“We have been tricked Priestess,” announced one of the seven Frost Giants. Harek is his name from memory one of the more jovial of the Giants, so his disappointing tone warrants my attention.

My eyes prompt him to continue or explain and then I pace softly on my paws while I listen.

“We have slain the Gar Boss, we know this as a Chest revealed itself, gleaming and tempting on the lake bottom. None have attempted to retrieve it as there are plenty of other Gar circling it.”

I imagine a giant’s giant hand scoping the Gar up while gathered around the chest and flinging them to shore. Beyond that dream, I don’t see the reality and frustrated I finish my pacing and address Harek.

“Did the Gar Boss die immediately?”

“No Priestess, several tree spears were thrown.”

I tap my chin. “Would you be able to land him, while still alive?”

“The smaller Gar tend to attack his flesh when weakened and we have held him for them to finish him off. Perhaps if we haul him out quickly, we could land him alive. Why?”

I smile. “The smaller Gar will follow and be busy, so they will be easier for you and your friends to capture, perhaps scope them out with shields or pots?”

“Pots? Priestess?”

“Well, if we had a huge hand, that would be ideal, but we don’t.”

“What about a net?” he suggests.

“What is a net?”

“A Giant hand!” His eyes close in good-natured mirth and I laugh in response.

---

The net proved unsuccessful initially, the Gar being too heavy and slipping away. Then Nasim volunteered a solution, he melded heavier stones around the ends of the net. This resulted in a smaller casting range, although with the Gar Boss or any bigger Gar acting as bait; the range wasn’t important when throwing the net from the ice bridge amongst a thrashing frenzy of distracted Gar.

While my plan involved Azizos calling the two Frost Giants back, I didn’t want them to be the first to be captured and thrown into the Temple. I needed to observe other Dungeon denizens first when thrown into the Temple to gather the required knowledge. Therefore, I needed to try different things.

I cast [Soul Sight], and Zeus’ followers immediately radiated for a moment, vessels of faith and holy magic, Arnora and Valmund the most predominant. With this God-given magic, I could observe the world beyond the living. I am sure it has a name, but I am ignorant of it for now.

Herak threw in dead Gar initially, which I suspected would prove nothing. He threw blind from the lake shoreline into where he thought the Temple of Zeus existed opposite, although each attempt allowed him to refine his position and throwing strength. The boundary of the Frozen Lake Zone is opaque from his viewpoint and the lake serene and undisturbed from my viewpoint.

The soul or essence of the dead Gar didn’t exist under the gaze of Soul Sight. The real-world view existed for the actual fish; lifeless, scales and wet, while the soul or essence view equated to an empty dull grey outline, the spark of life missing perhaps?

Live small Gar, on the other hand, when they pass from the Dungeon into the Temple, either have their essence stripped at the boundary, a bright light ricocheting back into the Dungeon in an instant and then darkness or once within the Temple the bright light escapes to the edge of the Temple and then vanishes into the forest floor. The reason I started with the small Gar; purely a maturity assumption. As beings grow, so can their knowledge and influence which should be reflected in their soul or essence strength or maturity or so I thought given the older Beast Kin essence I absorbed typically resulted in greater skills and knowledge.

The experimentation, the reasoning, deducting and concluding, all activities of thought beyond my other forms, Griffon, bloodthirsty slaughterer of prey and Harpy, cunning hunter of prey. I, in contrast, revel in trying to discover the how. Even with the discovery of the net, Griffon would have ignored it, Harpy would have used it personally as a tool to capture prey, while I have delegated the deployment to others to reap the benefit, in this case, to experiment on the captured specimens, not to eat the catch.

Engrossed in my self-examination, lauding my present smarts and superiority, a glowing bright light, perhaps a soul or essence flies towards me. I am not sure fly is the correct term as everything occurs at the speed of thought. My eyes while under [Soul Sight] are trying to interpret and comprehend my view into this other place. Did my spying reveal my presence and enable the soul or essence to identify me? Engrossed in my thoughts and analysis did I somehow view it specifically or did the casual observation serve as the trigger to make the soul or essence aware of my existence?

I am no longer in the real world and my sight into the other place vanishes. Before me exists a new perception.

[Ice cold frigid water surrounds me, not as in a river or lake, as in a layer about my body. The cold I ignore. The water though works its way up my torso. I imagine myself on the grass plains of the Beast Kin and the hot light of day beams down as I shake the water from my black furred coat and my swaying breasts. There are droplets, to begin with, and then rivulets careening off me. Finally, I am dry.]

My initial shock and concern stem from the unknown and then instinctively I knew I needed to counter, resist and lastly overcome. Once I turned my will to these purposes the struggle ended resolutely in my favour.

“I am the knowledge, the soul and the essence of Vitoria and I was not always a Gar.”

Introduction and possible conversation! More than I could have hoped for. In the real world, within the Temple, I flail a hand about me, lowering my torso to do so, grabbing for a dead Gar on the stone floor. Success and I throw it back into the Dungeon. Our prearranged signal to halt throwing more live Gar into the Temple, which Harek accepted without needing to understand why simply obeying. Given the unknown situation, a sign or signal to stop, as well as start again I considered essential!

“I am honoured by your introduction, I am Aphrodite, Priestess of Zeus. Why did you attack me?” I bow in my mind, not sure if this translates at all to the Spirit of the Small Gar.

“I am a Spirit.”

My confusion must have been evident as she? Yes, she, continued.

“As a Spirit, I try to take form or exert influence according to my nature. I once possessed a body, so I wish to do so again.”

“Would that not happen eventually?”

I sensed a burst of light laughter from the spirit … is that possible or a former memory of mine?

“I am afraid.”

Afraid? What did its laughter relate to? Our conversation stalls.

“You don’t need to be afraid, maybe if you explain to me, I will understand, and sharing will help you?”

There is thought and then resignation.

“Azizos doesn’t polish well, and he needs to … I existed as a Gar before and can remember my death, a slower death than this time. This time some suffering, gasping for watery breath and then severed from my body. My name is before being a Gar. Now instead of going to another to be polished, I can linger with you, I must since you defeated me, so I am yours now.”

“What if I don’t require a Spirit? What service can you offer if I did?”

“Required or not I am yours. I can lend you my magic, although don’t take it all otherwise …”

“Otherwise?”

The Spirit is a petulant child, resisting my question, although its resistance is futile as it belongs to me and we both know this truth. I defeated it in a battle of wills, a battle of imagination perhaps. I wondered what would happen if the spirit defeated me, I assumed the spirit would, as she said, control my body; my will and personality remaining in the background as a passive passenger.

“Otherwise, my service is complete, and I am released. I don’t wish to be released. I am afraid. To be polished properly, completely, is to forget everything, to be returned anew and I have a name, I don’t wish to forget my name. If not polished properly, I will remember traumatic events mostly, my deaths, rarely happy events and I will be bits of many past existences … being a Gar is not a pleasant existence, swim fast, grow quickly or be eaten and as Vitoria, I am sure there is more …”

I cast [Far Sight] increasing the magic I draw from my captured Spirit until there is no more. The Spirit is free as my syphoning of her magic consumes all she has and therefore the dulled remains now hasten from the Temple of Zeus to sink into the Forest Floor. There is a sense of cruelty in my action, which is why I am deliberate and quick. The Spirit’s confusion is due to its multiple existences, once polished properly it will be reincarnated anew and clean, not remembering any of its past existences including its name and not able to recall my part in its renewal.

Zeus though doesn’t renew and return spirits; all who worship him in life are his. When death takes them, their bodies return to the soil, their Spirits are either sent to the Elysium Fields, Tartarus or Hades. Who or what allows him to do this is a mystery? Over the multitude of years, he would accumulate Spirits, never to be polished, never to be reused, always able to remember their existence, well, I assume they would. Does that mean they can be summoned back to life again? Resurrected instead of reincarnated? How do I know these facts? As his Priestess, am I granted knowledge of his ways?

With Azizos and his named minions, he is resurrecting them instead of reincarnating them as he does with non-named minions. Is that why I returned when initially slain by Azizos and Nehal? My Creator and Zeus govern my existence and renewal, they can resurrect me so I am returned with all my memories and skills. Azizos can duplicate this as he is my Master and has his grip on me; as Dungeon Dominate increases. He can leverage ‘more of my heritage, more of my creation legacy’.

There is still the question of my evolutions, why? Zeus will be manipulating and scheming I am certain. How will my evolutions assist him? What is the penultimate outcome of Monster Dominate and Sentient Dominate? I have been blindly striving for Sentient Dominate as my Creator is my vision of my future. There is no more knowledge or information to guide me. This goal will remain for now.

While I appreciate the ‘intelligence’ of my current evolution, the Harpy and specifically the Griffon were simpler with limited aims and smaller thoughts. The inherent ignorance in each of their natures allows my existence as them to act without too much thinking and questioning of larger designs, an easier existence. If a possibility, would I ever wish to evolve back into either?

I throw a dead Gar into the Frozen Lake Zone Dungeon as a signal to resume and shortly after my assistant Frost Giant resumes throwing live Gar into the Temple of Zeus.

The pattern continues with the live small Gar and bigger Gar; when they pass from the Dungeon into the Temple, either their essence ricochets back into the Dungeon or once within the Temple escapes to the edge and vanishes into the forest floor.

[Jaws crush my forelegs, the large Gar’s razor-like teeth saw into my furred flesh, rivers of blood spurt from multiple gashes. I strike the beast in its bright and eager glassy eye relishing its feast. My fist matching its eye socket, I gouge and rip. Its jaws cling on and they stop their tearing, maintaining purchase, a new attack? I am wary and rewarded as I catch the Gar’s tail whipping around attempting to strike my back. A battle of wills. My hands bleed as I drag its tail fin to stab its eye to mush and as I bend the tail, its strength to resist fades. The beast releases its bite on my torso and springs back enabling its tail to flick loose from my grip. I imagine a bubble of air around its jaws and head. The beast’s one eye bulges, its jaw opens attempting to breathe water and then flops about as I enclose the length of the Gar in air. Denied water to swim in it is stranded. I sense water trickling over my breasts, rising to my neck. I enclose my head with air.]

“I am the knowledge, the soul and the essence of Paco, Giant Gar once free, once in the service of Dungeon Azizos.”

“Why did you attack me?”

[Pain laces my hindquarters as Giant Gar jaws latch on, these are trying to saw me in half. The razor teeth release and regrip, further along, its tail swims propelling it forward, further along, my furred body. No blood drops as the Giant Gar consumes it. I am paralysed, unable to turn to bash it and imagine the grassy plains of the Beast Kin, my forepaws trampling the grass, my claws digging into the soil. A release. Then another regrip, the tip of the beast’s jaws clamp behind my back, I am being dragged to the ground. With my remaining strength, I rise into the streaming daylight, my eyes hurt, and I ignore the discomfort. A release. I drag my ruined hindquarters around behind, the streaming daylight upon my back. As the Gar launches, I move to allow the now focused daylight to flash its eyes and it twists and tumbles along its body length in response. We reach a stalemate. I imagine the sun drying, drawing away moisture, from myself and the Giant Gar as I don’t have the magic within me for finesse. My dream drains both of us, we are both in our death throws.]

“I am the knowledge, the soul and the essence of Alba, Elder Giant Gar once free, once in the service of Dungeon Azizos.”

I fumble around for dead Gar; I cannot survive another attack. A Giant Hand clutches mine.

“Priestess the pain in your eyes told us of your plight, I signalled Harek to stop.” A sweeter voice I never thought to hear, Arnora. If I had thrown again …

Paco swims about me, his Spirit assessing and considering. Alba is quiet. I meditate drawing upon the faith and comfort within Zeus’ Temple, I am on his sacred ground. I join in Prayer with Arnora. I don’t question, I rejoice in Zeus’ blessing, my Holy Magic replenishing. Strengthened, I call Paco to attention.

“I am Aphrodite, Priestess of Zeus. Why did you attack me?”

“I am a strong and proud Spirit of a long linage of proud Giant Gar, once free and then bound and now my body destroyed, so I hunt for another.”

I call Alba to attention.

“I am Aphrodite, Priestess of Zeus. Why did you attack me?”

“I am the daughter of the once, great ruling Elder Giant Gar and inherited his title, although in his defeat another inherited Zone Boss from our new master, Dungeon Azizos. Those who knew freedom are now bound to his will and his service and many Gar wished for death. Then horror as those slain returned, confused Gar and not Gar. None wished to return ‘not Gar’. Better to hunt for another.”

“How did you surprise me?”

“I am elder, on the Spirit Plane I am speed and strength, you were distracted although you are false, otherwise victory would have been mine.”

“How am I false!” The accusation stings my pride and I knew instantly that Paco and Alba are aware of my outrage.

“Your spirit form is different from your living form, the head of your spirit form rests directly upon the shoulders of your forequarters, your wings attached to your furred body, your spirit form doesn’t reflect your true form!” The final words reverberate somehow.

So, they visualise my form before I influenced the final creation, my human torso and wings attached invisibly to their spirit sight.

Paco’s anguish reaches me. “Your cheat will be told of far and wide. Your doom is sealed!”

“What if you are both released and polished?”

Their confusion ebbed and flowed across my spirit sight and my condescending laugh, loud and boisterous gave them pause. I stop when I sense enough fear lace their confusion, my utter confidence breaking any doubt. The mystery for them; knowledge I held meant uncertainty at best or worse something certain, the consequences unknown to them.

“If your Spirit leaves my service, your Spirit will return to the land. There, your existence as you remember it will be obliterated and your Spirit reincarnated or recycled into another existence and so on, forever. You may already have existed, pre-Gar and been polished, you wouldn’t know. The Gar who return to the Frigid Lake Zone, are improperly polished by Dungeon Azizos, he seems less meticulous and even less concerned by any possible crossed memories.”

Their fear humbles them before me. Their continuing existence and future mine.