Laz’s dreams were filled with the thoughts of the illusional years he spent as a husband and a father. Seeing a child brought into the world, waking up at night to comfort that same child and coax it back to sleep. The child’s first steps, first words, first injury, first introductions to the world. There were so many different things he experienced and lived through and yet none of it was real. What was worse was that once all that was gone, it was like a large part of his soul was missing. The only thing that kept him from breaking down was the strength of his own mind, keeping him both sane and stable, but there was a pain there that he couldn’t avoid. Seeing the dreams just made everything more real and painful at the same time. Especially because unlike the last time, this time he knew it was just a dream, one that he would wake up from.

When Laz finally opened his eyes, the day had turned to dusk as the light blinded him for a moment before his eyes adjusted. Sitting up, Laz was laying on a thick mat in a tent with a thick blanket draped over himself.

Laz took a deep breath, the cold air of the winter in the mountains pounded his chest for a moment, refreshing his groggy mind. He could hear the sounds outside the tent of the camp life happening near by, but it felt distant and not of his concern. Using a bucket of water that had frozen over in the cold, Laz broke the ice on the top and ducked his head in, letting the ice cold water slowly penetrate his flesh as he halted his energy circulation, allowing it to really chill him before bringing his head out, ice crystals forming in his hair and on his eyebrows along with the scruff that had been building up on his face. With the wind hitting his cold, wet face, Laz finally felt the dreams and illusions fade away, as though he was finally fully awake.

Taking a towel from near the bucket, Laz dried his face, warming it up as well by circulating his energy as allowing the weakness to fade away. He quickly changed his clothes and walked out of the tent, away from the throngs of people still engaging in whatever they wished to do during this down time. A quick scan of the stone and steel gate showed that while there were groups of animals lumbering outside of it, none of them were looking to attack it either.

Bracing his feet against the ground, Laz flew up into the air, letting the full strength of the sun hit him as he rose above the shade of the nearby mountains. To not make himself too big of a target, Laz soon landed upon the highest watch tower of the gate, a place were the distant sun still reached as he pulled a bottle of Jack out of his storage ring, grateful that his pouch had been returned at last. Unscrewing the bottle, Laz raised it into the sky, toasting life and cursing fate before throwing it back, the harsh yet warming liquid flowing down his throat in several gulps before he stopped.

’When I was weak, this stuff kicked my ass. Now that I am a god... I can barely feel the effects huh? Trade offs I guess. Let’s see... didn’t i get some moonshine from... oh right here..." Laz thought to himself before pulling out a clear bottle without a label and holding it aloft to curse the world once again. Pulling the cork out with his teeth, he spit it into the distance and drank down the clear liquid, instantly feeling the burning sensation go down his throat.

"Shit. Even a god can get burned by this shit... I wonder if it would strip paint off an old car?... ah well. Just what I need right now. Hear that fucker? I don’t care what you throw at me. I will kill you. I will make it back home. Throw everything you’ve got at me and I’ll still shove my sword down your throat and gut you. I’m not going to die here. They are not going to die here. The only one going to die here is you. And one day, when I return, I’ll visit your master as well. That way when I come back here, I can deliver his head as an apology for bringing this shit upon this world," Laz said, looking straight ahead as he said it, as though yelling it out would make it true.

In the far darkness, there was a snarl, as though it were answering him back. But while it might have been trying to form words, it still couldn’t. Laz knew it was the shadow dragon, answering his challenge from far away, but he didn’t care. The only thing that did amuse him was the light from the seals over the gate occasionally lighting up, as though it was going to attack him, but it never succeeded, not that Laz thought it was trying very hard.

As for why it was only snarling, Laz could only imagine that it still lacked total control over the body, otherwise vocal cord manipulation would have been possible. It had spoke to him before, that once around the capital. But even then it seemed like it struggled. Of course the Emperor was stronger back then, but he wasn’t fighting back nearly as hard. Probably thought that biding his time was the right way to approach things until he could find an opening. Needless to say but that opening never came and instead, the Emperor could only watch his soul get weaker and weaker. It was probably only then that he thought to do something about it and fight back.

’The man was a spineless coward, but he’s been holding on pretty well in the mean time. Maybe he was motivated by finding out I’ve been taking care of his wife? Or maybe that even turned him on and gave him some drive? Well. Either way, this bastard is our real final fight in this realm,’ Laz thought while watching the seals sizzle with energy while being touched.

Pooja and Hera landed next to him as Laz took another deep drink.

"It’s out there, isn’t it?" Hera asked, looking out beyond the boundary.

"Yep. BASTARD LIKES TO PEEP ON US, DON’T YA?" Laz yelled out, only for there to be a fresh volley of assaults on the seal along with deep snarls and low growls, like every beast out there wanted Laz to stop provoking the dragon already.

"You seem... better?" Pooja asked as both women clung tightly to Laz. It wasn’t that they were cold, their realms were too high for superficial cold to be a problem, but they enjoyed the warmth from his body anyway.

"It’s there. The memories. All those times with the girls and the kids and all that. Every moment is there in my head throbbing, but it’s burning away slowly as I stay here, looking out over my enemies and feeling the fading light from the sun." Laz lifted his hand as the black flames came to life within it.

"As I get stronger, this thing gets stronger. I thought I understood it. But I didn’t think a rune could be so strong as to make what happened, happen. I’ve used them before, use that before, but this time was like nothing I ever imagined," Laz said as Athena, Clio and Erato, having been made aware of Laz’s rise, flew up to the tower and joined them, Athena laying against his back while Erato and Clio both laid against his available thighs.

"Runes aren’t a simple thing. There are many different versions of them used all throughout the universe and the same rune used in two different ways by two different hands can have two very different effects. From what I understand, the intent behind them and the power that goes into them seems to be the biggest factors. As for the other thing that matters most, sometimes someone finds the true essence use of a rune, like what it’s primordial meaning is and it causes it’s effectiveness to greatly increase. Like finding a perfect blend of ingredients to prepare a dish. When everything meshes exactly the way it should, the dish can taste way better than if something else was used, even if it’s just a slight difference.

"So it might not be just the flame?"

"Maybe... but maybe not," Pooja agreed.

They sat there in silence before the girls began speaking, including Laz in the conversation as they spoke about their sons and daughters, about the things that happened in the dream world. Laz spoke a bit at first, but was soon quiet as he noticed he didn’t remember things that they were speaking of or events that occurred. The more the conversation went on, the less Laz could remember.

But even then, the names and faces didn’t fade in the slightest.