the ready poured out. The Constructs gasped instead of hissed like before. Dailin smiled at the change, and how his Mana began coursing through the Givers connections again. The resistance before, caused by the Elders bindings, was gone and his Chant rushed through strings undisturbed. He kept feeding the Chant, his smiling growing only for it to freeze in place. The Chant intense demand for Mana dropped in a heartbeat down to a meager sum. The network of strings his Chant was head towards disappeared. And he had to look within the Giver mind to find out why.

Dailin eyes widened as the truth struck him. The Giver separated herself, cut off the part of her that had been captured leaving behind it and the souls. His smile fell into a soured scowl as he realized the Giver had tricked him. He’d stopped chasing after more versions of her, Bliss had done the same only capturing a few and seeing the task complete. The majority of the Giver got away, disappearing from his sight behind layers of stone and swirling Mana.

He felt Bliss shift in his lap and the creature wrapped its arms around his neck, then tug till he looked down to meet its gaze. “What troubles you Maker? Such a look shouldn’t be allowed to mar your face.”

His voice reverberated as he spoke, the effect born of Chanting and speaking at the same time. “She cut them off Bliss, left those pieces of herself captured behind so the rest of her couldn’t be affected.”

Versions of Bliss moved back towards the Oasis. They converged on the constructs of the Giver that had been left, all of them still wrapped in chains. They didn’t appear distressed about the situation. No, smiles marked all of them as they stared at the Oasis. Both his warmth spell and the Chant aimed at changing her coursed through the abandoned network.

“The poor thing,” Bliss whispered. “See Maker,” the creature stated moved its face closer to his. “See the type of people they are, they’ll abandon themselves to get what they want. Nothing is sacred, everything is a tool to be used and thrown aside."

"They need us.” It said with passion. “We will fill them with your warmth, make all whole and kind to each other, one perfectly happy family.”

Turning its head to stare at the panel, it spoke: “Starting with her” then looked back at him. “She’s becoming aligned to me, the warmth making her see the truth, the wills as well.” Pressing itself close it whispered in his ear soothingly. “Let me take her Maker, more made right, more placed on the path of salvation leading to paradise.”

Still chanting Dailin closed both eyes and studied the Giver before him. Using the Mana coursing through it he felt the changes taking place. He looked into her mind as well, found the screams of anguish gone, replaced with a serene calm as she indulged in the warmth springing from him. The souls in her, wrapped around in threads, were doing the same. There was nothing left inside that considered fighting back. What remained wanted it, like all the Vail before, the Giver seemed to be just as susceptible to his chant.

Dailin felt his first spell complete and with it the Giver before him had been changed. Now it should see him as an ally or friend and no longer a threat. Yet as he watched her, changes were still happening. His warmth spell sank deeper, saturated everything, the Giver took it all in without hesitation. And the tiny runes that made it up, shifted.

‘Is this what Bliss means by the Giver is becoming aligned with her?’ Dailin thought as he pulled his attention away. He opened his eyes, found Bliss face right in front of his. Near enough that it could be taken as a scene of them about to kiss. He leaned back, tempted to relax in his chair but stopped himself and kept his hands on the panel. The Giver might be changed, but he wasn’t yet willing to stop his Chant that had her in a daze.

“You can do this?” he asked his unblinking creature. “Consume her like all the others, and not suffer any ill side effects?”

The creature smiled smugly as it straightened itself. “Easily, you’ve done most of the work Maker, changing her as you have, it will be a simple thing to finish the task.”

“See to it then,” Dailin said, happy with the outcome for the most part. It was better this way, only dealing with one monster rather than two. He smiled at the creature as he watched versions of itself press hands against the captured and restrained Givers.

‘Now I know my spell works, I can change them, I can change you,’ he thought staring at Bliss. ‘Undo everything I’ve done.’

‘Yes,’ he thought joy spreading within him. ‘My mistake will be washed away, and everyone will be real again.’

He was pulled from his thoughts when Bliss leaned forward and wrapped him in a tight hug, enough for his rune to activate. It uttered out a pleasured sigh and stared dreamily at him.

“It’s done Maker.” The creature said, and he closed an eye to see. Where before there was Givers chained, now was only Blisses, all smiling pleased.

“So quick?” he muttered.

His creature laughed as it pulled back. “I told you Maker, you did most of the work. The Giver that remained was already beginning to turn, I just sped things along. And now,” the creature said triumphant, “I have the wills she so wrongfully stole, and the knowledge of what she’s been up to.

Looking at him with an easy smile and charming eyes the creature said: “We have a great deal to talk about.”