As Moxy so helpfully pointed out, Asher did in fact have a solid couple of hours to go over his gains from their surprise fight against the Head’s team of Knuckles. He was still trying to figure out whether or not to start thinking about the Knuckles as simply the Head themselves, seeing as they were nothing more than a skill, but he figured that wasn’t too important. If they were really lucky, the Knuckles were a skill that required a significant amount of time and energy in order to resummon. While they tended to be stronger than the fifteen base skills, blended skills often came with some form of drawback to being used. Asher didn’t have too many examples just yet, but he figured something as powerful as ten different elite shadow assassins had to have some sort of heavy cost.

  While holding on tightly to Samantha’s back as they flew, Asher finally went over the results of the chaotic battle. It was a shame that none of the Knuckles actually dropped any shards, but he was already filthy rich, he supposed.

  Astral Dip - Lvl 32

  Personal Rift - Lvl 31

  Spatial Lock - Lvl 27

  Spatial Lock - Lvl 28

  Recall - Lvl 17

  Comprehend - Lvl 30

  Eternal Regeneration - Lvl 35

  Complete Resilience - Lvl 34

  Sever the Thread - Lvl 22

  Sever the Thread - Lvl 23

  He had to physically stop himself from whistling directly into Samantha’s ear mid-flight when he saw the sheer number of skill improvements he’d managed to earn. Having already evolved so many of his skills, seeing some of them level not only once, but twice from one battle, was always extra exciting.

  He found the level up from Recall particularly entertaining, as he’d used the skill a grand total of two times during the fight. Once to travel barely a hundred feet to come to Samantha’s aid, and the other to get in close with the Knuckles and surprise them. It just went to show how much more skills seemed to improve when used in the heat of battle or for creative new purposes. Thankfully, he and Samantha had discussed the details of plan B quite a while ago.

  After they’d successfully saved Laura and her father from the bandits that had dared to attack Brant’s caravan on their way from Whikoga to Dormaul, the two of them had decided the combo of Asher Recalling to an arrow he’d marked being fired toward an enemy was too powerful not to keep in mind for future occasions. Seeing as he’d originally come up with the idea to stop the bandits, they’d dubbed it plan B, in honor of them.

  Brian had tried to convince them it should actually be a ‘B’ for Brian, seeing as he was the one who had made the original shot, but Samantha put her foot down. She wasn’t a big fan of one of their prepared tactics that would probably result in someone dying being named after her little brother, and Brian had eventually conceded when Samantha promised him he could come up with his own emergency tactic to use when all else failed.

  Asher prayed the day never came when they needed to utilize plan C.

  “So…” Samantha said, startling him out of his inner thoughts as they flew across the kingdom. They’d been flying for a few hours now, and still had a few more to go. Furora was located in a vast plains region of the kingdom, rather far from the central capital. “…do you want to talk about whatever it is you’re not telling me?”

  Asher didn’t even try to play dumb. Samantha knew him far too well at this point, and it wasn’t like he was keeping it from her entirely on purpose. Instead, he tightened his grip around her, careful not to accidentally choke her as they flew.

  “Honestly… no? But I will if you want me to.”

  Samantha was silent for a minute as they flew. Her emerald-green wings flapped powerfully through the air, strong enough to put any ordinary bird to shame. Asher couldn’t see her face while he was on her back like this, but he didn’t have to in order to picture the contemplative expression on her face. He’d seen the same one when she was trying to figure out what to do about Brian being in danger, or when she couldn’t decide what color yarn to use for her latest crochet project.

  “I get that we don’t need to tell each other everything,” she started, laughing softly as she shook her head. “Trust me, after raising Brian from the age of four, I know it’s easier to just not talk about certain things. But whatever this is, I can tell it’s bothering you. Basically, it’s your call. I won’t bring it up again if you don’t want to talk about it, but I wanted to let you know the offer is on the table.”

  “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” Asher asked, feeling Samantha giggle under him as they flew.

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  “You could spare to say it more often.”

  “I’ll try and remember that.” Taking a deep breath, Asher let it all out, wondering how to even start. “So… sometimes when I die, it’s not just a snap of the fingers and I’m alive again. Twice now, I’ve found myself transported to some sort of eternal void of nothingness. Nothingness except for some sort of… God, is the best way I can describe it. I have no idea why it happens sometimes and not others, as I’ve died seven times now and only experienced it twice, but it’s freaky on a level I can’t even begin to explain.”

  “Alright, I can see how that’s a bit tough to talk about,” Samantha admitted. “Do you stay there long?”

  “No. Yes? It’s hard to judge. The darkness is devoid of basically everything, and I don’t know how I know this, but I think it’s devoid of time as well. It doesn’t feel like I’m there for long, but I don’t know if that just means it’s only a few seconds, or it’s actually a few years and I just can’t comprehend the time passing. Sorry, I know this probably doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Hey, I’m just happy you’re willing to talk about it,” Samantha said, doing her best to turn her head and give him a smile. “So this God… do you chat with them? Talk about the secrets of the universe while you wait to be brought back to life?”

  “Thankfully, no,” he chuckled. “I think that might drive me insane. The first time I felt the being, I somehow picked up on the fact that it was curious about my existence. This second time, I felt that same curiosity, but there was something else as well. It almost felt like the being recognized me, which scares me more than anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s like… knowing that this being, this all-powerful entity, cared enough to remember me of all things… The best way I can think to describe it is like you or I seeing a speck of dust, and then a hundred thousand years later, we look down and recognize the identical speck of dust. That speck should be utterly and completely beneath us, but sure enough, there it is.”

  “So you’ve drawn the attention of a deity,” Samantha said, humming to herself as she thought. “At least, that’s what it sounds like. I don’t know a lot about deities, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to do some research into this. Maybe talk to a priest or two.”

  “Hold on, these are actual things?” Asher asked, staring at the back of Samantha’s head in shock. This was the first he was hearing about anything of the sort, which was surprising, seeing as he’d scoured Whikoga’s library for general knowledge of this world.

  “That’s up for debate,” Samantha admitted. “Like I said, I don’t know a lot about them, but my dad believed in the deity of the forest. His grandfather came to the Noala Kingdom from another country, and he brought the belief with him. From what I understand, there are people who believe that there is a deity for every element. My dad always promised he’d tell me more after I got my origin element, but then…”

  “I know,” Asher said, not wanting Samantha to have to live through old wounds.

  Both her parents had died shortly after Samantha had been given her origin element, so her father had never gotten the chance to introduce her to his apparent religion.

  “Anyway, like I said, dad believed in the deity of the forest. He used to like leaving out small offerings of nuts and stuff, which were always picked up by squirrels and birds. He’d tell me because they were creatures of the forest, that was the deity thanking him for his donation,” Samantha said, laughing softly at the memory. “Mom always thought he was full of it, but he didn’t go trying to push his beliefs on anyone else, and she thought it was sweet more than anything.”

  “He sounds like a fun guy.”

  “He really was,” Samantha said, taking a shaky breath. “Anyway, I don’t think the Noala Kingdom is really into all that. At least, nobody else from my village was. I don’t know where my great-grandfather was originally from, but my dad used to tell me how his grandfather originally had priest as his class before he ended up leaving his home, so I imagine wherever it was, most of the people there believe in the deities.”

  “There are thousands of different elements out there,” Asher said, trying to even wrap his head around the concept. “The thought of a few thousand different beings like the one I found myself floating in front of… That’s not exactly all that comforting.”

  “I asked my dad what the deity of the forest looked like, and he told me it wasn’t a person so much as the forest itself,” Samantha said, struggling to find the right words. “If that’s the case for all of them, maybe you witnessed the deity of eternity? I don’t know what that would look like, but based on what you described, it sounds sort of fitting.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Asher muttered, thinking back to the impossible void of nothing that stretched on forever in every direction. “Okay, as weird as that sounds, that’s something of a reassuring theory. Part of me was scared I was being teleported to the void realm. After everything I’d read about that, I was freaking out about drawing the attention of whatever being might be powerful enough to live in there.”

  “Actually, if it is the deity of eternity you’re drifting in front of, that would explain why you managed to capture its attention,” Samantha pointed out, sounding excited. “You’re the first person to ever gain the element of Eternity! Maybe the deity didn’t even exist before you absorbed the element!”

  “That’s a scary thought for a whole different reason… But it would explain the weird sense of familiarity I picked up from it,” he admitted, wondering how much trouble he might be in if the deity ended up not being a very friendly one. “Just to confirm, you said the Noala Kingdom doesn’t really believe in this stuff? So this is all just theory, right?”

  “My dad said certain people supposedly used to have the ability to reach out to these deities long, long ago, but the art has been lost to us over the years. When I was younger, I asked him for proof, and he said the proof was in our hearts,” Samantha shrugged. “I loved my dad, and the deity of the forest made him happy, so I never pressed him on it. But yeah, that’s not exactly a lot of proof.”

  “Still, this is all good to know,” Asher said. “I’m definitely being seen by something while drifting around in that endless void, there’s no question about that. Maybe when we finally finish off the lich in this kingdom and take out the Head of the Assassin’s Guild, we could try figuring out where your grandfather’s from and pay the country a visit.”

  “I have a feeling when we actually finish this lich off, we’re going to have thirteen other, quite angry liches hot on our heels,” Samantha pointed out. “But sure, I was always curious where my father’s side came from. Count me in! Think Moxy and Rulfar will decide to come with?”

  “Let’s focus on actually finding Rulfar before worrying about that,” Asher chuckled, nestling against Samantha’s back and settling in for the next few minutes. She’d have to touch down to replenish her energy soon enough, but he had a feeling they’d be in Furora before they knew it.

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