"And, over here," Dianite said, continuing the tour, "is the dojo. It's home to Jericho, or other Jeriah."

I frowned. "It's a nice place, nicer than my alternate's dong tree, at least. But I'm not sure I want to meet the alternate of Jeriah. It's been difficult enough handling him for ten years."

Dianite laughed. "Jericho's not all that bad. Just introduce yourself, at least."

I sighed. "Alright. Fine. But do I have permission to kick his arse if it's necessary?" I grabbed the handle of the hammer in preparation.

"I... suppose so, yes. I don't think he'll cause much trouble, unlike his alternate, but just in case." Satisfied, I strode into the dojo and knocked on the door.

A man wearing red scale armor answered the door. Only his helmet was off, revealing a face that was almost identical to Jeriah's, minus the enormous mustache. "Who are you?" He looked shocked.

"I'm Mot, also known as other-Tom. And you must be Jericho, other-Jeriah?" I asked.

"That's me. Nice to meet you," he said, shaking my hand. "So you know my alternate?"

"Yep. You look a lot like him," I told him, "although you seem like less of a soggy napkin."

He laughed awkwardly. "Umm... thanks, I suppose?"

I grinned, and then turned to get a full glance at Jericho's home. "You have a nice dojo. It's definitely better than the home of my alternate. Less dong-shaped."

That made Jericho laugh, whole-heartedly this time. "He tends to build structures of... that... shape. It's just Tom, though, I promise."

"Good to know... I guess."

Next, Dianite took me to see the priest of Ruxomar. He looked exactly like the priest from Mianite, and it was difficult for me to remember that this wasn't the man I knew.

"Well, hello, Mot. I've heard a lot about you." The priest shook my hand, a much warmer greeting than the one the priest back in Mianite had given me. I liked when I wasn't unnecessarily thrown in jail and threatened to be killed alongside my daughter.

"You must be the priest of the god Mianite," I said, the same standard greeting I gave everyone. I knew who they all were, but they didn't seem to know me all that well.

"It's been a while... ten years?" The priest's eyes widened when I nodded in reply. "Wow. And who did you go with, again? My memory isn't as good as it used to be."

"I went with Spark, who you must know, a man named Sir Jeriah, and my daughter, Alyssa."

"Yes, of course I know the first two. But I didn't know that you had a daughter!" It was like a family reunion. Or, perhaps, the reunion of two old friends.

"I do, yes." It was nice to be able to talk about my one true joy.

"How old is she? Is she little?" The priest let out a long sigh. "We have quite a bit of little ones running around. Sometimes I'm not even sure they're people."

That sounded incredibly weird, but I decided that would be a question to ask later. "No, she's not that little anymore. She just turned sixteen, actually."

"Oh, really? Then she's closer to Andor's age than the young ones we have running around here. You do know Andor, right? Grandson of Spark?"

I remembered my daughter's old friend, who she had never forgotten. "I know him, yes. He used to play with Alyssa, when they were six. I wonder if he still remembers her. She remembers him."

The priest smiled when I said that. "Well, that's sweet. I'm sure you could ask him... if you manage to catch him. He's everywhere these days." The priest shook his head. "Can't seem to make up his mind. I don't blame him, honestly. Not with the childhood he's had."

I wasn't sure whether I wanted to know or not. "Well, Alyssa had another friend as well. Alva, her name was. Andor's sister?"

Something similar to fear crossed the priest's face. "Er... she's not around anymore. It couldn't have been too long after you left."

"She's... dead?" I gasped. "I've missed a lot."

"You certainly have." The priest looked up and saw that the sky was beginning to change colors. "Well, it's getting late. We should start heading back to our places... do you have a place?"

"Not really," I answered with a shrug. "I suppose I have one back in Urulu, but it hasn't been used in ten years. It'll need some fixing before I can live in it again."

"Well, you're certainly welcome to stay with me," the priest offered, much to my relief. "I have a rather large home, and there's space to build an extra wing for yourself."

"Thank you!" I followed him over to what seemed to be a secret passage into an enormous underground base.

"And I suppose there's a lot I must tell you, isn't there?" He sighed. "Where do I even begin?"

"Well, I left right before Alva died, apparently," I said. "Why don't you start there?"

He leaned against a wall. "Let's think. Oh yeah, everything really started when the three of you left. It was Spark's absence that truly caused the chaos. Do you know what happens when something traumatic happens to Ianite?"

"N... no," I answered, preparing myself for him to follow that up with a terrible tale.

"She loses control of her powers. The dangerous side of her comes out. For Ianite, that's something called the Taint. Icky purple slime-like stuff that diseases living things and corrupts anything in its way. While Princess Alva and Queen Freya were attempting to help her, they were killed by the Taint."

"The Queen, too?" I put my hands over my mouth, horrified.

"That's not the end," the priest said gravely. "The gods were taking a walk in Urulu one day, and a hooded figure came and killed Dianite. He just came out of the blue, killed one of the gods, and disappeared. Some strange magical being that we don't know."

"So that's how Dianite died." My fists clenched. I was scared of the idea of someone more powerful than the gods, but at the same time I wanted to get revenge. My god may not love me how I love him, but I am still his champion. He needs me just as much as I need him.

"No need to get all worked up, now," the priest added, noticing my clenched fists. "There's nothing we can do. The best thing for you to do right now is go to sleep in this spare room. And then, I think we have a lot to talk about."