"What?"

The question escaped my lips before I could stop it. More followed. "Your pupil? What does that mean? And can I say no?"

"Kid, you won't want to say no, trust me. The Stormsteel Path's a tough one to walk. Tallas was one of the better ones on it, but not the best. You've got the potential to be better than him," the God of Thunder said. "Of course, all my pupils have that potential, or I wouldn't waste my time with them. Not all of them use it, though. And the first step along the Path is listening to your elders and betters."

I ignored everything he said. "I just want to go home. My sister's going to be worried sick, and Ellen…and Jeff." I went quiet. Jeff had handled Carlos's death well—or at least I'd thought he had. But I hadn't known that for sure. He'd had three days in the hospital to come to terms with what had happened in the trap dungeon—and with what I'd had to do to beat it. He'd only known Carlos for a couple of years, and he'd still broken down at his funeral.

Jeff and I went way further back than that. To middle school, when he'd moved to Phoenix. He'd be devastated. Losses in portals hit him hard. Loss in general hit him hard. The sooner I got back, the sooner I could tell him—and Jessie, even though she'd kill me for making her worry—that I was okay.

I wasn't as worried about Ellen. But Jeff and Jessie? They'd be tough calls to make.

"Oh, believe me, I understand. Every single student wants to go home, and it'd be pretty foolish of me to keep you here. The only training you'd get would be against the spirits of other Path-walkers. That's not anywhere near interesting enough. So, yep. You can go back. Any time you want, in fact." The God of Thunder pointed his tail, and a glowing gold, S-Rank portal appeared, hovering in mid-air.

I walked toward it. Whatever the God of Thunder wanted from me, I wasn't interested.

"Shame, kid."

I stopped. "What's a shame?"

"That you'd throw away an offer from an SS-Plus-Ranked, Fifth-Tier Paragon who's seen thousands of people try to walk your path, and has an eidetic memory—with no obligation to listen to him in the future—just because he had a little fun first. Do you know how long it's been since someone stretched Tallas's capabilities like that? You pushed him to the limits of what I remember of his C-Rank performance. And, remember. Eiditic. Memory."

The portal hung there, mid-air, flashing gold lights across the red-and-blue world and floating towers. I took one more step toward it. The God of Thunder sounded like a con man, not like a god should. He was too casual, too familiar. Like he'd done this thousands of times, and he'd gotten bored with all the presentation of it.

Then I turned to look him in the eye. He didn't have them in the lightning dragon form, and I rolled mine. "Come down here. Let's talk, man to man."

"Now you're speaking my language." Power swelled around the dragon—so much my hair stood on end. The world went white with lightning. And when that faded, a man made of orbs of lightning and crackling electricity stood in front of me. He wore battle armor that looked a bit like the Stormsteel equipment Tallas and I had worn, but a full set, minus the helmet. Unlike Tallas, he wielded a long spear, almost three times his height. And every detail of his face appeared like Dad's.

That was a gut punch. "Why that face?" I whispered, hand tightening hard enough for fingernails to dig into my palm.

"First one I came up with. Would you like something different?"

"Yes."

The God of Thunder's face twisted and changed, becoming older and sterner, with a large walrus mustache that Dad would never have worn. "Better? Perfect. Now, let's talk, kid. Like I said, eiditic memory. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"That sounds right. They never ask specific questions. Oh, no. Only 'everything' is enough for mere mortals. Never 'What is the Stormsteel Path?' or 'Why portals?' or even 'What is the System, and why did it awaken on my world?' Just straight to 'everything.' It's almost unbelievable, except that you're the thousandth disciple who's asked it."

I glared at the God of Thunder. "So, you won't tell me everything? Fine. Let's start small. What are you?"

"A portal monster. An exceptionally strong, exceptionally strong-willed Paragon. But at the end of the day, nothing more than that. Subject, of course, to the same conditions as all the other ones are. And also, a god."

That was interesting. And concerning. He'd said he was SS-Plus-Ranked, and a Fifth-Tier Paragon. I'd never heard of either of those things; the power scaling for both the system and portals capped out at S-Rank. Or, at least, none of the S-Ranks had ever said otherwise. The implications of that alone were horrifying, and I had another question immediately. "Can you follow me through that portal?"

"No."

Just 'no.' Nothing else. A single word, with no details: it left me with a dilemma. Could I trust a massively powerful portal monster's word? If I was wrong…the God of Thunder could probably crush the entire world's delvers, and it had just admitted that it was driven by the same compulsion as every portal monster: To kill, and kill, and keep killing until there was nothing left to kill. And the GC rep had warned us that at C-Rank, monsters started using more diverse tactics.

I glared at him, and he stared back, vaguely offended. If I'd pissed him off, he was definitely powerful enough to kill me, but I couldn't back down. Not now.

Not ever.

The God of Thunder was having the time of his life.

Kade had been, in almost every respect, the perfect pupil to walk the Stormsteel Path. Even now, the God could feel the rage inside of him, threatening to summon his sword and attack. To attack him, a monster beyond his comprehension to the point where he had to wear the form of a man for the first time in ten thousand years just to be able to talk civilly with the kid.

He was perfect! Young, aggressive but thoughtful, with a creative streak. Forged in discipline by someone he trusted. Kade would learn perfectly.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The only hitch was an unfamiliar one: convincing him that he, the God of Thunder, was worthy of Kade Noelstra's time.

In all the time he'd been a master of his Path, only a handful of young, stupid people with too many balls and not enough sense had ever treated him with as much disdain as Kade was. It wasn't just the revelation of the God of Thunder's true nature, either; Kade had been doing it from the very beginning. He hadn't groveled or despaired. He'd prepared to fight back. Like a madman.

And that, not-so-secretly, made the God of Thunder's millennium.

"I see you're hesitant to believe me. Understandable," he said, smiling sadly and nodding. "By my own admission, I would shred your world in a heartbeat to feed my hunger if I could. I've done it before. It'd be easy; fresh worlds like yours have no defense against me, and only a handful of your strongest awakened are worthy of my individual attention if I were to fight them. If I could follow you through that portal, don't you think I would have done so?"

Kade's eyes narrowed. He glanced at the portal again, and the God of Thunder allowed himself a moment of simultaneous fear and hope for the same thing. Would he be…rejected? That would almost be a unique experience for him. It had only happened once before. In fact, he'd been attacked more often than his offer had been outright rejected after he'd had a chance to explain it. He almost wanted it. A rejection would be a break from the monotony.

Then Kade sat down, directly in front of the portal. "Why help me, then?"

The God of Thunder thought through his options, then settled on the truth. "Because I'm trapped, and I'm bored."

I stared at the star-man as he sat across from me. "You're bored? You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes. Unabashedly, I'm bored out of my nonexistent skull. Let me explain why, then you'll understand," the God of Thunder said.

The portal was right there. It'd be easy to reject his offer and leave, go home, and carry on with my own growth. I could get stronger without the God of Thunder. But even though Jeff, Jessie, and Ellen all needed to know that I'd survived, the reality was that ten minutes wouldn't hurt anything any worse than it had already been hurt. The news had probably already gotten to Jessie, and both Ellen and Jeff had seen me vanish. "Alright. Talk."

"Becoming a god is easy. Just be powerful enough, master an unmastered Path, create a personal realm. That kind of thing. But being a god? That's harder. You start out with worshipers, cults, dedicated martyrs and fanatics. Love and adoration—or in my case, fear and terror. It's all the same. But over time, kid, that fades. And what you end up with is a realm you've created, a Path you've mastered, and power. None of those things adds variety to your life.

"I've been trapped in this space—in my realm—for a long, long time. Tens of thousands of years. Maybe longer. There's only one way out."

"You have to portal break," I said.

"Yes. And to portal break, there has to be a world that can conceivably defeat me. Those are the rules. I don't make them, I don't agree with them, but I have to follow them just like everyone else, kid. So, tens of thousands of years, only one way out, and an SS-Plus-Ranked portal has never opened in all that time.

"One of the only perks of being a god, after the worship and fear fades, is the disciples. Even trapped here, they're a window into the greater multiverse beyond."

I listened, but my head was spinning. The God of Thunder was…bored. I supposed it made sense; I'd be bored if I were trapped here, too. But at the same time, something didn't add up. I couldn't trust him.

"So, I teach disciples, and I use them to learn about the state of the world outside. It's not much, but it's something, and when you've been trapped for a few millennia, I promise you won't have as much sanity as I do," the God of Thunder said.

"I don't think I'll ever be in that position."

The God of Thunder laughed. "No, I guess you won't. So, here's the offer, plain and simple. You become my pupil. I give you phenomenal power as you walk the Stormsteel Path. In return, you keep me informed about the multiverse at large, in as much as you can—and especially about my rivals. It's been a long time since I checked up on them."

"And that's the whole offer?"

"Yes."

"In that case, I say no." I stood up and turned toward the portal again.

"Why?"

I stopped. I'd half expected to be attacked, or for the God of Thunder to shut the portal. But no. It was still open, and the star-man sat right where he'd been. "Because you're a bigger threat to my world than the Carlsbad portal break, and no one's been able to stop that. Because you're not telling me the truth—or at least, not all of it—and my dad said that lies were a poor foundation for trust. But mostly, it's because one of the things you didn't tell me is that I have time to make this choice."

So far, the powerful hadn't spared any expense to manipulate me into joining them, and that gave me a similar impression of the God of Thunder to what I'd had of Deborah Callahan. I didn't tell him that, though. Unlike Deborah, what he had to offer might be unique. I couldn't afford to throw it away permanently. Not until I knew more. But I also couldn't afford to waste time here. I needed to go home. People needed me. "Until the time comes when I've built my foundation and I'm ready to learn what you have to teach me, I'm prepared to walk the Stormsteel Path on my own."

The God of Thunder was silent for a long time. Almost too long. I braced myself to lunge for the portal. If he was going to betray or kill me, it would be now.

Instead, he spoke. "Very clever. I'll have to remember that one for my next pupil. But look, it's a long Path you're on. I wouldn't want you getting yourself killed before you get a chance to visit me. So, let's set you off on that journey with something to hold you over."

"But what to give you? Decisions, decisions. Ah, yes, that one. This will hurt, by the way."

The Stormsteel Core appeared in my hand, pistol grip comfortable against my palm. Then it melted. Lightning covered my arm, burning it black. It re-healed instantly, then burned again and again as the Stormsteel rapier formed and re-formed. The air reeked of charred flesh, and all I could hear was sizzling skin. I tried to close my eyes, to grit my teeth, to scream, but nothing helped; the lightning was in my veins and nerves, and with every twitch, my arm sent waves of pain up my shoulder and into my neck and spine.

"I did warn you," the God of Thunder said lightly.

It kept going and going until I wanted to cut my arm off just to stop the pain—or at least change it to something different. Then, as suddenly as the endless agony had started, the burning was just a memory, and the God of Thunder's gift sat in my uninjured grip.

"You defeated Tallas. You're worthy to wield a weapon like his—with your own personal style taken into account. It'll be a bit high-ranked for you, but hand-me-downs are like that, and I think you'll grow into it quickly. I've got high hopes for you."

The sword the Stormsteel rapier had become looked nothing like my old sword. The pistol grip felt right, though its simple metal texture had been replaced by leather so supple it felt like squeezing a cloud. Its simple, round guard, made of solid portal metal, had been replaced with a filigreed basket hilt of gunmetal-gray steel mixed with shining, blue-white silver. The blade was thicker, almost a straight saber rather than a rapier, but not quite. And the steel was wickedly sharp.

Tallas's Dueling Blade C-Rank Summonable, Core-Bound, God-Touched

I pushed Mana into the weapon, and it lit up with lightning down both edges. When they touched at the tip, thunder boomed, and a lance of lightning surged from the tip and scoured the ground beneath the God of Thunder's flying body. A smoking crater appeared in the floor below him, and he seemed to smile.

"Perfect! You'll get used to the discharge effect soon, kid. Alright. You're on your own. Don't contact me. I'll contact you when you're ready for more personalized instruction in the Laws of the Stormsteel Path. Don't disappoint me by getting yourself killed before then."

I nodded, still twitching from the lightning that had poured into my arm, and walked toward the portal.

"Wait. You never did tell me your name."

"No, I didn't."

The God of Thunder laughed. "Right. Kade Noelstra, we're going to have a lot to talk about later, once you're a bit more put together. The Laws of the storm aren't to be messed around with, after all, and you've picked a hard path. I'll admit, though: I was wrong. The Stormsteel Path's a perfect one for you. Simply perfect!"

I walked through the portal and back home without another word.

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