Before they left the village the next morning, Michael took some time to look at his Titles and Deeds.

Titles:

Michael Mann

The Restored

The Wound Man

Godseeker

Champion of Seras

Deeds:

Bridge Holder

Revenge Denier

Run Conqueror

Resilient Competitor

Fort Healer

Righteous Defender

Castle Taker

Baron Breaker

Rift Sealer

Warrior Mender

Blessings:

Healing

Pain Transfer

Smite

There were no new Titles and Deeds, but he’d been expecting that. He focused in on Champion of Seras.

Champion of Seras

Grants:

Minor Durability

Minor Protection

Can be strengthened by accomplishing feats in her name

The durability and protection it granted had both changed from Very Minor to Minor. He was certain that in normal circumstances he’d be granted a deed for what he’d done, but by protecting the village and sealing the portal in her name he’d instead improved the title she’d granted him. The deed would’ve likely granted greater improvements, but they would have been conditional, as all of his deeds were. Having an improved title meant he’d receive the benefits from it no matter what he was doing. That was a more than fair tradeoff. He also felt like her voice was a bit stronger, though that may have just been in his head. There was clearly a connection between the gods and Titles and Deeds even beyond one being the source of the other. He’d have to keep exploring it.

He buckled on his newly repaired armor and shield. The blacksmith had done only rough patches to it as he had before since armor was not his usual focus, but Michael was just grateful to have had it fixed up at all. He was also happy that his new sword had managed to survive his use, even with smite. It had still needed some repair, and maintaining the edge of the thick piece of metal was an enormous chore, but he had less need for sleep than everyone, and he needed to spend his time doing something. He’d still need to locate a lighter sword for fighting agile opponents, but as long as he was fighting with Pyotr nearby he didn’t anticipate having too much trouble.

He stepped out into the village where Marcus was making some last minute trades and Lance was chatting with the village elder. When she saw him she broke away and looked him over.

“Your god that you worship. This thing you say was part of the divine. What is its name?”

Michael smiled. “Seras, goddess of protection.”

She snorted. “Well, she lived up to her title. Maybe I’ll say a prayer to her here and there from now on.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate it.”

They all took a moment to say their goodbyes and finish packing up all the goods that Marcus had managed to trade for, or was gifted. Once everyone had things together they started to make their way out of the village. Now that the portal was gone things were warming up rapidly and there were a number of small streams flowing from all of the snowmelt. As they got just out of sight of the village, Michael felt a slight pull off the main road and onto a side path.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“The divine wants me to go this way,” he said. “If you guys don’t mind.”

“Its fucking weird, but I don’t mind,” said Ollie.

“As long as it’s not another unrelenting fight I’m fine with it,” said Marcus. The others just shrugged.

They went up the side path and Michael saw a small stone slab against a rocky hill. It depicted a man with long wild hair and a tremendous gut smiling ear to ear, a number of beautiful women and men surrounding him and dancing. Just as with the remains of the statue Michael had found in the previous village, this altar seemed to be deliberately facing away from the nearby village. At the bottom of it there was dirt over part of the bottom of the statue, and the only word that was visible was ‘The’ in ornate script. Michael had to keep from groaning as he took his hand and tried to brush away the dirt. Surprisingly, he was able to make out the full set of words.

Nykas the Trickster, the laughing god, lord of joy

His hand began to glow as he ran his fingers along the words.

“Hello Nykas, you cheeky fucker,” he muttered with a smiled.

~ha~ha~

The laughter was in his head, louder than last time, and more distinct. The voice had a warm, jovial quality to it.

“God damn it,” said Ollie as he shook his head.

“What?” asked Michael.

“I just heard something laugh.”

“You heard it?” asked Michael.

“Please tell me it wasn’t just me and him?” asked Ollie looking at the rest of them.

Their response was silence and shaking heads.

“What’s the problem?” asked Michael standing up from where he’d been crouched in front of the stone slab.

“I get that the gods are real, and you feel a pull to them, but personally? I don’t want to be involved.”

“Well, I don’t think hearing a bit of laughter is exactly an obligation. I think the gods don’t just want diviners, they want regular worshippers as well. Maybe it’s just his way of saying hello. His way of showing interest in you.”

“So this bastards courting me now? Trying to make me his wife?”

Michael laughed. “I think the fact that you're reacting to your discomfort with humor may indicate exactly why he’s showing interest to begin with.”

Ollie shook his head. “I knew my great sense of humor would curse me one day.”

“I saw you get forced to run laps for your smart mouth a dozen times at the academy,” said Davi with a straight face. “I don’t think that this should be anything new to you.”

The laughter faded and Michael said a quick prayer of thanks to Nykas for revealing himself.

“I’m done, thanks for taking the time guys,” said Michael.

“It wasn’t far off the path,” said Pyotr. “Besides, we are used to these things by now.”

With that settled they continued on the path East toward Swandia. Michael wasn’t sure of how far they were and when he asked Marcus he wasn’t entirely certain either. He estimated at least a few more weeks of walking, Michael’s hero complex permitting, but it was difficult to be certain of the scale of the maps that Bayle had.

On the third day, they were walking along a wide dirt road with hills and rocky crags on either side. Marcus’s head was on a swivel from the start of the day.

“Is something the matter?” asked Michael.

“Yes. I can…feel that something is up. I got a new title, kind of a sixth sense kind of thing. Something or someone is after us.”

“Any idea what?” asked Davi, placing himself closer to Francesca and resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“No, but it’s very close. Feel like we’re right-” he leapt backward, slinging his rifle forward in a smooth motion and firing.

At that instant, a large figure launched from the dirt they were just about to walk on, brandishing two daggers and lunging for Michael.

Marcus’s bullet went wide, and Michael was barely able to raise his arms to defend himself before the figure reached him. One dagger was sunk into his kidney on the side and the other smashed through a number of shields he’d instinctively summoned in front of his eyes and into his left eye. He was only barely able to move his head back far enough that it didn’t reach his brain.

Pyotr managed to land a perfect kick in the center of the ambushers back and he was launched forward, giving the rest of them space.

Ollie followed that up with four blades of purple light that pushed the man back further as he struggled to deflect them with his daggers.

Michael healed himself quickly, drawing his shield and sword as he started to step toward the figure.

He was wearing a black long coat and a wide-brimmed hat, and holding a dagger in each hand. His rifle was gone, but his face was contorted into a scowl. It was the bounty hunter. Francesca had been right, they should’ve made sure that they saw the body.

“Ya’ll froze me in a fucking lake! You’ll all bleed for that.”

Lance and Davi charged him, and he slashed at them with his daggers, somehow managing to keep them both on their back foot with non-stop attacks and dodges.

Michael noticed something though. He was slower than last time, and they were faster.

He ran toward him with Pyotr at his side and they both swung their blades at him in a quick flurry of blows. That gave Davi and Lance room to actually make some swings of their own and soon the bounty hunter was dodging and parrying blows from all four of them at the same time. He wasn’t as strong as Davi or Michael, but he was fast his titles and deeds largely revolved around reaction and speed, not to mention a high enough durability and recovery to have allowed him to recover and hunt them down again.

Still, he was weakened, and they’d all had a long night of sleep with full stomachs as well as fresh titles and deeds from sealing the rift. Soon he was starting to take damage. A cut here, a stab there, a bullet to the shoulder, a narrowly dodged stone hitting his side from Ollie. Finally, Pyotr landed a full force kick to his chest and slammed him into a rocky outcropping, his back cracking horrifically as he hit it.

Davi moved to finish him when he held up a hand, his other seemed to have been awkwardly jammed behind himself when he was thrown backward.

“Wait!” he said, blood pooling in the corner of his mouth. “Wait… We’re both from Earth right? You don’t have to do this man. I’m just having fun. I’ll tell them that I killed you. That I had to kill the girl too. Just let me go and I’ll-”

“He’s lighting something!” yelled Ollie, and Marcus fired his rifle, causing the man’s head to swing backward violently, a red hole in the center of his head.