“Ugh, do I have to repeat myself? I don’t know what to do, where to go-“

“Yes, yes, your desire to help your friend is admirable, but that’s not what I meant.” Baba Yaga gave me the only reassurance that has actually calmed my mind.

I sighed in relief as Carey, Kariya, and Leonid stared at me judgmentally.

I locked them out of my mind for now. If they’re not going to try and understand, I won’t be giving them any piece of my mind.

“I’m no stranger to being hunted down by the machinations of the gods and their followers, but the question is whether you wish to face them head-on or not, Peter.”

I gave a half-hearted shrug. “No? I’m nowhere close to being able to take them on, and I don’t really want to… Is it too much to ask for you to do it?”

Baba Yaga cackled. Her eerie laugh echoed throughout the entire house as each one of us stared at each other awkwardly before looking at Iva,n who shrugged as if this happened a lot.

“Vy otlichno rasskazyvayete shutki Peter…”

I stared in confusion before my brain began to automatically translate that to. ‘You tell great jokes.’

“Uh, thanks- also wait up, how do you know Thalese?” The most widespread language was Thalese from Balthalem after they nearly invaded half the world… Or tried to at least.

“I get how everyone else here knows it since they’re all from Balthalem, and they also must have seen other survivors speak it, right?”

Katya and the other Keepers nodded along.

“But how do you know it?”

Baba Yaga simply smiled at me. “I am a witch; it was easy enough to learn from the souvenirs of the other survivors.”

Oh, right, the books, yeah, she had so many of them.

“Oh… Okay, sorry for the diversion, carry on please.”

“As I was saying, I could do it, but you would have to do favors for me. It is only because of Ivan that I helped you as much in the first place. But much like everyone here, you have to pull your weight around.”

I crossed my arms and straightened my back. “Sure, I was going to go on some quest to help Godwin’s Shattering, so another one won’t be so bad.”

Godwin stared at me in surprise. “Peter, I already said you do not need to worry about me.”

“And I told you that I would rather have everyone here not being close to being erased from existence. You risked your life for me.” I turned to stare at the others for a moment, meeting their looks of judgment. “And I intend to repay it with what little I have.”

“Wonderful work ethic, Peter, but alas, you are correct in the assumption that you are far too weak to make a proper stand against the gods. However… You certainly have the potential for it, but there are very few who would ever train you to stand up against those above.”

She then turned to face the heavens through the window as thunder and lightning crackled. “You’ve been to the Nawia in your dreams, and you could do so once more. In there, you will find someone who I am quite sure would aid you in your endeavor to withstand those that seek to use or destroy you.”

A silence settled amongst her words as we all waited in bated breath for what she was about to say.

Well, after Roga, Koschei’s strange demeanor began to make more and more sense.

“The Watcher of the Dead. Veles… The god of earth, water, Magick, mischief, and cattle.”

‘Man, was the cattle part important? It didn’t seem important at all, like all the other stuff was cool, cattle was just out of place.’

“Being the god of cattle is merely shorthand for god of livestock. He was one whom many worshipped and gave praise to.”

‘Oh, I forgot she could just read minds, yeah, I really have to watch out for that. Or well, I can’t really watch out for that, huh.’

“No, not really.”

I just awkwardly nodded along as I performed a fake cough. Although, when I thought back on that Name, the image of a horned man in a robe came to me.

I remember seeing him when Zmey separated me, and I went flying across the world.

“Yes, it’s the one you’re thinking of right now.” Baba Yaga grinned madly as she pointed a crooked finger at me.

“You find him in your dreams and ask him for help. He would find this situation amusing enough that I assure you, his aid will come. And if it does not… Tell him that Perun is already thinking of picking a side. That should stir him up enough.”

Matthias seemed to be the most hesitant of the bunch when he heard that news, while the rest seemed to just kind of stare blankly. Well, it made sense; they probably don’t know or have a full grasp of the gravity of the Names compared to him.

“A-Are you sure, Baba? Do you think he would be allowed back in the Nawia after what he did?

“Not entirely, but the only one with power over the Nawia enough to even perhaps ban him would be Veles and perhaps Morana, but I believe he would be able to enter it.”

“Well…” Godwin turned to me, curiosity brimming in his eyes. “The only way to know for sure is to simply wait until he sleeps.

“I can knock him out.” Kariya offered while cracking her knuckles.

“Nope. Please no, I’d rather not- No one else can make that offer, okay?”

I stared at Katya, though. I felt like she would be gentle with it, very gentle in fact… I stopped myself from thinking more as Baba Yaga just stared at me with a shit eating grin.

“Nonsense, you should go and rest after you eat. The rest of you… Well, I would need to train you all even more now. Who knows, maybe you would be able to become powerful enough to be considered an actual threat to the hordes. You already can easily fend off Bauks and even Bes’s; perhaps now you could handle the Lesser Vukodlaks if any come our way.”

A wolf’s howl echoed in my mind as that Name was said, and a small grin formed across my face. “Werewolves…”

Godwin turned to me. “Ah, you remember them from your readings?”

I gave a nod to him. “Yeah, I tried my best with every creature here, but a lot of them really didn’t have proper Names or descriptions, but a few of them acted similarly enough to other creatures that they were just called that version. Like the ghouls here.”

I thought back to those guys that Baba Yaga turned into trees before asking aloud. “Were those guys werewolves?”

I’ve always wanted to meet Lycanthropes, they’re a top five monster, up there with vampires and dragons… Although I did just meet a dragon, that dragon did kick my ass, and it was so awesome. I would totally want to do that again, but in a safer environment that didn’t end up with me signaling my presence to all of creation.

“Possibly.” Leonid suddenly answered, to my surprise, from the other side of the table. “Sometimes when they appear, wolves do too, most of them twice the size of their men.”

They’re so cool. I actually wanted to figure out if I could become a Lycanthrope, but the only way people ever learned how to is to become cursed and or blessed. There was no becoming it naturally from what I’ve seen, unless of course you were destined to become one.

“Yeah, that sounds like them, and I’m guessing they’re big trouble?”

Kariya scoffed. “They’re faster, stronger, and smarter than Bes’s; we can only run away from them. I’d rather face the Fext than them. At least all we need to do for them is-“

“Wait, you have glass bullets?” I asked, confused, trying to see if they had any guns, but was shocked to find none. Fext were undead soldiers who died in the ice, or rather died due to the cold. They, for some reason, needed glass bullets to kill them? It was so oddly specific that I knew there had to be something up with that.

Leonid then brought out several glass balls the size of bullets onto the table. I was immediately reminded of marbles upon seeing it. “We use slings to lodge them into the Fext; otherwise, we stab them with the disposable glass daggers that Baba Yaga gave us.”

Kariya brought one out to spin on her finger before throwing it up into the air and catching it by the hilt as if to show off.

I, on the other hand, felt a little validated from the meager knowledge I tried to research about Galfania, even though it was so little. I at least managed to get some things right.

I turned to Baba Yaga, who had already begun to answer my question.

“It’s anything that can resemble ice, really, the closer to it the better. If you managed to harm it with something akin to an icicle, then they shall simply fall apart. But glass works as well, and the Keepers need to earn their victories.”

Both Kariya and Leonid sheathed back their weapons as Baba Yaga looked around the table. “Since there are no more questions. You may eat to your hearts content.”

We all bowed our heads and said our thanks to her before beginning to eat.

It was amazing. I meant no disrespect to Baba Roga, but Baba Yaga was on a whole different level compared to her, not just in Magick but simply in culinary styles. This was simply superb.

The broth was rich, the meat was so tender it fell off the bone, even the bread felt like it was fresh off the oven, while the water woke me up, as if I drank a cup of coffee without any of the bitterness.

“W-Wow… Thanks for the food, like seriously. This is just… Wow.”

Matthias grinned, his tail wagging back and forth excitedly. “Baba is amazing, isn’t she? I really wish to cook like her someday.”

“And you will, little Ivan, you will.” Baba Yaga patted his head before staring at me with a crooked smile. “It’s always wonderful to find others who enjoy your work, much like Magick, cooking is an art form, a science, a philosophy, not so different from Alchemy.”

“Yeah, no kidding…” I could get used to this, well, minus the part about being hunted by the world, but aside from that, everything was peachy.

After our meal, Baba Yaga gestured to Matthias before talking to him out of earshot while staring at me. Then, he walked towards me. “We need to get you to your room for you know…”

“Yeah, to travel to the land I essentially terrorized so that I could ask the god there for my help, cool, cool…”

He chuckled a little while he walked towards my room, opening the door for me as I entered. “Now go and lie down and rest.”

“It’s been what I’ve waited to do for a while now…” I sat on the edge of the bed before rolling in the middle, looking up at the ceiling as I took a deep breath. Without any pause, a wave of lethargy washed over me. The last few hours took their toll on me, not physically, just mentally.

I was tired, too many questions, too many decisions. I needed rest… I needed sleep.

And so sleep came like darkness at nightfall, and my entire vision turned black.