Yuta rubbed his forearm, the now white patch of scar tissue vaguely resembled the jaws of a dragon, but only if you were really looking for it. A gentle thrum etched under the surface of the scar. He stepped out of the woods onto a road. By the straight construction of it, and by the heading pointing directly towards the northern star, he surmised it was the road to the northern coast. If he was to get away from the war before it seized the kingdom in its clutches it was the road he had to travel.

*Why is that old Goblin following me?*

*And how did he spot that my soul is immortal now?*

*And what the hell does that even mean anyway?*

Yuta pulled up his blue screen and swiped through the sigils and strange markings that composed his skills interface, and pulled out a notebook from his satchel along with a lantern stone tied to a piece of string.

He tied the stone around his neck and took notes as he wandered north through the night, a strange sense whirring in the back of his mind. The dragon whose immortality he now shared, was profoundly excited about something, or at least, her anger had a spot of calm where usually there was none.

He wouldn’t admit it to himself, but he also felt the presence of another deep within the mark, a presence he hadn’t felt since the fall of the vale. Surely it was just his mind playing tricks on him, a reminder perhaps of how far he had come from the teenager that left home. Maybe he was equal to that popular adventurer from the vale now?

With a god soul, some basic fighting competency, and good looks thanks to the king’s brandy, maybe he had a real shot now at becoming the hero he was always meant to be.

“I will become the hero I was always born to be, and now with the god soul, these symbols in the skill screen, they are somehow making more sense… I feel I am close”.

…

Alyssa reached towards the closing portal, as Valian snapped the fingers of his black hand and sealed the breach.

The Duke turned with venom in his eyes towards Valian, gripping him by the neck and slamming him up against the now subdued godstone.

“I command you to bring the child back!”

Valian’s body was limp in shame and surrender.

“I can’t do that”

“Of course you can! You have the black hand now, you just used it to send him wherever you sent him, use it to bring him back!”

“I knew the price of this choice before I made it, I won’t turn it back, simply because the time has come for it to be paid”

“I gave you an order! Bring the child back or I will charge you as an enemy of the kingdom”

“Do what you must, but you and I both know, that with this hand there is no cell that could ever contain me”

The Duke sneered at Valian and tossed him to the side.

“You are stripped of your position and hereby banished from Darlan, until the boy is returned”

“Of course my lord, I shall take my leave then”

Valian flicked his fingers and opened a gate.

“Before I go… I just want to say. It was an honour to have served this kingdom. Farewell”

As the gate closed behind him, Gladly stood shell shocked. What was it that had just happened?

Had the boy been sent to the realm of monsters and dragons? To the abyss?

He ran through the possible ways to return from that place, filtering through everything he had ever heard of it, yet found nothing but the hollow realisation that the boy might never return.

Alyssa crashed to her knees, her hair falling in a mess over the streams of her tears. The child was brought to her by destiny, she was sure of it, and yet now the hope she had seen in him had, like a candle at the end of a cold night, been snuffed out.

Dasha, lifted her chin, and held a stiff upper lip, as an unbearable bitter taste welled in the back of her mouth. She didn’t know how to feel about it, but she remembered the ready smile and quick wit he had displayed when they first met. She had resented his talent somewhat, but only because there seemed to be no reason for it to exist as it did, no story like her own, or desire that drove him that she could recognise. Despite that, the kid didn’t deserve this fate, not even her enemies did.

The Duke cast his eyes to a flicker of light in the distance, a golden fleck amidst a wall of violet crystals. He wandered soberly over to the cavern wall and pulled Ember from the stone.

The glow of the blade faded and turned a dull grey as he grasped the hilt, its light that shone so brightly as the boy wielded it, now gone.

“Here” he said as he tossed it at Gladly’s feet, “See that the boy and those that remain from the Vale are taken care of”

Gladly nodded, and picked up the sword, wiping away the dew around his eyes with his sleeve.

Dasha turned to the Duke and clenched her jaw, “We can’t stand around here, we have to remember the dragon is laying waste to the city above, and surely the southern kingdom’s forces are poised to attack at any moment, we must establish our defence and save what is left of the city”

The Duke nodded, and gazed at the spot where the boy had vanished for a moment of silence before walking back towards the palace, his face now emotionless and prepared to get back to work.

“Come on then”

…

Dizzy held tight to Silvia’s hand, and in turn held onto the other orphaned children as they wound their way out of the sewer system.

“Thanks for carrying him, he is the one that led us to the sewers, without him I fear to think what would have happened to these kids”

Tarkon nodded and jostled the unconscious man over his shoulder, “I’m sure he’s grateful too, lets face it, he was a dead man if you didn’t come along when you did”

“Yeah… But I can’t help but feel like, I should have been able to do more… To save more people?”

“Look around you, there are at least a dozen kids here, and this fella. You did enough”

“Mhm… Thanks…” Silvia bit her tongue and after a moment of decision, swallowed her pride, “Look, I know I’ve given you shit these past ten minutes, but now that you are free to go on your own way. Thankyou, you saved our lives”

Tarkon slowed his movements, and then gently placed the man down outside of the sewer entrance.

He nodded respectfully and walked out from the city walls.

“Well, so long…” he said with a flick of his hand.

Smoke flooded over the walls, and through the rubble of the gateway, a city once built of stone, now the refuge of flame and ash stood behind them.

“Goodbye”

…

Calypso stood glistening in the moonlight atop the peak of the red mountain, looking down at the flaming city.

The cavalier god that stood to the side of her remarked upon events dismissively.

“So, the kid is now beyond reach, and you have named yourself a new champion, oh and a human city is destroyed. I don’t know about you, but I’m heading back, its been interesting”

Calypso nodded in acknowledgement, her preference over signalling goodbye.

Something ate away at her deep inside, something about the loss of the boy to the abyss reminded her of a memory just outside of her reach.

She traced her fingertips over her heart and let a single tear fall from her cheek.

She was now certain, there was a part of her missing, a part of her that had once mattered to her more than any other. But what manner of Evil could do such a thing to her immortal soul?

Surely, it was not possible, and yet… She knew it was so.

…

Wild rivers of oil flowed down barely lit rocky outcrops. The cavern was filled with a suffocating stench. Mirio stood to face the only faint glimmer of light in the cave, and the silhouette that stood amidst it.

The pallid beauty of a woman with skin as perfect as porcelain, and hair as black as the night stepped towards him, her gaze locked onto him, with the intensity of a Dragon. Focus driving into him like standing amidst a waterfall.

As she walked towards him, he couldn’t help but recoil instinctively.

“You will be the tool that turns the tide! At last, you are mine!”