I turned back to the camp and began the task of looting anything that could be of use to me, starting with the chest in the antechamber of the dead swine still chained to one of the empty cages.

  Walking back down the torch-lit cave, I rounded the table and squatted down in front of the chest.

  In snapping the lock and swinging the lid up, I was presented with a glowing sigil.

  The orange light sprang up, suspended in the lid's hollow a little lower than eye-level with me.

  Ramping my speed up, I analysed the sigil to see what effect it was supposed to have. The energy feeding it appeared to be streaming in from somewhere in the pig's bedchamber, located approximately next to the bed within a small side table.

  The sigil itself heated. It didn't look to me like it was going to project the energy out; rather; it was going to dump all of it into heating the wood of the chest, potentially incinerating everything inside it.

  So it was to keep the contents from being viewed by anyone breaking the chest open.

  Interesting.

  I flooded the sigil with waves of energy on the same frequency in an attempt to cancel them out; however, the odd warping that was being done to the radiation on this planet prevented it from disrupting its operations.

  Instead, I opted to fling some small tendrils into the chest and scoop out the contents before it could fully trigger.

  At the speed I was operating, my limbs were moving sluggishly through the air, still time to experiment with the sigil.

  I flooded it with massive amounts of radiation of every frequency to no result. Then, I tried to pour huge amounts of energy directly into it, which seemed to only have the effect of amplifying the power of its operation.

  I tried to disrupt the signal connecting it to whatever was in the bedroom behind me, but the same power responsible for warping the waves seemed to prevent me from severing it.

  It felt to me like trying to stab a grape with a fork; it just constantly slid around without yielding to my attempts.

  Finally, I simply rerouted the energy I could get a hold of into myself; the yield of the sigil diminished significantly but didn't completely go out.

  I'd gathered the material in the chest and was pulling it out when the first signs of singed wood crept out from around the sigil's edges.

  Opening a void in my chest, I pulled everything inside myself to protect it from the impending explosion of heat perpetuating before me.

  Flames lapped across the wood as the sigil continued to heat. Then the tipping point of the trigger was reached, and with a deafening concussive force, all the heat released in one powerful rush.

  The wood of the chest instantly went up; the shockwave passed over me and reverberated up and out of the cave, picking up light dust and rocks as it went.

  That would have severely injured a normal human. Quite a precaution to take for some paper documents and sundry accessories.

  Standing and turning, I headed into the bedroom to collect the source of the sigil's signal.

  Opening the small wooden drawer of the side table, I pulled a golden locket out. It was on a simple silver chain; the small golden disk of the locket was engraved with the same sigil as appeared inside the chest.

  Depressing the latch, the locket swung open to reveal another crystal embedded in the golden claws fixed to the inside of the locket.

  Of course.

  So this was something like a key—or switch—I imagined whoever had this would somehow use it to disable the sigil before opening the chest.

  What I couldn't understand was that I hadn't detected the sigil prior to opening the chest, so it wasn't receiving a constant supply of energy, and if that was the case, how would the crystal know the chest had been opened?

  Passing the locket inside my body, I stepped back out into the antechamber to find Armela standing at the entrance, concern plastered across her face.

  "What happened? Are you well? Were there hidden enemies?"

  She had the salvaged sword in hand and was wildly looking around the still-smoky and dusty room.

  "All is well, Armela. I simply activated a trap placed on this chest without knowing."

  I pointed down to the smouldering remains of the wooden vessel. She coughed and stepped over to where I was, looking down at the remains while holding a forearm over her mouth and nose.

  So the fur can double as a filter, interesting.

  "Looks like someone put an explosion enchantment on the lid; that's pretty common with nobles and merchants. It's too bad we couldn't recover what was in there; it might have had more information on what was going on here."

  She shook her head, making her way back up to the surface while speaking over her shoulder.

  "I'm glad you aren't hurt, but I suppose after what I saw you do with that monster I shouldn't be surprised."

  I pulled the material out of my chest and called her back. She turned and took the bundle of items from me with a perplexed look.

  "Here, this was in the chest; I recovered it before the trigger activated."

  She slid her sword into its sheath at her hip and accepted the material I'd presented to her.

  "See what you can make of it and help yourself to any of those items if you want them; I have no need for them."

  I stepped past her towards the entrance.

  She looked down at the gathering of items and then back at me.

  "Are you sure? It looks like there are some pretty expensive rings here, along with a really expensive-looking dagger. This stuff would fetch quite a fortune at an auction house."

  Even as she said that, she slid several of the rings onto her fingers and tucked the knife into her sheath belt. I guess she was just asking as a formality.

  "As for these documents... I wouldn't know what I was looking for. I can barely read anything other than shop signs, diner menus and level-up notifications."

  I locked up upon hearing that last part.

  It couldn't be.

  There was no possible way she had just said what I thought she had said.

  In all the conversations I'd overheard here, not once had this been brought up, none of the children from Hilst had mentioned this, and none of the people from the cages had even hinted at it.

  I grabbed for the crystal I'd gotten from the orc and then presented it to Armela.

  "What is this, Armela?"

  Taking it, she looked it over and then placed it back in my palm.

  "It's a power crystal, and based on the size, I assume it is from one of the orcs you slew. Why?"

  She seemed to be nonplussed, clearly familiar with the object.

  I supposed that would make sense in a world where almost everyone was walking around with one in their bodies. These were likely harvested from slain monsters as well, since they were abundant enough to stuff into lockets powering chest traps.

  "Do these have anything to do with your 'Level-up notifications'?"

  I asked point-blank.

  She stared at me briefly, her eyebrows creasing in the middle before replying.

  "Do you not receive notices when your crystal grows? Wait... do you not have a crystal at all? Have you never seen them before?"

  Her astonishment grew as I continued to shake my head with each successive question.

  "I had assumed your God had provided you a crystal when you were remade. Every being in this world is given a crystal by the Gods once they reach a basic level of power."

  Her eyes remained wide, clearly still struggling with the concept of my not having a crystal of my own.

  "For Humens it's typically after one's 16th year. For us Wolfkin, it's earlier, usually by our 12th year at the latest."

  She couldn't help the small amount of pride that crept into her words as she mentioned that.

  "The crystals are a blessing that allows for the use of sigils and gives us the ability to absorb power from those we slay; how could you not know this?"

  My mind whirled at the implications.

  So each species was granted a crystal once they achieved... what? A certain body mass? Muscle density? Height? Was it arbitrary? She had said typically, so it wasn't the same for everyone, which meant some achieved whatever was necessary for crystal growth earlier than others.

  Experience? Knowledge? Seta hadn't had a crystal, and she was intelligent far beyond her years. Further to that, they believed these crystals to be gifts from their gods, but all the crystals I had come across, and the one currently sitting in Armela, were constructed in exactly the same manner.

  Wouldn't Rel's crystal differ from Yüthrie's? Wouldn't there be adaptations made to suit their specific followers? Alterations made to better suit the Wolfkin instead of 'Humens'?

  Did this mean there was only one God here? And it had been providing these crystals to everyone equally, regardless of what they had believed in? Or did this mean that the gods did not make the crystals, and they were instead being provided to them for distribution?

  Clearly, there was some kind of interaction between the crystals if they could draw power from other crystals, which meant at the very least they were compatible, if not identical in function.

  Coming out of my thoughts, I replied.

  "My God did not provide me with such a crystal; this is all new to me, and I want to know more about it."

  I motioned to the cave leading out to the surface and walked out of the antechamber before continuing my questioning.

  "You mentioned level notifications; how does that manifest for you?"

  She thought for a moment and then responded.

  "It's like being presented with a transparent tablet or board containing everything about who you are; it usually starts as a tickle in your guts, like some kind of buzzing."

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  She placed a hand on her stomach as she mentioned that.

  "It's not unpleasant, but it doesn't go away until you mentally acknowledge it. Once you do, the tablet appears. It's not visible to others, but I've heard some people say that once your crystal is strong enough, you can make that happen."

  We passed through the entrance to the cave and made our way into the camp yard, where she continued to go about gathering sleeping materials and tidying up a tent she had selected.

  "The tablet is suspended before you, and lists information about you like your name, age, race, skills, available sigils, or titles you've accumulated over the years, and gives you an idea of where you stand in relation to others through your attributes."

  She pantomimed a rectangular shape half a meter from her face before wiggling a finger to indicate the writing that was meant to be on it.

  "For example, I have more muscle than most, so my strength attribute would be rated higher than theirs. Some attributes aren't physically visible, so it's useful to know how they're being rated by the crystal in order to tell how you compare."

  She dragged a particularly disgusting-looking bedroll from the tent before heading over to the stack of crates along the perimeter, where some fresh ones had been rolled up for storage and grabbing one.

  "Once you dismiss the tablet, you have to wait for the next advance in the crystal before recalling it; it's not something you can bring up whenever you like."

  She looked over the bedroll, inspecting it for debris or stains. Happy with her selection, she turned back.

  "People have tried to find a way to bring it back up, but I haven't heard of anyone figuring it out. So far, the only way I know to keep it available is to just never dismiss it. As you could imagine, it's hard to live your life with a big tablet floating around in your line-of-sight all day every day."

  She finished laying out the bedroll and started shoving piles of trash out the door of the tent, clearing a space in order to use the small fire pit in the centre of the leather structure.

  "So you can use the tablet to see how much you've grown in any specific area, and where you need to make the most changes? Is there anything else it can do beyond displaying personal information?"

  I helped to organize the space for her sleeping arrangements.

  She paused at my intrusion, but continued after a small beat, stacking wood over the fire pit in the middle.

  "It's as you say; it's a useful tool to gauge your growth and plan your development."

  She grabbed a small hatchet and broke apart some of the larger pieces of wood to better stack them in the small fire pit.

  "There are other functions it can perform as well. It can break down finer information relating to obtained sigils, items you possess, or skills that you've developed and how far along a chosen profession you are."

  The hatchet was dull, so she needed to beat the wood against the floor of the tent to get it to split.

  "Say you are training to master your swordsmanship, it will remind you of steps you've not yet taken to deepen your knowledge of the skill, and will advise you on how experienced you are at it. Typically, by assigning a level to the skill—such as amateur, master, or legend, for example—though these levels can encompass a pretty wide range of skill levels within them."

  She set her hands in front of her, palms out toward the wood, and then recited a brief prayer to Dersio.

  As she did, a small orange sigil appeared on both her palms. Slowing down my perception of time, I observed energy streaming up from her crystal and into the sigils on her palms.

  The energy being produced by the crystal had already been warped, meaning that whatever function it had was fundamentally altering it as it was produced, not after.

  The sigil then focused and altered it further to change the effect of the energy.

  The crystals were slowly revealing their mysteries to me, but these sigils were another matter entirely.

  It seemed to me they were just... willed into existence. There was no physical marker of their presence, and there was no tangible evidence that they were anything other than light.

  There wasn't even a magnetic field holding the light in place or bending it to form the symbols. It was almost like they were... lenses! That's exactly what the sigils were doing. Capturing the energy released by the crystal and focusing it... they were different types of lenses for the energy.

  This further solidified that I was missing something in how both things were operating. There were interactions occurring here that I couldn't witness, let alone understand.

  This only served to increase my desire to dedicate a good chunk of time to thoroughly testing both of their functions.

  A small stream of fire leapt from her hands and ignited the wood. Obviously, regardless of one's profession, sigils were something you could use so long as you had the knowledge to do so.

  As much as Armela was a warrior, magic seemed to be no problem for her.

  She sat back and crossed her legs before gesturing to the other side of the fire.

  I sat and crossed my legs as well, sharing the brief moment of silence between us before she spoke again.

  "You're going to change this world... aren't you?"

  She looked at me from across the fire, the light dancing in her eyes. The naked, vulnerable fear in her voice made her sound so incredibly small.

  "Armela, this world is going to change with or without me."

  I poked as the fire with my hand, adjusting pieces of wood to optimize their surface area.

  "You know it not, but there is a war being waged above our heads right this very moment that is far grander than anything you could possibly imagine."

  I pointed towards the hole in the top of the tent where the smoke from the fire vented out into the night.

  "Eventually, a power will come to this place that does not wish to preserve anything here. It will sweep through here like a destructive wind and scour every trace of life from the surface of every world. It could be a different god looking for more power, or perhaps one of the gods here deciding to tilt the balance of power in their favour."

  I shook my head and fixed her with a rueful look.

  "Regardless of the cause, someday this world will change, and the people here will be made to rally behind a cause. Even if that cause is not their own."

  She shook subtly. The prospect of the future I was depicting clearly unsettled her.

  I continued.

  "You may not live to see those days, but just as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, those changes will come. My purpose here, my goal, is to ensure that when that change comes, the people here will be safely tucked under the protective arm of my God."

  Her face scrunched slightly with questions but she held her tongue.

  "I know, it's only natural for me to think my god is better than the rest, right?"

  Her face relaxed slightly as I apparently addressed some concerns she had.

  "Look, the changes I hope to bring will propel everyone here into a future filled with genuine happiness and contentment. So that they may not fear some nebulous doom, or warring enemies, of that you have my word."

  I dipped my head and stared into the fire.

  "At least, that is my goal. Whether I reach it, or watch it crumble around myself is yet to be seen. But I promise you, on all I hold dear, you need not fear for the future I plan to bring to this world."

  She listened attentively to my words.

  I chose to close out on a personal note, hopefully bringing myself back into a relatable sphere for her.

  "I was once an ordinary man, you know?"

  I chuckled at her bewilderment.

  "I know! I worked my craft and plodded about on my own world, oblivious to the larger machinations of the surrounding universe just as you do now!"

  A tinge of sadness tainted my words as I recalled those days.

  "I had family, friends, and a quiet life that I could be content with."

  I poked the fire again.

  "But that was torn away from me by others of my kind who thought they knew what was best for all of us. In reality, they were simply acting in their own best interests, and the quiet folk like myself were made to pay the toll."

  My sombre tone prompted her to speak.

  "So... you're here now to make the same kinds of decisions on our behalf? Even having gone through it all once before, you're here to keep that cycle going?"

  I laughed sardonically.

  "Ironic, isn't it? I now stand where they stood. Looking across a great sea of people, all of whom I need to decide the future for. The power I've been granted is such that, if I so chose, this planet and all the people on it could simply vanish."

  I waved my hand to mimic wiping the world out.

  "I could be a calamitous being of unimaginable brutality and destruction. I could take as I pleased and never once need to think of the consequences. I could pillage and rampage my way across the stars and I would have no one to answer to until my God arrived to deliver my reckoning."

  She paled ever so slightly, my tone darkening with every word.

  "I could bend and shape every minor aspect of the world around me until it suited my needs."

  For dramatic flair, I siphoned the energy out of the fire, plunging the tent into darkness. Not even smouldering embers were left.

  I continued to draw the energy out of the wood, sucking every ounce of heat from the fibres until frost broke out across the char where the air cooled and condensed.

  Armela's breath came out as puffs of fog backlit by the moonlight streaming in through the ajar tent flap.

  "I could be a ruinous demon who threw each and every soul on this planet into the gaping maw of the eternal abyss."

  I waited a beat and then pumped energy back into the wood. Warming it and then eventually igniting it once more.

  "But when you look at me, Armela, and the things I've done so far, what impression do you truly get from me?"

  She hesitated, clearly terrified into silence by both my words and display.

  I reflected on that and ultimately decided that it was better for her to always feel some combination of fear and awe with regard to me.

  She may understand me eventually, or even know me intimately, but even in those moments, I would want her to carry with her the thrill of fear, knowing what it was I could be capable of doing on a whim.

  I didn't want her to serve in abject horror. That level of fear made people desperate, and desperate people made rash decisions. Instead, I wanted her to constantly weigh her words and thoughts, knowing that she could always teeter on the very edge of her own personal cataclysm.

  I needed her to feel that the thin ribbon of her bond to me held this hellish apocalypse back. That, so long as she was close to me, I would forever remain the lesser of two evils.

  "I-Impression? Uhhh well..."

  She was looking anywhere but at me now, obviously trying to find words that would neither offend me, or mislead me. She didn't want to lie, but feared what her true thoughts would elicit from me.

  Perfect.

  I held up a hand and shook my head before interrupting.

  "Let me recontextualize this question, Armela. I value truth, even at the cost of dignity."

  I made my tone more conversational and light, trying to suck up some of the grim mood.

  "I've been given a position of incredible power, and I recognize what such things are capable of doing to someone. I do not wish for this to twist my view of the world around me, nor do I wish for my power to twist those around me. So, I will make a promise to you, or a pact, if you prefer."

  She leaned forward slightly, perking up slightly at the mention of a binding condition.

  "So long as you are honest with me, or seek to speak your true feelings—even at the expense of my emotions—I will bend the entirety of my will into ensuring you never face retribution for those words."

  I pointed at her.

  "You may spew the most horrible vitriol about me, drag my name through every different shade of mud you can find, and curse my soul to the deepest, darkest pits of the abyss and I will thank you for every word, so long as they are your true and honest thoughts."

  She still seemed unsure, but the conviction in my voice made her grow visibly bolder.

  "My... impression of you... is that you terrify me. You can do things that make no sense. When I look at you, I feel like I'm staring into the jaws of death itself. Like you're some kind of harbinger, sent here to shepherd us all into a bleak end. But..."

  She broke off to mull over her words. Concentrating, this time out of reflection, not concern.

  Wonderful.

  "But.. I also feel a warmth from you. It's genuine, or at least it feels genuine. When you look at me, I feel like I'm being studied, like anytime I have your attention, I have all your attention."

  She blushed lightly as she spoke.

  "You give me the impression that it wouldn't matter what my trouble was, you would do what you could to help me with it. You calm me. As paradoxical as it sounds, there's an air of safety around you. You make me want to believe you or believe in you. Which also scares me."

  Her blush deepened, but she went on.

  "I... I guess what I'm trying to say is... you scare the piss out of me... but... I still want to follow you."

  She finally locked eyes with me and held them.

  This was good.

  I'd navigated this opening phase of the relationship relatively well. Hopefully, from here we'd be able to build something stable between us, and I'd have one more person to dedicate their soul to my Iron God.

  I'd just need to keep trying to close the gap between us.

  This needed to be personal, not business casual.

  "I'm happy to hear all that! To be honest, I was starting to wonder if my transition into this form had stripped me of my compassion. It brightens my heart to know I can still make the ones I care about feel better."

  I let a broad smile split my face and Armela visibly relaxed.

  "Though, I'm unsure what to do about how badly I frighten you. I fear that may just be a byproduct of my capabilities. If you need, I could probably set you up with multiple pairs of pants if it continues to cause you a problem."

  I threw a wink onto the end of my sentence and let the silence stretch.

  Sure enough, a laugh barked its way up her throat, and she slapped her knee as she threw her head back in jubilation.

  The tension of the last few minutes bled out into the smoky air venting out the top of the tent in a rush. Once her laughter had died down, I engaged in some aftercare to further disarm her frayed nerves.

  I regaled her with my encounter with the children, and how it had led me to the camp.

  As I spoke, the energy seemed to flood out of her. Her excited grin faded to a contented smile, her shoulders lost their rigid stiffness, and her eyelids crept down over her pupils.

  I didn't know whether my words had truly eliminated any of the trepidation for the future she felt, but it was clear she was losing her battle with sleep, if not feeling a little more secure about her path forward.

  "I will stand watch through the remainder of the night; you may rest knowing no harm will find you now. Lay your head down and do all you can to think about how you wish your future to play out. Tomorrow is a new day for you. Sleep well."

  I uncrossed my legs and stood, leaving her to stare into the fire as I made my way to the door of the tent.

  Before stepping across the threshold, she called to me.

  "Vita!.... Could you... stay? I-in the tent, I mean. With me. Please...?"

  She was looking up at me, tears welling in her eyes as the panicked look of desperation ravaged her face.

  She was absolutely horrified at the idea of being left alone here, the prospect only just now having occurred to her.

  I hesitated at the door, the tent flap still in my hand. I supposed I could humour her for tonight. There was a lot of emotional turmoil for her to work through, and if I could make that easier, then I would.

  "Of course, Armela. If that is what you wish, then I will remain here."

  I let go of the tent flap and made my way back to my spot on the other side of the fire. The look of rapturous relief that crossed her face was almost worth the decision all by itself.

  She interrupted me mid-step.

  "Umm, could you... sit... over here?"

  She looked to the spot next to the bedroll, and then back to me.

  She was growing bolder with her requests, which was a good sign. Up to this point, I wasn't entirely certain how much goodwill I'd truly earned with her, seeing as we'd only known one another for less than an hour.

  I figured there would be a significant amount of trust to be built, but it seemed she at least trusted me enough to sleep comfortably in my company.

  I nodded and padded over to the spot she'd gestured to, propping my back up against one of the thick wooden timbers forming the ribs of the tent. The hunk of wood groaned as I eased some of my weight onto it, and I shifted much of my mass to my legs in order to avoid collapsing the structure.

  She crawled onto the bedroll, stripping off the shift I'd given to her, apparently preferring to sleep nude.

  She pulled several large furs over herself and settled her head onto a small flaxen pillow she'd found.

  After a few more moments of trying to get comfortable, she gave up and settled for resting her head on her furred arms. She had rolled onto her side to face me as I sat watching her.

  "You know, some might find your gaze rather offensive."

  There was a hint of amusement in her voice, so I fired back.

  "Some might find your lack of modesty rather unattractive."

  She gasped and pushed herself up on her hands; her breasts unavoidably visible now.

  "I'm not some hoity-toity noble bitch! If you think the wilds will grant you your own private bathing room anytime you need one, or a lavatory to shit in, then you're no better than the snivelling money-grubbers living it up in those ritzy brick towers in Eprie!"

  The venom in her accusation told me everything I needed to know about how she felt about nobles.

  "Besides, I happen to know I'm incredibly attractive, so you take that back!"

  I smirked and shook my head and then raised my hands in a 'you got me' gesture.

  "I yield, I yield. I didn't realize you were so well-acquainted with mud fallows and dusty shit-holes, but now that you've said that, I can certainly picture it. 'my lady'."

  I tipped my head in a mock bow, laying it on especially thick for her benefit.

  She harrumphed before flopping back down under the furs, a slight flush creeping up her cheeks as she grumbled.

  It reminded me of Ava, and a pang of loss once again coursed through me.

  "Hey Vita?"

  Her eyes were closed now.

  "Yes, I'm here."

  A slight breath preceded a perfunctory

  "Good."

  A short time passed; her breathing was slowing.

  "Hey.. Vita?"

  Quieter now.

  "Still here."

  I replied softly.

  "You didn't really mean that, right? You think I'm pretty, right?"

  Despite the open vulnerability, there was a smile behind her words.

  My mind jumped to the scars running through the fur on her arms and legs, the battle-worn hardness of her eyes and the muscles clearly defined across her form, contrasted harshly with the bruising left by the Warlord.

  All the things she'd gathered through years of fighting, layering them on like protective armour in order to stake her claims in the same field as her male counterparts. Each one diminished how she felt about herself as a woman.

  I didn't know enough about her to really know, but the question, along with the exaggerated bravado of her earlier statement about herself, hinted at someone insecure about their appeal.

  I smiled, though she could not see it.

  "You're beautiful, Armela."

  Tears collected on the side of her nose as she lay there facing me, eyes shut and on the brink of sleep.

  The quietest whisper of

  "Thought so."

  Slipped past her lips, and then she was gone.

  I stood gently, careful to make absolutely no sound.

  I instructed my drone to settle in my place to keep an ear on her in case she woke during the night, though I doubted she would.

  Stepping out of the tent, I produced more drones and had them sweep the entire camp and roughly 1 kilometre out along its perimeter. Nothing living would come anywhere near here without my knowledge.

  Armela could rest easy, for now.