Alex's Proposal and Dasrene's Foot

Alex and Morcai walked around looking for Thor and Odin. They finally found them outside of Dasrene's cell. Dasrene was contained in an opulent cell floored and furnished in white marble.

It looked like an awfully pretty cell to be deeply uncomfortable in. Sleeping and sitting on marble all day and night would hurt.

The bars had a golden hue to them, but they couldn't possibly have been real gold. That would make it less secure than just regular steel.

Thor was saying to Dasrene, "We can't let you out. You are a prisoner, whom by the grace of Alex was allowed to live. Now sit in there and be quiet. I'll get you more books later."

Thor noticed Alex and Morcai approaching. "I was just explaining to this prisoner how we can't let it out of its cell because that's not how imprisonment works."

"Thank you, Thor," Morcai said.

Dasrene saw Morcai and anger etched its way onto its face. "You traitor! I thought you died at the outpost. I mourned your death, you scum."

"Dasrene. I heard about Torni. I'm sorry for your loss." Morcai bowed her head.

"Save it. I don't want sympathy from you," Dasrene said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Morcai said.

"How am I supposed to feel? You betrayed us! No wonder Alex and his friend knew about the portal. You told them about it!" Dasrene said.

"I did. I have come to understand that we were fighting for the wrong side. I would hope that someday you will see it the way I do and fight by our side," Morcai said.

"I'm not like you. I'm loyal to The Convergence," Dasrene said.

"The Convergence is not loyal to you," Morcai said. "They haven't sent out any search parties into the portal that you went through to rescue you or your people, or to even retrieve your bodies."

"That's not true! I've been loyal to The Convergence my whole life! The least they would do is retrieve my body for a death ceremony," Dasrene said.

"It's true, Dasrene," Alex said. "You know who did retrieve your body and the body of your beloved? Me. I would have retrieved your whole squadron, but they were covered in rocks and stalactites. That, and I wasn't strong enough to carry them all."

"You have Torni? Where is it? You didn't leave it out to rot, did you?" Dasrene said.

"No. I have it in a refrigerated cabinet. It should last between another couple days and a few weeks. At least, that's what Goodle said," Alex said.

"Good. Thank you. I am in your debt. I hate it. But I'll survive. As I always do," Dasrene said. It had come limping up to the bars of its cell to better see and converse with Alex and Morcai.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot. Your foot was crushed in the fight. Let me heal it for you," Alex said. "I'm sorry. I would have done it earlier, but I forgot."

"That's ok. A lot happened in a very short amount of time," Dasrene said. Dasrene put its foot through the lower bars.

Alex performed a bio-scan on its foot. It was all kinds of busted up. It was completely crushed and flattened. Alex was going to have to make a new skill for this. Regrowth wasn't going to cut it.

This was still living tissue. He couldn't regrow through the already living tissue. It would probably just thicken the tissue but maintain the same shape.

He could cut the foot off and then regrow it, but that would not only be barbaric, but there were also too many risks involved. Dasrene could bleed out from that.

He was lucky with Sophia's injury because it was frozen. The vessels were frozen shut so they couldn't leak blood.

Alex concentrated on creating a skill that would reset the bones and muscles into place while also healing the damaged tissue. For this, he would combine telekinesis with psionic healing.

[New combined skill created: Reform]

Now that he was done creating the skill, he worked on applying it. He performed a bio-scan on Dasrene's good foot to get an idea of what he was trying to achieve.

Then he took Dasrene's injured foot into his hands.

"This is going to hurt," he said. "A lot. I don't have anesthesia."

"It is ok. I can handle it," Dasrene said.

Alex used the reform skill to apply a combination of telekinesis and tissue repair to the foot. He started by resetting the bones into their proper places.

This took a lot of moving around of the bones and muscle tissue and was causing Dasrene considerable pain. It said it could handle it, but it was hissing through its teeth.

Once everything was in place, Alex worked on healing the damaged tissue, refusing the bones, and reattaching ligaments. This took considerably less time and was over in a few minutes.

"There," Alex said. "It should be better now."

Dasrene experimentally put weight on the foot. Then it started the walk around its cell. It wasn't limping anymore. Dasrene came back up to the bars.

"Thank you. Now I owe you even more. Again, I hate it, but thank you," Dasrene said.

"Think about what I said, Dasrene. If you genuinely agree to help us, you can come out of the cell," Morcai said. "But it has to be genuine."

"I will think on it. I'm making no promises though," Dasrene said.

"That's all that I ask," Morcai said.

"Now, Thor. I have a proposal for you," Alex said.

"You're going to propose to me? Why? We hardly even know each other," Thor said.

"That's not what I meant. Let me start over. I have an idea that I want to discuss with you," Alex said.

"Oh, yes. We can do that. We should probably discuss it somewhere else, so the prisoner doesn't hear it. At least, until we get it on our side," Thor said, smiling like he was proud of the thought he just had.

They all made their way back to the military strategy room. When they got there, Thor immediately sat on the couch.

"So what did you want to discuss?" Thor said.

"I want to propose that we organize a competitive hunting party with as many other pantheons of gods we can get. If I win the competition, they have to agree to participate in creating chosen to fight in the war effort. And if I lose, I will never bother them again," Alex said.

"I like this idea, but the never bothering them again part we need to work on. We have to give them an incentive that will make them want to participate," Thor said. "What can you give them that they would want?"

"What if we offer them a boon from Fate? Maybe the opportunity to change a future event or alter their destiny in some way?"

"That could definitely work, Alex! No god is going to want to pass up on that opportunity. I might even have to enter the competition myself. I know I would be working against our desire to bolster the war effort, but my gods, a boon from Fate is life-changing. No, destiny altering!" Thor said.

"First, you would have to get Fate to agree to granting this boon," Morcai said.

"That's true, but I have a feeling I can convince them to do it. I mean, it was their idea to make chosen warriors by bestowing god powers upon them in the first place," Alex said.

"You have a point, but Fate is a mysterious one. No one knows what motivates them," Thor said. "But if you're determined to do it, you have to go to The Watchtower."

"What's The Watchtower?" Alex said.

"It's the closest you or anyone will get to Fate itself. Sometimes it stands in The Watchtower itself, sometimes it floats in the void outside of it, but if Fate wishes to speak with you, that's where they'll do it," Thor said.

"Then, let's go." Alex said.