AMBROSIAI begged the knife back from Nevras. After all, he was probably done battling. We made our way back down from the Castle of Fear by rappelling, using some spare ropes that Elias had taken from the ship. There was just no way any of us were going back inside that place.

    Nevras suggested we talk to that woman again, so I did. She was so pretty. Her blond hair, that unlike mine didn''t seem to ever get tangled or filled with dirt or gunk, glowed with an aura that hung like a mist around her body and her outfit. Even her name, Tiamat, sounded so exotic and friendly and not at all like a giant mutant three-headed undead dragon chicken. I wonder why I thought of that specific image. Anyway, she was someone to be trusted.

    I decided to be diplomatic and cautious. I wouldn''t want to offend her, after all. “I defeated it, but then something happened,” I said, continuing, “You know, if I didn''t know better, I''d say there was something weird about this whole "deal" of yours. The Border Guard told me the creature would need to have its heart or head (can''t remember which) taken out to show as proof, but you said that all I''d need is to give me the proof... Will you give me the proof?” She smiled sweetly, “Of course. Why would someone as cute and innocent as I am lie?” Aqorm apparently smelled something, because suddenly she told me, “Don''t listen to her lies, Ambrosia. I don''t trust her.” How intolerant. Why couldn''t she see that this was the right thing to do? Tiamat almost echoed my thoughts, “How could someone like me be a threat? I''m just so innocent and pure! Besides, who are you gonna trust, people you''ve known for weeks, or me, who you just met?” The answer was obvious. I told her that I trusted her more, who I''d just met. She smiled, and the bright aura around her seemed to grow. In fact, it continued to grow, blinding the rest of us. “Ambrosia, you''re hopeless!” A large figure moved in the shadows and suddenly everyone was screaming.

    GOD

    Reset.

    AMBROSIA

    As I was saying, of course I trust my friends more. Who would trust a complete stranger? “You seriously think I''d choose you?” I scoffed, “I don''t buy that sweet and innocent act!” Nevras sat this one out since he had no weapon, but the rest of us attacked her. Zoe blasted her with Fire spells, and whacked her with her scythe. Azrael swung Raphael, which blazed at full power. She dodged out of the way, but I whipped my fishing pole around her, tying her in place. Now that she couldn''t move, the two attacked her as before. She shrieked, “Owwwww~~~ Quit being so mean~! You''re hurting me!” All the same, aside from some clothing damage, I looked at her body and it seemed to virtually unscratched. Aqorm tossed her daggers at her, which being made from elven, caused a reaction in most of the sketchier creatures. The area she stabbed started to blacken and she screamed for real. “It hurts...” she said. Her skin started to wriggle and stretch like a body inside it was using it like a cocoon. A small tear appeared in her back, as her real body began to rip its way free. “A gigai,” Aqorm commented, “I''ve heard of these. Skinwalkers sometimes wear skins to impersonate people. Then some creatures picked up on it and started weaving flesh from dead bodies.” Elias said, “I''m not sure what to expect here,” so he promptly cast Regenerate and Protection on all of us. The false skin ripped off completely and honestly I was right about the three-headed dragon chicken thing. Only, it was more horrifying than I imagined. Her(?) mouths were beak-like and her toes were spaced apart like a bird, but otherwise, she looked more like a large black dragon with tough-looking skin. Her eyes glowed red, and that brightly colored aura was gone, replaced with a miasma I hadn''t even seen from Thanatos. This one probably ate visitors for fun, and I imagine half of them were from those who didn''t survive the castle. As she spoke, I realized my mistake. “You thought I was a harmless little girl? Well, have a taste of my true power!” he said. This had been a male dragon beast wearing the a female gigai. But how did he get inside something so much smaller?

    The dragon beast was naturally very strong, and right now Nevras was not much good right now, so he couldn''t use his Dragon Roar. Zoe quickly learned that her weapon was barely effective, and the critter''s skin appeared to be fireproof and mostly immune to magic as well. To make stuff worse, he had powerful jaws and venom dripping from his fangs. Only Aqorm''s daggers seemed to have much effect, and she tossed them at this one earlier. Azrael used her symbols to protect us and slow him down, but his skin was tough enough even to shrug off most damage from Raphael. Tiamat had a few cuts and bruises, but no more than that. Maybe it was time to use that... but no, not Thanatos''s Crest! I didn''t want to kill anymore. Not like that. But I needed to be able to fight him!

    I thought back. Because of my prophetic abilities, I was able to see ahead slightly, so I learned my powers before they were explained to me, having memories of training I hadn''t done in real time. So I learned my powers when I got the Crest, then later I was able to see the time training. This meant most of my skills were learned instantly.

    In each case, the residing Oracle taught me more than just their main attack. For example, along with the holy attack, Alexander could do that water parting thing. Four Gods can summon beasts and do elemental attacks, but also gave me some ability to adjust the environment around me. And Thanatos gave me immunity to death spells, the ability to cause death, and... Sёar?h the Novel?ire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    I saw him standing before me, teaching me. He said, “Remember, if it ever gets to be too much...” At the time, I had no idea what he meant. If what becomes too much? But now, I knew he meant the strain of watching things die. I remembered the move, Needle At Bottom Of Sea. The three-headed dragon stood before me. My Crest glowed and I made my move.

    My death technique could be described as pulling. I suck out the life essence of the target of my attack and suck it away, which is what is so disturbing about all of this. They seemed for full of life and suddenly they dropped dead. This felt almost like the opposite. I was pushing something on to this dragon, filling it with something. Of course, this thing I was adding wasn''t making it more energetic or alive, but hey, at least it wasn''t killing it. What was I adding? Weariness. The feeling one gets when life has been too long. The dragon became sluggish. His skin, while tough, wasn''t as quick as before, so the stabs were starting to make a dent. It wasn''t moving as fast, and it wasn''t attacking as effectively. While before, Elias had to spend his energy healing and protecting us when the creature ferociously bit at our arms and legs while its toxin sickened us and burned our skin, Tiamat was starting to miss a lot now. Elias started casting Bless to boost the penetrating power of our attacks. Before, he managed to tighten his muscles to protect against our attacks. But now, Tiamat''s movements were rigid, his joints were stiff, and it was fighting like something that hadn''t been sleeping in days. I dunno if dragons need to sleep, but you get the point.

    Zoe drove her scythe hard into the critter. But this time, it didn''t react right, and that tough skin and scale wasn''t enough. It drove deep into the jugular of that head and blood spurted out. Zoe hadn''t cut the spine, just severed the skin and muscle and tendon of it so the head was still awake and trying to struggle. Trying to cry out. Trying to breathe. It made a gulping motion while it slowly died, fully conscious and aware. I was reminded of a PETA video on slaughter methods. Nothing should have to die this way. The other two heads, were justifiably angry, and lunged after her, but they were slow and in each other''s way. Azrael killed the opposite side head with a single blow of the sword, slicing straight through the neck bone. The sight was brutal to watch, but the head died mercifully and instantly. The middle head was dealt with by Aqorm and Nevras. Aqorm had managed to salvage her weapons in the midst of the distraction. Tiamat, weak from the blood loss of his other heads, was dizzy and distracted. Nevras used this to leap onto its back, shifting to one side or another when Tiamat moved to bite it. And then he did something crazy. Lunging forward, he called out, “Falcon Punch!” He put his leg forward to get a good angle, twisted his waist as much as possible riding on a dragon, and using his hips to generate extra force, drove his fist hard into the middle of its chin. It wobbled and then passed out. Aqorm cut off this head with her daggers while it was out. The animal was dead. We just had to figure out how to carry its heads back.

    ELIAS

    When in doubt, head to the library. After long hours in the library, I managed to narrow it down to about three options. I could learn necromancy, and create a patchwork reconstruction to move itself to the teleportation pad. Unfortunately, that wasn''t happening. Besides the whole necromancy taboo, which was bad enough, there was the matter of controlling three heads, all of which were hostile to us. Nahhhhh... I had also heard of an ancient device but it involved metallurgy. The last idea, the one I tried involved shrinking heads. Yes, seriously.

    I shall tell you how I did it, on the off-chance any of you barbarians from the so-called “modern era” want to know how heads are shrunken. I boiled the heads until the skin tightened and dried the heads so the excess moisture was removed. Moving them back to town would draw some stares, so we packed them into cloth sacks and moved into town during the slow periods between guard shifts, spacing our entrances out enough so as to not draw too much attention. It wound up being like the riddle of the fox, the goose, and the bean. Nevras, Zoe and Azrael (lately, it seemed like they were doing more and more as a team even when not strictly necessary), and I were carrying one. As I say, we arrived separately, so we had to hide these giant heads behind the church grounds while each of us waited for the others. Nevras and Ambrosia entered first. For some reason, despite Ambrosia being almost phobic about this mode of transport before, she held Nevras''s hand as they entered together this time. The two were instructed to send a short note when they had left the pad, so as to avoid the chance of mixing living and dead material on the teleporter. After being sent a note saying, ? We''re doing good here ? I tossed the first head onto the pod. ? Got it ? I heard back. Zoe and Azrael dropped theirs off, only to get back a message, ? I need help dealing with this stuff! ? So then, those two came, and then Aqorm came. I was stuck holding a giant head, alone in a big city. Aqorm used to like me, right? So why was she leaving me alone like this? I dropped the last dragon head, before getting the all clear to come myself.

    The Divine Border was just the same as before, but this time we had proof of our worth. Surely now he would grant us access! We entered the building hauling a bunch of shrunken heads, and tossed them on his table. “Ahem, I''m afraid I have bad news. You see, these heads are in pretty poor condition. I will give you the Divine Passport, but I''m afraid I can''t stamp it.” Ambrosia whined, “But... all that hard work...”

    We stood at a mountain pass where the barrier was. Strange, I remember two guards here. No matter. It wasn''t like we could enter past the barrier anyway. A voice echoed inside our heads.The living may not enter these gates without dying or receiving my Seal and bearing the Divine Passport. Ambrosia kept pushing against the barrier. But it was no good, without a stamped passport, how could we proceed? Ambrosia, lacking other options, decided to pray to God. She wasn''t part of any organized religion, and I could tell from her words that she hadn''t really done this much. Ambrosia''s faith was about seeing God through the humans she interacted with. Ambrosia spoke, “God, you know I suck at praying. I don''t feel worthy enough to enter your gates. But I believe you are the same God that helped so many people, and I would like to think you''d have some pity or Grace or something for me. I kinda need to enter these gates, and…. Sigh... God, I know I''m not any kind of great person or anything, which is probably why the guard didn''t stamp the passport, but... I''d really appreciate it if you''d let me in so I could continue the mission you gave me...”

    He responded, The Divine Passport never needed to be stamped. All that is needed is for the one entering to desire my Grace. Those who force their way in shall be denied, while those who wish to be part of my kingdom shall be accepted, even those who are guests. The guard was just trolling you. I sighed. Something told me this place would only get weirder.