Michael and Ollie took some time to recover from the fight. They ate some of their remaining trail rations as well as some fish Ollie had managed to yank out of a river with magic. Michael didn't consider that particularly sporting, but it was easy to forgive when he had the option of fresh fish instead of hardtack and salted pork.

Ollie was playing with one of the puppet corpses while Michael finished his food. He extended strings of magicka to the limbs of it and was making it move like a marionette.

"That's unsettling," said Michael before he took another bite of fish.

Ollie had the puppet moonwalk a bit before doing the charleston. "Why? I don't think they were alive to begin with. Not like I'm playing with an actual corpse."

"You don't think that having to justify it like that kind of makes it an odd thing to do in the first place?"

"Nope," replied Ollie, making the puppet start to breakdance, showing a level of control over it that Michael had no choice but to acknowledge as impressive. If they'd been moving like that when they were fighting them, they would've had a lot more trouble.

"I wonder what the world they're from is like?" said Michael.

"I'm guessing it's short on lumber," said Ollie gesturing to the stumps that surrounded them, making the puppet he was controlling do the same gesture with the same body language.

Michael scratched his chin. "Can you do that to a person?" he asked.

"Probably, but I'd have much less control. These puppets seem to be designed to be move by magic. People also naturally push back on those kinds of spells with their internal magicka."

"Could you make Marcus dance then?"

"Maybe, but he'd be hard to string up in the first place…" he paused. "Be funny to make him though."

Michael chuckled. "Should we keep one of them? May be helpful to have something like that with us."

"I don't think I'd be able to use it well in a fight," replied Ollie.

"Yeah, but if we need to use something as bait or a distraction it could be useful."

Ollie bounced his head a bit left and right as he considered. "If you carry it, sure."

Michael moved over to one and lifted it. It was solid wood, but not terribly heavy. He could also fold it in some very odd ways that made it much more compact than it was before. When he was done he was able to make it fit.

"So, the new spell you wanted to try, it was the portal?" asked Michael.

Ollie nodded. "I had the fundamentals down, but I wasn't able to maintain it for long enough to really test. Being near a rift and fighting meant that my deeds were active which gave me the extra edge I needed to test it. I think, once I finish coiling my magicka channels, I'll be able to use it even without my deeds active."

"That's incredible," said Michael. "I could sense the kind of power it took Sylas to use it, and I didn't think it was something anyone else could do."

Ollie shook his head. "I would never have been able to figure it out myself, but the notes we found basically laid out exactly how to cast the spell. He was meticulous, and the man copying and translating his notes added several small addendums that helped as well."

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"It's still impressive," said Michael with a smile, patting his friend on the back.

"It is, and I am," replied Ollie with a smile, though it dipped. "If I'd had this spell when we were in Cantalia…" he drifted off, but Michael understood what he was saying. A shield could never have blocked the beams of pure magicka that had killed Davi, but redirecting it? That could've done it.

Michael gave his back another and drew him into a half hug for a moment before releasing him. Ollie just nodded at him and then they started to head south again.

As they walked the thick forests gradually began to thin until they no longer needed to carve their way through it and could instead walk freely. After another day of walking they found themselves on a series of hilly plains only occasionally broken up with small patches of woodland. They also began to see more signs of civilization, with small hunting shacks, trails, and paths. Michael also started to feel a sense of dread building from multiple different directions.

"There's three… no six rifts nearby," he said as they stopped to peek into one of the hunting shacks.

"Six!?" asked Ollie incredulously.

Michael gritted his teeth, the sheer fear and dread that sat in his stomach feeling almost like bile he had to force to keep down. Then, suddenly, he felt it fade a bit. He frowned for a moment.

"Wait… it's five now. One was just sealed."

"Oh good. Just five tears in reality. That we can handle," said Ollie sarcastically as he stepped away from the shack.

"We should try and find whoever closed that one, or a village or town nearby. If others are working at closing them it would make more sense to coordinate with them."

"If there's that many openings, why aren't we seeing like a thousand monsters swarming around already?"

"That's a good question actually," said Michael. "I doubt they're managing to just close them fast enough that it keeps the populations under control."

"Maybe there's some kind of limit? How much can pass through in either direction at a time?"

"I mean, the gods are fighting to keep them from opening even now, so it would make sense if they were limiting them somehow," said Michael scratching his chin. "I'll pray on it."

"I hate that, that might lead you to an actual answer."

Michael smiled in spite of the dread he felt and they began walking in the direction of the recently sealed rift. Before they got too close to it, they noticed a road and made their way to it. It was perfectly formed and wide with an ornate border that ran mostly unbroken along the edges. The road itself seemed to be regular concrete, but with no cracks or damage that they could see. They began walking along it, still working in the vague direction of the rift, but also keeping a look out for any clear signs of civilization.

After only about an hour of walking, they saw what looked to be a village in the distance. It was built around the main road and they could see a number of structures, some older and made of a similar cement to the road they were walking on, and around them were clusters of wooden, brick, and stone structures as well. As they got closer they realized that there was a trench built around the entire village, a stone wall behind that trench, and a number of men and women standing on the wall with bows and arrows. On the road itself was a large ugly gate made of iron, the kind one would normally only see outside a large town or city, but here was necessary for a village.

As the village came into view for them, they themselves were noticed by the village. A number of the men and women on their side of the gate gathered to prepare for them and when they were around twenty yards away from them they heard a shout to open the gate, which surprised them, but they decided not to question their good fortune as they moved. When they were only a short distance from the entrance they were able to tell that the trench that surrounded the village had stakes all throughout it, and on those stakes Michael saw at least one of the horned men as well as corpses and bones of a half-dozen other rift-creatures he didn't recognize.

A number of the village guards swarmed them, and they raised their hands to show that they weren't a threat. Getting to look at them closer, they were all fighting age and had the look in their eyes of people that were used to combat. They stayed at a distance, ready with their bows, but not holding them taut, but instead having them relaxed and ready with an arrow knocked. Another sign that they were used to the feel of them.

One of them, a woman with a scar on her cheek, dark black hair, and narrow features, stepped a bit closer to them. She wore no mark of rank, but based on the deference the others were showing Michael guessed that she was in charge.

"I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I am not conscripting you into the army of Old Hume. You can serve willingly, or we will strip you of your resources and send you on your way."

"I'm getting a bit of deja-vu," said Ollie.

"Me too. At least we're not children this time, and this is what we wanted anyway."

"That does help it go down a bit easier."