“My my, sister. Yet another day has gone by, aill hasn’t called you. You ’t have too much time left on that brand.” Isolyn’s hateful voice reached Bree’s ears, interrupting her slumber.

  Their Divi Cerberus body y in their usual cave on Savage Edeing and rec from their mother’s spiritual surgery. Bree blinked herself awake, as her other sister spoke.

  Ainora sneered. “Their quest was pleted months ago now, wasn’t it? What are you waiting for, sister?”

  Bree couldn’t say it. That it seemed like something was wrong with Jake’s soul, until retly. And, that only her pride was in the way of reag out. While she desperately wao beg for help, she did not want to be a burden.

  Isolyn chuckled. “Sister’s really a wreck, don’t you think? I think she’s lost her mind over this male. But maybe she herself has doubts, and that’s why she doesn’t reach out.”

  Ainora noted, “Eventually, our offer to duel for our sister won’t even matter. The mark will unravel, and then…well, you’ve already given a lot up. Is there even enough left to make your ow Avatar and go to Sector 87? And why would you? He’s not calling you, so he doesn’t even want you.”

  Isoly out a rumbling growl from her e mouth. “You know, putting it like that kind of pisses me off a little. As if our Bree isn’t good enough for some Tier 2 Human? Void affinity or not, we destroy him with a mere snort of our nostrils. He should be begging for nifit sister with his fa the ground.”

  “Well, even if this human called her. Could he really provide her with a suitable vessel for our duel? I know sister probably manage something in time, but that boar would not be enough, I think. It won’t even be able to ma a divirait, let alone ohat resonates with our sister.”

  Bree waue, to defend her potential pack mate–he had defeated an Enforcer, after all. But this was far from the first time these two idiots made these same pints and arguments. She couldn’t help but feel a little down, feeling so empty. Ever since she uood how unfulfilled her life had been, she had never felt so alone.

  “You do realize that we just worry for you, do you not, sister? Imagine being attached to this male, and for him to not even reach the fourth Tier, let alone be able to reach the peak. You’d be forced to watch him as he wasted away and died of old age after losing his sanity, and you would be alone once more, pining away for him. We don’t want to see you suffer like this.”

  Of course, she uood this. In the end, if it was just a simple mating with an avatar, they would hardly care. But if she formed a Hearth Bond with him, as she definitely would, she would be stuck with a lesser partner forever–endlessly watg and waiting for him as he was reborn, only to experiehe painful cycle once again. Because odds were, if he couldn’t reach it oime, he’d be uo reach it the hough it could happen.

  She khe truth, however–that he was destined freatness. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind. Bree just couldn’t vince her sisters of that.

  Suddenly, a gentle probing of the bond arrived. It was so subtle because of the poor e with the mark, that she almost didn’t feel it. He often did this, w if it was okay to summon her for something less important than a real battle–since before, she was such a bitd s him for doing it, just like her hateful sisters.

  Please! Please call me! She desperately sent these feelings, hoping Jake would feel or hear them.

  It was almost blissful as Bree’s mind was brought bato her boar body, leaving her nagging sisters behind. Her auril heart beat, sending out its call to the world. She took a deep breath, finally ba the Refuge, with the children gathered around.

  As much as she wao enjoy it, she was still a bit worried.

  Because her sisters were right. Would Jake have what she needs, to make a proper vessel? It was important to do it all in one fell swoop, if at all possible.

  She heard a voice back, and this time, it felt more clear. The Framework was finally allowio speak, though not with words.

  Bree looked over at Avara, the lesser avatar. The Celtic desdant just smiled back at her, her gentle, soothing voice washing over Bree. She did her best to vey what she needed, and to her disbelief, they held an artifact which tained a small amount of divinity itle wolf bird Tanda’s chest.

  Just enough for what Bree needed. A core to hold her essence, and those sneaky divine even snu a sort of gift–a hearthivy seed, frid’s tree.

  Bree wished she could see the look on those smug bitches’ faces as she created an excellent vessel–perhaps eveer than the beast avatars that they would send. It still had remnants id’s divinity, but she made them hers, with the power of the…magic apple, merging and shifting it to match herself and her desired body. Just where did they get such a treasure?

  A primal satisfa filled her. She was reborn with her own body and soul, and with a small fragment of her divinity. Her sisters now had a pletely useless head within their giant body, permaly slumbering within them. However, odds were, they had a new puppet to py with.

  Bree asked her new pack for some time to get her feelings in order, and to get used to her body before she told her story. Right now, it felt like she wao cry tears of joy, but she was also riddled with ay. What if her pack leader rejected her? These feelings were all o her, and it was like she could barely even fun.

  What if he didn’t reject her, and then they lost their duel instead?

  No. She wouldn’t think that way. She had reinforced the mark and suffered because she believed that her mate was worthy. And she only made the bet because she believed that they would win. Still, it was easy to imagihat her pack leader may not feel as strongly about her as she felt about him. He had no idea about her struggles, or what his as had caused.

  Which was why she had to tell him. Even if it was difficult for some reason she couldn’t expin.

  The days and weeks went by, as Bree worked on the vines within her body. It wasn’t just oside, but on the inside as well. Using Flesh Shaping, a skill that she khe dragoness was a little too familiar with, she tio shift her body into her desired state. An auril heart beat within, but a fiery monster core–a hearth with vines running along her veins, did as well.

  The family was always close in their forest, their children pying and the adults often training or others crafting. She felt like she was growing closer to her pack, the children calling her Aunt Bree.

  Food was often brought to her, and it was always delicious and helped her with her task. The auril beast meat of Highnds was amazing, and Jake’s cooking made it even more delectable.

  Having spent much time thinking about things, she called oo have their talk. She was still not truly ready. The emotions were…all so new. But she had to front her new pack leader.

  Hart gathered around, the six, or seven depending how you look at it, gathering around in front of her. Bree rose her upper boy high, resting on her hind legs. A very e pose.

  Her voice came out as she hoped it would when she finished her body, though a little deeper thanks to her size. “Thank you for your patieh me, pack leader.” She bowed her head slightly

  Jake looked a little uneasy at her obeisanbsp; “It’s no problem. We’ve all been dying to hear your tale, but we have beey busy.”

  Bree chuckled. “Ah yes, the children. So busy, so rowdy.” She sighed. “So, I had told you before that I was a Cerberus. And this was true. You likely saw just he I was when you used your spell to summon me, so it should not e as too big of a surprise that, along with my sisters, I was a Fourth Tier Divi. Ohat roag true divinity and godhood. As well as a direct desdant of Ea.”

  The sho the family’s faces showed that it was in fact a surprise, though Berri cpped.

  “Yay! I knew you were strong, and you’re kinda like my Aunty. How hat you’re here now!”

  “What does all that mean?”

  It took some time to expin that with three heads and thus minds and souls, she was a bit like Bloodberri. However, Bree and her sisters had not gotten full sentiend sapieil the Third Tier, and more intelligen the Fourth, where Bree, Ainora, and Isolyn had started building up a bunch of devout followers through their quest successes.

  Bree was worshiped like many might imagine a dragon or natural camity might be, which was actually a very poor means of divinity. As their worshipers only hardly reso all with her, so how much each worshiper gave in terms of faith energy was minimal. Still, the idea was certainly that you build up enough followers, then it wouldn’t matter.

  “For the loime, we three had felt that something was missing. We were so bored, and so lonely. We often fought with one another, so we really did not get along with other random champions or their gods either. So when Mother came by and stoked our i in some puppets we could py with, we pounced on the opportunity.”

  “Really? You three were the ones driving the otter? And the badgerdillo?” Jake must have known that there must have been something weird about his summons, but that some diviy of some kind was driving them was likely bizarre to him.

  Bree gave a e grin, as her eyes gzed over in remembrance. “It was fun. It was novel. In truth, as silly as it might seem, that was the most fun we’d had in years. Hundreds of years.”

  Ophelia arched her brow. “Years? I thought you Tier 4 existences make avatars easily–it’s how most of your kind do battle. Couldn’t you do like a dozen otters at on your own if you wanted?”

  Bree replied, “And fight Tartarus? Not really. While we form a beast avatar, it must be lio us. There are many dangers, and Tartarus loves tet us. Whehree of us are together, we work well. When we’re by ourselves, we have weako exploit. Anyway, we got bored of that game for a long time, spending most of our time sleeping, just gathering our faith energy. bined with our mother’s struggles, we kind of… became apathetic. Plus, it took a long time for our bodies and faith energy to grow. Outside of proteg our Territory we had won, we mostly slept.”

  Ophelia said, “Okay, so…you three enjoyed fighting with the puppets. And you even got to fight a few enemy Champions, but limited as you were. Then, you hijacked the Celt’s beast avatars, getting something much more substantial. Is that right?”

  Bree ughed. “Yes, and Isolyn and I were happy to get even nicer puppets to py with, but Ainora was so pissed! She got a feline, and sunlight rather than her lightning! Whereas Isolyn and I…” She grinned. “Anyway, yes. But each of these avatars had something in them, a small portion of their patron’s divinity. It helped us…or rather me, solidify in my mind what might be missing. In us. You might say that it phe seed of doubt in our… choices to be alone or select a mate, in me.”

  She tinued, “Mother always said she knew what was missing. That we should just take a mate, and that would solve all our problems. But she be so…overbearing with it, you know what I mean? Like an addict telling you how wonderful the thing they were addicted to is.” Bree shook her head. “We mostly ignored her.”

  Jake side eyed Berri, almost making Bree ugh. Berri definitely appeared to have a lot in on with her mother the Goddess, Ea.

  Bree tinued, “Aside from that, we didn’t want to make it our Path, our Eternal Essence… and we didn’t want to…just take any mate like she did. It actually caused a lot of fightiween us, as we tried to choose a mate. you imagine? Isolyn wanting a parthat matches her intense cold, and Ainora wanting a more…electrifying partner? We couldn’t decide.”

  She added, “So eventually, we three agreed that we would only accept a strong male that could defeat us. But…our pride bined with our other advantages was just to. In the end it only made us…so lonely.”

  “Why would it do that?” Tanda asked. “Were you really to?”

  Bree’s vines poi Bloodberri. “Do you really think that this one is fair? Imagihree. Three heads, minds, souls, and cores. Is that a fair fight against one? But we’d pretend that it was, our blind pride not accepting otherwise. I suppose it should be a point of pride that we believed our three selves as one, but now I just see it as belligerent and arrogant.”

  Fhesiah chuckled, her smile being wide. “I see, and like, where this is going. But… doesn’t even the Framework sider you more than one? Even before Bloodberri became a Champion in truth, I do believe there was a where she was sidered more thaartarus likely took you on with two or three Champions or simir, didn’t it?”

  Bree shrugged. “We were a gia. Even before we had sentiend sapience, we were often sidered more than one for bance purposes, and it’s the same for others with siderable size. Also, to our surprise, there was only one divinity f, despite any efforts we made to keep things separate. We even had worlds where they only worshiped just one of us–we kept the other heads off the altar entirely, and it made no difference. So, lenty of evideo support our arrogance.”

  Blood smirked. “So then this all culminated into when Jake branded you. You felt like a superior male defeated you, or at the very least, a worthy mate.”

  Bree’s flower fmes brightened, and even her partially pnt flesh started to take on a pinkish hue. Her heart started to pound, and a sort of…trembling built within her. Was this…fear? “Y–Yes…” She paused, and looked at Jake with wide eyes. “Goddess, why is this part of the talk difficult for me? I have fought for thousands of years!”

  She sighed, doing the best she could to ignore her body. “But… it was more than just that. My body responded when he branded me, and I reflected on the feelings when I returo my body, resding my e from the… puppet. Thinking about those feelings and hoy that made me, I felt…more fulfilled somehow, than I had in a thousand years. And I tio reflect, all while my sisters nagged and teased me. It was like the illusion of grandeur was shattered, and I could truly see myself in the mirror–through them.”

  Bree tinued, “Blood and Berri are actually very different from us three. We three are the same. You two are opposites, but even Isolyn and I…admit it. If you gave me ice magic, we’d be almost exactly the same in the way we think. So when I really looked at them because they were so hateful of you… I could only hate myself for it. If the roles were reversed, I’m sure I’d be hating on Isolyn or Ainht now.”

  Jake noted, “It does seem like you three had every right to be prideful, though. There might be some arrogahere. But it sounds like you have achieved much, far more than most ever do. It seems impressive.”

  Bree smiled. While her pack leader did not o respect her, it for some reason made her feel wonderful–a shiver ran up her spin. “And this is true. I am proud of what we have aplished. However, your defeat of me had us fighting over the results. It caused an argument so intehat Mother herself had to get involved.”

  She paused, and then looked at him with determined eyes as her fmes took on a someinkish hue. It was difficult for her to say as her heart began to pound, but she felt like if she just got it all out, she’d be all the better for it.

  “All because I wao join with the male that defeated me–the first male that deserved to be my mate. The only one in thousands of years to make me feel joy and te, even before defeating me. I desire…nothing more than to join my mate’s pack, and I fought them fire, tooth, and ake them uand, and to proteark.”

  Jake looked unfortable at her decration, while Fhesiah, Tanda, and Avara all cpped.

  Tanda ughed, her tail wagging. “Would you look at that, Jake? It’s like you beat up a beastkin and brought her home! Even though you didn’t try to. And, she was a giant cerberus, instead.”

  Avara giggled. “What a cute story! It’s a lot like mine–you didn’t know your speech was a decration of love with me, either.”

  Fhesiah looked to the sky. “Have I been going about this all wrong? Should I just wait for more waifus to fall from the sky? It seems like even if I do nothing at all, they’ll just keep showing up, already won over somehow. Do my as even matter?”

  Jake ignored his wife’s existential crisis and admitted to Bree, “It’s a lot to take in suddenly.”

  Bree let out a breath. “I am not used to this. These…feelings–aside from the thrill of battle and simir, I am…inexperienced. I ’t say that I like them all, but… it is better thahing I felt for the loime. And I know…what Tanda said is true.”

  She met his eyes once again, but this time, her body trembled in ay. She remembered her pain and worry about being alone, having now known what it feels like to, goddess, what was this? To have a crush?

  “You didn’t defeat me so that you could be my mate, and it is only yht to reject me, even after all that’s happened–I know this. I still feel like I owe you a lot, for how you’ve opened my eyes. I know the way us three were heading, it’d only have gotten even lo the peak. For that, I do want to repay you. To fight along with your family, and serve you–to help you win this Sector. And…find my own Path. If, after that, you don’t desire me to join your pack…”

  She hesitated, her pain and worry that she would be rejected spiking. “...Then I’ll just go home.”

  Jake seemed like he wasn’t really sure how to reply. “I…am happy for your aid. I don’t know about making you my mate, but I will be happy to help you find your path. We–”

  Fhesiah interrupted, “You do realize he’s a mostly-human male and you’re a giant dog dinosaur, right? He’s at least a teeny bit worried that you’re not patible, if you catch my meaning. Well, I know I am.”

  Bree chuckled. “Yes, I’m quite aware of that. I’m sure I work something out, much like this one here did.” She nodded over to Avara. “Of course, I want to appeal to my mate… But… there’s…a problem with that too. You see… I made a promise with my sisters…”

  Jake arched his broromise?”

  “Yes. In the end, I do love my sisters very much, but they were not happy that I was leaving, that I was giving up so much of what I earned and became so weak. As nice as this body is so far, it would get squashed like an ant by my old o’s just a simple, undeniable fact.”

  Bree tinued, “They offered me to face them in a duel: me and you versus them. If you win, they will not only accept our pairing–they will join you in the great battle. Not as mates, mind you. Their arrogaill won’t accept this as a true battle, unless you could defeat them irue visage, and you only do that if you took them on in their unfair two versus one. But they will join as true allies, instead. They’ll fight with their all to help you cim this sector.”

  Ophelia’s wings fluttered with excitement, “That sounds like fun, I ’t wait to watch the battle! But if he loses?”

  “I promised that… I would go bae with them–that I was wrong. Because of that…we ot do something that would be…perma. I only agreed to that with utter faith that we would win, and that we would gain their aid.”

  She was referring to the Hearth Bond, sihat was very much perma. Bree hadn’t learned much about it, but their family had certainly talked enough about it for her to get the gist.

  “You have that much fiden me? Or us, rather.”

  Bree gave a very e grin, tilting her head to the side. “Oh yes. I felt like such a fool. Even feeling your Divine Reinfort on myself should have been enough to know that you had immeential. After seeing your fmes against that life ah demon in the Raid, I knew for certain we could crush them. Together.”

  Jake asked, “They came here to this Sector to fight us? When we face them?”

  Bree snorted. “They paid to send true beast avatars, and they are now probably leveling up in some Beast Realm. Mother doesn’t have mu this Sector, but she does have a couple of worlds. However, it is to be at the peak of the Tier. We might be able to win soohan that, but… it’s certainly in our best ihat we prepare as much as possible.”

  Berri was ied. “I want to visit one of these! They really have two worlds full of beasts?”

  Bree nodded. “Nearly every Divine sends some token forces to a new Frontier Sector in hopes of g argets of growing Faith as well as helping in the big battle, and Mother is no different. Because it’s best to send warriors at Tier 0 and Tier 1, it’d be really stupid not to. It’s like buying a lottery ticket for nothing that win something with nearly every py.”

  “Ea did invite us to the Beast Realms whe saw her.” Jake noted.

  “They don’t have people, right? How did your mother cim them, with no natives to initiate?” Tanda asked.

  Bree replied, “Beast Realms are a little unique, in that ownership is sidered a little different–almost like cultivator worlds. There is no indigenous popution, and Tartarus also doesn’t gain much from the souls of beasts. So who owns it when it gets ied? The answer is sort-of both, but it be won over and cimed through efforts.”

  She added, “Those efforts involve something her offspring are quite good at, rallying the mas to defeat the enemy, Tartarus beasts. The truth is that most Divine care little for Beast Realms because they ot really obtain worshipers there. So Mother often works just a little harder and snatches them up. However, it doesn’t really earn her much. She often uses what she gains to barter with other Divine, by raising more special beasts and resources.”

  Bree’s viwisted, and began weaving into knots like she had doh the boar body before. “I still… o get used to this new body of mihis pce is special, I do like your home, and I appreciate that you’ll help me find my path, if nothing else. I think that your family is on vacation will be good for me. I will prepare my skills, and…” She looked at Jake and smiled. “And prepare my avatar, even if it must be a lesser one. But I also see the value in a more pact body at times, so… I’ll see what I do.”

  Fhesiah smiled. “Well, Ava and I help you a bit with that, and maybe I learn a little more. I know Blood is very ied in learning what she from you, as well.”

  Bree couldn’t help but be warmed with a little pride as she replied, “I’m happy to share what I , with who might bey future pack. I’m afraid part of this has been somewhat taken from me–sealed by the Framework, and this is why it will take me a while. However, I know the broad strokes, and I do think I achieve it in time. Time that we have.”

  That awkward versation pleted, Bree had spent much of her time within the forest of their Refuge, or at the Arena in Life’s Haven. Sharpening her creparing for the battle with her sisters.

  Because she had waited a long time to have a mate, and seeing the void child with his powerful pack stoked the fmes of her desire even further. She would be damned if she let her sister’s stupid pride get in the way of her happiness.

  And if she could win her sisters over to joihen her new pack would be strohan ever. Strong enough to win a whole Sector out from uartarus’ clutches.