“Thank you for taking so much time to teach me,” Thera said graciously to the group of life spirits around her who had been spending the last few weeks by her side, educating her on the finer points of the magic and the structures of the living things she was hunting in exchange for consistently transferring them mana to reproduce and recover.

“Of course earthkin, but it is you we owe thanks. Even if still low, any recovery to our numbers is a gift. We will leave you to your own tasks before coming again.”

With that, well over a hundred of the spirits left, leaving her to get back to her magic practice as she focused on the carnage beneath her.

As she continued to use the same spot in the woods over the last few months the landscape had irrevocably changed. Beasts of enough power had knocked down the trees around her and the colour of the earth itself had been permanently marked by the blood and carnage, at least what could be seen through the piles of bones.

She also no longer bothered wearing either her cloak or her brace so deep into the woods, if only for the practical reason that she couldn’t keep practicing there if she did. So many thousands of beasts had died during her months of training there that she was sure she’d all but exterminated the monster populations in the region. If she didn’t leave herself uncovered then nothing would be drawn.

Even now, she was looking at a meager ten monsters below her, fighting to the death in their frenzy as she watched, empowering some and weakening others to keep the balance, healing all of them so they could keep going, and through all of that occasionally using her telekinesis to help level her job.

It was still hard to use on a moving target, the magical effect taking too long to activate and letting any beast that began to feel it escape from her grasp, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything. As with her other magics, she used the time to experiment, applying enough force to distract one creature, letting another seize the opportunity to attack and getting an advantage, pouring out mana at some swipes of the talon or claw to either lessen the blow it would deal or give its target the split second to move out of the way, or pressing down on all of them, creating a crushing force that could be shaken but still provided an additional challenge to what happened down below.

Still, I really should start thinking about finding a new hunting ground. Maybe go through a different gate instead and set up another wall. Either way, I can worry about it later, for now I guess I should finish up.

She decided to throw the creatures below her into a greater frenzy to end things, not using her life magic to heal or strengthen any of them and instead letting it come to an end as she squeezed as much of her dark magic into the spell as she could, only for two things to happen. She leveled up her dark magic and she felt her staff break.

It was something that shouldn’t have been shocking. Even though it was able to stand up to the power of her magic, Ben had still been maintaining it at the end of each day, the fact that it had lasted for over two months of almost continuous use without him was a testament to bother her growing control and the skill that went into its creation, but as it shattered to dust in her grasp she felt her heart twist as she had to stop herself from crying out, instead just staring at her now empty hand.

Her staff that Ben had worked so hard to make her had just vanished with the wind. The thing she’d been relying on, letting her accomplish so much was gone, just like its maker.

She sat there, overwhelmed by the world and trying to keep the waves of emotions from getting to her. Ben had said he hadn’t given up and she believed him. As long as she knew he was still alive she knew he would do everything he could to make it out, but it didn’t make things easier.

It was as she stamped down her feelings, trying to keep from breaking down that she let out a sad mutter.

“I just want to see you.”

Getting back to Allfaith hadn’t been easy without a staff. She still carried herself on a flat stone through the forest, moving it under the power of her telekinesis as she did, but that magic was still low enough that she lacked control. She had to move slowly and carefully to keep herself safe, and combined with her terrible mood it became all the harder.

It had been a very productive day level-wise, but she couldn’t make herself happy about that. Her ability to train had just taken a massive blow, she would need to buy a new st-

No.

She didn’t want a new staff, at least not from anyone but Ben. She could use the time to get better at wielding her magics without it, even if it would be much less efficient, she couldn’t make herself consider anything else.

With that resolution clear in her heart, unshaking despite how unnecessary it might have seemed, she decided to go back to her room at the embassy, debating whether she should even take her regular detour as she did.

There isn’t even any reason to, I should just go rest already. She told herself as her feet ignored her thoughts the same way they always did. She just couldn’t keep herself from stopping by the trial, no matter how meaningless the act seemed to be. Only that day it suddenly stopped being so.

It took a while for her to understand what seemed wrong as she made her way over, but when it clicked in place she froze in her tracks. While a few races and groups had buildings of comparable sizes within the city, the dead god’s trial was still one of the larger ones, making an obvious mark on the skyline for all to see. A mark that was now gone.

As soon as she came back to her senses she rushed off, pushing every bit of agility she had as her thoughts turned to the worst, imaging every sort of horror scenario as her heart pounded away until she got to the sight of a large crowd, a new smaller building in place of the trial there to be seen.

She didn’t understand what was happening but pushed her way through to get a better look, not concerned about the people around her and only taking enough care to ensure nobody touched her flesh as she tried to see her father, to get some sort of explanation on what happened, only to get to the front and lock her eyes on someone else entirely.

Standing there, his head lightly cocked to the side like any time he was speaking to his god, was Ben. His hair was longer and he was altogether a mess, looking pale from a lack of sunlight and wearing horribly torn and beaten clothing, but he was right before her eyes.

Without any thought in the act, she hopped the stone fence that was keeping the crowd back and rushed to his, only meaning to hug him but tackling him in her haste, bringing them both to the ground as she failed to reign in her emotions any longer, tears coming to her eyes with her joy and relief.

“You idiot. Do you have any idea how worried I was this entire time?” She told him as she held him tight, not wanting those to be her first words on their reunion but also being the ones that came the most naturally as her feelings went out of control. “I think I must have lost decades of my life to how scared I was.”

It was as the words left her mouth that she felt him hold her back, a tension she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying for so long melting away as he did.

“I’m back, Thera.”