Heisenburgle's laughter continued longer than was comfortable. It bordered almost on manacle, and when he suddenly drank the black, vicious potion, he finally said, "Well, here goes nothing."

That took Lucas by surprise. He'd planned to talk the whole thing through with Heisenburgle one last time, but now he wouldn't have the chance. There was nothing that Lucas could do but watch and wait and see how this went.

I hope she isn't too pissed off that I orchestrated the second unscheduled visit in history. Lucas told himself. Hell, I hope that Heisenburgle isn't too pissed when he finds out there's a Lesser Potion of Communion we could have made first.

As he helped the gnome lay down while his strength left him, he went in search of a puke bucket for when he woke up. He felt a little bad about that deception. He'd feel worse if the guy died, of course, but Lucas didn't think that was likely. It was far more likely that if he'd talked to the elven Goddess and had some kind of way out after that first meeting, he would have gotten cold feet. Lucas certainly hadn't known what he'd been in for.

Lwyn was not to be trusted, and whatever she wanted him to do would be next up on the chopping block when Skylara was no more. He couldn't trust her to act in his best interests. In fact, he was pretty sure he could count on her to fuck his life up if he let her, but he could certainly trust her to act in her own best interests, and if dragon slaying was her highest priority, then Heisenburgle would be just fine.

While he considered all of these facts, the ancient white-haired gnome passed out, and less than a minute later, with a series of violent muscle spasms, he died. Lucas wasn't sure how he should feel about that and spent the next minute repeatedly checking for a pulse as he wondered how long he'd lay there on the bed in his room.

He had just enough time to worry that Heisenburgle was never coming back, and then with no warning at all, just as he was starting to turn blue, he sat upright where Lucas had left him on the worktable, scaring the shit out of him. He barely got the bucket in place in time to avoid the gnome puking all over himself. Even then, after a drink of water, it was another minute before the gnome managed to croak, "H-how much time was I gone for?"

"Like a minute," Lucas answered. "Not even, probably."

"So short?" the gnome rasped. "It didn't feel that way… I thought It was at least an hour. Maybe two."

Lucas nodded. "That's the way I remember it, too, but I guess time happens differently when you're dead." He did nothing to rush the gnome; death, even for a minute, was hard on the body, and though Lucas had no skills to allow him to see Heisenburgle's health or status, he very much doubted that he was in a good place.

As that comfortable silence soured after a few minutes, Lucas finally said, "Do you want a healing potion, or maybe I could carry you to your room and—"

"I would never let my men see me this weak," the gnome said before a coughing fit took him. "And I dare not sleep until I tell you everything I saw."

Even after that, he wasn't forthcoming until Lucas finally asked, "So how was it?"

"How was it? It was glorious and terrifying, but otherwise, almost exactly as you said." He went on at length, describing the palace and the throne as if Lucas hadn't already seen it before. Then he paused there before adding. "She really does want us to kill Skylara. I didn't believe you, but that part is true."

"Did you tell her that you would?" Lucas asked. He already knew the answer. She wouldn't have brought him back to life if he hadn't.

"I-I did. Thrzaelwick preserve me. I told her we would do it, even though the prince will likely have my head for it; I swore on my soul that we would do exactly that," he said, sounding almost afraid. "It was the only way she'd call the glorious god of potions and—"

"I don't think the prince will take it so hard," Lucas said, trying to look on the bright side. "The bitch is bleeding the kingdom dry. He might even give you a medal."

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The gnome didn't answer. He merely shook his head and said, "He doesn't matter right now. I met him, Lucas. I met Thrzaelwick the wise. You told me that I would, but I still can't believe it."

"He arrived just as you said," he explained after a moment. "And Lwyn supplicated for his benevolence on my behalf. He asked me many questions before deciding to do just as she suggested, but only for the good of the realm."

Yeah, because Thrzaelwick has her wrapped around his tiny fingers and not the other way around, Lucas thought, suppressing a laugh. Heisenburgle had been so blinded by his deity that he entirely misunderstood their interactions, but I suppose I can't blame him for that.

Over the next few minutes, Heisenburgle explained it all to him, and the answer was more complicated than he'd expected. It seemed that despite how impressed Thrzaelwick was of the gnome's pious life and his alchemical achievements despite lacking a talent, he was more than a little disappointed that Heisenburgle thought so little and was offended that he'd only reached the fifth stage of precision.

"He said I was wasting my talents! Me! After all, I've done!" Heisenburgle bemoaned. Apparently, his Hyperquadabulator had done almost as much to impress the gnomish god as Lwyn's petition had, though, and he'd shown mercy, granting him the rare honor of a second talent.

"It will only activate, though, after I make a specific potion from Skylara's heart blood, though," he sighed. "Until we succeed, the scroll is closed and will not open no matter how much I tug at the seal."

Lucas recalled when Lwyn had shown him Mister Twee's terrifying system in the shape of a scroll so that language made sense, even if it was a bit odd. "Still, that's cool, right," Lucas said, trying to be positive about it. "Two talents. That can't be common."

"I'm informed that it's so rare that Lord Thrzaelwick the divine can the number of times he's experimented with it on just his toes," the gnome sighed. "But it doesn't matter. I've been given what I want, but I shall never get the chance to use it. Don't you see that? Not only does he insist that I use her blood to unseal my scroll, but he says that I must help in combat as well as engineering a solution. How we will accomplish such a thing, or how we will survive it!"

For a man who had gone through such a life-and-death experience, he seemed singularly unimpressed by it. Lucas refused to take that for an answer, though. "I get the negativity, but it will pass," Lucas said, trying to stay positive. "Surely Lwyn wouldn't have brokered such a deal if she didn't think—"

"Not think, Lucas, know. She knew that it would come to this? Did you know that? She told me so herself." Heisenburgle shared.

"Son of a bitch," Lucas scowled. As he felt a cold chill go through him. He didn't typically believe in fate or luck, but right now, he couldn't help but feel like a pawn in someone else's game. "How?"

"How should I know? I know about potions and politics. I even know a fair bit about dragons, but elves and women will forever elude me," the gnome answered. "All I can say for sure is that the woman is devious."

They chatted for a little while longer, but when Heisenburgle felt good enough to walk down the stairs, they made their way down together. Then, once the gnome was in bed, he ate breakfast alone just before sunrise while he thought about everything that had happened.

Heisenburgle had died and come back to life; he'd been given an impossible wish for an impossible task, and the woman that had arranged both had apparently known that they were going to happen. That should have been comforting to Lucas. If she knew this was going to happen, then she must have had good reason to think they'd succeed. Still, it bothered him because he had no idea what the favor was he was going to owe her after all this was done.

Back when he'd made that pledge, it had been a safely theoretical concern. There had been every chance that Skylara was going to outlive him by centuries. Now, if he was successful, she was going to come to collect, and it put a bad taste in his mouth.

Still, neither that nor Heisenburgle's negativity was enough to stop his increasing preparations in the days ahead. He redoubled his exercises, and day by day, he began to win more duals. He also agreed to more expansive ground rules with Heisenburlge. Now that he was bound with the gnome in "a death pact," as he called it, Heisenburgle no longer attempted to stop him from working on anything.

He was free to resume his boost potions and even invited his dance instructor to pay a visit to Black Gate Keep. He wasn't yet allowed to go into town or the Greenwood to fetch supplies, but the gnome assured him that when he found the proper pretext, he would be.

After a few days, the gnome let it slip that Thrzaelwick had inquired several times about Lucas' activities. Some of them even included the potions he'd made only a few days ago, which meant that the gnomish God was watching him. That was almost as strange as the idea that the Elvish God knew to expect Heisenburgle; he still didn't know what to make of that.

"Why should he care about the potions I make?" Lucas asked.

"I don't think he did until your most recent series of experiments," the gnome answered with a shake of his head, "But something about those ratios you were harping on about before has intrigued him."

Lucas frowned. He didn't care for that at all. He had the eyes of two different deities on him now, and that was sure to make his life hell at some point.

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