Adam was quieter than before, lost in his thoughts about the unknown threat which had yet to emerge. He was taken to assist with farming, planting seeds across a large field, which had been split off into many different sections.

He dug into the earth, placed down the seed, before covering it with the soil. He repeated this hundreds of times throughout he day, glad that the task as so simple, so he could focus on his thoughts.

‘Belle and Bandlor are missing. Lady Arya’s taken over Bandlor’s role, and I have some Lord of Chaos and Order, meaning Belle was probably both the God of Order and Chaos then. That Lord of Order hates me too, so I need to deal with him and his Champion if we ever come across one another.’

Adam sighed, looking up towards the sky during a break. ‘Then there’s Galahad and the big boy Eldritch guy.’ Adam closed his eyes. ‘I need to be so strong that I can cut a mountain in half.’

“What are you thinking?” Shikan asked, noting the look on Adam’s face. Like Sonarot, he had also become used to the faces Adam made in thought.

“Is there anyone who can cut a mountain in half?” Adam asked, casually.

“Lord Stokmar would be able to,” Shikan replied.

“Then I have be as strong as Lord Stokmar,” Adam said, returning back to planting.

Shikan stared at the Half Elf. ‘No. It is no longer surprising.’ Adam always said dangerous things, and Shikan was certain he did not mean it in a way which threatened the Iyr, which was surrounded by mountains. ‘I will still need to inform Elder Zijin.’

The children also noticed that he was out of it. Even the next day, when he was playing with the children, they could see how he spaced out constantly.

“Cousin Adam, are you okay?” Turot asked, approaching him as the group of children looked to the boy for guidance, since he was Adam’s Cousin.

“I’m just thinking, Turot,” Adam replied, trying to shake the terrible thoughts of his mind.

“What are you thinking about?” Turot stared up at Adam, curious and innocent, like a child. Iyrmen or not, he was still a boy.

“Stuff,” Adam said, patting Turot’s head, gently ruffling the boy’s hair. “Things you shouldn’t worry about.”

“Cousin Adam, you are strong,” Turot reassured. “You do not need to worry.”

“Am I strong?” Adam asked.

“Yes.”

“Can I beat your grandfather?”

“No?” Turot replied, with the slightest amount of uncertainty. Turot figured that Adam, given the right circumstances, could beat his grandfather.

“Then how can I call myself strong?” Adam asked. “I need to be so strong that no one can beat me.”

“Unrivalled Under The Heavens,” Turot said, nodding his head.

Adam tried not to take any cringe damage from what Turot had said, wincing from the name. “Yeah,” Adam said, groaning quietly. “Something like that.” ‘Why did I ever mention something so terrible?’

“Adam strong,” Taygak reassured, patting Adam’s back. Seeing that the oldest was reassuring Adam, the other children quickly followed suit, patting his back and telling him he was strong.

Adam chuckled. “Alright, alright.” He couldn’t help but laugh as the children came to him, making sure he was alright. “Let’s keep playing.” The group continued to play Warriors and Wanderers, Adam leaving the thoughts out of mind during the game.

During the evening, Adam tried to plan out the next few weapons he needed to make. ‘Longswords, obviously, but don’t I need to make another weapon? Oh! Right!’

Smithing Check (Strength)

D20 + 6 = 18 (12)

Omen: 3, 19 -> 3

19 + 5 = 25

Smithing Check (Strength)

D20 + 6 = 26 (20)

Smithing Check (Strength)

D20 + 6 = 12 (6)

Omen: 8, 17 -> 8

17 + 6 = 23

Smithing Check (Strength)

D20 + 6 = 17 (11)

Omen: 14, 19 -> 14

19 + 6 = 25

A mace, followed by three longswords, each for enchanting.

He was still dieting, eating little to no bread, though he noted he was losing far too quickly, so increased the portions of his meals slightly. It was the Rot family’s turn to cook during the last week of the month, so he tried his best not to refuse the food.

‘I’m running out of money,’ Adam thought, looking at the last longsword he had made. None of them were made out of basic materials, in order to give them a premium feel though they would be enchanted.

It wasn’t true that he was running out of money, but if he wanted to enchant as much as he had planned to, he would be running out of money soon.

‘So this is why rich people hoard all their wealth? No. I’m rich, not wealthy, so of course I can lose my money if I’m spending so much at a time. Am I even rich? I’m pretty sure ten thousand gold makes me a millionaire or so, so I’m not even a millionaire.’ His brow pulsed as he thought so much, exhausted from all the forging.

“You are thinking too much,” Lanarot said. “You should not work the last two days of this month.”

“Sure,” Adam said, sighing.

Omen: 1, 5

Sonarot smiled, seeing how unlucky Adam was by the look on his face. Adam just narrowed his eyes at her. He trained hard in the morning, sparring with Nobby too, before bathing and returning to eat breakfast.

He could feel the gazes of the others on him, and he looked up to meet the gazes of Vonda and Dunes. “Is there something wrong?”

“We should talk,” Dunes said.

Vonda slowly bowed her head towards Dunes, who had taken the role of speaking with Adam.

“Sure?” Adam replied, tearing apart his bread, before offering some to Mina and Lanarot, as he always did. The pair would remain near him since he always fed them, and Lanarot was the chubbiest ever.

Adam and Dunes stepped outside, walking along the main path.

“You’ve been working quite hard recently, but we’ve noticed that you have a different air about you.”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “I’ve been thinking about stuff, you know?”

“What have you been thinking about?”

“I spent this entire year taking it easy,” Adam said, sighing, thinking about how productive he could have been.

Dunes raised his brows. “That’s what you call that?”

“Alright, alright,” Adam replied, sarcastically, smiling at the dark skinned Aswadian Priest. “I mean, I could have done more.”

“You’ve done enough, Adam,” Dunes said.

“No,” Adam replied. “There’s so much I need to do.”

“Why?”

“There’s something, Dunes. Something’s coming. I don’t know when. I don’t know if it really will come, this year, next year, within a century, within a millennia.” Adam shook his head slowly, staring at the path ahead of them. “I don’t even know if it’ll come at all, but…”

“What is it?” Dunes asked, wondering what had Adam spooked.

“Who is the strongest God?” Adam asked.

“Many believe it to be Lord Sozain, since he is the master of Death,” Dunes replied. Even though it was a weird question, it was Adam, so he didn’t think too much about it.

“Right. Is there a thing about him stepping off his throne? His seat?”

Dunes nodded his head. “It is one of the most important prophecies in relation to Lord Sozain. It is perhaps the most important prophecy of all the Gods. If Lord Sozain steps out of his throne, the world will be destroyed.”

“The world? Like the entire world?”

“Yes,” Dunes said. “Lord Sozain remains on his throne because it protects us. If he chooses to step out, then the world will be unable to handle the stress. He cannot even arrive through his Avatar, otherwise the area around the Champion will be filled with death.”

“Yeah,” Adam said, quietly. “So he can’t step out of his throne.” Adam inhaled deeply. ‘So that seems to be the same.’ “Well, let’s just say there is something which could perhaps only be resolved by Baktu, Lord Sozain, stepping out of his throne, and I’m trying to prepare for that too.”

Dunes raised his brows in alarm. “Are you certain?”

“It may or may not happen.”

“Then why worry?”

“If I don’t worry, who will?”

Dunes placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder. “There are things we can do. We can live. We can laugh. We can love.”

Adam threw a queer look to Dunes. ‘Did he really just live laugh love me?’

“If there are threats that only the Gods can handle, then we must leave it to them,” Dunes said.

“Yeah, but if it appears, then there are threats which we can handle, if we’re prepared for it,” Adam said. “Though, if we aren’t united, then we’ll be having a rough time.”

“We are young,” Dunes said, patting his shoulder. “We are barely Experts, Adam, and though we have been training hard, we are still not able to handle threats that even Gods cannot handle.”

“There are some things we can and should handle.”

“We will gain our strength over time.”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, sighing.

“This thread, is it that dangerous?”

“Yeah,” Adam said. “I’m going to have to figure it out, eventually.”

“We should face threats which are within our range,” Dunes said.

“Yeah,” Adam said.

Dunes wondered how much further he should pry. “What is your plan to face them?”

“Probably the same thing I’ve been doing. Growing stronger, going around gaining allies, making them strong, kitting everyone up with great magical weapons, make some kind of death squad.” Adam shrugged.

Dunes nodded. “If there is such a threat, you will not face it alone.”

Adam smiled, patting Dunes’ back. “Thanks. I’ll be sure to remember I have you crazy guys with me.”

“I wanted to speak to you about another matter.”

“Yeah?”

“I have a friend,” Dunes began.

‘A friend?’ Adam hid his smirk.

“Her name is Amira. She’s a Devilkin from Aswadia. From my Order.” Dunes paused between each sentence, finding the words resisted coming from his lips. “She is missing. I believe her to be on this land, somewhere. Most likely in the capitals of each region, or the capital itself.”

Adam slowly nodded his head. “You need my help in finding her?”

“I hope you will assist me,” Dunes confirmed.

“Sure,” Adam replied, patting his shoulder. “I’ll try and help you.”

“There are very few Devilkin within this land, and almost all of them are slaves. I worry for her, but I have no idea where she may be. She is a decent warrior, though if I compare her to you, I don’t think I can call her decent.”

“If she’s from your Order, won’t she be safe?”

“She is not a Priest, like us,” he said. “She is a Warrior, and knows no magic beyond that which comes to her naturally.”

“Ah,” Adam replied. “Then let’s pray that she remains safe.”

Dunes nodded. “Thank you, Adam.”

“Any time.”