Trillia had a newfound problem, which had been endlessly amusing to Malor, who had tears streaking his stupid cow face.

  Trillia reached out to the newest cup and gently closed her hand around it, slowly lifting it to take a drink. When she set it down without it shattering, Malor began clapping.

  “Shut up!” Trillia snapped, only half angry at him. “Why isn’t the system helping compensate for this? Isn’t that a thing it can do?”

  Arlyss leaned back in his chair, glancing around the busy tavern that they had decided on for their reunion. "Your Brawn went from a few hundred to over two thousand. It is compensating a lot. Otherwise, you'd have smashed through the table. It can't compensate that much more, part of it is your own thoughts. You're used to using a certain amount of Brawn to do things like grip and grasp. That amount in your head is quadruple what it needs to be because that is the difference between your old and new Brawn values."

  A rather squat man came over to the table and set down a bunch of large platters. One had meat with a deep purple flesh, seared along the ridges and juicy on the inside. A crimson gravy poured over the top of it, making the dish look like it was covered in blood. It smelled divine. The man looked at the cup, which had now been reformed several times. "Finally get the hang of it, lass?"

  Trillia meekly nodded as she buried her face in her hands. "I'm so sorry."

  The man just let out a deep belly laugh. As he went to slap her on the back, the [Shield of Faith] interjected, and he slapped it instead. "Oh, right. Forget yer shield doesn't take kindly to others. Apologies. There's no need to be sorry. It gave us all a good laugh. Haven't seen someone undergo such a drastic stat change in a century at least!"

  His free hand stroked a long, beautifully kept blonde beard. "Lord Arlyss, I just want to make sure to ask again. You wanted us to season like proper dwarven food, aye?"

  Arlyss grinned at the dwarf. "Indeed. It will do them some good to see proper seasoning. Besides, a little mineral poison won't kill the guests that will be joining us."

  The dwarf glanced around at the table, which now consisted of Malor, Arlyss, Trillia, and Ialu. "As you say, Lord Arlyss." The dwarf slowly inched closer to Ialu and reached out a gnarled hand. "Haven't seen a desert variant of the skoll. You're a right pretty girl, aren't you?"

  Ialu tilted her head and perked her ears up at the dwarf. The dwarf's eyes widened a bit. "Oh, you know telepathy? Is it ok if I link up with your companion?" The dwarf looked over to Trillia.

  "Of course, she is her own entity. You don't need to ask my permission. It's up to her." Gently, she reached out for the cup again. Malor's breath caught in his throat, no doubt waiting to start laughing again should she fail.

  The dwarf let out a little giggle as he stroked Ialu's head. His eyebrows raised once more, and he bounded away without a word.

  It took another three hours, but finally the others arrived. Amelia, Fred and Layla walked in together. Trillia paused as she looked at them. Amelia had grown another full foot. Frederick had filled out to look increasingly like a muscle-bound warrior. The most shocking was Layla, the little traitor had also grown considerably. She was now taller than Trillia. "Great. Back to being the shortest person in the group."

  Her fake melancholy didn't last long as Amelia scooped her up out of the chair and into a hug. "It's good to see you, Trillia. We've missed you dearly!"

  Trillia's eyes watered slightly, but she refused to cry, even if they were happy tears. Instead, she returned the hug. "I've missed all of you as well." A few more hugs were exchanged before everyone took their seats. Trillia was happy to see Amelia give Malor a kiss as she took her seat next to him.

  Arlyss took another bite of his food before motioning. "Go ahead, Trillia. You have something to tell us. Don't worry, I am relaying things to Riten, Miah, my mother, as well as a few others who can relay things to the Generals."

  Trillia nodded solemnly. The dwarf had returned at some point with a brush and was happily brushing Ialu, who certainly wasn't complaining. Trillia glanced down at the skoll, trying to find a way to say what the system refused to let her. "It's... about the [Primordial] threat."

  The group's mood turned serious. In the short conversation she had been having with Malor and Arlyss while waiting for the others, she had found out that all of the [Primordials] were now awake. Dungeons were incredibly dangerous, and many towns were in a constant state of fighting to survive. Even Red River had been forced to limit people entering the dungeon, as so many of the friendly goblins had turned bloodthirsty with the increased pressure from the [Primordials].

  Trillia tried to say a dozen different things but couldn't. "I think they might be allies in another fight." She finally blurted out in frustration. That drew rather dark looks from everyone except Arlyss, who had been peering at her intently the entire time.

  "Surely, this is some sort of jest? You, of all people, know what they are capable of, Trillia." Amelia seemed the most hurt by her statement. That didn't surprise Trillia all that much, given Amelia's home had been destroyed by the things.

  "It's..." It's because there is another threat. Greater than them. She screamed it in her mind, but the system refused to let her speak the words aloud.

  Arlyss finally spoke up. "She's under a [System] geas." His emphasis on the word system caught everyone's attention. It felt like the word held more power for some reason.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Whatever she saw, or whatever happened to her during her training, placed a geas on her from the [Universe Core] itself. It's not dissimilar to what deities have placed on us, when we ascend. Certain information is locked away. Normally, I can read her deepest thoughts and memories. But whatever she is struggling to say is being blocked off. Take a deep breath, Trillia. We are friends and loved ones." Arlyss paused and looked at each of her party members. "Whatever she says, trust that she wants to say more but cannot."

  Amelia seemed to grow even more furious at that. "These rules are bullshit, Lord Arlyss. Now you're telling me that Trillia is being subjected to them even more than before?"

  Arlyss offered a sympathetic nod. Trillia was just relieved that her deity was a smart one and caught on so quickly. Taking a moment to think, now that they knew she was being limited, she continued. "There are threats in the Universe more dangerous than [Primordials]." Her next few attempts stumbled and stalled.

  After a moment realization dawned on her. "I witnessed a fight a friend of mine had. She died in that fight, but during the fight a [Primordial] warped creature was helping her."

  Shock etched into Trillia's face as the system let her get that much out. "Remember the purpose of the [Primordials] on most realms."

  Realization raced across Malor's face. Slowly, he set down DuMont's journal. "There is another threat facing Alirast that the [Primordials] are being woken up for? That's what she is trying to say. A threat so dangerous we would see the [Primordials] as allies. A threat that she cannot speak on, because we shouldn't have the information perhaps?"

  Trillia nodded, but said nothing. It took less than twenty seconds for the table to get significantly more crowded as Riten pulled the four beast generals into the room before taking a seat himself. As much as Trillia wanted to run over and give them each a hug, the looks on their faces gave her pause.

  The smell of blood hit her nostrils. Slowly, her eyes drifted to Stas' many spider-like appendages to see that they were dripping with fresh blood. "What happened?"

  Brutus shook his head. "We were doing our jobs. Not important. What threat could there be that is possibly more deadly than the [Primordials]? Is there such a thing?"

  Riten nodded without hesitation. "Trillia wouldn't lie about something like this. She's not even my pact-bound, and I know that much. You should all sojourn to the capital of Kadessa. Meet with Queen Alliyah and talk to her."

  Arlyss nodded in agreement. "The portals can lead you to the dwarven realms. From there, you will have to fly or go on foot. Some force is still supressing transporation magic in and out of Kadessa itself, but I agree with Riten. Miah is already talking with our mother to ensure the trip is a fast one."

  Trillia was a bit surprised at that decision. The confusion must have been evident in her face as her own mother spoke up to dispel it. "Alliyah is married to an axle. If anyone has the faintest clue about the type of threats that would align us with the [Primordials], she would know. It's going to be a problematic journey."

  Now, it was Arlyss and Riten's turn to be confused. "Problematic how? You're four of the strongest fighters on our realm."

  Cordaos let out a deep laugh at that, a heavy slap to Arlyss' back that didn't even budge the deity. No one else was laughing. Cordaos stopped and looked at Arlyss. "Oh, you were being serious."

  Stas snorted, and Amara ran a hand along her face. Brutus looked vaguely annoyed. Cordaos spoke again. "We probably aren't even in the top thousand. Maybe not even the top ten thousand. Stas is absolutely the strongest amongst the four of us."

  Stas took over. "I don't rank in the top ten thousand at all. You all vastly underestimate how dangerous and terrifying dragons are. Queen Alliyah ranks high because she has so many damn traits that just terrify the shit out of stronger creatures. But in an actual fight or brawl, anything that is at the top. Is a dragon, a leviathan, or some other entity I don't want to know about."

  Amara lifted her hand and waved it at the two of them. "While that's true. We are still skilled fighters when not faced with such odds. The problematic part is that all of us except for Brutus are banned from Kadessa for life."

  The cup that Trillia was gingerly trying to drink from shattered in her hand. "What? How is that possible?"

  Their eyes all turned to Stas. "There was a noble problem. Queen Alliyah was very tempted to burn them all alive in the town square to settle the matter. We convinced her to let us handle it. The public's opinion of it was...less than favorable. They didn't understand the corruption. It took us a lot of convincing to get Alliyah to simply banish us."

  Cordaos nodded solemnly. "She banished us all to the northern continent. But said she would refuse to abandon the heroes of the war. So, we are technically Kadessian citizens. But we aren't supposed to go to the capital."

  Amara stepped in again. "Not that we ever listen. We have all gone there plenty of times...however."

  Arlyss finally caught on. "Going incognito where you can slip in unannounced is one thing. Showing up as a group, with others, is going to cause whispers."

  Brutus clicked his tongue and winked as he pointed at Arlyss. "You got it in one, Lord Arlyss. That said, it has been a few decades. With how much has gone on in the world, maybe the humans have forgotten? Most of us don't live that long."

  Riten produced a paper and quill out of thin air and began to write. After a few minutes of silence from the table, he finally stopped writing and read it.

  "Tell those buffoons I could care less about the banishment. It was their idiotic weakness that led to it in the first place. Had they let me simply slaughter the opposition, to begin with, it would have never been an issue. Stop trying to interrupt me, Miah! I am your mother, deity status be damned, you three will listen to me! Tell them to make the trip... what? Yes, I know your brothers can't come. Just relay all of this. Oh. Riten already is? Wonderful! Tell them to show up. The [Primordials] are all awake. I made sure to enact laws that gave me unilateral control over the entire empire during times like this. The banishment is considered null, as far as I am concerned. Oh, and tell Arlyss that Captain Highwind and the Argo are finally in running order again. I've made amends to the dragons and leviathans over the harbor fight. Tell Riten that he needs to check in on the Continent of Wastes. Some new undead abomination has risen.

  What? Thrice-damned nobles, I swear dealing with their petulance will be the death of me, long before the [Primordials]. No, Riten doesn't need to tell them that. Just...ugh, just stop. Tell them to come."

  They all looked at him as if he had grown a dozen heads. Riten shrugged. "Look, Miah told me to write something down to get the exact wording. Many of you have met our mother. Are any of you not going to follow her orders to the letter?"

  The four mighty beast generals unanimously shook their heads. Riten shrugged. "That's what I thought. I guess it's settled. You all are taking another trip."

  Amelia looked at Trillia with a frown. Before her friend could speak, Trillia jumped up onto her chair. "To adventure! It'll be so good to travel with all of you again. Stretch our legs, get some fresh air!"

  Apparently, the tavern saw her cheer, dwarves were never ones to shy away from a solid cheer. So as her words began to fade a dozen other cheers rose up. "To adventure! To glory! To good food!"

  The table looked at her with even more worry. Trillia hopped off the chair, despite being rather full. The idea of getting outside and travelling instead of being stuffed in a class room or tiny room for months or years, or however long it felt to her, seemed like a dream come true.