Percy flashed her a questioning look, prompting her to continue.

“If I’ve understood this correctly, you activated your bloodline twice the last time you created a familiar. The first time had been to possess your friend in his original world, and to subsequently bring his soul back to your own. The second instance had occurred when you placed him in the egg.”

Percy nodded along, realizing where she was going with this.

“I suppose only the second instance is actually important. As long as we can somehow get you back to my world, it won’t matter that I haven’t possessed you yet. My body will be there to activate the bloodline again when it’s time to place you in a new body.”

“Correct.”

The goddess smiled, before continuing.

“Right now, I just need to hitch a ride with Rasef. Since he and his soul are currently residing within my internal world, it won’t be too difficult to anchor myself to you during the return trip.”

Percy frowned, thinking of a potential problem.

“I don’t know. That might work, but I don’t think I can carry you back. Last time, I struggled a lot to bring even a fragment of a Yellow’s soul back. It had felt extremely heavy, and it nearly tore me apart – even after discarding most of Micky’s soul. He lost all his memories in the process, and he has yet to recover. Despite all the progress I’ve made over the years, I’m not confident I could bring even a Violet’s soul back, let alone a god’s…”

Sure, his higher grade and his blessing would help, but the gap between mortals and deities was simply too vast to bridge. Not to mention that Nephthys was probably not just thinking about herself. She clearly wanted to bring her entire Sanctuary along, filled with hundreds of other souls.

“I believe I can help with that part,” she said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. “I might not have a soul affinity, but once a mage reaches my level, they gain some awareness of their mind and soul. I can’t survive without a body like you, and I certainly can’t split my soul into multiple functioning pieces or possess others, but I’m not entirely powerless.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, I can selectively discard chunks of my soul and compress others, to forcefully shrink it down to the level of a mortal. I can do the same for my subjects. It will leave us all severely crippled, but we might be able to recover later, after you give us a new body. I think I can resist my world’s pull too, to make my soul easier for you to carry.”

“You sure you want to risk all of that though? If we fail, that’s the end for you and your sanctuary. I make no promises that any of this will work.”

“I don’t expect you to.” Nephthys shrugged. “As things stand, we are doomed anyway. We can probably last for a few more centuries like this, but this isn’t much of a life. I doubt another person willing and able to help us will show up anytime soon. It’s pretty much this or nothing.”

Percy nodded grimly, practically feeling the goddess’s presence brimming with determination.

“Even if this works, you understand you and your people will be stuck in the same body. A crappy one too. It’ll be the mortal body of a beast, and not a high-grade one either. I have no idea if it’s even possible to separate you.”

“I understand the risks. And, also, how much of an inconvenience this may be for you. I won’t insist that you do this for us, but know that the people of Amenthes will be eternally grateful to you if you choose to try, whether you succeed or not.”

Percy waved her concerns away, however.

“Like I said, I was planning to create another familiar in the near future anyway, so this won’t change much for me. At most, I might have to expedite my plans a little… Say, do you have any preference as to what type of beast you want to be placed in?”

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Over the next few minutes, Percy gave her an overview of the animals they had on Remior. Last time, he hadn’t had the luxury of choice, but Nephthys appeared confident that she could keep her soul from crumbling for a couple of years. That should give him plenty of time to search for a suitable host for the Amenthei.

Of course, he had originally wanted to create a wasp familiar, and he had even been prepared to spend decades working toward that goal if necessary. However, he wasn’t going to selfishly force these people into the body of an insect against their wishes. They’d suffered enough already…

“Actually, I don’t think that’s a bad choice.” Nephthys said, much to his surprise.

“Are you sure?”

“It sounds like these Starry Wasps have it the best out of every beast on your world. If we end up targeted by your gods at some point, it might serve us well to possess such a valuable body. It will give us the option of negotiating with them for the right to remain.”

Percy nodded.

“I don’t know if I can get my hands on the egg in the next two years though. If I fail, I’ll be forced to put you inside a different body. Also, remember that I’m a mortal, and a wanted criminal at that. This is a disclaimer I wouldn’t typically bring up to a prospective familiar, but since you are a goddess and everything, please be aware that you’re signing up for a huge downgrade.”

Nephthys tilted her head in confusion.

“Reading your thoughts earlier, I was under the impression you were aiming to become a god yourself. Is that untrue?”

Percy shrugged.

“It’s not, and I want to tell myself I’ll get there one day. But you know better than me how hard it is, so think long and hard about whether you want to place your hopes on me. I don’t even know how many Green-borns on Amenthes have failed to follow in your footsteps – let alone a Red-born. Even if I manage to give you a body, there’s no guarantee you’ll live longer than you would have if I just left you here.”

The goddess sighed.

“I’ve mentioned this already, didn’t I? What my people currently have isn’t a life. In fact, it can barely even be called ‘survival’. If you’re offering us a chance at something better, we would be fools to turn you down… Ah, but I might have a way to help you a little with your ambitions!”

Jumping to her feet, Nephthys ran up the stairs, gesturing for him to follow. Percy stood up too, rushing behind her, though he couldn’t help but wonder why she couldn’t just teleport them around the pyramid.

Reading his thoughts, she chuckled.

“I can, but it feels nice to walk around for a change, even if I know it’s fake.”

Shrugging, he remained quiet as they exited the corridor at the top of the structure, entering a hall similar to the ones at the base of the Sanctuary – albeit much smaller. Nephthys didn’t pause, however, taking a few stairs to another hall right below the first one, and then a third after that.

Percy frowned, scanning the walls in passing. He was trying to figure out why this set of libraries hadn’t been connected to the ones below, forcing him to go all the way around the pyramid to reach them.

‘Family… Hometown… Early life… Friends (Age 0-1,000)… Friends (Age 1,001-3,000)… Friends (Age 3,001-8,000)…’

“Are these…?”

“My own memories.” she smiled, though her expression appeared a little melancholic this time. “Once you’ve lived as long as I have, you might find that your loved ones can’t accompany you forever. As a goddess with a mind affinity, I was generally good at recalling even the most obscure details of my past. Sadly, the Slumber hasn’t made things easy for me. I ended up writing some of it down before secluding myself in here, to keep it close to my heart.”

Hearing that, Percy retracted his gaze, not wanting to snoop any more than he already had. This only caused Nephthys to chuckle again, however, her melodious laughter echoing through the vast structure.

“Considering that I’ve asked you to turn me into your familiar – I think we are well past such concerns.”

Percy smiled too, not disagreeing with that.

The two didn’t stop until the fourth room. It didn’t look like it was the last one either, but Nephthys didn’t bother to take another step, as they had already reached their destination. Percy’s eyes fell on the object standing in the middle of the vast hall – the only thing he had seen in the entire pyramid other than the people and their beds.

It was a massive urn, large enough to fit a dozen men, standing on a metallic tripod.

Interestingly, the moment the two had entered the room, Percy had felt a little different, various ideas springing inside his mind one after the other, filling him with endless inspiration. And this wasn’t the first time he had experienced something like this, though it was far more pronounced than before.

“Wiseman’s Dust?!” he blurted out, his incredulous expression probably betraying his shock.

Nephthys shrugged.

“You’re gonna have to explain what that is.”

“Right, sorry.”

As much as Rasef’s mind helped him communicate with Nephthys, it couldn’t really do much when it came to terms that either him or the Amenthei lacked the words to translate to. Over the next couple of minutes, he gave the goddess a brief rundown of his time on Felmara.

“I see…” she said once he was done with his explanation.

But she shook her head the following moment.

“This is something quite similar to what you’ve described, but it’s not exactly the same thing. I’m sure I’m not the first one to discover it, yet I have no idea what its name is. For now, let’s just call it…”

“…Wiseman’s Murmurs.”