As the group was busy conversing, a shadow suddenly passed over their heads, and a booming voice came from the sky.

"Hahahaha!! It might’ve taken me a little longer, but I figured it out, you bastards! Go on! Tell me who’s top-dog around here now!"

Everett’s voice came from a large blue eye suspended in the air on twelve white wings. He was every bit as creepy as he was cool.

Solomon glanced up at his brother from the hut steps.

"Kota’ found a way to take the prior strength from enemies we kill and separate it from their souls before giving it to us."

"Or other people." Yari added.

"...."

Everett dropped out of the sky in his normal appearance. His expression was painfully sour.

"Know what? I’m just going to fuck off back to bed for the rest of the day."

Even though she had just spent the last seventeen minutes beating on her brother, Nila couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty and patted his back to keep him in place.

Raizel stood up slowly, clutching his hands to feel the strength within.

"I actually... Feel a bit stronger. I mean, I felt like death for just a moment, but-"

"How is that any different from normal?" Solomon snickered.

"You couldn’t let me have it just this once, could you?"

"No."

Raizel started to say something very crude and brother-like when Dakota suddenly began poking his torso.

Nila almost burst a blood vessel when she watched her sister lift his shirt and begin touching his bare stomach.

"Umm... Sister? Do you mind explaining why you’re enacting such an invasive, unlady-like measure???" Almost no one understood what Nila was trying to say because her teeth were gritted tightly.

Dakota unknowingly ignored her and focused on Raizel. "It’s... strange. Your soul has so much extra space for some reason... It’s like you’re almost hollow inside. I don’t understand how you even have the energy to walk around when you’re missing so much of your power..."

Raizel smiled sheepishly. "I make do... But do you think you could help top me up now...?"

"WHATTTT!?!" Nila’s roar shook the forest.

"He said up, sis. It’s a completely different expression." Everett rolled his eyes.

"....Oh...."

Solomon blinked slowly, unconvinced he wasn’t seeing things.

Yari had actually begun to feel a bit bad for her hot, dumb fiancée.

"I think I can do it, but you should know it’ll probably take a lot of time, and it’ll definitely hurt... Are you sure that you can sit through the process?"

Raizel snorted. "Obviously."

-

"Okay... I think that’s the last of what I can do without a break and... maybe a nap." Dakota stepped back, wiping her most recent in a very long string of nosebleeds. "Well, how do you feel?"

Raizel gave a shaky thumbs up from the forest floor.

"...Dude, are you crying?" Everett snickered.

"No! Fuck you!"

Solomon wished more than anything that this moment could be preserved in a mural.

"So? How do you feel?"

Raizel got up from the ground slowly. His feet trembled like thin twigs in the dead of winter, making the group worry that they may have accidentally sent their acquaintance back to death’s door.

But Raizel finally stood up, and when he did, all delusions around his state of being were thoroughly stomped out.

Solomon was the first to notice just how different his brother felt. It was like he was back in Darrod, staring up at one of those giants for the first time.

He gave Dakota a subtle nudge.

"Just for reference... how many souls do you have left?"

"Ummm... thirty." She replied.

By the time Raizel had gotten to his feet, the looks that everyone was giving him had completely changed.

He stretched nonchalantly as if he couldn’t tell the difference. "I gotta say... I think I feel a bit closer to my peak now."

"I would hope you did, you fucking monster...The strength of almost 80,000 people is inside of you!" Everett complained.

"...Gonna be honest here, it really doesn’t feel like it." Raizel shrugged. "Are we sure that this won’t affect me when the other deathless execute their big plan to steal the world’s cultivation?"

Folding her arms, Dakota pouted slightly. "I just did the most difficult thing of my entire life on pure instinct and I don’t even know if I can replicate it. How am I supposed to know exactly how it functions? Ask the pretty science elf." Dakota hooked a finger at Yari.

"Aww...! Well, I would be more than happy to help you figure everything out. I do enjoy a good enigma."

Raizel slowly began stretching. "Yeah, well, that’s all fine and dandy but if we’re busy testing stuff then I can think of some other things that maybe should be a bit higher on our priority list."

Solomon’s ears pricked up like a dog’s. Nila felt her hair stand on end.

Griselda gave her daughter Giselle a small nudge. "I’ve got very little idea of what just happened but it seems like they’re going to hit each other."

"Yes, they probably are."

"GREAT!" Griselda clapped her hands together. "Follow me, kiddies, I know just the place!"

It was strange to see a large woman like Griselda suddenly begin skipping to her destination. But it appeared that violence or at least the promise of it made her feel uniquely giddy.

"They’re... a rather childish bunch, aren’t they?" Giselle asked her sister as they walked in the back of the group.

Yari could not disagree with her. But as she watched Solomon’s happy back chase after his siblings, she couldn’t see it as something to complain about.

"Perhaps it’s something about this place. Our home has a way of making people want to let down their burdens and frolic as they were meant to."

Giselle could hardly refute that claim. Though it did give her something else to think about.

For the first time in years... she was no longer on the run. She could go home.

But with two decades of lies and conspiracy laid against her name... was her home even safe to return to anymore?

And now that she was unmistakably a dark fae, how in the world would the people react to her once they found out?

Giselle finally realized that she had spent so long living her life on the run that it never once occurred to her what she wanted to do once she’d stopped.