Phoenix was still holding Paul’s hand as she knelt in the slush beside him. The conversation between the Cleric and goddess had been confusing at best and deeply concerning at worst.

  Schor wanted to cage Paul’s soul? Why? How? Was it like Everin said where death would be kinder? Or was it the only chance for her to keep her dad by her side? Would it be cruel to keep him alive if it meant twisting him in that way?

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Everin tossing an item to her, ciming it as Paul’s share of the loot, and her [Guide Book] was more than happy to identify it for her.

  Item: Dragon Spirit Gem

  A magical gem containing the spiritual concept of a dragon made manifest.

  Caste: Ruby.

  Avaibility: Rare.

  Type: Consumable, ingredient.

  Requirements: Ruby Caste with less than 10 unlocked cultivating abilities.

  Effect: Further enhances a random cultivating ability, unlocking additional effects; weighted towards the most suitable ability avaible.

  Well, that would be nice at Ruby. She gnced down at the man sleeping before her, brushing the snow from the locks of hair now reminiscent of her own. Her hope that he would be able to see her use the gem one day, as she already knew he would insist on it since he couldn’t use it anyway, and her determination to make sure he saw that day was renewed with a fierce fervor.

  “Avatar?!” Everin practically shouted at the small goddess, and she found her attention returning to the pair, who were her only hope to see that future with her dad. Phoenix wasn’t sure what exactly was happening as Everin seemed to make some kind of vow that apparently wasn’t an Oathbond based on Schor’s words.

  She winced in sympathetic pain as the goddess hugged Everin, and he screamed. Eventually, his voice simply gave out, but his body still seemed trapped in a rictus grip of agony even as he began glowing brightly.

  Her aura had been expanded like it usually was when not in the city, and her book helped to inform her about some of the changes that were taking pce within the poor Cleric.

  Everin Starrk has cultivated a Natural Talent.

  Natural Talent: Divine Vessel

  Cultivated from [Illusion Attunement] due to unlocking the Life Aspect.

  Cultivated from [Spirit Attunement] due to Schor’s Blessing.

  Increased resistance to negative Illusion, Life, and Radiant effects. Illusion, Life, and Radiant abilities have increased effects.Your physical body has been reinforced to contain Divine entities for a short duration and long cooldown.When acting as a vessel for a Divine entity, you gain the following effects:You have greatly increased resistances and attributes.Your abilities have no cost or cooldown.You become attuned to every magic type.You are bound to their area of influence, unable to leave it. This effect overrides Banish or Summon abilities.You can perform rituals and cantrips with mana in pce of any common or uncommon component requirements.

  Everin Starrk has gained a new Divine Title.

  New Divine Title: Avatar of the Schor

  Your aura has been altered by the divine entity: Schor. The alteration has enhanced the strength of your aura, increasing its range and resistance to effects from higher Castes. Your appearance has been altered. People can sense your desire to seek new knowledge and act as an instrument of the divine through your aura.

  Then the deity’s tiny self-projection was glowing, too, getting brighter and brighter, and swirling with rainbow colors until the two silhouettes seemed to merge and blend together into one being.

  When the light finally solidified and dimmed, she was shocked by the figure kneeling in the thin yer of snow where the white-furred and silver-haired voxen once stood. It looked like someone, perhaps a child-like deity, had taken the man who had once been bnk porcein and painted him with every color avaible. A child’s rainbow kitsune.

  The five tails that had all been as white as the snow falling upon them were now each a separate color; red, orange, yellow, green, and blue, and she vaguely wondered if purple would sprout once he reached Emerald 5 and got the sixth tail.

  His hair and hands were a swirled pattern of rainbows as well, giving him an almost tie-dye effect that she thought surprisingly suited the normally pyful man. His skin was still pale but flushed with the exertion that both his body and soul had just undergone.

  A moment ter, Everin opened his eyes, which had been a clear crystal blue that had reminded her of the ice on the tundra reflecting a clear sky, but now they were solid orbs of the swirling colors of the Radiant magic pouring out of them. Those rainbow eyes looked straight at her, and Everin spoke. Or Schor did? Phoenix wasn’t entirely sure who was talking as the voice seemed yered with both people speaking in perfect unison.

  “We must move quickly before this vessel burns,” the Avatar of the Schor said, already moving now, using the tip of a golden cw to draw magical runes in the air just above the wet ground around Paul. “You will need to be part of this for it to work, Phoenix.”

  “What is ‘this’, exactly?” she asked, standing along with Dazien to get out of the way of the swiftly drawing Radiant voxen.

  Then her book appeared with part of the answer, and she gave both the book and the goddess-infused man a wary gaze.

  New Quest: Assistant of the Avatar

  Everin Starrk, Avatar of the Schor and Cleric of the Rebel, needs your willing participation in an experimental ritual to save Paul Waynd.

  Objective: Participate in the ritual.

  Reward: Epic Spirit Gem.

  Now she was extremely suspicious of the connection the two might have. However, that suspicion was shoved aside when the Cleric—or rather Avatar now—added, “A very simplified expnation is that I’m going to try using one of the Soul Reaper’s rituals to Cage Paul Waynd’s soul to his own body with your soul as the anchor.”

  “Why does this say ‘experimental’?” Dazien asked over her shoulder a moment before she pnned to ask the same thing.

  The deity-controlled Caster didn’t slow down any of their movements but sounded slightly hesitant as they answered, “It’s never been done exactly like this before. While I’ve learned much whenever the Soul Reapers have been in my influence, we will all be learning something new by the end of this.”

  “What are you hoping will happen?” Phoenix asked, suddenly very uncertain about this whole thing despite not having any other option presenting itself.

  “What you described sounds like the retionship between a Familiar and Caster,” Uriel said from behind, having positioned himself between her and Dazien, “Will this turn him into one? Or something simir?”

  “I already have a Familiar, though,” she pointed out in confusion, feeling Ta currently nestled within her core; a constant, warm, and fluffy companion, who was right now very focused on staving off the coldness of her pessimistic terror.

  “I’ve heard of extreme cases where a Natural Talent cultivates into a Familiar power,” Uriel evenly expined, “Mostly bonded like a normal passive Familiar like Saiya’s. Nobody knows how to intentionally make something like that happen, though.”

  “This is different,” the Avatar stated, “Not a Familiar, but the bond is simir.”

  “How can you even do something like this?” Saiya asked from beside Uriel, having moved closer when he had to watch with them.

  Phoenix vaguely wondered where Rayna had gone and realized that the bard had likely been left to run the remaining distance since she hadn’t thought to make another portal.

  Her guilt was overshadowed by her fear, however, when she felt Paul’s aura waver. She looked down in the center of the in-progress ritual diagram to see bck ichor staining the snow and pooling around his body that was very obviously being slowly devoured by the void.

  Everin and Schor had already begun a second yer of intricate runes in the air above the first set. These ones seemed more eborate than she was used to seeing, like most of the Soul Reaper rituals she had come across, but that didn’t exactly instill confidence into her.

  “The benefit of having a mortal body to do things with is that I can bend some of the rules I’m normally bound by,” the goddess expined, “It costs more to cultivate an Avatar, but cheaper to inhabit their vessel instead of holding my own constructed form. However, my main reason for needing to do it this way was time; we don’t have enough of it.”

  As if to punctuate the words, Paul’s aura wavered again and seemed to start… unraveling.

  Phoenix had never felt that kind of sensation in an aura before and it was disturbing to the extreme—feeling utterly wrong. Her panic soared, and she could feel everyone else tense up. Dazien’s grip around her shoulders tightened, and he whispered, “What am I sensing? It feels… like his aura is fraying?”

  “Waynd is out of health,” Orebe telepathically said to all of them as she hovered on the other side of Paul from her.

  “Wait, doesn’t that mean he died?!” she asked incredulously.

  “Yes and no. Waynd’s body has died, but his soul is still separating from his body. The process takes longer the higher Caste one is unless a power like looting speeds it up by consuming the remnant magic within the physically constructed parts,” the Familiar expounded, “Technically, he is not considered truly dead until the soul has left this reality to pass beyond the Veil.”

  “Phoenix, grab the Soul Cage from over there and come stand where I show you,” the Avatar of the goddess said abruptly, now working on the third level of runes and Phoenix was starting to worry that everything was going to be for nothing if Paul’s soul vanished before this stupidly complex ritual could be written.

  This dread spurred her forward as she scrambled toward where Everin had left the device, using her [Ruler of Retivity] on it to close the distance even faster as it flew into her hand, and she moved into the section of the diagram that Schor had indicated.

  “How long do we have then, Be?” Phoenix asked the Familiar rather than risk distracting the busy deity-infused voxen.

  “This One is uncertain,” the Familiar answered, “This One has not witnessed a Ruby Caster’s aural death throes. It is likely longer than the fifteen minutes This One experienced with an Emerald Caster before.”

  To keep her mind occupied from her growing terror of having only a few minutes left to get this right she asked, “What’s the Veil?”

  “The border between this reality and others,” Orebe replied, “This One passes through it when This One gets summoned or is forced to return. This One does not go where most souls do, however.”

  She swallowed hard, not sure if she wanted the answer to her next question, “Where do most souls go?”

  “This One does not know,” she replied, and Phoenix could have sworn she heard sorrow in the monotone voice. “There are many different and conflicting stories This One has heard in this world about what awaits, and This One does not remember all the stories told in other realities.”

  “Let us hope none of us have reason to find out the truth of that right now,” Dazien interjected, and she noticed his gaze fixated on the too-still body lying on the cold metal. Those amethyst irises slid up to look straight into her own emerald ones, gssy with unshed tears, “He won’t be going there today, right?”

  If she had to travel to whatever hell, heaven, or underworld this universe had to drag Paul’s soul back to the realm of the living, she would be willing to die a thousand times to make sure it happened.

  Phoenix nodded resolutely, “Hopefully, never.”

  “If you gaze into my eyes when I start this, then you’ll know the words to speak with me,” Schor-Everin said, finishing the fourth yer of runes at that moment, “Do not step out of the circle. Only let go of that device when it does so on its own. Do not try to fight the magic, even if it feels like it’s shredding you into little pieces.”

  Her eyes went wide, but she nodded.

  “Wait, you never expined why you need Phoenix for this,” Uriel said suddenly, “Wouldn’t Everin be the better choice?”

  She should have expected the answer, but it still came as a surprise when the glowing rainbow eyes bore into hers, and the Avatar said, “Because she’ll probably die.”