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The goddess froze, not because of the world of frost surrounding her, nor because of the power emanating from Eldrian. Neither could affect her.

She froze because she didn\'t know what to do.  Eldrian was clearly hurting, and how could he not? Two had been by his side every second of every day for the past two years. Always there to hear him out or offer his support when needed. Now? Now Eldrian was alone.

He might still have his friends, but the connection he shared with them paled in comparison to his connection with Two. After all, Two had been a part of him since the beginning.

This was not a loss where the weight was felt right when Two died. No, the true grief would only set in when Eldrian called to his constant friend, only to receive silence in answer.

When all the habits he had grown reared their heads, asking where Two was. Failing because Eldrian expected his friend\'s support.

Ziraili knew that no words would reach Eldrian. He was trying to hide from the pain. Simple distraction had been enough before. Throwing himself into acclimating to his prosthetic, training his magic, fixing his soul. Those had kept him busy and his mind from his loss.

Now that he was used to his prosthetic, that his soul was mostly patched, and his training was on hold. Eldrian finally had to deal with his grief. He couldn\'t even target the one who caused him this pain, for he had already killed them.

Silently, Ziraili moved forward and embraced Eldrian. His formless blob of consciousness ebbed, trying to escape from her warmth. It tried to attack, to freeze her attempts. It tried to teleport, to remain as it was.

None of these worked. Ziraili easily weathered the sub-zero frost thrown at her. She closed the distance in one step, and she teleported along with Eldrian when he attempted to escape.

Finally, Eldrian was caught. And the blob of consciousness and ice returned to a human being. Albeit one missing their right arm.

Ziraili dearly wished to heal the wounds Eldrian still held, but she could not. Not only would it be too direct of an interference and the other gods would complain, it would also rob Eldrian of what he felt he needed.

So she settled to leave him broken. As long as he didn\'t collapse and succumb to the powers he had drawn to himself, she was content.

Without a word, she left as soon as Eldrian regained his composure.

—

Ashamed, Eldrian slipped out of his soul with a heavy mind. He hadn\'t thought for a moment that his talk with Ziraili would be so painful. He had thought it would be simple, only a couple of minutes to air out his grievances.

Yet, when he had stepped into his soul, the silence that welcomed him had hammered home his loss. And then, when Ziraili confirmed it all the more, he could no longer withstand the torrent of loneliness.

In his wish to escape, he lost himself. Not to wrath as he often did, but to tranquility. When he uttered the words \'What does it matter?\' it was like his emotions had evaporated. Leaving him empty of all pain. It had been such a relief that he had fallen intoxicated.

Only when Ziraili had approached him did his emotions surge. Fear took hold as he retreated and attacked. In hindsight, it was all quite childish.

In the end, they had not talked of the many things Eldrian had hoped to discuss. What he had thought would be an information gathering session had turned into him throwing a tantrum.

He truly felt ashamed.

To escape his emotions, Eldrian wanted to dive right back into work. Yet, upon climbing to his feet, he froze. His recent tantrum was precisely because he refused to deal with his emotions. While facing his grief was something else, he should at least be able to face his own shame.

Thus, Eldrian sat back down and replayed the events that had transpired. He analyzed his actions and thoughts.

"I guess it\'s about time I head back." Over the past two weeks, Eldrian had made arrangements with Elizabeth and the other heads of the guild. While they did not have much cash to spare, they had some.

Pooling it together, the group had enough to buy an old, abandoned warehouse. Which they decided to call the main office for the guild. Since Two\'s loss, Eldrian had moved into the building.

Thus, when he returned to Earth, what welcomed him was not the roof of a cave, but the ceiling of a warehouse. Filled with holes that betrayed the time of day and its ruined state.

This, of course, caused Eldrian some melancholy. To return to society after so longer running from it was a weird feeling. He had to fight his urges to steal, in particular. It was so easy to use some wind and ether manipulation to get by. But that would naturally not do now that he was living in the city.

There were several things that had finally led to this, but the reason Eldrian lived here was simple enough. He didn\'t want to drag his family into any danger, and felt distancing himself from them would be for the best.

His friends in the guild had also been adamant about it for some time. And with Two\'s death, Eldrian had finally succumbed to their wishes.

"Morning!" a bright voice announced their greeting. Pausing upon seeing Eldrian using magic to start a fire to heat his breakfast, simple canned foods. While the sight was no longer new, it was still shocking.

With a sigh, the origin of the voice turned to place down the items she had brought. Cans of paint and some metal scraps. "Don\'t you think it\'s a bit dangerous to start a fire in here?" Ilmadia asked.

"Huh?" tilting his head in confusion, Eldrian pointed to the smoke. It was smoothly flowing through the holes in the ceiling. Unnaturally smoothly.

"Magic for that too?" Ilmadia asked in exasperation, though the idea that this was possible caused childish hopes to fight her sensibilities. She was squirming on the inside for the day she would be able to copy what Eldrian was doing.

"It\'s a simple breeze spell. Hardly costs any mana." Eldrian replied. Though the reply was not what she was looking for.

With another sigh, Ilmadia plopped down next to Eldrian and accepted the warmed canned he offered her. Some spaghetti and corned meat.

"You know, this is plenty proof magic exists. Why are we waiting?"

"Because last time was a disaster. I think it would be best if we didn\'t disturb a sleeping dragon."

Hearing his reply, Ilmadia had to agree. Though she dearly wished to learn magic. Sadly, Eldrian had told her it wasn\'t something he could simply teach her. That she had reached Tier 5 was wonderful, but to feel the limited amount of mana on Earth, she would need to become far better at sensing and controlling mana.

Eldrian\'s recent idea to use mana crystals as batteries was sure to help in this venue. He had made simple handheld devices to allow the injured without any control of their mana to offer their to support the war.

Ilmadia was able to supply her mana to a crystal without the device, though the mental strain often left her covered in sweet. The natural barriers a mana crystal formed from their density of mana were not that easy to overcome.