The faint rustling of wind was the first thing to greet me.
Gradually, shapes and sounds came into focus, and the sun’s amber glow still lingered on the horizon. Yet it hung higher than before, and I realized with a slow blink that this wasn’t dusk at all, but dawn.
Guess we really were on opposite sides of the world.
“Where is—”
“ROUFF!”
Crash!
Something warm and solid barreled into me, a medium-sized blur of fur and motion, tail thrashing wildly.
“Rouuuuff!” Another sharp bark followed, and before I could brace myself, several more bodies slammed into me, their weight and enthusiasm toppling me to the ground. Bristle and his brothers were the first to notice and greet me—ignoring everyone else entirely.
“Alright—Get—Ugh—” My words tangled beneath their paws as they scrambled over me, sniffing, licking, pressing close in an avalanche of muddy fur and affection. Until—“Mmmf.”
Bristle plopped squarely onto my chest, whining softly to assert his claim. The others backed off at once, his authority unquestioned. I patted his thigh firmly several times, giving him a rough sort of affection. A low, rumbling groan vibrated from his throat before I pushed him aside in one swift motion.
“Awww,” Thea cooed, a laugh half-swallowed behind her words. “They missed you.”
Sitting up, I found myself surrounded by six mangy beasts, panting with tongues lolling, eyes fixed on me in fierce anticipation.
“Uhh… good boys.”
Instant silence. Six heads tilted in perfect unison, waiting.
What do they want? I cried out inwardly, begging for a hint.
They’re hungry, Luna murmured.
I shifted under their expectant gazes. I don’t have food.
No,
she corrected. All the beasts around you have ever wanted one thing.The realization hit like a spark. They want the Voidseed’s power?
Locking eyes with Bristle, I said quietly, “Later. I need to take care of some things first.”
He nodded. My dog—my pet dog—nodded. I froze, exhilaration bubbling in my chest. Finally, proof of what I’d been seeing all along.
Thea frowned. “What?”
“He responded.”
Elric blinked. “T—the dog?”
I nodded fiercely.
Griffith snored from somewhere nearby, blissfully unconscious and still reeking of ale.
Mei stepped closer, resting a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I believe you.”
Her tone was soft. Comforting, yes, but like a mother humoring her child.
I refused to back down. “He nodded! You all saw it!”
“Most animals react to sound,” Synthia offered calmly. “Maybe he’s just used to your voice and associates it with movement.”
Defiant, I turned back to Bristle. “Fine. Prove you can understand me. Uhhh… jump!”
He stared for a heartbeat, then ambled toward Mei, sniffed her curiously, and wagged his tail. She laughed, her fingers threading through his coarse fur, excitement rising with every stroke.
“Hmmm,” Sei hummed, voice thoughtful despite his dazed expression. “Is this particular species intelligent in some way?”
“I once saw him chew his own foot for ten straight minutes,” Elric remarked dryly. “Does that count as intelligence?”
“Depends if there was any benefit,” Sei replied with deadpan seriousness. “Perhaps it was… tasty?”
Right. He wasn’t sober either.
Mei giggled, cupping Bristle’s face with both hands, squeezing his cheeks playfully. “Maybe it was just itchy. Was it? Hmm? It was, wasn’t it?” she crooned in a high, teasing voice.
Bristle shifted his focus to the towering serpent nearby, a small gelatinous creature perched atop its head. Their eyes met. One blinked, then the other, and just as quickly, they dismissed each other, returning to their separate worlds.
Stolen story; please report.
“Fine,” I grumbled, throwing up my hands. “Dogs turn their heads at sound, but I swear, this one understands me. Believe it or not.”
“Where are the others?” Elric asked, shifting the conversation to matters that actually mattered. “We’ve already made enough noise to wake the dead.”
I stood up, brushing myself off, before spinning around to find my bearings. Though, I guess I spent more time on the second island than this one. It felt unfamiliar already, so instead, I turned to Serith.
She raised a single eyebrow, exhaling in that weary, poised way of hers before pointing toward the horizon. “They’re at the shore,” she said evenly. “I have matters to discuss at the hub.” Before I could even think to ask, she added, “As soon as I learn anything about the next match, I’ll return.”
Then her attention turned to Amei. “You should rest here. Traversing this much terrain takes more out of you than you realize at first. I’ll be doing the same. No traveling for a while, understood?”
Her former student nodded obediently, just once. Serith gave a final wave of her hand, and her form began to dissolve, unraveling into fine motes of light that drifted upward like fireflies before fading entirely. Even now, the sight of her vanishing so gracefully was uncanny to watch.
“Nothing looks the same,” Amei murmured, her gaze roaming over the alien horizon.
No one answered. The statement didn’t need one. We let the silence breathe as she took in her new surroundings. During that lull, I decided to test something else that had been quietly stirring within me.
My Spiritual Sense.
Theoretically, it should’ve been stronger now, amplified by the flow of energy feeding my Inner World. The avatar and the egg within were absorbing power from the surrounding sources too. If our theories on Spiritual Refinement were even remotely right, the growth should be significant.
I inhaled deeply. Then exhaled just as slow, my eyes closed, and my consciousness stretched outward, opening in a different way. A stream of sight unfurled through my mind, expanding further, freer than before. No pressure. No resistance. The oppressive weight of the second island was gone.
It was… liberating.
The current of perception climbed, slipping past the canopy until the entire landscape spread beneath me. The details blurred, edges melting into a mist of color, but the breadth of it was there. A living map etched across my mind. From the island’s center to its fringes, I could make out faint, moving shapes along the distant shoreline.
I pushed further. The stream glided toward them, distance warping the image into a mosaic of soft, fluid hues of greens, blues, and browns. Yet there was no pain, no mental strain. The world simply unfolded.
Spiritual Sight.
But was this truly it? Wyrem had said it could do far more, though his words may not be entirely reliable. Still, I remembered others—Kirs and Kazreil—how their abilities could change reality. Could that be the essence of a domain? Did it spring from Spiritual Power?
Wyrem had said Elric was close to a domain before we ever reached this stage. Extreme precision.
“Peter?”
Thea’s voice pulled me back, her hand warm against my arm. “Let’s go see them,” she urged softly. There was a tremor beneath her words, an anxious edge I hadn’t noticed before.
She was right. I’d kept them waiting too long. Elric was pacing restlessly, his impatience practically vibrating off him.
“Sorry,” I said, shaking off the haze. “Let’s go.”
I nudged Mei lightly. “You ready to meet my citizens?”
She hesitated, eyes darting away with a nervous smile. “A country of ten. Sounds weird when you say it out loud.”
I chuckled, beginning to walk as the others fell in line. “We called it a sect first—handed out roles at random. Guess you’re a new disciple. Your dad’s a guest instructor. And Amei…”
“Not involved,” Amei cut in from behind, her voice quiet but firm. Her husband was struggling to lift Griffith’s limp form in one arm, while she supported both of them on her shoulder, bearing twice the weight with resolve.
Not going to bother her.
Synthia walked a few paces ahead with Rojin, who seemed utterly dazed by everything. She stayed beside him in companionable silence.
Our group was really starting to grow.
“Maybe we should make some real roles,” Thea mused beside me. “I mean… actually do it.”
I felt my stride lengthen, not quite a jog but faster than a steady walk. My pulse quickened with the idea, anticipation thrumming through me like a spark catching fire.
“We could recruit more too,” Elric said suddenly. There was no sarcasm in his voice. His eyes, when I glanced back, shone with something deliberate. “We offer multiple paths to power. Real support for anyone who joins us. And… strict enforcement. A real civilization.”
‘Strict enforcement’. The phrase sent a faint chill through me, and that unsettling gleam in his eyes didn’t help. Yet, when the others glanced his way, they only sighed dreamily. The man was impossibly… composed.
Jerk.
“So we poach others?” I asked, chuckling under my breath at the thought.
“Worked for me,” Sei mumbled, words slurred with fatigue. “But it’s not nice here. Build something nice!”
“I will!” Griffith suddenly bellowed, his voice shattering the calm. Both Thea and I jumped, hands instinctively tightening around each other.
He wasn’t awake, eyes clamped shut, but the outburst was loud enough to send every nerve on edge.
A blur darted past Thea and me. Elric moving faster than I’d ever seen him.
A sharp shriek echoed ahead, followed by silence, then the fading rhythm of his footsteps pushing onward. Thea’s hand trembled in mine at the sound. I released her, and she took off without hesitation.
Just a couple of weeks, that’s all it had been. Weeks steeped in danger and uncertainty, where every heartbeat was between life and death. It had changed how time felt. Even two days apart from Thea had felt unbearably long.
My legs moved before my mind could catch up.
Through the tangle of green, I saw them: the image of Thea wrapped tightly in her sister’s arms, the two holding each other as if afraid the other might vanish again.
I stopped. My breath caught.
Then I sat down. My lungs burned, my throat closed, and I wiped at my nose.
Thea’s relieved laughter cut through the haze, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I let myself breathe. The exhaustion that had been gnawing at the edges of me finally broke free.
We’d come back with solutions, with discoveries, with new allies and reasons to hope. The threats were gone, or at least delayed.
Everyone was safe.
Together.
My family was finally reunited.