Redmane saw his family anew in the silent cavern.

  The air was cool and damp, carrying the faint mineral tang of stone and water. The subterranean lake surrounding the Seal stretched out in all directions, its surface smooth as obsidian, reflecting the faint, otherworldly glow of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the cavern walls. The light shimmered in hues of blue and green, casting rippling patterns on the jagged ceiling far above, where stalactites hung like the teeth of a primordial beast.

  Flora’s huge face hovered before him, her form ethereal and radiant. Her presence was both comforting and alien, a projection of power that seemed to hum faintly, like the vibration of a plucked string. And even though it was plain that her physical self was not present with them, her scent was here as well as her image, faintly floral, like the first bloom of spring after a long winter, but beneath it was something sharper, almost electric, like the ozone before a storm.

  Vos, on the other hand, looked as though he’d seen a ghost. His face was pale, his wide eyes reflecting the cavern’s eerie light. His breath came in shallow, uneven bursts, and the faint scent of sweat and fear clung to him. Redmane could see the tension in his son’s shoulders, the way his fist clenched around the hilt of his golden sword, as if he were bracing himself for a blow. The younger god’s presence was a stark contrast to Flora’s—raw, untamed, and crackling with barely contained energy, like a storm cloud ready to burst.

  Or perhaps a cornered animal prepared to fight or flee.

  But Redmane’s third eye told him more. Or rather, it showed him.

  Flora had transformed. This apparition hovering before him was but a projection. A tiny expression of a vast power. She had assimilated something new in the same way he consumed monsters for their strength, digesting their Skills into his own pattern. Only this was a much larger acquisition of power. The air around her seemed to hum with it, a low, resonant frequency that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The faint scent of ozone grew stronger, mingling with the floral aroma, and the light around her flickered, as if struggling to contain her radiance.

  Submerged in the darkness, he’d reached the fullness of his strength, and he’d awoken to find her his equal. The cavern seemed to acknowledge this shift, the air growing heavier, the faint echoes of dripping water fading into silence. Even the lake seemed to still, its surface becoming a perfect mirror, reflecting the glowing fungi and the towering figures standing on the island.

  And then there was Vos.

  Redmane saw deeper than the shocked expression on his face. Beyond it. He could see the chain of causal links which gave rise to that expression. In short, he was looking directly into the soul of his son. And through it, he perceived reflections of their past.

  The scent of pine and earth filled his nostrils, memories of a forest long gone, where he had once stood as the lord of all beasts. The taste of iron lingered on his tongue, a reminder of battles fought and blood spilled. He could feel the weight of Vos’s gaze, heavy with accusation and fear, and the faint, acrid tang of betrayal hung in the air between them.

  For any progress to be achieved, father had to be destroyed and remade.

  The thought echoed in his mind, sharp and clear, like the crack of a whip. The cavern seemed to hold its breath, the air growing still and heavy, as if the very stones were waiting for his decision. The faint sound of water dripping in the distance grew louder, each drop a reminder to Vos of the passage of time, of the inevitability of change.

  And of the totality of his failure.

  “You didn’t fail,” said Redmane, his voice low and resonant, carrying through the cavern like the rumble of distant thunder. The words seemed to hang in the air, their weight pressing down on the island, on the lake, on the very fabric of the world.

  The younger god’s eyes softened for an instant before the hostility returned to them. Vos’s jaw tightened, and the faint scent of anger—sharp and metallic—filled the air. “Kind of you to say so,” he replied, his voice tight, “but that is not what I see.”

  Flora’s huge translucent face rotated toward Vos then. Her eyes had widened slightly, her lips parted, and her entire face froze for a moment, as if time itself had paused. The image rippled, like the surface of a pool disturbed by a sudden drop of water. The air around her seemed to shimmer, and the faint hum of her power grew louder, vibrating in Redmane’s chest.

  Her brows had furrowed slightly, and her gaze became distant, as if she were searching through the fog of forgotten memories. Her head tilted ever so slightly, like a flower turning toward an unfamiliar light. A flicker of something familiar crossed her face—her eyes softened, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile began to form. It wasn’t yet a full smile, but the beginnings of one, as if a seed had been planted and was just starting to sprout.

  Her face flooded with a mix of joy, sorrow, and longing. Glowing tears welled up in her eyes but did not fall. Her smile grew warmer, but there was a sadness in it, too, as if she were mourning the time they had lost. The air around her seemed to grow warmer, carrying the faint scent of blooming flowers and fresh rain.

  “So… Thou art mine long lost child,” she said, her voice echoing off the walls of the cavern, rich and melodic, like the tolling of a bell. “I wish I could remember more of thee. But now we art together once more, and there is time aplenty to make fresh memories.”

  Redmane noted the shock in Vos’s expression with some amusement. The younger god’s eyes widened, and the faint scent of confusion filled the air. Evidently, the parents he remembered differed somewhat from the ones who stood before him now.

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  He stared up at the projection of her face, confused and conflicted. Redmane sensed regret in his heart.

  Flora appeared to make the same assessment, as her smile spread and grew warmer.

  "O my son. Whatsoever thou hast done in times past, let it remain there. All is forgiven. We three, and this our world, do now face a mighty peril, and we must stand together against it."

  Vos continued to stare mutely for a moment. There was a stricken look in his eyes.

  He shook his head. “I can’t,” he said, the two words clipped. The rest held back.

  Flora’s eyes softened further, and her luminous form radiated warmth that seemed to fill the cavern. She tilted her head slightly, her voice a soothing melody that echoed through the stillness.

  “Thou art not the same as thou wert, nor art we. Let us not be shackled by what was, but rise together to face what shall be.”

  The image of her face shimmered and vanished, and in its place a new apparition walked out of the darkness toward them, a translucent blue image of Flora at her normal size. She approached Vos and her hand, though spectral, reached out to touch his cheek, the air around it rippling with gentle energy.

  “Thy burden is heavy, my child, yet it need not be borne alone. Forgiveness is not a weight to carry, but a release—a balm to heal the wounds of the past.”

  She paused, her gaze steady and unwavering. Then she approached Redmane, and even though her form was completely incorporeal he felt the touch of her fingertips on his arm, and as she leaned against him her scent filled his head with peaceful feelings.

  She smiled again at Vos and said, “If thou wilt allow it, we would stand beside thee anew, not as judges or rulers, but as those who would be thy parents. The choice is thine, my son. Wilt thou let us try?”

  Redmane’s eyebrow rose. He had made no such offer. But then again he wasn’t completely against it. He glanced down at the blue spectre of his wife and she flashed him a knowing, sidelong smile.

  Did she know him better now? Better than he knew himself?

  If it were anyone else, the thought would have been most troubling.

  Vos, meanwhile, digested her words of entreaty in stunned silence. His gaze shifted from her eyes to his, and Redmane shrugged a shoulder.

  “What she said about the Numantians is true. They’re conquerors and despoilers, and they are here to make a wasteland of Volos. It would be well, for now at least, to put aside whatever you thought of us and fight them.”

  Somewhere in the dark, droplets of water dripped rhythmically onto a stone. As if the cavern itself were counting the moments Vos deliberated in silence.

  At last, he gave a curt nod.

  “I’ll help,” he said.

  Flora beamed.

  She turned to smile up at Redmane, but then something seemed to interrupt her train of thought when she saw him. Whatever it was, it made her smirk.

  “Ah. I appear to have been remiss in my duties. Thy profile art improperly calculated, mine husband. Let me make a few simple corrections…”

  She squinted at a point in the middle distance, at something neither Redmane nor Vos could see. Redmane felt a faint tingling throughout his body.

  And then his new System screen opened itself.

  —

  Redmane

  Primordial Divinity (Class One)

  Level 510

  Qualities:

  Might 170

  Grace 170

  Fortitude 170

  Armor 63

  Evasion 62

  Skills:

  Devourer

  God Body of the Lord of Hunger

  Claws of the Exalted Hunter

  Naturalborn of the Abyss

  Voice of the Beastlord

  Flame of Redmane

  Wrath of Redmane

  Nightmare Aura

  Astral Hunter

  Astral Stalker

  Shaman’s Heal

  Flicker

  Phantasm

  Ray of Petrification

  Sight Beyond Sight

  Horn of the Kirin

  Airwalk

  Doombolt

  Command Presence

  Unbreakable Bones of Star-Steel

  God Slayer’s Arsenal

  —

  His eyebrows rose. “How did you…”

  Flora grinned, her eyes alight with purpose. “O, there is much to unfold, mine husband, and much to be done! Fear not, for I shall unravel all when time doth grant us breath to speak. Yet now, haste must be our master, for I must guide thee both to the fray. Our allies, steadfast though they be, do strain to hold the line in thy absence.”

  Redmane glanced at Vos, who nodded curtly.

  But as his son turned to make his way back through the caverns to the surface, Redmane realized he didn’t have to move this body.

  For he was all of his bodies now.

  It occurred to him the moment he directed his perception toward one of the little birds he’d crafted to spread the Flame of Redmane.

  He was all of them. And all of the little creatures he’d created earlier, to scout out the area.

  It was different than before. His spawn, though mostly unintelligent, had what felt to Redmane like autonomy. He would peer through their eyes as if looking out a nearby window. Now he could see everything all at once. Because he was everywhere.

  And all of his Corpus was everywhere, somehow.

  He could turn every little bird and lizard scuttling about this place into a full copy of himself, with all his powers intact and ready.

  For a moment he was tempted to do precisely that. But then he had a better idea.

  Devourer had evolved.

  And with it, he had gained perhaps his most fearsome method of eating yet.

  Of the hundred some-odd lizards he’d spawned to serve as scouts, roughly eighty remained. As did the ten little birds he created to spread his Flame.

  Ninety small creatures, all throughout the black city, located the nearest Numantian detachment and charged at the nearest body.

  And merged with it.

  Corpus: 109,277

  Ninety legionnaires throughout the ancient city, in the midst of their squads and formations, suddenly became ninety Redmanes. Who immediately laid into their former comrades with teeth and claws, blades of sinew, each the bearer of an arsenal of flesh and bone.

  He spawned Pietr and Dobrogost anew, for they had fallen in battle.

  He re-spawned Vang, Zorn, Nuk and Throk.

  He spawned the Ice Warg, Gale.

  And then he spawned the Five Heroes. Belskaya, Danesti, Vasarab, Braga and Holt.

  They appeared all around one of him, stunned at the new image of their lord. The latter five especially so.

  But before he could speak, Flora appeared once again to offer aid to them all.

  The image of her flitted by Redmane for a moment, smiled mysteriously, and then vanished.

  When she coalesced again, she was immense.

  She towered over all the city beneath her, the image of a goddess, her blue hair draping outward over it like a great soothing curtain. Her giant spectral hand appeared and waved over the tops of the buildings, and a moment later her trees began to break through the ground, trunks black as the stone streets and buildings they were rupturing, and as they rocketed toward the sky their limbs bloomed into luminous blue canopies which offered shade to this desert for the first time in eons.

  And with the trees, and the magic thrumming through their trunks and roots, Redmane felt a palpable aura of power throughout the city.

  Gnosis: 1545

  Gnosis: 1637

  Gnosis: 1774

  His eyes widened…

  Just as the immense ghost of Flora flickered and vanished from the ancient city, he heard her voice in his mind.

  Make haste, mine husband. Our mortal allies need you.

  He momentarily saw a mental image of Jarel Craith standing over the bodies of his Imbued compatriots, a gleaming, bloodied Star-Steel blade in his hand.

  And he leapt in that direction from several different places.