Commodo led him into the second kitchen. He could see the shock in Gabriel's eyes. The Dwarf couldn't understand it. What he could understand, though, was that he wanted to fix those eyes, the same eyes that lay underneath, his naive expression the first time he had met him.

"I- I need to be out there. I'll call for Olive. Garena, please, watch over laddie."

After leading him where he wanted and giving him the freedom to lay the body of Liz on the table, he left in search of the only other druid which he had at his disposal. He would have asked for another druid, but there were no other guests aside from a few dwarves, distant relatives that he helped in coming over from all the way from the Core.

"Oli! Oh, lassie, please!" He said when he saw her, she was dressed up for leaving.

"Com… what happened? You look distressed," she said, inverting her smile into a frown.

"I don't know… Liz; the laddie's lizard might have died, he's… shocked, and you're the only druid nearby, can ye come and see how she fares?"

"Died? Ok, lead the way."

***

The room brightened as Olive entered. Com waited on the door's frame while Garena was preparing some sort of dust concoction by the kitchen side. It smelled weird for Gabriel.

The young man had regained some sense because he noticed that his Spirit pool had been recovering. Would it recover if she had seriously died? Just how…

"Gabriel," said Olive, joining him in a hastened pace.

"Olive, I'm sorry, I don't know what has taken over me; I think she might be... alive? But she doesn't move..." he said.

"First things first, then, a Spirit cannot die, it lives until you die… but I shouldn't be explaining these things to you. I mean, I thought it felt weird answering those basic questions before, but what do I know, you were a level 2? I thought your family had been kicked by The Den before you could start your training, so maybe you lived only on Earth. But now, I'm at a loss. Are you really a newcomer? Did the Waterfront invite your family in?" She asked, really curious and wide-eyed.

He looked stunned. She wasn't worried about him, so maybe Liz's conditions were really nothing serious.

"Olive, I'll answer whatever you want but, Liz. How do I fix her?"

"Oh, right, right. It's just easy. Touch her and inject your Life into her."

"Inject? How would I…"

"Just wish for her to recover. It's that easy," she finished before he could.

"Alright, then… ah. I'm at zero."

The room froze. It did for a few long seconds. Seconds that felt like minutes.

"What? What do ye mean ye’re at zero, laddie?"

"Certainly, you do not mean zero Life points, right?" Olive asked.

"Wight..." Garena mumbled as she froze. While preparing whatever it was that she was preparing, her knife fell on the ground with a resounding ding that echoed in the solemn silence of the room.

She slowly turned over, eyes terrified.

"I'm at zero Life, yeah. I'm at zero everything but Energy and Spirit, actually… I feel pretty shitty."

"Oh, Great Hammer…" said the Dwarf, dropping on the chair by the wall. His wife had started backing away too.

"What? What's wrong?"

"You are untethered? Gabriel?" Olivia asked the first one to recover.

"I'm what? I have no idea what that is."

"The Anchor, can you access the Anchor page? Hasn't the Anchor tethered your soul to The Den?"

"Wait, wait, what is going on? Yes, the Anchor has tortured me, and yes, I can, of course, access the Anchor page. But… what does THAT HAVE TO DO WITH LIZ?" He shouted, losing his temper.

Olivia flinched, "It- it doesn't, but you should be dead… only undead, soulless… live without Life points, maybe rankers… but you are none of those. You are a damn level two. You should be dead," she said.

Garena started relaxing, her husband had taken her in his arms, but it was Olivia's explanation that had her calm down.

"Which just means that…" Olivia turned toward them, dashing to close each and every door; then, she sighed. Gabriel thought she did for exasperation.

"The only other explanation..." she said, her voice a whisper, which only the people in the room could hear.

"Is that you are a Herald!"

"I knew it!" Shouted Com, only to be struck by Olive's eyes of reproof, "I knew it!" He repeated in a barely audible hiss.

"What is this-" Said Gabriel, whispering, then thinking, What the fuck am I doing? he raised his voice again, "What the hell is it with you people and this damn Herald thing? What does it matter? Just let's fix Liz, please!"

"Alright, alright, then drink this," Garena said. She had recovered from that state.

She hurried to the kitchen, took the dust and finely cut burnt zest of some dry things she had taken out from who knew what and belonging to who could know what, dipped them into a boiling pot of water and after a single minute, in which everybody had remained silent, offered to Gabriel in a mug.

"Be careful; it's hot," she even said.

Gabriel drank the concoction slowly, and before he even had drunk it all, he could feel like a new man. He felt and knew that his Life points had been replenished.

With a pleasantly surprised expression, she nodded at the she-orc. Then proceeded to place his hands on both the parts which comprised Liz's body and willed his Life to transfer into her, nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening!" he said, turning to Olive, after failing a few times.

"I'll guide you, just, don't fight it," she said, placing her hands on top of his.

They were small and firm, smooth enough to be considered feminine, but firm like those of a worker. Hands he had known the most in his life. Hands like his, and like those of the people he cared about the most.

Brill appeared from out of nowhere, but he didn't find the power to be surprised.

Then, she took his hand in hers and placed them on top of Brill's head.

He could feel it right away, the flow of her Life. She closed her eyes, directing the stream outward; it came out from the palm of her hands, entering inside of the salamander. It was not a visible thing, but he could nonetheless feel it brushing his hand.

"This is only possible because she's part of you. If it was something external, you would not be able to use your Life points like this. You'd need a Perk for that," she said.

Gabriel nodded, automatically, but didn't care. He focused on memorizing that feeling. Taking his hands away, he tried to copy the feeling directing it toward Lizzy's body.

The effect was unexpected, as his Life seeped into the upper part of Liz's body, the lower part started dissolving; after a few seconds, the torso flamed back to life, slowly regenerating most of its body before…

"Slow it down, Gabriel!" But Gabriel didn't.

"Slow it down! There's no reason to release all that much! You'll kill yourself!" Olivia screamed, jerking his hands away with a push.

He could feel when his Energy ran out, he could feel when his Spirit and Mana ran out, but his running out of Life didn't even bother him in the slightest.

Gabriel repelled her, placing his hand on top of Liz's regrowing body, pushing out the last amount of Life points he had. The feeling interrupting abruptly with just a weird fuzzy sensation for him. Yet Olive and the others gasped.

The girl raised her hand, poking his face. "My God… you really are still alive…" she turned around toward the Dwarf and the she-orc for confirmation. But Gabriel didn't care.

"Give me more of that potion, please. How much Life does it get to raise her back?" He asked.

"It- it depends on the Spirit points," said Olivia, stuttering a little.

"Good, two more then," he said, practically plucking the glass of red concoction from the she-orc's hands.

He drank it in one go, and when it settled, he injected three more points worth of Life back into the little unmoving lizard; something had been lost in the process.

The lizard, whole again, remained still for a few more seconds. Gabriel was holding his breath in anticipation. Then suddenly, her eyes shot open, and she turned and wiggled away, moving her head from here and about; she was confused.

Something righted inside of Gabriel. He felt the world going back to how it should be and could finally relax. He fell ass to the floor, relieved.

What the hell was I so damn panicking for? He asked himself now that the dreadful hour had passed.

Why did I react like a psycho… she's just… she's just- He looked to her. The little lizard was coming out from behind the cover of a pack of flour she found on the edges of the table.

"Liz? How do you feel?" He asked, but she looked at him, then at her body, unsure how to answer, so she remained silent, joining him but remaining sitting on the table by his side.

Now that he had healed her, all the accumulated mental fatigue washed over him; he wanted nothing else but to rest; however, the people that had helped him had other plans.

"Guys…" Olive said, "This is huge, there hasn't been a Herald for millennia if the wrong people get to know this… Gabriel, you will be in trouble. Trouble probably doesn't fit the state of things very much…" she looked distressed.

"I agree, laddie. We should contact the Waterfronts!" Said the Dwarf.

"No!" Was Oli's reaction. "Those people are heartless. They have their schedule and would stop at nothing to extend their power. I can already see them experimenting on Gabriel to gain an edge in the war with the Priests of Lore! We'd be banishing him to hell!" She said, pointing in Gabriel and Liz's direction.

"Ok, listen, my head hurts. Can you please explain to me what a fucking Herald is? And mind, I want none in this. My objective is getting home, not fighting in a war which is not mine, to begin with," Gabriel said, his tone adamant.

"I don't think they would allow it to remain partial if they found out, Gabriel. So, Olive is right, you should sort your own problem, first things first," said the she-orc; her spouse nodded as well.

"Alright, then we mention nothing of this!" said Olive. "We'd just be weight for them to pull in order to gain Gabriel's trust or simply to lead him by the nose. Those people are horrible…" she added in a whisper.

"That is fine and all… but you still haven't said a word about this Herald thing…" Gabriel interjected.

"Heralds are entities who don't play by the rules dictated by the Anchor," said Garena. "They are granted possibilities which far outstrip those given to normal people."

"Like what?"

"Like not dying when their Life points end, for example; you have no idea what someone with the power would be capable of doing with Dark magic…" she said, visibly trembling.

"Or choosing their own Skills," Olivia continued.

"Choosing my own Skills? I did not choose no Skills; this was given to me together with the Bond," Gabriel said.

"Is it? You must have taken the Testing, without an invitation, right? Haven't you chosen your spirit then?" She asked.

"Yes, but the Skill was bound to it."

"Well, that is more freedom than any of us had, we, regular Druids, woke up with our Bond Spirit by our bed one morning, and that's how it starts, and how it stays until death."

"You woke up to your Spirit?" Asked Gabriel, trying to imagine it? "Why?"

"I don't know. Some say it's about personality, others say it's destiny, or case or whatever, but we do not choose. You could, and you will, again. Just wait until you are level 5 and will have to choose another Skill; you'll see then."

"Wait, a little. Varcivald said that you choose your Skill amid a possible list. Isn't that choosing your Skill?"

"I have no idea who this Varcivald is, but he's right. We chose based on our experience; however, you will probably choose amid all the possible Skills related to that Attribute… all the possible Skills there are…"

"That's why Heralds forge their own path," Garena added.

"And you are certain about it?" Gabriel asked.

"One hundred percent," she answered with certainty.

"Lassie, I can understand me wife knowing, but how'd ye know about all this?"

Why would his wife know for sure? Thought Gabriel.

"I've… had certain experiences in the Deep," she said, final, evidently not intending to utter anything more.

Gabriel was tired, though; as much as the others wanted to keep talking, he wanted nothing else but to rest.

He said bye, thanking them and going to his room.

Almost having to wiggle through them, he left the second kitchen and headed upstairs, where he crashed on the bed, Liz in tow.

When he woke up, it was night, and found the lizard sleeping on top of his chest.

This is a lot to take in… let's focus on something else.

He let the Anchor page notification burn themselves into the air, receiving much more than he expected.

You have Killed (1) Level 14 - Jaguar of the Lower Tree Forest (Pet)

You have gained:

Level + 74.4%

Class Level + 66%

Spirit Level + 61.6%

Burst Attack Tier 2 + 17.2%

You have Killed (1) Level 4 - Leaf Cat of the Lower Tree Forest

You have gained:

Level + 2.4%

Class Level + 0%

Spirit Level + 0%

Burst Attack Tier 2 + 0%

You have Killed (1) Level 4 - Musk Boar of the Lower Tree Forest

You have gained:

Level + 3.6%

Class Level + 1.2%

Spirit Level + 0%

Burst Attack Tier 2 + 1.2%

You have Killed (1) Level 4 - Leaf Cat of the Lower Tree Forest

You have gained:

Level + 2.4%

Class Level + 0%

Spirit Level + 0%

Burst Attack Tier 2 + 0%

He had killed four more monsters, after that second Leaf Cat, but had no memories of them. The messages led to a level up.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Level 3.

You have 1 unspent Body Attribute point.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Class level 3.

You can increase your Pools by 5 points.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Spirit level 3.

You have 1 unspent Spirit Attribute point.