Hours had passed as the contingency of warriors continued to fight against the epidemic of hell spawn surged through the cracks in the Void. Kiba stayed at the forefront of his warriors in effort to keep their morale up. It was not an easy feat. Despite the grand work that the fighters were doing, it seemed as if the enemies would not let up. From beneath the deity gifted helm, the diowolf could see that off to his left flank were the Jiyu clan hunters. Creatures of demonic origin fought alongside those of Revaliir. If he had not seen with his own eyes that they were devouring the enemy he would not have believed it that they were on the side of good.

His white armor had lost his sheen long ago as the blood of his accursed enemies now coated it. Black dripped from him as his arm swung more heavily to cleave a ‘centipede’ in half. Each of these creatures had the ability to burrow deep in the subconscious of the strong warriors for nightmares to take hold. He only hoped that there were more mind healers like Alairia in the camp. They would all need the help if they survived this war.

The centipede crumpled to the ground, leaving Kiba standing above the corpse to catch his breath. Helm peeled away from his face to expose just his head. Fresh air chilled him as the formed sweat cooled his face off instantly. With bi-colored eyes he could see the auras of his people around him beginning to tire at a faster rate. Kiba allowed himself a moment to close his eyes to settle his nerves. Something had to be done to finish this battle. At least a reprieve. He had given orders for his soldiers to work in shifts. With this pattern it was becoming easier to keep his troops fresh…even if they didn’t feel like it. Only a select few had been too stubborn to not leave the field of battle. They were his family. He looked over at where Isleen, Dae, and Ethan were taking up their positions. None of them had faltered during this entire engagement. His gaze lifted towards the skies where Kythe, Raith and Kieran were taking up their own battle from above.

A small smile lingered on his lips as he thought about the sheer tenacity that made up the Family. Teu and Alairia were within the protective barrier to tend to those that were injured and needed rest. The pair refreshing the warriors for them to get back to their jobs fighting. No hesitation was sensed from the guild members as they were asked to go to war for the world. Kiba was proud of them all. The diowolf had taken note of the small woman who often kept herself, even if she was unnoticed by most he saw her. Attie was her name. And even if she was young and out of the way, she never seemed to shy away from being one of the first to throw her weight into a situation.

Yes, the guild was doing well. Kiba rolled his neck to feel a few cracks in his neck. A thundering rippled through the ground beneath his feet. It only allowed a mere second for Kiba to turn his head to see a giant grotesque amalgam thunder towards him. There was no time for him to think his helm back into place before two of the many limbs of the creature grasped him around the throat. The diowolf was lifted into the air as if he weighed nothing more than a babe. Sapphire sword came down in effort to cut off his assailants arm for release, but it was not to work.

Throat burned as oxygen had no ability to pass through his windpipe. Kiba could feel his throat being crushed as the disgusting face breathed hot upon his own face. The diowolf glared with extreme hate at his attacker. He knew he had to do something to get out of the grip, but his sight was already heavily blurred. Lungs cried out for oxygen to sustain his consciousness. He couldn’t fulfill that request. Kiba wondered if he was to hear a crack of his neck.

Eyes rolled into the back of his head.

Blackness.

Everything was black.


……..
…………

An ethereal Kiba stood looking around as he felt nothing. There was no world around him. Nothing. It was nothing but darkness for all stretches around him except for the light given off by his own see-through body. ”By the gods…I’m dead….”

This war could rip apart hope and take the lives of anyone she cared about.

War was a very real part of life and the deaths that it took with it… balanced out the life that would come afterward.

Soldiers would go home to their wives and from there the new cycle of children would begin. Life and death balanced themselves.

However, there were times in the world where life and death crossed and deals were made for souls of the damned or dead.

Serafina sat across from her now and the goddess had no clue how the new goddess would be. If Angela would want to save a life then she would need to act before the soul entered hell.

The skies filled with a glittering green magic essence. The magic shot from the skies and ran through Kiba’s body. The blast caused all the eldritch to fly back but her work wasn’t done just yet. She could bring him back all day and the result would be the same.

A visage of fireflies appeared before Kiba’s soul. The darkness of the soul-stream was deliberate. “You didn’t think you would go unnoticed did you?” The fireflies formed into the goddess and she held out her one hand. “Your time isn’t done here in this world Kiba Balatro, not by a long shot. However, when you wake up your heart will be pierced and you will be sent into the farthest reaches where not even I can reach you this time.”

Her voice grew more gentle as she held out both of her hands. “The choice is of course yours. You can choose to take a risk or you can become so much more.” The loss of Serci still hurt her heart but she needed someone who could ground her and with the loss of Kiba she was taken a chance on him. “If you want to take this chance…”

She brought her hands together and sand formed. “Then take it.” The red-haired goddess looked like she was going to drop the sand. “Take this gift. Rise as my Artificer. Let my power rage through you.”

Kiba felt no panic while he stood silently in the darkness. There was an eerie calm that the diowolf had not expected in death. He knew that he was on his way to death for there was little way for him to have survived that encounter. The feel of his life being literally squeezed out of him. Glowing hands lifted to touch where the creature had just momentarily ago crushed. How quickly had the life been taken away from him after all of these years? His brows knit together as he still did not feel the panic at how his entire family was being left behind. They were still battling for their very lives as he waited in the darkness. Would they join him?

A light, albeit unnecessary breath was taken. If an emotion of ‘panic’ could be felt it was at the thought of his family appearing in the soul stream as well. Who had seen his death come about? It was possible that none had seen a thing since the battle was hectic. He could feel his teeth clench tightly.

There was no telling how long he had been in the darkness only illuminated by his own light. Glances became frantic as he attempted to find an exit to return to his body. To the world. To his family. The diowolf could start to feel emotions beginning to well up inside of him that he had thought already ripped away. That calmness was being dashed against the rocks like those on the shore of a giant ocean.

Turning around in response to a growing light, Kiba threw his shoulders back in defiance to whatever wanted to take him on to the next step. He would not go. He would not leave the possibility of going home. His defiant features turned to surprise as fireflies formed before him. A familiar voice softly spoke in the darkness as a body began to form. The red haired goddess that he deemed to title friend. A sense of relief along with dread settled in the bit of his wraithlike chest. Was she there to tell him that this was unfortunate? That this was an end in the saddest of ways?

”I doubt much gets passed you, Ang,” he managed to respond with a light humor to his tone. The words she spoke gave him hope; sparking the defiance towards death once more in him. With Angela’s arrival that meant there was a chance for him. Gaze narrowed at the hands that were out stretched. A choice was given. If he did not take this chance that she gave, even if he were to awaken… his heart was pierced.

Take her hands. Accept the gift she proffered to become stronger than before. To fight his enemies and protect those he cared about. He was staring at the sand that she offered. Lifting his gaze from it to look her eyes. ”I take this offer freely. Willingly. I don’t take it just to be back amongst the living; it is also to be of service. You will not regret this choice.” Kiba smiled at her and raised out a hand with palm down.

In an instant the sand reacted to his call to form a giant sword that fit perfectly to him. A satisfied grin spread across his lips that spoke of his readiness for the battlefield again. He looked up from his new weapon to Angela. ”Well, you may regret it. But I’m sure we will work on that later.” Holding his newly acquired weapon to the side, Kiba leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. ”See you on the other side, my goddess,” he said with a wink.

……

The ground surged upward. Earth rippled around the body of Kiba as he stood up with his sword clutched in hand. His divine armor was white once more as if nothing had been done to it. The diowolf flipped his new sword over in his hand a few times to get the feel for it in his caporal hands. He looked over the field to see another wave that was about to come upon him. A wolfish grin spread across his face. ”I came with upgrades,” he hissed.

Crouching slightly, Kiba kicked off the ground. It was as if air had only been there for the speed he now possessed was beyond what he could have even imagined. Creatures of all kinds lay before him. The Champion of Life’s eyes flashed a green that brought forth giant roots to shoot up from the ground. Kiba cleared his enemies with easy as they were held firmly to the ground.

It took little time, and now there was a sense of calm again in his chest. He stood silently with his new weapon and his clean armor. Nothing hurt, but he felt a tug at the edges of his senses. Turning his head, Kiba followed that tug that brought him to a protected area.

There she was. Kiba banished away the helm to expose his clean face where a smile rested softly on his lips. ”You seem to have made a rather intense decision, my friend. I thank you.” He bowed deeply at the waist all while his new weapon was called into one of the siphons that rested in the back of his gauntlet. There it glowed blue as it waited for when its master would call upon it again. ”You know you did not need to do that. I was willing to accept me fate….ish. Well, not really, but thank you for making it easier for me.”

The humor was appreciated and the goddess offered but a quiet smirk. She had doubts he could tell through the swarm of fireflies she was smirking though. “Oh… I don’t think I’ll regret it too much. If anything you might find yourself taking a bit too much of a bite for your own good.”

The kiss felt warm and she was once again reminded this was a good idea. She needed to be tied down to the mortal stream and it helped that Kiba was a dear friend. “Soon my Champion.”

She let him leave the soul-stream with a renewed power. It would take him a bit to learn how to use the primal depth of her abilities. She sat on a stool within her tent at the base. Wearing a deep cut white halter with a gold rope tied around the waist. The deep cut went to her navel. Her long red curls were flowing to the floor as she read an alchemy report of the seeds that had been handed out.

“I never said taking my powers would be easy,” her words were gentle as her green and red eyes looked up at him from the report. “I figured it is the least I could do for the man who saw me at my worst time. You are an excellent man and it would be a shame to just let you slip away so easily.”

Her eyes watched the sand disappear. “I think the Divine Sands will be of great use to you. You have much to discover about the depths of its power Kiba.” She slipped off the stood and let her bare feet touch the carpet beneath as she put the report down. “Rise,” she cupped his face and brought him up. “I am just as much your responsibility as you are mine now.”

Pressing her lips to his forehead she brushed his hair with her fingers lightly. “But, your adrenaline is about to go away. That is when you are going to realize the extent of what you just signed up for. My power of life is a lot more primal than you might be used to. Listening to the voices of all is our job. From the tiniest blade of grass to the largest creature on this planet.”

She grabbed her obsidian staff and beckoned him. “Come with me.” She walked him out of the tent and took him by the shoulder. The earth swallowed them whole and they reappeared in a hoard of the eldritch beings. Angela tapped the staff into the dirt and the grass and flowers bloomed and exploded to life behind them. Plants entangled all the creatures until they couldn’t move.

“You’ll want to take off your shoes and go barefoot. This will be an impromptu learning experience for you… Your heart rate has calmed down and your senses are beginning to dull. This is when you are going to be the most vulnerable to my powers.”

”You're stepping on us.”

”Hey, you can hear us… Hey you.”

”Ouch… Mister get off.”

The voices were loud. Angela took a moment and breathed in deeply. “Be nice everyone.” She turned to Kiba. “The grass tends to be obnoxious. You aren’t actually hurting them. The more you get used to it, the more you can ignore it unless you actually need their help.”

Senses were still askew from having actually have died. Resurrection was not easy upon the body as he was now finding. The newly appointed Champion was not feeling the adrenaline in his blood as his mind began to settle while in the goddess’s presence. There was still a lingering ache within in his chest where the pierce of his heart had happened. Kiba took a steadying breath as all that had happened began to be remembered. The Soul Stream. The darkness. The Calm. Kiba felt his jaw muscles fluttered at the remembrance, though he did his best to brush it away. In the back of his mind he had heard the scream of his daughter from a distance, though he was unsure if that had truly happened. He should be back on the field to make sure his family was safe. That they understood that he was unharmed in the end. Had any of them seen him brought down by the monstrosity? He needed to get back to reassure them if they had.

When looking upon Angela in the tent within the base, he felt a certain calm. It was not the same as the one in the darkness. This one was a sense of completion with the enormous power that had been bestowed upon him. It was a blessed gift, and not one he wanted to squander. What concerned him was what those outside the inner circle of knowing would think about the fact he has now been selected twice. Kiba let out a heavy sigh as the situation continued to weigh upon him.

His gaze lifted from the grass under his feet towards Angela. ”I am appreciative that you think such highly accounts of me. It is more than I believe I deserve.” He stood up straight as she urged him to do so. Kiba felt her press a light kiss on his forehead before he stood up completely straight. ”It is important for me to make sure that you are safe, but also that my family is. I don’t know who saw me fall. I worry that they will think I am still gone. Through with your blessing, I am given back to them.”

Kiba followed Angela’s movements as she grasped her obsidian staff. Though he wanted to return to his family, he was bound for Angela’s side until things were settled. He held his breath as Angela pulled them over to a new area on the field. Kiba could feel the hair on the back of his neck began to stand as if he were in his wolven form. Watching her power do what he had just done moments ago with a larger more powerful scale was fascinating.

He glanced about to see what was going on for the war of the monstrosities. A little too frantically he searched the field for his family, and still he did not lay eyes upon them. The newly appointed Champion looked to his Matron to listen to her words. With one thought the bottoms of his feet were banished of armor to allow his skin direct contact with the grass.

Voices filled in his mind that seemed louder than he could handle at the moment. A retreated step was taken which only brought forth more proclamations of protest. ”That is the grass?” he questioned with a sense of disbelief. ”To hear it all the time….is that what I am in for?” Kiba turned his gaze from the grass up to Angela, as if hoping that she would reassure him that he wouldn’t. Much power had been given to him; only a shadow of hope allowed Kiba to think he could deal with it all.

“I am safe I promise. If I’m not safe there is a larger issue at play. Try not to worry about my safety.” There was a gentle smile from her lips as she nodded about his family. “I am sure that if they saw you then they also saw your rebirth. We’ll get them to you as soon as we can.”

Once they were on the combat field she watched with interest as he became accustomed to his new power. “Only if you dare wish it.” There was a chuckle from her as she looked down. “With self-restraint and constant awareness you can will their voices away. I believe humans call it selective hearing but this will be on a magical scale. The grass is dramatic though… Like I said you aren’t really hurting them. This new power of yours will help you with your surroundings. The plants are ever eager to be heard and the information good or bad can help you. It will be up to you to decide if what they have to say will be of use.”

She planted the staff and leaned on it as she watched Kiba with interest. “You are an ever-important part of me. Serci was a very dear friend but I was pulling the punches considerably. I’ve given to you the most power I can give a mortal without fear of your body failing. My powers are yours… My drink of life is yours… For all intents and purposes you are just as immortal as I am, but not quite on a god level.”

Her eyes looked up to the creatures she had stopped and the barrier where now creatures beat against it. “This power is primal like I said before. It is difficult to wield and even harder to control in a group of people. Mastering its control can turn the tide of battle. Earth is powerful since it is in most living things. Life even more so. You might even find that love is useful every now and again. Using it you can gauge just how much someone is a friend or foe. It will better your judgment for who to trust and who not to trust. The practical uses for all the weapons I am giving you are huge in number and it will be your job to figure out what ones are useful… but even the tiniest fly has its moments where it is needed in the web of life.” She warned gently.

“Now, to have control of earth is normally easy but we’re talking primal earth. The deepest meanings of life.” She stepped away from her staff and positioned herself next to Kiba. Her hands were nimble and soft as she positioned him in almost a fighting stance. Using her feet she kicked them into the right spacing gently. “The people of the desert use the sands to their advantage. Their martial arts are among those I studied when I was very young.”

She raised his arms into position. “It is said they are the closest children of the earth because they feel with everything. Their senses are sharp and they can even know the number of grains in the sand they hold.” She mimicked the position she put him in and was swift with her legs and arms. The earth rose and fell as quickly as her limbs. Depending on how sharp she moved them was how sharp the earth she used. “Your mental capability can even allow you to form sharps… or even cause the earth to spew.” Another quick movement had sent a boulder flying from the earth and it hit one of the frozen enemies. It broke loose and charged after Angela but she didn’t hesitate or move where it was unnecessary. “All of the earth is useful.” She dipped low and held her hands together pointing her fingers up as she jabbed forward towards the beast. Vines shot out and stabbed it several times as she came back up and circled hands. The vines followed the movements until the beast was down.

“The Soul-Stream exists in everyone and everything. Guiding the life force and the earth qualities we can call to aid what others cannot.” She released her position and turned back to Kiba. “How you dance and how you summon the earth is up to you but these powers I am giving to you… Know no other so you are on your own if I don’t teach you.”

A tight mouthed smirk was his response about her being ‘safe.’ There was no such thing when it came to the goddess. She was more than capable, and yet there was always an entity of sorts targeting her and her family. No matter what kind of peace appeared to be in place for Revaliir there was a loom of darkness waiting for Angela despite whatever she may say.

Kiba hoped with every piece of his entity that the cry out he had heard merely was a figment of his imagination as he and slipped away into death. The diowolf worried that it had been Isleen; that she had seen the slaughter that had taken place. Again, he glanced down at his form to see how perfectly his injuries had been sewn together. Not a scar from his encounter lingered on his skin. Too many of the Family were on that battle field to witness what had happened. No. Angela was right. They would see him soon safe on the field of battle. That he was alive and well enough to continue on. That he was at the side of the goddess of life. Hopefully they would feel the new power that flowed through his veins. It roiled at the thought of it, and wished to be unleashed once again upon the enemy.

The diowolf took a steadying breath repeatedly as he attempted to calm the newly graced powers. Angela had certainly not held back when she had brought him into her kingdom. To hear all of the earth. To hear the living creatures at all times…even the (apparently) mouthy grass was going to take time to get used to. Again he wondered about what it would be like within the Hall of Nosse. The entire location was still overgrown with the forest. It was sheer hope and desperate will that he would be able to find some sleep with the potential constant chatter. “Then I have found some new allies with surveillance. That is good to hear,” he chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood as well as his heart. Much needed to be adjusted in his life to take on new power. It reminded him greatly of when he had ascended to the Lord of the Heavens on DaeLuin. Much changed.

As she spoke, the newly appointed Champion toed the grass to hear their protest. A childish grin crossed his lips as he heard the protests. His head jerked up as Angela explained more thoroughly what she had passed on to him. “You are joking….surely you are.” If she had really transferred that much power on to him…Kiba shook his head. That was much more than he deserved. “Ang…I mean, Lady Angela….you shouldn’t have done that.” The expression that he gave her was one of sheer gratefulness as well as adoration. There was only one way to explain her doing what she did: she trusted him that much to trust him with the powers. Kiba clicked his tongue when he finally gave her a smile that a brother would give a sister. A smile that a guardian would give his precious ward.

He listened carefully as instructions were given. The Champion was glad that she had decided to train him in the powers first before having him among family. There was a great chance he could accidentally hurt one of them with his newly acquired abilities. He needed some sort of coaching before being with them again. With great intent he listened to her every word. A slight brow lift at her mention of gauging friend or foe with the sense of Love. That was an interesting way to hone such a gift.

Angela manipulated his form like he was a young apprentice again. It made him inwardly chuckle as he followed her direction. He held his form as she provided demonstration against the enemy, not moving as it charged free from its bonds. “Well, I guess I better learn from you then. I will follow your direction and will,” he finally said with no joking tone. She was his goddess. She was his matron lady, to follow wherever she deemed. There were blood oaths; powerful bonds between leaders and their followers. What had been forged today was much more potent.

His bi-colored eyes focused on the creatures still bound in earth before them. Pulling deep from the well of power he now owned, similar moves were made to what Angela had done. Earth began to groan and shift to his call. Spikes of earth uprooted from below the large creatures to spear them through their craniums. Their life blood dripped down the earth weapon. Kiba had not expected to feel their life slipping away as they died. In this case, he revealed in it.