Mathew sat in an ever growing familiar hospital room. He was impressed with the changes over the past month he was gone. Electric lights were powered via mana. Some equipment was still being used, but more nurses and other medical specialized people gained Abilities, Skills, and a few Spells related to understanding the human body, including the new way bodies work.

The agreement Mathew had with Doctor Gloria had it where very few people were to examine Mathew. Those who did, had nothing to say other than his body was heavily damaged.

That was different from what was said about his soul when Bob came to examine him.

“You’ve pushed yourself. I can see fractures along what whole structure you do have. Good news is, those will fix themselves over time. Longer due to what you have wrong with you, but time heals all wounds as the saying goes.”

Bob had gained a few levels, but was still Beginner ranked. He was sitting at Level 20 right now, and was focusing on helping out where he could. When Mathew asked about him to Gloria she seemed satisfied with what he had done.

“He’s a great teacher. He recently joined those in the Adventures guild, offering insight and help manning the desks. As far as I know, nobody has discovered who he really is, and I doubt anyone will. A few still are miffed about him, but he’s gaining some footing here.”

Bob did seem happy. He was still bald, and carried around a quarterstaff like an old man. Mathew was wary, but was starting to put trust in the outsider.

“Anything else with my soul you can see?” Mathew asked.

“I can see a chain going from you up to a floor above us.” Bob said. Mathew knew that it was linked to Cherry. He informed the Necromancer and he seemed intrigued. “You and the imp didn’t have one like this when I examined you last time.”

“That’s because I think we became fully bonded before then.” Mathew said. “Remember, I used a chain to pull his soul. I just have yet to reel her in. In time, I feel like she will properly join me like Agnox is.”

Bob nodded, “I wish I could study it more. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Gloria on the other hand, was uneasy. “Are you sure this is safe Mathew? Nobody has any idea what the ramifications of using other’s to fix your soul will do.”

Mathew sighed, “Listen, this stays between us. As far as I know, nobody really does know. I even talked to a so-called ‘Powerful God’ about it, and if she knew, she didn’t tell me. I trust her, but not that much. She is the one who gave me Cherry in a technical sense. Keep an eye on her, Gloria. If anything weird happens, let me know. I am worried if she will try anything related to her ‘Mother’ as she calls Gaia.”

“If she is going to learn proper medical care from me, then I see no reason to add spying from a God on my list of things to watch out for.” She huffed. “Any chance it’s genuine and there are no underhand tactics?”

“It’s a God that’s lived for eons. If there are no underhand tactics, I would be insulted. Gaia is placing faith on me to carry out a task for her in exchange for other things. I’m trying to one up a God here. If she looks down on me that much to not try something for herself on top of everything, then my perception of Godliness is going to be skewed even further.”

“The Gods are fickle beings.” Bob muttered. “Nobody understands their intentions. I’ve heard of Gods allowing entire planets of people to die just because one person irked them. Of course, Gods have done the opposite and gave an entire generation blessed titles to boost their odds of class choices in exchange for sacrifices, unending loyalty, and the occasional feast.”

Gloria did a final check on Mathew before leaving. “Rest tonight Mathew, and if you look better tomorrow I might consider letting you talk to Mr. Melton and a few others. I know that old man is pacing back and forth in his office dealing with what’s going on.”

“Which is?” Mathew asked, “I need to know these things Gloria. Just whatever the biggest problem is so I can think about it.”

Dr. Gloria thought about it for a moment before agreeing, “People are abusing your laws to preach about their Gods. Not in a good way either, they plan to undermine you. Not many people know you’ve returned yet, and guards have doubled around the Hearth Crystal just in case. You are safe here. So don’t go thinking of fighting just yet.”

“Gloria, I need to handle this!” Mathew started to get out of the bed, but winced in pain.

Gloria just watched him try to get out of bed. “Tomorrow. You can do it when you are fully recovered. I agree, you do need to handle this, but when you are able to.”

Mathew admitted she was right. If it came to physical blows, he was done for. Then again, he had people under him to take care of these things. “Henderson not handling it?”

“Susan tried, but your laws limit what she can do.”

“My laws only apply to citizens of Blue Oaks, not visitors.” Mathew said. “I wrote them that way for a reason.”

“And he earned Citizenship properly. I hate to admit it, but it sounds like he found a loophole in your laws.”

“I’ll handle it tomorrow, any sleep aids? I won’t be able to sleep now with this running through my mind.”

Gloria nodded, and left to fetch something. Bob left as well. “Get better Mathew. Don’t go dying on me. You are growing more and more interesting every time I see you in this hospital.” He chuckled darkly.

Gloria returned with two small purple pills. “Swallow these. We stock piled these from the magic shop over in Watago. Magical sleeping pills. They are supposed to be used for assassinations, but we just use them to help patients get a good nights rest.”

“What’s the saying? The greatest advancements in medicine were the result of the most horrendous crimes of humanity?” Mathew asked then popped the pills back, dry swallowing them.

“Something like that.” Gloria said with a slight smile. “Goodnight.”

Mathew felt the effects hit him almost instantly. Soon he was dragged away to a deep sleep. He soon found himself somewhere he’s only been once before when he was in meditation.

“Oh good, you’ve returned to us.” A myriad of voices said all at once.

Mathew was back in his mind. Where he last was when in deep meditation after seeing a vision and gaining two Glints of Axioms at once. Doozkora was still here. The abomination was standing a dozen feet away from Mathew.

The frankenstein parts of monsters and other humanoids connected to one another moved independently. As if each limb had a mind of its own.

“I thought I told you to get out of here.” Mathew said sternly, he wanted to try and kill Doozkora here, but had no clue how. He couldn’t use his powers here.

“You can’t remove yourself from yourself.”

Mathew didn’t care for banter, he reached for his Axiom’s. His understanding of them had grown since last time. He flushed his body with the Axiom of Bolster and ran forward toward the grotesque mismatch of creatures. His fist went through Doozkora, its body seemed to not exist. Just an illusion.

“Weak.” Doozkora said and its tentacle arm wrapped around Mathew. It threw him onto the ground. Mathew struggled against the arm, but found himself weaker than ever.

“I told you, there would be no conversation this time. You are weak right now, hence why we are here.”

“And I told you to Le-” The tentacle wrapped itself around Mathew’s mouth.

“Ah Ah Ah, we can’t have you doing that little trick again before we give you a gift!” Doozkora smiled.

Mathew tried to fight against the tentacles. He struggled against the surprisingly strong limb.

“Now, before you find some way to escape, let us give you something as a reward! After All, you’ve acquired someone new to tie to your soul. This is something to help your progress.” Doozkora raised an empty human looking hand and pressed it against Mathew’s side.

It felt how he imagined a hot cattle brand would feel, only five times worse. His scream was muffled by the tentacle. His teeth clenched so hard he felt them crack. He continued to struggle until all the fight left him all at once. Mathew slumped, barely aware of his surroundings.

“There we go. That is a ritual, forever a part of you. Don’t worry, We only seared into the part of your soul that is ours. Can’t have you getting rid of it without finding a way to get rid of us as well. Which, you can’t.” The voices said.

The tentacle let go of Mathew, leaving him on the ground. “A shame, we expected more of a fight. We guess you have far to grow. If you ever find yourself in need of more power, simply remember this moment. You will then learn the ability to fully absorb any creature you’ve bonded with, such as your little imp, Agnox.”

Mathew struggled to keep his eyes open. Doing everything he could to fight back. Words mumbled out of his mouth.

Doozkora leaned down adn poked Mathew with its tentacle, “What was that? We couldn’t hear you.”

“Fugh eh uf, Afuks” Mathew slurred.

Doozkora somehow shrugged without a neck. “Goodnight Mathew. We look forward to-”

A flaming sword cleaved through the tentacle that was poking Mathew. Doozkora let out a shriek of pain. Grabbing the stub where the limb was attached. Agnox landed next to Mathew. “Boss, where the FUCK are we?”

He looked down at Mathew, whose eyes had rolled up into his head.

“You shouldn’t be here Imp. No matter, I’ll leave you a gift too.” Doozkora reached out with one of its free hands but Agnox jumped out of its reach. Agnox tried to throw a [Fire Bolt] but nothing came.

“Oh you gotta be kidding me. Mathew!” Agnox yelled trying to wake up his Summoner. He jumped back to avoid Doozkora again, flying into the air.

“Much like your master, you can’t use your powers here. You have no power at all, little imp.”

“That’s what you think. Where do you think the flames came from?” Agnox said as dark red flames wreathed around his sword once again. “You think I’m going to let you kill Mathew? I don’t care who you are or where we are. Nobody touches my Boss!”

Agnox flew down to slice at Doozkora, instead his sword passed through, the flames licked out, finding nothing but dark fog.

“We are unkillable here. For we are Doozkora! We will leave you with your summoner. It is our hope that he uses his gift on you soon. You will be a fine addition to our collection.”

Doozkora faded into a puff of black smoke. Leaving Agnox alone. He ran over to Mathew, just now noticing several boxes dotted around the place. The entire place felt familiar to him.

“Mat! Boss! What the hell did that guy do to you?” Agnox continued to shake Mathew.

Mathew felt his body being shaken. His eyes sprung open to find himself in the hospital room. Half a dozen nurses and doctors were around him, several holding his limbs. “Mathew! Mr. McGonald! Stop thrashing about, you are safe!”

Suddenly, Mathew’s movements grew in strength as he pushed his body with the Axiom of Bolster. He threw one of the nurses into a side wall, leaving behind cracks.

“Nurse, get me that sedative, the strong one for those with higher vitality, then increase the dosage by 50%!” Gloria’s voice yelled out.

A phantom of pain landed on Mathew’s side, and he lurched, trying to place a hand there to remove whatever was causing the pain. “Hey! Stop! A male nurse said that was holding his right arm. Relax Mathew, just relax.” Mathew threw that guy forward, slamming into someone else sending them both sprawling to the floor.

A needle slammed into Mathew’s thigh and a cold feeling washed over him. His breathing slowed, but he was still able to barely move his limbs. The sedative seemed to work on calming Mathew down, as he stopped struggling.

Everyone slowly let go of his limbs. A groan of pain came from the one who was thrown into the wall. Mathew was wide eyed, looking at everyone. His thoughts were racing, but everything felt sluggish.

“How is he awake? That sedative was for someone with over 250 Vitality! I only know a handful of people with that high, and none of them are mages.”

Gloria seemed relieved. Mathew looked around, realizing he wasn’t back in his mind, or wherever he was with Doozkora. He noticed Cherry was on the ground with his spear next to her. The tip was covered in her green blood. A pink light faded as she healed whatever wound she acquired.

“Mathew? Are you a bit calmer now?” Doctor Gloria asked in a calm voice.

“Yea…what happened?” He shook his head. His mind felt heavy. He tried to use one of his Axioms or skills or anything, but nothing came to him.

“I believe you had a panic attack.” Gloria said truthfully. She looked at the others. “Everyone you are good to go. Those of you injured, go get treatment yourself. I have it from here.”

Nobody hesitated, wanting to leave the room. Mathew scratched at his side where Doozkora branded him. He lifted his shirt to find nothing there.

“I. I was tortured. It was horrible. Pain I never felt before. I couldn’t even fight back.” Mathew said. He looked at Cherry. “Cherry, are you okay?”

She looked up at Mathew. Her eyes were wet, but no tears fell down her face. She just nodded her head, saying nothing.

Gloria put a hand on Mathew’s shoulder. “Cherry came to check on you. She said she felt something was wrong, and a few minutes later I heard her scream and a loud crash. You impaled her with that spear. Then you started to channel mana for another spell. Luckily, we have someone who can disrupt flows of mana temporarily. That’s when you started to throw people.”

Mathew laid his head back, closing his eyes. “Damn it.” He felt worried, a litle scared, and above all embarrassed.

Gloria nodded, knowing he couldn’t see her and said nothing. She waited for him to be ready.

“Is Agnox around?” Mathew asked. Whatever the sedative did to him, made it hard to focus on any of his powers, including the one that let him know where his summons were.

“I haven't seen him.” Gloria replied.

Mathew shuddered at the phantom pain, looking once again at his side.

“What is it?” Gloria asked, looking at where he was.

“It’s nothing. Just somewhere I was injured. Phantom pain I think.” Mathew said, trying to avoid talking about it.

“You can tell me. Your secrets are mine. We both know that.” Gloria said. “I’m not a shrink or a psychologist, but I can tell something happened to you. Something you should talk about.”

“I’m fine.” Mathew said dismissively. “I got it taken care of. It’s nothing for anyone to worry about.”

“Mathew…” Cherry muttered. She was standing to the side of the room near the door. “You should tell her.”

“She doesn’t need to know. But, are you okay? I didn’t hurt you on purpose, you know that right?”

Cherry barely nodded, not looking at Mathew. “I’m going to leave you two alone. Uhh, I’ll be in your office Doctor Gloria.” With that, Cherry left the room, the door clicked closed softly.

Gloria sat on one of the chairs, crossing one leg over the other. “I’m willing to wait for Mathew. You can tell me what is bothering you, a lie, something else, but until you tell me something, I am going to wait.”