“Stars, a Traveler pushed into a bloody barback, and given an impossible quest,” Hathgar pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing. “I need an ale, Hells, even a glass a’ wine would do. With Affliction Skills no less? Ain’t never heard of any that gotta deal with that!”

  Overall, they had taken his tale of waking inside Mitch on its face. Travelers were apparently common in the world Abythra. Souls stolen from other planes and thrust into new lives were rare, but not unheard of. On the brutal planet Mitch learned he inhabited, Travelers either adapted as he had, or more commonly, perished exceedingly fast.

  Huh.

  Getting it off his chest felt like coming up for fresh air. It had been difficult, terrifying even to speak the truth, but it was a surprisingly quick revelation. Like ripping off a too-dried bandage.

  Varak passed Mook a cooked Abyssal Bug, and the creature finished it in one bite before he spoke. “Well, yes. That is new. I never thought such a thing was possible, but in the realm of Skills, all things are. At least according to the Archivists I studied under. Religious nuts.”

  Mook tapped his claws fingers together thoughtfully before reaching for another sizzling bug. “The Archivists always said the true knowledge lies hidden. The holdouts–Sects and the…fading races, sorry Hathgar, and you, Leonard–cling to what little remains. The initial wars left only crumbs of Skill knowledge. What we learn through bumbling grandmothers and superstitious folk of The Mother,” Mook brazenly air-quoted with his claws before continuing, “is surely incorrect. If there is such a being, surely she would not allow the world to be plagued by the Abyss as it is.”

  “Don’t ever say that about Her.” Sable’s voice rang out at Mook.

  Mitch impulsively took a small bite of the cooked Bug, stroking Rex’s muscled back as he listened to their conversation. It was delicious, like cream cheese and starchy crackers. Just a lot crunchier.

  The gnome, Leonard, and the elf, Patty, huddled around the fire. Mitch had waved them over, exhausted from playing the scary enforcer. They lounged comfortably, and had thanked him for what he had done. Now they crunched on Bugs Varak cooked with ravenous hunger, while their jarred souls waited.

  One big happy family. Right after I killed those people, too. Is Abythra that violent? Are people here used to this? Horrible. Well, not all happy.

  Mook turned to her. “A Patchling believer? You are joking, correct?” His voice dripped with shock and condemnation. “Your fabled savior allows your soul to be tormenting endlessly upon death, or in your case, while you remain living and thinking. Until it is cast to nothingness?”

  Sable’s mismatched eyes glared against the fire. “It’s not for you to mock, Mook. The Mother grants all gifts and watches over the balance of things. Rex is proof alone! There’s a purpose behind all of this, there always is. The Abyss, the struggles…Mitch himself.” Her gaze shifted to Mitch, intense and unrelenting. Filled with something that resembled awe and almost hungry. “You don’t see it, do you, Mitch? This has to mean something! I’m searching for my soul, and then you come along?”

  “Wonderful, while it may mean something, let’s not pretend that he is a deity, Sable. Don’t be ridiculous,” Mook snapped back, but she ignored the creature.

  Mitch shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny. “Sable I…I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I am, what to do, nothing. I told you, my race is half-unknown. All I want to do is fight against the Abyss.”

  Sable’s lips curled into a dark, humorless smile. “Exactly. Unknown. That means possibility. You said it yourself to me. You’re you.”

  Leonard, the gnome with a sharp jaw, dark hair that somehow still looked good, and a ready smile clapped his hands together, which was an accomplishment with one of them being healed incorrectly. It unnerved Mitch, to see the man’s arm bent at the forearm, yet still usable. “Marvelous! A noble quest! Travelers, believers, and–” He cast a sideways glance at Patty, the elf. “–stoic maidens to be saved! Glorious!”

  “Say ‘maidens’ one more time,” Patty, the green haired, lithe elf said flatly, her atrophied muscles tensing as if preparing to snap Leonard in two. “And I’ll bind you into a jar myself.”

  “Charming!” Leonard quipped, grin not faltering.

  Mitch quite liked the gnome. While initially terrified of Mitch, the man had come out of his shell almost immediately once introduced and with the promise of survival.

  Patty on the other hand had clearly been in the pod longer. Her body was skinnier, even though it appeared she naturally carried muscles. She had more wounds that had to be closed by Varak, and she ate with reckless abandon. Sucking every bit of the bugs out.

  He read the gnome’s body language, as well as Patty’s. Leonard was trying his best, and Patty, knowingly or unknowingly, slowly came out from behind her walls from the gnome’s incessant antics.

  Hathgar grunted, chomping on an Abyssal Bug himself when Varak’s children brought him one. “Aye, well, Mitch. Ye’ ain’t doing this alone. I’m with ye’. Whatever it is ye’ do. Someone’s got to be the brains a’ this operation,” he spit out a small claw before continuing. “Ain’t goin’ back to Stonehollow, not anytime soon, not with this…” He held up his arm, where black iron could be seen just beneath his skin in the firelight. “But don’t get no funny ideas. I ain’t gonna be no bound minion a’ yers. Ye’ ain’t getting in this head a’ mine.”

  Galadrith’s voice curled through Mitch’s mind like smoke. “This is what we require, Mitchell. Allies. Now they are barely powerful. But with the right influence and direction…yes…they are welcome additions. Revenge is sweeter than wine, yes. But loyalty like this…sweeter still.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  It warmed his cold heart to hear Hathgar was willing to stick by him. Rex huffed and snatched another Bug out of the air from Varak’s toss. Her children squealed. The souls within his core sat still and relaxed. It felt nice.

  Leonard’s grin returned. “A mighty quest! Count me in, if you’ll have me! I’ve been looking for something like this. Can’t right follow the gnomish way of tinkering, not when I can’t squeeze tools right,” he waved his broken but healed arm for all to behold. “A noble gnome allied with another great race, like a dwarf!” he nudged Hatghar theatrically. “And of course, the women! Muscled maidens with large chests and little feet! The perfect combination! Ah, the joy of it.”

  Sable stared at the gnome open mouthed. Mitch couldn’t help but notice Patty’s smirk as she picked at her torn clothes.

  Going to have to figure that out.

  “Dwarves don’t ain’t stab anyone in their back like gnomes do,” Hathgar growled.”But if ye’ don’t shut yer yap, I might make an exception.”

  “Master from…other world,” Varak finally spoke, after listening the entire while. Her tone was calm and reflective. Her brood crawled over Rex’s back, the massive beast unbothered by their playful tugging of his Abyssal fur. “Hmmm. Other world. But save childs. See me as me. Hmm…Is ok. Gnome loud…maybe tasty. We here. We help,” she finished. The other Abyssal minions, the less intelligent ones, hung in the dark recesses of the cave. But Mitch felt their loyalty as strongly, if not stronger, than he felt Varak’s. They were his.

  It was as good as anything to Mitch. Varak had proven to him that Abyssal creatures could be more than just monsters to destroy. More than terrors that hunted him. Like the Collectors and the frothing nightmares he had already overcome.

  Her unwavering dedication to him and her children want to rush down to wherever the heart of the Abyss lay, and fight it right then. For her, for himself, for Sable. For what it had done to the people that had accepted his story and calmed his torn mind.

  They had brought him back from the brink without even knowing it. Just from their acceptance.

  Mook’s clicked his claws together as he cleared his throat. “This is the study of a lifetime. I have zero intention of leaving, Mitch. A Traveler, a Debt tied to a new classification of Abyssal actors no less…and the mystery of your Skills capabilities. Of your Followers changes,” he glanced at Sable. “Fascinating.”

  Patty leaned back, her arms crossed over her chest. “I’ll stick with you–for now. Not like I know how to get out of here. But no one is bonding with me, or whatever Skill you said you have. No one will ever bind me again.”

  Mitch turned and met Sable’s eyes. She looked at him seriously, and through their bond, Mitch felt the strength of her trust.

  He raised a hand, signaling for quiet as he turned to Leonard and Patty. “Do you have Skills? Anything useful? I don’t need to use my Abyssal Bind Skill on you, but we are still stuck in the Abyss.”

  Leonard puffed up, his expression a cocktail of pride and indignation. “Useful!? Useful? I’ll have you know, I have skills in Plants! I can summon mighty…plants! Grow them! Nurture them, of course,” he wagged his eyebrows. “I am a caring man. It is only appropriate for one imbued with the language and natural inclination of love. Stars, I can even turn liquids into wine and ale! Of course, it’s more of an Alchemical Skill, as are all my Skills, but, a man must eat,” he glanced at Patty. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “WELL WHY DIDN’T YE BLOODY SAY SO!?” Hathgar bellowed, cutting him off. “Welcome, lad! A gnome with liquor abilities! ‘Bout time ye’ said something worth keepin’ ye’ round for!”

  Patty leaned back, arms crossed over her frail, but broad chest. “Rock magic,” she said, her tone blunt and unamused. “I break rocks. I throw rocks. I can mold rocks,” she paused, pushing the stone floor around like it was mud before she allowed it to solidify again. “Sometimes, I make rocks hit things harder. That useful enough for you?” Her gaze slid to Leonard, unimpressed. “Unlike this twig, I don’t deal with plants or Alchemy.”

  Leonard straightened, puffing out his chest indignantly. “Twig? Madam, I am a man of refinement. Subtlety! A purveyor of beauty! Perhaps a bug for you to squash and sit on if you would ever be so–”

  “Subtlety?” Patty snorted, cutting him off. “Your mouth’s loud enough to shake the whole damn cavern. Subtly, my ass.”

  The conversation echoed through the open, stagnant air. The Abyssal Debt felt lighter for the first time. Manageable. Almost…bareable. With Rex by his side, and the group huddled together around the fire, Mitch felt…calm.

  Faint and distant, the pulse towards the back of the cavern, where shadowed caves waited, pulled him. Alongside the pull, the key directed him in that direction. He had to know what was there.

  Leonard’s voice shattered the moment of clarity. “Before we continue our adventure, could we, ah, please put my soul back where it belongs?” He gestured dramatically, his crooked arm twisting in a way that made Mitch wince. “While I suspect certain women with dark intentions might enjoy my current state–” He cast a playful wink at Patty. “I’d much prefer to have all of me, apologies Sable, inside.”

  Mitch pinched the bridge of his nose while Patty snorted. Sable thankfully ignored the comment. “Stars, help me, yes.” he muttered, picking up on the epitaph from his friends.

  Leonard gestured toward the Warden, bound and gagged and lying on the wet ground away from them. “Speaking of putting things back where they belong, what about him?” He waved towards the man. “Displaced. Shall we deliver him back home? Perhaps a very uncomfortable grave?”

  Patty snorted, leaning into the rock floor with comfort as it molded around her. “What’s the plan? Keep him around for polite conversation and bug tea?”

  Rex huffed against Mitch’s leg. He absently scratched the hound’s ears. “Oh, we’ll deal with him,” he said. “Do you want to watch?”

  “Stars, please.” Hathgar, Patty and Leonard answered together.

  The group settled into uneasy camaraderie. Varak’s brood chittered over Rex, Sable argued with Mook and cast Mitch hopeful glances, Hathgar and Leonard yapped about liquor, Patty relaxed, Varak cooked Bugs, Galadrith hummed, and Rex pretended to slumber. The other minions waited in the dark.

  Then it came again.

  The pulse.

  Stronger this time.

  Mitch’s head snapped toward the back of the cavern. He felt it–something waited in the dark. The key pulled him, as did the pulse.

  “Something is there. Waiting,” Mitch said, his voice low.

  “Aye, lad. But we’ll deal with it in a bloody moment. Still got to deal with him,” Hathgar replied, head nodding towards the Warden and clapping Rex on the ass, before going back to arguing with Leonard about how he must be able to turn the available water that pooled in puddles into ale.

  Mitch stood, wiping his filthy hands on his pants as Rex stirred and looked up at him. Mitch met Sable’s eye and nodded. “Come on,” he told her. “Let’s finish this.”

  He turned and began walking towards the Warden.

  Varak perked up from her cooking and practically danced towards Mitch. “Time for… Pickled egg!”