Orpheus fell to one knee and bowed his head to the queen. “I have returned, your majesty. It fills my heart with joy to see you alive.”

Celestea rushed over to the man who wobbled as he tried his best to prostrate himself. “Please, Orpheus. Get up. We are long past standing on ceremony.”

Orpheus took her hand and slowly stood, tears in his eyes. “How did you survive? The castle was razed to the ground and the princess lost. I feared the worst.”

The queen flashed me a glance as she answered. “Someone rescued us. I do not know who he was. None of that matters now. Will you return to the castle?”

As a human, Orpheus had jet black hair pulled into a ponytail that looked sort of like a cat’s tail. The top of his head was greying, which looked strangely like a white spot. He rubbed his chin as he thought out loud. “I hadn’t considered life after Mardella. She has consumed me for so long. My only thoughts were of revenge. Revenge for you and of course for my lovely Mabel.”

The queen’s face darkened at the mention of Orpheus’ wife. “That was a tragic loss. She was family. As you are. You need to return and meet Shiviria. She needs a godfather.”

Orpheus lingered for another moment. “As you wish.”

Congratulations. You have reached level 32

Congratulations. You have reached level 33

Congratulations. You have reached level 34

Congratulations. You have reached level 35

Congratulations. You have reached level 36

Congratulations. You have reached level 24

Congratulations. You have reached level 25

Congratulations. You have reached level 26

Congratulations. You have reached level 27

Congratulations. You have reached level 28

We dropped in a heap onto the bed in The Queen’s Chamber at Celestea Castle. While it was a dream, it felt remarkably real. I looked over at Kalli, whose face was flushed crimson. All I could think to do was give her my dumbest grin and say, “That was amazing.”

Kalli panted for a few seconds before sighing. “Leveling up in front of you is embarrassing. I do admit it felt wonderful though. I don’t think we ever leveled up that much at once.”

I thought back to the time after my encounter with Carmilla Shaw. While I had leveled a lot, Kalli hadn’t leveled at all that time. Our bond had also grown closer since then. I smiled at her, finding her irresistible at that moment. “I think I like leveling up with you a lot more than doing it by myself.”

“Duh!” She said, covering her mouth as a giggle escaped. “Of course, it feels better leveling together. Doesn’t everything?”

I rolled over on top of her and planted a kiss on her nose. “I don’t know. We haven’t tried everything.”

Pushing me off, she waggled a finger in my face. “Nice try. Don’t worry, it’ll happen. Just not right now.”

Leaning over to kiss her again, I was met with resistance. Kalli gave me a peck on the lips and said, “Sorry, Mel. We have important things to discuss.”

“What?” I asked, not wanting to think about anything else.

“That ring.” She replied, taking my hand and running her finger over the foggy blue gemstone set in the ring. “You did something that changed Mardella. You said you were going to explain later. Now is later.”

While the ring on my dream finger wasn’t the real ring, I knew it was also connected to that prison that housed Malric the Magnificent. Or at least it used to. I placed my hand on top of Kalli’s and explained. “The ring is a prison. Inside of the ring I, um, met someone. I don’t know the details of how they got in there but I think one of them escaped. His name is Malric. He taught me to use the ring. I think he tricked me because when I used it on Mardella, she sounded like him.”

Kalli’s eyes widened. “Are you saying he possessed her?”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure. I just have a strong feeling that it was him.”

“But we leveled up,” Kalli whispered. “Doesn’t that mean she died?”

Logically, that was how leveling and experience worked. We wouldn’t have gotten experience for a kill if she lived, would we? Still, I did have a hunch. I looked into Kalli’s eyes and whispered a suggestion. “There is one place we can look for her?”

Kalli blinked. “Do you mean the afterlife? Where you found Stefanie?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean inside the ring.”

Kalli’s mouth fell open. “How? Is that what happened during the meeting with King Thomas?”

I nodded. “So, do you want to go?”

She gaped at me for a bit before replying. “Is it safe?”

“They were all locked up the last time I went in there,” I explained quickly before thinking about the possible new addition. “There is a chance that Mardella may be running loose in there. Maybe I should go in alone to check it out.”

Kalli shook her head so hard that her ponytail swung over her shoulder. “No. We go in together. I don’t like the idea of you putting yourself in danger.”

I frowned at her. It wasn’t like I enjoyed putting her in danger. The problem was that the only way we were going to get to the bottom of things was to go into the ring. After mentally preparing Kalli for what to expect, we held hands as I slowly fed the ring mana. Kalli followed suit and moments later we found ourselves inside the hall with the doors.

“Well, Mardella isn’t out here,” I said, heaving a sigh of relief. “At least there’s that.”

Screaming from the door at the end of the hall informed us that Mardella was a prisoner of the ring. “What have you fools done to me? I demand you let me out of here at once!”

For the first time, one of the occupants of the other cells spoke. A gruff voice yelled back. “Shut the hell up, rookie. You are at the bottom of the pecking order in here. Don’t expect to see the light of day for at least a millennium.”

It was the man with the wispy beard. His eyes gleamed in the light of the hall as he peered through the slit in his door. Watching us walk past, he sneered at us. “Good job out there! I’m next in line. Don’t let this game of musical chairs end. If you set me free, I promise I will make it worth your while. Just find me a nice buff body, if you would be so kind.”

Kalli gave me a worried glance and I whispered, “Ignore him. Let’s focus on Mardella for now.”

When we arrived at the door at the end of the hall, we saw angry violet eyes glaring at us. “What have you done? Where is this? Who are these people?”

I folded my arms. “It serves you right for trying to kill me. This is a prison and I put you here. Is there anybody in there with you?”

Even though I already knew the answer, I still had to ask. Mardella was outraged but she answered my question. “No, there is nobody in here but me. The only other people are those voices out there and I can assure you that all of them are insane. When the high house hears of this, you will all be in trouble. They will hunt you down.”

“Do you mean Maya?” Kalli asked. “We already met her.”

“Oh…” Mardella trailed off.

“Did you see anyone when you first got here?” I asked, hoping to confirm what I suspected about Malric. “Perhaps someone leaving or on their way out.”

A tiny voice that I almost didn’t believe belonged to Mardella replied. “No. There was nothing like that. Do you intend to keep me in here forever?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed heavily.

It wasn’t like I had any control over releasing her. At least not that I knew of. Kalli took a step closer to the door, her face unreadable. “What do you intend to do if we let you out?”

The slit into Mardella’s cell darkened as she backed away from the door. For a while, it didn’t sound like she was going to answer. Then she spoke just above a whisper. “I’ll do anything. You name it. If you want me to make a pact to do no evil, I’ll honor it. Just please, you have to let me out. What will Alariel do without me? I’m her mother.”

Kalli looked at me intently. I just shrugged, not knowing what else to do or say. She took another step closer to the door and said. “We will do what we can.”

The next week was a constant party. Every town, village, and outpost in Celestea was celebrating, and they all wanted us to visit. Our group made it a point of spending an entire day at every stop. Not only did we enjoy the love and affection that the townsfolk were showering us with but we also did what we could to improve each place that we visited.

Stefanie was back to her old self, singing to children that swooned over her. They didn’t care that she was a ghost. All it took was awakening them to allow them to see her.

That was my job. Every stop we made, I spent the entire day awakening people. I didn’t care though. Kalli was safe. Her contract was nullified. Even the threat of some dark entity being out to get us was suddenly gone, trapped in my ring.

Raverly the ghost was back. He spent his time split between haunting the castle and being haunted by Stefanie. In a way, I think he enjoyed her company even though all she did was smack him around.

When the time finally came to go home, Kalli pulled me aside and dropped a bombshell. Melvin, how mad would you be if I said I wasn’t going back with you?

My heart sank. Was she dumping me? Was this the end? She must have felt my desperation because she quickly continued. It’s not like that. You can still see me anytime you want, remember? You can teleport to my side in a flash. You see, this is my home. I finally have parents again. I’ll admit, they are weird but I’m starting to bond with them. Then there’s Shiv. She needs a big sister. She’s already halfway grown up and she’s been without me her entire life. I need to make up for lost time.

Coming to a quick decision, I grasped her hand.

Then I’ll stay. I don’t care about Earth. We can live here and start a family together.

What about your mom? Kalli asked, causing me to tremble. And Mrs. Hodgins. You live on Earth. As I said, I’m still your girlfriend. More than that! I love you and will always love you. It’s going to be fine.

It didn’t feel like it but I still agreed. If it was what Kalli wanted, I would learn to live with it. When we gathered to go, everyone was confused that Kalli didn’t join us. Wendy turned to glare at me and asked, “What did you do, Melvin? You had better fix this.”

I sighed. “She wants to stay here with her family.”

Wendy rushed over to hug Kalli. “I get it. Family is everything. Promise you’ll visit us.”

Kalli wrapped her arms around the Aeromancer. “All the time.”

In the end, our group prepared to return to Earth without her. Joe, Wendy, Rundell, and I were the only ones going, along with the ghosts of Stefanie and Raverly.

Kiki stayed behind, committed to Alariel who took her to her home in the north on the island with the high houses. I asked Kiki how she felt about it and she gave me a big hug, saying, “I’m in love with her, bro. I think I’m going to be fine on this planet. Don’t be a stranger.”

The gods also bid me farewell. Elysiana made sure to give me instructions on proper ghost management once I got them back to Earth. “You need to seek out one of your death gods and guide them to the light. Since they died over here, the path won’t be natural. In some cases, a toll may be required. Be sure to specify that they both go to the good place, otherwise they may end up someplace nasty.”

I wanted to suggest that Raverly be given an express ticket to someplace nasty but I wasn’t sure how Joe would take it, so I bit my tongue.As it was, Raverly confined himself to a tattoo of a scythe on my arm.

Once the last god had gone, I swallowed hard. “This is it, guys. Who’s ready to go home?”

It didn’t feel like home to me anymore. Kalli wouldn’t be there. The entire planet Earth suddenly felt dull and lifeless. Wondering if the gate spell would take me to a home that I no longer found myself attached to, I gave instructions to the others. “Okay, guys. Everyone hold hands. We’re about to go home.”