“There has to be a way to restore it,” Ethan said to Tomo, and not for the first time. They were still in Valanor’s isolated yard, though the sun had long since set, and a few old glowglobes were now all that illuminated the quaint, well-tended lot. After discovering the first clear evidence of his lost healing ability, he’d spent the full day obsessing over it, but achieving little.

  “There very well may be,” the demon said. “Much is possible with magic, but you are at an extreme disadvantage. Ideally you should consult experts on the Astral, and runes, and the brand that took it from you. Even masters of healing, and skills. But any you speak with regarding this heretical power will be put at risk, or worse, will actually become the risk.”

  Ethan sighed. “You’re right. Figuring this out on my own has to be nearly impossible, but I don’t want to end up in front of the Church’s zealots again. I’ve been avoiding Abigail as is–I don’t trust myself not to do something violent.”

  “I said you were at a disadvantage, not that the task is ‘nearly impossible’, as you put it. The rune existed. It functioned. A shadow of it remains. You are not seeking to create something from nothing, simply restoring that which was lost.”

  Ethan looked at his Familiar, sitting comfortably with a spectral pipe. “You’re giving me a dangerous amount of hope,” he accused.

  “You will live a long time, Ethan Bishop, provided you become a more cautious man. Only your impatience is speaking now. Look again at what you have discovered, and tell me what you see.”

  Ethan did so, happy to do anything that felt like progress. His vision slipped into the Astral, which felt so natural now, and he realized it was starting to become almost as comfortable as the physical world. His Spiritual reflection was waiting for him as always, and held out its right hand readily for inspection.

  “I see the rune…sort of,” Ethan began.

  “Good, continue.”

  “It’s not properly connected,” Ethan continued. “It’s like it’s partially severed…but, it is a part of me. I can see threads between my Spirit and the rune.”

  “And what of the rune itself? What do you see? What do you feel?”

  Ethan tried to look closer. The more he focused, the more the Spiritual form seemed to solidify. “It’s…different somehow,” he said at last. “I was never able to see it like this before, but I used it enough to recognize how it used to feel to have my knowledge partitioned the way it was. It…doesn’t feel the same anymore.”

  “Can you explain how it has changed?” Tomo asked.

  “There’s a…flavor?” Ethan answered. “I don’t think I recognized it at the time, but I’m a lot more familiar with magic now than I was. I think it used to feel more like home.”

  “Home? Your world?”

  “Yes, though it’s hard to describe exactly. It always felt like science–like Earth, I guess, but it also felt like magic at the same time. Now I understand that it felt like Nexum; magic and this world are synonymous in my mind.”

  “That makes sense,” Tomo said, coming forward to look at the rune with him. “Skill runes are this world’s magic, but the knowledge and ability were of your world, and tied to the gift of your people for science and physical law. How is it different?”

  Ethan concentrated on the rune, its dark glow a subtle contrast against his Spirit, which was the yellow of the dawn’s rays. Incredibly, the rune seemed to react to his attention, and the three elements within it separated slightly. “It’s energy,” he said. “Three types of energy. There’s something cool and muted, which I recognize as Earth. Something bright and welcoming, which is how I think of this world. And something more…”

  “Potentia,” Tomo whispered. “I think I understand what happened.”

  Ethan let his eyes and mind relax, shifting back to the physical and looking at his Familiar curiously. “You’re right. It feels a bit like you. Why?”

  The demon ran a clawed hand along his scaled chin as he gathered his thoughts. “When your rune was destroyed, I believe it was likewise ruptured in the Astral, likely a reaction to the trauma and sudden disruption of the magic. This would have left it wounded, for lack of a better term. Vulnerable to…infection.”

  “Infection? You think Potentia infected my rune?” Ethan’s expression turned awkward. “No offense, but was it because of my Bond with you?”

  Tomo laughed. “My power is safely contained within your soul. You came by the taint of my world before we met.”

  “Oh right…Sorry. I guess visiting your home did more than I realized. I knew it was killing me, and I remember how that felt, but I suppose I didn’t understand that I was taking a piece of that place with me.”

  Tomo’s tone softened. “It is why you were so vulnerable to the lust for the Throne. You are not of Potentia, but you visited without any magical protections. It is a part of you now. Apparently it is now also a part of your rune.”

  “Okay, pushing that existential crisis to the back of my mind–with the rest of them–what does that mean for my healing? Do I need to cleanse it somehow?”

  Tomo was silent for a time, and Ethan sensed he wouldn’t like the answer. “I cannot say with certainty, but I know you lack the ability to manipulate the power of Potentia…at least in this world.”

  Ethan grimaced. “You’re saying we need to go back to that god-awful place?”

  “In a sense,” Tomo answered, drawing a curious expression from Ethan. “There is a safer way. You and I may commune once more.”

  Ethan felt his heart beating rapidly in his chest, and the chorus of whispers starting immediately. The Throne! The light! He angrily stomped them down, thankfully having grown used to the process.

  “What if we get trapped again?” he finally asked. “I don’t know if I can risk that…not even for something as important as this.”

  Surprisingly, Tomo placed one of his hands on Ethan’s shoulder. “We are past that, Ethan Bishop. I warned you long ago that such a communion between us was dangerous until you grew more powerful. You have done so. We have done so together. The control we’ll have over the communion at Dusk rank is incomparable to what we experienced before.”

  “Are you certain?” Ethan asked, hating the fear he heard in his voice. “We won’t feel the call?”

  Tomo smiled. “If we do, we shall fight it together.”

  Ethan let out a long breath. “Will this even work? I thought this was just disappearing into our own minds, don’t we need Potentia’s actual power?”

  Tomo cocked his head. “Communing is not of the mind, but of the Spirit, and of the Astral. Through your connection to me, we tap into the true power of my world with every communion. It is no different with Deevee or Revan. What you see is an isolated Astral realm, created within your soul. The power will be quite real, I assure you.”

  Ethan’s eyes slowly widened as he listened to that explanation. “That certainly explains why I was so influenced before. I thought it was just a shadow of your own desire for the…the Throne. But I was really connected to that place.”

  “It is also how we were able to grow in the cell,” Tomo explained. “When we commune, we can pull power from the Astral, just as we take it from the monsters you slay.”

  Ethan nodded. “I want to do this now,” he said suddenly. “I don’t want to think about it, build it up in my mind…give my fears a place to hide and multiply. I just want to do it.”

  Tomo looked concerned for him, but nodded. “Then we shall,” he whispered.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ***

  The blood red skies of Potentia were above him, and the rust colored land beneath. Ethan was flying, or hovering, thousands of feet into the air. He could see the dark world stretching out in every direction, but it was the smells that assailed him the most.

  He could taste this world. Immediately his mind went back to when he’d first arrived, waking up in his broken climbing gear, and almost immediately set upon by giant fire ants. Everything had just kept escalating from there, but one thing he’d never forget was the taste of the poisonous air in his lungs.

  After a moment he got his bearings, and realized that while he was in the sky, he wasn’t actually falling. With a start he saw that Tomo was suddenly here, right next to him.

  “This is…very different,” Ethan told the Familiar.

  “As I said, our control has increased,” Tomo said. “We are no longer at the mercy of this world, or its…urges.”

  Ethan let out a long, relieved breath, although he still found it tainted. “Okay, so what can we do here?”

  “Explore. This is not truly Potential, but rather a combination of our memories of it, brought to life by a connection to the real world through the Astral. You might consider it a simulation, but one built from very real power.”

  “That’s incredible,” Ethan said, looking out across the world as dark storm clouds passed overhead. “Well, should we go straight to the rune then?” he asked. “We might want to find a less distracting location.”

  “I placed us here to avoid overwhelming you with what lies below. But no, we should not engage with the rune yet. We’re here so you can become acclimated to this world’s energy. For that we must explore, and bear witness. You must learn to understand Potentia.”

  Ethan nodded reluctantly. “Fair enough. What is it I need to see?”

  In answer, the pair were suddenly swooping downward at alarming speeds, though Ethan couldn’t feel the air pressure or the wind. It was more like they were remaining still and the world was moving around them. He tried to force himself to enjoy the experience, doing mental gymnastics to avoid falling into patterns he knew would only reinforce the trauma he’d gone through in this place.

  He saw the sickly yellow forests, where the trees writhed and shifted with ominous purpose. They looked disturbingly as if they were more animal than plant. But Ethan made himself see them for the fascinating spectacle they were. He also tried not to remember the countless times he’d felt himself caught by those slippery tree limbs, and dragged into their thick sap to die slowly.

  He shook his head to banish the memories–they were Tomo’s after all, and not his pain to bear. Their journey continued, and as they swept across the world he saw the dark seas. The water was black, and impenetrable. Tomo had avoided it in all of his many past lives, recognizing it as an entirely different kingdom.

  In those vast depths, aquatic monsters battled and devoured one another with no less savagery than on the surface. More than once Ethan spotted a tentacle the size of a skyscraper surface, reaching for something, or already coiled around some prey. Another time a blunted, shark-like mouth emerged with another monster locked in its teeth. It was the size of a stadium.

  At last Tomo took him somewhere more familiar, as mountain ranges came into view. “I recognize this place,” he said. “It looks like where I first appeared.” They crossed the peaks, revealing a valley that was a dark reflection of the Viridus.

  It was as similar in some ways as it was different in others. The whole place was surrounded by impassable mountains, leaving a bowl-shaped impression in the middle. Ethan saw more of the terrible forests, and dark rivers running through the land and between hills. He had terrible deja vu, however, when he saw what lay in the center.

  It was a rift. It was the rift, sitting right in the heart of the valley, where Corvale was in Nexum. “I still don’t understand what that is,” Ethan said, staring in wonder.

  “I do not know,” Tomo replied. “I saw nothing like this in my time on Potentia.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “I can see Nexum through it, like any large rift, but I’ve been there–we are there,” he amended. “How can there be a one-sided rift, right on top of us? Why aren’t there demons pouring out of it?”

  “I have no answers, Ethan Bishop. This is only here because you remember it as such. I fear you will find few insights into this mystery.”

  “Right, understood,” Ethan said resignedly. “So where are we going?”

  “To see, and to learn. To connect that which you experienced, with that which you must come to understand. I will show you the nature of Potentia’s power.”

  Ethan kept quiet, watching the mysterious world fly by as they moved rapidly toward a nearby mountain that was eerily familiar. They swept closer to a ridge about two thirds up, where they halted suddenly. Ethan looked around, curious as to the significance of this particular spot, before his eyes widened as a rift opened.

  A naive and confused man fell through, crashing to the rock below. He lay unmoving, his bright yellow climbing gear standing out oddly against the cold red of the mountain. Ethan watched in fascination as he saw himself groan, and begin to rise. As he did so, holes began opening in the rock around him, the bulbous fire ants squeezing through.

  The past-Ethan jumped up suddenly when he spotted them, then immediately grabbed a large rock and began smashing the knee-high demons. “I barely remember this,” he told Tomo. “I was convinced it was a nightmare, and they were all dead before I really knew what was happening.”

  The other him finished the brutal work, then flattened himself against the mountainside, staring at the crushed insects in disbelief. After a few minutes he began to sidle away, wanting to distance himself from the horrors. That was when the scorpiursi appeared, it’s too many arachnid legs rapidly scaling the stone.

  “I could have lived another hundred lifetimes without seeing those horrible things again,” Ethan said, his face screwing up in open disgust.

  “They are the worst things I’ve ever seen,” Tomo agreed. “But it is not our concern for the moment.” As the other Ethan scrambled up the rock face in terror, the scorpiursi devoured the remains of the ants before following. Ethan expected to follow as well, but Tomo surprised him.

  “Look into the Astral,” he commanded. Ethan did so, suddenly curious. The experience was immediately odd, despite the time he’d spent doing the same in Nexum. There the magic had seemed to flow through the air like the wind, dancing through rays of light and only siffusing specific, magical objects or beings.

  Here the power was part of the world, not above it. The mountains, the earth below, it was a dim light, but the energy was everywhere. When Ethan looked to the ledge where he’d crushed the bugs, however, he saw something more. The scorpiursi had no doubt devoured most of what they contained, but a spark remained in each, something that couldn’t be taken so easily.

  He watched in fascination as the power was pulled back into the stone. He thought it would disappear then, like a drop of water in the ocean, but strangely not. Instead the power began to race away, and Tomo made them follow. It wasn’t a long journey, merely to a cave in the base of the mountain.

  They were pulled inside, following the lights as they were drawn ever deeper. Finally the cave opened into a larger chamber, already swarming with more of the demonic ants. The energy finally came to a stop in a pile of what Ethan could only describe as ‘goo’. As he watched, the bubbling liquid took shape, forming a small group of eggs, the energy gathered safely in each.

  “They’re being reborn,” he said, realizing he’d never believed it, despite what he’d seen in the cell.

  “Many are, though it is no guarantee,” Tomo said quietly. Almost reverentially. “Sometimes the weakest of us are simply destroyed. Other times the greatest among us will devour a demon so completely that they cease to be. Or maybe become something else. I do not truly know.”

  “This happened to you,” Ethan said, not asking.

  “More times than I can remember,” Tomo said. “The self that emerges after death is not always the same. Memories can return, however, with enough power.”

  Suddenly they were moving away again. “Where are we going?”

  “To see it again,” Tomo replied. “We are here for you to gain understanding over the power of Potentia. All I can offer is a chance to witness it at work.”

  And so they did. The demon took him to the last moments of many demons, where he saw the same cycle repeating itself. Something stronger–or simply more opportunistic–would destroy a demon, then take what power it could from the remains. More often than not, this would attract numerous other demons, tiny by comparison, who would feast on what was left like insects. And then, rebirth.

  It was a brutal existence, and Ethan found himself occasionally watching Tomo more than what he was being shown. He worried for his Familiar, his friend. How must it feel to see this again? How must it feel to have experienced it for lifetimes?

  Tomo assured him that less time had passed than he might fear, and so they stayed, watching and learning. They even returned to the first mountain, where Ethan saw the dead scorpiursi’s remains likewise swarmed by smaller creatures. Only the stone gorilla escaped such fate, it being nothing but melting snow after Champion Allyara had dispatched it.

  When it was at last time to leave, Ethan was surprised to realize that he had learned something of Potentia, even if it might take lifetimes before he’d have claimed to truly understand it. They finally left the communion, and Ethan wasted no time slipping back into the Astral, ignoring the fact that the sun had clearly set long ago.

  “I need to move quickly, while it’s fresh in my mind,” he said.

  “Did you get what you require?” Tomo asked, sounding tired and weak.

  “I think so,” Ethan replied. “It’s like I’ve been staring at a shape so long that I can see it everywhere. I don’t truly know what the energy is, or how it works, but I recognize it. And I think I recognize its purpose.”

  In a heartbeat his Spirit was back before him, rune held out and waiting. Ethan hastily went to work, his slight–but growing–mastery of the Astral focused entirely on that broken magic. Once more he saw the colors swirling, the three types all bound together and tangled in a strange mess.

  “You believe you can remove the touch of Potentia?” Tomo asked.

  Ethan grinned. “No. I don’t think I have the power to do that. I can’t fight the nature of this stuff–I don’t have the strength or the skill. But maybe I can encourage it to follow that nature. I think I can show it a path.”

  “I do not understand,” the demon said. “What are you doing?”

  Ethan’s eyes were red and wild, his mind stained by the endless madness he’d witnessed in that awful realm, but he smiled wider. “Potentia is the power of rebirth, right? Well, why would I want to get rid of that?”