Gaia’s suggestion was a good one, but Serenity wanted to do as much preparation as he could. Unfortunately, he wasn’t powerful enough to face a god on his own, even a “local deity”. Maybe one that had been weakened by centuries spent on magic-poor Earth might be someone he could handle, but he didn’t want to count on it.

A glance at his Titles made him shake his head. He’d already consulted Gaia, he had no way to reach Rhea or Tzintkra, and there was no way he was going to reach out to Tyche. That would be asking for trouble, even if he was pretty confident she had absolutely nothing to do with the curse.

Prophecy and Sun brought a particular ancient god to mind, though he was confident there were others that shared that combination. He’d have to be careful of arrows.

At least he didn’t have to be careful of the dark magics of the Earth; normally, he’d have been more inclined to assume Hecate was behind a curse than Apollo, but she had no tie to the Sun at all.

His next-best resource was the Tokens he’d won in the Tutorial. The first one he saw was Tranquil Conviction’s.

Favor of Tranquil Conviction

I, Tranquil Conviction, assert that the Peace of the Grave, Serenity, has earned his Name.

Serenity laughed. If he ever had to prove that, he’d have a way. It seemed unlikely, but he’d still hang on to the token, just in case. Even if it never came up, tossing it would likely piss off Tranquil Conviction and that was the last thing he needed.

The next one he saw was one of Tek’s many tokens.

Favor of Tek

You don’t write, you don’t call... Seriously, Serenity, I put my number in your phone for a reason. Use it.

Serenity didn’t know what cost she’d extract from him, but she did seem friendly if rather manic. He’d probably end up stuck testing something else for her, but for Rissa’s sake he should at least call Tek.

Later.

Serenity fished the rest of Tek’s tokens out of the pile and put them back in the bag before picking up the next token.

Favor of Luck

You have amused the source of Luck. As long as you continue to be interesting, you will earn her Favor.

Nope. Just no.

Next!

Favor of Ptah

Thought, Word, Existence: Creation is Ptah’s passion, and you have crafted yourself as others craft the world around them. Ptah grants no gifts that you cannot make yourself, but those who can see shall know that he favors you.

Serenity could appreciate what it said, but he didn’t know what to do with it, so it joined the others in the bag.

Favor of Psyche

Risking your life to save the one you love not once but twice has gained you the attention of Psyche.

There it was. He might not know how Psyche could help, but this was the absolute perfect thing to ask her for help with. Serenity scooped up the other tokens - Death, Coyote, and the Earth-Mother - and set them in the bag. There, they were safe.

Now he just had to figure out how to trigger the Favor. Just … perhaps not in Serenity Settlement. He was the Settlement Lord, after all; calling in a favor from a god inside his Settlement probably counted as an invitation, and Serenity wasn’t handing out invitations to people he didn’t know.

Serenity tucked the token in his pants pocket and trotted towards the outskirts of the Settlement. He wanted to be away from the road, probably somewhere people didn’t go often. Uphill seemed like a good choice; he didn’t really know much about Psyche, but most of the Olympians that weren’t Underworld gods seemed to have an association with height, from the connection to Mt. Olympus if nothing else.

Before he left the Settlement, he reached out to Rissa. :I have a possible way forward, heading outside the Settlement to try to get some assistance. I’m not sure how long it will take.:

Rissa’s reply was immediate. :You have an hour if you don’t want to push back our scheduled departure time. Baxter says he thinks that won’t be a problem, but he’s not willing to leave much after six, so if you’re not done by four-thirty, we should plan to spend the night.:

That gave him … hm. A little over two hours. He hadn’t realized it was that late. He’d managed to skip lunch and not realize it; that was probably because the rockfin planet and Serenity Settlement were both noticeably higher-mana environments than the outside; the area near the World Core was higher yet, but since he wasn’t physically there he doubted he’d been eating its mana. Rissa had probably gotten herself something while he was talking to Gaia. :I’m not sure how long it’ll take. It’ll probably either be pretty quick or take hours. It’s probably better if it takes hours, it’ll mean I’m getting better help.:

:Good luck. Love you, dear.: Serenity could almost feel her kiss him as she said that. It was subtle, but he was sure the suggestion was intentional.

Serenity smiled and wished he could do the same, but he wasn’t good enough with Mind magic. :Love you too, dear.:

Serenity sat down on a scrub-covered hilltop several hundred feet away from the edge of Serenity Settlement and pulled out the Favor of Psyche token. Most magic items could be triggered simply by sending some mana into them; while he didn’t know this was the same, he didn’t know it wasn’t. It made sense for a low-Tier item from the Tutorial to use the most common trigger for a magic item.

He was probably overthinking it. Serenity doubted he’d have even wondered if it weren’t for the fact that he was having to ask someone he’d never met for help dealing with a problem he somehow felt he should deal with. He knew that was ridiculous, but it didn’t change how he felt about it; he was supposed to be able to fix things for Rissa!

And now he was just procrastinating.

Serenity sent a thread of mana into the token before he could put it off any longer. He felt it dissipate as the item triggered then collapsed in a small puff of dust.

A tear in space opened in front of Serenity as he looked up. It was strange; he couldn’t see anything, but he could feel it. It was like a vastly inferior version of the teleport into the Tutorial that the Voice used, sloppy, mana-hungry, and slow. Serenity resolved to study the Voice’s method the next time he had the chance; it would be good to know exactly how it managed such clean teleports.

A woman appeared in front of Serenity as the Space magic fueling the teleport disappeared. A very young woman; somehow, Serenity hadn’t expected someone who got in trouble for being “more beautiful than Aphrodite” more than two millennia ago to look maybe sixteen. Perhaps that explained some of the foolishness in the myth; teenagers weren’t exactly the wisest people, and if she’d gotten stuck at the age when she first died, it would explain her appearance.

Given her history, it was almost notable that she wasn’t wearing any makeup at all. She was clean and neatly dressed, but that was all.

She had medium-brown hair that gleamed in the sunlight, a nose that was strong without being oversized for her face, and a notably well-built figure. As she came closer, he could tell that her skin was only a couple of shades darker than his and her eyes were dark and seemed to see more than they should. She was dressed in ordinary jeans and a T-shirt; the bunny slippers were definitely a little out of place.

He found himself rising to his feet to meet her on even footing. Whatever she was wearing, she was a person of power, even if he didn’t want to use the term god if he didn’t have to. He should show her respect, at least.

Psyche smiled. “I admit, I wasn’t expecting you to call on me. You don’t seem like the type.”

Serenity shrugged. “I don’t have a better choice. I mean, not that you’re a bad choice…”

He was so sure he’d just tripped over his own tongue that it was a relief when Psyche laughed at him. “Skip the flattery and tell me the problem. I don’t have the time to waste. Not here.”

Serenity wondered what the problem was, but whatever it was, it was her problem not his. “It’s Rissa. Well, I mean, it’s her problem. When she goes into the sunlight, it’s like it’s attacking her…”

Psyche let Serenity talk for a good twenty minutes before she stopped him. “Before you continue, do you know where a nearby ley line is?”

Serenity pulled up his map with the ley lines overlaid on it. “Yeah, there’s one not far that way.” The shortest direction was essentially parallel to the border of Serenity Settlement, because they’d be heading for one of the ley lines that fed the Settlement. There were six different ley lines that crossed at the Settlement, though none of them were close enough to have more than two meet at any particular location. Serenity assumed that was why the Voice had picked that spot for a Settlement.

Well, it was either that or the Voice deliberately chose it because his friends were there when it placed the rockfin invasion portal. Serenity couldn’t completely discount that as a possibility.

As he led the way to the ley line, Serenity couldn’t help but indulge his curiosity. “Why do you need a ley line? You don’t seem to be leaking much mana.”

Psyche halted for a moment, staring at Serenity, before she hurried forward again. “You can … yes, I suppose you would be able to see it, wouldn’t you. I don’t have the mana to leak the way you do; I’ve compacted it all into a stored lattice. I don’t know where your mana comes from; I pull all of mine in from the outside, so I have to stay in higher-magic areas if I don’t want my permanent spells to fade. Since some of them keep me alive, that’s not something I’m willing to risk.”

Serenity could understand that, especially since this wasn’t a situation where the risk was necessary. It was strange that she thought she didn’t generate mana, though; everyone with an animating Affinity generated at least some mana. Serenity turned on Vital Sight as he moved and took a good look at her; she had a very clear Life animating Affinity.

Perhaps she simply didn’t generate enough to power her constantly-maintained spells and therefore thought she had to pull it in from outside? It wasn’t the way Serenity did things, but she’d been around long enough that it was certainly her choice to make.

When they reached the ley line, Psyche stopped and took a deep breath. Serenity could feel her tugging on the ley line. After a moment, her draw settled down to a slow-but-steady slight drain and Serenity pulled in some of the raw mana for himself. It was a good time for a snack.

“Where were we?”

Psyche’s question made Serenity review what he’d already said. “I think I just finished telling you about Jacob. After that, we came across a young man that seemed to be partially possessed…”

“...two pretty immediate problems with Gaia’s suggestion. First, I don’t know who it is. I mean, I can guess it’s Apollo or someone similar, but that doesn’t really tell me anything and I have no way to find him. Second, I can’t be sure I’d win.”

Psyche leaned back against a boulder. “It’s not Apollo. At least, it shouldn’t be. He’s dead.” She frowned. “At least, we think he is. He’s one of the three that led the assault on A’Atla, none of them made it out alive. Some of their followers did, but not the three leaders. They planned to have Poseidon hold the waters at bay while they escaped, but he didn’t. Couldn’t, I suspect; the moment they broke A’Atla’s Crystal Spire, external magic became uncontrollable. It’s gotten better, but the aftereffects are still there.”