After several peaceful hours of training, the sky lit up with the vibrant orange and red hues of twilight. When the sunlight touched her face, Ray opened her eyes. The sensory information that she had been suppressing rushed in like a cascade.

The chirping songs of birds and other creatures greeting the sun filled the air. She breathed in the moist smell of fresh dew on wild grass, and the crisp chill of a late-winter morning danced across her skin.

She unsummoned Mort now that there was no need for him to keep watch. The sound of snoring resounded from Ven’s tent and she detected the faint whistling breaths of Kelsey and Helen in the other tent. Her friends were all still asleep, though they would likely wake up soon.

How should she spend the time while she waited?

There was only one answer.

Ray leapt to her feet and strode over to a clear area near the fire pit that Ven had prepared the previous night. Though the gathered wood was damp with dew, it seemed like a problem that fire could easily fix. She cleared out some rocks to make a relatively level surface and then withdrew her portable kitchen.

Since she never had to eat, she hadn’t yet found much use for the expensive contraption. Now that she had more friends who had to eat food to survive, the kitchen would probably see a lot more usage in the near future.

She pulled out a few of the drawers until she found what seemed to be the proper cooking tools and utensils. Most of the equipment was made of light, shiny metal. There was a round, black metal pan with a handle, and a flat-ended metal tool with a rubber grip that should work well for turning over the food in the pan.

Ray set the pan on the stove and turned one of the knobs to activate the fire magic. She wasn’t sure how it worked, but it did. Fire sprung up beneath the bottom-leftmost corner of the stove and she moved the pan over it.

While the pan was heating up, she thought about what to make. Other than the dried adventurer’s rations, she only had karma squirrel meat in her bag. She pulled out one of the creatures and dangled it by its tail while she examined the corpse.

Because of the method she used to kill them, it still had its pelt, bones, and organs. She wasn’t sure which parts were considered edible, though. She briefly touched the corpse to the fire and then yanked it back as the karmic property took effect and she was burned as well.

She hadn’t paid too much attention to what humans considered edible, but it wasn’t a stretch to assume they would avoid eating this fur.

While the fire continued to heat up the pan, she withdrew a knife and carefully began to peel the fur away from the meat underneath. Though the process inevitably ended up slicing up her own skin, it was inconsequential as she imagined the faces of her friends eating food that she prepared for them.

After deftly removing the pelt, she sliced up the meat into thin slices. Once the fur was out of the way, the process sped up immensely as she no longer suffered from the karmic retribution. She dropped the thinly sliced meat into the pan and it started to sizzle. While she waited for it to cook, she examined the heart, intestines, and other organs. She had never seen anybody eating anything like them, so she opted to toss them aside.

As if drawn by the magical sound of cooking meat, Ven, Helen, and Kelsey each stepped out of their tents and sleepily migrated toward her. Kelsey rubbed at her tired eyes while Helen and Ven warmed up their muscles by stretching.

“What’re you doing?” Kelsey mumbled, looking with bleary eyes toward the kitchen.

“Cooking breakfast!” Ray replied enthusiastically.

“So much energy for a person who didn’t sleep…” Helen muttered. “I hate morning people. You make us night owls look bad.”

Ray tilted her head to the side. Strictly speaking, she was neither an early bird nor a night owl since she didn’t have to sleep. Seeing Helen’s grouchy glare, she opted to keep this observation to herself.

Ven sniffed at the air carefully and then cringed. “I’m pretty sure the meat isn’t supposed to smell like that.”

Ray sniffed the air and noticed that it smelt like something was burning. She stiffened and rushed over to the pan with her trusty metal flippy-stick. She tried to slide it underneath the meat, but it was burned to the pan. When she applied some extra force using her superhuman strength, the metal flipper bent against the pan.

She took a step away, unsure what to do. As a last resort, she reached in to grab the burning meat with her hands.

Kelsey rushed in and slapped her hand away.

“Let’s just go over there and talk,” she said in a consoling voice. “We’ll let Ven and Helen take care of breakfast.”

Ray’s cheeks flushed with crimson heat. She hadn’t expected to fail so badly on her first attempt at cooking. The task seemed really simple so it was that much more embarrassing that she failed.

The priestess pulled her over to a rock a bit away from the camp and sat her down. She chose this spot because there happened to be another rock that she could use as her own seat. After Ray sat down, she leaned her head forward into her hands and Kelsey patted her on the back as she tried to console her.

“It’s fine if you suck at cooking. You’re an unstoppable killing machine when you’re fighting, so it only makes sense that you’re bad at creating things.”

Ray flinched and looked up at her friend in disbelief. “Is that your idea of comforting me? I’m so good at destroying things that I couldn’t possibly make things better?”

Kelsey nodded. “Exactly!”

Ray shook her head half in amazement, half in despair. Where was Legion when she needed him? That annoying god would normally come running to comfort her when she messed things up. But noooo, he had to go to some magical conference with the other gods. She wasn’t important enough to warrant his attention right now. Stupid Legion putting his work before her…

“So what was that about last night?” Kelsey asked, interrupting her internal monologue.

“You mean hunting the karma squirrels?” Ray clarified.

The priestess nodded.

“I thought it’d be cool to have a pair of gloves or something made out of karma squirrel fur.”

Kelsey’s eyes widened. “You hunted dozens of SSS-class magical beasts because you wanted a new pair of gloves?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yup,” Ray nodded. “Imagine punching someone and intentionally activating that karmic property. It’d certainly pack a punch.”

Kelsey cringed. “As terrible as it is, at least that pun makes more sense than your last one,” she sighed. “Bad puns aren’t funny. Nobody likes them.”

“I like them.”

“I guess you’re ‘nobody’ then. It’d make sense because I’ve heard it said that ‘nobody is truly bad at cooking’.”

Ray glared at the priestess who dared to poke at a freshly scabbed wound. Her expression softened when she saw her friend’s hesitant form. Kelsey was half-turned away from her, chewing on her bottom lip. Her eyes looked conflicted and her shoulders were hunched with uncertainty.

“What is it?” Ray asked softly so that there was no way the other two could hear.

Kelsey turned to face her and met her gaze. “What are you planning to do after all of this? After the goblins respawn and you rescue them, are you going to leave?”

“Are you worrying about me?” Ray giggled.

Kelsey gave her a weak smile. “I mean, yeah. I am a bit worried. My friend is on the verge of committing heresy and becoming a wanted fugitive. A good friend would start worrying before you got half as far.”

Ray patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about this one. Legion and I spoke for a long time about what to do. Our plan has some room for adjusting to variables but we’re pretty set on the details.”

“And Legion is your god, right?” Kelsey checked, her voice lowering even further until it was barely audible.

“That’s right. If you’re worried about not seeing me afterward, the door is still open for you to join and come with us.”

Kelsey let out a weak chuckle. “What a terrible way to proselytize. Are you holding our friendship hostage over a difference in our religions?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Ray quickly clarified. “I just wanted to let you know that the option will always be there for you. We don’t know what the future holds or what paths we’ll be presented with, but the path we take is one decision we always get to make for ourselves.”

Kelsey gave her an appraising look. “That’s actually pretty good. I didn’t know you had a line like that in you.”

Ray shrugged. “I probably heard Legion say it once. I’m not that smart or observant. If I ever say anything good like that again, you can probably assume it came from him, not me.”

Kelsey scrunched her brow with distaste. “Unless you tell me with certainty that it came from someone else, I want to believe that it came from you. I believe in you, Ray. You are much more intelligent and capable than you think, you just don’t have the knowledge and experience to make informed decisions.”

“Thanks, Kelsey,” Ray replied, squaring her shoulders.

This wasn’t the time to be moping about her failure. She lurched up to her feet and offered a hand to help her friend up.

“You two ready to eat?” Helen called out from the portable kitchen.

The two of them shared a glance before rushing over. While Ray didn’t need to eat food, she decided she would take cooking one step at a time.

The first step was learning what proper camping food tasted like.

***

After a few uneventful hours of travel, Ray and her party stopped to take a break for Kelsey’s sake. Though Helen and Ven were physically fit, Kelsey had mentioned to Ray that because she had no intention of becoming an adventurer, she rarely exercised and never learned any martial techniques. Not once did Ray hear her complain as they marched forward, though it eventually became obvious that the priestess was hitting her limit and needed to rest.

Ray cleared a relatively smooth alcove and set up the portal kitchen for Ven and Helen to prepare lunch. She set up the toilet a reasonable distance away and offered to watch their surroundings.

Leaning back against a tree just off the edge of the trail, she cast her mind back over the fight with the karma squirrels and her disappointing failure in the morning.

In both cases, she stepped up to the plate with confidence and ended up losing. In the case of the karma squirrels, she would have outlasted them and eventually won, but she would have had much more success if she had just asked her friends to help from the beginning.

In the case of her cooking mishap, she knew that it wasn’t strictly her fault -- she just needed more experience. However, she couldn’t help the budding sense of frustration at how helpless she was. Kelsey was right. All she was good at was destroying things, and she wasn’t even very skilled at it. If she didn’t have this strange regeneration ability, she would have died many times. There wasn’t a single fight she had won without relying on it.

She was stronger and faster than other people. She learned things faster than normal. She had a big advantage in that her body sometimes instinctively remembered stances and forms.

Yet with all these strengths and advantages, she always lost. Judging purely by the outcome some would say that she won, but winning a battle and winning a war were not the same thing. Even if winning the war was the most important part, that didn’t change how frustrating it was to lose a battle.

It had only been a day since Legion had left but she already felt his absence keenly. Usually, when she was feeling down, he would pitch in some lame inspirational words. Usually, those words were annoying…

She missed those annoying words.

Her heart ached with longing. That empty spot that was usually filled with his light felt like a dark void strangling everything around it.

When Legion wasn’t able to help her, she relied on Lexi.

But Lexi hadn’t respawned yet. She wasn’t here to fill that void.

She had her party members and she trusted all of them to a certain extent, but none of them had fully accepted her like Legion and Lexi had. Kelsey was the next closest person to her, but the priestess would always be a little distant so long as she accepted a goddess that demanded that Ray and her people be murdered on sight.

Ray sighed as she turned her gaze up to the cloudy blue sky.

Was Legion somewhere out there, negotiating amongst the gods? Did his meeting even start yet? Or perhaps it was already over?

She reached out toward the sky and clenched her fist as if to grab ahold of it. Of course, she felt no resistance because the sky was far beyond her reach.

Was Lexi out there somewhere, dreaming as she waited to respawn?

Tears formed at the edge of her eyes and she wiped them on her sleeve. Then she stiffened as a faint memory encroached on the edge of her consciousness, demanding her attention. She tried to focus on the elusive, blurry image but all she could find were lingering emotions:

An endlessly deep and dark abyss of sorrow and despair leaked out, seeking to taint her soul.

Ray gasped as tears streamed from her eyes unbidden. She tried to fight the sticky darkness but every time she touched it, it stretched and grew. She pitched forward and barely caught herself with her hands as she gasped for breath. Her arms bent slowly until she was lying face-first on the ground, panting as she desperately tried to reign in the unwanted emotions.

Gradually, the pain began to fade, sinking back down into the depths. She lay still for a few more minutes, breathing erratically as tears streamed down her face. Then she rolled over and looked up at the sky once more.

Though she had three friends with her, she was alone.

“Legion… Lexi… Where are you…?” she whispered so softly that nobody but an immortal would hear it.

A few minutes later, a voice called out to let her know that lunch was ready. Ray lurched to her feet and wiped the tears from her eyes on her sleeves. She started to move toward the group when she stopped as she noticed a rapidly approaching sound.

“We’ve got company!” she called out, drawing her battle hammer.

Ray rushed to intercept the incoming creature while her friends drew their weapons and followed behind her. She stepped further into the trees and came face to face with a large, shaggy bipedal creature with red eyes. The monster was large and hunched, its long and thick arms dragged across the ground despite the creature walking upright on two legs. Dusty white fur covered the beast from head to toe, hiding most of its body and features.

She approached the creature with her hammer raised. It saw her coming and growled a warning. When she took another step forward, it snatched a nearby tree and yanked it out of the ground, dirt and rocks cascading from its dislodged roots. The hairy monster swung its new weapon like a bat and Ray reinforced her arms to intercept the blow, splitting the tree in half. She continued forward and swung her weapon at the monster’s arm.

“Wait!” a voice called out from behind her.

She dug her heels into the ground, drawing furrows as she skidded to a stop.

The monster looked down at her curiously, tilting its head to the side.

Ven and Helen came up beside her and she looked to the masked rogue for an explanation.

“This guy is a mountain yeti. While they are technically classified as monsters, they are non-aggressive. They almost never attack first.”

“If it's a monster, why did you stop me?” Ray asked, curious.

“There’s no need to kill something if you don’t have to, right?” he replied.

She returned her attention to the big monster and realized that it was no longer paying attention to her. Following its gaze, she saw the portable kitchen back in the camp.

A wild idea danced at the edge of her mind. Feeling that it was worth a shot, Ray ran over and grabbed a slab of meat still oozing with fat. The hot grease burned her hand, but she winced, bouncing the meat between her two hands as she ran back and held the steak up to the yeti.

“Are you hungry, big guy?”

The mountain yeti’s attention fixated on the meat in her hands. It reached out carefully, its eyes rapidly alternating between her and the food. With a swift jerk of its wrist, it snatched the meat and shoved it into its mouth. The monster chewed noisily and then swallowed. Then it reached out with a questing hand, searching for more.

Without taking her eyes off of the monster, Ray motioned for her friends to bring her some more.

“Can wild monsters be tamed?” Ray asked as Ven passed her a piece of raw meat from his bag.

“It’s not unheard of. It’s probably similar to taming a wolf or a lion…” he said offhandedly as he stared at the monster.

“Monsters are considered to be unnaturally violent and cruel,” Helen explained. “Even if you did manage to tame one, just forget to feed it once and it’ll try to eat you instead. Give it the wrong food and you become the food. The four churches teach that taming wild monsters is like playing with fire.”

In other words, the four churches tried to stop the practice.

Why would the gods not want humans to tame wild monsters? They had no issue with slavery, so there had to be another reason.

Ray tossed the raw meat to the monster while she pondered the question.

“What other teachings do churches have regarding wild monsters?” she asked.

“Don’t domesticate and farm them, don’t keep them as pets, don’t train them or make them stronger.....” Helen replied brusquely.

“Is there a policy to eliminate people who don’t follow those rules?”

“Not in as many words,” Ven said. “They don’t care much about the general masses but if a priest or someone of higher rank is caught then the punishment is ex-communication and execution. Basically, it amounts to permanent death.”

Now that sounded like a big hint. The churches only really cared if people of priest-rank or higher tamed monsters. The only privileges of being a priest were the ability to use holy magic and to baptize.

Baptism.

What would happen if a wild monster were baptized?

“So they mostly don’t want wild monsters to be baptized then?” Ray checked as she reached for her enchanted bag.

“Don’t even think about it,” Kelsey half-shouted.

Helen and Ven each grabbed an arm to stop her.

Ray froze at the unexpectedly strong response. Was it really that big of a deal? If her friends were reacting this strongly, then there had to be a reason.

“There was a person who baptized a wild monster once,” Kelsey explained. “The gods made an example of that person. We don’t know why the gods care so much, but there are things much worse than death.”

Ray wanted to ask what happened, but Kelsey and Helen both looked painfully sick to their stomachs at the mere mention of the event. Even Ven was shaking and his grip on her arm was firm and determined. It was clear that he was not going to let her make this mistake.

She shrugged off the hands holding her back and motioned for Ven to hand her another piece of meat.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. I still want to tame him though. Isn’t he kind of cute?”

Helen let out a nervous chuckle while Kelsey continued to watch Ray warily. The lack of trust from her friends struck Ray’s heart like a sharp dagger, but she couldn’t deny that it was warranted -- after all, she was rather impulsive sometimes.

An unfamiliar voice called out from their campsite.

“Would you like something cold to drink?”

All four of them stiffened. Their eyes immediately turned toward the direction the voice had come from and they saw a tall, blonde teenager covered in gold and diamond accessories. Though there was only a slight mountain chill in the noon air, the man wore a heavy fur coat draped over a gaudy, red silk shirt.

Focusing on his face, all four of them simultaneously gasped in recognition.

Prince Douglas Rovar.

There were almost no people who wouldn’t recognize him. His face was displayed prominently in every town and city, and it wasn’t uncommon to see statues of him. His name was connected to heroic accomplishments in multiple wars and his strength was widely considered to be a fact, not an opinion.

Standing behind Doug were three people. All of them knew the scrawny warlock, but Ray had no idea who the other two were.

The silence between the two groups drew out, interrupted only by the occasional grunt from the yeti which opted to lie down and sleep after eating good food.

“My offer still stands,” Doug said, his words echoing in all of their ears, demanding to be acknowledged.

He held his hand toward his secretary. She withdrew a cup from her enchanted bag and passed it to him with a bow. The prince walked up to Kelsey who was quivering. The nervousness of a moment ago was already a forgotten memory, overwhelmed by sheer bewilderment.

“Would you like something cold to drink?” he repeated, his fiery gaze looking past the priestess to focus on another person behind her.

Ray and Doug stared at each other intently.

A huge variable had just emerged. The outcome of this encounter would have a big impact on her plans. Wishing once again that Legion was there to help her, she opened her mouth to respond in place of her petrified friends.

“The hell do you think you’re doing, you sick bastard? Can’t you see you’re scaring them?”

Seven pairs of eyes focused on her. Each had different intentions hidden behind their gazes but all seven of them clearly questioned her sanity.

Ray felt a little betrayed that even Kelsey was looking at her like that but she shrugged it off. Ignoring all the eyes watching her, she rubbed her hands in a pile of melting snow to clean off the blood and grease. Satisfied that her hands were clean enough, she wiped them on her pants to dry them and then returned her attention to the prince.

She confidently strutted toward him. The knight stepped between them and attempted to prevent her from approaching but she reinforced her legs and dug her heels into the ground. She pushed back while keeping her eyes focused on the prince. The knight grunted in surprise as he was overpowered.

She shoved the knight aside and scowled as she stopped right in front of the overdressed prince. He was taller than her so she had to look up. As she looked up, she couldn’t help but think that he was a lot bigger in-person than he was in the pictures.

Feeling short, she lowered her inner evaluation of him by two stages.

“I know that you’re a big shot but you should have more consideration for other people. My friends were scared by your sudden appearance.”

Doug looked down at her with a bemused expression. “I’m trying to decide whether to call you courageous or over-blessed in stupidity.”

The suit-wearing lady behind him came to his rescue. “In front of you, my lord, those are the same thing.”

“You’re right, Lydia. Thank you,” he replied. “To address your question, I do believe I did exactly that. I announced my presence to enlighten your ignorance and I offered a cold drink. That was my consideration for their inevitable discomfort. I’ve found that drinking cold water is excellent for soothing my nerves.”

Ray narrowed her eyes while her cheeks grew warm. Fighting back her surging irritation, she glared at the man who dared to use logic to counter her emotions.

“Just because you say it, doesn’t mean it’s true,” she growled.

“That statement may hold when speaking to others but you are speaking to me. Everything that I say is the truth.”

Ray flinched, realizing that she had forgotten about something important. Legion had definitely told her that Tethers were bound by the same restrictions as their god. One of Dallin’s domains was ‘Truth’. The prince’s claim was a well-known fact and part of why he was widely beloved by his people.

He was a man who could not lie.

Prince Douglas reached out his hand to her.

“Why don’t we start over? I’m gratuitous and merciful enough to overlook the last few minutes if you’d be kind enough to do just one thing for me.”

Ray observed his hand carefully and begrudgingly accepted the handshake. She was tempted to ignore the gesture out of spite but the rational part of her brain finally took charge.

“What might that be?”

She shuddered as the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly. An ominous foreboding rushed over her.

He clenched his fist and crushed the bones in her hand with an audible crunch. His mana surged through his body and he jerked her arm to the side while an invisible force yanked her body in the opposite direction.

She felt an agonizing pressure and then the familiar sensation of shock and absence as he tore her arm from its socket.

Kelsey shrieked and Helen shouted while Ray recovered her balance. She hissed as she jumped backward to gain some time to heal and orient herself. She took a moment to observe the injury and noted the blood dripping from the empty shoulder socket. Her pulse quickened and her fangs revealed themselves even as her blood splattered through the air and stained the snow and dirt.

Doug allowed her to retreat, looking down his chin at her with a haughty expression as he deigned to answer her question.

“Prove yourself worthy to become a wolf, little lamb.”