《Double-Blind: A Modern LITRPG》


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1


    Ever heard something repeated so many times it begins to lose meaning?


    It doesnt even take that many repetitions. The sybles begin to bleed, fricatives and sibnts blending together into a phic puddle that holds less meaning than white noise. If the repetitions continue, you can watch someone repeating the word, observe the movements of their lips carefully, and still not be able to make it out, the original sound and form utterly lost to you. This phenomenon has a name: semantic satiation.


    And for me, that word is sorry.


    Ive heard it so many times across my life that it has lost all significance beyond the enmity it invokes.


    Whether its your situation, your mothers drinking problem, or one of lifes little tragedies, someone will find a way to be sorry for it.


    And, there is no word in the Englishnguage as useless as Sorry.


    Which was why, as my only friend blubbered in my arms and I tried in vain to avoid the tears and snot streaming from his face, I was determined not to apologize. titudes helped nothing. It was better to be useful.


    Those assholes. They cant do this to me. Im gonna sue them into the ground.


    I held my tongue, biting off a sharp response before it was spoken aloud. I knew my first responses had a tendency ofing out harsh, something he wouldnt respond well to.


    So, I opted for a simple denial. No you wont, Nick.


    We were both students at Talmont high. Ironically, not too long ago I hated Nick. He used to be part of the upper social stratosphere. The chic, sophisticated, athletic, and techno-savvy group that looked down on everyone else, oozing with confidence and self-assured pedantry. Not to mention he looked the part: wavy brown hair, near-colorless blue eyes, and outweighed me by at least eighty pounds of pure muscle.


    Which is why we likely made a bizarre sight. Him, bulging, oversized, yet clinging to me in the abandonedputerb as if the slightest breeze could blow him away.


    It was a butchered horse cor tackle that did him in. Couldnt get his bnce right after the hit. His leg snapped backwards, ending his career with a made-literal fall from grace. Now he walked with a metal reinforced brace and a single crutch.


    He hadnt taken the adjustment well, wasnt able to ept the end of his tenure at the apex of the schools hierarchy. He turned against the skid. Hit the gym just as hard and chased more girls than he ever had on the football team. Which led us to this unfortunate series of events.


    Everyones seen it man. Everybody. Someone taped an elephant with a tiny trunk and googly eyes to my locker this morning. Someones gotta pay for that. Nick wiped at his eyes angrily.


    I was about toment that I hadnt seen it, but stopped when I realized that wouldnt matter. At school I existed outside the hierarchy. There was no individual group or clique that I belonged to and, as such, I was effectively no one. And, to be honest, I liked it that way.


    Look, I said, theres no positive oue going that route. At best, you win, get some mild to moderate revenge, and watch in horror as the civil case starring your junk goes viral. Basic Streisand effect. At worst, you fail and juste off as a loser. I was going to say impotent, but figured that was not the word he needed to hear right now.


    There needs to be consequences for this shit. If it was some girl, heads would be rolling


    I rolled my eyes as he ranted. It was tantly untruethe number of girls at the school with leaked nudes was astronomical and rarely resulted in any significant fallout.


    Let me ask you something. Say you wanted to send something out and wanted to make sure it couldn''t be traced back to you. How would you do that?


    Snapchat.


    Another eye roll. No, that can be traced back to you. You''d use Signal, or Echo, or Vignt. Shit that''s untraceable by design. Which I guarantee you is what those asshats are using. The ones at the top of the chain at least.


    He clung to me tighter. I felt a squish as his nose smeared against my shoulder and fought the urge to push him away. Then what am I supposed to do, Matt? I can''t be invisible like you. This is gonna follow me.


    I let the shot slide without taking it personally. He wasn''t wrong, and he was upset. Being good looking and popr had its perks, sure, but the downside is you never really learn how to keep your head down.


    Skip the pointlesswsuit and go on vacation, I said.


    What? Just disappear?


    Just a week. The school board won''t stop you, and they''ll probably be relieved that you''re gone. Starve them out and the vultures will move on.


    What if Ie back and they haven''t?


    They will. I reiterated. Trust me. I must have put too much emphasis on thest half because he looked up at me, suspicious.


    You know something.


    I hesitated. The person I had in mind was Jinny Stiles. Id never spoken to her, but when you''re socially persona-non-grata you''re good at picking things up. She belonged to the same social group Nick had. Popr. Pretty. Shed been head over heels for her college boyfriend, ducking parties to hang out with him every weekend. Her friends started making jokes about weight gain. Then she disappeared for a month and came back with a dead-eyed smile and a t stomach. No more ducked parties for the boyfriend. And if I''d noticed, there was no way the rest of them hadn''t.


    They might torment Nick. But they''d eviscerate Jinny. Tall poppy syndrome beat punching down on a cripple any day. It wasn''t really my style to air out someone else''s dirtyundry, but it''s not like it''d been told to me in confidence.


    I settled on apromise: partial information. Stiles number is up. Could hit any day now. Better you''re not here when it does.


    Nicks eyes bulged. Jinny? Why? She''s nice. She''s the only one who still talks to me.


    I grimaced, ignoring the fact I was actively being left out of that statement. Just take the week, Nick.


    Nick stared at me. I could tell the directmand had rankled, bothered him. He was used to calling the shots. I was about to rephrase when he deted, stepping away.


    You creep me out sometimes, Nick said.


    Thanks.


    No, really. Where do you even get this shit? It''s like you have a split-personality. You talk like you''re some savvy socialite one minute, then start sweating when some bby freshman with braces asks you for directions.


    I shifted ufortably. You''re leaving out the part where I''m usually right.


    Yeah. I know. Nick grunted, limping towards where he''d left his crutch leaning against one of the many desks.


    Hold it. I held out a hand. You have something to tide me over while you''re gone?


    Who said I was going?


    He did. With his bodynguage. The way he pulled into himself, feet facing the door. Surrender, clear as if he had screamed it. Of course, I didn''t say any of this.


    I pushed my hand towards him. Come on, cough it up.


    Nick smiled and some of his usual cockiness came back. d you remembered, because I caught a haul. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper. There were underlined subheadings with names and phone numbers. And, true to his word, many more than usual.


    Five essays, three SATs, and there''s a partridge in the pear tree my friend. He tapped the name at the bottom of the list.


    I whistled. LSAT. Damn. Really making your ten percent. My fee for thew school admissions test was five times what it was for the SAT. Largely because the test was hard, filled with fuck-you questions and a general pain in the ass. How''d you snag that?


    Friend of a friend.


    You talked to them about expectations?


    He waved my concerns away. Yeah, they know about the code, the voice changer, and to expect a blocked caller.


    Nick.


    I promise. He sounded annoyed. But thest thing I wanted was another freak out.


    Okay, just making sure. Enjoy your vacation.


    Nick hobbled away from me, then stopped. He cast a worried nce my way. Matt. This thing with Jinny.


    I shook my head. It''s gonna get out one way or another.


    Sure. He bit his lip. But if it doesn''t, promise you''re not going to help it along?


    I had no ns to. Talmont would almost assuredly do it for me. But if it somehow didn''te out before the end of the week, well, then things got a little moreplicated. What it boiled down to was that, despite his faults, I cared about Nick. That was rare for me. And I didn''t care about Jinny, or the fact that Nick cared about her.


    Maybe you think that makes me a horrible person. That''s fine. I never imed otherwise.


    I gave him a false smile. Won''t raise a finger.


    /////


    Theres a certain art to walking around unnoticed. The first mistake most people make is literally keeping their head down. You dont want that. It sends the wrong signals: small, weak, vulnerable. In a naturally hostile environmenthigh-school, for exampleyou might as well be carrying a shing bother-me sign for any given observer with elevated testosterone.


    Instead, you want to keep your gaze focused downward at the floor at around a 45-degree angle. Keep to a wall, but dont walk too close. Wear clothes that suit the surroundings, nothing too bright or shy. Most importantly, dont make eye-contact.


    I wish I had a better excuse for what I am. Why I don''t feel things the way other people do, why empathy is so hard for me. Some trite, tidy backstory would go a long way in exining my shorings. That I was bullied mercilessly. That my vige was set on fire and my parents ughtered.


    But none of that is true. I live in a city, not a vige, and no one would bother to raze it. My family is poor, but we get by. My siblings are all alive and well. And God is just someone whose house we visit on holidays.


    The reality was that I was bored. I wanted a break from the monotony. I wanted something to happen. Good or bad, it didnt matter.


    I was such a fool.


    My first mistake was not looking up on my walk home from school. I had a lot on my mind, specifically which college to attend. It should have been a shoe in. I had a partial schrship to Berkeley which made it almost affordable, and I was interested in engineering, so the choice seemed clear.


    But there was a wrinkle. I didn''t have to listen to thete night raving and see the litany of empty bottles to tell you that the double initial organizations and group meetings weren''t doing anything for my mothers problems.


    Yeah, I know. That shouldn''t matter. It''s <em>my</em> future, not hers. But I didn''t like the idea of leaving my little sister and brother alone to deal with the fallout. Iris and Ellisonmy siblingswere still too young to understand the considerable level of upkeep my mother required.


    So I had the option of choosing selfishly, and taking my almost-free ride to Berkeley. Or, I could stay local and see what financial aid I could scrounge up from the local dregs. Maybe something in the surrounding metroplex, maybe something in Ohoma where I could drive home easily if something happened. Not that I had a car. Maybe I could save up for one, or find a way to tap into my meager savings for the down payment. But that would mean working like a ve for myst few semesters, trying to scrounge up tuition. The only other alternative was doubling down now.


    But how?


    I had two part-time jobs already, not including my extralegal testing and responsibilities at home. Taking another job would mean reducing my already meager four or five hours of sleep a night to two or three.


    The prospect alone made me feel tired. That''s the downside of being poor. There aren''t any good options. It was too much to consider, too much to evenprehend. If I felt like rolling the dice I could look into investing my money, but the only option that would possibly yield enough to make it worth while in such a short period of time would mean going with <em>her</em>. Someone I knew from personal experience to be both ky and unreliable.


    Maybe that''s why I missed the meteor, hurtling downward. Perhaps my mind was so preupied with the possible tangles of my future that I couldn''t even be bothered to notice the nascent horrors of my present.


    Matt! A womans voice.


    What? Id done nothing to draw attention to myself.


    Still, Sai Park, a Korean student with long silky hair and nice figuredespite the obviously padded brastood staring at me. Her phone was held limply in her hands. She was barely in uniform, id skirt rolled up just above her knee and her simple dress shirt adjusted to wring maximum style from the drab, conservative garb. A bright orange kerchief hung around her neck. Exactly the sort of person I <em>didnt</em> want to see me. My heart jumped. My mouth dried at the prospect of even talking to her.


    Mouth open, horrified, she pointed behind me.


    Someone screamed. Then another person, then another. I spun around to look. The street was usually bustling with activity, but foot traffic was frozen. Everywhere I looked people were staring at the sky, frozen, hands over their mouths.


    Finally, I looked up.


    My first, stumbling thought was that the freak urrence of nature that was going to end my life had a tail, which didn''t make sense for something that close. But like all forces of nature, it didn''t have to. To my left, I saw a man and woman cling to one another. A group of girls from my high school huddled against the walls of a nearby bank, trying to make themselves small, like prey cowering before a predator.


    There was a deafening crash as an SUV mmed into a parked car, driver trying desperately to flee.


    A million thoughts went through my mind before Inded on one: It was over. All of it. I knew, in that moment, what death looked like. It was inevitable. I could be on a jet right now, breaking the sound barrier, and still end up in the st of that thing.


    I turned around to look for Sai, but the space where she was standing was now empty, like shed never been there to begin with.


    Mouth dry, I pulled my phone from my pocket and called home. It took a couple tries before I got through.


    My little brothers voice carried over the line. Hello? He sounded bewildered.


    I watched the meteor glow brighter and brighter blue, growingrger by the second. Hey Ellis. You and Iris okay?


    Matt, I''m scared. His voice quivered. Mom won''t let me watch the news, but I can hear it from the kitchen. They''re saying the worlds going to end.


    Come on, pal. I forced augh that I could only hope sounded more authentic than it felt. It''s the news. They''re always saying that.


    I guess.


    Trust me. It''s all gonna be fine, I lied. I couldn''t see any reason not to.


    If you say so. He sounded less confident than I felt.


    Love you, kiddo. Put mom on, will you?


    Ok.


    Wait, El?


    Yes?


    Tell Iris I love her too, please?


    Fuck. It was the first time I''d heard my brother swear.


    Language! I said. But he was already gone.


    Hello? My mother''s voice slurred. I gritted my teeth. No reason to stick to sobriety when the world was ending, but I had to wonder if she''d started drinking before or after she''d picked the kids up.


    Hey mom, I said.


    Where are you, Mathias? Mom sounded more alert now, for all the good it did.


    I''m surprised I got through. I swallowed. How long did we even have? Minutes? An hour? Did it look sorge because it was close, or was it just that massive?


    Where are you? She said again, voice panicked. As if it mattered.


    Halfway. Off of Lincoln and Third. Funny that I remembered the street names at a time like this. A cop habit my father had ingrained in me.


    You need to get to shelter. Get inside.


    How bad is it?


    Silence. Theyre saying it''ll be worse than a nuclear attack.


    I cocked my head. I knew that voice. Was that <em>understatement?</em> She was actually ying it down.


    They talking about it knocking the earth off its axis? It looks... really big. I dont know why I asked. Morbid curiosity, I guess.


    Get inside, Matt.


    I will. I didn''t bother pointing out that our shabby two-bedroom apartment wouldn''t offer much protection. A bomb shelter would fare just as badly. There was no getting away from something like this.


    I called to say... The words I love you, spoken so easily to my brother and sister, died in my throat. I cleared it, then shook my head. It doesn''t matter.


    Don''t give up. There''s always a chance. We could be the outliers. My mother once lived her life by measured statistics and numbers. But she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than me.


    <em>When have we ever been the outliers?</em>


    I stifled a bitterugh. Still, I needed to say something. ... Sorry for being so coldtely.


    A short pause. I deserve it.


    Maybe.


    You dont have to agree with me.


    But looking back, I wish I hadn''t been. Cold, I mean.


    Matt, I


    Three short beeps followed by silence. I looked at my phone and saw the call had ended. I tried a few more times and got a pre-recorded message saying the lines were busy and to reduce calls to emergency only.


    Well, that was that.


    The meteor was imminent. Strangely, I didn''t feel fear. I felt resignation and relief, that the struggle was over. I didnt have to go home, ignore my siblings, study until my head hurt, pass out, then drag myself to Dunkins for the early bird shift. My worries had all been rendered moot. I studied it, watching it growrger andrger, and realized with grim amusement that it seemed to be headed straight towards me.


    As if in a hypnotic state, I began walking, trying to calcte the trajectory. It led me to the little garden outside of Emerson Square, where I took a seat on a park bench next to a tan-uniformed blonde girl who looked to be in middle school. She held a bag stuffed with cookies and had begun to dig into them. I took a seat next to her.


    Spare a few? I asked


    She eyed me for a moment before her gaze returned to the sky. Five dors.


    Thin Mints?


    Yup.


    Amused, I pulled out my wallet and counted out three dor bills before I came up dry.


    What does three get me?


    Savannah Smiles.


    Oof. Still, I handed her the money, and she took it without looking, automatically handing me a box.


    Were gonna die, aren''t we? The girl asked. She sounded small, resigned. A man sprinted by us carrying a gallon of water.


    It was strange how calm she was. Maybe the reality hadn''t sunk in yet. Yeah. Well have one hell of a view though.


    The temperature grew from hot to sweltering. I tore open the packaging and tossed the oblong cookie into my mouth, nearly gagging as I chewed. Christ, it''s like candied Lysol.


    They''re a bargain for three.


    If you say so. Did you get through to your folks? I asked.


    Don''t have a phone.


    Try mine. I handed it to her. She took the phone, nced over at me, as if unhappy with the unevenness of the exchange, then slid me a box of Thin Mints.


    Thanks. I tossed the box of lemon abominations in the nearby trash can. One hell of a shot, but of course everyone was a little too preupied to notice.


    She dialed, held the phone to her ear, then handed it back.


    Any luck?


    No.


    A swarthy woman tripped hard nearby,nding on the ts of her hands and her knees before rolling onto her back. She took one look at the sky and began shrieking and moaning with an almost biblical fervor.


    We both looked at her in annoyance.


    Noisy, the girl said.


    Straight out of a Lifetime special, Imented.


    It was close now. All sound disappeared, like I was underwater. I could feel the heat. Wind began to roil around us as the pavement boiled, tossing my dark hair in my face, covering my sses.


    I stood and walked forward, leaving the Girl-Scout behind and forgotten. A handful of people joined me in the square. An older woman in business casual stood on the fringes, phone out, recording the moment. A muscled man with salt-and-pepper hair was chuckling to himself, the sound low and mean.


    It would be seconds now. The glowing blue rock took up my entire vision, dwarfing the skyline. I held my arms outstretched.


    <em>Well,e on you bastard. Do what you came here to do.</em>


    A nearby building toppled. A hundred yards above, the meteor exploded into a massive wave of indigo ash that swallowed everything as the shockwave sent me flying.


    /////


    I was plunged into a darkness deeper than the ckest night. Id expected my life to sh before my eyes. Now that it was happening, it felt more like a slow painful crawl. I saw Iris, signing to me, trying to catch my attention earlier that morning while I ignored her so I wouldn''t bete. I saw Danielle Espinosa, asking me to the solstice danceand me, focused so hard on perfecting my response, mulling over the problematic consonants to avoid a stutter, until she took my silence as rejection and stormed off. Finally, I saw the day that cemented in my mind that heroes were fools: my fathers police cruiser through dusty blinds, pulling up in front of the rundown house at the end of the street.


    A neon violet square filled my vision. It was painful to look at, eye-searingly bright. There were three ascending notes that sounded almost like a phone jingle.


    Text scrolled, almost too fast for me to read:


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The scroll stopped. There wasnt an option for no. Just a YES option in capital letters below the scroll of text. I was confused. There was no straightforward exnation for what I was experiencing. I didn''t have hands, or eyes for that matter. But I focused on it.


    The text began to scroll again.


    <strong></strong>


    No system message notification this time. Just direct text.


    <strong></strong>


    It reminded me of a question off one of those Freudian mealy-mouth surveys therapists pour over to psychoanalyze you, where there''s no correct choice. Only, again, my options were limited. <strong></strong> hovered below the text, the only option.


    <strong></strong>


    If I had a mouth, I would haveughed. Again, there was only one answer highlighted.


    <strong></strong>


    I started as a wall of text filled the screen.


    <strong></strong>


    A feeling of unease washed over me. The trolley problem was ethics 101. And frankly, it was highly hypothetical and stupid. But this version was wrong. There were supposed to be five people tied to the main track, one person tied to the sidetrack. This was a darker, more nihilistic version of the dilemma.


    <strong></strong>


    Anger started from somewhere deep within me. It brought me back to the original question: Why was there only one answer? Was the system just assuming I would make that choice? The core issue with the original trolley problem that was raised over and over was a simple one: Agency. If you did nothing, you were merely a tragic witness to the deaths of five people. The series of events that brought about their deaths were already put into motion, but that blood was ultimately not on your hands. You didnt cut the trolleys brake lines. You didnt tie those people to the tracks.


    Things gotplicated when you pulled the lever. By pulling the lever, you left the realm of passive observer and became an active participant. No longer a mortal, but a self-appointed god. You weigh the worth of five lives and decide that they are worth killing one person for. And unlike the death of the five, you are directly responsible for that death.


    The text disappeared then reappeared, the letters tripling in size, bright red.


    <strong></strong>


    It didnt matter. The most important aspect of test taking was to pick an answer and move on. Time was the enemy, not the question. And it wasnt like I had a choice. I focused on the option, trying not to think about the implications of why I didnt have a choice, and it disappeared with no fanfare.


    A panoramic picture came into focus line by line, as if drawn by invisible brushes. It had a storybook quality. A pastoral town washed in oranges and reds by a rising sun peeking halfway over the horizon. It was a drawing of a fantasy world. There was a knight in silver armor cleaning a tarnished shield. A wizard,plete with a pointy hat and beard, was haggling with a fruit merchant in a smock. Meanwhile, an elven ranger with multiple golden rings piercing his pointed ears put arrows into a target at a practice range.


    <strong></strong>


    I didnt understand the question at first. When I realized it was asking which person in the picture I identified with the most, a manic, horrible thought clicked into ce. Willing it, I scrolled back up to the original system notifications, reading them again.


    This wasnt a test.


    I wasnt being graded for my ethics.


    This was a character creation.


    What kind of half-assed dream had I stumbled into?


    I scrolled back down to the most recent question, my mind racing. As the text shed by, a million terrible scenarios popped into my head. Id read novels with simr premises. A protagonist dies, killed by a truck, or a mugger, or a god damned meteor, and when they awaken, they are transported into another world.


    That was how it worked in fiction. But discounting the much more likely scenario that this was all simply the manic work of a dying mind, I realized I didnt <em>want</em> to go to another world. I had a handle on this one, grim and hopeless as it was. And the devil you know is always better than the devil you dont.


    It was a panicked thought. Dumb. Delusional. Even fanciful. Unlike me.


    <strong></strong>


    The only answer was listed below the question, and looking at it sent a cold chill through me.


    I searched the image. The wizard, ranger, and knight were still going about their business. But there was something Id missed the first time. In the deep shadows cast by the rising sun next to one of the buildings, a man reached out towards the camera as if to grab it from afar. He was almost invisible, and had no definable features, other than the hand. But he held it out towards the other figures, and for a reason I could not quite describe, I feared for them.


    Reflexively, I focused on the option and the data screen disappeared.


    And then I woke up in the worst ce possible.

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2


    Bright, fluorescent lights blinded me. The ckness was banished, surrounded by white. Something hard gripped my face, shoving air into my mouth, my nose. I gagged,ing awake with a massive gasp followed by a violent series of coughs.


    Bits of dull-blue dust exploded from the inhtion ports of the oxygen mask like a dragons exhale as I hacked, my lungs tight and dry.


    Wait, oxygen mask? The disorientation twisted into full-blown panic. No. This couldnt be happening. I looked down at myself, at my body. The IV, the monitor, the bed. The ambnce ride that must have brought me here. We didnt have insurance, and doing some frantic math in my head I realized I was looking at from anywhere between $2,500 to $10,000 minimum.


    Shit. Shit. I couldnt afford it. We couldnt afford it. Even the lowest number would wipe out my meagre profits from Nicks tip sheet and the highest would put us on the street. There was... something that happened. My memory was fuzzy. A natural disaster? A meteor?


    It slowly came back to me. Thats right. It had exploded before impact, showering the city and street with massive plumes of dust that reminded me of the immediate aftermath of the oil refinery in Beirut. And Id been thrown from the resulting st.


    Experimentally, I leaned forward and winced, a sharp pain emitting from my chest beneath a thick bandage. Cracked rib. I had green-purple bruising all over my side and my shoulder throbbed from where I must havended. I struggled to my feet and wheeled the IV stand towards the window.


    Id expected to see husks of copsed buildings as far as the eye could see. But the Das skyline was intact. The Bank of America za building had copsed, damaging some nearby structures but at least from this perspective, everything else looked mostly whole.


    That was almost worse. The disaster had been a freak incident, unlike anything Id ever heard of. There would be an inevitablepensation fund, but that would take time, and there had been clear examples in the past when it had taken an upward of a decade forwmakers to establish anything remotely approaching a working solution.


    Then, as if to punctuate my rising panic, the text box appeared.


    <strong></strong>


    I pped the message away, retreated until my back mmed against a wall. Panic mingled with anxiety and I began to hyperventte.


    Head between my legs, I tried toe to grips with how bad the situation was. The only thing that could possibly make my current circumstances worse had happened: There was actually something wrong with me. Hallucinations. And not the fun, walls are slightly shifting and why did I leave the remote in the fridge kind. It was a hard delusion, tied to the dream Id had the previous night. Theyd want to keep me overnight for observation. It had to be a psychological issue, which would take time to diagnose and evaluate, and that was how ten thousand dors turned into a hundred.


    Hurriedly, I crawled to the foot of the bed and checked my chart. Below the listing of blood pressure and notes there was a bullet-point list detailing my condition: Severe smoke inhtion. Fractured rib. Dislocated shoulder. Exposure to an unknown substance. But I almost cried with relief when I found the field listed as M. Unidentified Adolescent. They didnt have my name. That cinched it. I had to get out. Now.


    It took a few painful moments for me to remove the IV. My head pounded under the intensity of the lights. My half-folded clothes and belongings were in a stic bag ced haphazardly on a nearby seat. I got the feeling that whoever ced them there had been called away which was likely the reason my name and information hadnt been lifted from my wallet.


    The text box reappeared as I struggled back into my ruined clothes. I tried to push it away again but it shifted, moving out of my reach but remaining in my sight. I turned away from it, refusing to acknowledge the delusion when it moved to stay in my eye line. It scrolled slowly, as if it knew I couldnt help but read it.


    <strong></strong>


    That stopped me t, one-leg in to putting on my pants. For the first time I doubted what I was seeing was merely a product of a damaged mind. There were few things I took less stock in than astrology. Unless my subconscious was being ironic. Could a subconscious even be ironic?


    <strong></strong>


    Apparently, the answer was yes. But Rene Magritte wanted his joke back.


    <strong></strong>


    Could have told you that, I muttered. My pants were on. My shirt was ruined, but hopefully the hospital would be too busy for anyone to notice. In my haste, my eyes lingered on the underlined title and the text expanded.


    <strong></strong>


    I tried not to think about the fact that I did feel strangely calm. I was panicking, yes, but it was strange that I wasnt still hyperventting on the floor, folding to the ever growing external pressure. I dealt with pressure well, until it grew so excessive and overwhelming that I broke downpletely in a series of escting panic attacks. Yet somehow, I was coping.


    <strong></strong>


    I nced at it and immediately regretted doing so after reading the first line.


    <strong></strong>


    Fuck off! I swiped at it, but it danced away and the text continued to scroll.


    <strong></strong>


    ept my ass.


    <strong></strong>


    Okay, no. Any doubts that this was a delusion suddenly faded as my mood further soured. No one was better at mocking me than I was. And this was feeling increasingly like a cruel joke. In fact, most of this wasnt adding up. There was radar, satellites, thousands of telescopes pointed at any given section space at any given time. Something that big just slipped past everything?


    There was no way. It wasnt just the text box. This whole thing was the delusion. There had never been any meteor, any impact, any ambnce ride. This wasnt happening. In all likelihood I was strapped to a gurney somewhere, drooling


    I stopped myself just shy of dissociatingpletely. If I went down that road there was noing back. I needed to ept what was closest to reality, and reject the clearly fantastical elements. Namely, the text box that still danced in my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    Really, subconscious? The old protagonist unlocks OP ss at the beginning of the story and steamrolls trope? You going to give me an evil eye and let me trade my soul to the devil for a demonic army next?


    <strong></strong>


    That almost sounded like a direct response to my thoughts. Maybe, if I could learn to warp the hallucination I could minimize it, lessening the effect. At the very least ensuring I didnt have half-assed RPG text popping up in front of my face at the worst possible time.


    I focused my thoughts to aser point, trying to direct them at the text box and sneered. So what is it? Necromancer? Blood-bender? Vampire? Death Mage? Dude-who-kills-everything-he-touches?


    <strong></strong>


    I was about to spit an expletiveced negative, then bit it back. It took me a moment to realize why. My paranoia had wrapped back around on itself.


    Id been beating my head against the wall over thest year trying to cram in all necessary knowledge to be able to crush the MKAT, and some of that knowledge came back to me now. Every psychological disorder that I studied featuring hallucinationsschizophrenia, psychosishad one thing inmon. They always started small. Maybe youd find the house wasnt like youd left it, or youd hear inaudible voices. You started out wondering if the aliens were after you long before they actually arrived. None of that had happened to me.


    So what had happened to my ramp up?


    I reread the text again. This time, when I focused on the Ordinator ss text there was no expanded information. The so-called system had given me all the information it was willing to. And unlike in my dream, there were two options.


    <strong></strong>


    I didnt buy it. Any of it. But it was like Pascals Wager. In the most likely scenario that the system was a delusion, saying yes or no was a zero. Maybe selecting yes in this case would be buying into the hallucination, giving it more power. But things were already this bad. Alternatively, if the decimal level possibility that this was real somehow happened to be the case, and I said no, I was actively fucking myself out of a clearly stated benefit.


    All that assuming that in this wackass scenario, the system could actually be trusted.


    Damn, my head hurt.


    I gave it one more second, then made my choice. The response was immediate.


    <strong></strong>


    Wait, what contract? No one said anything about a contract. There wasnt a damn EULA.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I waited but nothing happened. What the hell? I expected a wall of text with tritely named starter abilities. Instead I got the mouthful that was Probability Spiral. Before I could focus in on the ability to expand the description there was a stampede of footsteps approaching from the outside hallway. With dawning horror, I watched through the frosted ss window facing the hallway as a dozen ck figures moved across my view with military precision, holding shapes that could only be one thing. Rifles.


    My skin prickled, goose flesh forming on my arms. What was happening?


    I pressed my back to the wall, waiting, listening. There was a bang that rattled the floor and startled me. Theyd just broken in to the adjacent room. A muffled voice yelled something indistinct. I crawled to the adjoining wall and pressed my ear against it.


    Put it down. The voice was gruff, harsh. A controlled yell. My father would have called it cop voice.


    I cant! I heard someone yell back, panicked.


    Put the weapon down now!


    Please! The man sobbed. Help me


    I jumped at the sudden explosion and held my hands over my ringing ears. Bits of detritus rained down on my head. Still stunned, I looked up to see a hole torn in the ster. It wasnt until I looked over to the opposite wall and saw the squashed copper bullet lodged there that I realized what had happened.


    He was begging for help and they killed him. Holy shit. Someone just died.


    My heart jackhammered in my chest. Somehow, this was different than the meteor strike. That had been too hard to fathom. Comparatively, the police shooting my next door neighbora man who had likely been injured in the same event I hadfelt far more visceral and real.


    The text screen disappeared as soon as the violence started. Maybe my mind was too upied to hallucinate. None of that mattered right now. What mattered was that I needed to get out before the SWAT team finished up in the room.


    I scrambled to my feet and snuck to the door. I was about to pull it open when an almost tangible nket of anxiety stopped me. It was the same exact feeling you get when you enter a room and conversation grinds to a halt, every head turning to stare at you, silently challenging your decision to grace their presence.


    <em>Its probably SWAT. Theyll have someone posted outside. Maybe multiple people. If someone asks me for my ID, Im screwed, and there goes my n of never being here.</em>


    It was my voice, but it was different than usual. Paranoia applied and turned outward rather than inward. Strange. But running through it again, it wasn''t unwarranted.


    I needed a distraction. Something to buy me a moment.


    Of course. It was a hospital. There had to be doctors on the way, and they''d be allowed to work as soon as the guy next door was secured.


    Okay. I leaned my head against the door. Then something else came to me. <em>Wait. Why aren''t they using subsonic ammunition? More importantly, why was he shot? Drop the weapon. Answered with I cant. He didn''t sound insane, just distraught and terrified. It''s an emergency situation so the hospital would be filled floor by floor. I''m at least six floors up so I wasn''t the first one rescued. Maybe they started picking up the people around the fringes first, then made their way inward, which would mean I was likely one of thest. More importantly that means everyoneand specifically my neighbor was more than likely a victim of the st. What if the fallout changed us </em>


    Fuck, I was losing it. I''d entertained the delusion and now my mind was fraying. Two figures in white coats sprinted toward my neighbor.


    As soon as I heard raised voices I moved. The door clicked open and I turned the opposite way, catching snippets of furious dialogue, one-sided. The ck orb-like cameras were ced in obvious locations, and I somehow knew where they were pointed. I weaved a zigzag path around them, making sure my exit left no evidence.


    I dared a look up at the convex mirror mounted above the uing cross-hallway. I caught a glimpse of myself. My dark hair was matted and my brown eyes were wild.


    Worse, I saw behind me. A single SWAT guy trailed me, head cocked to the side, speaking quietly into his radio. My face flushed. Dammit, not now. I''m so close. I kept my pace even despite my pounding heart, moving with confidence.


    I made it past theputer desk at the front without turning a head. There was a ding and the elevator doors closest to me opened. It was going up, not down, but I didn''t have the luxury of being picky. Three women in business casual walked out and I squeezed between them.


    Hey! A deep, gruff voice. The SWAT guy. It had to be.


    I mmed my hand down on the close door, button and backed away. SWAT guy was caught behind the three women and pushed one of them aside, trying to get to the elevator before it closed. Thest thing I saw was his outstretched hand.


    Thing was, I knew this hospital. I knew the floor I stepped out at was the ICU. And I knew it had a back stairway that led out to the parking garage.


    I identally looked at the woman at the floor desk and felt a jolt of rm as her eyes went to my ruined shirt. Hey, sir?


    I blew past her, walk sting into a run.


    Sir you can''t be back there!


    I''d reached the stairway and the door had nearly closed when I heard her call out one final time,


    He went that way!


    SWAT guy had found me. If I pushed this any farther they''d be able to charge me with attempting to elude an officer and resisting arrest. Still, there was a chance.


    I flew down the stairs two at a time, clinging to the unevenly painted guardrail. In seconds footsteps pounded behind me.


    I shouldered through the heavy door and into the garage, my side stinging from the impact. Needed to hide before


    Not one more step. The deadly ire in his tone spoke volumes and I knew before I turned around that the barrel of the rifle was pointed at my chest.


    I held my hands up. No need to make things worse. Okay.


    You''re one of them. The anger in his voice took me off guard.


    I... don''t know what you mean. I said, but the truth was I could guess.


    He lowered his rifle, and unbuckled his helmet, taking it off his head. His face was twisted in an expression that was the very picture of hatred. A scar ran vertically across a nose that had been broken one too many times.


    Wanna guess how many friends I''ve lost today? He seethed. Too fucking many. SWAT guy dropped his helmet to the floor with a tter, then brought his rifle back up. His finger was no longer on the guard, but on the trigger itself. Reality began to dawn that he had no intention to arrest me.


    What the hell? My voice cracked. I''m just a kid, man. Please. I don''t even know what you''re talking about.


    Yeah you do. The people closest to the impact came back wrong, changed. And you''re one of them.


    I watched his eye down the barrel of the scope and realized he was aiming for my head. My mouth was dry. Suddenly my mind shifted, and everything recontextualized. None of this was really happening to me. My arms, my legs, my chest, none of them were mine, none of them were under my direct control. I was someone else, far away. But in that moment, in the stillness, I realized something had changed.


    I didn''t want to die. I wasn''t willing to let it happen like I had before.


    Please. Don''t.


    His finger tightened on the trigger. Time slowed down, dting exponentially. I could see it in his face. He wouldn''t change his mind. And he had already made the call.


    He was too far away for me to reach. Every car I might take cover behind was too far to be viable. I had no real options besides one that that wasn''t real at all.


    The me that was not me reached out with a single hand. Mentally, I called out for the ability right as he pulled the trigger.


    <em>Probability spiral.</em>

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3


    There was a slight distortion that left my hand like a tiny heatwave. Nothing happened. SWAT guy smiled and pulled the trigger. There was an ear shattering crack and the gun exploded. A re ejected out the side closest to SWAT guys arm, detonating. A squib. He shrieked and fell, pping at the growing mes on his shredded arm.


    I gawked at the scene. Holy shit. Either the rifle had malfunctioned on its own, or something else had tipped the scales. Probability spiral


    I staggered to the side, gasping. It felt like I''d run two marathons, back to back. Whatever it was, it hadn''te free. Still, it would only be a matter of seconds before the SWAT guy recovered. He''d pull his sidearm and the small victory Id managed would be wasted. I took off running, fighting exhaustion as his swearing followed me, his screams of pain echoing off the concrete ceiling of the garage.


    /////


    My paranoia started whispering a few blocks from our apartment. What if they''d identified me from earlier footage? What if they were waiting for me?


    I slipped into a nearby Waffle House with a view of the east apartment entrance and took a seat at a booth. My leg bounced uncontrobly and I had a hard time focusing on anything. My escape had been too easy. Inconsistencies in the events came into focus that had been disguised in a wash of adrenaline.


    I''d been so confident I knew which way the cameras were pointing. Why? Where had that suretye from? The hospital cameras were encased in a ck orb. I was losing it. Life wasn''t a Marvel movie. People didn''t develop powers from meteors. The mounted TV flickered as the channel was changed, giving a report of shots fired at Baylor hospital. Apparently, the cops had continued making their rounds. But the news was reporting it as a possible active shooter situation. I cocked my head. That didn''t make any sense. Normally, the news was informed on this sort of thing. The police must have been on an information ckout.


    Hon? I said, what can I get you?


    I jumped, swiveling in my seat to face a waitress who couldn''t be bothered to tie her apron.


    Coffee. Then, after a second. Decaf. No need to be any jumpier than I already felt.


    Just the coffee. Statement, not a question. I was analyzing the waitresss tone, looking for tells. More paranoia. I needed to get home so I could take my meds. You okay hon?


    Yeah. Sorry. Lot on my mind.


    She nodded sympathetically. Last few days have been rough on all of us. I''ll get that coffee.


    The wording stuck with me long after she''d left. Last few days? Of course. This wasn''t the day of the impact. Few. What did few mean? At least two, probably three. I watched the news, waiting for a date stamped report. March 22nd, 2024. Okay. Two days. What the SWAT guy said made more sense now, at least in terms of timeline.


    <em>Know how many friends I''ve lost today?</em>


    I squeezed my eyes shut.


    The aroma of coffee filled my nose. I could feel the waitress''s shadow lingering before she left me to my drink. My stomach twisted.


    For the second day in a row, police and federal authorities have yet to exin the blockades spanning state lines.


    My eyes shot open. The scene on the TV rotated between various major highways. Checkpoints backed up traffic indefinitely as a deluge of squad cars and SUVs served as hastily erected barriers blocking off roadways. There was a shot of thousands of people pressed together at DFW airport, with a slow pan to a nearby disy that read, All departures suspended indefinitely.


    The hits kepting. We were locked in. And the violet notification light was still hanging in my vision like a stuck pixel.


    /////


    I eased the apartment door shut. The hinges squealed at thest moment, giving me away. Small footsteps pattered as Iris swung out from the kitchen, small hand clinging to the dividing wall to prevent her socked feet from slipping on the hardwood floor as she leveraged herself towards me.


    Iris was thirteen, but her outfits always made her look much younger. A simple denim jumper covered a white cloth shirt. Her blonde hair was cropped short, tufts of it frizzed out over too-long ears. She tackled me in a tight hug. I saw Ellison peek out from the hallway and give me a tentative wave. Hed gotten the best of our parents features. Our fathers electric blue eyes and our mothers wavy chestnut hair.


    Hey Ellis.


    Where have you been? Ellison asked. There was a notable strain in his voice.


    Is it bad? I asked.


    Dark orange. More sandstone than y. Where have you been?


    Hospital. When his eyes widened, I hurried on before he could assume the worst. Rx. Got out before they got my information.


    <em>Are you hurt?</em> Iris watched my lips intently as she finished the sign, closed hands with two index fingers pointed at each other.


    Im fine. I said, signing and speaking out loud. Just bumps and bruises. And broken ribs that didnt hurt and a dislocated shoulder that was somehow fully functional. But that was filed under the category of things I didnt want to think too closely about. You guys okay?


    Iris nodded.


    More disturbed than anything else. Mom called us both into the living room onto the couch with her and held onto us, then started crying uncontrobly.


    I winced. Sorry I wasnt here. How long has she been orange? I asked.


    <em>Since the meteor.</em> Iris signed, her movements emphatic.


    She feed you guys?


    Were fine. We made sandwiches. Ellison answered before Iris could sign.


    Irritation flooded me and I looked towards the end of the hallway. Really? I was gone for two days and she couldnt be bothered to reheat asagna? Of course she couldnt. What was I thinking?


    I stalked towards the hallway and Iris clung onto my arm, slowing me, sliding a foot across the ground.


    <em>Dont make it worse.</em>


    I knew she was right. In that moment, though, right and wrong didnt matter. I felt so trapped, so damn strangled by this ce. So, I stood and seethed. I reached up slowly to my forehead, feeling the spot on my forehead and finding the vein standing out on my skin.


    <em>Shit. My meds.</em>


    Okay, I said finally, and Iris released me. I need to take some time. Do either of you need anything?


    Not right at this minute. Got any money? Ellison watched me knowingly, dark locks swinging across his forehead. I was washing Mr. Olivers truck this morning


    El, you know I dont like you working for him.


    Ellison rolled his eyes. Not the point.


    Im serious. Hes thendlord, and he already tried to use you of stealing change from his car. To say nothing of the fact that Ellison probably did. But the theft didnt match the mans explosive reaction and threats of eviction that terrified us for weeks. Wait, what do you need money for?


    If youd let me finish, I would have told you by now, Ellison snapped. Olivers paying me tomorrow when he has cash on hand


    Never work without knowing when youll be paid


    I <em>did</em> know. He said it upfront. But the point is a bunch of neighbors saw me washing his car. A whole bunch. The dust from that thing, Ellison held up a fist and syed his fingers, pantomiming the explosion. Got everywhere and its <em>thick</em>. Everyone needs their car cleaned, and Tommys down the street is price gouging. So, the opportunity is there, but I dont have the capital for it.


    I did my best to ignore the lingo that undoubtedly stemmed from our mother. What about the twenty I gave you two weeks ago?


    Snacks. But most of it went to Iriss new backpack.


    Fuck. Id forgotten. Iris was mostly homeschooled due to inadequate support for deaf children in the local public school and bullying, but she was in a self-study group with other deaf children. As it turned out, sharing the same disability didnt count much formon ground, as Iriss backpack had been torn off her shoulders by an older boy and summarily tossed in a storm drain.


    How much do you need?


    Twenty-five if you have it.


    I snorted. What, are you outsourcing?


    I need a jug and the Optimum is forty and tax.


    If youre going for quantity just buy the Megs. Its half that. And its not like any of our neighbors are getting valet parking. Youre not waxing and detailing. Just clean the dust off their beaters.


    Recurring business be damned. Ellison sighed.


    Beggars cant be choosers, I shot back. Three dors would tide him over. Ellison always lowballed what he actually had. I opened my wallet and stopped, finding it empty. A low groan escaped me.


    What?


    I bankrupted myself for shitty Girl Scout cookies.


    Excuse me? Ellison repeated again, voice monotone.


    Sue me, the world was ending.


    Iris shifted so she was in both of our vision. <em>Let me help.</em>


    Do... you have it? Ellison asked ufortably.


    <em>Ill break open November,</em> Iris signed. Her eyes were bright, as if she was happy to offer a solution.


    No, Ellison said immediately.


    I shared an ufortable look with Ellison and turned back to Iris. You just broke October to get the water turned back on.


    <em>That was months ago.</em>


    Barely two months. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. Iris had a thing for cute porcin piggy-banks, a relic of the past that had made a semi-ironic return in recent years. Iriss first bank had been a Frosty the Snowman lookalike she named January. I remembered October as fragments of a smiling jack-ontern, shattered amongst currency on the floor. My mothers goal had been to use the device to teach Iris the importance of saving, while making it difficult to borrow those savings back. Yeah. It hadnt exactly worked out that way.


    I hated moments like this. I crouched down to her level. Okay. If Ellisons windfall is as big as hes making it out to be, hell pay you back. If for some reason it doesnt and he cant, I will. You cant keep doing this kiddo. My chest tightened when she shook her head, indicating she didnt need to be paid back.


    As much as I disliked my mother, there was no question we were cut from the same cloth, as was Ellison. We were mercenaries of a modern age, money and survival our only objectives. But Iris was different. Iris was the best of us.


    It wont take long, Iris. Ill have it back to you by the end of the day. Ellison said. But I could hear the regret in his voice.


    I stood back, conflicted, looking between my sister and brother. I was proud of them. But I hated that our discussions were closer to business meetings. I hated that they had to operate like this.


    A chill went through me. If I died in the parking garage, would they be breaking November for me? Every dor Ellison earned today going towards cremation, funeral costs? And what would the rest of their lives look like after my death gave mother an excuse to dive even deeper into the well? More desperation, fueled by white bread sandwiches and snack packs. It was exactly why I couldntmit to fucking off to Berkeley. Not that I even could now.


    <em>Trapped. And youll always be trapped.</em>


    The ceiling lowered. Just a slight, subtle shift but a clear early warning sign. I thanked Iris and walked hurriedly to my room. Meds. I needed my meds. I threw open the door. My bed was unmade the way Id left it. Ayer of dust on my dresser stood out to me in ring detail. The ceiling felt even lower, threatening now, as if it might descend and crush me.


    I grabbed a cluster of orange white-capped bottles and shook them into my unsteady hands. I tossed the pills back, doubling a few of the doses to make up for the time Id spent unmedicated in the hospital. Then I sat down on my bed with my hands on my knees and waited.


    It was toote. Everything was catching up to me. The meteor. The close call in the hospital. The barricades. My mothers condition. Ellison. Iris. College. Trapped.


    Cant breathe.


    I could feel the ceiling just above my head now. As much as I knew it hadnt moved, it felt like if I straightened up from my slouch my head would hit it. And I knew, if I looked up to check, Id see patterns in the striations. Gape-mouthed faces staring out from the ster, leering,ughing, dying.


    <em>Its just the stress.</em> I repeated it over and over in my mind, trying to force the mantra to take root. <em>Youre having an anxiety attack.</em>


    There were a million things I should have been doing. Checking with Dunkin''s to make sure I still had a job. Contacting the numbers on Nates tip sheet. Deciding what I needed to do about the very real possibility that I was finally cracking under the pressure and my mental health had finallye back to finish the job.


    It didnt matter. I was too far gone. There was only one solution when it got this bad.


    I lowered to the floor, careful not to look at the ceiling, and slid myself under the bed. My hands closed around the metal ts that lined the frame vertically, my fingers wiggling between bar and mattress. It was a tight fit, too tight to turn my head in any direction other than sideways, staring beneath my simple brownforter towards the door.


    And yeah, I know how this looks. A child in everything but name. I dont me you if you judge me for it. <em>I</em> judge me for it. At this point youre probably wondering if Im even who I im to be. If Im an imposter. But everything youve heard is true.


    This is how it started.


    This is who I was.


    I considered the blinking notification in the bottom right for what felt like hours before finally focusing on it.


    The curiosity was killing me. And now that I had time to think, there were really only two possibilities. Either what Id experienced at the hospital was real, or Id lost itpletely. If I was losing my mind, it was far gone enough that entertaining the delusion didnt really matter.


    The window expanded and the first notification scrolled.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4


    The titles were far from my favorite thing, but I had to start somewhere. I pulled up the title menuthe way everything was spaced gave the impression there was space for dozens of titles, though I still only had two. Jaded Eye was currently set as primary. Thats right. Id mouthed off to the system and identally equipped the title before everything hit the fan.


    I read the description again:<strong> </strong>


    It still felt like such an obvious swipe at me. Trite yet tragic, was a hell of a way to describe someones personal apocalypse. But the resulting effects were what I was interested in. Adept at identifying traps and avoiding ambushes.


    Okay, in for a penny, in for a pound. If there was anything to this, there were two events where the title could have potentially helped me. When I nearly opened the door and realized they would have men posted outside, it was like my mind had done a backflip to get me to stop. Considering the level of panic I was experiencing, having just indirectly witnessed a killing, Im not sure I would have stopped without something influencing the decision.


    But the cameras were far morepelling. As far as I knew, I had no idea how CCTV surveince worked. Never read an article, never had any reason to research it. But somehow I was able to discern, clear as day, the direction the cameras were most likely facing. Would that fall under the identifying traps, category, maybe? Come to think of it, Id felt the same psychological force holding me back when Id made the decision to stake out the apartment first.


    I focused on the original title. Born Nihilist. A prompt appeared, warning me Id be locked into the title for six hours. Jaded eye had theoretically saved me several times. But if I was going to figure any of this out, I needed to experiment.


    Strange that this title didnt mention any drawbacks. Maybe it was because the benefit wasnt as good as Jaded Eye? Other than a generalck of panic, I couldnt remember much of a difference in perception at the hospital before that original switch.


    I confirmed. And then, everything shifted.


    When I was little, my father took me kayaking in the open ocean. We only ever went the one time, partially becauseafter I tipped itwe lost the kayak, but mainly because of everything that happened after. We spent over an hour treading water in the grasp of an unannounced undertow, watching the shore grow farther and farther away. At some point I got tired and slipped off my fathers back, and was pulled under into the ocean. I held my breath until my lungs were at the point of bursting, spasming, heaving in desperation.


    Then someone pulled me up. My father. Hed managed to get the attention of a nearby boat and I was lifted into it, in shock and shivering. But the moment I realized we were in the boat, a feeling of relief soplete and raw washed over me, and I fell straight to sleep.


    That was what it was like, when the title switched. The terrifying, spiraling panic attack worse than any Id experienced vanished with a steady ebb, slowly fading away. The critical part of my mind wondered if it was just the meds kicking in, but I knew it wasnt that. The relief had nevere this quickly, this easily.


    There was something to this.


    In for a penny, right? I opened the notifications and scrolled. No new titles were unlocked, but there were plenty of messages.


    <strong></strong>


    Why? I hadnt aplished much. Id used my only ability once and the most exciting thing Id done was run away. The question was answered by the next notification.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Primary objectiveplete  Escape the hospital. </strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective CompleteEscape without resorting to direct violence or receiving further injury. </strong>


    <strong>Tertiary Objective Failed  Escape without being spotted. </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Wait. How did that even work? I shifted into an old theory-crafting mindset, one left long forgotten from back when I had time for games. I remembered a new notification popping right as the bullet pierced the wall. Were quests organic, forming to serve my current needs? Or was I being directed?


    If it was the second possibility, I wasnt sure I liked it.


    <strong></strong>


    From one use? There was likely an exponential ramp, but if it was that easy to level, I could power it up with minimal effort. It was one advantage of the abilitys low profile I hadnt realized until just now. Again, I focused on the ability, and again, I got no further exnation than the original vor text.


    <strong></strong>


    I opened the skill point screen.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Strength: 3 </strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 5</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 8</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 5</strong>


    <strong>Will: 6</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1 </strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    There was a confirmation prompt at the bottom, so any changes I made were temporary until I locked them in. I increased intelligence, just to make sure it wasnt capped at 10. The number rose to 13 before I dialed it back down to 8. I was tempted to leave it at thirteen, dumping all avable points into it. My intellect had always been my best trait. The annoying thing was, the existing stats were more or less urate. Working out at the school gym had fallen by the wayside in recent years. I was still fast on my feet, but not that fast. There were no tool tips or expanded information for any of the stats.


    Which rankled. It wasnt like I could pull up a wiki. Not to mention, I still had no idea what I was building towards. Was the system meant to just integrate into my daily life, or was there arger goal?


    I knew, subconsciously, how deep I was in. I was embracing the system because it served as a distraction from the real worriesworries that had dulled since the title change, but still rattled around in my head.


    I pulled up the feat screen and was immediately floored. Dozens of options, if not hundreds. Most were yellow, which I took to meanmon traits. They scaled everything from the ssics, like Fire Resistance I, to more obscure entries, like Collector I and Archivist I. An evenrger number were grayed out, and there the names got more questionable and cryptic: Vampire. Explosive Tendencies. Synecdoche. I couldnt focus on anything that was grayed out for an exnation of what they did. Further annoying me, there was no description of the unlock condition for most of them either. I scrolled down to the bottom and found a dozen blue tinted perks that were ss specific for the Ordinator.


    And my stomach dropped.


    The first Ordinator feat in the list was Assassin I.


    <strong></strong>


    As I scrolled through the perks, my suspicions were confirmed. I think, up to that point Id assumed the system was serving a greater purpose. That users would be up against a greater threat. That there was a point in all this, delusion or not.


    But no. I knew what it was. The Ordinator was clearly a PVP ss. And nearly all of the ss specific abilities had something to do with screwing over other users. Siphoning experience party members received. Sneak attacks. Maniption. That was unsettling to say the least. There were a half-dozen perks at the bottom that were gray and blue, ss specific butpletely locked.


    I read through the avable ones again, until I found the perk that was absolutely the right choice. The only choice. Double-blind.


    My door opened, startling me out of the single-minded focus.


    I smelled her before I saw her. The scent of gin clung to her like cheap perfume. She staggered over. I could only see half of her, a pleated blue skirt that reached her ankles and bare feet.


    You didnte to tell me youre back, she said. Her voice was distant, vaguely sing-song. Its not like Ive been worried sick this whole time. Grieving.


    Did you even look for me?


    Yes, Mom said. She didnt sound sure about anything. The first day. Hospitals wouldnt tell us anything. No one by that name admitted, h h. You hurt?


    No.


    Good... thats good. There was a grunt and mattress squeaked as she lowered herself down to sit on the floor, back to me. Her legs were folded up under her and she was leaning slightly to the side.


    Ellison had been too kind in his estimation. This wasnt dark orange on the warning scale. This was early red at the very least.


    I almost died, I said finally.


    Were all dying, Matthias. Just a matter of time.


    <em>No, I mean someone almost shot me.</em>


    But before I could get the words out, she spoke. I need... to tell you something.


    This was irregr. Mom didnt confide in me, wasnt the type. And she was oddly lucid, for how far gone she sounded.


    How bad is it? I asked.


    It''s nothing like that. We need to talk about the trial.


    Great. Here came the rant. The ever evolving story of how badly her bosses at the hedge fund had screwed her. How theyd pulled the ssic scumbag move and scapegoated the secretary.


    The executive assholes at Quad Sigma had been double dipping in both legitimate and illegitimate markets and hung her out to dry when they got caught. Shed been indicted with moneyundering, insider trading, embezzlement, conspiracy to traffic narcotics, and human trafficking.


    She cut a deal with the DA to turn on her bosses and most of the charges went away. After she testified, everything was wiped off her record except for the insider trading and moneyundering, two charges that, while smaller, guaranteed shed never work in finance again.


    And then came the civil suits.


    We really dont have to talk about it, I said, trying to prevent the downward spiral towards a meltdown this would inevitably trigger. I know the story.


    No. You know what Ive told you.


    A sinking feeling gripped me.


    She continued, When you hung up


    I didnt hang up


    Fine. When we got disconnected. She raised her arms. I couldnt see it but knew from experience she was making air quotes. I almost lost itpletely. Only Ellison and Iris kept me from it. The brink. And it wasnt just the thought of losing you. It was the guilt.


    What guilt?


    You do so much for this family, Matthias. Make sure the bills get paid. Cover the rent when Im short. Look after the children when Im too sick. I hate that Im so useless.


    <em>Youre not useless.</em> The words reached the tip of my tongue. But I didnt say them. Id said those very words enough times to know how little they mattered.


    It came to me, right before the meteor hit. That I had this beautiful, hardworking boy, trying to make up for my failures. And I hadnt even had the decency to tell him the truth. Mom twitched. A silent sob. Her voice grew heavier. That I lied to him. And everything he did for me, for his family, was based on a lie.


    The serenity of Born Nihilist was shattered as I realized where this was going. Stop. I dont want to hear this.


    I have to tell you, I have to tell someone. Her voice cracked.


    Please dont. I tried one final time. The many theories and doubts about her story Id entertained over the years began topound, and thest thing I wanted was confirmation. But I was trapped in the confessional and as per usual, what I wanted didnt matter.


    Her voice was a whisper. I did it. Everything they said I did.


    Even expecting something along those lines, it still floored me.


    I heard her blow her nose. It was my way in. I talked to my manager, Erin, asked to pick up more hours. Said I was willing to do anything, even if it was maintenance work. Iris was having trouble at school and I wanted to take her out, get her enrolled somewhere that would better meet her needs. The next day I was meeting with someone on the top floor. They knew about my background in web design, said they needed a prototype for alternative market purposes.


    And you just didnt ask questions?


    No, I did. They were very vague at first. Had me work on things in segments. I didnt figure it out for almost a year.


    But you did figure it out eventually.


    Yes.


    And you kept going.


    We needed the money.


    No we didnt. I growled. The bedframe squeaked as I squeezed the rails in my grip. We had Dads pension and the money you made legitimately. It was enough.


    To live on. To eat. But not to thrive.


    Oh. So thats why were thriving now. My voice was cold, hard.


    Mom shivered. I know I fucked up.


    Jesus Christ. And the human trafficking? The little girl they found? How did you even justify that? Coteral? The cost of doing business?


    No! The sudden increase of volume echoed. I would neverI... didnt know about that. Any of it. They were running a shell game. Used key names for it, rotated the names.


    I slid out from underneath the bed. Her hair was frizzed, her dark eyes sunken into her head. For some reason shed applied makeup, which was running down her face, making her look like a bad caricature of a grieving woman.


    Other than an initial pang, I felt no sympathy looking at her. Well. You did it. You told me. Now I know and your conscience is clear.


    Thats not


    Then what was the point? What was the point of destabilizing this... I waved my hand towards the wall, ... this house of cards we live in?


    Because now we can start fresh. Her eyes were wide, filled with a manic mix of hope and desperation. We can start over, be a real family again. Its not working because I lied. And now the lie is gone.


    My eyes went to the ankle monitor on her leg. Some lies are important. Some keep us grounded, others shield us from truths that are too terrible to face. The thought that my mother had been wrongly convicted, and that while the alcoholism was entirely her fault, she was not entirely to me for our downfall? That was a necessary lie. And I could already feel the foundation crumbling. But I didnt say any of that. I couldnt even look at her.


    The words were torn from my mouth, full of spite. My fists tightened at my sides. Instead of changing anything, lets just keep doing exactly what weve been doing. Which means letting me, and Ellison, and Iris handle the real problems and crawling right back into the bottle you came from.


    Mom reeled like shed been pped. Id gone too far. I knew it. But in the moment I didnt care. She gave me one final look of disappointment.


    Oh Matthias. You work so hard. But heres the thing they dont tell you. That trash they peddle? The nose to the grindstone, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps nonsense? Thats all bullshit. They don''t let people like us rise. So we have to steal it from them. We have to cheat. Maybe someday you''ll understand.


    With those parting words my mother left, shutting the door behind her.


    I couldn''t think about her confession. About any of it. So instead, I sat on my bed and pulled up the system screen. It was left open on the perk Id been considering earlier.


    <strong></strong>


    Id had my doubts. Not being able to identify threats was a serious downside. Plus, the deceit would do me no favors if I ever revealed myself to anyone. But Ide to face the fact that I could not treat this like a game. I couldnt y a character that was out in the spotlight. The discovery that there was PVP cinched that. PVP always degenerated in execution. If it exists, someone will find a way to use it to rat-fuck someone else. In Eve, it works because there are restrictions and governing forces. But reality is closer to Rust: no rules, nows, and the closest thing to a natural order is one caveman braining another caveman with a rock.


    My mother was looking for reconciliation, but all shed managed to do was reinforce the same lesson Id learned over and over. People could not be trusted.


    I hit the confirmation button.


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    Hourster, Id confirmed I still had my job at Dunkins, but my watch had ended at theundromat. They hadnt explicitly stated I was fired, but the owner had said hed let me know when he had hours, which for a part-timer might as well be the reading ofst rites. I was looking over Nicks contact list, trying to decide where to start when the notification popped. It didnt wait for me to look at it before it expanded out, covering the contact sheet.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Bounty at 1403 Vinewood Drive, due north.</strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: Low</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Until a condition is met. </strong>


    <strong>Conditions: Neutralize or Terminate.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: EXP (S), $10,000 </strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5


    As I stared at the reward, I knew the system had me. If it was anything other than cold, hard cash, I might have ignored it. But that didnt change the fact there were several things to be concerned about.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Rogue bounty at 1403 Vinewood Drive, due north.</strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: Low</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Until a condition is met. </strong>


    <strong>Conditions: Neutralize or Terminate.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: EXP (S), $10,000 </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The first obvious issue: I had no idea what the target was or how to identify them. The low threat level was reassuring, but what was that rtive to? The SWAT officer could have easily killed me in the hospital garage, and my first quest didn''t even have a threat level.


    Also, the local user notification didnt necessarily imply I was the only one who received the message. In fact, it inferred almost the opposite. Enough users that the system limited the alert to those of us in a small radius, either to make sure we didnt pile into one section of the city, or because it didnt want us to all kill each other. Moreover, this was only the second quest Id received after waking up and escaping the hospital. I had to ount for the possibility that there were other users who had been grinding for thest two days. Users who actually knew what a bounty was.


    Of course, there was the whole issue of how toplete the quest. If I took it seriously, I was hunting a person and might have to hurt them. I stuffed that away to deal withter. It was just easier to treat all this as theoretical. A game I was ying in my head to distract myself from the unpleasant truths that had recentlye to the surface. And the cash reward was the perfect carrot.


    I had other reservations. It wasnt a stretch to conclude I had to be one of the weakest early on. No direct attacks, weak Strength and Toughness. I was a ss cannon without the cannon. There were potentially feats I could take to counter this, but that would have to wait for the next level. I didnt regret the decision to take Double-Blind, that still tracked.


    I told myself that this was a one-time thing. Id go, try to take a look at the bounty from a safe distance. Maybe use the opportunity to level up Probability Spiral a few times. And if it was easy, and there was no directpetitor, Id try to snake the bounty. But only if. Afterwards, Id reevaluate and decide if I was losing my damn mind or if there was something to this.


    But first, I had stats to distribute.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Strength: 3 </strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 5</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 8</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 5</strong>


    <strong>Will: 6</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1 </strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    I knew from what little information I could find that the Ordinators main governing stat was Intelligence. That made it a safe investment. There was an argument to be made that I should wait until I understood the system better to level, but there was a better argument to be made that a fool often diesden with resources.


    So, screw it. I raised Intelligence to thirteen.


    Then I immediately lowered it back down to 10 with a sigh. Again, the ss cannon-less cannon dilemma. I wasnt sure what Will did. But Strength would serve as an excellent litmus test for the delusion. Id maintained the same level of strengthread: not muchsince my early teens. If there was a sudden increase, I would notice it.


    I raised Strength to 5, bumped Agility to 6, and kept Intelligence at 10. As much as I wanted to increase Perception, it would have to wait for the next level.


    <strong></strong>


    I focused on the prompt.


    And my body screamed. It was like every single muscle cramped up at once and started crawling, detaching themselves from my bones and swellingrger. I crumbled to the ground. My right kneean old ser injury, raised the level of pain from excruciating to unbearable. I could feel the cartge shifting, the joint reshaping. And then something happened to my mind. I had rity. I could detach myself from the pain, and tell myself it was just temporary. I could lie to myself so convincingly that I began to believe it.


    Memories previously locked away came flooding back. I remembered small details of books Id read when I was learning to read. Pictures Id drawn in crayon. Notes Id scrawled down during my first lectures in high school.


    Then, the headache. A wild, ravenous migraine that felt like it would never stop until every neuron I had was burned out in the impossible wave of agony.


    I thought that my mind would break, like Id suffered a stroke, and it would never be quite the same again. That Id ruined the only advantage that life had ever given me.


    And then it faded. All at once. The pain was soplete it left me feeling hollow, aching, like I was a vessel drained of vitality and was now nothing more than a vacant shell.


    I pushed myself up and staggered. There was someone looking back at me in the mirror I barely recognized. Dissociative disorder is a topic I studied for the MCAT, but I only understood it in theory. I think you can only truly understand it when you''ve experienced it, a kind of out of body experience in your own skin. Everything looked slightly more distinct and defined. There were round muscles where my shoulders had once been t, defined mass in my forearms, biceps, and triceps Id never had before. My clothing fit differently, <em>felt</em> stretched.


    A sudden thrill took me. I flexed in front of the mirror and grinned. Improvements that would have taken months of working out and stuffing in calories I couldnt afford had been implemented in minutes. Painful minutes, but minutes nheless.


    And then the smile faded as I thought about the implications. If the changes were noticeable to me immediately, they would likely be more than obvious to other people. I needed to be careful. If a couple points increase in Strength had changed me this much, I could only imagine how big the change would be if I had put all five points into Strength.


    Users who invested heavily in Strength would be incredibly obvious to anyone that knew them. And the stronger I looked, the less I would blend in.


    So, yeah, I wasnt touching Strength again any time soon. Id try Toughness next, see if the changes it brought were any less extreme.


    <em>If this isnt a delusion.</em>


    The little voice that was so insistent before was much quieter now. It was harder to separate the two possibilities, as if the increase in Intelligence had made me more likely to ept what was happening to me.


    I didnt know what that meant, and decided there was no reasonable way of knowing.


    But first, I needed to cover myself. I doubted my mother would be out of her room to notice, but my siblings had just seen me earlier that day. I couldnt do anything about the extra inch of height, but I could at least wear something baggy to hide my form and nondescript enough that it couldnt be used to track me downter.


    I found my father''s maroon hoodie shoved deep in my closet. The white A&M logo had cracked and crumbled off long ago. There was some mild trepidation as I tried it on, preparing myself for the musk of juniper and aftershave. But that scent had long since faded. Probably better not to think too much about that.


    You might be wondering why I didnt wear ck, and thats fair. ck is slimming and doesnt draw the eye. The exception is, of course, the fact that someone wearing ck alone at night might as well be shing a neon warning sign. Gray would have been perfect, but maroon worked to my purposes. Nondescript, and enough color that it wouldnt draw attention or give me the sort of profile that people would remember.


    I checked myself in the mirror to confirm. The hoodie wasrge enough that it covered my more defined muscle mass, but I still filled it out more than before, far more than I would like.


    Id spent enough time wishing I wasnt the physical equivalent of a beanpole that the thought struck me as deliciously ironic, and I couldnt help butugh. Then, I immediately winced.


    <em>Yes, Matt, let them hear youughing alone. Thats not even slightly rming.</em>


    As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.


    Come in.


    No answer. Iris. That was good, it meant no one had heard meughing like an idiot. But it was an obstacle, I needed to go, but the memory of how Id snubbed her on what could have been thest day of my life stuck firmly in my mind. I reached out and opened the door.


    Iris looked up at me, and her eyes immediately narrowed.


    <em>Shit.</em>


    <em>Whats up?</em> I signed to her.


    <em>Growth spurt?</em> She responded, her fingers moving tentatively, as if she couldnt quite believe what she was seeing.


    <em>Well, at least the Strength gain isnt a delusion.</em>


    I sighed. Iris was the most perceptive member of our family by far. But a few early missteps due to that perception meant shed learned the value of keeping a secret.


    <em>Yes and no. We can talk about itter. Do you need anything?</em>


    <em>Ellis is acting weird. He asked me to let him have the room for a bit, and hes been in there by himself since you took your nap. I dont mind, but </em> Iris looked towards our mothers room, and I understood her concern instantly.


    <em>Mom always locks herself in when shes in the middle of a bender.</em>


    I looked towards the end of the hallway. Iriss framed paintings lined the walls, apanied by the asional family photo. The room that she and Ellison shared was indeed closed.


    But my brother was twelve. He was getting to the age where hed need a little extra privacy. I sighed. Ellison really, really needed his own room.


    Tell you what, I said aloud, so she could see the confidence in my face. If hes still in there when we get back, Ill talk to him. But its not like it is with mom. Sometimes boys just need to be on their own.


    <em>Like you, earlier?</em> Iris asked.


    Exactly. I smiled at her. Now, I need to run, but Ill be back in a couple of hours.


    She nodded, but I felt her watch me go, eyes boring through my hoodie and into my back.


    /////


    The first spike of adrenaline hit as I navigated my bikea gray roadmaster with a rusted chain perpetually stuck in a middle gearout of the apartmentplex and immediately crossed the street in front of a police car parked outside theplex. Doing everything you shouldnt do, I gawked at it, only btedly realizing there was no one in the drivers seat and exactly how stupid that had been. That boost to my Intelligence did <em>something</em>, but it wasnt going to solve my problems for me.


    I watched enough of the news back in the caf to know there was a citywide curfew, and I was five minutes shy of viting it. I had to be more careful. Not to mention, it seemed to be strictly enforcedthere was a sense of disquiet as I navigated past a stoplight that was always backed up a hundred feet with traffic, now empty and deste.


    The sense of disquiet grew into something that would have normally been panicI suspected interference from Born Nihilist. But the doubts that apanied the panic persisted. What exactly was I nning to do? Some unknown entity had dangled money in front of my face, and Id just leapt after it.


    <em>No.</em> I told myself. The n was solid. I needed further confirmation of what was happening to me, and others like me. I needed an idea of what these other users were capable of. Of what the system wanted from us.


    I needed context. As I double-checked the system prompt and ensured that I was close, I reached back up and pulled my hood over my head. Between the curfew and closeness to the system announced location, my usible deniability was fading fast.


    The purple notification light pinged again in the corner of my vision. Interesting, now that I thought about it, something simr happened at the hospital. Could it detect when I was in motion or under duress?


    I focused on the notification and it pulled up in a smaller, profile aligned window on the right-hand side. The information for the bounty hadnt changed, but it had gone up a thousand dors, and the location had shifted several blocks to the east.


    Mentally recalcting, I adjusted my route.


    As I rode, I detected a surge of emotion. A mingling of unfamiliar feelings that welled in my chest. Curiosity and excitement, mixed with something else. Anticipation, maybe even hope?


    My legs pumped the pedals, and I picked up speed. It was so easy. I wasnt winded, wasnt even sweating. The tiny spark of hope kindled into something more. Id spent my entire life fighting impossible battles. Losing coin flips. Coming up on the raw side of every scenario. But, as my mother repeated incessantly, there was no such thing as bad luck. The numbers always came up in your favor eventually. Maybe this was the start of better days. Nothing about it was ideal, but for the first time Id been given an advantage. An edge.


    Maybe whatever had happened to me could be the first door to a better life.


    Id barely formted the thought when I reached a crossroad. A dark shape blurred, flying through the air, obliterating my front tire and sending me crashing to the asphalt.

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6


    I covered my head with my arms, smacking into the oil-slicked ground. My vision blurred from the impact as difort radiated up my arms and my knees. My heart rate spiked, fluttering in my neck, until it reached a threshold. Then something happened. My pulse began to plummet, a wave of calcted calm washing over me like a drug.


    What was that? My title at work?


    <em>Snap out of it. Take stock. You hit something.</em>


    I stood, ignoring the cold prickles of pain from my scraped hands, and surveyed the scene.


    A dull stoplight loomed overhead through ayer of fog that rolled in from nowhere, emitting specr red strobes. My bikeid on its side, handlebars syed upwards. Whatever hit me struck with enough force to tear the tire from the spokes. The tire hadnded a short distance away, bent in half from the impact, wobbling back and forth on the asphalt like a ship in a storm.


    But I wasnt looking at the bike. I was looking at the crumpled form beside it. It took a moment to recognize it for what it was. A body. My skin lost all warmth as I realized what had happened. I wasnt under attack. Someone, or something, had thrown a whole-ass person and Id just happened to get in the way.


    A slight chill went through me as I considered a new possibility. I quickly pulled up my quest notification. It still indicated east. Good. Not my target.


    My earlier hope felt foolish now. This was the second case of violence Id had a front row seat to in less than a day. I snuck a look around the corner and saw nothing but an abandoned street, then made my way to the body to investigate


    Within a foot of him, the sharp scent of chemicals caught my nose. His skin was raw and angry, covered with red splotches thatid bare bits of muscle and bone beneath. Half of his face had been melted away. A single gray eye blinked and looked up at me.


    <em>Acid.</em>


    Nausea gripped me and I held a hand over my mouth, trying not to vomit. Its not that I was an idiot, but I had clearly been unprepared for the sort of situation I was getting myself into. I just hadnt expected it to be this bad.


    <em>This is low threat?</em>


    My one test case of Probability Spiral was indirect, minimally violent when you considered the person I used it on had a gun to my head. Any damage caused was brought on by his own actions. If this was the result of another user, then they were basically my pr opposite. I pulled my phone and keyed in 911


    <em>Stop.</em> A voice told me. My voice.


    <em>Its a burner. Its fine for minor indiscretions, setting up payment and services from students for what amounts to petty misdemeanors. But you called home with it earlier. Even if it took them a while to ess the call history, they could potentially trace it to the gas station you bought it from, pull the footage. Then its just a matter of running the image through facial recognition.</em>


    No. I couldnt call the police. But I couldnt just leave him there, either. I bent down, shining the light from my phone on his pants, confirming none of the acid had made its way onto them, then began rifling through his pockets. He groaned when I identally jostled him. Keys. Wallet. Drivers License, Dorian West. No cash in it, just pictures of his kids. My hand settled on something in his side pocket and I removed it.


    A knife. Not thepact sort. It was long with a wooden sheath, and an overly ornate handle trimmed with burnished silver. But now that I was looking at it, and looking at his pocket, it was far toorge to have fit therefortably.


    Weird. But irrelevant.


    Valuable? Maybe. But taking a weapon from a crime-scene seemed like a terrible idea. I tossed it aside. Dug around in his pockets until I found a cellphone. I swiped up, and when facial recognition failed, it gave me the emergency option at the bottom left.


    I called 911 and masked my voice while I gave the operator a location, then left the phone face-up next to the mans burned and withered ear. Grimly, I realized that they would, in all likelihood, not get to him in time. Not if things had been as chaotic as the SWAT officer who chased me into the garage made things seem.


    Bad for him, but not necessarily for me. It meant Id have plenty of time to make an escape. At some point, Id made the decision to flee. The body had firmly jolted me out of the previous manic state and fear for my life was kicking in. I didnt know enough about my ss, my skill, or what I was up against. I was open to investigating before discovering the magnitude of the threat. Having now seen it second hand, there wasnt much point in putting myself in this level of jeopardy. The reward wasnt a small amount of money, but I wasnt willing to die for it, or curious enough to get my face burned off.


    I eyed the knife. It didn''t look like much, but it wouldnt hurt to have a little protection, and it wasnt like this guy was using it. I took the knife from the ground and slid it out to check out the de. It was long and pointed, more like a dagger. It felt good as I hefted it in my hand before I, then I slipped it back in its sheathsheathe and , nestlednestling it into the kangaroojoint pocket of my hoody.


    <strong></strong>


    Oh. Apparently we were doing unbound System loot now. That was a sure sign this guy was another User and a strong indication the scenario I was in involved PVP. No way that could possibly go badly. I nced at the man on the ground with a bit of suspicion.


    <strong></strong>


    I wasn''t particrly impressed. The description pretty much could have just said knife and gotten the same point across.


    Readjusting my hood, I gave onest forlorn look to my fallen bike and left it behind, jogging back down the street towards home.


    Then someone screamed. A womans voice, pained and shrill. I''ll kill you and your mother, you bastard. She screamed out, voice echoing from almost a block away.


    I felt myself dete. Because the voice sounded familiar, yet I couldnt ce it.


    And now I had to look.


    My palms started to sweat as I crept down the alley. Every footstep seemed unconscionably loud, grit and gravel crunching under my feet. I found myself silently wishing that I''d worn softer shoes. The voices grew louder until they crescendoed. A man cackled, so loud and over the top it might have been funny if I''d heard it in any other context.


    I slid down against the wall and leaned over. It was like having a front row seat to a portal to hell. A half dozen bodies in worse condition than the earlier man littered the road. Their features were raw, slowly erased by a bile-like liquid that covered arge chunk of the ground. It seemed to be bubbling but not burning through the concrete itself, which honestly wasn''t much in terms offort.


    A car was burning from the engine block upwards, the entire front caved in, a driver syed lifelessly through the half-shattered windshield. A quick check on my quest showed I was right on top of the target location, but it gave no further information.


    And then, at the center of the carnage, I saw her.


    Daphne Verner.


    She was Erins daughter. The manager of the hedge fund who had pulled my mother off the straight and narrow. They came over to our house asionally for dinner. Back when we had a house. Daphne was reed thin. sses. e everywhere. I didn''t really like her at first. She was stand-offish, and tended to give off the air she was constantly looking down on you. Only, that was mostly just her face. Eventually, we discovered we yed some of the same games and bonded. Of course, then everything went to shit.


    Daphne looked very different now. It wasn''t a glow up. It was more of a hulk up. Biceps easily bigger than mine, body lithe but packed with muscle, like a professional swimmer. Her hair was tied up in a severe bun. She was wearing a long, blue cardigan jacket and athletic wear. She was bent over, panting and in pain. In her right hand she held a w hammer, invoking an image of Home Depot Thor.


    Okay, so if her being here wasn''t enough, given the sudden appearance of muscle mass, either her life waspletely different from when I''d known her or Daphne was clearly a User.


    And she was losing. Her opponent was a male in histe thirties, wearing a tight ck shirt with no sleeves despite not having much muscle to show off. He darted around her, bare handed, driving a fist into her side and darting away. He giggled maniacally. There was a blue glow that settled around Daphne and she seemed to gain a second wind, forcing herself to a standing position.


    It was just in time. Wife-beater guy held out an arm and a flock of birds seemed to phase out of the ckness of his shirt, turning green.


    Daphne threw herself to the side, dodging as the birds impacted the pavement in green stters. Some of the ssh-back must have touched her because she cried out and impacted the passenger panel of a nearby truck, leaving a massive dent. I winced.


    This was a bad matchup. I considered her for a moment. Low mobility, built, ousted a dozen other people judging from the bodiesIf I didn''t miss my guess, Daphne was some sort of tank-role with only melee to speak of.


    As opposed to her opponent, who was effectively a mobile, ranged DPS.


    Wife-beater guy turned his back to me for just a moment. All at once, it was like I had x-ray vision. Organs that I''d only seen in biology textbooks became clear. I could see his heart, lungs, kidneys, liver. For a second, I thought it was some unforeseen aspect of my ss. Then I looked down at the knife in my trembling hand. That title was really doing work.


    <em>Gains additional utility when used from behind, huh?</em>


    Whoever was writing the item descriptions needed to be fired.


    Daphne took cover behind the burning car as Wife-beater guy threw out another flock of acid birds. Only, this time, instead of flying in a straight line, they curved in a hairpin turn. She pressed herself against the metal, but I watched, helpless, as two impacted her side. Daphne screamed out, falling to the ground and rolling on her side.


    Wife-beater guy closed on her. It was over. Unless she had something up her sleeve, she was going to die. I moved up, taking cover behind a mailbox. What could I do?


    <em>What should you do?</em>


    The question struck me. This wasnt my problem. Ide out here to scout. To get an idea what I was up against. Now, I had that information: I was a small fish in a vast, terrifying ocean. People were literally dying in the streets handfuls at a time. For what the system had referred to as a low priority, local bounty. What typical bullshit.


    Its not like we were ever truly civilized. Not really. Things had always been bad. But there was at least a veneer of civility. A pretense of a system to hold things in check without ever truly fixing anything.


    And now there was a new system. I had hoped it could be a new start, a redistribution of power and society. But as I looked over the charred bodies on the street, at Daphne, writhing on her back, I saw only chaos.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Winner Takes All</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective: Use Your Newfound Abilities to Win the Game and Escape.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    A dry heave snuck up on me. I could only suppress my terror for so long. I had to get out of here. The safety of the alley was so close. I almost left. Then I heard a voice. It sounded so small, so weak. Different than Id ever heard her.


    Please I just want to go home.


    Fuck.


    Thoughts raced through my mind a mile a minute, searching for a justification.


    <em>Okay. If this is a small threat, I don''t want to see a big one. Theres a blockade. I need to get my family out. If I dont, good chance theyll get caught in the crossfire when things escte. Chances are high well need someone, a coyote, maybe. That will cost money. More than we have. </em>


    <em>This is an opportunity. </em>


    I snuck a nce over at Wife-beater guy. He was fast, but he was walking with a limp. There was a dark section below his sternum, soaking the shirt. It was impossible to see the color on fabric that ck, but there was a good chance he was bleeding.


    He spun around, and I ducked back down behind the post box Id slowly made my way to.


    <em>Okay. Both of them are hurt. This is actually the perfect time to act. But how?</em>


    I looked around for anything more practical to use as a weapon. I didnt trust the knife, or my ability to get up close and use it properly. Scanning the street, my eyesnded on a dark object that had skittered a foot from a nearby body. ck and asymmetrical.


    Of course. This wasn''t a fantasy world, this was the South. There was no honor system or requirement to y fair. People would take any advantage they could get.


    <em>Gun.</em>

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7


    There wasnt much time to think about the absurdity of what I was doing. All I knew in that moment was having a gun seemed a hell of a lot more preferable to not having one or trying to use the knife.


    Still, the weapon was in the center of the street, exposed. I shot a nce at Wife-beater guy as I moved. He waspletely focused on Daphne now, a smug leer on his face.


    Thought you were better than me, didnt you? There was the sound of a foot striking flesh, hard, and Daphne groaned.


    I picked up the gun, feeling the reassuring weight of the polymer in my hand. The prolonged cylinder of the silencer did little to alter the guns profile. I knew a Glock well. My father had trained me how to shoot with one. I scampered over to a nearby car, cing my back to the engine block and did a slide check to make sure a round was chambered. Popping the magazine out, I was relieved to see it had several rounds left before quickly smacking it back in - the number 8 instantly popped into my head. Weird, must be another effect from raising my Intelligence.


    There was another thud, another groan.


    My vision was blocked and I didnt want to expose myself. I went prone to get a an angle from beneath the car and found a decent view from between the tires. The distance was fifteen feet, maybe less. Not far from the distances Id shot at the pistol range. After endless practice I could manage a decent grouping, but that had been years ago.


    <em>Never aim at anything youre not prepared to kill.</em>


    That had been his advice. The ageless adage my father had repeated like a mantra. I lined up the white beads of the sight, aiming at Wife-beater guys head.


    Then, I froze.


    What the hell was I thinking? This wasnt me. I never resorted to violence. I talked my way out of my problems, found creative solutions. Id thrown myself headlong into this looking for a distraction, and where had that got me? Into a situation far, far worse than anything Id been running from in the first ce.


    <em>Think.</em>


    Car tires squealed as a ck Escde pulled up at the cross street, unable to ess the road we were on due to a barricade. At first I was relieved. They had to be other Users. Theyd deal with this. Then the relief vanished as I realized that Wife-beater guy had seen it too and his creepy smile got even bigger.


    <em>No no no.</em>


    He dropped into a crouch, then looked down at Daphne. Id love to draw this out, but it looks like backup is here.


    I looked back at the Escde. Three men were exiting, moving slowly up the road. One held a swordwhere the hell did he get a swordwhile the other two backed him up in formation. They werent going to make it in time.


    But now, there was a problem. Silencers arent as whisper-quiet as they are in movies. Silenced gunshots are loud as hell. If I fired, they would hear me. Whoever they were, they were organized, and I was easy pickings at this point.


    For some reason, all thoughts of retreating left me.


    <em>Youre going to do this. So do it right. Find the solution.</em>


    Frantically, I surveyed the street, the buildings, looking for anything I could use. A window AC unit high up caught my eye. Something about the way it was mounted looked crooked, unsafe. A thought started to form. When Id used my ability on the SWAT officer, it hadnt affected him directly. It had affected the object in his hands. Could I use it on an object directly?


    I fell into a strange state of calm. There was a n. Granted, there were so many things that could go wrong with it, but I always felt better once a n was in ce. I knew I couldnt rely on Probability Spiral automatically guiding the AC window unit tond on my enemy like a cartoon. If I understood correctly, it just increased the chances of unlikely things happening in my favor. There was also a healthy dose of chaos thrown into the mix. Whatever happened, I had to be ready to take advantage of the situation. As long as there was a path, I could follow it through to the end.


    I ignored my strange onset of resolve as Wife-beater guy wrapped his hands around Daphnes throat. I ignored the way my pulse was pounding. Breath. In-and-out.


    Slowly, focusing everything on the window unit, I activated the skill.


    <em>Probability Spiral</em>


    The first thing I noticed was that it wasnt as hard to use anymore. I felt a little exertion, sure, but nothing like the first time. Maybe because the skill itself had leveled. The second thing I noticed was that everything seemed to move in slow-motion as the AC unit began to fall.


    As the falling hunk of metal plunged from the sixth story window, I took aim, prone, holding my breath. I gripped the dagger in my left hand. Wife-beater guys vitals lit up, a heat map of red and yellow over his organs. Good info, but my target was lower. I quickly drew a bead on the illuminated yellow of his kneecap closest to me as he leaned over Daphne, still choking the life from her.


    I pulled the trigger just as the AC unit impacted the pavement, the noises merging together.


    Wife-beater guy shrieked and fell backward, clutching at the back of his thigh. Id missed, but still hit the target. The men at the front of the street began to run. My hands, so still a moment ago, shook violently. My mouth was drier than it ever had been, tendrils of shock clinging at my mind, threatening to tighten. I didnt know if I was going to startughing hysterically or throw up.


    The frenzied feeling of momentary victory onlysted the handful of seconds it took Daphne to roll on top of Wife-beater guy. Then it was reced by shock as I watched her fist smash into his head, bouncing it against the pavement. He coughed, the sound a wet, half-gag. What was she doing? He was down!


    <em>Neutralize or terminate. </em>


    Guess what, asshole. I <em>am</em> better than you. She growled. And then she kept hitting him, over and over, loud thuds slowly merging into something that resembled a wet p. I didnt want to look at what was left of him.


    Fear coursed through me. Daphne had been normal when Id known her. Kind. This was someone else. Someone willing to kill without hestitation. Was everyone insane?


    A text screen punctuated by red, painfully bright text popped in front of my face.


    <strong></strong>


    Fuck. Couldnt the system have just warned me when I picked the gun up in the first ce? Well, that answered that question about this devolving into a shootout. There were more notifications.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Almost simultaneously, I heard Daphne shout. What do you mean the reward is split?!


    Shit, we gotta go, cops are on their way, One of the men said. They were dressed in a mishmash of suits and business casual. Still, they didnt have a gangster vibe. If you ignored the weapons they held in their hands, it was almost a white cor aesthetic.


    The man closest to Daphne bent down. Times up. Your father will be pleased. You get the core?


    Oh no.


    I peaked around the corner of the car to get a better view. Daphne was frantically swiping through the air in a motion I assumed meant she was going through her notifications. Did other Users actually have to do this? I could just mentally move, open, and close notifications with a thought. Maybe it was another aspect of my Ordinator ss


    No. Some piece of shit sniped it.


    Brennan, end the instance. We cant leave bodies, said the man crouching next to Daphne. His hair was buzzed short, and he was wearing dark-framed sses. Of the three, he gave off the most dangerous feel, the sort youd cross the street to get away from.


    There was a sharp hissing noise to my right. I jumped and nearly shouted in rm, only just managing to mp a hand over my mouth. One of the corpses had begun to smoke and bubble, flesh slowly dissolving into bone, until the bone itself was gone. One by one, the man called Brennana blonde with a bougie haircut and dead eyeswaved his hand over the bodies, erasing them from existence.


    The implication hit me like a truck. All throughout, I was wondering how the city wasnt in a full-blown panic with Users fighting. People with abilities. Murders in the streets. But Brennan waspletely unbothered by what he was doing. He was either a psychopath, or hed done this before. They all had.


    <em>They could kill me right now and no one would ever know.</em>


    Did you do this? Buzzcut asked Daphne. He had rolled over the body and was looking at Wife-beater guys ruined thigh.


    No. Daphne finally said.


    Buzzcut studied the wound, then looked over at the smashed AC unit, tracing it back up to the window it fell from. His face broke into a smile.


    Want me to go up there? The third man asked.


    No. Buzzcut shook his head. Wait. Then he stepped out into the middle of the street and raised his voice. I know youre out there. This was clever but youre out of your element. I waited for him to rotate away from me, and retreated back through the alley, the way Ide.


    We have no intention of hurting you. Im guessing youre a User. Probably new. For some reason I cant see you on the interface. Thats interesting. We can talk about that, were all figuring this thing out together. Maybe its an ability and youre a stealth ss. Thats fine. Great, even. Havent met a rogue yet, we can talk skills. It can be tricky if youre solo. So maybe we can even help you get started.


    Double-blinds effect. It had to be. I didnt stop to look, but caught his blurry reflection from a nearby store as he rotated like a sentinel and continued his little speech. Good, keep talking. Easier to keep track of you.


    Look, Ill be honest. All we want is the core. You probably wouldnt be able to use it for much anyway, unless you manage to sell it, and honestly, good luck finding a vendor. Theyre like chasing ghosts. Juste out, hands up, and well talk. Best case, you make a couple of friends. Worst case, we pay you and you go on your way.


    Right. I didnt have to recall Daphnes glowering face and bloody knuckles to know he was full of shit. None of them had even reacted to what shed done to Wife-beater guy, which was crude overkill on any reasonable scale. And simply given what Id seen of her tonight, I doubted shed be the sort to forgive that Id taken half her experience and all the reward, regardless of it being the result of saving her life.


    But that didnt change the fact that the words sounded so damn reasonable. He was good, hed give him that much.


    Buzzcut waited for a moment longer, then his smile finally dropped. Fan out. Three minutes, then were gone.


    Theyre mine. Daphne growled, and took off running up the street.


    I found myself wishing Id equipped Jaded Eye. There was no question it would have made this entire experience exponentially more miserable, but it had been invaluable for navigating out of the hospital.


    I waited for an opening, then darted for another alley. Would they know I was on foot if they found my back? Probably not. Unless everyone that came here and subsequently died was part of their group, which I doubted since I had received the bounty as well.


    After taking a few random twists and turns, I found myself jogging down a narrow ess road. At that point I was confident theyd lost me. It had been far longer than the initial three minutes and I doubted whatever the core they were looking for was worth answering particrly awkward questions when the police arrived. They wouldnt stick around, keep looking.


    So when the bright xenon lights of the Escde lit up the ess road like a floodmp, I felt my entire body tense up. I didnt want to spin around and risk showing my face, but there was no question it was them.


    I turned my head just enough to catch sight of the dark SUV from the corner of my eye and activated Probability Spiral, hoping the engine would die. I kept my pace steady while breathing a little harder from the use, hoping for a miracle.


    Nothing.


    <em>What? Is it because the car is moving, or its too big andplex? What exactly made the AC unit and gun different?</em>


    It dawned on me that the answer was probably in the damn name. Probability. Sometimes things worked out for me. Sometimes they didnt. It was a dice roll. Fuck. What a terrible ability.


    A wave of mental fatigue swept over me. Two uses was pushing it. I couldnt risk trying again. If it didnt work out perfectly, Id be left out of breath and unable to run.


    I was just about out of options. The ess road was narrow, no turns. There was arge drain pipe attached to a nearby building that would take too long to climb. Plus, I would probably slip and fall off. No windows to break or fire escapedders to climb. Nothing.


    I started sprinting and immediately heard the engine rev as the Escde elerated. The end of the road was close, and theyd have to avoid debris. I leapt towards the side of a giant blue dumpster and pulled it out into the center of the street, trying to maintain momentum.


    Shit. There was no way Id make it in time.


    Up ahead, I saw something strange. A blue door, half the size of a normal person. Glowing. I wasnt in the habit of going through random doors, but to be fair, I also wasnt in the habit of being seconds away from being actively run down by a giant ck Escde.


    Reaching the door while out of breath, I crouched down and grabbed the handle. Moment of truth. Throwing caution to the wind, I wrenched open the door and leaped through just as the SUV roared passed.

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8


    Pain. Hazy afterimages made my head spin. All I could do was trace the endless cracks and lines of a cold, te gray impassable wall currently pressed hard against my cheek.


    No, wait, that was a floor.


    I was sick to my stomach, my adrenaline was crashing, and I was disoriented. Thest thing I remembered was diving through some strange blue doorway.


    Oh, hell.


    Cold fingers of panic plunged through my chest. Id slipped through a strange door and lost consciousness in the middle of a chase. If they hadnt found me already, they were going to soon.


    I tried to stand, pushing myself up and immediately smashing back down into the floor as a wave of dizziness and fresh pain washed over me, spreading to where Inded on my left cheek.


    Dont move, you probably have a concussion. And stop drooling on my floor.


    With a groan, I turned over and found myself looking up the barrel of a shotgun. And decided I must have lost itpletely because the person holding the shotgun was the little girl who sold me cookies at the end of the world. The shotgun was more than half as tall as her. Shed traded the traditional uniform for a simple armless top and a pair of shorts. And two serious ck eyes. The girl was covered in bruises, beaten so badly I wasnt certain how she was standing. Somehow I doubted it was all from the meteor impact.


    It all added up to an image that was absurd, in a surreal, american gothic sort of way, that became much less surreal as she moved the barrel from center mass to my head. I said, dont move, fucker.


    One of the many lessons my father left me with was that an inexperienced shooter was just as, if not more dangerous, than an experienced one. Not because they were good at shooting, but because they were so unpredictable. She was standing too closethree yards away instead of the rmended sevenbut I wasnt an action hero and she wasnt much for trigger discipline. Too dizzy to raise my arms, I just sat there, trying to clear the fog in my head.


    What happened? I asked.


    Saw you. Opened a door. Then you swan dove into the floor and started drooling.


    I meant to your face.


    Not important.


    I nced behind her. The room looked like the inside of a small warehouse, bare except for a single mattress on the floor and the strange anachronism of a beastlyputer tower hooked up to an old CRT monitor, housed on a tortured IKEA desk too small for both.


    I pointed to a simple steel door with a push bar, the only visible entrance and exit. If they saw me go in here, one thick door probably isnt going to stop them.


    They wont follow us. The girls eyes squinted with effort. You have to be a User. Otherwise, you wouldnt have been able to enter the instance, but you look like a civilian. Why were they chasing you?


    Leaving out the more questionable details like my ss, I brought her mostly up to speed. How Id woken up in the hospital today and subsequently witnessed a shooting. And most importantly, how tired I was of having a gun stuck in my face.


    Eventually, Kinsley muttered something unintelligible and lowered the shotgun, letting the barrel drag on the floor behind her.


    Look, as a favor, Ill buy the User Core off you. Unless you have ess to a necromancer, it wont help you much. That guy was blowing a lot of smoke up your ass, but he was right about that. Its mostly useless to you.


    My ears perked up. How much are we talking? Then something else she said sunk in. Wait, necromancer?


    Seven-thousand Selve. Hard offer.


    Before I could ask what Selve was, a notification screen popped up, unbidden.


    <strong></strong>


    Merchant has offered a trade


    S7,000


    For


    User Core


    <em>No</em>. In a slight daze, I used a mentalmand to close the trade screen and scrolled through my notifications until I found what I was looking for.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective Resolved  Neutralize or terminate bounty. </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective CompleteRemain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (S)</strong>


    <strong>Reward: User Core (Unmalleable)</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The amount was consistent with what I did. Dealt an underhanded but decisive blow,ting the Lions share of the reward. But the currency changed. A slow wave of prickling anger washed over me. Maybe if I hadnt spent thest few years of my life living hand to mouth, I could have misread it. But I had an eye for detail. Especially when it came to negotiations and written deals. There was no way Id gotten it wrong. The reward had absolutely been written as dors. Not fucking <em>Selve.</em>


    Why dont you show up for me? Kinsleys brow furrowed. There was nothing visible, but she was obviously looking at her own trade screen. Nothing next to name, ss, or level. Its just nk and my trade request looks like it didnt go through.


    Kinsley, pretend I got started on this two days after everyone else. What sorts of things do you sell?


    Kinsley perked up. The variety increases depending on my level. Right now, its mainly weapons and healing items, but there are quite a few tabs I dont have unlocked.


    And whats the exchange rate of Selve to USD? I asked.


    Something in my expression must have changed because Kinsley lifted the shotgun back into herp. It doesnt exist.


    You mean it hasnt been established yet.


    Her entire body tightened. It. Doesnt. Exist. Whatever this thing is, it doesnt let you do anything with our money. Dors, euros, pesos, whatever. If it detects any sort of attempt to exchange, the Selve disappears.


    There has to be a loophole


    No, you cant gift Selve and be paidter. You cant buy someone an item with Selve and let them pay you for it in dors. You cant exchange material non-system items, art, gold, gemsanything that can be assigned a dor valuewith Selve. And no, you cant do a wire transfer to a Swiss numbered ount in no ones name to receive Selve and disclose the number of that ountter. Kinsley was panting when she stopped, a strand of hair out of ce.


    Several things clicked into ce. No matter how clever and enterprising the girl was, she didnte up with all of that on her own. And that, as difficult my time after the meteor had been, hers was likely far worse.


    Rough couple days? I asked.


    Yeah. There was a sniffle, then another. They were nice at first. And the money they were throwing around yeah. Its kind of funny. No matter how smart someone seems, once they run out of clever ideas, they always fall back on the piata solution.


    <em>Hit it until the stuff you want falls out.</em>


    Fuck. She reminded me of Iris. A more cynical, angry version of my sister, but the simrities were there. That was where all the misced empathy wasing from. But she wasnt my sister. I didnt have time for this. The girl stood up and walked to the sink to wash her face. I eyed the shotgun she left behind. Then dismissed it.


    Good luck. I started towards the chained up door.


    Wait, what? What about the trade? Kinsley called after me.


    Not interested.


    Why? As long as you have that core, theres a target on your back.


    It was dark. They didnt see my face.


    Doesnt matter. Ive already had to switch locations once. It took them a while to find me, but they did. Some Users have methods of tracking you down, probably ability based.


    Ill figure it out. Based on previous experience, I was rtively sure Double-Blind would inste me from any inquest, but I wasnt about to tell her that.


    I did you a favor.


    And Ill do you one back. I pointed to the weapon on the table. Kill a User with that and you be a bounty. No outside weapon interference.


    Kinsleys mouth hung open.


    There. Favor repaid.


    Youre scared. Youre just scared and youre running away, Kinsley snapped.


    I hesitated, hand poised to undo the chain, then turned back. Yeah, I <em>am</em> scared. I just saw two people die, and learned that the system that scammed me values a life in Monopoly money. On top of that, I lost a job, probably two. Somehow, I doubted anyone was overly concerned with standardized testing amidst this level of chaos. Im willing to bet that you cant buy groceries with Selve. And we all know how this works. Its too big. It wont stay quiet long. People panic. The shelves will be bare in a week, if that. So, Im more worried about when my next actual paycheck ising from than interested in selling some guys remains to buy arping sword.


    Kinsleys face grew stoic again, businesslike. What if I had a way to solve both those problems?


    Which problems? It felt like I listed far more than two.


    The job and the groceries.


    I rolled my eyes. Even assuming you could. Why would you? Why even help me in the first ce? Because I bought your cookies?


    Because it helps me. And you were decent then, and youre decent now. You knew I couldnt use the gun, and you didnt try to use it against me for answers or grab it when I left it there. You didnt try to hurt me, didnt expect anything for free because youre bigger and scarier than me. Thats rare. Someone who can be both decent and desperate.


    Kinsley was wrong about me. But there are few things more stupid than correcting someone who thinks highly of you.


    What did you have in mind? I asked.


    Well, first, I have a general store tab. Didnt lead with that because no one seems very impressed by it. All sorts of food, though. Also, Im about to level, so I could be on the cusp of unlocking more options. If we do the trade we talked about earlier, it could push me over, hint hint.


    I blinked. That solved my immediate problem, though not the longer reaching ones. And the job?


    The girl dug around her pocket, eventually finding what she was looking for, and ced it on the table. It was about the size of a fist, cone-shaped, marked with mind-achinglyplex gold and emerald iys. I touched it, and a notification popped up.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: This small piece of unknown metal unlocks a window to another realm. Many treasures and mysteries wait within that are yours for the taking. But beware, the locals will not appreciate piging of their precious treasures. And with all dungeons, the lower you go, the greater the danger, and more tantalizing the rewards.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Epic</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: ???</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    As she exined it, the system gave Kinsley several artifact-style items every time she leveled. A perk of being a merchant ss. Two of themshe was understandably dodgy on the details  had a value in Selve. The dungeon key did not.


    When I pressed her for more details, asking her to extrapte from her highest value item, she begrudgingly revealed that it was likely in the millions. That didnt really matter, as we had no idea what a single Selve was actually worth, but the number alone made me carefully ce the key back on the table.


    Internally, I was reconsidering how clever Kinsley actually was, or if, considering the beating she took, I wasnt the only one with a possible concussion. We were acquainted enough that no one was waving a gun around, but that was it. Maybe it was a harsh line to draw, but if she was stupid enough to be handing out high-end artifacts to random strangers, I wasnt sure I wanted to do business with her at all. That kind of carelessness coulde back to bite me.


    Then, Kinsley gave me a smug smile and pulled a binding document out of the air. I read through it line by line, mouthing the words, making sure I picked up every detail. Damn. Assuming the system didnt go out of its way to screw her over, it was both logical and iron-d. I couldnt have simply walked away with her system merchandise. Not that I would have.


    After I skimmed it fully, I went back over the details. The item in questionThe dungeon keywould remain in my possession for a weekly rental of 100 Selve, collected automatically from my bnce. There were several other key concessions as well, such as rights regarding any items procured from said dungeon. If, for whatever reason, I could not not make the payments or tried to renege on any of the agreements, the key would automatically be reverted to her and I would be hit with system fees and penalties.


    While I read, I noticed some unfilled sections.


    You can use these for sales as well? I asked.


    Yes. But it makes more sense to just use the trade screen for that. Yours doesnt seem to be working, so I thought we could use one of my merchant contracts as an alternative. This also allows me to set up agreements and retain ownership, as Im sure you have read by now.


    Can you email them? I asked.


    The magical legal contract? No idea, Kinsley shrugged. Wait, why?


    Just seeing if its possible to get a copy for record keeping. But now that I think about it, Im not sure what I would do with it if I had it.


    This was, of course, a lie. If Kinsley could somehow get her business online, that would solve the majority of problems that came with trading in person. Namely, getting beat ck and blue, or worse. It really was only a matter of time before she met the wrong User. There was still a huge elephant in the room on the topic of if what I was considering would actually work. And magic system legalese aside, I wasnt even sure how feasible it was to create a restricted ess market website, firewalled from unauthorized ess. Youd need a host site, servers, admin software, and programming help.


    By the look of her desktop rig, she might even have some of the skills I needed. The charitable thing to do would be to tell her my n immediately, make her a partner. But the charitable thing was seldom the smart thing, at least in my experience. If I told her too much now, she might screw something up. With my goal of making enough to get my family out of the city riding on the line, it was just too big a risk to take.


    <em>And if you told her now, maybe she wouldnt need you. Youd be the idea guy who gets left behind. Shes only offering you this deal because youre both desperate. She has a lot of other options, like lending out that dungeon key for significantly more than she charged you and you know it. But there are other merchants who arent children. Youre not the first one to think of this. Dont keep it to yourself for too long. Figure out a way to do it with her help, but still reap the benefits.</em>


    Future ns aside, the current proposal between us was fairly simple. Kinsley would lend me the dungeon key if I signed the contract. She would hold the exclusive option to buy everything I found at a discount. I couldnt even go to another system vendor without her consent. Since the danger of entering the dungeon was on me, I leveraged that for concessions in my favor. After some haggling, I was able to get her to agree to give me the first pick of any item I found that suited me, since the danger of our little arrangement was almost entirely on me.


    You drive a hard bargain. Kinsley scowled, then immediately winced, hand going up to one of the many bruises on her face.


    So do you, I said.


    We have a deal?


    I steepled my fingers. Onest thing. You being a merchant, the way your doors work. The dungeon key. Im assuming you want to keep all that on the down-low?


    Really? After all that, youre trying to ckmail me now? Her voice nearly broke.


    I felt bad. But this was important. Not ckmail, no. Just a mutual understanding of how things work. Theres a cyber cafe that moonlights as a testing center over on Jefferson, you know it?


    Yes. Why does that


    Of course you do. Thats where your father scheduled you to take the PSAT 10 back in october.


    Ive never taken the ten, only the eight-nine


    I interrupted again. and as such, you were freaking out. Youre smart but you didnt ace the eight-nine, you were too young even for that. And the ten, I blew air through my lips. Whew. <em>That</em> affects your chances at admission. Supposedly it doesnt matter until youre a junior in high-school. But you know they look.


    Kinsley was silent.


    Maybe you talked to a friend, who talked to a friend, who eventually gave you my number. I let you know I couldnt really pass as a pre-teen girl and take the test for you, but told you all the right things to say to dad to get him to push it back. He agreed, but only for a year. So you kept texting me questions, I kept giving you pointers, and now were sort of friends.


    I saw the moment the gears in her head started to turn. Because you have nothing to do with any of this, Kinsley said.


    You kept me in the dark. I just brought you toothpaste.


    God I could use some toothpaste.


    Really? Theres none in the store tab? I asked.


    No. It sucks.


    I rolled my eyes. Theres literally a Walgreens every other block and you can basically teleport.


    They beat the<em> hell </em>out of me. Kinsley stared at me, incredulous.


    I pinched the bridge of my nose. Fine. Ill bring you toothpaste.


    Thank you. Said very much like fuck you.


    Uh-huh. Point being, Im not a User. I know somethings up with you but thats it, and you called me because you didnt want to use anyone connected to your personal life.


    Fine. Are you always this paranoid? She asked.


    Only when my lifes on the line.


    Kinsley gave me a weird look, but nodded agreement.


    A system prompt appeared, startling me


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: The Kinsley ords</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Gain loot and levels as you fulfill your contractual obligations.</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective Extended  Explore the dungeon, venturing at least to the fifth floor. </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users (excluding Kinsley, Merchant). </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (SL)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (M)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Week.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Improved ess to items at a discount from Kinsley, Merchant.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???</strong>


    <strong>ept Quest?: Y | N</strong>


    There was a lot about the quest that gave me pause. I assumed S-L meant the quest had a sliding level of difficulty. The item description told me the Dungeon would likely get more difficult the deeper I delved, which the item description confirmed. Just how difficult was the question.


    Matt? Kinsley looked a little concerned, then repeated the question. We have a deal?


    Getting my family out was the first priority. It came before everything else. But depending on how long the blockade was in ce, that might be impossible. And if it was impossible and things got worse, I needed to be in a position where I could take care of them. Just like I always had. There was one good thing about the currency situation. No pay to win. Of course there were exceptions. People with power and resources, established organizations, would likely band together more easily. Daphne was an example of that. But on a micro-level, for the first time ever, I felt like the scales had reset with every User starting at zero.


    And I had no intention of staying there.


    /////


    After another round of haggling, I agreed to sell her the Core. She was right, it wasnt doing me any favors just carrying it around and I needed to buy better gear for the dungeon. Plus, leveling her up meant more resources for me to tap into.


    This time, I did ept her trade window, which got me another weird look. Whatever, she could ponder the mystery of my User status all she wanted, so long as she kept it between us per our system agreement.


    The good news was I now had a hefty S13,500 to y with. It wasnt real cash, but Id never had this much to spend in my entire life. Always, there was the obligation of looking out for the family, pinching loose change and dor bills to make sure we had the minimum to get by. Now, I felt like a kid in a candy store.


    With our first transactionpleted, the first thing Kinsley did was start interacting with her system interface with growing excitement. Apparently, she had leveled and unlocked a new type of merchandise.


    Yes! Finally! Kinsley yelled as a clear bottle filled with red liquid appeared out of thin air. She yanked the cork out and downed it one gulp. Immediately, her bruises began to fade to almost nothing.


    It urred to me that this was likely why she was so desperate to close the deal. She obviously had ess to Selve to buy things with, but she couldnt gain experience from her own sales. She needed customers for that, and thest ones had beat her badly. Further confirmation that we would both benefit from this.


    Ill take two of those.Magical healing? Yes please.


    Next, I pondered one of my biggest weaknesses at this point. I was a ss cannon, not durable like Daphne. I needed better personal protection.


    Show me the armor. Im looking for something light but durable, with no special requirements.


    She immediately shared a system store tab that showed a variety of armor types and categories. There was some crazy shit, things like <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> that were all between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands in Selve. This was important, but I didnt want to blow my entire budget on one item.


    After gettingfortable with the system interface and selecting some filters I settled on a full set of <strong></strong> It was perfect for now, as it had no requirements, restrictions, or penalties to movement and stealth. It still offered good protection based on the ratings, and would even protect against firearms with a mix of ker and some other protective padding. I paid the 8,000 Selve and was able to equip the entire thing easily via my inventory screen.


    Next up was weapons. She had several weapons to choose from in her store tab. Everything was very medieval with a slight fantasy re. None of them seemed like a good fit. Swords were both shy and heavy. Maces and Warhammers were just in heavy. I still held my first instinct that increasing strength would be a mistake. Plus, I had no idea how to use these things.


    No. A knife was simple enough to use, and I already had <strong></strong>. I needed to stay low threat and at a distance if at all possible. After narrowing the search filters, I found exactly what I was looking for. <strong></strong>. It was like the system could read my mind, which was more than a little unsettling. It sent me back a few thousand Selve after I included a belt holster with two dozen bolts.


    I took a moment to review the description.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It was only a Common rarity item, but well made with some kind of dark wood and ckened metal. Unfortunately, it had really crude sights. It was just the metal spring bar that held a loaded bolt in ce with nothing for a front post. The limbs were the strangest part, with a circr puck of a ratchet gear connecting them together where they were mounted on the foregrip. As for the bolts, they were short and thick, made of heavy wood with a solid metal tip and only two fletchings.


    With Kinsleys permission, I tested the weapon on a pile of packing foam in the corner. My first shot went far higher than expected and I was surprised as the crossbow made a whirring noise and the center gear spun up. The limbs almost immediately cocked back on their own, ready for me to load the next bolt. <em>Self-cocking, nice.</em> A few shotster and I limated, hitting close to what I was aiming at. I gathered the bolts and returned to shopping.


    Now that the important stuff out was of the way, I moved on to something more mundane but no less exciting. Food. Kinsleys general store tab was the stuff dreams were made of, some fantasyndbination of Target, Central Market, and Costco. The cost was vastly inted if I looked at how much my weapons and armor were, but it didnt matter.


    My mouth <em>watered.</em> Steak, chicken, pork, duck, the list went on and on, filled with endless varieties of meat. Woefully scarce in our freezer over thest few months. There was every variety of leafy green, fruit, and vegetable you could imagine. Even in a world with magic, this was almost too good to be true.


    My suspicion must have shown through, because Kinsley pointed me to the dusty fridge in the corner, confirming that shed bought from her own selection, and had been living on it for thest few days.


    I kept it rtively reasonable and purchased some normal food items, even though the high-grade steaks were calling my name. My siblings would be seriously rmed if I came home with prime rib and wagyu beef for dinner. If I wasnt careful, I was going to get a lot of questions I couldnt answer.


    Im done. I need to get back.


    That door will take you a few blocks from where I found you. Those assholes chasing you dont know our current location, so it should be fine.


    I nodded and started walking towards the door.


    <em>This worked out pretty well.</em>


    Wait! Kinsey said, running up to me. She looked a lot more like that kid that sold me cookies on the bench now that she wasnt beat to hell. A lot younger and out of her element.


    Take this, its my number. Call me if you want to trade again, or when you get back from the dungeon.


    I opened the door and crouched down to walk through. There werent any ck SUVs waiting for me. My walk back to the apartment was a long one though, sticking mainly to side streets and alleys to avoid any other Users or cops now that the curfew was in full effect. The hefty bags of groceries in either hand didnt fatigue like they once would have.


    When I got back to the apartment, the sun was almost up. My whole body felt sore, exhausted. And the icing on the cake was that Id be due for my shift at Dunkins in less than two hours.


    But I couldnt shake the feeling that everything was different. Everything had changed. After work, after I got some rest, I was going to do some research. Maybe visit the closest blockade in person. Then, I was going into a dungeon.


    Exhausted, I pulled up the System feed and scrolled up to a notification Id been ignoring for far too long.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Strength: 5</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 6</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 10</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 5</strong>


    <strong>Will: 6</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1 </strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 2</strong>.


    <>


    I wasnt happy. Only three skill points for leveling, a pretty big decrease from the previous level up. My previous allocation was spent mainly as a much needed reality check. However, if Id known the two points of Strength Id increased to test physical changes was two thirds of what Id get for a normal level, I would never have considered it. Id made an error, assuming five skill points per level would be the norm.


    And as I learned recently, errors could be fatal. I needed to be more careful with my points.


    My first inclination was to just dump everything into Intelligence. Yes, I know. The same instinct from the very start. It was both the area I had the most confidence in and the primary stat for my ss. However, I also thought about the recent encounter with Daphne and the rest of the Users. Thinking back, the biggest factor was probably Agility. First, I missed my shot on Wife-beater guy. I was aiming for his knee and barely hit his leg. Second, that damn ck Escde almost smeared me against the wall before I could jump through Kinsleys door. And when I did go through, insteading of cushioning my fall like a normal person, I smashed my face into the floor instead. If Kinsley had been hostile, that would have been the end.


    I had already decided I needed to be mobile with my armor and stay out of fights whenever possible. The dagger also depended on speed and precision, not brute strength. But intelligence and perception were also critical. Without noticing the AC Unit as quickly as I did anding up with a n to use it, I would have also been screwed. And intelligence was a key ss skill. Decision made, I split three points between Agility, Intelligence, and Perception.


    Next, I considered the feat list. It was really far too long and difficult to manage when I didnt know what I was building towards. <strong>Assassin I></strong> was more tempting after the clusterfuck Id just witnessed. But it was only a 15% increase in my probablycking damage against other Users. And more importantly, I doubted the dungeon was stocked with Users.


    I scrolled until I found something useful in both short and long term.


    <strong></strong>


    Far too good to pass up. When I used the ability on the car chasing behind me, it felt like the air was sucked straight out of my lungs. That could have ended badly. Right now it was borderline dangerous to use the ability in perilous situations, exactly when I needed it most. Plus, it would work for me in the dungeon.


    I set my rm, assuming the pain of the leveling process would likely knock me out in my current state of exhaustion. Then I pressed confirm. A dull wave of electricity washed over my entire body, as muscle mass rearranged and expanded. The feeling traveled to my temple, my eyes. Excruciating, but decidedly less painful this time.


    My body went limp, and I saw only ck.


    /////


    I awoke to a banging on my door. Hating the cruel spears of sunlight stabbing through my windows, I opened it, finding Ellison standing there. My brother looked more irritated than usual. I thought you were broke.


    Morning.


    If youd just lent me some, Iris wouldnt have needed to help.


    Jesus ChristEllison, I just woke up. And I <em>am</em> broke. I red at my brother.


    Ellison gave me a <em>sure</em> look. Tell that to the Willy Wonka moment Iris and Mom are having in the kitchen.


    Oh.


    I rubbed nascent sleep out of my eye and stumbled my way to the kitchen. Iris was three spoonfuls deep into a pint of Rocky Road, far too awake for this early in the morning. She grinned at me, chocte smeared on her face and fingers as she signed. <em>You got my favorite. </em>


    Of course he did. My mother ced a hefty serving of bacon on a faux china te at the center of the table. Hes your brother. She had an apron tied around her waist. Grease sizzled as she swirled eggs in a scratched up teflon skillet.


    The fancy ting told me more than anything else. Mom was <em>trying</em> again. Shed reached the so-called Moment of rity. Either something Id saidst night, or some personal revtion. Light green on the Mom scale.


    Iris and Ellison waited months for moments with this version of her.


    Personally, I dreaded them. Yellow was the baseline. Red was inevitable. Green was the hardest to deal with. Because green gave hope. Green made you wonder, if maybe, this time would be different. Maybe it would stick. Maybe things wouldnt go back to exactly the way they were. And they always did.


    Ellison picked up the package, staring at the branding. What is this weird, colon-parenthesis-smiley face brand? At first I thought it was Wal-mart.


    Gift horses, Ellison, Mom said. Let''s just enjoy breakfast as a family for once.


    A sliver of irritation went through me at the way she said it. Like us all being too busy was a matter of personal choice. It killed my appetite. Cant. Have to use theputer for a bit and then I have to go. Dunkins. I wanted to do some reading on the blockades, and if anyone knew how long theydst.


    Laptops not working. Ellisonmunicated through a mouthful of bacon.


    It broke? I stared at him in horror.


    No. Sorry. Ellison swallowed, then spoke again. Intes down. Called Comcast and got an automated message about an outage in our area.


    Great. I rolled my eyes. Add stopping by the library to the list of things I have to do today.


    /////


    Dunkins was anarchy.


    A paper sign on the front door read SYSTEM TROUBLE, CASH ONLY. Simr messages were scrawled on doors across the beige bricked carbon-copy storefronts that sandwiched our spot in the strip mall. I found thisforting at first. Usually, our systems being down meant an easy shift. Less foot traffic. I could just rx and arrange the front facing disy so it looked pleasant, maybe do a little cleaning.


    Ray, the General Manager, had his feet up on his desk and was slurping coffee in the janitorial-closet-turned office while reading a rather scandalously covered novel when I got in. Mornin.


    Morning, sir. System down?


    Thats what they tell me. He peered over his sses at me. Hisically oversized biceps threatened to rip clear out of the sleeves of his too-tight button down shirt. Appreciate youing in, Matthew. Eliza and Gertrude both called in. Hence, you are graced with my presence.


    I didnt mind Ray. Even if he got my name wrong on a semi-regr basis and tended towards micromanaging. If theically oversized que filled with medals in the office was anything to go on, he was ex-military, and a down in the trenches kind of guy. That wasnt always a good thing, but it worked for Ray. If we needed a cashier, hed swipe in. If we were running out of stock, hed work the ovens. If there was a clogged toiletactually, hed probably make me clean it.


    Ill get the disys stocked, I said.


    Yessir. Should be a slow day.


    The front door mmed open with a bang. The words Were not open yet died on my lips as I turned and took in the first customer of the day. A man in wrinkled, olive-colored fatigues, open-carrying what looked to be an old WWII bolt action rifle. A ck bva hid all but his panting lips and panicked gray eyes.


    <em>Please dont point it at me, please dont point it at me.</em>


    Um w-w-w-what I bit off the stutter, furious with myself.


    How can we help you sir? Ray asked. He had stepped out in front of the donut disy and was all business now, his easy-going manner gone.


    The man bent over and started panting, taking deep heaving breaths.


    Matthew, get the register open. Ray said, tossing me the keyring,


    Is there even anything in the register? I muttered, fiddling through the ring until I found the small circle key that would open the drawer.


    One can only hope, Ray said, under his breath. Then louder, he spoke to the man. Were insured. No one has to get hurt here.


    I need three-dozen donuts! The man shouted.


    I shared a slow, swiveling look with Ray.


    Sure. I said. Ray grabbed three boxes and handed one to me. I kept my head down, loading in donuts into the box as quickly as possible.


    Would you like any Fancies or Munchkins with that? Ray asked.


    I froze.


    What? What the fuck is a munchkin? Bva guy asked.


    Our signature donut hole treat. Theyre made in a variety of vors. Its six for a pack of twenty-five, or eleven for fifty. Ray listed off the information calmly, as if he were talking to a suburban mother, rather than a masked gunman.


    Just give me the donuts man! Bva guys eyes were wild.


    Quickly and carefully, I handed the man his three boxes of doughnuts. Taking me by surprise, he paid with a crinkled fifty. As soon as I made change for him, he swiped the twenty out of my hand and sprinted out the door with the boxes crushed under one arm, weapon held loosely in the other.


    I red at Ray. Did you really just try to upsell Mr. Grassy Knoll?


    Ray held his hands out defensively. Muscle memory, kid.


    A wave of people streamed in after that, quelling any discussion of calling the cops. I was able to pick up from bits of panicked conversation that the local stores and markets were bare shelved, as Id suspected they would be, but not nearly this quickly.


    The pace was exhausting. Even down-in-the-trenches Ray was ready to throw in the towel by noon. Like a sun-stricken shepherd, he waded into the sea of people crammed into the already tiny lobby, arms held wide, pushing them out and telling them toe back tomorrow. We were all out of everything and there simply wasnt anything to buy, except raw ingredients.


    I leaned against the wall, exhausted.


    Im going to clean up. Ray rinsed stray sugar from his hands with a damp washcloth.


    Whats happening? I shook my head. Id expected panic, but this was too soon. There was something else driving it.


    I dont know. But you should find out, make sure your family is safe. Get some supplies as well, before its toote. Somethins not right.


    Youre letting me go early?


    Rx kid, Ill pay you the full day. God knows you worked for it. And grab a bag of the munchkins on your way out. I stashed a few for us before the mob cleaned us out.


    Thanks, Ray. I undid my ck apron, hanging it on the rack next to the cleaning supplies, and exited out the back with the free snacks.


    Ellison was right on the outage, wrong on the scale of it. It wasnt limited to our apartment. Or our neighborhood, or our block for that matter. Even the spotty 4G for my burners perilously limited data n couldnt pull up Reddit, or the half-dozen other forum-type websites I frequented. It <em>could</em> pull up Google.


    I typed in the word what and the page immediately brought up suggestions.


    Whats wrong with the inte in Das.


    Whats happening in Das.


    What is Das dome.


    What is the forcefield in Das.


    No results. No news articles other than several that were days old at this point, detailing the freak meteor that had destroyed a building and ongoing recovery efforts.


    Desperate, I found a discarded newspaper in a trash can, flipping it up to look at the headline beyond the fold. The picture depicted a mass of protesters pressing up against the blockade. But they werent being held back by people. There was a strange orange light, curved upward and inward holding them back. The National Guard was looking on from the outside, one of them yelling something.


    The headline was one word: Trapped.


    /////


    I didnt know what to do, but at least <strong>BORN NIHILIST</strong><strong>></strong> was keeping my anxiety in check. My n of getting my family out was seeming less and less likely. But the food situation was only getting worse, and if supplies and shipping were cut off from us? The word apocalypse was overused these days, but it sure seemed to fit. Incidents like that guy with the gun this morning were going to seem tame if this got worse.


    There was only one thing left to do. I pulled the dungeon key from my inventory. Something called to me, like a deep tug pulling me forwards. I followed it.

 Chapter 11:

    Chapter 11:


    Again, whoever was writing the item descriptions needed to be fired. The dungeon key was presumably just that. But it really needed a disimer. Something like, Warning, just because the dungeon key is pulling you in a particr direction doesnt mean youre anywhere near close. Have fun walking, chump.


    I made it about three miles before I gave up and called her.


    Mom, you sober?


    Ill get my keys. She answered.


    <em>Notice she didnt say, Yes.</em>


    After a brief exchange, Mom confirmed shed be by shortly to pick me up. I scowled and checked my menu screen.


    <strong></strong>


    I had changed it shortly after leaving Dunkins, thinking it would be more useful. I watched the timer tick down suspiciously. It was centered in a round violet clock enclosed by small marks that disappeared with every centisecond. This gave the illusion that the time was psing quickly, but I was pretty sure the entire point of that was to mask the opposite reality. It was actually moving slower.


    Keeping an eye on the depreciating timer, I pulled out my burner. Maybe if I couldpare the two times


    I sighed, cing the phone back in my pocket. This was the title at work. Thest time Id used <strong></strong>, there was no question it saved my ass. But it also caused <em>a lot</em> of problems. It made me question <em>everything.</em> The waitress at the diner, the unlikeliness of my situation, my own sanity. It probably contributed to my dissociation during the encounter with the SWAT officer, though I couldnt credit that to the title entirely.


    After all, Id experienced dissociation before.


    Still, with the uncanny ability to detect traps and ambushes, there was no better option for venturing into unknown territory. Slotting the title in early seemed like a good idea at the time. Expend most of the cooldown timer before things got dicey. Swap it immediately if it was too much of a hindrance. Simple.


    That decision had made thest few hours miserable. <strong></strong> had something to say about everything, from sold-out fruit vendors to the city atrge. Being more aware that the title itself was affecting my thinking helped. But only just. And knowing that did nothing to help me cope with the smarmy, mocking sense of humor.


    <em>Yes, youre so independent. Off on your own to venture into the unknownOopsToo far, better call mommy for a ride.</em>


    There was no answer. Which was probably for the best. Things were questionable enough as they were. No need to start having conversations with myself to further muddy the water.


    I reminded myself that the upsides outweighed the downsides. The title practically screamed every time someone passed within ten feet of me with a concealed weapon. Granted, we were in what schrs would likely refer toter as a time of great civil unrest. So, nearly everyone was packing something.


    <em>Left. Blonde with the Gi clutch. Ruger LCR.</em>


    I subconsciously stepped back from the curb, giving her ample space to pass. Judging from the crows feet and worry lines obfuscated by makeup, she was somewhere between middle-age and ancient. I stole a nce at her clutch as she hurried by. It wasrge for a purse meant to be held in hand, and not overstuffed. There was no outline of a barrel or protruding lump of a cylinder.


    So, how did the title know?


    There was a sticky grind of rubber against the concrete curb as Mom arrived in our paint-chipped, navy colored minivan. To my horror, she rolled down the window and catcalled. Hey there, good lookin.


    At least three people turned our way.


    Changed my mind. Ill get a Lyft.


    Thought you didnt like rideshare.


    Oh no, my morality.


    Get in Matthias. My mother rolled her eyes.


    After taking a moment to mentally steel myself, I got in the van. Mom asked me for an address and didnt seem bothered when I didnt provide one. Instead, I directed her turn by turn, judging from the feel of the dungeon key how close we were.


    So. Everythings a mess out here. Mom craned her neck to get a better view beyond the windshield.


    Only going to get worse, I said. We already know how this goes. First, food gets low. Then toiletries. Then everything else.


    Pharmaceuticals too. My mothermented.


    I stiffened. Im good for now. Refilledst week.


    I wasnt


    I know. Turn right at the light.


    We rode in silence for a few more minutes before Mom broke it. Good thing you managed to find a ce to stock up when you did.


    <em>Shes baiting you.</em>


    Just worked out that way, I said.


    Apparently abandoning the oblique approach, mom asked the obvious question. Do you know anything? About whats happening?


    I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of giving her a filtered version of what little information I had. If she was a normal person, it would make sense to convey a little warning. But she wasnt a normal person. There was no telling what would set her off. And as much as I was anxious for this temporary Moment of rity to phase back into what I rather uncharitably referred to as a Stupor of Apathy, I wasnt cold enough to hasten it. For Iris and Ellisons sake.


    Its just a new job with alternative supply lines, mom. Not connected to this dumpster fire.


    Oh. Some of her cheeriness faded. I appreciate you, Matthias.


    The dungeon key was giving off an almost nauseating pull now. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything else. The inte issue is frustrating.


    Its back up on theptop.


    I peered at her suspiciously. Wait, really?


    Mom shrugged. For now. Theyre suppressing traffic outside.


    Id suspected something simr, but had no way to confirm it. And you know this how?


    A slew of technical jargon followed that I could barely understand. Words and abbreviations I understood, like IRC, back-end, proxy, thrown around in contexts I had no clue about. It wasnt surprising. That was her area. I only knew enough to stay anonymous and keep my more questionable ventures away from prying eyes.


    basically, its possible to get to the external web, just very difficult.


    I didnt have to guess what she found. Anything about whats happening here? The dome?


    Nothing.


    Not good. I tapped my finger against my lip, thinking about Kinsley and her situation. I have a question. But I need you to answer it without thinking about the implications of it, and not take it as a personal attack on you.


    Is it about the trial? Mom kept her hands at ten-and-two, but snuck a nce at me.


    Sort of. The work you did for Sigma. How possible would it be for you to recreate it at a local level?


    I was thrown forward as Mom mmed the breaks at a stop sign, a little too hard. She stared at me as if Id stabbed her in the hand with a fork.


    <em>So much for not upsetting her.</em>


    Not for the same market they were dipping into. Itsplicated. I have a friend who needs to sell things. She cant exactly do business in-person for reasons. <em>Like being a small child.</em> But she carries good products that can help people. And its not like we can just order off Amazon anymore.


    <em>Are you just ignoring the weapons tab?</em>


    And a few things to help them defend themselves. I added btedly. Maybe, if any of this was even possible, I could convince Kinsley to leave the weapons tab off the online market. But Mom was already thinking.


    A friend with ess to particrly good bacon? She smirked, staring off into the distance.


    Perhaps.


    Were heading towards the financial district, As she spoke quietly, residential housing and apartments gave way to skyscrapers. I watched her, concerned. She always got like this when there was a decision to make. All chatty and conversational until things got real. Then she turned quiet and introspective.


    I waited.


    Her eyes turned ssy. What I did hurt a lot of people, Matthias. A lot of people. You probably dont think any of this is real, but Im serious about turning over a new leaf.


    It was always serious. I just didnt think she was capable of it. I know.


    She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. The idea of working on something like that again is painful.


    The car swerved slightly.


    If you need to pull over, we can pull over. I gripped the handle on the side door.


    Moms grip tightened on the wheel. But I think it might be cathartic. To use something that brought so much pain to help people.


    We were quiet then, listening to the sound of the road. Thendmarks be more and more familiar, the buildings ever higher.


    You know, an average person would tell you that Bill Gates is a great man. The phnthropy, the work in Africa, the foundation Mom started. I recognized the key signs that I was in for a rant and settled in. But everyone seems to forget how badly he screwed over Paul Allen. If Sorkins script for The Social Network never crossed Finchers desk, wed probably never know how Zuckerberg betrayed Eduardo


    A supposedly highly fictionalized ount, I interjected.


    Thewsuit wasnt.


    Where are we going with this?


    Moms voice picked up tempo. They always have excuses. Thin and transparent. Benedict Arnold said he was egged on by his wife. Brutus imed, Not that I loved Caesar less, but I loved Rome more. Lies. In the end, its about money and power. Always.


    I smiled to myself, amused with how quickly she had moved on from the so-called catharsis of benevolence. Still, somewhere in the depths of her rant, there was a nugget of wisdom.


    We dont know how long any of this willst. The dome coulde down tomorrow, and render this conversation pointless. Not likely, but I needed to calm her down.


    And if it doesnt? Mom prompted.


    In truth, I wasnt all that concerned about Kinsley. She seemed to have a solid grasp on the concept of fairness, even if it was a bit neutral for my taste. This game the System was putting us into, though? That was different. People would do anything to get ahead.


    My eyes narrowed as I stared out into the street. Ill manage.


    /////


    The pull of the dungeon key was practically maic now. Realizing I must be close, I had Mom drop me off when the streets started getting congested. I could walk faster, not to mention I didnt need her asking more awkward questions about what I was doing. She said she would go and try and pick up some supplies for us while there was still anything left in the stores. I wondered how long it would take for those errands to stray to somewhere with an elevated ABV.


    Traffic thinned out a few blocks away from the destroyed Bank of America building. The stink of char and asbestos still hung heavy in the air. Luckily, there were no cops around, just a single fire truck crew almost finished packing away all their gear. I waited for two firefighters to walk away from idling next to a long line of caution tape before I ducked under it, following the pull.


    To my surprise, I didnt have to worry about blending in. There were many people behind the caution tape. I passed a group in prayer, andrge gathering holding a vigil.


    It led me to where the front entrance once stood. The building had fallen backwards, leaving a mess of twisted metal and annihted concrete in its wake. Carefully, I made my way through the still smoldering wreckage, looking out to avoid any dangerous loose wires, ss shards, or rebar spikes. I made my way to a long supporting beam that was bent in a half circle, a muted violet energy extending down from it, forming the clear outline of a doorway. The dungeon key practically leaped from my hands towards it.


    That was it. Had to be. I pulled my hood over my head and ducked down, narrowly avoiding the sightline of one of the firemen at the edge of the rubble thanks to <strong></strong> prompting.


    <em>Yes. Let''s prance into a dungeon, probably under leveled and definitely unprepared. Just pretend like you havent seen the first episode of Goblin yer.</em>


    Shut up or be useful. I muttered to myself. And, after double-checking to make sure no one was looking, I summoned my fancy new armor and crossbow, marveling again at how the system items just appeared out of nowhere and were instantly equipped, and stepped through the gate.


    A notification filled my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    Well, that was a relief, at least. <strong></strong> was wrong. I wasnt under-leveled.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Fuck.</em>

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12


    The dungeon lobby was not what I expected. White marble flooring divided into squares paved arge, open space penned in by ss. A receptionists desk,plete with a widescreenputer monitor and a rather geriatric looking Quam phone, stood near the front. There was a wide swathe of wall behind the desk where a corporate logo would typically be stamped. But instead of a corporate logo, there was a simple oversized symbol in dark, cast iron.


    :)


    Weirdly out of ce. Everything else was almost disturbingly modern and sterile. Not a single bit of dirt or detritus to indicate that a human had ever been through here, save for the ck footprints I tracked in from the bank wreckage. To the right of the desk was a sizable security office, pinioned off by a series of brass poles connected by velvet ropes. The only entrance was a high-tech looking door. An oversized one-way mirror reflected my confused expression back at me.


    <em>Theyre always watching.</em>


    The chill started at the small of my back and worked its way across my body. I mped down on it, refusing to give into the fear. After a few-too-many near-death experiences, it was understandable to be jumpy. And <strong></strong> hadnt warned me to leave, or evade the mirror as it had in the hospital.


    It was just letting me know that my actions were being monitored. By what, or who, was only a guess. I took a moment to ponder what they could see. Anky teen in civilian clothes with a hood obscuring most of his features. Over the clothes was a gray set of what looked like fantasy leather armor: a many-segmented chest te fitted with straps, round shoulder pauldrons, hard bracers on my forearms, and hard greaves with articted knee pads on my legs. A brown leather ring belt held my hand crossbow and bolts. The crossbow holster was over my right hip and the capped bolt quiver was on my left hip.


    Basically, I looked like some nerd that got lost on his way to a LARPing convention or Comic-Con. Whatever. What they couldnt see is that the armor was made from some super tough material, all the pieces were lined with bulletproof padding, and the crossbow was fucking real, thank you very much. As something of an afterthought, I checked my quest objectives.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Gain loot and levels as you fulfill your contractual obligations.</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective Extended  Explore the dungeon, venturing at least to the fifth floor. </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users (excluding Kinsley, Merchant). . </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (S-L)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (M)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Week.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Improved ess to items at a discount from Kinsley, Merchant</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???</strong>


    There was no acknowledgement of my progress, so loitering in the lobby didnt count as exploring the dungeon. I assumed that the time limit was stic, dependent on whether Kinsley renewed my contract. But most importantly, my personal objective had not been failed. That meant whoever or whatever was watching me was likely not a User.


    <em>So quick to trust words on a screen.</em>


    It took effort, but I ignored the mental voice for the moment. <strong></strong> seemed to have two modes. Mocking and aloof, or dead serious. The previousment was one of the former.


    I gave the security office a wide berth and circled to the elevators on the left hand side. Like almost any modern office building, there was more than one. Three of them stood side by side, simple metal doors with a call button to the right of each.


    Almost mindlessly, I reached out to touch oneand stopped, my finger a millimeter from the up button.


    <em>Why are they watching in the lobby?</em>


    <em>Hypothetically, this isnt the only dungeon. If something is watching, its for one of two reasons. Business or pleasure. Directly monitoring a lobby seems inefficient. People might change their minds, especially when they discover the dungeon is adaptive. Plus, what do you even do in a lobby, apart from make your way to the dungeon proper? Maybe its for logging and records of anyone who enters, but I doubt it. If its for entertainment, then that makes sense. Set the scene. Build up tension. Still, thats shaky logic. Its a slow start, and if there are other people actively engaging in other dungeons, why would you be watching me? </em>


    Feeling more than a little silly, I stepped back and studied the doors. And all doubt faded away. They would be identical to the untrained observer, probably identical to me less than a week ago, but somethinglikely abination of my newly enhanced Pperception and <strong></strong>told me they were <em>not</em> the same.


    It took a minute to pick out the differences. The elevator on the left was easiest. It looked identical on the surface, but when I bent down to inspect the clear call button, I found a tiny red spot that might be blood. In any other scenario, it could have been chalked up to simple umtion of grime, but the building was pristine. A trap maybe?


    Mentally, I nixed the elevator on the left and moved on. The remaining two were far more difficult. Identical in almost every way. Same doors, same buttons, same frame. Something didnt feel right about the elevator on the right, but what?


    <em>A germaphobe or introvert goes to the farthest elevator. An egocentric chooses the center. And the average person follows the most straightforward path. The elevator on the right is closest to the door. I almost picked it myself. Thats why it feels wrong.</em>


    I took a step back, breathing out. Maybe I was overthinking. But this was an adaptive dungeon. And my highest stat was my intelligence by a wide margin. I couldnt take for granted that it only adapted to level.


    This wasnt a lobby. This <em>was</em> the dungeon. If I was right, Ide within a hairs breadth of danger simply by almost selecting the wrong elevator. Which begged a nagging question. Did I <em>really</em> want to do this? Put myself at the mercy of a system that had already screwed me over, and didnt care if I lived or died?


    <strong></strong> chuckled in the back of my mind.


    <em>Some descend to ruin. Others rise to greatness. Is this really any different?</em>


    The most important aspect of test taking was picking a choice and moving on. And it was different. Because I <em>had</em> a choice this time.


    I punched the up button on the center elevator.


    A low thrum filled the lobby and a digital red number appeared on the overhead disy, counting down from fifteen. I retreated a few steps, my crossbow in one hand, dagger held in the other, the top of my wrist supporting my firing arm.


    The wait became unbearable. My pulse was racing so fast it was making me nauseous. Quickly, I checked over my shoulder to make sure the dungeon door was still open. I even fidgeted and thought about checking my cell phone for messages, my anxiety desperate for an outlet. Finally, the number stopped at one<strong>.</strong> I stood ready for anything, my crossbow and dagger braced with hands that were both slick with sweat and shaking.


    The door pinged open, a gasp of air escaping as pressure equalized. It was fucking empty.


    I stood as still as a statue for a full 10 second count, just in case. Having seen enough horror movies, I made a thorough visual inspection, making extra sure to check the overhead. Still nothing. Cautiously, sweeping my crossbow side-to-side to check the corners, I stepped in. t


    There was a whoosh as the doors mmed closed behind me. I jumped straight up with a shriek and spun around, pretty sure I might have lost a few years on my lifespan.


    A flurry of notifications popped into view.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Breathing a little easier, I watched with self-satisfied amusement as an unfilled leaderboard popted my listing at the top of an otherwise nk sheet as User: ???, ss: ???, LVL: ???. </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Wait I grit my teeth as an artillery shell detonated in my mind, a painful pulse that aligned with the hammering of my heart. Adrenaline pumping, I fought to clear my thoughts and stay alert. Somehow, I managed to keep a grip on my weapons as I slid down the back wall.


    A panel of my elevator fell away, revealing nothing but void illuminated by a reddish glow. Then another. And another. Piece by piece, the elevator was rapidly revealed to be an iron cage. It started nking as it moved upwards, lifted by a link of dark chains thicker than my neck. A medieval style chandelier with the same cast-iron logo in the lobby somehow hung above me now, illuminating the darkness


    I heard a howl to my left and scrambled away from it, instinctually. There was a massive albino wolf crammed into a cage identical to mine, its body taking up the majority of the space twelve people could have fit easily. It snapped at me as my cage moved away, teeth snapping at the iron bars. I pressed my back against the bars furthest away, taking in small, panicked breaths as my cage swayed wildly.


    Then what I can only describe as a long tendril of shadow curled around my cheek from behind and caressed my face with a burning sensation. I leapt back from the bars, my pulse rising even higher as I saw what was in another cage beside mine.


    The other cage contained <em>something. </em>A silhouette of a woman made of shimmering ck substance. Her eyes and gaping mouth glowed with an unnerving orange light as she emitted a sound that was a cross between a giggle and a wet moan.


    She was trapped in the same type of cage, all three of us hanging above an imprable darkness with me stuck in the middle of two monsters. I willed my cage to move up faster and leave them behind.


    Holy shit. Holy shit.


    <em>Thank God I picked this elevator.</em>


    My hand crossbow and its anemic bolts would have done next to nothing to the wolf, to say nothing of the knife. And how did you even fight something like the second monster?


    <em>The same way space fought the dinosaurs.</em>


    Sweating and nursing a lingering migraine from the Intelligence boost, I spent much of the remaining ascent trying to talk myself off the ledge. Telling myself that my justifications up to this point had been perfectly valid. That what had happened to me was no different from jumping across a gap and discovering there were spikes lurking beneath. Reiterating that with so much of my world turned upside down, gaining power was worth the risk.


    But the reassurance felt fraudulent.


    My inner turmoil was put back on the back burner as the cage pulled up to an incongruous matching set of three elevator doors. They loomed out of the darkness, floating and not appearing to be attached to anything. My cage came in line with the middle set of doors and I was almost knocked off my feet as it jerked to a stop. As if in mockery, the elevator dinged like normal as the doors opened.


    Sunlight blinded me. I stepped out from the elevator, eager to leave its confines but disoriented from thest vestiges of a splitting headache and the new setting. At first, I thought the dungeon had simply ended. Spit me out at the impact site and I was fine with that. But the impression faded as a never-ending onught of green came into focus in lieu of a wastnd of concrete.


    Wow. The word escaped all on its own.


    It was a pastoral meadow.


    Back when things were better, my parents used to drive us up to Colorado Bend for vacation in the early spring. It was a three-hour drivean eternity to me back thenbut it still felt worth it. There were all these hidden alcoves off the main road, ces youd drive right by without realizing they were there. Dad knew them all. He rotated through them, kept the repeat trips interesting.


    But the one ce we always stopped was Mile Marker 21. I remember a rush of excitement every time the emerald green sign came into focus. Wed leave the car at a nearby parking spot, then forge off the road on foot. It was a grueling trek through a nonstop canopy of brambles and low-hanging leaves. On thest push, youd break through to a meadow of waist-high grass, a vista of verdantnd rolling out all the way to the horizon.


    It might be the only ce Ive ever felt truly at peace.


    And I felt a murmur of that peace now. Almost everything was the same. The base of a tree where we rolled out a nket and picked. A smallke that glimmered in the distance. The only quantifiable difference was a small batch of tall flowers, swaying in the wind.


    <em>There is no wind.</em>


    Before the warning could sink in, something feathery touched my hand. I looked down, expecting to find a strand of grass. Instead, I found arge leaf wrapped around my finger. It was attached to a sunflower around waist height.


    Uh.


    The sunflowers face cracked open, revealing a jagged maw of razor sharp seed teeth. Meeeeat, It hissed.


    Then before I could react, it bit down on my hand and I screamed.

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13


    In the early thirties, while the rest of the world was experiencing a harde down from the roaring twenties, an Australian Major named Meredith was given a simple task. He was to cull an invasive species guing local farmers in a ventureter known as The Great Emu war. And he didnt skimp on resources. Meredith brought a trained army, transported by truck, armed with machine-guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.


    He lost.


    Trained men with machine-guns lost to birds.


    I say all this to provide context, for how a less experienced, much more sparsely armed boy might find himself in mortal danger from a field of rabid flowers.


    I yelped and dropped my crossbow, grabbing the flower by its thick stem. Luckly, it hadnt bitten directly onto my hand - my bracer was keeping its jaws open, even though some of the teeth had sunk into my exposed hand.


    Its mouth was red, its teeth bloody as it held onto me with the bite force of a pitbull. The movements of its body were bursts of ravenous speed interspersed with lifeless stillness, clearly hinting at an ambush predator. But like a snake, Id grabbed it too high on the neck to give it an angle to bite me somewhere more vulnerable. I hoped.


    Vines wrapped around my wrist, threatening to ovee my own strength.


    I fought back the panic. It was bing increasingly hard to hold on to, but it had no interest in getting away. Maybe I could use that mindless ferocity against it.


    Thinking fast, I let go of the stem while simultaneously dropping my dagger out of the hand the monster was gripping onto. Snatching the dagger out of the air with my free hand, I thrust it straight into the monsters mouth.


    Just as I had anticipated, it didnt try to retreat, instead trying to double down on its viselike grip. I could only hope my armor held. With painstaking finesse, I quickly twisted the de further into the creatures mouth, trying to avoid cutting my own hand. Thrusting the tip edge back and forth, I desperately aimed for whatever primordial lump this thing might have for a brain.


    It began to panic, vines unraveling from my arm and sinking into the ground instead and pulling me with surprising strength. But I was making progress now. There was no way I was letting a freaking flower kill me.


    There was a tearing sensation of the de cut through a barrier into something softer. The flower dropped instantly, finally releasing my bloody hand.


    Shaking all over, I counted twice to make sure I still had all my fingers.


    The clearing had taken on a more sinister feel now, previous serenity all but forgotten. Every patch of high grass was a suspect, every swath of shadow hid a potential threat. I quickly picked my crossbow up and back away from the dead Snakebloom? Flowerfang? I needed toe up with a better name.


    <em>Meeeeeeat.</em> Inhuman voices hissed, their intent obvious. Mostly satisfied that there was nothing in my immediate vicinity that would ambush me, I spotted more of the flowerfangs parting the tall grass as they ambled towards me There was about a dozen of them grouped together. I caught a glimpse of a mess of entwined vines at their base, green tendrils sinking into the earth before the next could move forward.


    <em>Theyre strong and quick to strike, but dumb and slow. Slightly slower than human walking speed. But the vines give them range, have to be careful of their reach. And if just ches onto me and pulls me into that group, Im finished. My biggest advantage is how dumb they are. If they had kept quiet and waited for me to walk into a patch of them</em>


    If not for the armor I purchased, I might be bleeding out now or maybe even have lost my hand. I nced down at the wound in irritation, noting that it was still bleeding. My armor had given me some coverage, but it left my entire hand unprotected, leaving half an oval-shaped imprint of torn skin. On the plus side, the bracer was a little scuffed but still looked fully functional.


    There was a pained whisper from close by. I hopped away quickly, heart racing, and nced down.


    The fucking flowerfang was still alive, and slowly squirmed towards me while I was distracted. A single vine tried to snake out to grab me, but it was sluggish and uncoordinated. I didnt have long, but this was an opportunity.


    I grabbed a convenient branch from the ground and pinned its head down, making sure it wasnt able to wriggle free before getting a secure grip. I held it up from directly behind the base of the flower head so it couldnt bite me.


    <strong></strong> effect kicked in. It seemed to only work when I was concentrating directly on a target, and I had been pretty distracted while being gnawed on before. Thest time Id used it sessfully, on Wife-beater guy, all I was able to see was vital organs in red and weak points in yellow. This was different. More detailed. Maybe because I was closer? There was a shade of blue around the entire mouth and seed area of the head that probably indicated armor. The petals around its head turned light orange, and I noted a dark red where its stalk thickened into a bulbous assembly of vines.


    <em>I think I found the root of the problem.</em>


    I reversed my grip on the dagger and plunged it into the flowerfangs base. The flowerfang made a brief wailing noise and went totally limp. Most of its petals wilted and shed, only a few remaining, leaving spindly brown beneath. Its head twisted unnaturally to face the sun, then went still.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong><em>You have no idea what you are doing here. Youll never make it.</em></strong>


    I had to shut down the system feed. My nerves were spiking with the information overload, not to mention <strong></strong> wasnt helping at all. Plus, I had almost overlooked the obvious - a dumb monster had tricked me into thinking it was dead when I should have realized I didnt get a system message for killing it the first time.


    There were plenty of questions to be askedter. Questions like why was I receiving simple skill notifications now? Why had the skill started at level 3 instead of 1? And what was that penalty about?


    But they were questions for a time when I wasnt in a hostile environment, potentially surrounded by things trying to eat me while I was on the brink of a freakout.


    I surveyed the oing group. They were still tied together, but now I knew where their weak points were.


    A n starteding together in my mind. I was still afraid. But there was a vicious excitement that deafened the fear. So many things in my life felt insurmountable. There were challenges with no ends, battles with no rewards. But this was achievable. And there was a reward as tangible as it was intoxicating.


    I was so absorbed in the feeling that the idea of stepping back onto the elevator and retreating never even urred to me.


    I unholstered my crossbow and sighted down at the nearest flowerfang, trying to judge the trajectory. My first shot missed and the crossbow whirred, self-cocking.


    My next shotnded in the mess of slithering vines, not hurting anything and disappearing all together. I wouldnt be getting that bolt back. This was not a deadly weapon, at least not in my hands.


    The crossbow was a challenge to shoot with its terrible sights and heavy trigger bar. This was vastly different from the handgun my father trained me to use. It was whisper quiet though, making only a dull <em>twang </em>when it fired.


    It took a couple more tries of experimenting before a bolt finally hit the intended target. The metal tip ricocheted off a flowerfangs tough armored face. Disappointing, but Id suspected as much. The crossbow and bolts were both only Common rarity items.


    The flowerfangs grew more agitated as they drew closer, their nt-like bodies quivering with anticipation, teeth gnashing and vines grasping at the air before them.


    <em>Fine.</em> I smiled. I need them to get closer anyway<em>.</em>


    Loading another bolt, I stood my ground as the mob shambled closer and closer. I figured the optimal range for this thing was 10, probably even less. I would be cutting this close.


    Just seconds before they were close enough to grab me, I fired a shot at the base of the lead flowerfang and danced away. A vineshed out, thorns whizzing by my face as I ducked under it instinctually. I nearly stumbled, surprised by my reaction time. I felt lighter on my feet, too.


    <em>Agility was a good call. Better make the most of it and get in position.</em>


    <strong></strong>


    My risk had paid off, the bolt easily piercing through the soft root bulb from about six feet away and striking the monsters vitals. Still, that was cutting it too close to keep trying the same tactic again. Also, weird that it used my name for the monster. Was I the first to face one or did the system just go with what was easy for quickmunications?


    I moved around the bouquet of flowerfangs(), giving them a wide berth as I retreated toward the end of the clearing fenced in by tall trees. I needed some space to think. There was a small voice in my head, chiding me for not testing my abilities and gear more before I was in a life or death scenario, but this was in some ways the ideal situation to explore it. I was up against monsters that were slow and only dangerous if I was foolish enough to let them get close.


    Was that part of the test for this level of the dungeon? Seeing if I was dumb enough to charge into what looked like a bunch of weak and harmless opponents like some human weedwhacker. It did make a sort of sense, if the dungeon could detect that my best weapon was <strong></strong> at Umon rarity.


    I shuddered, mping down hard on a panic attack. They would have torn me to pieces.


    Okay sure, I could have experimented more with Probability Spiral outside the dungeon, but ying around with an ability that seemed to innately make things go wrong on random strangers who were on edge with the events of the past week struck me as a terrible idea.


    Then I noticed something. The monstrous bouquet of flowerfangs seemed to be moving slightly slower now. The one I had killed was still being dragged along with the rest of the group, tangled up in themunal root system and weighing them down.


    <em>A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I needed to kill more links.</em>


    Studying the group, I noticed that one of them seemed like a good choice for another experiment. Slightly smaller than the others and particrly vicious, it snapped randomly at the two neighbors at either side as they slithered towards me.


    <em>Probability Spiral.</em> I held out my hand and called the ability, aiming for the problem flowerfangs movement vines. Some failed to pierce earth, getting tangled up with the neighbors roots on the left instead, causing both flowerfangs to stumble into each other. The problem flowerfang hissed angrily with scrabbling noises.


    Quickly, I used Probability Spiral again, barely feeling any fatigue thanks to mytest feat. This time, I aimed for the flowerfang to the right of the problem one, causing its roots to tangle as well and further joining the three of them together.


    That was all it took, the problem flowerfang in the middle going berserk. Itshed out, first at the flowerfang on the left and then at the right, biting chunks of petals and green vines off. Both flowerfangs obliged by turning on the middle one and literally tearing it to pieces. However, the little guy had some real fight in him,tching onto the root bulb of the one closest to the pack and chomping down before it was beheaded.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The one that was left was wounded, but free from the group now that it had ripped the fiesty one to pieces. It rushed toward me, much faster now that it wasnt bound to the others. I gave it a savage grin, and said the one word I knew it would understand.


    Meat.


    It screeched like a banshee as I lured it in, its damaged vines scrambling for purchase on the ground. Predictably, it came at me in a straight line, no attempt at dodging. When it was close enough for me to be sure, I fired my bolt directly in the root bulb centermass. It shrieked onest time before doing the whole death deflowering thing.


    <strong></strong>


    I turned back to the bouquet of flowerfangs, which was moving even slower now with three tangled up corpses mixed in. Only faintly fatigued from the back-to-back use of Probability Spiral, I felt confident that I could now shoot at the group with impunity. My aim and familiarity with the crossbow had improved and with each death the whole group of monsters would move slower and slower.


    Jog within range, use Probability Spiral to tie it up for a moment, shoot the root bulb. One by one, I slew them all using the same tactic. I was a little concerned by how easy it was for me now, maybe even fun. A small part of me still rejected this whole situation as a hallucination, but that voice was easily overwhelmed by the piercing death squeals of dying flowerfangs and kill notifications.


    The central flowerfang was actually the hardest, as I could barely see its root bulb through all the other tangled corpses. It took several shots and I was down to myst couple of bolts before I finally managed to kill it, green juices spurting out on the ground.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    A sense of aplishment washed over me as I copsed in the clearing, using a small incline of grass as a pillow. Even the headache from the Perception increase couldnt dampen my mood. It elevated further when I finally read the message feed Id been ignoring, especially thest part.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14


    <strong></strong>


    A massive wall of text scrolled vertically.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>A. GO OUTSIDE AND SLIT HIS THROAT</strong>


    <strong>B. SHOOT HIM FROM INSIDE THE KITCHEN</strong>


    On the surface, it was a question of range. Would I rather be up close to an attacker or far away? Superficially, the answer was B, far away.


    <em>But the question is wed. Window. Kitchen. It specifically calls to mind a domestic setting. </em>My LSAT knowledge tickled.<em> Assuming the question is tailored to me, specifically, this is a stand-your-ground state. Option A isn''t going to flyThere''s Greystone Garcia v. Florida, but that shit was borderline and the wording is questionable. Option B is justified under both stand-your-ground and most Castle Doctrinews, but looking outside the letter of thew, this is happeningte at night, with presumably no witnesses. It would be hard to prove the lethal force was justified. </em>


    Or, it was just a superficial question about range. But the system had a history of asking nasty questions that were anything but surface level.


    Gonna go with Option C. Call the cops, I murmured to myself. Not that they would actually do anything, but it would at least establish a paper trail and context forter decisions.


    <strong></strong>


    The option appeared as if it had always been there.


    <strong></strong>


    Before I could channel my angry sputtering about bad proctoring into more colorful epithets, more system text began to scroll.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I stared at the ability in silent horror. From the beginning, myrgest issue with the Ordinator ss was its total absence of any direct damage. Daphne could smash my face into the ground. Wife-beater guy could burn me to death with acid birds.


    And now, I could kindly ask them to stop.


    The cushioning grass weed me as Iid down slowly, the system screen following as I fought the urge to punch something. Even if it was somethingpletely overpowered like direct mind controlwhich I highly doubted, considering the namethe skill had the same subscript as Probability Spiral, a little number 1 at the bottom right. Meaning it was single target. So if I was attacked by the group, I could kindly ask <em>one</em> of them to go easy, while the rest curb-stomped me into the ground.


    And naturally, the system wasnt going to give me any more information if I focused


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Option C.</em> My eyes widened. It was like opening a present that hinted at a muchrger present toe. I tore through my various screens until I found what I was looking for.


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    I spent the better part of an hour trying to separate out the flowerfang corpses. I had really done a number on their roots, they were thoroughly tangled. In the end, I just started cutting them apart, getting covered with green goo up to my elbows. I identally got some in my mouth, which tasted like burning.


    My goal? To collect everything valuable I could get my hands on, of course.


    Unfortunately, they didnt seem to have anything decent. At least, not that I could decipher - I wasnt an alchemist that could use their blood to make healing potions or grind their petals into a lethal poison. Biology had never been my subject anyway. As far as I could tell, they were just dead nts. And kind of gross.


    Then I cut open a root bulb, expecting to find nothing but fibrous flesh and green sap. I was so absorbed in my task, I didnt even notice it at first. A system message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Holy shit. Is this monster amphetamine? Because it sounds like monster amphetamine. </em>


    Excited, I repeated the process for the rest of the flowerfangs, collecting 12 more Greenbulb Crystals. Thest one I killed and thergest yielded even more surprises.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Well, this was unexpected and potentially life changing. It seemed like this would summon a monster of my own, but was I ready for the responsibility?


    <em>Mom would just love to gloat how she had never been a single, teenage parent.</em>


    My looting frenzy nearly over, I couldnt help myself and gathered some of the longer, undamaged vines. They had dried out after the monsters died, but were still very pliable and tough to cut. You never know, they coulde in handy for climbing or securing prisoners with. I was able to recover 15 of my bolts, with a few having broken and the others lost in the grass.


    The final item was actually the first, which I had ignored after killing the flowerfang that had bit me. I found it in my system inventory grid while storing everything else, which was amazing but quickly bing filled.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    So now it was onto the question of my level up points and build. I had been ying it safe by spreading my points around, but maybe I should start focusing on something else.


    <em>The hand in the shadows, huh?</em>


    I definitely liked the idea of staying in the background with Suggestion and having others fight for me. This might also help when it came to keeping other Users from thinking I was one of them. Then again, the ranged maniptor role has been working pretty good so far. Once I got the hang of it, I had ughtered those flowerfangs.


    <em>If it aint broke, dont fix it?</em>


    Regardless, I needed to see what I had to work with. I pulled up my character sheet and tweaked some of the settings more to my liking.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Level: 5</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 5</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 7</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 13</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 6</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I.</strong>


    <strong>Skills:</strong><strong>Probability Spiral, LVL 6. Suggestion, LVL 1. One-handed, LVL 4</strong>


    <strong>Stat Points Avable: 6. Feat points avable: 4.</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 352 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <>


    Six points to work with, I could really change the way I was going about encounters. Of course<strong>, </strong>raising Intelligence was just as critical as before and remained a focus, as both of my abilities keyed into it. Wording to an otherwise vague tool-tipallowed better control over my summons. I guessed Companionship might factor somehow, but wasnt willing to risk precious skill-points over a hunch. Best to y it safe until I had more information. I ced two points in Intelligence, three in Will, and one in Agility. I was torn on where to put thest point, but Agility was invaluable when it came to directbat.


    There were no Ordinator perks avable that had anything to do with summons. I picked two generic feats instead. It was easier now that I had an idea what I was building towards.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I couldnt find anything that affected directly, so both selections were almost automatic. Stealth was paramount for both sneak-attacks and getting an early read on a situation. Not to mention running away unseen. Id gotten lucky that the flowerfangs were slow and weak to my tactics. And I knew better than to rely on my luck. If I was being honest, there might have been better choices, but not sticking out and being able to blend into the crowd was second nature to me, so this was a perfect fit.


    Awareness wasWell. Lets just be honest. It was copyright-friendly Spidey-Sense. And who in their right mind would turn down Spidey-Sense? My only concern reading the description was the off-chance that it might, in a spat of system fuckery, open a literal third-eye on my forehead.


    I did onestp around the meadow to confirm the perimeter was secure in case I passed out, picking up another stray bolt I had missed, and hit the confirm button.


    My vision blurred as my body and mind changed as one. The pain was expected, but it still hit me like a truck. It had hurt before, but this was on another level. It felt like I was melting from the inside out. My throat went raw from screaming as I passed out.


    When I regained consciousness a few minutester, I immediately felt restored. In fact, I felt ten times better than before. Despite the memory of horrendous pain, a warm trickling sense of aplishment flooded my veins. The giddy feeling only grew stronger as I realized my perspective had radically shifted. The scent of the in flowerfangs held notes of pungent cedar, now impossible to ignore. I could see them without turning my head, far back and to my left, at an angle so sharp it should have been impossible. What should have been incredibly disorientating feltpletely natural instead.


    I had unlocked the side-eye to end all side-eyes.


    I did this. Me. I overcame an obstacle and <em>earned</em> this. And it was only going to get better. More levels. More power. More rewards


    <em>Wake the fuck up. This is textbook operant conditioning. Youre a rat in the Skinner Box. And Skinner, in this case, is kind of an asshole.</em> Jaded Eyes grating inner-voice cut through my fugue. The feeling was so strong I almost dismissed the warning before I realized how right it was.


    An image of Daphne driving her fist into the bountys face over and over popped into my mind like a bucket of cold water sshing over my head.


    Even before we fell out, back when we still yed games, she wasnt the greatest friend. Shed always been quick to screw me over a piece of loot, orugh when I failed.


    But she was never a monster.


    The easiest exnation at the time was that shed gone insane, like the rest of the city. But what if the difference between me and her came down to how she started? I was generally conflict avoidant, and Id already harmed two people. If shed had a more tumultuous start that ended in a body-count, and the result was this feeling of euphoria and aplishment? And she kept chasing it, surrounded by people doing the same thing?


    It was grasping at straws, but the fact remained that she was definitely not the same person I remembered. Also, I know I had changed some as well, especially after facing the flowerfangs, but I was nothing like her. At least, thats what I told myself.


    At any rate, disregarding the system entirely would be foolish. Impossible, actually. It had always felt shady, no reason to believe otherwise. I needed to be careful, use Daphne as a cautionary tale of what could happen if I sunk too deeply into my role as a User.


    There needed to be rules, a regimen. A basic first tenant was that jumping more than one level was a no-fly zone unless absolutely necessary. And I had to be on the lookout for other ways the system tried to affect my judgment.


    <em>Eat the cheese. Just keep asking whos feeding you.</em>


    I consumed the monster core and braced myself. I really hoped this wouldnt hurt.

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15


    Summoning was a bitch and a half.


    Imagine reaching up, grabbing a fistful of hair, then pulling away from yourself slowly, <em>deliberately</em>, every singr pinprick of detaching follicles popping out a reminder of what you were doing. Now imagine that feeling over your entire body. Little bits of yourself tearing away to create something entirely new.


    Well, almost entirely new.


    By the time it was done, I was a sweat-covered, heaving mess, only partially able to remember why Id thought putting myself through this was worth doing. And as far as I could tell, the process failed. There was nothing but me and the empty clearing.


    I pulled the neck of my hoodie up to wipe the still flowing sheet of sweat from my forehead. It might be time to call this particr venture. I hadnt exactlye away with the Master Sword, but Id found some supposedly valuable alchemicalponents and nearly doubled my level.


    When I let my now soaked cor drop from my eyes, I found a spiky hazel face staring back at me.


    Meat?


    Jesus Christ! I fell back on my hands, scrambling away.


    What the actual fuck, Awareness?


    This flower was taller than the others by about a foot, its facerger and more perfectly circr. Its vines were a muted green. But the most significant difference was the dark violet petals that tapered from nearly ck to violet. It dipped away from me with a hiss, its posture and expression a mix of confusion and fear.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    That was interesting. Possibly why it had escaped notice in the first ce. In my experience, summoner sses werent the most exciting to y in RPGs. Either the pets did next to nothing, requiring the summoner to dual-spec to achieve any real damage, or they did all the damageoften while you yed something else on your phone. The difference here seemed to be that its stats would reflect my own. Though I wasnt certain how intelligent I wanted a flower with a taste for human flesh to be.


    I nced up from the system text to watch my summon. It had wandered a small distance away and was poking at one of the fallen flowers with an errant vine. I kept my distance, taking an indirect path for a better look.


    The flower was bent over, its face scrunched in concentration. It grabbed one of the smaller flowers and shook it gently, then harder.


    <em>Not very useful, if it cant tell the difference between a live enemy and a dead one.</em>


    I bent down to get a better look. Immediately, vines dragged the fallen flower away from me. My summon hissed aggressively.


    This was a problem if it was going to be territorial.


    Then it spoke. Not meat.


    Oh. <em>Oh.</em>


    Not meat. I repeated, trying to convey that I understood.


    Sensing it had my attention, it tried to speak again. S-uh. Se-uh-see


    I recognized the issue immediately. S, sounds are painstakingly difficult for those unustomed to using them. My sister struggled with them endlessly. But I also knew from personal experience how infuriating it was to have someone fill in the nks from a stutter. It was better to let someone work it out for themselves. Still, if this enhanced speech was new, it might not even know how.


    I kept my voice low and calm, enunciating clearly. Focus on the words. Picture how theyre shaped. Say them lightly.


    The flower didnt acknowledge my words, its face still a mask of concentration. I was considering how to break down what Id just said into something more simple when it spoke.


    Seed mate.


    That was unfortunate. It was heavily implied, based on context alone, but I still found myself disappointed. The summons memories werent wiped. It likely still remembered the battle, and how Id killed its friends.


    Are you going to try to kill me? I asked, not expecting to get a straight answer.


    Cant. The flower drooped a bit at the admission.


    Cant or wont?


    The warning came like a taser to my neurons, screaming for me to move. I darted back, just as a thorned vine struck out towards me. It extended out further, however, keeping me easily in range. I mentally prepared myself for the impact. But it never came. The appendage bounced off an invisible forcefield, bouncing helplessly away.


    Cant, The flower reiterated, sounding almost depressed.


    I considered. It wasnt as if I owed this creature anything, by any reasonable margin. Theyd struck first and suffered the consequences for it. And the best way to manipte someone with a simple mind was to elevate their ego. I could tell the creature that it had been chosen, and its increase in power was a gift bestowed on it for being worthy. Suggestion was a tool in my portfolio for exactly this purpose. But as I watched it, still lightly shaking itspanion as if they might wake up at any moment, the idea of manipting something so simple felt cruel.


    Straightforward it was, then. Do you have a name?


    The flower perked up at that. Want.


    You dont have one, but want one?


    In a very human motion, the flower nodded.


    That was good. A simple motivator, easy to follow through on.


    I spoke slowly, Something bigger than youbigger than meced you here for someone like me to kill.


    Big meat? The flower asked.


    Big meat. I confirmed. It was close enough. No way was I going to try to exin the concept of a system to a Helianthus.


    Why?


    I dont know, I said. But Im going to find out. So, you have options. You can rest with the others if you like. Ore with me, and learn the answer to your question.


    This was only partially a lie.


    I had no intention of throwing away my only summon. I was about to push further into the dungeon, after all. It was pragmatism. I had to use what I had, and falling back on keening morality in the midst of this situation was foolishness.


    But there was something distinctly unptable about the idea of enving a creature intelligent enough to speak and forcing it to do my bidding. That was a dodgy proposition on any metric, moral or otherwise. If it refused, Id make ample use of Suggestion for the remainder of my venture, then release it on this floor on my way out. No matter how useful it was.


    There had to be lines. Even for me. Perhaps especially for me.


    The flower seemed toe to a decision. Want to see big meat. It was both the creatures longest sentence and its most definitive.


    I smiled and reached out towards it. d to hear it.


    <strong></strong>


    Soft petals tickled my palm as It leaned into my touch, the same way a domesticated animal might. I rifled through my inventory and withdrew a bag stuffed with jerky, intending to feed my new acquisition.


    Something snapped the bag out of my hands before I could react.


    Vines coiled around the bag, the flowers sharp teeth shing as it tore through the stic and disemboweled the container in graphic detail.


    I tried not to think about the fact that something simr could have easily been my fate.


    <em>Probably best to keep you, far, far away from Iris and Ellison.</em>


    Happy with the oue, I crossed the meadow, returning to the elevator.


    <strong></strong>


    Of course it has.


    My summon followed into the iron cage of the elevator. It struggled with the changing terrain but adapted quickly, its vines forming supporting loops. The doors shut behind us.


    It stared up at me expectantly.  Name?


    Oh, right. I considered the question. Flowers were hermaphroditic, but its voice read as vaguely female. Then I considered the rest of it. A carnivorous nt that would grow in both power and size, with an unnatural fixation on meat?


    There was only one answer.


    Your name is Audrey.


    Audrey bobbed back and forth in delight as the elevator began to move, rising further into the abyss above.

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16


    The word, dungeon, has changed in meaning over time. It can be used pejoratively to refer to any underground facility, or ausuallywindowless apartment that is particrly drab. It connotes something different for those of us in the gaming sphere, tranting roughly to, A dangerous ce where Ill get an excessive amount of dopamine. Coincidentally, it means pretty much the same thing for our distant dopamine-seeking neighbors in the alt-romance orbit, but thats beside the point.


    Every modern definition interpretation of a dungeoncks one important, singr detail. A dungeon, in its original definition, is a cell.


    And youre not supposed to get out.


    A feeling of wrongness began to burrow deep in my gut not long after I stepped on the elevator. I had decided to go back to the lobbya space I knew to be at least semi-safe. Work with my summon in a safe environment to get an idea of what she was capable of.


    Without the press of a button, the chain rattled, and we began to rise. If given the option. My strange, violet flowerpanion was still dancing to soundless music, celebrating her new name.


    We were going to have to do this fast. I had been jumped, almost immediately, on thest floor.


    Audrey.


    I am Audrey. She froze mid-dance, as if caught doing something wrong.


    I need you to stay close to me. Dont attack anything until I give you a signal. I said quickly. The doors could open at any moment.


    Attack dont attack? Audrey asked.


    Damn, I didnt factor for how difficult it would be to discuss tactics. There were two options, neither of them ideal. I instinctively felt like I could banish her, if need be. I had an undue amount of confidence I could bring her back as she was, either something from my raised intelligence or innate ss knowledge of the skill itself.


    <em>Or, use the skill.</em>


    <strong></strong> was far easier to use than my first ability. It wasnt quite reflexive, I still had to focus exclusively on my summon. Thoughts became pictures easily, and began to transmit. I sent Audrey a series of images. The first of which was Audrey herself running head long into a camp full of goblins that surrounded her easily. It was possible to attach a feeling to these images, so I did, tagging it with a negative impression.


    Then I sent her a series of positive images. The first was her, at my side as I crouched in the grass, hunting a dragon. Another series of images of us hunting faceless enemies one by one, separating them from a main group. I gave her several possible avenues of attack. From above, below, basic ambushing tactics as her movement speedwhile quicker than her less evolved cousinswas still likely to be slower than a moderately quick biped.


    There was a sh of irritation and rejection sent back to me. <em>Impatience, Hunger.</em>


    <em>She wont understand, dammit.</em> The first tendrils of a panic attack dug quivering fingertips into the back of my neck. I swapped out <strong></strong> for <strong></strong> immediately, and the panic faded. It was less than ideal to lose the Titles inherent trap spotting ability before even seeing the new floor, but none of that mattered if I lost my shit now. A wave of calm washed over me.


    <em>Think it through. You have tools. Communicate simply and sinctly.</em>


    I took a deep breath, considering what would work best, then sent two quick images.


    In the first, Audrey was feasting on a single goblin, about to be clubbed by another goblin from behind.


    In the second, there was a pile of goblin bodies stacked high. Audrey sat at the top of the pile and gorged herself. I tagged it with a feeling of patience, mingled with satisfaction, hoping the message was clear.


    By the end of it, my head spun, and I was dizzy and lightheaded.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It continued like that until the skill reached level 5.


    All meat? Audrey asked. There was a note of wonder in her voice.


    Yes. I said. Then, after a moment. If its not a human or made of valuable materials. Check with me first. But you can have my share of anything we kill.


    Audrey made a cooing noise.


    I stepped closer to the edge of our moving cage, peering down into the infinite darkness until I saw a flicker of white below. The oil covered woman was no longer visible, but I could still make out the oversized albino wolf that had taken up his entire cage. It was like watching a distant star, until it finally winked out.


    We ascended higher still.


    Unease grew in my gut. The clock on my burner said that a few hours had passed since I first entered the dungeon, but it felt like far less time. It was possibly a shift in my perceptions, or maybe time worked differently here.


    The doors opened to darkness. My eyes were already adjusted, so the blood-red moon peeking over a long row of battlements on the cavernous open ceiling was almost blinding. The UP button on the elevator slowly faded to nothing. Id hoped that the feeling in my gut was nothing more than <strong></strong> making a difficult situation worse. But no. The title had been trying to warn me that there was a trap, even if that warning hade toote.


    Something brushed up against my leg as I stepped out, and I almost shouted. Audrey heeled at my side, her dark face panning from side to side, as attentive as a Labrador. I gave her a pat of appreciation and looked around.


    There was no stray enemy waiting to ambush me this time. Only fresh bodies, styled to look like ssical adventurers. I checked the pulses of each, two men and a woman, and found none.


    Our surroundings were a hollowed-out ruin of stone brick that ran up dizzyingly high walls until they reached incremented buttresses at the top, many of which were crumbled and decayed. They cast the shadows of a gap-toothed, under-bitten smile.


    The low keening wail of a siren echoed off the walls, rising in pitch and increasing in number until there were a dozen hungry repetitions, shrieking upwards.


    I was barraged with a series of images. Bipedal, mangy beasts that looked more hyena than dog tearing into the Sunflowers on the previous floor. <em>Gnolls.</em> A view partially obscured from beneath ayer of dirt as the gnolls tore apart three different pairs of conjoined flowers.


    <em>Fear. Hate.</em>


    I stumbled away from Audrey, swiping through my menus, one mental pause away from dismissing her. The flower stared back at me, shivering.


    <em>You inherited </em><strong><em></em></strong>


    Not only that, but shed used it almost exactly the way I had. Shed <em>learned</em> from me, without me having to exin anything. Another round of howls went up, sending goose flesh down my arms. Whatever I decided to do, it needed to be done in seconds.


    <em>Safest option short-term is to dismiss her. This is a dangerous situation and anything that fucks with my mind is an absolute no-go. On second thought, she used it on me exactly the way I used it on her. More tomunicate than to manipte. More importantly, I didnt get any bleed from the emotions she attached. I knew they were there, but they didnt affect me. Im scared, but not angry whatsoever.</em>


    It was a seriouspotentially crippling issue if I ever acquired a summon more intelligent than me. But Audrey only received a fraction of my points. I looked away from the dismissal prompt to find that the flower in question was gone. Another mental image came to me of a lone gnoll, relieving itself in the corner of the remains of a ruined tower.


    <em>Anticipation. Excitement.</em>


    I darted in the direction of the prompt, a dozen yards before me. It was a good catch. He was out of sight in a shadowy area, difficult to see even with my expanded vision. If Id simply moved towards the howls, I might have missed him. Audrey had done well to check the perimeter. But if she struck without me, wed be up to our necks in seconds.


    Moving as silently as I could, I unsheathed my knife, rounded the corner and saw the gnoll. The creature was beastly, only around a head shorter than me, and thinly furred. Patches of pink skin bared by mange were clearly visible throughout its light-orange pelt, and its thick und feet resembled the paws of a bear. A short, dius style de bnced against a nearby wall, point down.


    <em>Where is she?</em>


    I saw her, clinging to a crack in the ceiling, poised above the gnoll. A strand of saliva hung from her mouth. I was about to call her back to me when the gnoll started to turn around. His organs were still highlighted from my daggers effect.


    <em>Simr vitals to humans.</em>


    <em>No others nearby.</em>


    <em>Unarmed target.</em>


    <em>No retreat up the elevator.</em>


    <em>Could easily alert the others.</em>


    I sent a single mental prompt to Audrey.


    <em>Take him.</em>


    And rushed forward with my knife.

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17


    Audrey dropped from the ceiling like a woodsmans trap, vines snaring the gnolls neck. The beast let out a muted yelp as the thorns in her tightening vines dug in and my summon bit into the side of his head, her teeth too shallow to reach anything vital.


    But Audreys vines didnt tighten fast enough, and I saw him turn his head, trying to bark out a panicked warning.


    <strong></strong> red in my mind as I ran towards him, firing off an image of thorny vines shoving their way into his mouth the moment he opened it, imbuing as much fear and panic into the image as I could muster.


    The gnolls eyes widened, and his mouth snapped shut. He strained to reach the sword leaning against the wall first, but the vine snapped him back. A grunt emitted from his still closed mouth.


    There was an overwhelming stench of piss and liquor as I passed a dozen discarded bottles.


    He held out his furred, three-fingered hands defensively as I closed ground.


    <em>Whats the target? Need to kill him quickly, quietly. Hearts too iffy. Audreys vines are covering his neck. </em>


    I reached him, letting my momentum carry me forward as I drove the dagger towards his chest below the rib-cage and upward. I knew from the brief glimpse at his anatomy from <strong></strong> that he was vaguely human-esque, so I was hoping to tear through something simr to a diaphragm, damaging his ability to call for help.


    He caught my arms in a vice-grip, wrenching from side-to-side, trying to get the knife. My wrists burned in agony as I held tight and, with a burst of strength, the gnoll flung me into the side-wall. I tucked my head, absorbing most of the impact with my shoulder, my left arm immediately going numb.


    A warning pinged through my mind, and I bent backward at the torso as a monstrously strong blow smashed into the stone where my head had been only moments ago.


    I grabbed his leg under one arm and stabbed downward at his thigh twice, leaving deep gouges, aiming for the gnoll equivalent of a femoral artery. He snarled in pain, rearing up, using his trapped leg and the vines around his neck as leverage, and mmed the heel of his other foot into my stomach, dislodging Audrey from the roof and knocking us away from each other in the process.


    A single thought went through my stunned mind as I slid to the floor. <em>If theyre all this tough, this doesnt bode well.</em>


    With the vines anchoring her to the roof freed up, Audrey doubled down, wrapping moreyers around the gnolls neck andpressing. He was t on his stomach now, army-crawling towards the sword, his eyes bulging monstrously. He was only a few seconds away from his goal.


    With the wind knocked out of me, it took an enormous amount of effort to retrieve the crossbow out of my inventory. Praying it wouldnt backfire, I cast probability spiral on my bow and shot a bolt point-nk into his side. The arrow struck at an odd angle and hit something with a dull crack. He let out a gurgling sound andid still.


    Then started to move again.


    I scrambled to take another shot with my crossbow, but the grip slipped out of my fingers, falling ineffectually to the ground. <em>Shit. Shit. Shit. </em>I didnt have time for this. His meaty hand was inches from the sword.


    I reached out with Probability Spiral, and just as he was about to close his fingers on the de, the hilt slipped down the wall and the weapon tumbled out of his reach.


    The gnoll punched the ground in frustration, trying to stand.


    At the end of my rope, I forced my way through his mental defenses once more.


    Iyered intrusive thought after intrusive thought, until I found one that had a strong reaction.


    <em>Youre trying so hard. Wouldnt it be easier to just give up?</em>


    I felt his mind reject the notion a bit too emphatically. A desire to live, to protect the pack, to lead.


    To lead?


    It was a struggle to keep the connection open, but I managed it somehow. <em>Youre a leader, and yet, youre alone. No one is covering your back. Its because you dont trust them. Even now, as youre fighting for your life, theyre probably nning how to overthrow you and take your ce. None of them are loyal. None of them care.</em>


    It was less of a cold read, more of a frigid stab in the dark. I was extrapting a lot from the positioning and the fact that he had strayed far from the camp to relieve himself, along with a smattering of knowledge of how brutal real-world hyenas were. Still, he stopped moving towards the sword, shaking his head.


    Audrey coiled tighter around his neck.


    <em>That wound on your leg isnt going to tend itself. What do you think happens when you return to the n, wounded and bleeding?</em>


    He turned around unsteadily and took a single step towards me, his yellowed teeth barred.


    Then, like a rotted tree, he tilted forward, hitting the stone ground muzzle first, head tilted to the side, one sightless eye staring towards me.


    It took a long time to catch my breath.


    /////


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I wondered how far above me he was to warrant that sort of reward. In the process, I had to remind myself that the system not caring if I died was not the same as actively trying to kill me. Slowly, the panic faded. This was an adaptive dungeon. And while some parts of it simply leveled as the User did, it was in many ways tailored to me.


    Theoretically, I could do this.


    And it probably locked me in here because it wanted me to finish the floor. I wasnt confident why that was what it wanted, but it was the best I coulde up with. Because if the elevator was avable, I might have left.


    The fight with the gnoll had disturbed me. Something made it different from the encounters on the previous floor. Maybe it was because he had far more physicalmonality with a human than a hungry, vine ridden nt did. Or because I saw glimpses of his mind that werent exactly alien. Or possibly just because after the fight, I was beginning to form a rudimentary grasp on the design of my ss, and realized it held implications I didnt like.


    If the option to leave was avable, Id be seriously considering it. I needed to think. Retreat, sell the shit I didnt need, find a cleaner, less dangerous way to level and perhaps, eventuallye back. The dungeon would adapt to my level, but having more options and abilities would still make this rtively easier.


    The cackle of gnolls were still lounging around the campfire. Id positioned myself on the second level of the ruined defensive wall and observed them from above. There was a human hostage tied with rope next to a bubbling cauldron. A man with short-cropped dark hair stuck to his forehead, and an overly pronounced nose. It was such an obvious set-up, I couldnt help but roll my eyes. Unless the leaderboard was directly lyingnot impossible, but unlikelyI was the only human to ever set foot in the dungeon. It was either incentive to get me to rush in, or some other y I hadnt thought of.


    Two of the stronger looking gnolls were sparing a few feet away from the fire. A third in a headdress oversaw them, waving an over-sizedand not particrly practicalceremonial staff.


    I watched the sparring. Despite their savage appearance, the fighting was not all tooth and w. The bouts seemed to devolve towards that from time to time, but when they did, Headdress would scold them in a series of guttural barks, and theyd return to the more structuredbat. It was simr to Judo, focused initially on turning the opponents weight against them. Where it differed from Judo was the brutal, no-holds-barred follow-up when the opponent was finally unbnced.


    It was chilling to watch.


    If the gnoll that I killed was the pack-leader, hed likely held the same level of martial prowess, if not more. If I hadnt gotten the drop on himor attacked as aggressively as I had with Audrey there to knock him off bnce the entire time, that would have been it for me.


    Maybe it was my title, or the sheer number of near-death experiences Id been throughtely, but that idea didnt shake me the way it once had. Instead, I saw it as little more than a problem to be solved.


    One-handed was leveling at a decent rate, but it wasnt turning into martial prowess. I was just morefortable using a knife than I had been before. But I needed something more. Without even looking at the stats, I went straight to the feats screen. Now that the system let me read more of the descriptions, there was really no excuse to not get creative.


    And after some searching, I found the solution.

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Level: 6</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 10</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 15</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 9</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 7. Suggestion, LVL 5. One-handed, LVL 4</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Omnivorous Flower Hybrid. Bond LVL 2</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 352 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    There was no headache this time, but the dopamine hit wasnt enough to mute the clear ache that covered my entire body.


    Whatever the end-stage of Ordinator was meant to be, the ss was clearly a slow burn. Id been biding my time, spreading out stats, hoping to get a better idea of what I was building toward before I reallymitted in any single area.


    Now, I had to improvise.


    Id poured through the feat screen, looking for anything that resembled a fighting style. There was nothing specifically for my ssbig surprise therebut even a general skill would do. Id hunted for something simr before and found nothing, and even with the recent level-ups and increased feat information, now found much the same. No automatic Kung-fu or weapons mastery. It was doubtful that a system centered around direct conflict wascking these skillspletely, but I was now almost convinced they were exclusive to other sses.


    Then, I found it.


    <strong></strong><strong><em>REDACTED</em></strong><strong> apply. Stat restrictions apply. The number of emtions held in rotation are limited and will increase with level. Any Acquisitions will be less powerful than their original, but can be consolidated when a high enough understanding is achieved. Unique interaction with Double-Blind.></strong>


    My eyes widened. As a rule, any ability with that many restrictions was the inevitable result of a game designers effort to keep it from beingpletely broken. And for good reason. The feat itself was almost as much of a game-changer as my first perk. Forget the gnolls. I could, eventually, actively round out my abilities with bits and pieces from other Users, with more flexibility as my level climbed.


    Granted, it wasntplete bullshit. It specifically said with enough observation and understanding, so it wasnt like I could see something once and immediately replicate it. Understanding an ability when I had no idea how it worked would be difficult. Something as useful as Kinsleys doors was probably on the restricted list. And putting myself in a position where I could actively observe other Users was a significant problem.


    Damn.


    I had countless questions on how it worked, and what exactly constituted understanding. Not to mention, what was the system was protecting to the point it would redact a name in the description?


    There was also the unique interaction with Double-Blind to consider.


    None of that changed that it was an insta-pick.


    For now though, I needed to focus on surviving this floor of the dungeon. Spending two points on Agility was a natural conclusion. Raising Strength another point was almost physically painful, but I couldnt take the stat restriction warning lightly. The gnolls fighting style looked rtively light on brute force.


    Below, a gnoll barked something that sounded vaguely like a question.


    I held my breath. Had they noticed the pack leader was missing?


    The gnoll across from him made an empty-handed motion miming drinking from a bottle, and the entire group exploded in a series of yips not unlikeughter.


    <em>Your time is limited. Theyll realize something is wrong soon enough. Make the most of it.</em>


    /////


    The gnolls never tried to cook the human. Set-up indeed.


    Hourster, I had yet to acquire an emtion of their fighting skill. Id thought I already understood it to some extent, recognizing its simrities to certain human martial arts. Maybe if Id actually had a background in any of them, that would have mattered, but the bar for emtion was clearly set higher.


    It wasnt pointless, though. As I watched them attack and defend, the patterns became definable. I could almost predict what they were going to do before they did it.


    A vivid image of a half-eaten gnoll recognizable as the pack leader shed into my mind. <em>Irritation. Hunger.</em>


    Audrey stared up at me, stared at the tower where the dead leadery, then back at me.


    <em>Soon. Patience.</em> I sent back.


    She ruffled her petals andid down, pointedly looking away.


    A fortunate side effect of watching the gnolls so closely was that I was beginning to get an idea of the hierarchy. There were six of them in total. Headdress Gnoll, who wore a white tribal mask with red markings, was the highest ranking, followed by two bruisers that took most of their time fighting, one with a clipped ear, the other with reddish hair. Three smaller gnolls filled up the rest of the ranks.


    They werent constantly sparing, so Id raised <strong></strong> three levels over thest few hours, though progress slowed down significantly at level 10. Headdress was now painstakingly aware of every mistake the tworge bruisers made, and his barks growing more feral over time. The two bruisers pushed themselves harder, and all the while, I stoked their resentment of both Headdress and each other.


    The runts had both a clear inferiorityplex to the bruisers and a natural camaraderie with each other. I turned their envy towards the clip-eared bruiser, who seemed the rougher of the two, highlighting every sleight.


    I raised <strong></strong> to level 8, just by tripping the clip-eared bruiser every time he returned to the fire, where he would inevitably bump one of the smaller gnolls.


    Eventually, Headdress called them over and Clip-ear faced off against one of the runts. I studied their movements carefully. The runt struck out immediately, rushing at Clip-ear, abandoning any form of artfulness and jabbing the dulled short-sword directly at his eyes.


    I predicted the reaction immediately. <em>Sidestep. Trip him with his own momentum. Shove his head down into the ground to add impact and hold a sword to his throat to send a message.</em>


    The runts yelp echoed across the stone floor as Clip-ear did exactly as expected.


    I immediately pushed through Headdresss mental defense, as I had a dozen times before, and sent an image of three broken runts.


    Headdress stomped over to Clip-ear and let out a barrage of angry yips.


    Clip-ear growled at Headdress, snapping at his face. Headdress held his staff out, a clear threat.


    <em>No, not yet.</em> I sent a wave of calm to Headdress. The gnoll lowered his staff.


    The notification light pinged at the corner of my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Hell yes. I epted the prompt. The resulting change was subtle. You can study something for years academically and understand how it functions down to the most minute detail, but it takes practice and muscle-memory to apply that knowledge. Emtion skipped that phase entirely.


    I couldnt help but smile.


    <em>Get in position,</em> I told Audrey.


    Then I sent a series of images to clip-ear of the pack-leader drinking himself into a stupor. Clip-ear, still fuming, stomped off towards the tower.


    Id traded a death trap for a powder-keg. And it was time to light the fuse.

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19


    Predicting behavior is easy when you have enough practice and practical examples. Start by assuming the worst, and raise your expectations slightly until you have something more realistic.


    Selfishness is generally what you want to focus on.


    What does a person stand to gain by doing x? How far are they willing to push their luck before self-preservation kicks in?


    Id been muting Headdresss sense of self-preservation with anger and irritation towards the clip-eared bruiser for thest few hours. Now it was time to dial that white noise <em>way</em> back.


    Clip-ear was closing in on the dead pack master, his sparse leather armor rippling across canine muscle. Conveniently, he looked angry enough to kill someone.


    I made sure Headdress noticed, with images tied to anxiety. If Clip-ear, clearly the strongest of the group, made a y for dominance and won, he would lose his position. Probably be humiliated. And the big gnoll sure seemed to be moving with purpose.


    Headdress scurried across the stone floor of the hollowed out castle to catch up. <em>Hes closing too quickly.</em> I extended my arm, using my fingers as guidelines, targeting <strong></strong> at his feet. Headdress gnoll tripped at the foot of the stairs, and caught himself with a pained grunt.


    I watched as Clip-ear entered the tower. If I was estimating correctly, hed reach the tower a full-thirty seconds before Headdress did. Plenty of time to kill a drunkenmanderthough I hoped they were either too stupid or too distracted to notice the kill wasnt fresh.


    An eruption of angry barking echoed from the tower. Big-redpreviously staring into the fire alongside the smaller runtsstood up quickly, his back straight and hackles raised.


    This was critical. Big-red was the only one I hadnt factored for. The others had exploitable ws and a natural chafing against the hierarchy. Big-redfor a fantasy creature living in a dungeongave me little to work with. He sparred with rtive restraint, didnt take his irritation at Headdress out on the runts, and took frequent naps.


    Probably less frequent when I wasnt hereId had to repeatedly distract him with images of his bedroll tagged with drowsiness, as he was the only one who consistently tried to check on the leader.


    Loyal, simple, and content. In other words, remarkably well-adjusted. People like that were a problem in this context. They tended to be irritatingly good at defusing things.


    My mouth turned downward just thinking about it.


    <em>Vanity, maybe?</em>


    The Tribal Gnolls were something of a ratty crew. Hair shaved short to avoid mange, yellow teeth, poorly maintained armor. Big-red was the exception. His armor was in poor repair, likely an issue of resources, but the long strands of his vivid red fur had a noticeable sheen. More reminiscent of a fox than hyena. In an environment like this, without ess to modern conveniences like conditioner, it had to be a huge pain to keep in that condition.


    <em>It would be a shame if something happened to it.</em>


    I focused on the fire.


    Id learned from both the AC Unit and the flowers that <strong></strong> could be focused to achieve a specific result. It seldom happened the way I nned or expected, or it took repeated attempts. I had a few theories why it failed on the Escde. Either due to User interference, or because I was too panicked to hold anything more specific in my mind than Car go away.


    The ramshackle cone formation of wood in the campfire shifted towards Big-red, then copsed. The runts shrieked as mes roared upward, and Big-reds plush, highly mmable tail caught fire.


    The best result I was hoping for was a temporary distraction, maybe convincing Big-red one of the runts had it in for him and sparking a spat.


    I watched in awe as, instead of rolling on the floor to put himself out, Big-red yowled bloody murder and took off sprinting across the clearing, his body casting long shadows illuminated from the involuntary torch.


    <em>Ok. Perhaps not vain. Just stupid.</em>


    If Id known they were that afraid of fire, my n would have been thoroughly different.


    One of the runts stirred from his temporary paralysis and in a clear demonstration of either poor problem-solving or ruthless pragmatism, filled a bucket from the <em>boiling</em> cauldron and began to chase Big-red around the clearing, yipping at therger gnoll, who was too upied running away from his own tail to look back.


    A bright sh of light brought my mind back to the main event. On the second level of the surrounding wall, Headdress and Clip-ear were engaged in a very different sort of chase. Headdress was taking big, bounding steps back, pausing every so often to level his staff at Clip-ear. The sound of the staff was an ear-splitting shriek, not unlike a rail-cannon. Ance of blinding light shot out and shattered a section of wall, sending fragments of stone scattering across the upper level.


    A shiver went through me. Kill the Caster, was a saying for a reason, and If that was what more direct system magic looked like, between Wife-beater guy and Headdress, it held doubly true here. Clip-ear seemed to agree. He was bleeding profusely from his side as he rushed Headdress, his short-sword held high.


    Headdress took a series of leaps up the sidewall and made a gracelessnding on the lower floor, shrieking in the direction of the still-confused grunts. They stood quickly, their faces masks of anticipation as they tag-teamed Clip-ear with their short swords, rotating around him, one at his front, the other at his back.


    An image shed in my mind of Big-red. The gnoll had finally sumbed to basic fire safety and was rolling around fervently on the ground. <em>Now?</em> Audreys message felt more like a question.


    <em>No, </em>I sent back quickly. She was anything but a normal nt, but she was still ntlike. I assumed fire was still a serious hazard for her.


    The runt with the boiling bucket of water was a significant distance away, but closing fast.


    I sent Audrey a quick mental picture of him and the instruction to move when I did. Then I dropped from the second floor with a grunt and ran. I could feel the difference the Agility made. There was a brief stint in my middle teens when Id picked up jogging for a few months, but Id never felt the air tear by me the way it was now. I looped around, giving the bound and blindfolded man still tied up by the campfire a wide berth.


    I nced at him as I passed. It was an obvious trap. I was the first to set-foot in here, ording to the leaderboard. So, any other humans were either system created or another creature mimicking a human.


    And in the split-second before I turned my head away, I saw the ink. A terribly penned rendition of Ozzy Osbourne stared out at me from his neck, misaligned eyes watching as I passed.


    It was a terrible tattoo.


    And it was the specificity of the tattoo in the context of an all-too-generic set-up that gave me pause.


    <em>One of two possibilities. This is an extremely convoluted trap, or thats a real fucking person. Dont have time to think about it. Need to focus. </em>


    With the fight between the runts, Clip-ear, and Headdress still raging in the upper-end of the courtyard, I made thest few strides to the two remaining outliers.


    The grunt with the bucket up-ended it on Big-red. There was a sizzling noise that wasnt just the sound of quenching fire. The big gnoll yowled and took a swipe at the grunt.


    Taking a step back confused, the grunt shifted enough to see me.


    <em>Now</em> I signaled Audrey.


    Twin vines struck out from the shadows, wrapping around the grunts legs and whipping him off his feet. Supine, Big-red pushed up on his elbows in rm. If the damage to his lower body wasnt sufficient, hed be standing soon.


    I knew what to do as if Id done it a thousand times before.


    I leapt and brought my legs forward, knees colliding with his back, the momentum of the blow driving the air from his lungs in a grunting whoosh followed by a crack as I grabbed his shoulders and rode him down into the stone. <strong></strong> gave me a clear target in the form of his oblong, glowing heart. I stabbed down into it and twisted the de.


    After a shudder, Big-red went still. Audrey was enthusiastically digging into the grunt, who was protesting a bit too loudly. I dragged myself up and held my hand-crossbow to his head, ending his suffering.


    The violet light in the corner of my vision pinged several times, coinciding with an angry roar.


    Fuck. Someone won the fight I started, and I had a feeling it wasnt the caster.


    I pressed myself up against the wall behind a pir, peeking between the gaps. Clip-ear was covered in blood. One of his eyes was nothing but a ruined crater. Something tapped my shoulder and I jumped.


    The leafy form of my summon was up above me, hanging on the stone railing of the second floor. A thorned vine extended down to me as a rope.


    No choice.


    If I stayed here Clip-ear would find me. But this was going to suck.


    I raised my right arm and braced. Thorns tore through my palm as Audrey lifted me up to the banister. I left a smear of blood behind as I crawled over.


    When I turned back to the central area, I found that the worst possible scenario hade to pass. Whoever, or whatever the prisoner was, had gotten free of his bonds and was fiddling with his blindfold.


    Not good. I couldnt let myself be seen. If he was a User, I was screwed if I interfered. If it was some sort of trap, it would reveal itself shortly. But if he was a civilian the system had thrown in here to fuck with me?


    <em>Did you learn nothing from Daphne?</em>


    Clip-ear headed straight for the prisoner, dius held in a blood-drenched hand. He roared.


    I made a decision.

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20


    <em>If hes fakewhich tracks because how would he even get on this floor with no ranking on the leaderboardthats bad for you. If hes a User, its </em><strong><em>worse</em></strong><em> for you. Even if you knew with a hundred percent certainty he was a civilian with no ties to any of this, what would you even do? Run in there and y hero? </em>


    The image shed in my mind, as it had thousands of times before: watching through a frame of dusty blinds as my fathers police cruiser pulled up in front of the house down the street. It always stopped there, with me, waiting endlessly for him to emerge. It never showed what happened after. My long walk barefoot down the asphalt. The many neighbors who emerged, dithering to each other as I drew closer to a door left wide-open.


    <em>Yeah. That really worked out for him.</em>


    <em>Theres literally only one option here. Bide your time. Clip-ears bleeding heavily, and the longer you wait, the easier its going to be.</em>


    Ozzyas Ide to think of himhad no real definable characteristics besides the tattoo. His hair was short and dirtied, matted with sweat. I watched him run to the end of the yard, rubbing his wrists frantically, trying to get feeling back. He was looking back so much he ran into the dpidated wall, impacting against it painfully.


    Shit, shit, shit. His voice echoed across the yard.


    The Clip-eared gnoll wasnt moving quickly. More savoring the moment while closing distance, his massive stride bringing him ever closer, positioning himself, so he slowly drove his prey into a corner.


    Audrey tugged on the tail of my hoody, sending a sh of irritation. Taking our meat.


    Hes not <em>meat</em>, hes a person I cut myself off, annoyed with the mistake. Humanizing the person I was trying to distance myself from was only going to make this difficult. The mistake I made with Daphne was judging the situation at face value. Even when you took the personal rtionship out of it, the strong beating on the weak was always going to send one very specific image, despite the myriad of variablesthe number of dead Users that likely responded to the bounty, how raging and angry Daphne was.


    But the picture here was clear. Clip-earin a series of deductions so ipetent it was impossible to understand how hed arrived at the conclusion besides blindly narrowing it downclearly med Ozzy for the state of the Gnoll camp. Damage I caused.


    A bright sh of light drew my attention. Clip-ear was reeling back, furred hand sping his face as the man juked around him, evading his spot in the corner and making a break for it.


    I frowned.


    <em>sh bomb? His hands were bound. Hes wearing rags. Theres no way he had that on him.</em>


    <em>Jesus,</em> fuck, thats bright. Dont know who killed your friends, Stompy, but it wasnt me! He had a vaguely Australian ent. Ozzy ced his hand out in front of him, and another sh illuminated every shadow in the courtyard. Orange embers seared Clip-ears fur as he held a hand over his face. My eyes watered from the strain of it, then narrowed.


    <em>User. No question.</em>


    The mans expression was a mask of panic as he stared at his hand, then back at the recovering gnoll. Okay. Okay. Thats not doing shit.


    I shadowed, parallel to Ozzy at my ce on the second level, as he ran back towards the far-end, noting his gasping breaths.


    Theck of familiarity with his abilities, the increased fatigue. Ozzy was definitely a User, but he was a new one.


    Clip-ear followed at the same deliberate pace, orange embers enting his already ruined dark-coat glowing ever brighter. Ozzy scooped up a short-sword from the ground and took the stairs two-at-a-time, nearly toppling over before he crested them, immediately spotting the chained lift. He bolted inside.


    Buttons or a lever or something, I caught thest half of what he was saying. Itsing! Can anyone hear me up there? If you can hear me, send the cage up. Augh echoed out of the elevator until it became a sob. I dont know whats happening. This has to be a nightmare. I dont belong here. Help me! Please!


    I didnt have to ask if the system would do that. The price of a human life was a suit of armor, a crossbow, and a few weeks of groceries. Suffice it to say, it didnt value us much.


    Tears streamed down Ozzys face. Either he was the best acted NPC Id ever seen, or he was real.


    <em>This changes nothing.</em><strong></strong>whispered to me.


    No.


    I wasnt going to rush in like an idiot. But if the system was going to keep ying these fucked up games with me, I wasnt just going to take it. Clip-eared was XP. Ozzy was an obstacle. I wasnt always going to be in a controlled environment like this. I would need to learn to work around people, many of whom would be Users.


    <em>Then whats the solution?</em>


    Audrey, go to the elevator. Say what I tell you.


    My oversized nt stared at me as if Id lost my mind.


    All the Gnolls. All of them. Think of all that meat. Meat as far as the eye can see.


    That was all I needed to say.


    /////


    Ozzy had abandoned the elevator just as Clip-ear mounted the stairs when Audrey found him.


    What Ozzy started, winded. I heard him both in my head and directly through Audreys <strong></strong>


    I am here to save you Audrey, despite some attempt to trante my words, spoke with the same enthusiasm and cadence of a gas station attendant.


    Oh, Ive really lost it now. And hes stilling! Ozzy threw out an empty hand towards Clip-ear.


    Moving slowly because hes wounded. Both of us Faster than him. Can kill him if we work together.


    Wait. Wait. He counted off his fingers. Bad script, weird creepy sidekick, anthropomorphized bad guy? Ive lost it. Im in a childrens cartoon. So, why are you so <em>fucking scary!</em> Ozzy yelled at Clip-ear, who had stopped a few yards away, and was studying Audrey.


    I frowned. None of this would work if the mark waspletely spineless. I hesitated, then reached out to him with a suggestion. A wave of resistance hit me and I gritted my teeth. The difference in level of effort between influencing a gnoll and influencing a human was significant. Like fighting my way through a wave of headache. It was doable, but I wasnt certain if I could do anything significant.


    <em>You saw the bodies and theres no one else here. Some furred creatures attacked each other in the confusion, but the nt is the only one here. It must have killed most of them.</em> I attached the message with as much confidence as I could.


    Ozzy nced over at Audrey with a furrowed brow, overly concerned. I might have overdone it. Before I could react, Audrey responded of her own ord.


    Humans not meat. Audrey shed an overly sharp smile filled with seed teeth.


    I put a hand to my forehead. <em>And now hes considering the possibility that you might eat him. </em>


    But my concerns were shockingly unwarranted. To my surprise, Ozzy broke out in a smile. Well, that puts you one over on fur-roids, doesnt it?


    No fucking way. No one with half a brain was that easy to convince.


    Likely realizing the extent of his injuries was catching up with him, the lumbering gnoll abandoned his previous strategy of wearing his prey out and began to sprint directly towards Ozzy. Apparently, hed made the mistake of dismissing Audrey as the least threatening of the two.


    It was a mistake hed pay for.


    <em>Trip him up.</em>


    Audrey flung herself to the side, wrapping two mobility vines around Clip-ears waist and leg. The thorns dug through his fur and into his skin. She snapped back from the transfer of momentum, swung around him, and mmed home her thousands of sharp teeth into his back and shoulder. Clip-ear roared,ing to a limping, staggered stop, to regain his bnce.


    I didnt have to prompt Ozzy. His choice to charge forward, screaming at the top of his lungs, was entirely of his ord. He shed downward with the short sword in a movement too practiced to be untrained. The blow was aimed carefully enough to draw blood and graze the gnoll, but not careful enough to do anysting damage. Something pinged in the back of my mind, clueing me into the fact that Ozzy likely had abat skill.


    Clip-ear gave up on trying to dislodge Audrey and mmed Ozzys sword nearly hard enough to knock it out of his hands. He staggered forward.


    I moved to a better vantage. Id watched Clip-ear spar, understood how he fought. He was pressed, desperate, and outnumbered. He would try to end this quickly, and I needed to be in a position where I could do something about it. I found a small alcove and aimed a probability spiral at Clip-ears sword, just as it came down in a vicious diagonal blow. The de missed, sinking an inch into the crumbled stone from force alone.


    Audrey was still tearing into Clip-ears shoulder and must have hit a nerve. With another angry, spittle-flecked roar, the gnoll reached up and grabbed her, tearing Audrey and her vines free with the same force one might use to tear off a ripcord.


    I went through the considerable effort of forcing <strong></strong> through with a message to use his ability and blind the gnoll. Instead, Ozzy lowered his de.


    <em>No you idiot, blind him from a distance,</em> I wanted to scream. Clip-ear readied for the attack. The whole point of the Unsparing Fang was giving your opponent enough rope to hang themselves with, and if he ran in and attacked now that the gnoll was free of Audrey Ozzy was about to swing.


    I looked around for anything I could use, anything I could spiral in Ozzys favor. It was pointless. He was moving too quickly.


    At thest possible moment, Ozzy changed stance from a low-aiming stab to a wide swing. His swordnded flush against the gnolls, mming it aside. Clip-ear pivoted, his gauntlet mming into Ozzys facethe same second the mans glowing free-hand sped onto the top-half of Clip-ears face.


    Light consumed the battlefield. When my eyes readjusted, I saw Clip-ear, staggering backwards, his face burned ck, two smoking craters where his eyes used to be.


    It took me a second to understand why Ozzy had taken such a massive risk. When Clip-ear dislodged Audrey, he had thrown the unanchored Flowerfang behind him and to the left. She would have been blinded. By holding his hand directly onto the target, he limited the radius in using it the way he did.


    I was slightly stunned.


    Ozzy shook out his off-hand, then rubbed his jaw as he crossed the distance. Sorry mate. Probably best to put you to pasture.


    With a careful, two-handed swing, thest of the gnolls died.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    What the hell is all this nonsense? Ozzyproper name Brett was doing the typical eye-flicking, swiping-at-invisible-screens motion I knew all too well. If this was his first time exploring the various screens and, god-forbid, leveling, we were going to be here for a while. I moved back into the shadows, sticking my head into the lift to ensure the buttons had returned. They had, alongside a ck metal panel that looked strangely out of ce for an iron cage, showing numbers 1-4.


    Actually, I just realized I dont bloody care. How do we get out of here? Bretts voice rang across the clearing.


    Audrey said something indistinguishable.


    Now that you mention it, Im starving What do you have?


    There was a ripping noise like tearing fur, followed by the sound of a grown man gagging and a muttered. Never mind.


    Brett seemed normalnormal being a rtive term. Who knew what he was actually like, but not enough time had passed for the system to screw with him.


    Id have Audrey guide him to the doors, and subsequently, well.


    It was time to see exactly what kinds of treasures Tribal Gnolls hid away.

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21


    How did you get here? Audrey sent a sh of irritation at me, even as she conveyed my words in her nasally, stilted tone. She was clearly unhappy to have her binge interrupted. But Brett had intended to leave, and I needed more information.


    Brett was leaning against the wall near the elevator, constantly checking to ensure the newly appeared buttons were still there. A Tribal Gnolls dius hung from his hipthe same one hed used to y the Clip-eared gnoll, and as far as I was concerned, hed earned it. Brett crouched down to talk to my summon on her level, his hideous neck tattoo still holding vignt watch.


    Dunno. Had a crazy dream. Lots of questions about philosopher kings and shit. Kind of out there for me, havent done much philosophy since college. He nced at Audrey with amusement, then. Might still be dreaming. Im chatting about college with a nt. Havent done that since college, either. Feels real, but maybe its not.


    Interesting. The Philosopher King. A then concept of a more knowledgeable, well-thought-out leader originally explored in tos Republic. And, apart from the fact that they were both rtively well known philosophical topics, had as much inmon with the Trolly Problem as sliced bread to a beached whale. Unless you wanted to get really into the weeds. What was important was that Bretts questions had likely been entirely different. Different person, different questions, different ss.


    Did you choose? Or did they choo-oose for you.


    Bretts nose wrinkled. They chose for me. All things I think I would have said, but some were totally off the mark, you know?


    So, that part was the same for him as it was for me.


    Audrey shook her head. It is real. The sooner you ept that, the better.


    Brett pointed above them. Toto, Im no expert, but the stars arent that clear where I live. Pretty sure were not in Texas anymore. eptance is one thing, but I have no clue what to do.


    I thought about it. He clearly had some natural abilityand possibly a special ss. The leaderboard had shown him as a Duel-Singer. The worst oue for me was if, upon leaving, Brett fell immediately into the hands of Daphnes group or someone worse.


    Das is there. First floor. Some people still normal. Others like you. Many of them dangerous.


    Brett looked confused, then down at himself in realization. Oh, its <em>all</em> gone fucky, then. He nced at Audrey, gave her a wide smile. Want toe with me? I know I made that sidekick crack earlier, but you can handle yourself, and you saved my life to begin with.


    Audrey sent me a sh of rm. I sent her back a wave of calm, and tried to think of what to say to get the message to Brett.


    This is my home. Please dont tell others that Im here. I stay you go no following. Audrey said, motioning to the elevator.


    It only urred to me btedly that I stole the final half of that line. But Brett didnt catch it. If anything, he looked a little sad. Ill take your secret to my grave, little flower friend. Stay safe. Enjoy your dinner. He looked a little queasy as he stepped into the iron cage and waved goodbye to Audrey, who waggled a thorned vine back and forth in return.


    As soon as Brett disappeared, an image of a half-eaten gnoll shed in my minds eye.


    <em>Hungry.</em>


    Well, despite my stomach gurgling loud enough through the previous exchange that I feared Brett might hear it, <em>now</em> I definitely wasnt.


    Still, Audrey had been incredibly useful. I left my spot in the shadows and crossed over to her, patting her gently on the head. You learned and applied almost everything I taught you. But be more patient. If that encounter with the pack-leader went badly, we probably wouldnt be having this conversation. Still, you did well. Id be lying if I said that the thought of Audrey eating gnollswho were stupid, but no less so than primitive humansdidnt make me queasy. But Id explicitly bribed her to the contrary. Be careful not to damage their gear. But go for it.


    Audrey slithered away, chanting meat to herself, and I couldnt help but shake my head. If I was right, and PVP became unavoidable, Id need to start packing extra food for her. And buying it for that matter.


    Whatever I summoned next, I hoped it was considerably less hungry.


    Dismantling the gnolls campand the gnolls themselves, in Audreys casetook some time. Between the training grounds and the bodies, there were twelve <strong></strong> All the moremon variety. No mention of them being a dius or dius rted.


    Id take them all, of course, but only if I still had room.


    The <strong></strong> was less appealing. Most of it was in tatters, with <strong></strong>or<strong></strong> as their rarity designation. Audrey had listened, and was stripping the gnolls before she ate them, leaving small piles of discarded goods next to their bodies.


    Clip-ears sword was a standout.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: This unyielding de hungers for the blood of its enemies, and will strive to keep the bearer alive to achieve that need. The debilitating effects of injuries will be drastically reduced as long as the bearer is inbat.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Huh. So, that was how he kept going like something out of a horror movie, despite taking significant damage from the fight with the magic user and the grunts. If Id had it during the scuffle with the pack leader, I wondered whether it would have allowed me to shake off exhaustion simrly. Unfortunate that the effect only worked inbat. Without that inbat use, I could easily imagine myself using it as an enchantment-stick. I imagined myself taking a serious injury, whipping out a stupidlyrge sword, and running away. It would be confusing as hell.


    I prodded my chest, finding it still tender from where the pack leaders foot had mmed me against the wall.


    Was it still worth using despite thebat use? I tried to raise it, and the tip immediately dragged downward, the weight of the sword far heavier than its short andmon counterparts. Probably not. Especially if the adaptive dungeon was factoring in my gear. <strong></strong> as abat skill was specifically tailored to smaller weapon use, short-swords, daggers. Themon version of this sword was only a few inches longer than my dagger. I guessed the only reason Clip-ear was able to use this sword so sessfully with the style was because he himself was massive. This<em> was</em> a small weapon for him.


    Still, as my first rare weapon drop, I hoped it would sell for a decent chunk.


    Then I made my way over to the headdress gnolls body.


    To say his staff was crude was putting it lightly. It vaguely resembled a miniature wooden telephone pole, a grainy, splinter-ridden rod rising to a lower-case t, shape, with sparkly bits and bobbles glued in consecutive segments along the top of the crossing resembling tiny power converters.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: A catalyst focus for magic users. Can be used to magnify the users natural ability, or for a magic user unattuned for direct magic.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Umon</strong>


    My eyebrow shot up. Was it possible I was in that camp? I wasnt a traditional caster, but the argument could be made.


    First, I waggled the stave in the general direction of the gnolls buildings. Then I focused, the same way I did when I used probability spiral. I reyed what little Id seen of the fight between Clip-ear and Headdress in my mind. In a sort of dawning sense of doom, I realized that every time Id seen Headdress cast, hed been <em>saying</em> something.


    <em>Please dont make me test it.</em>


    With exactly zero enthusiasm, I held the staff out and said the words.


    Lightning bolt.


    To both my great relief and disappointment, nothing happened. From somewhere across the clearing, I was pretty sure I heard Audrey, snickering.


    Were leaving soon. Sure hope youre almost done! I yelled, my voice echoing. Theughter was reced by panicked nt noises.


    Once I finished threatening Audrey in a manner that felt entirely too simr to how my parents used to cajole me into things, I noticed something was different. Headdress had been wearing a mask. I looked around for it, finding it face down a few feet away.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Theck of description was mildly suspicious. It called to mind an endless litany of game items that looked insignificant at first, only to end up being importantter. The outside was a mess of jagged red lines, with a protrusion to fit over a gnolls snout. I flipped it over. The inside was entirely white and smooth, with no cut-outs for eyes.


    Experimentally, I ced it on my face. For a moment, I saw nothing but white. Then the white blurred, disintegrating slowly away. Wearing something like a paint-ball mask or ski-mask almost always means you lose some peripheral vision. But I had a full view of the castle before me, including the enhancements from .


    That seemed more than a little useful. Even if the mask itself was too eye-catching for my purposes, it would certainly be useful for <em>someone.</em>


    Among the rest, I was delighted to find a draw-string sack filled with what looked like clinking silvers, squirreled away under one of the grunts sleeping rolls. It wasnt directly unidentifiable, but when I put it in my inventory, my meager number of Selve more than doubled.


    There was no pending notification for a level upEither I was right on the cusp of level 7, leveling had slowed down significantly, or the pack-leader that boosted me to 6 was really a cut aboveand far drunker than he seemed. My Willpower had increased by two for the bonus, but for some reason Id barely felt it the way I had the level-ups and other stat bonuses. Maybe it was a quirk of Willpower.


    Things were slowing down a bit in terms of leveling, but that was fine. The gnoll camp had been infinitely moreplicated to deal with than the Flowerfangs, and it had be more than obvious I still needed to find a safe ce to test the more subtle aspects of <strong></strong> and <strong></strong>. Especially thetter. I knew it had far more potential applications than the rather rudimentary way I was using it.


    Between the Selve and the half-decent haul, I was generally satisfied. But the haul was missing some oomph. I wandered into headdresses quarters, finding it decorated in a mix of animal skins and leather. Nothing really stood out.


    Until I found the Altar.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22


    <strong></strong>


    Fuck that. I said aloud. It had nothing to do with my personal beliefsI was devoutly agnostic, open to the idea that something was out there, yet never willing to bank on it. But the <em>attention</em> of a divine power was <em>not</em> something I wanted. My first instinct was to close the window, pack up my things, grab my summon, and get the hell away. If the prompt had said, The favor of the being who imbued it, maybe that would be different.


    But the wording specifically said, draw the eye.


    Which implied on a basic level, that a being of definite power and questionable benevolence, with far better things to do, would be aware of me.


    From a religious and mythological standpoint, gods showing an interest in someone was bad fucking news. Abraham had the bad day to end all bad days. Job had a bad few years. If you veer away from the so-loved-the-world variety into Greek mythology, it gets <em>worse.</em> If you were prettier than Athena, or agreed to wrestle Antaeus, or hell, even looked wrong at Zeus?


    In a less academic example, it would be like me looking down at my arm and noticing an ant.


    Not good for the ant.


    I heel-turned and left with every intention of grabbing Audrey and getting the hell out of there, in case our mystery divine power took offense to me deciding I wanted nothing to do with their shrine.


    <em>Think it through. Can you really afford to turn this down?</em>


    My half-run slowed, and I turned back towards the shrine.


    <em>There are enough Users out there that, theoretically, any small number of people could be in this position at any given time. How many of them would share your reticence? You got lucky with Kinsley and the dungeon key, but youre likely not the only one. The vor text said theres more than one of these things, and they manifest in different ces. If your suspicions about this degenerating into endless PVP are correct, can you really turn this chance down? </em>


    I closed my eyes. <strong></strong> was making too much sense for me to ignore. If there were many Shrines of Elevation, it stood to reason that whoever the gods, were, they likely had more than one. And this particr shrine was on the third floor of an adaptive dungeon. It was unlikely to be all that noteworthy, perhaps imbued by a less powerful god.


    It was mostly conjecture, but had enough to it that I found myself standing in front of the altar, staring down at its polished stone surface. A small wreath formed from braided-together grass adorned the surface. In many ways, it more resembled an anvil than an altar.


    Unsure of what to do, I ced my bare hand against it. The surface was colder than ice.


    <strong><em></em></strong>


    Okay. That seemed rtively low-impact. But whichmon item? I ran through them all in a process of elimination. My armor was the most straightforward option, but it was holding up well. The <strong></strong> left a lot to be desired. As long as I had ess to Kinsley, however, weapons were something she had in abundance. Easy enough to upgrade the crossbow to something specific I wanted.


    Using it on a potion or consumable would likely be a waste


    <em>The mask?</em>


    It stuck out to me originally because I hadnt seen anything like it in the shop. There were helmets, but no masks. I liked the design of it, and had been ying with the idea of keeping it in the back of my mind. Having a quick method to cover my face if I ran into another User could help keep my objective intact.


    But if it had more utility, Id keep it for sure. And though the armor was likely the better option, I wasnt willing to risk it in case the altar had an adverse effect.


    I took the mask from my inventory and ced it in the center of the Altar. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a pale, blue-tinted hand reached up from beneath the surface.


    I jumped back, worried that in my haste to loot the aftermath, Id missed an enemy hiding in wait. Another one followed, and another, and another. The disembodied hands fumbled their way towards the mask, fingers bending and flexing as if they were warding off an endless muscle spasm. One-by-one, they found the mask and mbered over it, covering ityer byyer, until it was no longer visible.


    <em>What</em>


    There was a sound not unlike a dying horse modted to a painfully high frequency. Blue, eerie light emitted, brighter than high-beams on the darkest night. I mped down on my ears with both hands and looked away until the sound faded to nothing. Audrey must have heard themotion because she was staring through the doorway in confusion.


    When I turned back, the hands were gone.


    I waved Audrey off. Its fine, I think. Go back to your dinner. Like I said, were leaving soon. Audrey didnt move. She rooted herself in the doorway, and stared daggers at the mask on the table. Her lips were pulled back, showing her bloodied teeth.


    <em>That doesnt bode well.</em>


    I crossed the room to the mask on the table, and, after taking a moment to work up my courage, picked it up.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Fuck. </em>


    There was a presence directly behind me. I could almost see a person in my extended peripheral vision. I spun, finding nothing but Audrey, cowering in the corner. She was still staring at the Altar, motionless. I turned slowly, steeling myself. Tendrils of panic were squeezing tighter in my mind, threatening to dislodge the unnatural calm from my title.


    <em>Say something, quickly.</em>


    I licked my dry lips. I-I greet you in return. And thank you for the giftIf its a gift, for me. If not, I can leave it.


    The presence was still there, the slightest flicker of shadow back and behind the altar. If I stared at it too hard, my vision blurred, beginning to go dark. All throughout, the text continued to scroll.


    <strong></strong>


    And what have I done to earn such a generous boon? I asked. Not that Id had time to look at it. Knock on a divine door and wake up the god of fucking chaos and tell me you wouldnt kiss a little ass.


    <strong></strong>


    Why? I asked.


    <strong></strong>


    Im sorry, but I dont understand. What is the transposition? I asked, trying to keep my frustration from leaking into my voice. Why give me this, if Im as doomed as you say?


    <strong></strong>


    And with that, the so-called Allfather of Entropy disappeared, leaving me with more questions than answers. I was still shaking, beads of sweat on my forehead, as I inspected the mask.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: A mask that is not a mask. Thest boon of a dying god. A one-of-a-kind artifact that will, when worn, make it nearly impossible to remember specific details about the Users physical characteristics and voice, with more details fading over time. Only certain high-level perks or repeated exposure can partially counteract this effect. May magnify certain Titles before Title Integration.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It was a piece I hadnt even realized I was missing. Incredibly powerful with enough utility to make my head hurt. Granted, it came with the attention of a chaos god and the knowledge that whatever was driving this mess had it out for me in particr, but that was a problem for another day.


    I took a deep breath and slid the mask on. As before, the white of the mask disappeared, giving me a clear view of everything around me. It was like putting on a pair of noise-canceling headphones for the first time. Every errant distraction and thought disappeared as <strong></strong> came to the forefront. Id befortable enough with the titles that I could pick out their influence, understand why I thought something that was out of the ordinary for me. Wearing the mask actually made that understanding far, far more difficult.


    Taking it off created an even greater extreme, as my thoughts and muted panic from the implications of my conversation with the entropy god came to the forefront.


    The reference in the text to title integration was something I needed to look into as well. But all I could think of was that wearing it with Jaded-Eye was something I should avoid, if at all possible.


    It was a double-edged sword.


    Audrey was literally rooted to the floor, still quaking, staring at the spot our divine visitor had disappeared from. Still, she had managed to alert me that something was wrong and hadnt run away.


    Scary Audrey whispered.


    Yes it was. Up, up. I gently reached down and untucked her vines from the ground, letting her wrap them around my arm instead. Her thorns scuffed against my armor, but that was fine. It didnt need to look pretty. As we walked, I looked around at the ravaged corpses of the gnolls, and hefted my carrying arm experimentally. She didnt feel particrly heavy, considering the amount of mass shed consumed, but then again, were talking about a magic flower. I carried her out of the camp and onto the elevator.


    I eyed the four button for a moment, before pushing the number one instead.


    Id made it far. And floor three had been more than enough of a lesson to not charge into something like this unprepared. Just because the dungeon was adaptive didnt make it any less dangerous. In some ways, the ever increasing level being one, it might actually be more dangerous. I had no intention ofing back here until I was better prepared.


    I put the mask on for a few minutes as I entered the lobby, confirming Brett hadnt decided to stick around.


    With exactly one spot left in my inventory space, I looted aputer monitor from the lobby. It was technically a system created itemand I was pretty sure Kinsley would buy it to rece her crummy CRT.


    It took me a moment to realize my burner was buzzing incessantly. It was mainly for business or emergencies, so I wasnt used to it going off.


    <em>Weird that theres reception down here. </em>


    My concern grew as an endless stream of messages flowed in, one after another.

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23


    The first few messages I scrolled through were almost innocuous, getting more incoherent as time went on. I started working through them from oldest to newest.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I could almost feel the vein popping out on my forehead. Mom never respected the no texting unless its an emergency rule, so it was inevitable what would happen as soon as she had the number for one of my burners. But Nick knew better. Especially when he was texting about going by the apartment almost assuredly on his <em>personal</em> phone with GPS on.


    The next message was from Ellison, using Moms phone.


    <strong></strong>


    A few minutester.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I lowered the phone, walked behind the lobby counter, and sat down in an office chair under the iron-cast :), messing with the chairs many levers until I found the one that would allow me to recline. Then I rubbed my temples and let <strong></strong> dismantle the anxiety slowly. I had a lot of practicepartmentalizing problems, separating them out, so I could work on them one at a time. But every so often the cracks grow too quickly and the dam breaks. I needed to seal it back up, deal with one concern at a time.


    Nick could wait. He was my best friend, but family came first, and knowing him, it wasnt that important. Hed just convinced himself that it was.


    Moms situation was much more of a problem. A potentially life-threatening one. Id had an unwanted crash course in withdrawal management the first time we went through this. You cant just kick an alcohol addiction like youd kick a smoking habit. The physical addiction can kill you. Your best possible option is to consult a clinic, but obviously that will cost an arm and a leg if you dont have insurance. I chided myself for not considering the possibility on the ride over. She was too clear, too much like her old self.


    <em>No shakes, though. Yet.</em>


    Timeline, I had to think in terms of timeline. How far in was she? Best and most likely scenario, shed taken a farewell-cap in the morning before dumping it all. It waste in the evening now, so shed be approaching the twelve-hour mark. Hallucinations and aundry list of unpleasant symptoms wereing. Her best bet was either tapering, or benzos.


    I was cash poor, down to whatever was left on my credit card, and probably less than that if all the systems were still downbut if most grocery stores were cleaned out, it followed that most liquor stores would be too.


    Did Kinsleys store have alcohol? I strained to remember if the cornucopia of food had a beverage selection.


    Either way, I needed to get to her as soon as possible.


    Dam partially patched, I returned to the messages. Back to Iris.


    <strong></strong>


    The fact that shed used my real name on the burner told me exactly how scared she was.


    <strong></strong>


    My heart hammered in my chest. The message was from nearly four hours ago. If my siblings were Users, I didnt understand why they were manifesting it sote.


    <strong></strong>


    Reading the text feed felt like a never-ending roller coaster. They werent Users. They were something else. No mention of a ss or character screen. They just had an inventory screen and more Selve than Id started with.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Jesus Christ. Why did I even have rules if no one followed them?


    <strong></strong>


    I nearly shot back an irritated reply before I saw thest messages in the chain.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There was one final message from my brother.


    <strong></strong>


    I tapped my finger on the table, the tempo elerating faster and faster as an endless stream of thoughts flowed through my mind. Then I grabbed the phone and started typing a message to my brother.


    <strong></strong>


    The message came back instantly.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I pulled up Kinsleys contact and fired off a message.


    <strong></strong>


    It was probably a stupid move, giving her my general location. a shot in the dark. I had no idea how her doors worked. All I knew for certain was that they opened in one ce and led to another.


    <strong></strong>


    Then, a secondter.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I hit the lock button on my phone, held its cool stic to the corner of my mouth for a moment. I might have been in a hurry, but not enough so that I wasnt taking any extra precautions. That particr art museum would be a ten-minute walk and change. Id given myself extra time for several reasons. One, I didnt know how bad things were out there. And two, I preferred not to narrow down the radius of where I was in case she waspromised.


    When I scooted the chair back to stand-up, the back wheel bumped something. Audrey scooted away with a scrabbling growl that sounded more hurt than angry, holding a single vine away from me with a re.


    I blinked. In the flurry ofmunication, Id almost forgotten. I had a pet flower now.


    I patted her head, ruffling her petals by way of apology. She stopped grumbling soon after.


    Have to put you back now, I said.


    In the dark? Audrey asked.


    Yes. I felt a little bad when I said it. It might not be such a bad idea to have some sort of discreet carrier for her. I wasnt certain how good her eyes were, but if it was a backpack, she could constantly be on the lookout from behind. With the increased peripheral vision from <strong></strong> It would almost be full coverage.


    Bring me back? Audrey asked, her voice a whisper.


    Of course. And Ill have extra meat for you when I do.


    <strong></strong>


    Audrey began to disappear. Reversing the summoning process was far easier than its counterpart, and felt as if something Id forgotten was missing was finally regained.


    I stored my armor, dagger, and crossbow in my inventory. It seemed better to keep the mask, at least until I was a decent distance from the dungeon. If things were bad in both Kinsley and my sections of the city, it was likely that whatever was happening was wide-spread. Something had changed with the civilians, including my family.


    They werent Users, but they were something else.


    One thing at a time. I ced the mask on and stepped out of the dungeon doors.


    Into total fucking anarchy.

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24


    From what I could tell, it started with a sign: Water - 500 Selve.


    A gloomy off-yellow light projected from a nearby streemp that was flickering. At least we still had power, though there was no guarantee of how long that wouldst.


    The ground was littered with crushed gallon containers and ejected navy caps, the pavement dark with wasted water that had seeped between cracks. Not far from where I stood, a man was engaged in some sort of iling. There was a pile of 24 packs that was now half-crushed, and a crowd of people swept in like vultures trying to grab them.


    A man sporting something dangerously close to a bowl-cut was being held down by two stronger looking men. He was screaming something that sounded like Give it back!


    It wasnt hard to put it together. Bowl-cut was a scalperlow but enterprising, and had put together the fact that Selve was a currency and figured out how to use the trade window. From there, he tried to sell water for Selve, probably figured out rapidly that it didnt work, and the crowd of desperate people didnt take it so kindly when he rescinded his offer.


    Im not sure who started throwing the Molotovs and why. That piece of the puzzle was a little more obscure. But there was a mess of broken ss everywhere, more than a few buildings on fire, and a growing umtion of smoke that stung my eyes. If I didnt have the mask on, I probably would have panicked. I didnt do well in crowds, let alone mobs. As it was, I took everything in and decided it was definitely time to leave.


    I kept to my usual pattern of low profile. Head-tilted down, hood down, casual pace. I passed more than a few brawls breaking out. There would be a state of emergency called tonight, if there wasnt already.


    An electric current of warning arced through me, and I took a quick step back. A big guy sitting on the hood of an old trans-am was five beers deep and hurled another empty at me. The movement was almostzy.


    With the gnolls, Id been mostly subtle, not wanting to rm them or draw attention to myself. This was a good test case for how direct I could be. I reached out with <strong></strong>


    <em>Stop throwing shit.</em>


    Nothing. Another bottle shattered behind me.


    I tried again.


    <em>Look how the bottle shines in the streetlight.</em>


    He did, pausing to examine how the light came through. A small smile of wonderment yed across his lips.


    Then he threw it at me anyway, much more urately now that hed taken time to aim.


    I moved my head and the bottle exploded against the stone-brick behind me. A shard of ss fragment hit my pant-leg, leaving a small stinging pain.


    <em>It has to be something the target would naturally consider doing. I used the gnolls pre-existing rivalries to turn them against each other. But I know next to nothing about this guy. Will something generic work? </em>


    I tried one final time.


    <em>Sure are a lot of buildings burning. Did you leave the stove on?</em>


    Bottle-guys face went white. He tossed the remaining empty, jumped in the burnt-orange trans-am and took off, swerving around a small pile-up of cars. Lesson learned. I could use Suggestion on the fly on both enemies and allies. It was more powerful if it was used on someone I knew more about, but that was a limitation of creativity.


    I rounded a corner and stopped, watching overhead as a tear gas grenade arced,nding in the midst of a line of protestors. The city was going from bad to worse at an exponential rate. Things were only going to get worse overnight. I took the long way alongside a police line, officers in riot gearplimented by people too mad-max looking to be anything apart from Users. While standing next to a Swat Officer with a riot shield, a User with a duster jacket who could have been cosying Aragorn smashed the hell out of a man swinging a sign with the pommel of his sword. One brutal strike was all it took, and the man went down. His sign went flying,nding a few feet away from me. Big-upside-down red text on the sign read. WHERES THE FUCKING MAYOR? The eerie fog of teargas grew thicker and began to rise. I expected a wave of stinging pain to hit my eyes at any moment, tearing up my vision.


    Nothing. It seemed the mask was protecting me.


    <em>The police were killing us yesterday. What changed?</em>


    It wasnt all that oundish, now that I thought about it. The cops and the Users were people with power now. It made sense that theyd band together, though I had no idea how theyd organized it. At least they werent gunning people down, though there was no way to know how long that particr reprieve wouldst. The SWAT guy at the hospital hade off as less than organized, borderline unhinged. Maybe his squad was off the reservation.


    <em>Or Users within the Police Department have taken over.</em>


    A scary thought entirely within the realm of possibility. I looped back around the building, avoiding the melee, and walked faster. I wasnt sure what the point of it all was, introducing non-Users into the system like this, but even without the Allfathers ominous hints and vague allusions to Transposition, the signs didnt point anywhere good.


    <em>Civil unrest.</em>


    <em>Widespread Chaos.</em>


    <em>Devaluation of currency.</em>


    <em>Forced assimtion of new currency and values.</em>


    Historically, that particrly vtile cocktail of elements only preluded one of two things: uprising or conquest. It had to be intentional. But why? And why only here?


    It took a full half-hour to reach Kinsleys door.


    /////


    I slipped my mask off on the approach and ced it in my inventory. A wave of barely restrained panic washed over me, raging beneath the soothing calm of my title. I needed topartmentalize, but new problems kept cropping up before I could deal with the old ones.


    I slipped through the small blue door and found myself staring into the barrel of a shotgun.


    What took you? Kinsley asked.


    Oh the usual. Riots and whatnot. Are we really doing this again?


    Kinsley lowered her shotgun and returned to the center of the warehouse. But her bodynguage was off, pulled into herself.


    <em>Somethings wrong.</em>


    As a quick check, I pulled up my quest screen:


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: The Kinsley ords</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Gain loot and levels as you fulfill your contractual obligations.</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective Extended  Explore the dungeon, venturing at least to the fifth floor. (3/5) </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (S-L)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (M)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Week.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Increased rtionship with Kinsley, Merchant.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???</strong>


    Still safe. My personal objective was unchanged, neither failed nor achieved. The only real change was the progress towards the extended primary objective.


    How was it? Kinsley asked, her voice neutral.


    I did a slow scan, checking all the corners, making sure I wasnt missing anything vital. Not bad I said slowly, I think I made out pretty well, actually. But I guess we wont know until we see how much everything was worth. Do you have booze?


    Yes? Kinsley cocked her head. Was it that dangerous? She sat at the small fold out table, her voice curious. But there was something about her tone I didnt like. Something under it.


    Yeah. I considered exactly how much I wanted to reveal. More than I bargained for, and a trap that could have killed someone easily right off the bat. I was underprepared. Even with the stuff I bought. Need to make sure that doesnt happen again. After that, we have to talk business.


    Sure. Again, she was strangely short. Disinterested.


    I needed a new crossbow, but that wasrgely secondary. Before Id set foot in here, I intended to push up the timeline. With the rate that things were deteriorating, the sooner we could get Kinsleys shop online, the better. Id pitch her on the idea in a way that ensured my cut. Work out the detailster.


    But first, I had to determine what, exactly, was wrong.

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25


    I offloaded almost everything. As tempted as I was to keep the <strong></strong> the survivability buff only kicked in when the User was inbat. If anything, as a ss cannon-less cannon, it might be <em>more</em> dangerous for me to use. If it was harder to tell how hurt I was, it could easily lure me into a false sense of security to the point where an eventual tactical retreatand the subsequent vanishing of the effectcould easily mean death. A situation I needed to avoid at all cost.


    Still, it was somewhat painful, cing it on the table with the rest of the pile. Unloading felt like the living equivalent of a human clown car, taking item after item out of my inventory and cing them on the pile. Kinsley gave me a really? expression as I pulled out a small bounty of identical swords, only bing interested once I withdrew the staff. I kept two of the monster-amphetamine Id scored from the flowerfangs and sold the rest, as well as all the equipment from the gnolls. The two tokens of achievement were valueless, ording to Kinsley, which struck me as odd. They had to serve some purpose, but said purpose was unclear. I also kept the mask.


    All the while, Kinsleys eyes kept flicking towards the back of the room behind me. I didnt turn to look, only tilted my head slightly, checking the spot with my enhanced peripheral.


    Nothing.


    But <strong></strong> wasnt an all-seeing eye. Just a particrly observant one. It hadnt gone off when enemies were around, just when they were aware and actively hostile. There could be a User in that back corner with some sort of cloaking ability, watchingbut the quest hadnt changed. I was stumped.


    What if it didnt change in some situations if I, personally, wasnt aware an objective had been failed? In Dungeons and Dragons, figuring something due to out-of-game cluesthat you failed a quest and finishing it was a waste of time, for instancewould be considered meta-knowledge, something your character wouldnt necessarily know and therefore shouldnt act on. If you were ying correctly, youd stumble through the rest of the quest despite knowing youd already failed, only able to act on that knowledge once your character became aware of it.


    What I couldnt figure out, and now seemed like a ring hole in my umted knowledge, was whether the quest system was meta or mesa. From my experiences so far, there was a wealth of conflicting signs pointing to either as a possibility.


    Again, Kinsley looked to the back left corner of the room, her eyes flitting immediately back down to her hands as she began tallying up the spoils. Surprisingly decent haul. Should be able to get another level from this alone.


    Puts me nine over you. The XP from the dungeon was something else. I gave her an empty smile to wash down the lie.


    Kinsleys eyebrow shot up. Ten levels from a single dungeon seems ridiculous. Feels like Im the one getting the short end of the stick here.


    Contracts a contract. I shrugged, waiting for it. And like clockwork, there it was, another nervous nce.


    We settled up, the total with Kinseys preferred pricinging to a whopping 29,837 Selve. I was giddy at the number, but my enthusiasm was dulled somewhat by another realitying to bear.


    <em>If I dont get to the bottom of this, I can nevere back here. Both my merchant ess and immediate ns are fucked, and Selve is useless without a merchant. I can be paranoid sometimes, yes, but Im not even using and something is clearly off. Either figure it out or burn this bridge.</em>


    Thanks. That was enough to push me over a level. Kinsley moved everything into her inventory except for the wide-screenputer monitor, which had garnered none of the attention or questions Id expected it to. She struggled to lift the old CRT with a grunt and reced it with the widescreen monitor from the dungeon lobby.


    What was the perk? I asked.


    Hm? Kinsley replied, ncing over at me. A small hand went to the back of her neck, screaming difort.


    You texted me about a perk. Said it might be useful?


    Oh, right. She swiped through her menus, eyes barely focused. Merchants Shroud. Makes the merchant more difficult to track through traditional methods, only easy to locate when they choose to be.


    I blinked. That sounded like a weaker version of Double-Blinds secondary effect, only it sounded like merchants could turn it on and off at will. I mean, yeah. Thats your core issue right now, isnt it? They keep finding you?


    Like a trapped animal, Kinsleys gaze slid to the corner once more. If she kept being so damn obvious about it, the person in the corner was going to be forced to make a move.


    Kinsley, hello? I tried.


    Kinsley jumped. She fiddled with her hair, her legs dangling below the chair. Somehow, she forced a smile. So you think I should get it then? The perk?


    Yes. Now, if you have the feat points. I drummed my fingers on the table. This was burning precious time and the longer I waited, the more things were going to escte. Let me see the trade screen.


    My justification for enchanting the <strong></strong> instead of my crossbow was that I could always buy a new crossbow. But I needed one badly. The sights on mymon crossbow were terrible, and the target pration left much to be desired. Kinsleys stock had more than doubled, much of it far beyond my price range, but the options within my range were more numerous than before. There was a rare <strong>,</strong> which was a full-size crossbow enchanted with an aura of fear, but it was almost thirty-thousand Selve, and would thoroughly clean me out. Moreover, on further inspection, I was pretty sure it was manually cocked. The idea of elevating my targets fear level and using that elevated fear to make them more susceptible to <strong></strong> was enticing, but not enough so to upend my mobility.


    I narrowed the filters and searched specifically for the quick affix. And thats when I found it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: Dull silver and cold to the touch, this weapon is native to a mana-rich ne where temperatures never rise above freezing. Creatures struck with projectiles from this weapon will find their body heat slowly sapped away until the projectile is removed. </strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Umon</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: S20,000 </strong>


    The way youre looking at the item screen is really creepy, Kinsleymented.


    I quickly wiped the smile off my face. But it did nothing to diminish my delight. How was this thing umon? Granted, there were downsides. It didnt look overly reflective, but silver would be less stealthy than ck. Maybe I could find a covering for it. It would probably be useless on anything ice rted. But on regr flesh and blood enemies? It solved one of my primary misgivings of using the weaker crossbow. That being said, if I missed a kill shot, the small bolts and low energy were more likely to piss my target off than do any real damage. This actually incentivized non-lethal shots in situations where I was unlikely to score a one-hit kill. Anywhere particrly painfulgroin, nerve clusterswhere the target would have great difficulty removing the bolt. And if it was a critical hit, that was even better. A shot to the neck would leave my target with two options. Remove the bolt and bleed to death, or leave it in and freeze from the inside out.


    The best part? It had actual sights.


    Do you have any non-standard ammunition? Something barbed? I asked.


    No. Most of the tabs have updated inventory as Ive leveled, one at a time. Ammo hasnt been through rotation yet.


    Kinsley fidgeted, reminding me that there were other concerns and that my time was limited.


    I proceeded to buy in bulk, spending as much of my Selve as possible. I focused more on non-perishables, jerky, dried fruit, five bottles of cheap brandy and


    Kinsley, the toothpaste is right here. Under the iodine.


    The fuck? Kinsley squinted at the general goods tab. I swear I scrolled past that thirty times looking.


    Well, problem solved. I added an extra tube of toothpaste to my list and bought it. As I loaded my haul into my inventory, packing whatever wouldnt fit into separate bags, I was watching the young merchant out of the corner of my eye. Her small hands were sped together tightly, fingers turning white.


    I handed her the toothpaste, still holding the same empty smile. Questplete.


    Thanks Kinsley said. She took the tube with shaking hands.


    I had to admire how cold-blooded it was. Even if she was a terrible actress. Whatever fate was waiting for me when I left, she was using me to boost her trade level as much as she could before I was permanently out of her hair.


    I tilted my head slightly, looking in my peripheral for something I could use. There were two parallel shelves in the corner, one significantly more rickety and degenerated than the other. Another test case. Could I use Probability Spiral on something I held in my minds eye, without focusing on it? There was probably a range limitation, but I was within twelve feet of the corner.


    The inside leg of the shelf copsed, and Kinsley startled as it tipped over, crashing.


    I kicked the shotgun across the room, grabbed the crossbow off the table and spun, holding it straight out towards the fallen shelf and strafing counter-clockwise, distancing myself from the corner and cutting off the exit.


    Whats in the corner, Kinsley? I asked, my voice unnaturally calm, watching for any sudden movement out of my peripheral in case she tried to go for the shotgun. She was panicking but not moving. In the meantime I searched the mess of metal and boxes filled with paper, finger on the trigger, scanning for the outline of a person.


    Matt! Its nothing!


    Whats in the corner? I asked again.

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26


    I stared through the ring of the crossbows sight, keeping the pin trained at the center of the mess, waiting for the slightest movement, the smallest shift of paper. In the back of my head, I wondered if there was a chance Kinsley had intentionally misdirected me to the corner, so the source of the ambush coulde at me from another point of attack. I dismissed the thought. Its easy to be a good liar, incredibly difficult to convincingly act like a bad one.


    Talk to me, Kinsley, I said, still watching her out of the corner of my eye. Not going to hurt you, but I need to know what kind of shit youve gotten us into.


    I heard a sniffle that devolved into a series of huping sobs. Her hair covered her face. Theres no one in the corner its the vent.


    Immediately I looked up. There was a standard vent covering high up on the ceiling, five horizontal ts with the usual closing slide. It was on the smaller side for a duct, the air passage likely too tiny for anything but a squirrel to be hiding in.


    <em>Or a bug?</em>


    I hefted the fallen shelf out of the way. Carefully, tested my weight on the still-standing shelf before mbering up to get a look inside the vent while Kinsley seemed to settle herself, tears running silently.


    It was empty.


    Do you hear anything? Kinsley called over, as if she were afraid to hear the answer.


    No. I was thoroughly confused. There was nothing to find, and no room for anyone to slip by me. But she had looked so damn guilty. It was clear as day. Not even circting air. Kinsley, you wanna just tell me whats going on here instead of making me guess? You almost gave me a heart attack.


    Yeah, okay, <em>I</em> scared <em>you.</em> Its not your problem, you wont care. Kinsley said.


    She was wrong. Especially now, with the city on the verge of eating itself, anything thatpromised her was most assuredly my problem.


    Well, Im here, and no one else is. Might as well give it a shot.


    I was almost relieved when Kinsley red at me. The fire in her eyes faded, and she resumed her intense study of the floor. Ive been hearing noisesing through the vent.


    What kind of noises?


    Impacts. Grunts of pain. Someone being hit, over and over again. Her voice grew quieter with every passing word. I know theyre not real.


    Finally, the high-alert in my mind seemed to rx. I walked over to where she still sat on the dustyputer chair. Her whole body tensed. Then I crouched and pointed two fingers to my eyes. Look here.


    She did. Her brownish eyes were sunken into her head some, giving her a gaunt appearance. Uh-oh. Bending down to my level. Please dont say something nauseating and encouraging. The joke fell t.


    Im checking to see if you have a concussion.


    Oh.


    Id done this for Iris and Ellison several times over thest few years whenever theyd taken a nasty spill. It was just one of the things you picked up when going to the hospital was ast resort. Follow the tip of my finger. I held up a finger and moved it from side to side, making sure her eyes tracked it properly.


    Im fine. Felt a lot better after the health potion. Kinsley said, her expression exhausted.


    Well, you probably do. But apart from the fact that they speed up physical healing, we dont really know how they work. Or how good they are for head injuries. But so far, her eyes were tracking just fine. Any double-vision, random bouts of nausea?


    No, Dr. Matt. Kinsley said sarcastically.


    Any known history of schizophrenia in your family? I said in my best, dry doctor voice. At the mention of family, Kinsley went pale and immediately looked back towards the vent.


    <em>Careful. Treating her like your sister again.</em>


    Theres nothing really notable, except for epilepsy. Kinsleys eyes tracked to the vent.


    I let that hang. Sometimes saying nothing is better than saying something. By now, Kinsley knew what I was hinting at. Only she hadnt made any boisterous objections to the contrary. It wouldnt necessarily mean anything if she had, generally people with psychological issuestemporary or chronicare the fastest to tell you Im Fine. But theck of denial meant something. I wasnt sure what. And epilepsy had absolutely nothing to do with what we were talking about. So, I could only conclude that Kinsley brought it up for a reason.


    Eventually, she broke. Did you know, some people with epilepsy can drive?


    I didnt. I acknowledged the non-sequitur, prompting her to talk.


    If its been long enough since theyve had one. Three months, I think, or something. My Dad, had them since he was young. Never could get a license, but he could feel theming. Any time you hit your head during a seizure you run the risk of making them worse. So, hedy on his side on the couch and just kind of wait for them to pass. Kinsley rubbed at her arm, her lips tight. Anyway, it was getting better, you know? He switched to a new medication. Four months in between, instead of one or two.


    Get his license? I asked.


    Kinsley shook her head. No, but he was excited. nning to tryter this year.


    I looked back over at the vent, slowly putting it together. He went with you, didnt he?


    Kinsley shook her head. Im not sure how they found me. They seemed professional, and genuinely interested, going on about me having a gift. Dad was against it, but they were offering a stupid amount of money, and I threw a fit, so he gave in. When they realized I couldnt give them what they wanted, it went really bad Kinsleys mouth trembled, and she fell silent.


    There was a growl deep in my throat before I could stop it. They separated you. Worked on you one at a time. But the rooms were right next to each other. And Im guessing I looked over at the corner of the room, You could hear it.


    Kinsleyughed, the sound dark. I could hear everything. Its stupid. Like, they were hurting him. And all I could think was She trailed off.


    <em>Please dont hit him in the head.</em>


    Howd you get away? I asked.


    Kinsley wiped her eyes and cleared her throat loudly. I was holding on to a level. You know, theres a lot of choices, and it seemed important. I had a lot of time to think in there. n. I misread the door feat the first time. Didnt realize how good it was.


    I leaned back on the table with a sigh. And now youre sitting here in an empty warehouse, isted, going over it again and again despite knowinglogicallyits not your fault, wondering if theres anything you could have done differently.


    Kinsley was immediately defensive. I couldnt have used the doors to get him. Even if I used one to get to where they were holding him, theres a cooldown. And when I opened one, trying to get back and look, everyone was gone. And now I keep hearing it.


    I was less concerned about the hearing things now that I knew her history. It was probably a simplebination of trauma and stress. This type of environment would be stressful for any child, let alone one that had been through what Kinsley had. Id overestimated her, but only slightly. She was clearly resourceful, managed to escape, arm herself, stay hidden even though people were looking for her. She had all the earmarks of a survivor. The only difference, aside from her age, was that Kinsley hadnt been doing this as long as I had.


    And it was always hardest in the beginning.


    What do you want to do? I asked, baiting her slightly. You take that perk and youre golden. Credit me another week with the dungeon key, and Ill even scout ces for you, find somewhere isted where you wont be found.


    I cant be alone. Kinsleys expression grew dark. And I dont <em>want</em> to hide forever. I <em>want</em> to find out what happened to my Dad. And I want to find a way to hurt them. Even if Im not suited to it.


    Kinsley wouldntst if I left her here. I couldnt directly help with a ce to go. Our apartment was cramped enough as it was, housing someone who could effectively out me as a User was a terrible idea.


    But that just meant I had to be creative.


    Alright, lock in that perk and pack your shit. Put everything you can in your inventory, so we dont look like a target out there. I put my items back in mine as I mentioned it.


    What? Kinsley asked, shocked out of her funk.


    Also, well need some extra food if this is going to work. I considered. Preferably casseroles. The general goods tab have any casseroles?


    No. Why would you needNever-mind. Why are you helping me? Wait, no, how much are you charging me? Kinsley asked, lookingpletely bbergasted, trailing me around the table as I dismantled herputer.


    Im not. Charging you. I shrugged. More banking on acquiring an ally who, if everything goes right, will be one of the most wealthy, powerful people in this fucked up new ecosystem. Itll pay dividendster.


    What? Me? Kinsley squawked. How?


    That was the question. A lot of it depended on variables that were anything but predictable. But wed just gone from a setting where only a percentage of the poption needed merchants, to a situation where <em>everyone</em> did.


    Im still working on it. For now, we need to get you out of here, so you can stop ying middle-school Lady Macbeth.


    I understood that reference and youre a dick. Not to mention the most transactional person Ive ever met, Kinsley grumbled, finally kicking into gear and starting to throw her things into a backpack. Feels like dealing with Rumplestiltskin.


    Says the girl-scout selling cookies at the end of the universe. I was doing my best to distract her, keep her in the moment. Come on. Were on a timetable.


    The notification pinged in my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: The Cradle of Civilization</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Form the Foundation of the Merchants Guild.</strong>

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: The Cradle of Civilization</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Form the Foundation of the Merchants Guild.</strong>


    <strong>(1 of ???)</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Achieve the Primary Objective before greater violence erupts. </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ??? </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (L)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: ???</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Increased rtionship with Kinsley, Merchant. Allies within the Merchants Guild.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???</strong>


    It was a quest chain. My mind was firing on all cylinders as we grew closer to our destination, every thought a spiraling cascade of follow-up considerations and possible oues.


    There was a serious power imbnce at y between Users and civilians now. The only thing that was saving us was that most civilians were oblivious that the imbnce existed. Otherwise, the anarchy we were seeing would have been catastrophically worse. It wouldnt break out right away. But from what Id seen, the Users werent exactly being subtle, and the first civilian to pick up a gun and kill a User would likely send things into an irreversible spiral.


    You might be thinking that none of this is my problem. And youd be right. But as long as the dome was up, I had to live here. And Id much rather carve out my already difficult existence in a ce not entrenched in civil war.


    I cant believe you gave me a ck eye. Kinsley grinned impishly.


    I nearly missed a step. Shut <em>up</em>.


    With a hammer. Kinsley added seriously.


    I took a wide, long look around us to make sure no one had heard that, then red at her. The ck eyewhile merely a shadow of what she had when I met herwas dark red and pronounced.


    Thats a gross misrepresentation of what happened. <em>You</em> wanted to sell it. Not to mention, your idea was worse. Who asks for a punch to the face? I scoffed.


    Misgivings about hitting someone who had recently been through serious trauma aside, its a terrible idea to give yourself a ck eye by hitting your damn eye. Its trivially easy to screw up any number of anatomical bncing acts, messing up your vision or potentially losing it altogether. Id immediately refused the idea, then reconsidered. It had almost worked on me, after all, the first time I saw her. And that was like drawing sympathy from a stone.


    A ck eye would go a long way to presenting the image we wanted, and all youd really need to do was bruise the delicate surrounding skin.


    So, instead of punching her like some neanderthal, Id taken a trim hammer I found in one of the warehouse boxes andokay, rxgently tapped around her right eye. It was slightly ufortable, sure, but not painful. The weight did most of the work.


    There was the rickety sound of a shopping cart with three bad wheels. I reflexively stepped off the sidewalk and onto the grass, putting one hand out to tug Kinsley along with me. A man with sun-burnt skin and a dreamy smile came barreling around a corner with the cart at a full sprint, two freely spinning wheels bouncing off every patch of sidewalk.


    I nodded to him as he passed.


    Behind me, Kinsley shivered. Everyones losing it.


    No, thats just Greg.


    She looked up at me, shocked. You know him?


    Your family was, what? I side-eyed her. Middle ss? Upper-middle? Before all this.


    I dont know.


    Upper-middle, then. If this works out, youre going to have to learn how towork. People are resources. The more people you know and can call in favors from, the better off youll be.


    Kinsley frowned. Wouldnt it be better to just have a small group of people you trust?


    At first. Fewer people, less potential for things to go wrong. The problem is, more often than not that creates a dependency. You have a more limited perspective on the reality of things. And if youre overly reliant on a group, or worse, exclusively reliant on a single person


    Then its easy for them to take advantage of you. Kinsleys brow furrowed. Weird advice, considering who itsing from. Cant imagine you as anything besides a loner.


    I snorted. Rude. And youre conting friends with contacts. I may not have a lot of the former, but plenty of thetter I can call in favors from.


    Beep boop, robot man has no emotions and needs no friends. Kinsley shifted her arms in a mocking approximation of said robot.


    A spark of irritation went through me. Were almost there, try to look like someone beat you or something.


    With a hammer, Kinsley added. But said nothing after that.


    We had an ample view of the skyline as we walked. A single red re shot upwards, cresting over a small building and plummeting back down. There werent many people out, in my neighborhood. Judging from the lights, most of them were bunkering down, trying to stay out of the chaos. I thought of Nick, and, irritably, pulled out my phone to text him.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    That was interesting. Nick struggled with keeping things discreet, especially if he was excited. This seemed big. But there was nothing here to indicate what he was talking about, not even one of his signature hints.


    I wasnt certain how concerned to be.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I snapped the burner in half, tossing it in a nearby trash can. After the texting storm earlier this morning, it was in serious need of a refresh, and Id be home in less than an hour anyway.


    Im not saying you dont need friends, I finally said.


    Jeez, I really touched a nerve Kinsley started.


    I cut her off. But they canpromise you. Easily. Friends will always need people like us more than we need them. And especially when youre struggling to make it on your own, you shouldntmit to a friendship unless youre willing to make an allowance for that.


    It wasnt ego. I dont think Im better than anyone, or more elevated. But when you spend the majority of your life finding the solution for impossible problems, you get used to upying that space. A space that makes most people profoundly ufortable, sometimes paralyzed. It bes a second home to you.


    So you know my psychological history. Its only fair that I know yours, Kinsley hedged.


    Oh, is that how HIPAA works?


    Mhm.


    Well, I have a high chance of early onset dementia, I said wryly.


    Fine. Dont tell me then, Kinsley mumbled.


    I turned left, and she followed me into the poorly lit apartmentplex, three, or four blocks from mine. It was overdue for yearly maintenance by about a decade, with more paint chipped off than left on the walls. I walked under the paper-thin metal overhang, as I had many times before. Remember. Stay quiet. This sort of thing works better if you leave most of it to subtext.


    Kinsley said something I missed, but lowered her head, looking appropriately cowed.


    I knocked once on the door. Then again, with three short raps. No answer.


    <em>Of course. Whos going to answer the door in the middle of a riot?</em>


    I cleared my throat and raised my voice. Open up, Abuelita!


    The door opened immediately, clinking at the end of its chain. A short woman with dark skin and a cross face peered out. Matthias, you little Her eyes tracked to the groceries in my arms, then the small girl next to me. Hello there. The crossness in her voice disappeared.


    Kinsley lifted a bag of groceries in a half-wave.


    Did you hear what he called me? Im not even fifty. She said, only her eyes visible from behind the door.


    I heard, Kinsley scowled at me.


    Probably better to hurry this up. Professor Estrada, Kinsley. Kinsley, Professor Estrada. The only teacher to ever give me a B minus. I turned back to the cracked doorway. Shes a friend of a friend, helping with deliveries. Mind if wee in?


    She opened the door and I walked past her. Matthias, Im well-stocked. You should take all that to someone who needs it.


    Uh-huh. Im aware of what you consider well-stocked, professor.


    So disrespectful, Estrada clicked her tongue, but there was no malice in it. I half listened to her chat with Kinsley as I unpacked, shifting the small legion of pitchers filled with meal-recement shakes in the refrigerator aside for groceries.


    For a single person living alone, the apartment was cramped but clean. There wasnt much in terms of clutter or decorations, only a family picture lit by a single candle. Id always found it striking because the professor was actually smiling in it.


    Id signed up for a dual-credit history ss at themunity college in Rd, expecting it to be an easy addition to future applications. It wasnt. Estrada was one of those professors too brilliant to teach, the sort that expected their students to understand everything they did. I ended up dropping the ss but staying to audit, dodging the ck mark on my record but sticking around to talk to her, finding her insights more valuable than the credit. She had a way of applying her subject to the world atrge in a manner I found fascinating and oddly useful.


    Then she disappeared. The college was tight-lipped when I asked, overly so. When I finally tracked her down through abination of social media and old-fashioned footwork, I found a shell of a woman afraid to go outside who needed help with errands. Our conversations resumed. She never told me what happened. But I could guess.


    Like Estrada herself was fond of saying, the devil is always in the subtext.


    I wanted to go back to the dungeon soon, power through the fourth floor before the open forum. I had a n. The beginnings of one. But I needed someone to check it against, in case there was a chance Id make things worse. And there was no one better to talk to.


    Kinsley announced, a bit too loudly, that she needed to go to the bathroom.


    Professor Estradas arms were crossed as she watched Kinsley go. Shes hurting.


    I took up a spot next to her. Kind of obvious.


    Not just the eye. Estrada shook her head. Bodynguage, Matthias. Theres more going on there, under the surface.


    Thought you said your bachelors in psych was useless.


    Estrada snorted, then crossed the room into the kitchen and inspected the small bounty. Well, considering how everyone just started seeing strange screens and interfaces, Id say it got a lot more valuable. Whered you get all this, I thought everywhere was sold out?


    Got lucky. Kinsleys family is in distribution. That was the story wed agreed on beforehand, so there was no chance of Kinsley identally outing us.


    Estrada took a jar of pickles out of the fridge, inspecting it, then returned it to the shelf. She having trouble at home?


    Yes. I considered what to say next. The truth of it was, if Kinsley was allowed to stay, Id be killing two birds with one stone. Kinsley would be safe, it would be easier for her to coordinate with me without worrying about her being isted. And Estrada wouldunknowinglyhave a semi-permanent food supply. It was the correct call. But that didnt change the fact that she was one of the rare few people I hated lying to.


    I was about to open my mouth again when the professor beat me to it. She can stay here.


    Uh.


    Youre not hard to read. Estrada gave me a judgmental eyebrow.


    I chuckled. You might be, legitimately, the only person in the world who thinks that. Ill take care of the food. It wont be a burden on you.


    Wouldnt matter if it was. And its not like its the first time I took in one of your strays. Estrada looked at me knowingly.


    I grimaced. Iris stayed with her while Mom was going through withdrawal the first time. It wasnt a pleasant memory. One that was likely to repeat itself if I didnt get home soon.


    Estrada sat down at a small round table, picking up a pair of transparent-framed, half-rimmed sses and cing them on her nose. Then she steepled her fingers, and studied me. Come on, out with it. Theres something else you want to ask.


    I sat down across from her and crossed my arms beneath me, shifting forward. During the journey over here, Id been thinking about how to phrase this exact question. I wasnt a history buff, as it didnt factor much into standardized testing. But I knew some. And there was really only one event that met the bill in terms of the potential for unimaginable violence.


    A theoretical. Im a young noble inte 17th century France, one particrly attached to the idea of keeping his head on his shoulders. I rubbed my neck. How the hell do I stop the French Revolution?

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28


    Estradas first, somewhat unhelpful rmendation, was to quietly assassinate either Rousseau or Voltaire. After some back and forth, she conceded it was probably safer to kill both. When we moved on from the idea of murdering philosophers, the conversation became much more useful.


    But it had the overall effect of highlighting to me exactly how difficult my position was. Other than Daphne andI assumedher father, I didnt know any of the major yers or factions. They would be forming soon, if they hadnt already. And to pull this off, I would need to know all of them, better than I knew myself.


    And that meant I needed all the help I could get.


    I stepped inside the apartment. Ellison was quietly snoring, sprawled out on the couch. Iris sat at the edge of the couch next to his feet, quietly doodling in her notebook.


    I thumped twice on the wall. They both stirred and looked over.


    Iris looked up and gave me a little wave.


    Youre just going to walk in all casual-like, as if the worlds not falling apart again? Ellison asked.


    Its the second time in a week, figured youd be used to it. Anything in the dumpsters?


    No. All the bottles were bone dry.


    Okay, dont worry about it. Family meeting in fifteen minutes. I signed the words Family Meeting in case Iris had missed the lipread.


    She signed back in excitement, <em>Are we working on something together again? Is it something to do with the screens? </em>


    Ellison rubbed thest of the sleep out of his eye. Dont get too excited. It always getsplicated if Matts calling the shots.


    Everyones a critic, I said. I rifled my inventory until I found a gallon jug of water and pulled it out.


    Were not gonna talk about how you literally just pulled drinking water out of your ass? Ellison said.


    Later.


    Hes being all cagey again, I heard Ellison convey to Iris. Then, Wait, where are you even going?


    Dealing with mom, I said.


    /////


    Mom wasnt doing great. The shaking was mainly in her arms and shoulders, though it seemed difficult for her to sit still. It was possible the level of enthusiasm she was disying was disguising how bad it really was.


    As you know, Mom continued, the intes been unreliable.


    Putting it mildly, I said.


    And we need it for almost everything. So, I was searching for alternatives. Anything that the local government might have thrown up to keep vital services online. Anything that we might be able to piggyback off of.


    And?


    I found something thoroughly different. Its local, but stupidly advanced. She pointed to the screen with a single, trembling finger. I bent down, trying to get a look at the multi-colored text. It was almost entirely greek to me. Except for one, single word embedded deep in the code.


    <em>uros</em>


    I think youre on the right track. I said.


    Mom stilled, then typed something iprehensible into the boxes. Its too fast to be anything normal. As far as I can tell, its designed as a recement for the inte. And it looks as if its still updating. There are several features that havent been implemented yet. Some I cant parse at all. But others are fairly obvious, some sort of overall ranking. something for text and voicemunication


    Themunication alternative stuck out to me. I remembered what the Allfather of Chaos had said about the transposition. Whatever it was, whoever was driving this, the goal wasnt total destruction. It was a change of some kind.


    How do we use it? I asked.


    I dont know, Mom admitted, then picked up speed again. I couldnt force implement any of it. Theres a wholeyer of this thatspletely untouchable, but another section that looks like its designed for hosting. So I started working. The codingnguage is again, she ascended into the higher level of IT that I could only nkly nod at.


    I waited until after an overly obtuse description to chime back in. So what exactly does that mean for us?


    She balled her shaking hands into fists, and held them up to her face. It means I got it running!


    Holy shit. I couldnt believe the level of progress shed made. Id expected her to take a look, poke around at the very most, then talk about how it was too difficult.


    Only one problem.


    <em>Ah. There it is.</em>


    She pulled up a string of numbers that looked suspiciously like an IP. This is the address. But I cant ess it.


    <em>Hold on.</em> I pulled up my system screen and sorted through the tabs. There were several that were non-functional, but only one that was non-functional and opened a nk window. There was no way to input text, but maybe


    The numbers appeared as I thought of them into the screen itself.


    Do you have a little, circr ouroboros on your system screen? I asked.


    Mom looked at theputer, then stared back at me in confusion.


    The one in your head. I prompted.


    Oh! Let me look. To be honest, Ive kinda been ignoring it. Thought I was hallucinating until Ellison asked me about it.


    I waited for her to catch up, then, one mentalmandter, and the mock-up site appeared directly in front of my face. Mom stood up in shock, likely seeing the same thing. I high-fived her.


    Youre an actual genius, I smiled. She grinned back. Then her smile ebbed.


    Matthias, I


    I sighed,ing back to the reality of it. Yeah, I know, you dumped everything.


    How


    Ellison told me.


    I just think it''s the best way


    Its not. I grabbed both the gallon of water and the small ss cup and ced them on the table in front of her. Then I pulled one of the bottles of gin from my inventory. Her eyes went to it immediately, though she wrinkled her nose.


    I rolled my eyes, and poured half a ss. Yes, I know how you feel about gin. No, I dont care. This isnt for your personal enjoyment. If you want to change, it starts here. A queer feeling settled in my stomach as I handed it to her. It felt wrong. The dark part of me wondered if maybe, if she went through withdrawal the way she wanted and survived, the memory of the difort would be enough to drive her from it.


    But Id never liked that part of me, much.


    Mom sipped, then gulped. Her eyes grew ssy, more rxed, and the shaking in her arms slowed. Taperings never worked before.


    It was a subtle request for encouragement. She knew better than to ask for it. I knew how this would end. Yet, I found myself speaking anyway.


    Well, maybe youve never been properly motivated. It was hard to keep the words from sounding bitter. I looked down. The light around her ankle monitor had turned red, indicating a lost connection. I fished around in a nearby drawer, drawing out a pair of scissors. Our world is about to change in a big way. Everythings getting reset. You can be whoever the hell you want to be. Youre always talking about how youve never had a chance, since the hearing. Since Dad. And that, if you were given that opportunity, you would change. Well, this is it. I have a line on something, andno way around itIt would be easier with your help. I leaned against her desk, folding my arms. So, you have two options. Either I give you the rest of the bottles now, and you go on a return bender for the rest of the apocalypse


    Mom was already shaking her head.


    Or we do this right. Tapering. Then meds to deal with the cravings. And you help me, Iris, and Ellison make sure that however this thing shakes out, we allnd somewhere better than here. I hesitated, then held the scissors out to her, keeping my face neutral.


    <em>This is thest time.</em>


    Mom reached out with a shaky hand. She took the scissors from me and snipped through the stic strap of the ankle monitor. It ttered to the floor.


    /////


    Alright kids, nning time. I maneuvered the rolling base slowly, careful not to scrape against the wall. The nearbymunity center where we held family meetings was decrepit enough as it was. It was usually closed thiste at night, but Ellison had picked the lock, letting us in.


    Id barely gotten into the room before I heard Ellison groan. Oh god, hes got the whiteboard. Iris punched him, and he grumbled at her incessantly. Then I saw them both fall silent as Mom entered behind me, carrying theptop under her arm.


    Is she uh helping? Ellison asked.


    <em>Be nice,</em> Iris signed.


    Were going to need some extra hands on this one, yes. I drew the words OPEN FORUM, at the top of the board.


    Then everyone but me jumped as a blue door appeared in the wall.

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29


    Kinsley stared at my family, filled with sudden stage fright. Still, even after only a few hours out of the storehouse, she looked significantly less exhausted. A long shocked silence hung over the office room in the Community Center. She nced at the whiteboard, still empty except for OPEN FORUM scrawled at the top.


    Youre really using a whiteboard, huh? Kinsley asked.


    Thats what I said, Ellison responded immediately.


    What just happened? Mom asked, shaking her head slightly. She hadnt recovered as quickly as my siblings at the sudden appearance of a strange girl with a ck eye by way of a magical blue door.


    Iris waved at Kinsley, an impressed look on her face, and Kinsley waved back.


    Well talk about that. I couldnt afford to give them all time to process what was happening. We had work to do. I know weird shit has been happening, but this isnt really any different than when Ellison broke his arm.


    My moms bewilderment hadnt waned. You guys have done this before?


    Yeah, Mom. I rubbed the back of my neck in annoyance. How do you think we came up with money for the bill? Her face flushed, a clear internal judgment on her failure as a mother going through her mind. She didnt ask anymore questions, just nodded gently. Wed done this many times, but this was her first time seeing it. Survival required nning, and it was something our family was good at.


    I gave introductions as quickly as I could, taking a moment to point out to Kinsley that Iris was deaf, to make sure to speak in her direction and annunciate if she wanted Iris to understand.


    As you all probably know by now, were locked in. However, thats not all. Distribution, shipments, everything else, is locked out. Thats why the shelves are bare. People are hungry and desperate, and its only going to get worse.


    Im guessing this is when we finally get the exnation for your miracle haul? Ellison asked, still watching Kinsley.


    Im getting to that. I drew out the words USER and CIVILIAN on the whiteboard. Iris, pull up your screen for a moment. Can you tell me what you see? Iris fiddled with the screen for a minute.


    <em>Quests, Inventory, and several nk spots.</em> Iris signed as she scrolled through.


    I listed them under the Civilian category.


    Kinsley, I asked, can you list what you see?


    Kinsley gave me a subtle nod. Id had a short conversation with her before we left Estradas, and she assured me she wouldnt say anything to give me away.


    Quests, Inventory, Character, Store. Kinsley recited.


    Ellison immediately perked up at the mention of a store. So shes a merchant? If were going by game terms.


    Yes, youre smart. Stop skipping ahead, I rolled my eyes, The more important differentiation is the Character screen. Kinsley can upgrade. Gain abilities.


    Iris signed something to me, wide eyed. I repeated it aloud, so everyone could hear it. Yes, like the door she came in with. Every User, from what I understand, has a ss, personal statistics, and abilities they can gain through an in-game system. Mom still looked a bit bewildered as she watched my seemingly unphased siblings take it all in.


    How do you be a User? Ellison asked.


    No clue, I answered. From what Kinsleys told me, it started happening randomly to a decent chunk of the poption after the meteor hit, and the dome appeared.


    <em>Wasnt Ellison under the weather that day?</em>


    I cocked my head, at first annoyed at the interference from <strong></strong> until I realized it wasnt wrong. Iris had told me about it. But it wasnt exactly a normal day for anyone, and it was possible his reaction had simply been stress. Still. I peered at Ellison, then nced at Iris and my mother. Just to be clear, no one has a Character screen except for Kinsley, correct?


    There was a chorus of affirmatives. No weird behavior. Ellison was a better liar than Kinsley, but he was young and still had a tell. A leg bounce that only manifested when he was profoundly ufortable. I watched him carefully, and he didnt look ill-at-ease in the slightest.


    In fact, he looked a little angry. So what youre saying is, theres a group of people who are basically going to be gods, or superheroes, and theyre not us. We get the shit end of the stick. Per usual.


    Out of my extended peripheral, I saw my mother wilt a bit.


    No, I smiled. For perhaps the first time ever, were in the <em>majority.</em> Now, granted, we dont know how many Users are actually out there. But theres more of us than there are of them. And we have a serious advantage.


    <em>Your friend?</em> Iris signed. She was antsy, and looked like all she wanted to do was chat with a girl her age.


    Enter Kinsley, I pointed to her. I met Kinsley a few days ago, and helped her out of the goodness of my heart


    Kinsley bit off augh. Ellison snorted. My mother was looking pointedly away, with her hand to her mouth.


    Iris signed, <em>She bribed you with food.</em>


    I put a hand to my forehead. Cant even make a jokeYes, she bribed me with food. <em>Anyway,</em> Kinsley was in something of a tough spot. Basically, the Users didnt like the fact that they couldnt pick their currency for her store.


    Thats where Selve factors in, Ellison realized.


    Yes. But considering the current situationthe supply line issue, everything cut off by the domemerchants are a new natural resource. Which brings me to my next point. The vacuum. I drew a dor sign with a down arrow, and a selve symbol with an up arrow. Traditional stores are cleaned out. Employers cant pay their employees. If things continue as they are, you wont be able to buy anything with dors. Users are going to realize that soon, if they havent already. A new economy will form, centered around merchants. Does anyone see the issue?


    Eventually, my mother spoke. ess. Fuck.


    Iris missed it, but Ellison stared at her, startled.


    Mom continued. Thats why youre so focused on the idea of an online market anyone can ess. Any organized group of Users is going to monopolize ess to merchants. You dont get ess to their merchant unless you work for them, probably for pennies on the doror Selve, rather. But what sort of work would they even be paying them to do?


    Every so often, I forgot how smart she was when she wasnt drunk out of her mind..


    I dont know, I admitted. Probably something particrly unsafe. Oshas likely going out the window. Modern-daypany towns. The only problem is, theres more of us than there are of them. And no one iscent with how things are. People will eventually get angry.


    Okay, Ellison rubbed his face, stretching out his skin. I get the concept in theory. We get an online market set up, we prevent price fixing and price gouging, possibly avert an uprising. But what, exactly, is in this for us? He pointed over to Kinsley. Shes the one who stands to benefit the most.


    Kinsley, to my surprise, showed some backbone. She stepped in front of me. Youll all be high-level employees, getting in on the ground floor. As long as its not an attempt at arbitrage, I can award Selve through quests and legitimate contracts. Preferable discounts and percentages at the store.


    <em>And more ice cream?</em> Iris signed.


    Iris wants to work ice cream into her contract, I deadpanned.


    No, Mom said.


    Well talkter, Kinsley smiled at Iris.


    Before I go into the n, is everyone onboard? I asked.


    Everyone nodded.


    I turned back to the board. Okay. The open forum. Its happening outside of City Hall in two days. Outside, I assume because theyre expecting a considerable turnout. Everyones scared, everyone has questions.


    If I was the leader of a group of Users, thats where Id be. Recruiting, advertising merchant ess, maybe even showing it off. Ellison tapped his fingers on the table.


    I nodded, and wrote the words Factions, Recruitment, Merchant ess, and Message. We want to know as much of this as we can, for as many of the groups as we can. If there are any groups it might be possible to work with in the future, we want to know that. Ellison, your... uh, your overly long acronym thing.


    L-B-W-L-A-A-Q-H-N-I-I-H-T-A-T-O-O-B, Ellison rattled off.


    Ellison had a few different personas he could slip into, depending on the task at hand, but I was pretty sure that one would fit best. Yeah, that would be perfect for this.


    What the heck is that? Kinsley asked, looking between us dubiously.


    Lost boy who lingers and asks questions hes not interested in hearing the answers to out of boredom, Ellison rattled off smugly.


    Be careful. Generally, we shouldnt discuss anything rted to what were doing while were at the event. Anyone with an elevated Perception will have excellent hearing. On that topic, I nced at Iris, We want to get an idea of how the Users are talking to each other when they think no ones listening.


    <em>Lipreading duty?</em>


    Bring your sunsses. And if were lucky, recon will only be a small part of this. Mom, I looked over at her, and she leaned forward. Coordinate with Kinsley. I know its a lot to ask, considering, but is there any chance you can get the site up and running by the day after tomorrow?


    Assuming I dont hit any snags. Mom said, a bit too quickly.


    Then we should be golden.


    And what will you be doing? Ellison asked me.


    In the immediate future? I rubbed the back of my neck again. My body was still sore everywhere from the days excursion. Crashing. Im exhausted. Got something most of tomorrow.


    Specifically, the fourth floor of the dungeon. Maybe the fifth as well, if the fourth wasnt astronomically difficult. Id upgraded significantly, with the crossbow. There was really no reason not to go back. Especially when I considered we still didnt know why this was happening, and there were likely people who had done nothing but gain XP and level, there was really no excuse when I had my own private staging ground.


    It was an adaptive dungeon, and Id handled myself well. The fourth floor was likely to be difficult, but not beyond me.


    I hoped.

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Anotherplication.</em>


    I immediately hit no on the prompt.


    It was impossible to be certain of how the guild screen functioned, god forbid if there was some sort of roster. If the leaderboard in the adaptive dungeon was any indication, it probably wouldnt show my name, but there was a solid chance it would list me with question marks.


    Which would look preternaturally suspicious. The only reason Id gotten away with it in the dungeon was because Brett wasnt all that interested, and it only listed two members, which if he had been paying attention, he would likely assume was him and Audrey.


    Unfortunately, I had only just dismissed the prompt when I heard Kinsley exim. Hell yes, I want to form a guild.


    Invite us, then, Ellison said, packing his notebook back into his backpack.


    Again with the notes, Ellison? I asked.


    Yeah, I know. Just going to read over them one more time, and theyre gone.


    I held out my hand, and he scowled but handed me the notebook. I ripped the offending pages out and handed him the notebook. Giving Kinsley an overly civil smile, I proceeded to shred the paper slowly. To her dubious credit, she seemed to realize her mistake.


    Uh, uh, maybe we should hold off on the guild until we have a better idea of what were doing. Kinsley backed towards her doorway.


    On the contrary. My mother came up behind Kinsley and put a hand on her shoulder. It would be good to have us all grouped together and to at least test what the screen is capable of. The more we learn about the system, the more well be able to use it.


    I stared at Iris, myst hope, begging her to help me.


    <em>I want to be in Kinsleys guild!</em> My sister signed.


    Iris wants to be in your guild, I tranted, my voice dead. Now I had toe up with a legitimate sounding reason I couldnt join, shining an unnecessary spotlight directly on me. The exact situation Id been trying to avoid.


    Okay then, Kinsley said, sending me a silent apology.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    But there was a dropdown menu below the prompt that caught my eye.


    <strong></strong><ol><li>User: ???, ss: ???, LVL: ???</li><li>User: Matt, ss: NPC, LVL: N/A</li></ol>


    Huh. Was that from <strong></strong> or something else? It could possibly be <strong></strong> as it promised a unique interaction with the perk. That opened many doors for me, now that I thought about it. I had no idea if there was a cap on the number of guilds you could join, but if there was, I would put money on the likelihood that those limitations no longer applied to me.


    Kinsley shifted back and forth nervously. Uh, Matt might join uster, I think he wants to leave flexibility in case theres an opportunity at the open forum.


    <em>Better. But your delivery and tone are way off.</em>


    Ellison, previously inspecting the new screen, had stopped to watch us, his expression clearly suspicious. That was nothing new. I was likely more open with my siblings than most older brothers, but I kept them out of the loop fairly often. Especially when it came to business.


    I shook my head. Nah. Moms right. Any information we have could help us.


    Kinsleys eyes widened to saucer size. But


    I selected the second option. Text began to scroll.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Ellison snorted, then startedughing.


    <em>Whats so funny</em> Iris signed.


    Sorry. The NPC thing. He nced over his shoulder at mom and lowered his voice. And the idea of mom being in a guild with us. Its kind ofme.


    Iris put a hand to her mouth.


    Kinsley was ncing back and forth between me and what, I assumed, was an invisible screen, her mouth turned downward in clear confusion. Huh. It looks like I can share a quest. But Im not sure what the benefit would be. It mainly awards XP.


    Might as well try it. Mom shrugged.


    Everyone got a modified version of the <strong></strong> quest. The primary difference was that <strong></strong> reced <strong></strong> and none of the niche rewards, such as my <strong></strong> were present. That made me wonder what the vocations were, and whether civilians were capable of holding them. It didnt make sense that they couldnt, really, they seemed overly dependent on Users as it was.


    ept the quest if you want. Mom, get with Kinsley to find out what she needs for the marketce. If we cant get the online orders working through her contracts, none of this matters.


    On it. Mom smiled. Her crows feet still stood out on her sweat-sheened skin, but there was no question she looked better than before. It was only a question of how long it wouldst. Everyone else, lets call it for now.


    Then something happened I didnt expect. Iris stood from her seat and bee-lined over to Kinsley. She started to sign, then stopped out of frustration. With a sigh, I started making my way over to trante.


    Thank you for helping us, Iris said aloud.


    I stopped. In my peripheral, I saw Ellison and Moms heads turn sharply. It wasnt unprecedented. At Iriss own request, Id spent hundreds of hours working with her, maybe thousands, to help her with her inflection. Id tried to tell her that it didnt matter that anyone who cared or looked down on her wasnt worth talking to anyway, but Iris was determined. As such, her speaking voice was excellent. It just wasnt perfect. Sporadically the monotone still came through.


    And kids are cruel.


    I think what broke Iris wasnt so much that they made fun of her voicethough they didmore that it felt, to her, like all her effort and time spent was wasted. She almost exclusively signed now, even around us.


    Iris was visibly nervous, shaking some, as she took Kinsleys hand. I dont know many girls my age, so, maybe we can hang out sometime?


    Kinsleys eyes flitted to me, and I knew she was thinking about our conversation earlier that evening. I gave her a minute shrug. Iris did this, from time to time. Imprinted on someone because she held them on a pedestal in her mind, ovemitted to friendships that had a tendency of not panning out.


    <em>Up to you.</em>


    Iris, oversensitive as she was, picked up on Kinsleys hesitation immediately and let her hand drop. Sorry


    Kinsley grabbed Iriss hand as it fell and gave her a horrifically awkward handshake. Still, everyone else in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief.


    Everyone my age hates me, so, yeah, it would be nice. Kinsley red at me. Plus, the only person Ive had to talk to over thest few days is him.


    Oof, Ellison said. I ruffled his hair mercilessly.


    /////


    I had more than a few health potions, my new crossbow, and a much more rounded skill set after the third floor. Still, as much as I wanted to go home and sleep, I needed to spend some time experimenting with what I could do before I could reasonably go back to the dungeon. I climbed a fire-escape on themunity center. It was arge enough building that there wasnt an easy ce to look down at it unless you had a telescope. From there, I cast <strong></strong> over and over again. It seemed to work best on things that were somewhat old. For instance, there was a newly installed stop-sign at the end of the street that I couldnt do anything to topple, no matter how much I visualized it falling over.


    However, when I shifted my focus to the bolts that held the stop-sign itself, I found much greater sess. I imagined them loosening over time, and one after another, they popped off until the sign itself hung downward. Gravity was my friend, and targeting small objectsor rather, specific parts ofrger objectsseemed to be my best bet.


    Leg-muscles, or any supporting limb in the case of non-humans, were a solid target. I knew that much from experience, but I was finally starting to understand why.


    I used <strong></strong> on many people who passed below, with theadmittedly thinjustification that I was also using the attached emotion to calm them. Some were susceptible, some werent. This led me to an interesting discovery.


    There was a balding man who, judging from the wide and creatively utilized applications of gendered slurs, was angry at his girlfriend who lived in the apartment across from my rooftop. He yelled for her toe out, and when she didnt, he had, apparently, decided to take out said anger on her car with a tire iron. I sent amand, suggesting he target the drivers side mirror. He did. Then I pointed out how shiny and new the hubcaps looked, and watched, in mild amusement, as he took them off one by one and stomped them. I gave him the idea to use them as frisbees, hurling them up in the air as hard as he could, trying to get one tond on the apartment rooftop.


    He only ignored me twice. Once, when I tried to stop him from prying the hood open, so he could do serious damageI had to divert him to the trunk instead. And again when the calming emotion I was attaching to the orders finally got through. The effect seemed so strong I wondered if it was cumtive. But once he waspletely calm, I could barely even get through to him, even to direct him around a puddle of water on the street rather than through it.


    Smart targets were an issue, and there were some people who were more receptive to images than spoken thoughts, but an overly calm target was unsusceptible as well.


    I was feeling more than a little tapped out after all the repetition, but I wasnt done. I needed to work on my aim with the crossbow as well.


    /////


    After returning from the rooftop, I spent most of the evening working with Audrey. Despite my somewhat contrived fears to the contrary, she had no problem eating store bought meat. It didnt seem to matter whether it was fresh or not, as long as it wasyou guessed itmeat. As I fed her, I used what little was left in my Suggestion reserve to convey survival concepts. What to do if I was knocked unconscious, and so on. I wasnt entirely sure she would remain summoned if I was unconscious, but better safe than sorry. Imunicated what I knew about bodynguage. If I was eventually going to get some sort of tote to carry her around in, I wanted her to be as effective an early warning system as possible.


    At some point, I fell asleep.


    When I entered the dungeon the next day, I was mostly confident, even after Id pressed the button. I had <strong></strong> equipped in the title slot, with the cooldown expended.


    It was only when the elevator had been moving for some time that I realized.


    <em>One of the cages is empty.</em>

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31


    I stared at the empty cage as I rose. The massive white wolf, big enough that its flesh and fur were practically bursting out of the bars, was gone. The creepy, ck-silhouetted woman was still there, one tendril reaching out towards me again. But the wolf was gone.


    What? What the fuck? How was this adaptive? How was this fair?


    <em>It got tired of my bullshit and decided to kill me.</em> I fought back the panic, pulling in deep breaths, mentally listing things that I knew. The first floor bonus was Intelligence. The Second was Perception. Third wasfuck, what was the third?


    I pulled up my stat sheet. Audrey tugged at me, sensing something was wrong but not understanding what. I felt her send me an empty thought, tagged with calm.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Level: 6</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 10</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 15</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 11</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye.</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 9. Suggestion, LVL 12. One-handed, LVL 6.</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Omnivorous Flower Hybrid. Bond LVL 3.</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 452 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    I stared at the numbers, trying to make sense of them and remember what exactly had changed. My thoughts were frayed, filled with the image of the massive white wolf snapping its teeth at me on that first ride up the elevator.


    Audrey tugged at me again, and I mindlessly stroked her petals, trying desperately to think.


    It wasThats right. It was Willpower. Which for some reason hadnt hurt muchme or Brettwhen we received the bonus. I hadnt paid much attention to the bonus rewards because they hadnt perfectly fit. The Flowerfangs were easier to deal with once I identified how to separate them with Perception, yes, but they would have been just as trivial with high Strength or just my own existing intelligence if I was a traditional caster. Agility was a factor in that fight as well.


    The third floor was even more coincidental. Willpower seemed like a natural fit because of how it tied into summoning, and Audrey had been a crucial part of my sess on that floor. But what if I hadnt taken the Ordinator branch at all? Rather the long range, or god-forbid, melee options. Willpower wouldnt have factored at all.


    I realized that I was pressing the button for the lobby floor over and over again, and stopped myself, gritting my teeth. I wanted to title-swap already, get the edgy little presence that was <strong></strong> out of my damn head. But no. I had no idea what the flooryout would be, and if there were traps, or something about it that wasnt immediately apparent, I needed to know.


    <em>Fuck.</em>


    Maybe. Audrey had warned me about the Gnolls when we first set foot on the third floor. I used <strong></strong>sending Audrey a mental image of the winter wolf tagged with urgency, hoping shed seen it before. She visibly shivered, but shook her head.


    <em>FUCK. </em>


    Okay. Think.


    Maybe


    <em>Perhaps the rewards are based on how I solved the floor, not necessarily on how the floor adapted. The bonuses havent repeated, meaning each floor tends towards a certain solution, but have several ways they can be solved. What''s even left?</em>


    <em>Strength</em>


    <em>Toughness</em>


    <em>Agility</em>


    <em>Companionship</em>


    My heart sank. Of the remaining possibilities, there was only one I was confident in. Agility. Meaning, I had a twenty-five percent chance of getting something I could probably handle, a seventy-five percent chance of getting something with a solution likely tailored to my weakest stats.


    And I already had a clue of what it would be. The albino wolf was huge, terrifying. Likely faster than me. The reward was almost guaranteed to be either Strength, or Toughness.


    Wait, how much of this was even me thinking now? None of this had urred to me while I was using <strong></strong> and thinking, rather in depth, about the dungeon.


    <em>None of this helps. Ill be thinking myself in circles until the elevator opens.</em>


    Environment. The Gnolls were in a fantasy castle. The Flowerfangs in a verdant field. So, the winter wolf would be


    I stared at Audrey. How do you do in the cold?


    Audrey, still shivering, sent me back a mental image of the seasons changing and flowerfangs burrowing underground. It was tagged with fear.


    Cold bad. It slows. Audrey said.


    I made a split second decision, threw on my hoodie and pulled the neck backwards, forming an opening. Lash yourself around me with your mobility vines. Try not to show yourself unless it looks like Im in trouble. If I am, Ill need you.


    Audrey scaled up to my shoulder and hesitated. But my thorns


    Doesnt matter, I said immediately. As long as youre not intentionally hurting me, the shielding wont interfere, right?


    After a long hesitation, Audrey said, I think so.


    Then go. I gritted my teeth as she crawled down the back of my hoodie. Audrey did as instructed, vines looping around my arms and neck


    Waist, Audrey, not neck!


    S Sorry. She settled. Her thorns didnt cut into the armor much, but I could feel the tiny pins of pressure. If I fell even slightly wrong, I was going to be in a world of hurt. But a little pain was better than being without a summonpletely.


    The doors opened and a frigid, razor-sharp gale of wind blew in, pinioning me against the back of the cage. I squinted through raised arms, checking to see if by some miracle it was still open. I felt Audrey press tighter against my neck as we battled the wind, pushing hard to get even a step of distance. Snow whipped against my neck, my cheeks, my ankles, every tiny patch of uninsted skin painfully aware, contrasting with the oppressive, creeping chill of frost that covered the rest of me.


    The tempest slowed as I pushed out of the lift and into a gray darkness. My eyes adjusted. The arena, if one could call it that, was a t wastnd of ice, interspersed with mountainous terrain that called to mind the top of a mountain. I tried to circle behind the lift and found that I wasnt far off, a contiguous ledge continuing on from either side. There was only one viable direction to head in. Straight ahead.


    I removed the crossbow from the ring on my thigh. It somehow felt warmer to me now, perhaps some aspect of the magic within.


    I pushed through the snow, trying to avoid the deeper section, but still sinking in up to my calf from time to time, my body temperature dropping rapidly as I struggled my way through.


    <em>Twenty minutes is all your body can take, not factoring in the time it will take you to get back to the elevator. </em>


    It was helpful information to have. And apparently, this situation was dire enough that <strong></strong> had deigned to dial down the snark. Still, the idea ofsting even twenty minutes in here was harrowing. And if I was forced to fight in the deepening snow, I wasnt sure all the Agility in the world could save me.


    Without the warning buzz of <strong></strong> its hard to say whether I would have noticed it at all. I lowered myself into a crouch, hunting for the source. In the past, it had only activated when I was being actively hunted.


    Then I saw it. A strangely formed slope where snow umted unnaturally, moved with the wind unnaturally. It took a full thirty seconds of staring to realize what I was looking at.


    The albino white wolf from the cages. It was curled up in a ball in the center of an embankment. I saw a glimpse of its scarlet red eye from between a barely closed eyelid.


    A gust of the ever-changing wind blew up from behind me and felt like it forced its way through, rather than past me. The scarlet eye flicked open. I saw the wolf rise sluggishly, its nose panning in my direction as its breast heaved.


    And in terms of size, it was really more bear than wolf.


    <em>The </em><strong><em></em></strong><em> probably wont be as effective against this as it would have been against the Gnolls. Theres no way a fantasy-style winter wolf doesnt have some form of cold resistance. But the more bolts Ind, the more quickly the target loses heat. And its not like it has opposable thumbs. It cant just pull the bolts out. I just need to get as many shots on target as possible.</em>


    It was possible. It wouldnt have been if I hadnt upgraded. The effective range of this crossbow wasnt much longer, maybe fifteen to twenty feet, rather than themon crossbows ten. But it was far more urate.


    And it was far easier tond shots on a target that wasnt moving.


    I reached out to the Winter Wolf with <strong></strong> intending to transmit an image of the empty tundra and feelings of exhaustion.


    To say that I met resistance would be an understatement. A wave of grief and rage shattered the connection, gracing me with a splitting headache. The wolf stood immediately, and next to the imprint of her body were three motionless pups.


    <em>Not good.</em>


    She bared her teeth at me. An overwhelming fear rose in my gut, so violently I traded <strong></strong> for <strong></strong> immediately. Calm fell over me, panic trapped beneath.


    With careful effort, I raised the crossbows sights to my eye, and fired.

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32


    A bolt shredded through the wolfs coat, leaving a line of red across its shoulder. A graze. Not nearly good enough. If my crossbows enchantment was going to have any discernible effect, I needed to startnding hits center mass. Which would be easier if the creature wasnt so god-damned fast.


    <em>Massive, quick, probably horrifically strong.</em>


    It charged straight at me. My crossbow whirred, my senses elevating to the point where time seemed to slow down, yet it was nearly enough. There could be no fumbling, as I had on the other floors. A single mistake would mean death, or grave injury, whichin a situation like this, was much the same.


    I multitasked. A tendril of <strong></strong> aimed at the trunk of a dead tree that sat directly between us. I wasnt confident in using any of my abilities on the wolf directly. Whatever the reason for the wolfs resistanceelevated intelligence or something baked inThe psychic bacsh from <strong></strong> was significant, and I wasnt certain if Probability Spiral would react the same way. An ear-shattering crack rang out over the clearing, and a ring of wood around the tree visibly fractured. The damage urred higher up than I expected, causing a section of the tree to fall more slowly, more in time with the charging wolf.


    I loaded the bolt, taking aim. This needed to hurt. The wolf was clearly intelligent, but it was enraged, trying to end this as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for me, if I didnt find a way to divert its aggression, it probably would.


    I kept the bead of the crossbow slightly above the wolfs chest, exhaled slowly, and pulled the trigger.


    Bullseye. The bolt sunk deep, and the monster let out a roar. It was still cognizant enough to jump backwards from the falling tree, but now there was an obstacle between us. Id bought myself some space, but not much. I needed more. Somewhere high up with elevation. But there was nothing around us but trees and snow. And I didnt trust myself to climb a tree while a bear-sized wolf was breathing down my neck.


    <em>Look at how the tree fell.</em>


    Because of how the trunk cracked higher, the tree had fallen at a right angle, forming something of a ramp. If I got up enough speed, I might be able tounch off it, hoisting myself into the branches of something nearby.


    The wolf had recovered from the falling surprise and switched its direct aggression for a more methodical, predator-like stalk. If anything, it appeared to be giving me far too much caution, considering the size difference. The wolf sniffed at the tree as it circled.


    <em>It put together that the tree didnt just fall on its own.</em>


    It was equal-parts problem and benefit. If the wolf was familiar with magic, it would likely give me a much wider berth. Unfortunately, it would probably realize something was off when I didnt eventually start hurling fireballs around. Doubly problematic if it was smart enough to understand what my power actually did.


    We circled the fallen tree, counterclockwise. All-the-while, I studied the wood dubiously, trying to guesstimate whether it would stay in ce, and whether I was confident enough in my agility to actually make this happen.


    The beast darted right in a thundering sprint just as I reached the fallen end of the tree.


    <em>No choice. Go.</em>


    I cast Probability Spiral on the tree again, this time with the firm mental image of it staying in ce, then I grit my teeth and stepped onto the log, hands held out on either side as I initially bnced. My boots gripped easily, and I found that the movement was more straightforward than expected. I lowered my arms slightly and began to sprint up the dead tree. It creaked but held my weight.


    The wolf wasnt having any of it. It collided with the tree, massive jaw open, plunging towards my ankles. I leapt over it and nearly lost my bnce.


    <em>Not enough momentum.</em>


    Despite <strong></strong> warning, I kept moving, trying to regain speed. I was quickly running out of log, and the low-hanging branches that had appeared to be an easy jump seemed dangerously far. I crouched down low and leapt with everything I had, hands outstretched.


    Itched onto a branch with both hands. And it felt my stomach flip as it started to crack under my weight. I looked down to check for clearance and wished I hadnt. The winter wolf pacing beneath me, waiting. It panted, a string of saliva dripping down its mouth.


    Just as the branch fell away, a vine shot out of my sleeve, wrapping around the tree itself. Sharp pricks of pain radiated around my chest as I swung along the trunk of the tree, reaching for anything that could give me traction until I found a foothold, propelling myself into the crook.


    I heard a snarl beneath me and looked down. The wolf was displeased, having its dinner snatched away at thest moment. I had an almost irresistible urge to give it the finger.


    Then it bent down low and leapt. A sh of <strong></strong> was the only thing that saved me. I shifted backwards. Its jaws pulverized the branch I had just been leaning on, shattering it into oblivion.


    A single bite would end me.


    Unbnced but angry, now, I shot three more times, focused on peppering the beast, hoping to build up the cold drain. My first shot missed, threading the needle between its legs into the snow. My second and third shotsnded, one in its shoulder, the other nestling in the skin of its neck.


    Its coat was dyed a deepening tint of red in three patches now. I was doing damage, but not nearly fast enough.


    The wolf darted back, circling around only when it was nearly to where it had started, over its lost brood, visibly growling. I loaded another bolt, cast Probability Spiral on it, aimed high, and fired, hoping to catch it with an arching shot.


    Only the wolf was watching. I saw it visually track the bolt, stepping aside.


    <em>Is she getting a feel for my range?</em>


    That was absurdly intelligent behavior for an animal. Which led to a further realization. She didnt just have an understanding of my range, but my rate of fire as well. As soon as I fired the shot, she sprinted towards me, picking up speed and jumping astride the log. It cracked under her weight instantly, but she kept going.


    Lash the branch under my feet and hold on! I yelled at Audrey, sending her a picture with <strong></strong>


    I fired another two bolts, struggling with the crescendoing panic that roiled beneath my title. All I could think about was the amount of damage this thing could do if it caught me. There had to be something more I could do, something I was missing.


    Even with my emtedbat skill, using the dagger was an absolutest ditch measure.


    <strong></strong> wouldnt go off in time.


    <strong></strong> was almost more dangerous to me than it was to the wolf.


    If I gave the crossbow bolts enough time, it was possible the effect would add up, but time was something I was quickly running out of.


    For just a moment, as I was reloading the crossbow, my gaze flicked to her frozen pups. They were still in a cuddled heap, unmoving. Everything shed done up to this point had been brutally efficient, but tracking back to her pups had been unnecessary. It spoke to something else beyond her intelligence.


    <em>Regret?</em>


    But my time to strategize wasing to an end. The tree broke with a crashing explosion of wood. The wolf leapt off it, and, using the stump as a stepping stone, propelled itself directly towards me.


    An unnatural calm settled over me. This was probably myst chance at this clear of a shot.


    I aimed the bead of the crossbow, calcting trajectory. Then fired.


    The boltnded at an angle, destroying the wolfs right eye. A headshot. But not enough to kill.


    Its body was still angled and taut, diving straight towards me.


    I threw myself backward, relying on Audreys vine and makeshift harness to catch me. It was a smart wolf, but still a wolf. It wouldnt be changing trajectories in midair.


    Which was, coincidentally, myst thought before iron jaws mped down on my shoulder.

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33


    Imagine, for a moment, the feeling of a seat belt locking during an emergency stop. Nowyer on another point of restraint, and another, constricting and growing tighter. And then by some miracle loophole of gravity, you slip free, plunging through the windshield, the shattered ss tearing at your body still somehow a reprieve from that horrible, terrible pressure that for a moment, you believed would never stop, enjoying the second''s long reprieve before you hit cracked asphalt.


    Or, in my case, the snow.


    Im not certain how the wolf managed to twist in the air and grab me. But as I collided with the ground, the impact was enough to knock me out.


    /////


    A memory came to me, rising out of the darkness and the pain. There was an out-of-season fake poinsettia ced atop a ss, gold trimmed coffee table. I remember thinking how odd it was, for a room this calcted. The beige recliner and matching couch were exactly the same height. Childrens toys took up a small corner, stuffed animals, shape sorting, and a disproportionate number of dolls, the entire trove likely doubling as a means of entertainment and a manner of testing cognitive ability.


    I didnt like tests back then, before I understood how to beat them, how they worked. And this entire room felt like a test. The receptionist guided you in first, and the therapist was never on time. So, it wasreally, entirely up to you. Did you go to thefortable looking armchair or the couch? What would that say about you? And if you picked a magazine from the table, I shuddered to imagine what they would extrapte from that.


    So, I did the least offensive thing. Took a seat on the far end of the couch, where one was expected to sit, and stared nkly, into the stic greenery of the hideous, off-season poinsettia.


    The door clicked open. Doctor Svelt let himself in. He was a big man, rotund as he was tall, living in a perpetual loop of business casual Fridaysthin id shirts with a hardworking belt and jackets that, if I propped one up with a pole, likely had some practical application as a tent.


    He peered at me confused, as if it hadnt taken Dad making the appointment weeks in advance to see him.


    Hm. Matthias? This cant be right. We finished our mandated sessions, didnt we? The big mans face scrunched in faux puzzlement.


    You didnt fix me, I said, straight and to the point. The man made going out into the weeds a career choice, so I needed to be direct or this would never get resolved.


    And when I floated the idea of check-in sessions with your father, he said that decision was entirely up to you. The side of his mouth pulled up in the beginnings of his signature, vulpine like smirk.


    Yes, Im in distress. Yes, Im here of my own ord. Partially because I didnt know gloating would be a part of the process. I kept my voice terse, firm.


    The smirk disappeared. He tracked to his armchair, grabbed a clipboard from the side-table and sat down. Good, he was taking me seriously now.


    Weve discussed the efficacy of referring to people, especially ourselves, with terms like broken.


    I blew air out through my teeth. And I didnt call myself broken. Because I knew you would say that. However, a person generally isnt assigned mandated therapy because theyre normal, would you agree?


    By normal, you mean neurotypical? Dr. Svelt asked.


    I chuckled. See, thats a trap. I wouldnt have recognized it six months ago, but I recognize it now. If I say yes, we get into an hour plus conversation on the general definition of normal, and a retread of what it means to be on the spectrum. If I say no, you make me spend an hour defining it and warp my exnation until I self-realize that I do fit in some atypical loosely defined interpretation of normal.


    Svelt set his pen down. Normally, Id maintain the value of having either of those conversations. But I can see youre unsettled, so why dont you start with telling me what happened?


    I thought about hurting someone again. I said.


    And I thought about pping the smug smile off myst patients face when he made the same joke about my runningte for the hundredth time.


    I rolled my eyes. I know the difference between ideation and an intrusive thought.


    So. You nned it? Svelt asked. His tone didnt give anything away, but I knew this was bait. And if I somehow ousted myself as an ongoing danger to someone else.


    No. Yes. I saw someone whos been giving Ellison a hard time at school. Like no ones told this kid its not the 90s anymore. He was sitting on the railing of an overpass off I-20. Legs dangling over traffic, listening to music. I passed him on my walk home on the sidewalk. He was inches from me. There were no cars, no witnesses. It would have been easy to just


    Give him a push? The therapist prompted me.


    I listened to your advice. Thought about the disproportionality of it. Took precautions after that. Been taking the long way around, in case he does that often. But I didnt feel guilty. At all. If anything, it felt like a missed opportunity.


    And thats why youre here. Because you dont feel guilty?


    I feel rmed. Because I dont feel guilty. Because you cleared me. Said I didnt have the markers. And Im afraid that


    It was a mistake? Svelt asked. He went behind his desk to the miniature water cooler and poured himself a cup of water, handing me one as well. The man did this often when he needed to think. He tapped his cup. How much of the evaluation did you answer honestly?


    I blinked in confusion, even as my heart raced in my throat. All of it.


    Svelt cleared his throat. Look, Ill make you a promise. You remember what I said about promises?


    That you dont make them frequently. Because theyre iron-d.


    Yes. Heres my promise to you: No matter how you answer, Im not going to report it to your parents or make you take the evaluation again. It wont change how I see or treat you. Just be honest.


    I hesitated. It was almost a reflex to lie about something like that, but Svelt had always kept his word, even when it was probably far more convenient to do otherwise.


    Maybe half, I said quietly.


    Damn. I was guessing sixty percent. Svelt said. When I stared at him, shocked, heughed. Youre hardly the first person to try to beat a psych eval by trying to pick out the correct answers. Theyre specifically designed to root that out.


    You knew. My voice took on a tinge of usation. And you cleared me anyway.


    For good reason. For one thing, youre a child, still too young for a definitive ruling. But even when youre older, its even less likely. I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief. Svelt sipped his water.


    Are you really quoting Kant, to tell me you believe in me? I snorted in derision.


    Most people with ASPD have an over-inted sense of self. They tend to think themselves superior to the average person, elevated.


    I dont think Im better than anyone, I said immediately.


    See, he pointed at me. Too quick to be a lie. Almost reflexive. You genuinely believe that. Thatck of exaggerated ego, coupled with frequent anxiety, is a big mark against.


    Youre overlooking a hell of a lot. I have poor impulse control, can be maniptive, have ack of empathy, and generally dont feel guilty for anything. Those are all clear markers.


    Yes. Svelt leaned forward. But where you differ, Matthias, is how painfully aware of that you are. Youve formed a regimen of checks and bnces on yourself, done research, delved into philosophy to the point you can pick a half-assed quote out of the air.


    None of that matters if I dont have a conscience. I said.


    Id contend you do. Svelt pointed a meaty finger to his head. An external conscience, rather than internal. Formed from knowledge and self-awareness. Its what stopped you from pushing that boy off the bridge.


    That seems vastly inferior.


    Svelt mused quietly. Its inconvenient. And could easily lead you wrong, if you over-attach to problematic ideals. But not inferior.


    Why? I asked, curious to hear the answer.


    Theres a reason why Antisocial Personality Disorder trends in high-powered jobs. The reality is, ruthlessness can be a desirable trait in some aspects of life. But many people with ASPD cant just turn that off. Use a hammer enough, and eventually, everything looks like a nail.


    So, what, I just go through life pretending like I dont have a hammer? I asked.


    Not at all. But only rely on your ruthlessness when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you need it. And have the self-control to stop when the time is over.


    /////


    I woke with a wet gasp, and immediately coughed out blood. A wave of pain seized me, so strongly I fought the urge to vomit. I could feel my pulse in my neck, in everyceration and wound on my chest.


    The entire top section of my armor was hanging off in tatters.


    There was a yelping growl a few feet away from me. Audrey was tangled up with the wolf. It was trying to disengage, and she wasnt having any of it. Her vines wereshed around its mouth, keeping its jaw pried open painfully, thorns digging in all around the wolfs muzzle.


    It saw me stir and tried to rush me down. A single vineshed around a nearby stone, whipping the wolfs head to the side.


    It stared at me with its remaining eye, roiling with hate.


    I forced my way to my feet, fighting through the pain, grabbing a health potion from my inventory and chugging itand finding it tasted suspiciously simr to cough medicinewhile I took several staggering steps back, looking everywhere for my crossbow.


    No dice.


    My bleeding was slowing down but not stopping. The entire left side of my body was numb from either trauma or blood loss.


    I pulled the <strong></strong>from my inventory.


    Eventually, the wolf dislodged Audrey with an explosive head shake, sending my summon flying into the snow.


    <em>Why are you so angry at me?</em>


    <em>Her litter of pups froze in the frost. Why? Shes a winter wolf, youd think theyd know how to care for their young in a storm, only</em>


    <em>The dungeon put her in the elevator when I first came here.</em>


    I gave her an insane smile. Then used <strong></strong> I was still met by the same teeth-rattling resistance from the first time, but the image cut through like a superheated de. It was the image of three wolf pups, alive and shivering in the cold.


    The Flowerfangs were idiotspared to this thing, and they could understand spoken speech.


    How long did they wait for you, I wonder, before the cold took them. My tone was cruel, mocking.


    The reaction was immediate. With a heart-broken howl, the wolf flung itself straight at me, gracelessly, its mouth open, waiting to snap. <strong></strong>made dodging the clumsy movement childs y. I rolled forward, feeling a rush of air pass over me. I struck upwards blindly, my dagger cutting deep into its stomach. Itnded in a heap, still pushing itself up, but slower than before.


    If only I could have gotten here sooner, I cocked my head in mock sympathy.


    It threw itself at me again. This time, I was ready, and leapt on top of the wolf when itnded prone, one arm looping around its neck and holding on tight for leverage. <strong></strong> effect lit the wolfs organs up. I drove my knife into it, over and over again, aiming for its massive lungs.


    It rolled over, trying to tten me. If there was less snow to serve as cushion, it might have worked, but as it was, all the motion seeded in doing was breaking a few of my ribs and tightening my grip. Somehow, I managed to hold on to my knife, and drove it down twice more.


    But it wasnt working. The wolf had regained enough awareness to realize she was in a bind, and began to run towards the trees, likely intending to scrape me off.


    Not wanting to risk it, but out of ideas, I tried <strong></strong> again, and sent her another image. A lone wolf pup, the one in the middle, most likely to survive, letting out a sad little howl.


    The wolfs sprint slowed to a stop, and she turned her head to look.


    I dropped and subconsciously spun, channeling the movement of the unsparing fang, and shoved the dagger directly into her heart.


    The albino wolf stared down at me, her muzzle ck, and then copsed to the side, sending up a spray of snow.


    All at once, thest vestiges of adrenaline and fight went out of me. I copsed against her blood-soaked chest. Shallow breaths moved me slowly in a rocking motion. Slowly, a paw extended out, reaching out towards the fallen pups. A low whine emitted from her throat.


    <em>Have the self-control to stop when the time is over.</em>


    Through the haze of pain, I considered everything I knew about Suggestion. It could transmit images and directions, though it generally couldnt make a person do anything they didnt want. But what if I sent an image the target wanted to believe more than anything? Would they still believe it, even if they knew that, logically, it couldnt be true?


    Unsure of how to do what I intended, I reached out one more time with <strong></strong> Normally, I had a limited window to do anything with it before the connection tightened, and then closed. Now it was wide-open, resistance lessened from the wolfs weakened state.


    <em>The wolf emerged from the elevator, panicked, and found her pups huddled together in the blizzard. They were shivering and whining but still alive. She picked them up, one by one, transporting them to the shelter of a cave. Then, she warmed them with her body and fell asleep slowly, feeling the asymmetrical beats of three tiny hearts.</em>


    I coughed blood again, and paused to drink another health potion. But then I noticed that the wolfs whining had ceased, and I paused to watch her scarlet eye slowly close.


    <em>You saved them all. Rest, now. </em>


    The blizzard was picking up steam. Thorns prickled me everywhere as Audrey slithered back in my shirt. Coo-oo-oold.


    Me too.


    I wasnt certain how much time I had. My n was to get down to the lobby to warm up, keep chugging health potions, then gather whatever I could find.


    The notifications pinged as I struggled to my feet.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I fell to my knees, my skin drawing tighter around me as if my flesh was trying to force its way out.


    Didnt miss that, I said through gritted teeth.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My eyebrow raised. That was my first title since the initial two. But before I could pull it up to inspect what I unlocked, I noticed a strange glow behind me,ing from the direction of the Arctic Wolf.


    <em>Is that a monster core?</em>

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34


    It was a quick trip down to the lobby to warm up, and back to the fourth floor. Much of the frigid bite of the floor itself had lessened after the clear, making the after-battle clean up far lessplicated than it would have been otherwise.


    I had only received one text on my freshly unpackaged burner.


    <strong></strong>


    What would you even put your thumb on? I guess it would make sense if the contract magically appeared out of the air, but even then, youd need ink. Kinsleys in-person contract required a pen and ink to sign. It all made me curious. Ironically, Mom seemed far more cryptic in text now that she was aboard our little conspiracy than ever before.


    And I had a bigger problem to deal with.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    At first, it only seemed like a good thing. But the more I thought about it, the more dubious the idea became. I liked Audreypersonality quirks asidebecause her needs were simple. She wanted to eat, a lot, and it was an easy enough motivator to keep a handle on.


    And the wolfs motivations were not so straightforward. Not to mention, like Audrey, it would probably keep its memories. If Id already been the target of its rage when I left the elevator, I couldnt imagine that aspect would get any better given the tactics Id used to bring it down. It didnt matter that it would have restrictions in terms of direct harm. If I summoned it unprepared, and it inherited Suggestion like Audrey had, and its base intelligence was higher than mine, I was in serious trouble.


    I decided to keep it, but to wait to consume it until I either had higher intelligence or a better feat. This made deciding where to ce my stats even more difficult.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Level: 7</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 10</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 15</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 11</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 9. Suggestion, LVL 12. One-handed, LVL 6</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid. Bond LVL 3</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 561 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 2.</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    I had been leaning away from power-leveling Intelligence before finding this monster core. Agility would keep me alive, as had been proven over and over again. Will linked directly to my summons, and the more damage I could do with them, the less my deficit of Strength and Toughness would matter. Perception was still importantfor situations like having to choose between the three elevators at the beginning, but slightly less-so now that I had <strong></strong>


    I scrolled through the ever-expanding list of feats rapidly, trying to find anything that would help with my anti-suggestion measures. There were surprisingly few general perks that had anything to do with summoning. Most of them were straight health or damage boosts.


    There were a few perks in the Ordinator tree that were on the verge of being unlocked, and if it flowed the way it had been so far, probably would be by the time I hit level 8. The best decision was to bank the feat points for now. <strong></strong> had cost five feat points, a levels worth of feat points plus the entire bonus Id received for defeating the high-level pack leader. Making my final decision, I ced two more points in Agility, and one in Will. If I didnt unlock anything that helped with my summon predicament next level, Id just stat dump into Intelligence once I figured out the safest way to test the summon.


    And I wasnt the only one dealing with the prospect of dyed gratification. Audrey was skinning the Arctic Wolf. Id noticed little ded growths at the end of her vines. I couldnt bepletely sure, but I was fairly certain they hadnt been there before my levelbut they were razor sharp. When I told her of a way to make meat tastier, by separating it from its fur, she was initially thrilled. Only after an hour of prep did the reality begin to sink in. Still, even as she grumbled in low, scrabbling sounds, I had to respect the quality of the work. My sloppy-eating nt apparently had a perfectionist streak.


    My new title was something else.


    <strong></strong>


    I frowned. Maybe I took things a little far, but my life was on the line. It seemed contrived to extrapte from that battle that I was a cruel person. It was a survival situation. I focused on it to pull up the description.


    <strong></strong>


    The fact that the title primarily served a social focus did nothing to underscore how useful it was. Having more insight into a person was <em>invaluable.</em> The bit at the end about none escaping the titles gaze gave me pause. Self-awareness wasnt an issue, but I wasnt sure I wanted that level of insight into everyone close to me.


    Still, not utilizing something so promising was a clear mistake. Especially with the open forum tomorrow.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    And that was it. I scoured the rest of the tundra and found nothing but snow. It wasnt all that surprising. Though the challenge had been significant, this room had really only held one enemy. A monstrous, terrifying enemy that nearly killed me, but a singr one.


    If the dungeon followed a traditional structure, the most significant rewards would be on the fifth floor, marking the end of the quest. Unfortunately, looking at the pattern of what had just happened, I wasnt sure when Id feelfortable taking that on. The ck-silhouetted-ghouldy wasnt guaranteed to be on the next floor, but knowing what I did about this dungeon, it was almost a sure thing.


    Id gone out of my way to prepare for this floor, prepared for the risks, and still found myself in an almost untenable position. I wanted to avoid pushing to the next level until I actually felt ready.


    It took some effort to push myself to my feet, the pain from my shoulder almost unbearable. I pulled at the cor of my ruined armor, ncing beneath. The wounds had closed quickly, though not quickly enough for the entire top half of my armor to not be stained in blood. Hopefully, the potions had some sort oftent effect, or I was going to be in a world of pain tomorrow.


    Come on, were going. I said aloud, ready to get out of the frost-stricken floor and back into the sun. The snow crunched under my soaked shoes.


    But meat. Audrey said, her voice mournful as we passed by the three frozen pups.


    Havent you had enough? I asked. It made no sense to deny her, but the thought of it turned my stomach.


    No but too much work


    To eat them? I asked.


    To skin them. Audrey shuddered.


    I headed to the elevator. The state of my dress was nagging at the back of my mind until I remembered the <strong></strong> Once I put it on, no one gave me a second look on the way to Kinsleys door. A few eyebrows and double-takes, but that was it. No one followed me or asked questions. I walked right by a beat cop, watched his eyes slide down to the state of my clothes, then ignore me altogether.


    Even if I didnt have the mask, I might have been okay. Hed probably seen enough in thest twenty-four hours that someone in a torn up hoody was the least of his concerns.


    My thoughts strayed to the open forum. It would be a perfect testing stage for my new title. If it all went as nned, the merchants guild would be in business, and hopefully, wed all have a better idea of what wasing next.

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35


    Our City Hall had always struck me as somewhat pretentious. It had the feel of an upside-down ziggurat, withyered sections extending further and further out, the odd-looking architecture held together by three massive pirs. The somewhat sprawling, style-over-senseyout extended to the connected park. Which was really more like half a standard office parkplete with anemic trees, half massive pool of water ented by modern red art balls that looked like someone had taken a bite out of them.


    It was more ridiculous now that said park was being put to a practical purpose. It was absolutely packed with people. Three or four thousand maybe, though it was impossible to know for sure. A small crowd formed at the front, listening to the sweating, swollen, governor speak, sending out the rote nothings along the lines of We dont know, were trying to find out, please be patient, and youll know as soon as we do.


    But the tide had already shifted away from the actual open forum, to the park beyond. I was expecting other groups of Users to be there and abination of subtle and unsubtle recruiting, but I wasnt expecting actual boothslittle, quickly put together stations of fold-out tables and chairs that vaguely resembled military enlistment.


    I passed by several smaller stations on my way to the middle of the park where everyone was gathering, eyeing the people behind them. One particrly haunted looking man with hollow eyes actively waved me over.


    <em>Lost someone recently. Trying desperately to connect with others, to move on, to forget. It was probably his fault. That or he mes himself so much it doesnt actually matter whose fault it was. Useless. Ignore him.</em>


    <strong></strong> lived up to its name. It was almost as chatty as <strong></strong> only without the tendency towards panic attacks and crippling self-doubt. The downside was that the title imbued a sense of casual superiority I found myself actively fighting against. Even in cases like this one, where it was probably right.


    I gave the man a nod and a small wave as I continued on towards the center. Someone pushed me back, and I realized Id inadvertently nearly cut in a snake-like queue that had formed, gradually moving towards the center. The smell of freshly grilled barbecue rolled over me as I moved closer to the center. Two taller people in front of me moved aside, taken by a particrly chiseled and muscled man in business casual, to a parallel row of smaller square tables and chairs.


    A banner, professionally made and highlighted in green and white was emzoned with the letters LRE, with Local Relief Effort, written in a corporate looking font. I looked to the side to hide a smile.


    It was clever. Lure people in with free food, position yourself as an aid group, offer ess to help with the teeny tiny caveat that you needed to sign first. Which made their decision to bring their merchant particrly stupid byparison. I could see him in the back, a reedy, ountant-looking man, pulling food and various supplies out of the air for new enlistments, assumedly in exchange for Selve.


    I reached the front. The woman, dressed in a navy, professional looking dress, gave me a smile with far too many perfectly white teeth. Hi there, how can we help you today?


    Oof. Between the Royal We, and the pitch-perfect customer service voice, she was already giving me the creeps.


    <em>Constantly reapplied lipstick, and she actually took the time to steam-press that dress despite us being in the middle of a survival scenario. Likely multi-level marketing background. Single. Owner of an unquantifiable number of cats.</em>


    It was time to put <strong></strong> to the test. Iughed, some old social nervesing back. Um, maybe this is a little silly considering how everyones first concern is food, but Im okay in that regard. Instead, I was wondering if you guys have anything for pets.


    Her eyes lit up and she leaned forwards. The bronze tag on her dress read Rachel. Aw. What sort of pets do you have?


    I looked around, as if embarrassed. A siamese and a ragdoll. The siamese will probably be fine, but the ragdoll is particrly picky about her food.


    Rachels smile widened, the number of showing teeth reaching critical mass. Some of the phony customer service voice dropped away. Oh, Ipletely understand. Come with me. She stood from her seat at the booth. Bryant, take over.


    It turned out, Rachel did have many cats. Hardly an unquantifiable amountfifteenbut arge number just the same. She asked me some questions around the screen I was seeing, clearly used to delineate whether I was a user. Once shed established I wasnt, her enthusiasm dimmed, but just a little.


    So, I gave her a confused expression, I join with you guys, you pay in Selve, and I can ess your vendor. Theres really no supply issue? I asked.


    Nope. Rachel pointed the golden pen shed been fiddling with over to where the vendor was still handling an endless line of people. As far as we know, Alberts stocks are limitless. Hes never run out of anything, unless its specifically a unique or limited-stock item.


    Like what? I asked innocently. She was obviously talking about the rarer, nonmon goods items like armor and weapons, but I was curious to see how shed address that.


    Rachel squirmed. Oh, well, just a few tertiary things. But more importantly, I put together a pamphlet for people looking to make cat food out of the ingredients we have in thepany store. She handed it to me excitedly.


    I browsed through it, pretending to read, considering what I knew. Cruel lens had nailed her. I couldnt know for sure some things, like her single-status, but she was absolutely a cat-person, and the multi-level marketing background was almost a given considering how carefully and expertly she pitched me on what was basically a job, without telling me what the job was.


    Speaking of which, it was time to tighten the screws. I crossed my arms, closing my bodynguage in a manner any salesman would immediately recognize. Well, the new currency stuff asidekind of going over my head thereit sounds great in theory. And it sounds like theres a lot of perks and benefits. But you havent told me what Id be doing?


    Her smile dimmed slightly. Oh, well, honestly, theres a lot of cleanup to be done.


    Like trash? I asked.


    Not quite, Rachel chuckled nervously. Since the meteor, there have been many changes around the city. New resources. We need help gathering them, and pay a premium to those who help.


    I kept the confused look pasted on my face as I studied her.


    <em>Some sort of mine, or maybe a dungeon rich in materials.</em>


    Is it dangerous? I asked.


    Not at all, Rachel lied. Then, after a moment of silence, Some of the environments can be dangerous, but we have other volunteers on guard duty.


    People with experience? I pushed her. I wanted to see if she would hint at the User, civilian divide.


    Certainly. The smile and customer service voice came back full force. Former military, contractors, even some bouncers. Our priority is protecting our workforce.


    Interesting. They were still trying to keep the power divide on the down-low, even though it would soon be ringly obvious to anyone paying attention.


    Thanks for your time. I rose from the chair.


    Is there something else youre looking for? Rachel asked, a bit too quickly. There was a bead of sweat on her forehead. Not understanding, I looked from her to the man dressed in business casual, watching us from the central booth.


    <em>Did they actually give you a quota?</em>


    I nced down at the sign-up sheet in front of her. There were several boxes,beled in bold at the top. <strong>Confirmed, Follow-up, and Unconfirmed.</strong>


    Maybe I could make a friend if I helped her save face here. Its a lot to think about, but definitely something Id be open to talking over in the future.


    The gigawatt smile returned. I can take your name and number down.


    I proceeded to give her Nicks name and the number for a local Pizza Hut and excused myself. It didnt really matter what number I put, as I suspected we wouldnt bemunicating through normal phones for much longer.


    Ellison walked towards me, giving me a subtle nod. He was carrying a variety of too-little-toote handouts provided by the city, stuff like how to bottle water, how to cure meat so itsted longer, and how to ration food without starving.


    Technical reading, courtesy of the city? Ellison asked me.


    Sure, I took the bundle from him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grab a red sheet of paper from his inventory and ce it on the bottom of the unique stack. Discreetly, I shuffled the papers until it was on top.


    <strong>Food and Other Resources for Selve. Fair Pricing. No enlistment required. </strong>


    Beneath the bold text was a series of steps to ess Kinsleys primitive, cobbled together website through the system interface itself. It wasnt exactly a straightforward process. What Mom had discovered was, when done through the website, there was a twenty-minute dy on delivery that couldnt be avoided. A warning to that effect was written at the end of the page.


    <em>Any bites yet?</em> I asked him in finger-spelled signnguage, concealing my hand under the stack of paper.


    <em>Not that Ive seen. Hard to know with the dy.</em> Ellison replied.


    It wasnt the best news, but to be expected. <em>Keep it up.</em>


    I watched Ellison head off, handing a stack of papers to a bedraggled, confused looking couple. We were specifically targeting anyone who looked young enough to be tech-savvy, and didnt show any of the obvious physical characteristics of a User. For once, Ellison was happy with the task. Twisted lens whispered. <em>Hes always thought I had too many rules. That I was too careful, too risk averse. Just because hes my brother doesnt mean hes not a potential threat</em>


    I shook my head, wishing I could just wipe the inner-voice from my memory. Regardless of what mean-and-overly-catty said, Ellison was solid. Poor impulse control and adolescent growing-pains aside, he always came through in the clutch.


    Enough. I still needed to find Nick, and get a handle on the rest of the groups.


    I was just about to decide what direction I wanted to head in when <strong></strong> went off. Subtly, I panned the crowd, looking for the threat. It was throwing me off because it usually only activated when I was in imminent danger.


    Then, I spotted him. Even hidden behind his aviators, the scar across his nose was unmistakable. His jaw was clenched. He was wearing a ck sweatshirt with a pullover hood.


    My SWAT friend from the hospital was at the Open Forum, and from the looks of it, still operating off-book. He hadnt noticed me.


    A notification popped up in front of my face.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Ignition</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Prevent an outbreak of violence at the Open Forum.</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users (excluding Kinsley, Merchant). </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (S)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (S)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Thirty Minutes.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Continued ess to contingent quests.</strong>


    Realizing that if anyone saw me clearly reading something invisible it would be an easy giveaway, I immediately let my eyes ze over, glossing over the text and keeping Swat Guy in my periphery.


    Yes, Id lose ess to the Cradle of Civilization quest if I failed here, but that barely matteredpared to the coteral. Iris and Ellison were here. I dug out my phone and immediately sent a text.


    <strong></strong>


    I started following Swat Guy, staring at my phone, letting the view from my peripheral guide me.


    <strong></strong>


    He did a slow pan of his surroundings, lip curled in irritation, and I moved to stay out of his view. It would be bad if he saw me.


    <em>Hes pissed. Hasnt slept in days. Probably wrapped the wound himself, so he didnt have to exin how he got it. Not looking for you, most likely looking for any obvious User, but youll be a likely target if he does.</em>


    I bumped into an elderly woman wearing an oversized hat, and bent down to pick it up for her, facing away from Swat Guy.


    Sorry. I handed her the hat back. There was a creeping feeling along my back, like I could almost feel him, watching me. Then the moment passed.


    My phone buzzed.


    <strong></strong>


    I turned back around and found Swat Guy was gone.


    /////


    Watching the quest timer tick down was agonizing. Despite looking everywhere for both Iris and Swat Guy, Ide uppletely short. Both Ellison and Iris were great at blending in, but my sister was borderline invisible when she wanted to be, and thats exactly what Id asked her to do.


    Twisted Lens had confirmed my suspicions that Swat Guythough given the way he was dressed, a more apt description was probably Unabomber guywas likely here to target Users.


    So, I surveyed the existing groups for anyone who looked like a prominent target.


    There were a few groups like the Local Recovery Effort, borderline corporate entities geared towards getting both Users and civilians under contract.


    The secondrgest group as far as I could tell was Rodericks Lodge, and judging from their full-onrp-worthy disy of system gear and attitude to match, they were a User exclusive guild. Theyd rather abrasivelyand directly asked if I was a User, and all but turned their nose up when I gave the obvious answer.


    There was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a group mixed with Users andw enforcement, actively recruiting for the DPD. Likely not a target for Swat Guy.


    Daphne, her father, and her fathers group were nowhere to be found.


    My mood plummeted. The best ally for the budding merchants guild would be a medium-sized group with decent leadership. So far, none fit the bill. They were either too corporate, too full of assholes, or both.


    And then, the whole part where there was an off the reservation cop ying Taxi Driver. I was parked on a middle-bench towards the outskirts, attempting to give my extended peripheral as much coverage as I could get.


    But I couldnt help but notice the small table set up fifteen feet away. Two men in matching crew-cuts, red shirts, and khakis had a various number of what I guessed to be System crystals on disy in what could only be described as a shrine. They were incredibly enthusiastic, and, unless I missed my guess, were setting out to kickstart some sort of pseudo-religious movement.


    A middle-aged man stopped at the table to inspect a crystal, and practically ran away when they jumped up to talk to him. I watched in grim amusement as one of the red-shirts followed him.


    Dont chase him, you idiot. I muttered under my breath. Then I nced at the timer for what had to be the hundredth time. Fifteen minutes.


    Imagine if they manage it. There was a low whistle, matching an equally low-voice beside me. Our first, homegrown, post-system cult.


    A million rm bells went off in my head. I hadnt gotten in anyones way, hadnt been overly obvious in my inquiries. I hadnt spotted him at all. And the voice was friendly, casual, in the easy-going way that was almost always underhanded.


    So, what was this, exactly?


    I turned my head slightly, so I could see him. The man was olive-skinned, his ck hair cropped short. He was as massive as he was tall, at least a foot taller than me, if not more so. Advanced system armor, a moreplex version of the ker andposite that formed my now ruined armor, with a giant sword strapped to his back.


    The approach had been deceptively subtle. Exactly something I would have done. Which made me more than a little wary. Especially when I saw someone I assumed to be some sort of guard, leaning against a tree further down a path.


    I decided to stay focused on his opener. These guys? Nah.


    Really? The man rumbled. What are they doing wrong?


    Another open question. He was pumping me for info, but why?


    Apart from the mormon-sh-target aesthetic? Theyve got an interesting conversation piece with the shrine. But theyre trying way too hard. Furthermore, as far as I can tell, they have nothing to offer while youve got groups like the Local Relief Effort less than thirty feet away, cooking brisket when everyone here is hungry.


    Merchant ess is definitely a factor. The man said. More obvious bait.


    Is this the part where I pretend like I dont know what a merchant is? I turned to him, finally. Despite the massive sword on his back, he had the gentle giant facade down to a T. Because that wouldnt make sense, especially with your friend over there tailing me this whole time. It was an educated shot in the dark, based only on the fact that there was no way I would have missed the bigger man following me around.


    Gentle-giant shot a re over at the woman leaning against the tree, confirming my suspicions.


    Instead of responding, she scowled and looked away.


    But I wasnt looking at her. Instead, I kept my focus on the giant.


    <em>Confident. Good with people. Came from money, lost it. A natural leader but notpletely sure of himself. Doesnt know what I am, but something put him onto me.</em>


    He grinned at me sheepishly. Sorry. Im Tyler. Sara and I are new to this. We thought about getting a table up, like the rest of them, but decided to wait it out.


    Great, I said, keeping my voice short, direct. You have a group. What does any of that have to do with me?


    I have a thing. Something that guides me to points and people of interest. The description was more than a little cryptic.


    Like good hunches? I cocked my head. There was no question he was talking about either a title or a system ability. But <strong></strong> should have blocked anything that specifically pointed out Users.


    Something like that, Tyler nced away. You know about the whole User, NPC thing already?


    A friend brought me up to speed, yes, I said in a monotone voice, faking irritation. Theres a party, and Im not invited. What of it?


    Countless people in that boat. Weve been scouting for members all morning. Average folk and Users. But my, uh thing, doesnt always tell me <em>why</em> someones significant. Tyler gave me a meaningful look.


    Ah. I wasnt happy Id been followed, but the rm bells started to fade. Tyler was a User, and had no other information to go on besides the part where Id been running around like a chicken with my head cut off and scouting other groups.


    How do you feel about that? Not being invited to the party? Tyler asked. He pulled out a bag of potato chips.


    I felt myself smile, and nced at the time. Is this an interview?


    <em>Twelve minutes. </em>


    Were just talking. Tyler said casually, and I didnt need Twisted Lens to immediately g the sentiment as a lie.


    I kept an eye out for Swat Guy. It sucks. Being left behind. But its nothing new, and being bitter about it isnt going to help. Just judging from people I know, more than half of us fall into a non-User camp, right? So theres going to be a new equilibrium, the only question is how it all shakes out.


    Thats pragmatic for someone your age. Why didnt you sign with LRE? Tyler asked me.


    Because it felt like a trap. The duration of their contract is until the domees down. Theyre banking on peoples tendency to hope for the best.


    Not you, though? Tyler asked.


    Not me. This was taking too long. Im not really looking to sign on with anyone at the moment. There are too many unknowns.


    Youre not wrong about them. Tyler nced over at the stand. They seem sketchy, and I dont like the way theyre restricting merchant ess. Thats only going to piss people off eventually.


    Not you, though? I reversed his question, and he chuckled.


    No sir. Well still give discounts to members, thats only fair. Want to keep things as open as possible.


    Gotta keep people happy while theyre toiling in the mines. I prodded him, testing for a reaction.


    His face grew dark. Yeah, I heard something about LRE doing that shit. Theres a need for grunt work, sure, but plenty of other openings for civilian help.


    Like?


    Consulting, management analysis, He smirked at me, when he said the final word.


    Im not really looking to sign on with anyone now, I said. Though finding out more about Tylers group had jumped high up on my priority list.


    The big man shrugged and handed me a card. It had no number, but an address printed on the front that I recognized as somewhere downtown. Right. I imagine your friend has you sorted. Sorry about the scare. Just being careful.


    I inclined my head. I get it. Still, I sat there for a full-minute, watching Tyler and Sara leave before I set out to search for Swat Guy, growing increasingly nervous as the clock ticked down.


    It didnt take long.

 Chapter 37:

    Chapter 37:


    Five minutes. Every nerve in my body was tingling, every part of me on the verge of panic. I considered putting on <strong></strong> more than once, but I wasnt certain how it worked. It wasnt something I felt safe testing, even with any of my allies. If I put on the mask, and someone saw me, would they be able to logically deduce it was still me? Or would I just fade into the backdrop, an unknown person taking my ce.


    Couldnt risk it. No way in hell. Especially in a crowded public ce.


    Where the fuck was Swat Guy? He wasnt a User, and he was dressed like the Unabomber, so why couldnt I find him?


    The simple answer was that there were just too many people. My conversation with Estrada hung heavy in the back of my mind. Any outbreak of violence here, especially with the swift repercussions it would meet, would be irrevocable. People would see first hand the damage and violence Users were capable of, and the inroads the groups were making would shatter.


    Maybe that was partly a good thing. It was a given that most of them werent good people. Exploitation ofbor and indentured servitude were both serious possibilities. But it was a far cry from the possibility of genocide.


    The word ticked something in my brain, sending my thoughts down a distant path. Perhaps Id been too hasty, thinking that Swat Guy wouldnt mess with other cops. Cops cooperating with Users might be worse than the actual Users in his mind.


    I doubled back, heading towards the Das Police Department recruiting table. Swat Guy wasnt there.


    Iris was, though, sitting on a bench, doodling into her sketchbook. A middle-aged female officer with a kind face was sitting beside her, looking over her shoulder. A half-dozen faces tracked me as I headed straight to her.


    Iris spotted me and waved. To anyone else, it would look like a normal greeting, but her index finger was bent. It was a non-emergency signal that basically meant, Im stuck, bail me out.


    Iris quickly scrawled a message on the notebook as I approached, showing it to thedy cop. The woman nced it over, a strand of salt-and-pepper hair falling into her face. Your brothers here?


    Finally found you, I said, Ready to go, kid?


    Iris nodded vigorously.


    Is everything alright? The woman asked. She had a young face, and an almost regal bearing that threw me off. Not a typical cop.


    <em>This is my friend, Yulia.</em> Iris emphasized the word friend, as if she was expecting me to be rude.


    I shook Yulias hand quickly, Hi Yulia, thanks for keeping an eye on my sister for me.


    Shes very talented. And its easy for the little ones to get lost in a crowd. Yulia said, a slight European ent evident on, little ones.


    I really cant thank you enough. I could, and I had.


    <em>Four minutes, twenty-five seconds. </em>


    Yulia looked between the two of us. Iris said she couldnt without permission, but now that youre here, why dont youe have something to eat with us? We might not have anything gratuitous Her eyes flitted to the Local Relief table. but we have plenty to share.


    <em>Four minutes even.</em>


    Going to have to pass, I said. And I didnt have time to delve into her with <strong></strong> but I was pretty convinced this was the beginning of a soft sell.


    Yulias eyes narrowed in suspicion. Why the hurry?


    Fuck. Another bind. If I wasnt under a time limit, I might have actually sat down with Yulia and had a conversation. She seemed decent enough, had looked out for Iris, and hadnte off as overly judgmental towards me for losing track of her.


    Look, Ive been through enough tables today that I know the deal. You wine and dine me. I nced at the coolers behind the tables. Or beer and snack me, then you pitch me on recruitment.


    Thats not Yulia started.


    And yes, there are obvious benefits. The camaraderie, being a part of an established institution, and so on. Trust me, I get it. Our father <em>was</em> an officer. But its not for me. I let a touch of sadness color my expression.


    The best lies are closest to the truth. It was a touch dramatic, but I was in a hurry. And now Id given her the perfect excuse for why I was rushing to get away from a table full of cops.


    Yulia was fast to pick things up, her scowl fading quickly. To her credit, she looked genuinely empathetic. Best of luck. Our door is always open.


    You too. I extracted Iris, forcing myself to walk at a normal pace.


    Once we broke line of sight, I pulled Iris aside. Now that her sunsses were off, she stared at me, horrified.


    <em>How bad is it that youre willing to bring up dad?</em>


    Really bad. Stay on the sidewalk and run that way. I pointed down Akard Street. Find a ce you can sit down. Inside, but next to a window. Ille get you soon.


    Iris took off running, her shoes hitting the pavement.


    <em>Two minutes.</em>


    I pushed my way through the crowd, feeling like I was retreading the same ground for the hundredth time.


    <em>What if hes not outside? </em>


    It hit me like a sledgehammer. I ran up the stairs into one of the side doors, barreling into it and throwing it open. He had to be here. The interior was slightly less packed, but no less littered with people.


    <em>One minute.</em>


    I was running now, the white walls blurring as I elerated. I cast <strong></strong> on my legs and took the stairs three at a time, my momentum carrying me through a hairpin turn at the top of the stairs.


    It led me into an open space, lined with countless bookshelves. There were a half-dozen people in the room. I found someone toorge to be anyone but Tyler, chatting with Sara. Tyler was positioned in such a way that his associate was blind to the hooded gunman walking towards him with clear intent, hand reaching towards his holster.


    I hit Swat Guy with <strong></strong> infusing the sentiment of caution with a massive helping of fear. Swat Guy paused, mid-step, then started forward again.


    I reached out to Sara, and felt my attempt shredded to nothing. The rejection wasnt as strong as it was against the wolf, but it was close.


    Finally, out of options, I shouted for help, and rammed shoulder first into the gunman. He collided into the bookshelves, catching himself, and attempted to draw his weapon. Regimented polymer bit into my palm as I trapped the gun in the holster, using every bit of my strength to keep it there as he struggled.


    His jagged scar was inches from my face as he turned his head to see me. You


    Tylers meaty fist mmed into Swat Guys jaw, dropping him. A cold red sphere extended around us. I looked behind me and saw a younger looking, dark-haired man with a grim expression on his face. Every other person in the room had disappeared.


    Shit. identally caught the kid. The man said.


    Dammit, ArthurThis is amateur hour, Sara rolled her eyes. Do we need a new shared instance?


    The kids fine. Tyler caught my eye, and gave me an appreciative nod. Person of significance, indeedsaved my ass. You did me a solid, so Ill do you one back. Can you walk out of here and pretend you didnt see anything?


    It sounded like a friendly question. But <strong></strong> was tickling at the back of my mind, subsequently warning me that an ability was being used.


    <em>Lie detection?</em>


    I saw the man behind me grow closer out of the corner of my eye.


    One hundred percent. I said. If Tyler had a way to tell if I was lying, it had the convenience of being theplete truth.


    Hes good. Tyler said to the others. Tyler took Swat Guys aviators off. More importantly, Sara? This him?


    Sara bent down to look, and her lip curled. She drove a foot into Swat Guys stomach, the blownding with a loud thud. Yeah. No question. He killed Logan.


    The man Sarah called Arther hoisted me up abruptly, light blue eyes taking me in derisively before he shoved me away. Come on, kid, get outta here.


    I stood, my heart racing, and approached the end of the instance. Unlike my first encounter with an instance when I met Daphnes group, this one was imperfect, showing a shimmering ck surface where the instance ended.


    The smartest thing, short-term, would be to leave. Tyler had some manner of detecting the truth, which put me on shaky ground at the best of times. Add in the fact that Swat Guy nearly shot me, and seeded in killing other Users. He was a problem and an unaddressed threat. If this instancing worked the same way, they could effectively deal with him and leave no trace. It was a win-win.


    But I had to think long-term. And the more I thought about it, considered the circumstances at the hospital, and what had nearly happened here today, the more it felt like a terrible move. I turned around.


    The fuck is he doing? Arthur said.


    Saving your ass, I said, directly to Tyler. Again.

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38


    I studied them all, struggling to keep my face emotionless.


    Sara wore simple armor, not unlike my set, ented by a simple gray cover-up. Short, shoulder-length blonde with a single red streak enting her bangs. I rxed my mind and let <strong></strong> take over.


    <em>Early twenties, confident, no trace of post-teenage depression. Smart. Either tested out of high-school or dropped out early. Probably worked a high-level job before this all started. Shes the aggrieved party here and shes pissed, but reasonable if I can goad her into thinking big picture.</em>


    Arthur was Saras pr opposite. Jeans and a T-shirt with the armor underneath, making him look bloated, despite his slim build. Darkly red hair, almost auburn. He looked at me like I was a bit of waste that fell out of the trashcan andnded on his shoe.


    <em>Hotheaded. Driven, but only cares about results, not about methods or presentation. Smug and cant back it up. Something else. Tension between him and Sara. Not one-way, considering how she snapped at him earlier.</em>


    They were both Agility builds, and considering how my attempt at <strong></strong> had bounced off Sara like she wasnt even there, she was likely the high-Int caster of the group.


    Tyler was still kneeling with his knee on Swat Guys back, the officer still out cold from the blow. He was peering at me in confusion, as if he didnt understand why I hadnt left.


    How did I want to do this?


    Shifting one persons mind away from something they were set on was tough. Changing the collective mind of a close-knit group was almost impossible. My only saving grace? I was pretty sure they werent all that tight-knit. At least not yet.


    Arthur opened the conversation for me. Thats it. Weve gotta do the kid too, now.


    Were not <em>doing</em> anyone. Tyler grimaced.


    Shut up, Arthur, Sara said, at almost the same moment.


    Fine. First step was, I needed a heel. Someone in the group to pick out as an outlier, someone to make me sound more reasonable by sounding like an asshole.


    I strode passed Arthur, shooting him a derisive nce. That his answer to everything? Kill all your problems?


    Oh good. Arthur sneered. Another bleeding heart.


    I spoke directly to Tyler, ignoring Arthur, No seriously, is that his contribution to your allegedly elevated guild? Being the bloodthirsty, stupid one?


    Tyler was about to speak up to defend Arthur, when Arthur did me a favor and cut back in. Its a new world we live in, kid. You cant just show mercy to people who fuck with you and pretend like its not going toe back and bite you. The boot has to go.


    I shook my head, mockingly stoic. Arthur, youre an actual moron. Dumber than a rock dropped into a whole ocean of stupid. I saw Sara smirk out of the corner of my eye. Youre the one who started talking about killing. For all I knew, you nned to kidnap him, hold him somewhere safe. Good job screwing up the usible deniability. Actually, if you were slightly less stupid, Id say you did that deliberately, to give them a reason to kill me.


    This isnt helping, Sara said, still trying not to smile.


    But the damage was done. Id poisoned the well. Arthurs fists clenched. But he fell silent.


    Regardless of whose fault it is, it doesnt change the fact that were now in a difficult position. Tyler started. He was studying me, attempting to get a read. But there was no tickle from <strong></strong> indicating he was using an ability.


    This dipshit killed my friend. Hes dangerous. Sara said, gaze bouncing between me and Tyler.


    Yeah, I was there, at Baylor. He took a shot at me too. It was information I never would have normally given out, but I needed it as bait.


    You were there? Tylers eyes narrowed.


    Idiots, Arthur chuckled. Didnt you say he wasnt a User?


    There it was. I wanted to get that out of the way as early as possible, before Tylers ability came off cooldown.


    I put a hand to my face. Okay. I cant. I actually cant deal with this guy.


    Its a legitimate question. We dont even know a fraction of all the factions involved. Tyler mused.


    You did say it was weird, since your ability doesnt usually direct you to non-users. Sara pointed out.


    I looked between all three of them like they were the most unreasonable people in the world. Fine. Just send me an invitation to the guild, so you can see my status and we can stop acting out the Spider-Man meme.


    Tyler considered that, then nodded to Sara. Keep him restricted, so he cant see the roster.


    Sara fiddled with the screens, and I received the invite momentster.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Adventurers Guild? Really?</em>


    I suppressed an eye roll, swapped to my Civilian identity and joined the guild.


    Sara stared out into space. Matt. No level, no ss definitely an NPC.


    I gave Tyler an exasperated look. He, in response, stared Arthur down. It made sense. From his perspective, the man had made them all look like fools twice now.


    So, what, you just happened to be at the hospital the same time countless Users passed out? No one else finds that the slightest bit weird? Arthur tried.


    Id already established a baseline of this story with Tyler. So left it sounding rtively unconvincing, baiting the hook again. Or, when normal people end up in the hospital, they have <em>friends</em> who end up <em>visiting them.</em>


    I shot a look back at Arthur, and shielded from the other two, gave him a malevolent sneer. He nearly choked.


    I turned back, my facepletely neutral and reasonable. Look, I was there. All I did was try to run away, and he took a shot at me. The bullet squibbed and shredded his arm. Check if you dont believe me.


    Sara pulled up Swat Guys sleeve and found a filthy bandage in desperate need of rotation.


    Tyler, eyed the wound, then looked back at me. So, let me get this straight. This guy kills multiple people, probably Users and Civilians, takes a shot at you. You spot him here and follow him. You stop him from killing another person. And now youre putting yourself in harms way because for some reason you want to save him?


    Iughed. Im trying toAlright. Im going to tell you something. You may not believe me, but itspletely true.


    Tyler bit. Nothing changed in the big mans expression, but I felt <strong></strong> vibrate in the back of my mind. He had the ability back off cooldown and Id prompted him to use it.


    The words left my lips easily. I dont give a single, solitary fuck if you kill him. I dont have a single objection to killing him. In fact, I hope you do. Months from now, when it wont matter.


    I felt Tylers ability fade. He looked genuinely unsettled, as if hed truly believed that the only qualm I had was a moral one.


    Hes just trying to buy time. I dont know what game hes ying, but thats all hes doing. Arthur reiterated.


    And youre constantly impulsive and push for what you want. Whats the difference? Sara snapped.


    I cocked my head. There was baggage in the statement. Like Arthur was pushy in some other way, impulsive in some other way, and Sara was getting fed up.


    <em>Oh, yes. Plenty to y with there.</em>


    What the hell is your problem with me? I pivoted, turning to Arthur. The younger man still leered at me. I used <strong></strong> and pushed through his mental defenses easily.


    <em>They dont recognize you for your potential and never will unless you do something. Come on. Show them how strong you are. Coward. </em>


    Arthurs eyebrows lowered. Behind me, I heard Tyler and Sara quietly conferring. He was so close. He just needed one more push.


    I gave him the malevolent smile again and kept my voice low. You know Saras never going to fuck you.


    Even knowing it wasing, the backhand was blisteringly fast. I turned my head with it, feeling a sharp pain as knuckles drove cheek into teeth.

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39


    I yed it up a little, nearly stumbling to the ground before I pulled myself up.


    Arthur, what the hell? Sara shouted.


    Thats enough. Tyler stood, furious. Arthur, back off. Youre removed from this discussion. Arthur swore under his breath and walked to the edge of the instance. And you. Tyler pointed at me. Ive seen someone work a room before. Dont act like I dont know what youre doing.


    I held my hands up in surrender. Maybe you have. But consider this. All I did was talk to him, and he resorted to violence. That really someone you want making life-or-death calls?


    We may want to reconsider, I heard Sara murmur to Tyler.


    Tyler shook his head. Arthur can be difficult, but he has his uses. And now youve made an enemy.


    If the Allfather of Entropy was right, I had no shortage of enemies. One more wasnt going to make a difference.


    Look, kill the cop, dont kill the cop, its your call. I genuinely dont care if he dies. What I care about is how his death will affect the bigger picture here. I said.


    How? Tyler asked.


    Let''s say you kill him. You do it in a way that the cleanup is easy and no one can find the body. I said. Heres the problem. That shit at the hospital wasnt sanctioned. Maybe eventually well get to that point, but it was too much, too early.


    Youre saying they were operating on their own? Sara asked.


    The hospital wasnt cleared properly, and they werent using the correct ammo for close quarters. It was shredding through walls. That, and he made ament, before he took a shot at me, about how many friends hed lost that day I stared at Swat Guy grimly, remembering how terrifying that second brush with death had been. It took me a while to put it together, but if Im right, this guy and his squad probably had an early encounter with the wrong group of Users and went dark. Ever watch the news? It doesnt happen often, but it happens. Especially when a cop dies.


    You said you wanted him dead. So, why shouldnt we kill him now? Tyler asked, sounding a little too confident in my earlier statement. He really needed to tone that down, it was a dead giveaway.


    Pure conjecture, but my bet is someone high up the chain blew the whistle. The killings have all-but-stopped. Theres a weird alliance of cops and Users. And guys like this dont just martyr themselves. They work themselves up to it. And they always say goodbye. I stared down at the man on the ground. Think about it. Youre about to do some stupid shit. You tell your squadpeople capable of backing off, unlike youthat youre going to make a stand at the open forum. Maybe they even try to talk you out of it, but you go anyway. Then you suddenly vanish and are never heard from again.


    And the cycle continues. Tyler sighed heavily.


    What are we supposed to do with him then? Sara challenged. He knows our faces.


    I hesitated, knowing they werent going to like my solution. Give him to the DPD.


    Saras eyes nearly bugged out of her head. He killed Logan, and you want to give him a paid vacation. Perfect solution.


    Probably unpaid, Imented.


    Tyler considered. No, he might be right. Cops generally protect their ownbut things are different now. The Users in police ranks arent exactly hiding. Someone high up is trying very hard to make that work. Theyre most likely already looking for him. And just as motivated as us to keep this asshole fromplicating their initiative with bad optics.


    This is stupid. Arthur said from the corner of the room. Everyone ignored him.


    Are we done? I asked.


    Id let them figure out the awkward logistics of handing the wannabe vignte off to the police. I wanted to collect Ellison and Iris, and get the hell out of here. Even if Sara and Arthur werent convinced, Tyler was. And that was all that really mattered.


    Were done. Tyler nodded. But that card I gave you?


    Yes? I half expected him to tell me to shred it.


    Instead, his parting words surprised me. Make sure youe by. Maybe its obvious, but we need people with a good head on their shoulders.


    And now were recruiting him, Arthurmented. Fantastic. Enlist the psycho.


    Ill think about it, I said, waving behind my head and walking out of the instance.


    Once I was out of view, I leaned against the hallway wall, sucking in breaths, fighting off a panic-attack. I could deal with a crisis every week. But I was losing count of how many Id dealt with in less than four days. It was too much. And I was constantly second guessing myself, with whether involving myself in what just happened was the right move at all.


    Maybe I should have used my mask. But the chance that someone saw me put it on, and how the description specifically stated there would be diminishing returns, all made that seem like the wrong move.


    I also didnt know for sure if Swat Guys squad friends would even care if he died. But the fastest way to radicalize a group was to kill people close to them. It wasnt worth the risk, when everything was bncing on the edge of a knife.


    I heard a cheer from outside, then another, and another. Confused, I looked out the window to the park area, not quite sure what I was seeing. From my perspective, it looked like an older woman in khaki shorts and a flowery shirt was ecstatic about a baguette. Another person was holding a whole ham, arms extended out, expression a mix of surprise and wonder.


    <em>They figured it out.</em>


    I wandered outside, a feeling of aplishment settling over me as warm as the afternoon sun. The feeling of grimness and fear from earlier had faded. Someone had followed the instructions on one of the pamphlets Ellison handed out, regardless of the twenty-minute warning. And once they started pulling food out of midair, word of mouth did the work for us.


    My phone buzzed.


    <strong></strong>


    Ellison wandered up to me and leaned against the wall, still pretending he didnt know me. I looked around. Every single civilian and User in sight was distracted, most thrilled. The only ones that looked particrly unhappy were the drones at the local relief effort table.


    I closed my fist, leaning it towards Ellison. He bumped it.


    A series of notifications pinged.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The feeling of victory was short-lived when I reached the next message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Phones totally out of service range, Ellison poked at the extra burner Id lent him in confusion. Somethings weird. Wait do you see a timer in the menu?


    I didnt have to search for it. As soon as I pulled the menu up it was there:


    <strong></strong>


    I see it. And from the looks of things, I wasnt the only one. People were still ted from the sudden avability of food, but some of them had taken notice.


    One step forward, two steps back. My first instinct would have been to buy new armor and go back to the dungeon, if I didnt know how difficult the fight would be.


    I stepped out into the park, taking in the confused expressions of the crowd. We had to get Iris and get out of here. I turned back to motion to Ellison and ran face-first into Nick.


    Normally, with his leg and the crutch, the impact would have been enough to knock him over. But Nick stood firm. Literally stood. On his own two feet.


    Long time no see my dude. Nick gave me an easy grin.

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40


    Long time no see, I wavered.


    The Nick Id known had been rtively muscr. But this was something beyond simple post-athletic build. He was absolutely loaded with muscle, though the physiquebined with his own natural looks created something of a Hollywood aesthetic. I stared at Nick in disbelief, even as <strong></strong> jabbered in my ear.


    <em>Riding high even with all the surrounding chaos. The system fixed his leg, like it did my ribs and shoulder. He wants something from me.</em>


    Go get Iris, I told Ellison.


    Bring her back? Ellison was still staring at Nicks leg.


    No. Call mom for a ride and get out of here. With the timer, things are liable to get weird soon.


    You guys Nick paused, twisting to watch as Ellison passed him wordlessly. He turned back to me. You see the countdown as well?


    I think everyone can, I observed, somewhat annoyed with the way the timing had worked out. I looked around. Since the advent of the timer, the kid-in-a-candy shop moment had devolved into panic buying. Word of mouth on Kinsleys store would still spread like wildfire. But the morale was mutedpared to just moments before.


    Nick crushed me in a hug. Im so happy you made it, man.


    I instinctively fought it for a moment before surrendering to the well-meaning Neanderthal, patting him on the back. Just, dont start crying again.


    No, Im good, Im good. Nick waved me off. Trust me, Im not that person anymore. He was bursting at the seams to tell me more, but I saw his head shift slightly, and his eyes ze over. I imagined he looked the same way I did when I used <strong></strong> to study something out of the corner of my eye.


    Unless I missed my guess, he was eying the long line of tables, and actually being careful.


    Different person indeed.


    <em>He thinks I missed the boat. Is looking to help, somehow. Probably better to ditch him early, hes stupid altruistic and will only drag me down </em>


    I shook my head. God. <strong></strong> was such an asshole.


    You okay? Nick asked.


    I nodded.


    Because you dont seem very surprised about he waved a hand over himself.


    You have somewhere to talk? I asked, ignoring the question.


    Yeah, theres a little Turkish ce down the road that still has coffee for cash only. I came to get you, actually. Youll want to meet the others.


    Wait, what? I attempted to ask. But Nick was already dragging me away.


    /////


    The restaurant was simr to a lot of dine-in establishments in the metroplex. Rtively unremarkable on the outside,pletely over-decorated on the inside. It was lined with colorful, ornate rugs and a collection of various squat humanoid miniatures that lined the shelves.


    The strong, rich, and bitter aroma of Turkish coffee permeated everything. And understandably so. Either people just came here for the coffee, or the kitchen was out of everything else.


    And then I walked by Buzzcut, sitting on his own, with his back to the corner. Id only seen the man briefly, in the alley with Daphne, when he was attempting to talk me into showing myself, but his smarmy visage and near-identical dark business wear was unmistakable.


    How the fuck did he find me?


    I nearly tripped on a rug on the way to our table.


    <em>He didnt find me. No way of knowing Ide here. Back to the wall, book hes not reading, hes watching someone. But who?</em>


    My question was answered almost immediately, when Nick directed me to a table directly in Buzzcuts sightline. There wereperhaps unsurprisingly, this was Nick after alltwo girls sitting, waiting for us. They were sipping at their coffee served in tiny porcin cups, chatting softly amongst themselves.


    It surprised me to realize that I knew both of them. Sae, the Korean student I ran into right before the meteor hit. Her stylish appearance had taken a bit of a beating over thest few days, and from her sleeveless shirt it was clear she had gained some definitive muscle.


    And the second was Jinny Stiles. She looked happy. Which was good, I guess, though I couldnt imagine why. The emptiness was gone from her expression.


    You lived! Sae said, her eyes widening when she saw me.


    Uh, you lived, I stammered, feeling entirely out of my element. Both of themall three of them actually, considering how Nick had apparently returned, triumphant from his fall from gracewere so far out of my social strata it wasnt even funny.


    Ladies, Nick said, with a charismatic flourish. Meet Matthias. Our fourth.


    Fourth what? I asked. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of my neck. Buzzcut could likely hear everything we were saying from where I sat.


    How do you two know each other? Sae asked, her voice carefully free of intonation.


    <em>What she really means is, why the fuck is he our fourth.</em>


    Theyre friends. Jinny gave me an apologetic look. Sorry, weve never met, but Nick talks about you all the time.


    Its okay, I murmured, my words unintentionally cut off. Part of me realized how ridiculous it was. I had gone in on Tylers group, manipting the dynamic to prevent a killing that might create revolutionaries and start a war. Why was it so much harder with people my age?


    <em>Because youre afraid theyll see you for what you really are.</em>


    What would he be bringing to the table? Sae asked again, her body angled towards Nick and Jinny. I could almost feel Buzzcuts eyes burning through the back of my head. As unpleasant as the snub was, she was giving me an out, and I should probably take it.


    Its okay, I said, probably a bit too quickly, Whatever it is, it seems like you all have an established thing and I prefer not to get in the way.


    Jinny and Nick looked at each other, then at Sae. Uh Sae, Matt is


    Matt is what?


    You remember Helpline? Jinny asked.


    I slowly raised a palm to my forehead.


    <em>Nick, Im actually going to kill you.</em>


    Sae cocked her head. Which helpOh. Her face changed in recognition. Youre talking about the fixer?


    It was such a stupid series of events, I still find it embarrassing. Nick once had the bright idea to wrangle up flyers for the testing business. Even though hed hidden the idea from me, hed been smart enough to keep it vague. Only hed been a little too vague.


    Within a day, I was getting a high number of calls, and practically none of them had anything to do with testing. Most were pranks, and I dealt with them ordingly. I nearly threw the burner away. The one that stopped me, the one I should have just ignored entirely, was some student, royally pissed off about someone stealing his Pace 500.


    If you dont know what that isI didnt either, before a cursory Google searchits a bike. But its not just a bike. Its fucking expensive. Anyway, the bike was expensive, the owner was clearly loaded, and instead of telling him to fuck offlike I really, really should haveI kept asking him questions. Because I also had a bike that I sometimes parked out front, and while it wasnt so expensive that I thought anyone would steal it, I didnt really want to have one more potential loss to worry about.


    When three more people called, reporting the same thing, I called Mr. My-Bike-Costs-More-Than-Most-Peoples-Rent back, and secured a payment through bitcoin. Half up-front, half after the fact. Probably a third of what hed paid for the bike.


    It wasnt really hard to track down the perpetrator. The thefts all took ce during school hours and, while there were other possibilities, ams Razor said it was most likely a student.


    And most teachers took detailed attendance sheets and filed them in unlocked drawers or boxes.


    It was as easy as cross-checking absences with the dates of the thefts.


    In the end it turned out to be some middle-of-the-pack idiot with an angle-grinder. The idiot in question timed cutting through the locks with construction happening nearby. Then, he would ride away on the stolen bike to a nearby storage unit. The weirdest part was, he wasnt even selling them. Probably didnt know where to start.


    I cut through the lock with a bolt cutter, retrieved the Bike-That-Costs-More-Than-God, discreetly called it in, and chained the stolen bike Id been hired for back up front at the school.


    All of which would have been fine, a nice change of pace and one-off. Only the student turned out to be well-connected, and happily ran his mouth to the entire god-damn high-school about how great Helpline, was.


    Nick grinned at Sae, pointing a finger at me.


    I could feel red creeping into my cheeks. Okay, well, Im going to go.


    Wait. Helpline was you? Saes eyes bugged out of her head.


    Allegedly, I said, ring daggers at Nick.


    I fought the urge to pull away as Sae grabbed my arm, still grinning. My friend, Choon, you helped her with her bullying problem.


    And he got those pictures of Danielle taken down, Jinny nodded.


    Thats insane. Sae leaned forward, putting a bit too much weight on the table, and it creaked loudly.


    Those were just jobs, I refuted, overwhelmed. They were paying.


    Nick nodded smugly. Point is, Matts someone you want on your side, and we need a good tactician going into this.


    I ced both hands on the table, a bit too firmly. Okay, stop. You havent even told me what <em>this</em> is.


    Youre not a User, right? Nick asked.


    No, but I have a general grasp on whats happening. I wanted to avoid an overwrought exnation.


    Nick leaned towards me with the same, shit-eating grin he always had when hed found something particrly good. This was going to be a harder sell before what happened today, but not anymore. That market, that just came online? Its exclusively for Selve. And I have a way to make a lot of it.


    Fuck. That was why Buzzcut was here. Either he was following Nick because of something Nick knew, or something he had. Both were bad. I needed to end this conversation now.


    But how, without drawing suspicion to myself?


    Look, I leaned back, attempting to look disinterested, before you spill your entire manifesto in a <em>public ce,</em> I put just enough emphasis on the words that I hoped that Nick would catch my drift, Im not a User. Ive only put together a little of all this, but from what I know, Users have abilities and survivability that I couldnt even dream of. If I go off and I made a vague gesture, Do User things with you, it seems inevitable that without any of those protections Ill end up a sttered on the pavement somewhere.


    It was a legitimate excuse. If anyone was listening, I would sound overly cautious at most.


    I realized my error when Nick didnt look disappointed. Rather, his eyes gleamed. Man, youve kept me sane thesest few months. Youve been a great friend, and Im just happy I can do something for you in return.


    Stop proposing. I rolled my eyes. Or whatever youre doing.


    Are they you know? I heard Sae whisper.


    Definitely not. Jinny whispered back, then hesitated. Nick isnt for sure.


    I found myself slightly surprised by Jinnys follow-upment, but it wasnt mean-spirited, she just wasnt making assumptions. I could tell if someone was objectively attractive, but Id never felt that attraction myself, let alone had the time to date. Maybe I would, some day, if we ever got out of this.


    Nick continued, undeterred by the cross-chatter. Look, I know youre cautious. This isnt permanent, and ording to the description, I can take it back if it doesnt work out. But its a new world, my friend. Join us.


    It was so melodramatic, I could barelyprehend what he meant. Then a flurry of system prompts passed through my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong><ol><li><strong> User: ???, ss: ???, LVL: ???</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: NPC, LVL: N/A</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: Page, LVL: 3.</strong></li></ol>


    I kept a bewildered smile on my face, tilting my head slightly to see if Buzzcut was still watching.


    He was.


    All I could think was that Nick had just made this entire situation a lot moreplicated.

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41


    I gripped the seat of my chair tightly. Nick had no idea how badly he was fucking me. This situation had gone from bad, to worse, to nigh unrecoverable in less than a minute.


    It didnt change the fact that his offer was, perhaps, the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for me.


    I had my suspicions about the purpose of all of this. My own innate paranoia, my first experience with other Users, along with the Allfathers warning all led me to believe that there were going to be seriousplications down the line that made User life far less morous than it initially appeared to be.


    But Nick didnt know any of that. Given the miraculously fixed injury and sudden appearance of a store when most people were hungry and on the verge of starvation, he probably saw all of this as a lucky break. A dam of withheld karma, finally raging free.


    And unlike an endless supply of assholes who would take that luck and run with it, abandoning anyone and everyone less fortunate than themselves, Nick was the one person not only willing, but <em>excited</em> to share a windfall.


    Nick was still waiting expectantly. Jinny and Sae had stopped whispering, and Saes eyebrow rose slowly.


    And behind me, I could feel Buzzcut, also watching.


    My initial thought was that this was bad. More than bad. And as panicked as I felt, there was only one title that could help me now.


    Bracing myself, I swapped into <strong></strong>


    It hit me like a brick. What was Nick doing? What was he doing? Why the fuck was he talking about this in such an open setting? Id gone to such massive lengths to make sure I stayed anonymous, and with this one dipshit move, he ruined <em>everything.</em>


    My panic rose, the acid gurgling in my stomach bubbling up and burning my throat, my eyes flicking back and forth as my breaths came in shorter and shorter gasps.


    Time slowed down. It was happening again, The same thing that happened in the hospital parking lot. My hands were not my hands. My body, not my body. The imminent peril and impending doom was irrelevant because it wasnt happening to me.


    Only, this time. I wasnt tied to my body, either. I stood up from the chair, leaving my body behind. The avatar that I left behind seemed totally calm, taking a sip from the tiny cup of his Turkish coffee as I stepped back from him, incorporeal, studying theyout of the room.


    <em>Well, this is a mess.</em>


    For once, I let <strong></strong> take over my thoughtspletely.


    I didnt walk so much as float over to Buzzcut, studying him. In the dtion of time, he was clearly staring at the body I left behind, waiting to see what happened.


    <em>Have to assume hes heard every word thus far. He was already following Nick. These guys are big time heavy hitters, already established enough that they didnt even bother recruiting at the Open Forum. So for Nick to have their attention? Im guessing they already know he can do this, or at least suspect it.</em>


    <em>My initial thought was to reject the offer and get the hell out. But Im uncertain if thats the correct call here. Because who in their right mind would say no to this? An overly cautious person might if things werent so badbut in the middle of a shortage where the alternative to saying yes would essentially be starving? The only reason someone would say no would be if they had something better lined up.</em>


    <em>Buzzcuts here for Nick, not me. If I ept, his focus will still be on Nick. Hell want to know how often he can do it, what the limits are, how powerful the ss is. A page is generally an assistant to a knight, so likely not that powerful. It wont be hard to spoof it. And apart from the fact that Im taking up a possible slot, Ill likely be of little interest. The danger wille if they attempt to recruit Nick, and he passes. But if I reject this offer, Buzzcut will wonder why. And unlike Nick, I have plenty to hide.</em>


    The parameters of my personal objective were specifically to remain unidentified by other Users. I had to assume that was referring to my identity as an Ordinator. At the time, Id thought that the best way to do that would be to pose as a civilian. Revisiting that idea, I wasnt certain if that was correct. Judging from what had happened at the Open Forum, there was still a significant rift between Users and Civilians. Even more open-minded guilds like the Adventurers Guild would likely keep Civilians at arms length in a way they were much less likely to restrict Users.


    Maybe he was doing me a favor after all.


    More importantly, Nick waspletely oblivious to the fact that he was in deep shit. If I said no, there was next to nothing I could do to interfere.


    I blinked back into my body.


    The feeling of panic was still there, but inert, like a rubber band that had already snapped.


    Nicks face was serious now. He chuckled nervously. Matt, um, Im sorry if I made you ufortable, doing this here. Maybe we should have talked one on one instead?


    Im in, I said, and paused, ncing at Jinny and Sae, making sure they knew I was addressing all of them. But I have conditions.


    Nicks smile returned full force. Name em.


    He was so good-natured it made me nauseous. I was about toapparentlyreceive the gift of a lifetime, and here I was bitching about conditions. But it didnt bother Nick. No sidelongment about gift horses, no posturing to make sure everyone knew he was in charge.


    Just, Name em.


    If Im going to be a part of this, we do this right. I started listing things on my fingers, No group meetings in the open like this, especially no discussion of ns or possible targets where anyone else can hear us.


    All three of them appeared mildly startled, and looked around as if the thought had only just now urred to them.


    Sae was the only one who looked bothered. She tended to speak with her hands, and as she did, I noticed that the fourth fingernail on both fingers was painted, contrasting the basic gloss that covered the rest. Were not idiots. The only reason were meeting in public like this is because Nick thought you wouldnt meet with us otherwise.


    I tilted my head towards Nick, asking a silent question.


    Nick shifted in his chair. With everything going on, I wasnt confident how down youd be with meeting the group in private.


    Okay, that was fair. He practically had to Shanghai me to the restaurant. It stung a little, but he probably wasnt wrong.


    Right, well, going forward its only going to be more important. I said.


    It makes sense, Jinny agreed, still eyeballing the room.


    Why the cloak and dagger routine? Sae asked.


    Nick cut in, answering for me. Thats just Matt. Hes all about usible deniability and holding things close to the vest. Every so often it gets a little extreme, but I dont think hes wrong here.


    I was so focused on what Buzzcut might or might not be hearing that thement took a moment to register. You dont?


    Nick shook his head. No. We dont know the shape of things yet. The timer, the transposition event happening in two days, its all very vague. So, Im onboard with keeping things a little more low-key. Anything else?


    I checked my phone. There still wasnt any service. Mom had mentioned the system had unimplemented features, and I wondered if that had changed.


    Sure enough, after fiddling with the boxes a bit, I found a new window that resembled a chat log.


    If I focused on Nick, I found that I could message him directly.


    <strong></strong>


    Nick went pale. It took him a moment to figure out how to send a message back.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    At the same time, I spoke aloud. Whatever you have a line on, should wait until after the system event. It would be better to train together, work on our cohesion, just in case we need it.


    I have been excited for it, but maybe its crazy to just jump in without testing things first. Jinny chuckled nervously.


    Sae looked towards Nick, confused. But you said it was time sensitive


    It can wait a few days, Nick interjected quickly. Plus, who couldnt use a good old training montage?


    <strong></strong>


    I generally held Nick to a higher standard, but I had to give him credit here. He wasnt freaking out.


    And if I decide this isnt for me, you can rescind the User status? I asked. It was better to give Buzzcut as many alternatives to killing me as possible, if the ss was what he was after.


    Nick nodded. With the press of a button. So to speak.


    Thats all I have then, I shrugged.


    <strong></strong><ol><li><strong> User: ???, ss: ???, LVL: ???</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: NPC, LVL: N/A</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: Page, LVL: 3.</strong></li></ol>


    Once I selected the third option, another prompt immediately followed.


    <strong></strong>


    There were options for both the Merchants, and surprisingly, Adventurers Guild. They hadnt removed me yet, though my view was still restricted. There was also an option to change my listing on the Adaptive Dungeon leaderboard.


    It was something to consider changingter, but there was no reason to oveplicate things when we were already reaching critical mass in that regard.


    <strong></strong>


    I watched as a series of bogus stats oveid my own. It even gave the option to distribute stats for the previous level.


    Holy shit, I said aloud, as much for Buzzcuts benefit as everyone elses Its really that easy?


    Nick shook my hand. Just wait untilter to distribute them. It doesntst long but when you first slot them in, it stings like a bitch.


    Jinny weed me aboard wholeheartedly. Sae wasnt as enthusiastic, but still seemed happy to have the group rounded out. I did my best to make idle, unimportant small talk and discussion around what the various stats did as I thought through next steps. Exhaustion danced around my temples as my distant fantasy of going home and sleeping slowly drifted away.


    Eventually, I excused myself and we parted ways.


    It took nearly a half an hour to ensure no one was following me home. I messaged Kinsley and asked for a door, just to be safe. Id done my best to throw Buzzcut off, but if they were as cold-blooded professional as I thought they were, that wouldnt matter. I needed every contingency possible, and that meant using my level-up to try to find a safe way to get the new summon onboard.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Doubt it, I grumbled to myself, checking behind me to make sure I was still clear. Whenever Nick said Id love something, it was almost guaranteed that I wouldnt.

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42


    Shortly after waking up, misced and confused, Nick had found a System event called a Trial in the old underground Santa Fe Railroad tunnels downtown. ording to him, while wandering around in a daze, hed found a pair of gilded, thick doors. That was when the low-threat quest had popped. There were also mobs and loot located around the trial, and while he hadnt gone into specifics, Nick mentioned hed managed to sell his haul on the market for over forty thousand selve. He was assuming, probably correctly, that whatever was inside the trial itself would only be more lucrative.


    The tunnels were derelict, abandoned, and mostly closed off, so the likelihood of another User stumbling upon them was low. But Users in the know were likely already scouring the city for hidden events and dungeons, so it was only a matter of time.


    I wasnt in love with the idea of delving blindly into another unknown. The systems low-threat parameter seemed dangerously stic, with an extraordinarily high ceiling. The trouble was that I had no way of exining that to Nick without either raising suspicions or outing myself. And as unintentional as it was, Nick had dragged me into this. It seemed like a waste to not at least get something out of it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I needed to partition.


    Everything was recontextualized after the meeting. When I waspletely anonymous, there was no real downside to spending time at home. But Daphnes crewif they were, in fact, the ones to take Kinsleys father as wellhad shown a clear tendency towards ying hard ball.


    I had no idea what I would do if someone attempted to do something simr with my family, and I had no desire to find out. Best to just avoid being in that situation in the first ce.


    Kinsleys door opened.


    Instead of taking me back to Estradas or somewhere else, I found myself in my kitchen, taking in a situation that was reckless at best. Kinsley and mom, sitting at the dining room table, looking over theptop.


    A vein popped out on my forehead. What the hell?


    Kinsley was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a floral print t-shirt I was pretty sure belonged to Iris, and scrambled to her bare feet as I appeared. Oh. Hey.


    Mom waved at me, too engrossed in theputer to even bother looking up. I felt my irritation growing stronger by the minute, only some of it attributable to <strong></strong>


    You are <em>not</em> supposed to be here, I said through gritted teeth.


    Kinsley, for whatever reason, seemed surprised by my reaction. Sorry. I know you wanted to keep things separate, but


    Its not a personal preference, Kinsley. And you know the reason all too well.


    A look of guilt shed across Kinsleys face. There was a snapping noise as theptop shut, and mom stared at me in irritation. I invited her over


    Fantastic. I rubbed my temple. Do you mind if I ask, <em>why</em>?


    Moms eyes were bloodshot, and she went from looking irritated to angry in a split-second. This project is both incrediblyplex and in-depth. Where exactly did you want the work on the website to happen?


    I was taken aback by the heat of the question. Estradas.


    The apartment Kinsleys staying at has no inte whatsoeverits barely working here for that matter, unless you jump through so many hoops youre not even working on anything recognizable anymorethemunity center has been shut down for years, and the so-called system hasnt implemented the necessary features for voice calls. So please, pray tell, How else were you expecting this to happen in such an impossible timeframe?


    Kinsley awkwardly looked between the two of us, not sure what to do.


    A half-dozen, mostly derogatory responses went through my mind, all centered around the fact that this was starting to feel like a mistake. The only thing that shut me up was how bedraggled mom looked.


    When was thest time you had a drink? I asked, unable to keep my tone level.


    Kinsley jumped in. Two hours ago. Eleanor gave me her schedule, and Ive been making sure she sticks to it.


    That should be Ellisons job


    Mom shook her head. Ellison, and Iris, are both passed out in their room. They were both falling asleep in the car.


    Kinsley gripped her arm with one hand. Youre all helping me. I want to return the favor, however I can.


    It was already done. Between this and what happened with Nick, it felt like everything was falling apart, but bitching about it and picking a fight wasnt going to do me any favors. Fine. Make sure she sticks to the schedule. Im going to be away for a few days, but Ill be back before the timer reaches zero. Kinsley, when you leave, use a door.


    I generally do, She quipped


    You know what I fucking mean. I called over my shoulder, my voice cold.


    Small footsteps followed as I headed into my room and began to pack for Nicks. Kinsley entered with her arms crossed.


    Why are you being such a dickhead?


    I turned on her, sticking a finger in her face, Youre literally being hunted. Ive gone out of my way to keep them out of this for obvious fucking reasons. Up to this point, theyve had a reasonable amount of distance from everything.


    Please. Like this isnt about you.


    What?


    Kinsley rolled her eyes. You just didnt want me to know where you live. Because of this whole ndestine game youre running on the side.


    I held both hands out in exasperation. Its all of the above.


    I kept my mouth shut about having a level avable while people twice my size were kicking the shit out of me. It''s obvious I can keep a secret, Kinsley insisted. Not only that, but when we talked, before you dropped me at the professors, you implied we had a lot inmon. So, why wont you trust me?


    Because its simpler and safer that way, I said, stuffing two more shirts into my inventory. There was no point in mentioning the fact that any simrities between us probably made me less inclined to trust her.


    Can you at least tell me where youre going? There was very real concern in her voice.


    I closed my eyes. I cant say.


    Kinsley pulled at her hair in frustration.


    Somewhat surprised at myself, I continued. Im in trouble, and I might be screwed if I cant find my way out of it.


    What can I do? Kinsley asked.


    I watched her for a moment. If I disappear, keep my family on payroll. Theyre all hard workers


    Done, Kinsley said immediately. Id rather you not disappear, and I might not be as well positioned as we talked about, but I need the help. I can at least do that. Something in the sentence caught my attention.


    Why wouldnt you be positioned well? Your level is skyrocketing.


    Kinsley looked away. It is. But Im running out of inventory.


    Damn it. I sat down on my bed with a growl. Why didnt you say something sooner?


    Didnt have a chance to, you got all territorial the second you came in the door.


    I paused, thinking it through. What happened to the generic stuff being unlimited?


    I thought it was. Kinsley agreed, But I just got a notification that toilet paper was down to fifty percent capacity. From what Ive read, it looks like I restock once a week.


    Why is it always toilet paper? A long sigh escaped my lips. That was a serious bottleneck. I had hoped that once the site was avable to the public, we would dominate the market on the principle of essibility and convenience. On the other hand, the quest had charged me with creating the merchants guild. It logically tracked that the guild would include more than one merchant.


    A notification popped in front of my eyes.


    <strong>Quest: The Cradle of Civilization</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Recruit more Merchants for the Merchants Guild.</strong>


    <strong>(2 of ???)</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ??? </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (L)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: ???</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Increased rtionship with Kinsley, Merchant. Allies within the Merchants Guild.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation ???</strong>


    My stomach twisted as I read over the quest. Not for what was therethe second stage of the quest pretty much aligned perfectly with the direction we were already headedbut for what was missing.


    Whats wrong? Kinsley asked.


    The secondary objective disappeared, I murmured, navigating through the system screens to thepleted quest log. It was missing from thepleted quest as well, but I remembered it regardless.


    <em>Achieve the Primary Objective before greater violence erupts.</em>


    Its absence meant one of two things. Either there was no longer a possibility of greater violence. Orfar more likelyit was no longer an achievable objective. Meaning greater violence was inevitable.


    Almost automatically, I pulled up the countdown clock. <strong></strong>


    Whatever was happening at the end of that timer, it wasnt good.


    See if my mom cane up with some subtle way to solicit other merchants on the site. Ill try on my end, but my hands are tied for the immediate future.


    Kinsley nodded. Keep in touch. I made a group chat in the guild, so if you need updates on whats happening on our end, itll be there.


    /////


    An hourter, I entered the lobby floor of the adaptive dungeon. I had no intention of going up to the fifth floor, but the dungeon itself represented a protected space away from prying eyes.


    It was time to level and, assuming I could find a way to protect myself, see what the new summon could do.

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43


    I discovered quickly that the marketce was inessible from the dungeon lobby. Somewhat awkwardly, I reced the <strong></strong> and stepped back outside to finish my shopping.


    The <strong></strong> and teeth fetched nearly thirty-thousand Selve. Despite the provocative name for the marketceThe Selve StandardKinsleys website was pretty barebones in appearance. Some pre-modern mix of The Silk Road and early Amazon. The twenty-minute waiting period seemed to only apply to purchases. Selling, and receiving Selve from the transaction was almost instantaneous.


    Best of all? The green, 50% off indicator next to every item. And I do mean <em>every</em> item. Even though Kinsley and I hadnt exactly hashed out a formal agreement, she was clearly taking her promise of a discount seriously. That,bined with the massively increased selection, meant I had a world of power at my fingertips.


    On inspection, my <strong></strong> read <strong></strong>


    From what I read in the tooltip, it could probably still be repaired, but only by someone with the Smith vocation. Maybe wed eventually expand, sell services alongside goods, but that was a long way off, and any prominent tradesperson, if they existed yet, were likely locked down by a guild.


    That was fine. The armor was always meant to be something of a stopgap, anyway, reced as soon as something better could be either found or bought. And the encounter with the wolf had served as a solid warning that I had outgrown it.


    It left me with a bit of a dilemma. I could now afford a muchrger variety of armor than before, and even when I narrowed the search parameters for weight to <strong></strong> only, specifically narrowed aesthetics to dark and muted colors, and excluded the growing number of sold-out items, the amount avable in my price range was still staggering.


    That left me with a few different options. Either buy something with decent, well-rounded protections in preparation for whatever was happening in less than two days from now, or try to find something that would assist in dealing with the denizen of the now-empty cage that would more than likely be waiting for me on the fifth floor.


    Further delving in the adaptive dungeon was on hold for now, but it wouldnt hurt to future-proof myself if I could afford it.


    I scrolled through the filters, narrowing the armor by resistance. Of the many damage types listed on the dropdown, there were really only three that fit the bill: Dark, Curse, and Eldritch.


    I thought back to the cloying, silhouetted form in the elevator. Cursed, definitely described it, but it had touched me without inflicting any status effect. Dark felt like an overly generic descriptor for how fucking unsettling the thing was.


    Having narrowed it down, I searched for any light armor with Eldritch Resistance.


    The search was popted almost entirely with robes. There was only one eptable option for armor:


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: This gray-and-ck armor is said to have been crafted by a necromancer who conquered death, only to find deeper darkness beyond. A series ofplex runes woven into the design makes this armor magic resistant and potentially resistant to rarer damage types, though whether it has the capacity to evade a true abomination is unknowable. </strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Rare</strong>


    <strong>Item Requirements: Intelligence 10 | Will 11</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: S40,000</strong>


    As soon as I realized that the price wasnt factoring in my discount, I was thrilled. Magic resistance was an invaluable boon, considering how powerful magic seemed to be. The description was being deliberately coy with how much the armor would help against eldritch enemies, but it was the only armor out of thousands to show up with the parameters Id selected, and item descriptions had a history of keeping certain aspects hidden.


    Once I selected the armor, a little box appeared next to the name, allowing me to pull up a three-dimensional preview. I mentally clicked the prompt.


    And immediately facepalmed.


    When the description stated the armor had been crafted by a necromancer, it wasnt kidding. The armor looked like a three-way car crash between a gue doctor, a Hot Topic, and the desated remains of Edgar Allen Poe. The so-called runic pattern iid in the dark-gray material looked suspiciously simr to feathers, and bits of bone painted gray served as ents arranged circrly around the chest te.


    It wasnt nearly as difficult to look at as some other User armor Id seen, the necromancer who supposedly created it seemed to have something of an eye for fashion, but any subtlety was erased by the metric fuck-ton of edge.


    I went through the five stages of grief twice before finally reaching eptance andpleting the purchase.


    Once twenty minutes had psed, the armor was automatically delivered to my inventory. With a sigh, I equipped it and entered the dungeon.


    /////


    Audrey stuck her head out of the elevator before me, peering at the side where the first Flowerfang had ambushed me, then wandered out into the clearing. The mobs on this floor hadnt repopted, so all we were left with was a meadow with a green vista as far as the eye could see.


    I reached into my inventory and retrieved the monster core, attempting to ignore the clearly gothic inspired nature of my gauntlet. It didnt look quite as bad in normal lighting, some of the edgier, I-am-be-death details like the bones and feather etching were barely visible unless you knew what you were looking at. Still, it was exponentially morefortable than my previous set of armor, and a solid step up considering the resistance and rarity.


    Audrey eyed me with suspicion. Are you sure


    I red at her. What else do you want? You literally refused to move until I stood in front of the two-way mirror in the lobby. I had a reflection. I am not a vampire.


    Ooookay. Audrey said, her chubby face riddled with doubt.


    Just, secure the perimeter.


    Securing Audrey drifted away, but not before sending me a mental image of Flowerfangs taking refuge from a storm in the wrong cave, subsequently chased out by humanoids with sharpened fangs, d in outfits with more than passing resemnce to the armor I had just purchased.


    Smartass helianthus, I muttered.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 8 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Matt, Level 3 Page</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 12</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 15</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 12</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 10. Suggestion, LVL 14. One-handed, LVL 6</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid. Bond LVL 3</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 9,561 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 4.</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    I held the monster core in my hand nervously. This was it.


    Id banked my feat points from the previous level, hoping to find something capable of shielding me from mental interference from my summons in the likely case the wolf was hostile. If that didnt work out, the only other recourse was stat dumping into intelligence, something I wanted to avoid.


    Thankfully, my patience was rewarded.


    <strong></strong>


    At the cost of four feat points, it was expensive, butpletely worth it. The section about those under the Ordinators thrall was confusingfrom the way it was stated, I didnt think <strong></strong> counted. But the description explicitly stated that it covered summons.


    Along with Volition, I slotted two additional skill points into Will, just to be safe, and another into Agility.


    Pain racked my body, mainly localized to my arms and legs, but significantly less than before. It appeared that my previous suspicion was correct. Will really didnt hurt the same way the others did.


    Then, holding my breath in anticipation, I consumed the monster core.

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44


    Every time I called Audrey, it felt like tearing my own hair out, a handful at a time. Between summoning and leveling, it had be abundantly clear that any significant gain would involve varying degrees of difort.


    But this was in another league


    If I were to attempt to put it into words, imagine looking down at your finger and finding a thick cuticle. You grab it and start pulling. Not to the side, but straight up and back. The flesh splits like a dermal zipper, only instead of eventually thinning out somewhere close to your knuckle, the ribbon of disced skin grows thicker instead, trailing up to your second knuckle, the base of your hand, and eventually, your wrist and arm.


    And imagine, after all that tearing, looking down at the bloody mess and thinking that you should really even things out.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    An image assailed me. I saw myself in the midst of a blizzard, mocking the wolf,ughing maniacally at her pain. An oblong shadow towered over me, blotting out the sun. Audrey tensed at my side and dug her vines into the ground, fully prepared to attack the invader.


    The voice in my mind was angry and sibnt, more likely from a snake than a wolf.


    You dare to summon me?


    Another psychic attack bounced off my defenses. This time, I was greeted with the image of the wolf mauling a User who pressed the wrong button on the elevator, chasing him into the back corner and ripping into him gruesomely. At first, I was concerned that the User was Brett. With the sheer quantity of blood and gore, it was hard to make out any definable features, but this man was considerably shorter. Probably not Brett.


    It took a long moment to decide what to do. The wolf sounded and felt far too angry to reason with. Eventually, without turning to face the creature, I took a piece of raw beef out of my inventory and held it out to Audrey.


    Meat? I asked her.


    Her eyes flitted to the small portion of steak in my hand, then back to the new summon. N-n-now?


    Yes, I stuck the treat further out towards her. Were done here. You did well.


    This is anything but done, the wolf hissed.


    <em>Very</em> slowly, Audrey waddled over to me, never looking away from the figure that loomed behind me, and ate the meat out of my hands. I felt a burst of air and felt an impact inches from my skin, and a resulting yelp. Audrey jumped.


    I patted Audreys head. Do you want more?


    Audrey stared at me, then back at the wolf. Mmmter?


    <em>Never thought Id see the day.</em>


    I gathered Audrey up in my arms. She quivered, and her vinesshed on to me tightly, but with the new armor, I could barely feel the pressure from the thorns.


    A bead of sweat dripped down my back as I turned.


    The revenant wolf was smaller than its arctic counterpart. That isnt to say it was small. Even on all fours, its head came roughly to chest level. Its white fur was reced in a vibrantbination of silver and navy-blue. All that aside, its teeth were the real kicker. Its primary fangs wereplimented by a secondary set that were thinner, needle like, almost transparent. And dripping with clear liquid.


    <em>Venom. As if this wolf needed to get any scarier.</em>


    I observed all this from the corner of my eye, visibly paying the wolf no attention whatsoever as I walked by it, inches away. Teeth snapped at me, bouncing off the invisible forcefield.


    What are you thinking for dinner tonight? I asked Audrey, stifling a yawn. Turkey, or mutton?


    Which one is the bird? Audrey said, growing less fearful by the second.


    That would be turkey.


    Turkey, then. Audrey confirmed.


    Cease this childish farce! The wolf roared. It left deep imprints in the dirt where itnded, directly in front of us.


    Audrey stuck her tongue out at the wolf, her fear abandoned now that she was being carried.


    Despite every lizard-brain instinct I had screaming for me to run, I stood my ground, looking at the wolf calmly. What farce?


    The wolf growled. You summoned me for a reason. Stop pretending as if I am an errant pup, and you intend to leave me here.


    I shrugged. Thats precisely what I intend. I was hoping, if I brought you back, youd be reasonable. But this was clearly a waste of time. I have other monster cores, so its on to the next one.


    Then why is your only summon a parasite? The wolf hissed.


    Audrey here, I patted her head, subtly lifting her above the wolfs head, so it was clear where she sat in hierarchy, Was my first summon. Shes been incredibly helpful, and Ive rewarded her ordingly.


    Meat, Audrey added, attempting to help, Endless meat.


    And while I have many cores to choose from, I only have two slots. You were by far the core with the most potential. Highly intelligent, incredibly strong, with elegance to spare.


    The wolf stood a little straighter, subconsciously puffing itself up.


    But youre too caught up with bygones to be useful. I shrugged, and continued the walk to the elevator, leaving the wolf sputtering behind me.


    <em>We have other monster cores?</em> Audrey asked silently.


    <em>No. But were pretending like we do.</em> I responded through <strong></strong>


    <em>Ooooh.</em>


    You draw me away from my pups. They die, in my absence. Then you use their suffering as a means to distract me. And you have the gall to call these transgressions <em>bygones?</em> The wolf asked, her voice ovee with rage.


    I turned then, and dropped the facade. The wolfs mind was in enough turmoil that slipping through her mental defenses was easy. The strain from summoning and casting <strong></strong> over and over began to take its toll. I showed the wolf everything, from my first foray into the dungeon, to my trip up the elevator, to the close call with the gnolls, to my utter panic at the realization I would have to fight her.


    She staggered backwards, sitting down with one massive paw jutting out to the side.


    They were always going to die, I said inly, not bothering to mince words. And its not because you were a bad mother, or because I took too long to get there. The system needed you angryenragedand allowing your litter to die in a manner you could easily me on whichever User staggered onto the floor was the simplest manner of achieving that.


    <em>If they were ever alive in the first ce.</em>


    I pointed to the nt in my arms. Audreys in a simr boat. Shes not as clever as you, but shes learning, and she also has many questions about why she was manipted to be an obstacle in my path.


    The big meat. Audrey glowered.


    And like I told her, on this very floor, I wont force you.


    The wolf cocked its head. You would release me? Truly?


    I shook my head. Thest thing I need is a ve. I want summons that will work with me of their own free will.


    The wolf considered my words. I held my breath, and waited for her decision.

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45


    I am not your pet, and you will not treat me as such. The wolf growled. She was as far from me as possible, though even with her newer, smaller form the elevator didnt allow more than a single foot of distance.


    Only a fool would treat a sapient being as a pet, I agreed, attempting to build some semnce of rapport. I was used to ufortable rtionships and difficult working environments, but the air between us was straight-up hostile.


    Yet you insist on naming me. Her silver eyes narrowed.


    No insistence here. Just, if were working together, it would be helpful to have something to call you.


    A long, awkward silence followed as we passed the empty cages. The wolf inhaled in a long sniff, nose pointing to the cage that sat opposite of her own. The wretch has escaped her prison as well.


    That caught my attention. Thats what the shadow monster in the other cage was? A wretch?


    No, though it describes them well. Foul creatures sustained by hate and regret, formed in the void between worlds when a beingmits the unforgivable. The true name of her kind, is Lithid. The wolfs voice was a mix of trepidation and disgust.


    Im pretty certain that thing is waiting on the fifth floor, I said quietly.


    Then I may have the pleasure of watching your end, sooner than expected. The wolf let out a low, rumbling grunts that could easily be mistaken for augh. Even with a fully grown pack of my kind, that is not a fight I would engage in eagerly.


    But you would? Fight her, I mean, I asked. If I was ever going toplete my quest, there was no question in my mind Id need the wolfs firepower.


    If this were a Lithid with whom I had no history? No. But I have a personal stake in seeing this one returned to the void. She The wolfs jaw clenched. <em>Taunted</em>, me. Stoked my doubt and fear for my pups until my mind consisted of nothing else. Forged enjoyment from my misery. And when I consider the possibility of returning the favor? My heart <em>quickens.</em>


    Audrey shifted ufortably in my arms. Shed been giving me uncertain looks ever since Id recruited the wolf. Probably some primal fear of being reced, demoted in the pecking order. I stroked her petals, using <strong></strong> to impart a feeling of security,fort.


    There wasnt much I could say tofort the wolf because in the end, Id done something very simr to the Lithid. For my survival, not out of cruelty or sadism, but simr nheless.


    Youll get your chance, I finally said.


    I still wasnt fully confident that I could rely on the wolf. She was crafty, and I wouldnt be surprised if she was plotting against me even now. But I didnt get the sense she was lying about the lithid. The rage and anger towards the creature I felt from her couldnt be so easily manufactured. She would be useful to me until I cleared the fifth floor and enacted her vengeance. What happened after that was anyones guess.


    I have chosen a name.


    What is it? I asked.


    Talia.


    The elevators doors slid open, revealing the deathly tundra of the fourth floor. An inch of freshly fallen snow had nearly erased my footsteps from the other day.


    Do not interrupt. As gruff as her voice was, her tail was nted firmly between her legs.


    <em>We''re losing time.</em><strong></strong> whispered. I ignored it, willfully forcing myself not to look at the ever-descending countdown. This was a condition of my new summons help, and I knew all too well that any demands I made here would be remembered forever.


    So, instead, I sat in the open elevator, Audrey beside me, and watched as Talia entered the chamber that had once been her home, her shoulders shifting, her movements slow as her paws sunk into the snow. Talia stopped once to sniff the skeleton of her mortal body, then moved on to the clearing where her three pupsy.


    It was difficult to make out detail from where I sat, but from what I could see, she seemed to be inspecting each of them gently, rolling them over and pressing her ear to their chests.


    Then she threw back her head and began a low howl. Over and over, the howl repeated until the sound itself grew hoarse and otherworldly.


    An unsettling feeling grew in my stomach while I watched her. Realistically speaking, she should have had me. It doesn''t matter how smart or strong you are. Mistakes are inevitable. Eventually, the variables line up to screw you over. And if youre alone when that happens, thats it. This is what the end looks like.


    I needed strong allies.


    More than that, I was starting to entertain the idea of having at least one, particrly well-positioned person I could trust with theplexities of my situation, for if and when this all went sideways.


    I remembered my reaction when Audrey used <strong></strong> on me. It was instantaneous, almost viscerally repulsive. I consider myself a fairly rational and even-handed person, and I nearly dismissed her right then and there.


    In the context of a User discovering me, the way that tranted was fairly clear.


    Execution.


    Three names came to mind in the context of whom to trust. Nick, Tyler, or Kinsley.


    On further thought, Nick was a terrible candidate. Even if he wasnt already under surveince. Though not entirely traditional, he had an extremely staunch interpretation of right and wrong. If I went too far in his eyes, or did something he perceived as unforgivable, I could see him either bringing in outside help to stop me or opposing me directly.


    I didnt me him for that. It was just the type of person he was.


    Tyler, byparison, seemed a lot more flexible. If the Adventurers Guild was as promising as I hoped, Tyler was a real possibility. He was capable of making hard calls under pressure, and also mature enough to listen to reason.


    Kinsleywell, Im not sure why I thought of Kinsley. She was likely to be prominently positioned and already knew something was off with my situation, given the way we met. Part of me chided myself for even considering it. Kinsley was just a kid who was already under enough pressure to crush a normal person. That the system wouldnt consider disclosing information to her a failure of my personal objective also factored.


    It wasnt something I could act rashly on. And I had no intention of acting on it at all until after the transposition event, when the shape and trajectory of all this became more clear.


    I fed Audrey another few strips of raw bacon, only noticing when she paused mid-bite that the revenant wolf had returned. Her head hung low, her ears t. The air felt like a coiled spring, ready to explode if the wrong word was spoken.


    I pushed myself to my feet. I needed to get to Nicks as soon as possible to try to get a handle on whether or not he was likely to get himself killed.


    Ready to leave? I asked.


    Ready as one can be, given the circumstances Talia replied. Anger still billowed off her dangerously, reflected in her stance, her manner. But for the first time since the summoning, it didnt feel directed at me.

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46


    <strong></strong>


    I had to pull up the Page ss sheet to confirm I did.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    That was vague. And slightly concerning.


    Having secured Talia as a summon, I left the safety of the dungeons cleared floors. I had no doubt Id return here, but the Lithid sure as hell didnt sound like an encounter I wanted to rush, not until everything else was handled. For the first time in a while, I found myself without a ride. Mom was dealing with something critical on the site, and calling Nick would open myself up to questions I didnt want to answer.


    Maybe it was, perhaps, an oversight to not realize the merchant''s ever-growing inventory would eventually expand to cover transportation. From the initial reports, the dome covered Das proper and the surrounding area, over four-hundred square miles.


    It was still jarring. On the top of one page was a morning star and a silver hammer that looked like it was forged in the depths of pre-balrog Moria, and on the top of another was a candy-apple red, Te Model S. It wasnt called that, of course, nor was any of the T branding present, but judging from the curvature and general form factor it was impossible to mistake as anything else. It was priced at a steep S200,000.


    Notably, it was only a hundred-thousand with my discount. Not that I would ever, seriously consider such a thing. For longer than a few seconds at least.


    Along with the Not-Te, there was a litany of Not-Hummers, Not-Hondas, and Not-Mazdas. The Not-Hondas in particr were fantastically priced, with some cheaper options costing less than the eldritch armor.


    Those were considerably more tempting.


    There was a certain amount of novelty to the idea of even being able to afford a car. Even when I was seriously considering one before all this, when my biggest problem was having a way to get home from college in case my siblings needed me, my wildest fantasies involved a small down payment, low interest rate, and a reasonable monthly bill. The idea of being able to purchase a car outright waspletely foreign to me.


    Still, I wasnt an idiot. Stupid, visible spending was the most overdone and clich way to get people to wonder where exactly you were getting the capital and start connecting dots they wouldnt otherwise. So, no. However tempting it might have been, I wasnt going to buy a car until I had some affiliation or legitimate job to exin where the funds wereing from.


    But I was sure as hell going to buy a bike.


    Not a motorcycle. An electric bike. Id wanted one since the first helpline incident, when Id stolen it back for the client with more crypto than sense. Compared to my purely pedal-driven rusty chained piece of junk, the five short blocks I rode it back to the school parking lot was bliss.


    I picked one in the middle-range that looked simr to my previous bike. It came in a half-dozen colors, including a silver that was nearly an exact match. The only people likely able to tell the difference would be my siblings, who knew for a fact myte bikecked a battery, or a mechanophile with piteously low standards.


    It was almost identical. Riding it, though, was a whole other thing.


    Wind blew through my hair as I took a tight turn, going up on the sidewalk to avoid a mess of abandoned cars. I nearly crashed a half-dozen times when I first started, the thumb throttles abrupt eleration taking a while to get used to. The cycling infrastructure always sucked here, with next to no bikenes and borderline homicidal traffic.


    It was one of the few ways the post-dome city was an improvement. There were more potential obstacles and detritus, but less traffic overall, with people driving less and less due to the gas shortage. I spotted a few system branded vehicles as I crossed midtown.


    I caught myself smiling a few times. It was such a small thing, not having to pedal my bike, but it felt symbolic of something greater.


    Itsted until I reached my destination.


    The gatedmunity smelled of grass clippings and old money. Ten Lakes hung in gilded lettering on the right side of the entry-way, the concrete driveway leading up to a beige-bricked security hut.


    A sweating guard let me through after I gave him Nicks name and address, but not before giving me and my newly acquired bike some serious side-eye and a strict warning not to ride on the sidewalk. As I rode slowly through the neighborhood, <strong></strong> pointed out no less than twenty cameras. Some were ced where youd expect, up high on light posts ormunity buildings, others were particrly hidden in strange ces, like trees and even a parked utility van.


    Nick was waiting for me in the driveway, hands plunged deep into the pockets of his khakis, the sleeves of his light blue button-up rolled to his forearms. He grinned and gave a wide wave, as if directing traffic. Look who finally decided to show up.


    I pulled the break and dismounted, cing the bike into my inventory before he could get a closer look. Sorry. Had something to do.


    Always busy, Nick chided, Just happy youre here, man.


    Where else would I be?


    Doing sketchy-Matt-things. Honestly, I expected you, of all people, to have some sort of angle on this by now. He studied me carefully.


    I had to be careful here. Nick was one of the few people closely familiar with how I operated. Right now, he was being curious, but if I was too flippant or dismissive, that curiosity could easily turn into suspicion.


    I have a few ideas. All theoretical. Its been too chaotic to put anything into action, though. At least as a civilian. Too many variables Im out of the loop on.


    Nick nodded, seeming to buy it. Careful, as always. But youre a civilian no more.


    I wrinkled my nose. Im not sure being a Page is much different. If youre some sort of knight ss, doesnt that basically make me your errand-boy by definition?


    He nted an usatory finger in my chest. One, I know what it sounds like when youre fishing. Well talk about sses and whatnot after the girls get here. And two, no. Maybe if youre going by the medieval, grown-men-squatting-on-pots interpretation, but me having a potentially better ss doesnt mean Im going to treat you any different. His face grew cloudy. Not to mention thatd be stupid as hell. Youre thest person Id want plotting against me.


    He held out a fist and I bumped it. I caught the vaguest hint of a lc cologne. Fair enough. Whats the n for today?


    Pizza in the kitchen. Then nning, then team-building with the group. Not necessarily in that order. Figured wed y it by ear. He indicated for me to follow him, and I did.


    Where the hell did you get a pizza from? I asked, puzzled. From recent memory, there wasnt any pizza in Kinsleys stock. Nick couldnt cook and, from what hed said at the caf, he was house sitting.


    Figured, given the situation, it was time to get a little better at practical bachelor skills. Made it from raw ingredients. He rubbed the back of his neck. Took a few tries.


    <em>Bullshit. He jokes constantly that he couldnt boil water if someone put a gun to his head, and its probably true.</em><strong></strong> buzzed. Even without the title, it would have been obvious that Nick was lying. I was more confused than rmed. Nothing else hed saidup to and including not wanting me as an enemyread as even remotely deceitful.


    Some people ufortable with deceit sometimes lead with small, unnecessary lies. Its not pointless or pathological, rather, for them, its a necessary primer to grease the wheels for whatever theyre actually endeavoring to hide. The question was, what exactly was he hiding and why?


    My title was still on cool-down for another hour, so no using <strong></strong> to cheat. Id have to do this the old-fashioned way.


    I asked the obvious question. Just us for now?


    Nick nodded, a little too quickly. Yep.


    The dark red door opened into a multi-story atrium. Nick left the door open behind him and kicked off his shoes at the entrance. I looked down, pretending to follow suit while I studied the entryway. Next to Nicks boat shoes were two marks of dirt on the nked floorboards. I breathed in slightly through my nose and caught a note of wood cleaner.


    <em>Womens size 7 and 9 respectively. Shoes hidden, floor cleaned in a hurry. Jinny and Sae are already here, but he doesnt want me to know that for some reason. The question is why? None of them seemed hostile at the meeting and despite carrying all appearances to the contrary, this doesnt feel like a trap. But if it was a trap, where would I be hiding?</em>


    Subconsciously, my vision was drawn to the overhang. I stepped beneath it. And immediately jumped back as a figure came plummeting down.

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47


    As the figure dropping down from the balcony came plummeting towards my face, there was a split-second to decide how I was handling this. If I could get <strong></strong> off in time, it would be easy enough to fuck with theirnding, potentially shattering their leg from the fall.


    I hesitated, drawing my hand back.


    Despite the clear ambush, <strong></strong> muted reaction to the preceding series of events led me to believe it wasnt entirely as it seemed. That left only one real possibility. This was a test.


    And that, ced me entirely within myfort zone.


    I hopped backward easily, letting the figurend hard directly in front of me. Saes mouth was tightened in concentration, her body off-bnce from the fall. She was fully decked out in lightweight armor, a glowing escrima stick in her hand. Behind her, I saw Nick reluctantly drawing out a muchrger stick with a cross-guard.


    <em>Now that I think about it, recruitment went a little too smoothly. </em>


    A small smile yed across my lips. Okay. They had no intention of making this fair. If I went all out, there was a possibility I could win, but that would likely reveal far too much and put me at odds with the team. The point of this was probably to assess how well Id do in physical situations. Still. They were Users with ess to Selve and healing potions.


    Meaning, there was no need to make this easy.


    <strong></strong> red in my mind, guiding my movements. I stepped in, grabbed the side of Saes head and spun her, anchoring a foot between her legs to keep her off-bnce, and mmed her face into the foyer table. There was a crack of wood and an audible yelp.


    The stick in her hand ttered to the floor, still glowing.


    I needed a weaponeither the stick or something else non-lethal. Pulling either the dagger or crossbow would have the same effect as pulling a handgun in a fistfight, and that wasnt the sort of impression I wanted to make.


    Nick wasnt going to give me time to breathe. He charged forward, practice sword extending backwards. <strong></strong> triggered in my mind, a whispered warning that the attack was a skill, and the strike would be far harder to dodge than it appeared.


    So, I didnt attempt to dodge. I grabbed a handful of Saes dark ponytail, yanked her up from the table, and nted a foot in the small of her back, shoving her hard towards Nick, positioning the girl between the two of us as she stumbled.


    Only, Nick didnt panic.


    He canceled the attack and hurdled over Sae, with a practiced ease that immediately invoked his sports background.


    But the detour gave me time to grab the stick from the ground.


    <strong></strong> shed in my mind, and I ducked low instead of rising, feeling a breeze as the practice sword shed diagonally through empty air where my shoulder would have been.


    <em>If he keeps this level of aggression up, hes going to steamroll me. I need to get him to back off.</em>


    Instinctively, I pulled my arm back and mmed the stick into his newly healed leg.


    The reaction was immediate. Nick hit the ground and rolled away from me, hand inspecting the ce of impact, sheer terror on his face.


    His leg was spasming, likely due to whatever buff Sae had ced on mymandeered stick.


    Nicks terror faded almost immediately to a particrly sour look. I couldnt me him. I hadnt done it intentionally. My strategy in every fight so far had hinged almost exclusively on exploiting weak-points. It was the only way I was winning, and the strategy itself was bing second nature. Despite its healed and restored appearance, Id targeted the leg subconsciously, hoping to knock him out of his flow state.


    Only, it appeared that all Id managed to do was piss him off.


    Every nerve in my body warned me that Nick was a cut above the opponents Id been facing. He was likely either close to my level or higher, and his base physical stats would have started much higher than mine. If I underestimated him for a second, it was over.


    Even knowing that, it was unbelievable how fast he was. His strikes came in blisteringly quickbination, each attack effortlessly flowing into the next, giving me little window to do anything but retreat.


    I backpedaled wildly through the house, the rubber soles of my shoes squeaking, until I hit something that rattled behind me.


    That should have been it. Nick pulled his sword back, immediately ready to capitalize on the distraction, when he hesitated, his gaze flicking behind me. I used the moment to dodge away, snapping my head out of the way of a horizontal swing.


    It gave me just enough time to take stock. The living room was aesthetically bohemian, littered with small, expensive looking furniture, and tiny statuettes. The object Id backed into was a cab with ss panels, filled with small porcin dolls.


    <em>Thats right. Its his aunts house. He wants to avoid wrecking the ce.</em>


    I shot him a nasty smile and reached towards the coffee table.


    In response, Nick looked almostically concerned. Matt, dont


    Before he could finish, I threw a 1/10th scale bust of Debussys head at his face. The throw was remarkably more urate than it would have been weeks ago, approaching his nose with a spiral and velocity I hoped he, in particr, would appreciate.


    His eyes widened as his instincts shed, and he attempted to catch the bust and move out of the way simultaneously. He caught it, but only barely, half-juggling the statue with his off-hand to keep it from hitting the floor.


    You fucker!


    But I wasnt paying attention to him anymore. Sae had recovered, and judging from the grim look on her face, wasnt too pleased with the way her previous attempt had gone. She was sprinting toward me, both hands glowing brightly with an otherworldly blue magic.


    Even if this was a test, it seemed best to avoid that.


    Actually, I needed a way to get Sae off the boardpletely. From what I could tell, she was a Magic/Agility hybrid, and I was guessing Nick had told her not to use ranged spells for the test. The only reason I was fairing this well was because their efforts were staggered. If they managed to start coordinating, I was fucked.


    Only, my options were limited. I seriously doubted Sae had the same level of deference for Nicks Aunts house as Nick himself did.


    The ss door to the backyard out of the corner of my eye stuck out as something I could use.


    I ducked beneath Saes magic infused embrace and spun away, sweeping her legs out from underneath her. And, aiming carefully, mmed the magic-infused stick into her temple. The muscles in her face began to spasm as she began to press the attack, squinting slightly, her vision impaired. Her blows were small and deliberate, reminiscent of wing chunNot ideal for something like an MMA fight, but perfect for making contact with a spell.


    I retreated deliberately, fighting the instinct from to block rather than dodge. Right when the positioning was almost perfect, disaster struck. Sae feinted with a finger-strike towards my face, and when I reacted, immediately grabbed my arm. The warning from <strong></strong> came toote.


    Creeping frost spread quickly from my arm to my shoulder. Sae gloated, smiling victoriously.


    Without enough leverage for anything else, I reeled my head back, then plunged it forward, my forehead colliding against her already broken nose andhopefullyobscuring her vision further.


    Sae staggered backwards with an understandably stuffy cry of Motherfucker! When she rallied, her charge was half-assed and half-blind. Harnessing the momentum, I slid the ss door open, grabbed her and narrowly avoided her glowing hand as I threw her out.


    A discrete application of <strong></strong> ensured that her stumble was extended, sending her careening, fully clothed, into the pool.


    Nickin the meantimehad clearly lost the struggle to keep the bust intact, as it was lying shattered on the floor.


    Sae seems nice. Imented.


    Yeah, shes great, Nick paused. A lot better when she has ess to her whole repertoire.


    I circled back to the center of the living room, next to the oval shaped crystal table. Are we done?


    Nick shook his head. I want to see what you can really do, when youre not pulling cheap bullshit.


    Uhuh. I crouched down and grabbed the crystal coffee table by its base, ignoring the pain in my frozen arm as I brandished the top of the table towards him like an oversized shield.


    Nick audibly groaned, muttering something that sounded like Come on, man. He was both faster and stronger than I was. No way in hell was I giving him a fair fight.


    Before either of us could break the stalemate, a cloud of gold, glowing dust settled over both of us, carrying with it the scent of lc. I tried to move and found I couldnt. My entire body felt like I was encased in tar, unable to budge more than a few inches at a time. The table slipped out of my hands in slow motion andnded on the ground, ss unmarred and intact.


    Jinny? You were supposed to sit this out. Nick said, voice as strained as I felt.


    Jinny was sitting sideways at the top of the stairs. Her armor was simr to Saes, though it was white rather than ck, with flowing white fabric that seamlessly meshed with silver regalia. A single wooden scepter topped with ck iron-work framing a violet jewel crowned the top.


    Figured Id end it, before the two of you destroy our base of operations. Jinny scowled at Nick, then gave me a friendly wave.


    I waved back, though the action was hriously slow with the spell in effect. If the point of this was to test me, I could see why Nick had asked her to sit out. A single cast of that at the entryway, with the others out of the area of effect. It was a review of the lesson Id learned on the third floor of the dungeon, facing off against the gnolls:


    Magic was fucking scary.


    There was an angry sounding knock at the ss door.


    I held my hands up in mock surrender and smiled. You got me.

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48


    Where the hell did you learn to fight like that? No way that was just thebat skill. Nick grabbed several cheap beers from the fridge, ced the bottle neck against the counter and then thought better of it, hunting through the drawers until he found an absurdly overplicated bottle-opener.


    It looked like judo to me. Jinnymented. She was leaning against the counter, close to Nick but positioned slightly away from him. He crossed easily into her personal space, handing her one. I blinked, numerous things clicking in my mind: the shared scent of perfume, the easy camaraderie between them.


    Nick really did move fast.


    Jinny continued, When you werent throwing things or bothering tables, anyway. My uncle had a studio, or dojo, or whatever you call it.


    I took lessons as a kid. Guess some of it stuck. I squeezed past Nick, opening the freezer and searching through it until I found a package of frozen peas. Carefully, I wrapped them in a towel and brought it back out to the living room.


    Sae was lying on the couch, nket over her face. I pulled it back. She squinted at the sudden brightness and groaned, until I gently ced the bag of peas on her forehead. Her grumbling was cut off by a shiver and sigh of relief. The health potion was helping with the swelling and bruising, but her nose was still a mess.


    That was the martial art of hitting Sae in the face. A lot. Sae said indignantly, her tone stuffy and nasal from the still-healing damage. Then, a secondter. Thanks for the ice.


    On that note. Was that Wing Chun? I asked.


    Sae opened a single eye and peered at me suspiciously. Because Im asian?


    All my social nerves seemed toe back at once. Uh. I mean. I know it''s Chinese, and youre not. Just recognized it.


    From the secret fight club youve been running? Nick called from the kitchen.


    I fuckin saw Ip Man a few times, okay? I snapped back at him. Jinny and Nick both snickered.


    Too loud. Sae groaned. And I liked how it looked. Picked it up for cardio.


    Fair enough, I said.


    Give me the nket back.


    Careful not to touch her, I pulled the nket back over her head.


    Matt, you want a beer? Jinny asked. I heard Nick whisper something, then Jinny spoke again. Or uh, water?


    I rolled my eyes at Nicks mothering. Water would be great, thanks.


    Sudden movement caught my eye when I returned to the kitchen. Jinny and Nicks hands returning to their sides.


    <em>They were holding hands.</em>


    It was tempting to tease Nick, but realistically, it would probably embarrass Jinny more than him, so I held my tongue on that.


    Nick pulled up a stool beside me.


    Alright, out with it, I said.


    Out with what? Nick asked.


    The reason you guys decided to throw me into the deep end, despite my only having a ss for a day?


    Jinny and Nick both looked over to where Sae was, sprawled out on the couch.


    We uh Nick trailed off.


    We ran into a problem. Jinny exined. There was a fourth member before you. Hunter type named Randall. He talked a big game, but when we started clearing the area around the Trial


    Dude went full Apocalypse Now, Nick said, mouth tight. Justpletely lost it. Pissed himself. Eventually, he identally shot Sae in the back with an arrow and ran off.


    Jinny lowered her voice to whisper level. I was against testing you. Nick was too. But Sae insisted. Since we dont really have a lot of time, she wanted to make sure you werent going to immediately lose it.


    I nodded, understanding. And then I smashed her face into the table.


    Nick grinned. I was just going to watch, pull Sae away once she got her gut check, but after that? I wanted to get a little action too.


    I snorted. And the level differential? Im level 3 still, and Im guessing the two of you are significantly higher.


    Nick took a swig of beer. So, from my extensive information gathering


    Jinny rolled her eyes. You mean calling everyone you know and asking questions.


    Like I said, information gathering. Nick confirmed. Levels seem to operate in terms of breakpoints. You put a few points in Strength right? You had to.


    A few, I confirmed, keeping my deception as close to the truth as possible. Before I realized the stat points were going to slow down.


    Nick winced. Probably should have mentioned that, my bad. Point being, a few points didnt make you a bodybuilder, right?


    I shrugged. More muscle definition, slightly easier to lift things. Nothing extreme though.


    Right. Nick nodded. Just like a few points in Intelligence doesnt make you a genius. Ive been mainlining Strength, throwing a few points here and there towards Agility and Toughness. The first few he squinted at me. Youre going to make fun of me if I say gains, arent you?


    One hundred percent.


    The first few <em>advances</em> were significant, but after a certain point I started to see diminishing returns. Which really put a dent in my ns to eventually throw cars at dragons.


    I nced at him, then to Jinny, suddenly concerned. Have either of you actually seen a dragon?


    Jinny shook her head, her face serious. No. I keep telling him to stop tempting fate.


    If theres going to be dragons, theres going to be dragons, and me talking about them isnt going to matter, Nick interrupted. Anyway. A friend of mine told me he was experiencing something simr until he hit Level 10.


    My mind tripped over itself. How the fuck were people already that high? Id been pushing myself to the brink without a party to share the experience with. Still, I couldntment anything to that effect without drawing suspicion.


    Uh. Is thatmon? Feels like Im starting on one hell of a back foot at three.


    Nick chuckled. No. Im Level 6, Sae and Jinny just hit 5. Dude was a monster long before the meteor, total grinder. What he told me was that something happens at Level 10. He was cagey on the details, but he basically encouraged me to keep putting points in strength.


    I considered that. Definitely sounds like a breakpoint of some kind.


    Jinny hopped down from the counter and walked around the center ind, tossing her empty into the blue recycling bin. What I cant understand is why?


    Could be a few different reasons. I mused aloud. Might be intended to keep us from out-leveling or dominating quest content too quickly. Could be to keep the gulf between Users from widening too quickly, keep us all on a semi-even ying field.


    Nick pointed at me. See, thatst part was my assumption as well.


    Still, even if stats couldnt carry a User, I knew all too well that a single perk used correctly could make a massive difference. There are bigger problems. I looked at Nick. Did you mention to anyone else that you could turn an NPC into a User? Anyone who might have sold that information to another group?


    You, the team, and no one else. Nick said, his brow furrowed. Hell, the only time Id even mentioned it in public was at that Turkish ce.


    Randall Jinny started.


    Was an idiot, but I dont think hed do that. Nick shook his head.


    It was totally him, Sae called from the other room, her nose sounding fully plugged.


    It had to be, Jinny said, exasperated.


    I certainly hoped it was. Nick hadnt realized it yet, but if it wasnt their previous fourth, and hed really been as careful as he imed, then it was almost guaranteed that someone in this room was leaking information.


    The upside is, no one even attempted to follow me. So theyre probably just scouting you. Looking to bolster their ranks with someone who can award User status to preferred civilians. I said.


    Theyre going to be real disappointed when they find out I can only do it for one person at a time, Nick grumbled.


    I pressed my lips tight, considering the situation. We might being at this wrong. The ability to create a new User is invaluable, yes, but if theyre actually looking to recruit you, it could have something to do with your ss itself. They might know something we dont.


    Maybe, Nick admitted, then his eyes zed over as he navigated his menus. Currently, were on a timetable. I feel it would be better not to leave that Trial for after whatever happens when that timer ticks down, in case we need the XP. Moreover, I think its best for us to have some cushion time for recovery if things go sideways.


    Okay. Thats not a lot of time to spare. So, now what? I asked.


    Now, we review abilities and figure out how you fit in with the team. Nick strode to the ss door, and gave me a sour look. Away from anything fragile.


    There was a rustle of fabric and a groan as Sae removed the nket and rose to her feet. I followed Nick into the backyard, content to let him take the lead for the time being. His group had an established dynamic, and so far, there was no reason for me to mess with it.


    I was dying to learn more about User abilities in general apart from my own.


    And I needed as much information about Nicks ss as I could get, to get a metric for how much shit hed gotten me into.

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49


    It was reminiscent of times long past.


    Even early on, I wasnt great at making friends, but that didnt stop my parents from trying. There was a never-ending series of y dates in my early childhood. Said encounters eventually gravitated from meeting schoolmates at McDonald''s to hours spent attempting to clear a particrly difficult game, but there was a golden period during the resurgence of DND.


    For a while it was just me and the DMBrandon Hew, the son of one of my mothers finance friends. He looked every bit like youd expect, e, sses too small for his face, and the slightest whisper of a lisp that only revealed itself when he was stressed. But god-damn, could he tell a story.


    I pulled Daph into it, Daph pulled one of her friends, and soon enough we had a group.


    Thing was, Brandon wasnt content to just let us describe what we were doing. He wanted us to act it out. The better we acted, and the more clever our solution, the more Brandon would fudge rolls in our favor.


    And, yeah, looking back on it now, youre right. It was pretty cringeworthy. LARPing before we knew what LARPing was.


    But those shared momentsno more than a few minutes per multi-hour sessionswhere strategy, group storytelling, and luck all melded together in a perfect moment are memories I still cherished.


    <em>Which should be your first warning sign that youre getting attached.</em><strong></strong> tactlessly cut through the nostalgia.


    I had no intention of staying with this group long term. It wasnt a good fit, and while the scrappy <strong></strong> ss wasnt hard to emte while it was low level, that would only grow harder as the group gained experience. It would be a lot easier to dismiss them out of hand if they were ipetent. But, they werent. Not in the slightest.


    It was approachingte evening, though within the instance, the sky and lighting all appeared to be midday.


    Sae and Nick were sparring further in. Sae was a <strong></strong> which was precisely what youd expect, a mage with less direct firepower and a focus on buffs and debuffs. Nick wasnt breaking a sweat, but that was an aspect of his ss. He was a <strong></strong> From the skills and feats he described, the ss was almost broken. He hadto my shockforegone <strong></strong> entirely, instead taking aundry list of cheaper, ss-specific perks tailored to one purpose: to be able to take on enemies far above his level and still stand a fighting chance.


    There was something else to it. Some sort of pact or ethos he had to adhere to, the consequences of not doing so supposedly severe enough to cause him to lose ess to certain feats permanently. ording to Nick, they were all things he would have done anyway.


    I was recovering from a spar with Nick in a poolside reclining chair, watching Jinny cast a ranged crystal spell, over and over again. A violet blue cloud of magic coalesced into two solid projectiles. She was firing them in a pattern. Careful aim, then one, then another right after. One-two, one-two, one-two.


    How did you end up with Nick? I asked, wording intentionally double-edged.


    Jinnys surprised expressionsted less than a second, but it was there, confirming what I already knew. We were hanging out when the meteor hit.


    Oh? I asked, hoping shed provide more details.


    Its kind of a funny story. Ive been having a hard time over thest few months. Its not something Ive advertised. I wanted to avoid making things worse, you know, with rumors and such. But She trailed off.


    Its been lonely, I finished for her.


    She nodded. That and other things. Jinny smiled as she recalled the memory. Somehow, Nick figured it out. Despite everything else he was dealing with that day, he asked me if I wanted to fuck off from school early and get ice-cream.


    Dumbfounded, I remembered the conversation wed had that day. How Id told him that Talmont wouldnt be focused on him much longer, and that Jinny would soon take his ce in the public ire.


    <em>He was supposed to stay off the radar.</em>


    And after? I asked. You guys started in the same ce, and Im assuming it was dangerous. What made you want to keep going?


    Jinny shook her head. Its hard to exin. Ive never been naturally talented at anything. There are things Im good at, But I had to work my ass off to get there. But when Nick and I were down in those tunnels, fighting for our livesI couldnt get over how intuitive it was. It was like magic had always been a part of me, and ignoring it would be harder than forgetting how to breathe.


    I couldnt help but contrast her experience with my own, incredibly awkward initial steps, and feel slightly jealous.


    Jinny raised her staff and fired two more shots into the mannequin target, in the same one-two pattern.


    Whats with the double-tap? I asked.


    You have Awareness, right? Jinny shot me a sly smile.


    Uh. Suddenly, it was very tempting to deny it, even though Id gone over my bogus Page sheet with all three of them less than an hour ago. Maybe?


    Go stand down-range, and Ill show you.


    Pretty sure Go stand down-range might be the worst life advice Ive ever heard.


    Jinny smiled innocently. Come on, please? I wont fire them at full power, itll give us a way to test out that fancy armor of yours, and itll also demonstrate something important.


    Unable to find a hole in her logicit was somewhat uncanny how quickly shed locked on to how to persuade meI reluctantly stood, swiping through the menus and equipping my armor. I had to remind myself to make the physical motions other Users did while I was around them. From every other example Id witnessed, Ordinator was potentially the only ss that could operate the system menus entirely mentally. It was possible that the others simply hadnt figured it out yet, but far less likely.


    Id gone back and forth on whether to show them the armor. The <strong></strong> would supposedly obscure anything I was wearing, as well as identifying details such as height and voice. In the end it came down to practicalitythe awkward position it would put me in if I revealed it, versus going in under-equipped and potentially dying.


    Nick knowing me and understanding how I operated gave me cover in that regard. When I floated him a naturally vague story about taking a few odd jobs for a User in exchange for the Selve I used to purchase my armor, his only misgiving was a throwawayint about having to sell back the basic armor hed bought for me.


    Instead, he gave me a hand-me-down weapon. The first thing hed looted since the game began, <strong></strong> a rare saber imbued with light-magic.


    It was strange to see this side of Nick. In my mind, wed only be friends because of his disadvantaged state, and if he ever recoveredsocially, physically, or boththat friendship would likely end. Only, I was wrong. He wasnt disadvantaged anymore. And not only were we still friends, he was actively setting out to raise me up with him.


    I strode downrange of Jinny, trying not to let my trepidation show. I crossed my arms, so my hands covered a particrly vital target, and felt my cheeks redden as Jinnyughed.


    Dont worry. Ill aim for center mass.


    That supposed to make me feel better? I muttered. Then, louder, I called out. Ready!


    There was a glowing screech as a crystal was summoned mid-air, floating above Jinnys staff.


    The first shot red towards me, blisteringly fast, seeming to heat the surrounding air. <strong></strong> screamed, telling me to drop low and move to the right.


    I did.


    And then I took the second shot directly in the chest. An audible oof, left my lips. My armor resisted the magic, but it still felt like taking a haymaker directly to the sr plexus. More interesting was how <strong></strong> had only warned me of the first shot, not the second.


    I stared up at the blue-sky, suddenly on my back in the grass.


    It took a while working with Sae to get the timing right, Jinny called across the distance. If you fire the shots too close together, the feat recognizes it as a single attack and predicts ordingly. If theyre too far apart, same issue, only its registering two attacks instead of one.


    That was incredibly valuable information. Id grown increasingly reliant on the feat ever since Id bought it. If Id continued unaware, it would have been easy to be blindsided by a crafty User.


    One more problem on my ever-growing list of pitfalls to watch out for.


    I pulled myself up, not bothering to brush the grass and dirt from my armor. This was the perfect opportunity to practice.


    Hit me again.


    /////


    A few hourster, I could reliably dodge the second hit. It was trickyI had to work against <strong></strong> taking an extra second to watch for where the follow-up was going to hit, instead of just immediately throwing myself in the direction the feat prompted.


    So, Nick said, ncing at all three of us. I think we have a general idea of how this will work. Ill be at the front, drawing initial attention and diverting big hitters. Sae, I know you want to be at the center of it all and use your contact spells, but youre squishy. Try to stick to buffs and support me from a distance. Jinnyjust go with your usual. Rain down hell. He looked at me. Matt, youre the lowest ranking level, so dont get bogged down. Hit-and-run. Harass, try tond a critical hit if you can<strong></strong> is fantastic for that then run like hell back to me if you pull anything too big to handle. Ill be focusing on protecting Jinny as shes our main damage, so try to stay close to Sae in case she bites off more than she can chew.


    I blinked. Fine, but I thought you wanted me as the strategy guy.


    Nick waved thement away. Thats just the default marching order for the basic stuff. If we run into a situation thats in any way abnormal, or if you see something, I want you to back off and use the text chat.


    Why text chat? Sae asked. Shed run out of water a few minutes ago and had taken to chewing ice.


    Because Jinny and I have been talking, and were pretty sure some monsters can understand us. Nick chewed his lip grimly. Better to y it safe until we know for sure.


    I raised an eyebrow. I couldnt say anything to that effect, but that had certainly been the case in my experience. Every creature beside the gnolls had some capacity for human speech, be it mental or verbal. Fine by me.


    Jinny stretched her arms above her head. We should sleep soon. Im beat.


    Im literally beat, Sae grumbled.


    Guest rooms already set up for you, Matt. Nick said, as if hed read my mind.


    What time are we heading out? I asked.


    As early as possible, Nick rose from the couch. I want to be able to double-back a few times, make sure no one follows us to the tunnels.


    Okay, I said. But in truth, I wasnt willing to leave the countermeasures entirely up to Matt. Some timeter, after I was set up in a guest room that was likelyrger than our entire apartment, I pulled up the system screen and sent a message.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50


    I considered switching to <strong></strong> before I put on the mask. In the end, I decided against it. <strong></strong> was the tool for the job here, even if maintaining anonymity was paramount. I didnt know what I was looking for. A white panel van would be too obvious, but a delivery van, or even the ck Escde itself wouldnt have stuck out much considering the neighborhood. I had to hope the titles effect would be reduced somewhat, as I wasnt in any severe and current danger.


    After ensuring the guest room door was shut, I summoned Audrey, equipped my armor, and pulled the <strong></strong> over my face.


    A surge of panic and resentment settled over me as Audrey slithered into my hood.


    <em>I dont know any of these people. Any one of them could be working with Daphnes group or someone worse. Isnt it all too convenient? They wake up after the meteor and find themselves with direct ess to a potential treasure trove. And they just happen to want to share it with me? Please.</em>


    I frowned, attempting to shake off the thought. With the enhancement effect of the mask, it was more difficult because the titles asides felt less like intrusive thoughts and more like they were genuinely my own.


    It was convenient. And it was possible there was more to it. But it wasnt that simple. This thing hadyers. The system was handpicking people, assigning them special sses. Who was to say that it wouldnt do the same with choosing where we started, what resources we had ess to? Just because something seemed unlikely, felt suspicious, didnt mean the source of that suspicion was any of the actors involved. The web itself had to be considered as well.


    Kinsleys door ced me directly on the doorstep of one of the many residences facing Matts gatedmunity. The shadows felt longer, more dangerous, as if an ambush could be waiting in any one of them.


    I set out on foot at first, as withdrawing a full-sized bike out of my ass like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat would be a clear giveaway. My armor seemed to disappear into the shadows, melding until it was hard to see my fingers in front of my face, and every time the shadows were washed away by an errant streetlight I felt the slightest tugging sensation, as if it was endeavoring to return to the darkness behind.


    There was nothing in the description about that, but as Ive said before, whoever was writing the item descriptions needed to be fired.


    I narrowed my search to a few blocks around the two automated entrances to the gatedmunity, waiting for <strong></strong> totch onto something, anything. There was nothing that stood out. No flower delivery van. No one sleeping in their cars. The strangest thing was the absence of cars parked nearby, but that was more likely a difference in neighborhood than anything else. No need to park on the street when everyone has their own garage.


    <em>All those little conveniences. Must be nice.</em>


    I shook my head, attempting to head off the bitterness. My circumstances had already shifted in a big way. I was likely far ahead of the curve inparison to the rest of the poption. Letting <strong></strong> pick at old wounds was a pointless distraction.


    At some point, I switched to my bike and finished the circuit. Then another, and another. Finally, I stopped and dismounted where Id started, beneath the burnt out streetlight.


    <em>ams razor. Buzzcut was listening to our conversation. With everything else thats happening, maybe he actually bought it, and theyre prioritizing, leaving Nick alone until after the transposition event.</em>


    The overhead light flicked on, burning the shadows around my armor away. My heart hammered in my chest as I took a few steps back, suddenly blinded, staring up at the light and the metal column in confusion.


    Meaaat. Audrey hissed into my ear, a single vine extending out to point downwards. I followed it. The small, oval panel on the light pole was hanging open. There was a mess of circuitry in the background, and two ck dots suspended in the foreground.


    They blinked, and I nearly shouted, taking an involuntary step back.


    The eyes shot out of the panel and onto the ground, a translucent, nearly invisible form following. It took a moment for all the pieces to click together. It was a crab. A clear, gtinous looking crab no bigger than a fist. And it was hauling ass.


    Get it, I hissed.


    Audrey leapt out of my hood, sending me a sh of appreciation. It had been days since shed gotten any action. Unfortunately, the crab wasnt easy prey. It high-tailed it sideways through the yard, grass rippling around it as it zig-zagged, dodging blows from Audreys vines.


    I tried to cast <strong></strong> on it, and felt an unpleasant sensation when the ability slid off.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>The fuck?</em>


    I cast <strong></strong> on Audrey immediately, feeling frustration in her reply as I called her back. As much as I understood the irritation, I knew how punitive the system could be. It wasnt worth the risk. At least now, I had loose confirmation that whatever was in the streetlight wasnt some sort of surveince measure from Daphnes group. It was, what?


    Just an invisible alien crab in a light pole?


    I watched the light carefully. It seemed to be operating perfectly in line with the rest of them. Did the crab repair the light? Or break it by climbing into it in the first ce, like some kind of energy leech?


    <em>Does it even matter?</em>


    This was all a distraction from why Id originallye out. <strong></strong> had been uncharacteristically quiet, as it usually was in high-stress situations, but it hadnt triggered on anything. Not even a false rm.


    Either Buzzcut had taken the bait, or they had some other way of keeping an eye on Nicks whereabouts.


    Unsure of what else to do, I took the door back to Nicks guest room. I removed my equipment and left Audrey on the bed, sneaking down the stairs to the garage and checking the underside of his Jeep for anything out of the ordinary.


    Without inte, tracking devices probably wouldnt work. But it never hurt to be careful.


    <em>There you are.</em>


    I spotted what looked like a small blue coin, no bigger than a dime, stuck on the top side of the passenger rear wheel well.


    <em>They bought it, but theyre careful.</em>


    <strong></strong> stopped me before I could tug it free. Something about not breaking contact in case whoever was monitoring its location could tell if it was detached.


    I rooted around the garage until I found a thin piece of scrap metal.


    Sweating from nerves, I slowly coaxed the coin onto the metal sheet. It moved stubbornly, the maic pull more than strong enough to prevent it from falling off, but it moved.


    I ced the sheet back where Id found it, with the device pointing down and away.


    Considering my next steps, I swapped into <strong></strong> and went to sleep.


    /////


    The following morning, I was still toying with the idea of taking Nick aside and telling him what Id found. My main concern was if I did, he wouldnt be able to keep it to himself. Hed at least tell Jinny, and while he trusted Jinny, I wasnt sure if I did.


    There was something about her entire schtick that was throwing me off. Most radiant people are only luminous from a distance. Once youre close, their cracks begin to show, little imperfections that separate the real from the idealized. Sae was a perfect example. Now that I knew her, she came off as irritable, and more than a little underhanded.


    But Jinny wasnt showing any cracks. Her excitement for a new start was genuine, her enthusiasm infectious. She seemed patient, kind, and clever. The entire time we were outside, I was half expecting a blue-jay or a robin tond on her finger while she broke out into song.


    It was suspicious as hell.


    Nick had prepared a healthy breakfast of eggs, bacon, and more bacon. I considered where we stood. With the way direct messaging worked, if Jinny, Sae, or even Nick himself had a connection to Daphnes group, we were fucked anyway. Staying quiet about it could only hurt us.


    Im not hungry, Sae stared down at her overfull te. For some reason, her make-up looked heavier than usual, dark eyes ented with thick eyeliner wings. Maybe it was her version of getting her game face on.


    Nick reached over the table and nudged the te towards her. Its performance jitters. Eat. Youll hate yourselfter if you dont.


    Tabasco? Jinny asked, indicating a half empty bottle. Her breakfast was covered with red.


    God no. Sae looked squeamish at the thought.


    I cleared my throat, and allowed the title to focus on each of them. So


    All heads turned to me.


    Anyone know how long that trackers been on Nicks car?


    Someones fork dropped, ttering against their te.

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51


    Holding a finger to my lips, I leaned the piece of scrap metal away from the wall, so the others could see the small blue coin nested there. Maybe I was taking it too far, but in my mind, if they had location tracking, there was a solid possibility of audio as well.


    I watched their reactions carefully.


    Nick had broken out into a cold sweat.


    <em>This isnt working out the way he expected. Something gave him the impression everyone would y fair. Could be his own, personal naivety but more likely a quest, the system, or something about his ss.</em>


    Sae stood on the edge of the doorstep, chewing her lip. Her standoffish demeanor dissolved into fear.


    <em>Shes the weak link. This system business was already freaking her out, and the third-party issue might break her entirely if ites to a head.</em>


    Jinny didnt look nervous. From the way her mouth firmed into a harsh grimace and her green eyes zed, she was experiencing an entirely different emotion all-together.


    <em> Jinny''s not surprised, but she didnt know it was there. Some outside entity fucking with what''s supposed to be her second chance. This won''t dissuade her. If anything, it will solidify her resolve.</em>


    It was something of a relief. Unless they had some method of spoofing my title, no one had any knowledge of the device. Unfortunately, that also meant we were back to square one.


    Before I could motion for them toe back inside, Sae emerged from paralysis. She brushed past me and checked the underside of the cars wheel wells, thenid down on her back to inspect the undercarriage. Another person might have been insulted by the implication that Id searched poorly, but it actually raised my estimation of Sae.


    I was the new person to the group. Nick trusted me, but the others had no reason apart from his word to do the same. Sae was either checking to ensure I hadnt missed anything, or suspected some oddly executed misdirect.


    A momentter, Nick followed her, popping open the engine block and the trunk.


    There was nothing more to find. Id made sure of it. But I appreciated that we were all on the same page. They stayed silent, the only noise the cars creaking suspension and the rustling of upholstery.


    Eventually, they gave up, and I shut the garage door behind us.


    Sae stuck a finger at me. Spill. How did you know?


    Its not rocket science. I shrugged. Nick hasnt spotted a tail since the restaurant. Figured they were keeping tabs on him in some other way.


    Saes eyes narrowed. You just have it all figured out.


    Jinnys eyes were zed, her hand making phantom movements. Theres nothing surveince rted in the store. Unless Im putting in the wrong keywords.


    Couldnt find it either. Or anything in that category, I admitted. Either the people running the market are filtering what they make publicly avable, or


    They dont all carry the same stock. Nick realized.


    Were really just going to move on here? Sae looked at the other two for support. The new guy discovers youre being tailed, then just so happens to be the one to find a tracker on your car? Am I the only one that sees the issue?


    Nick shook his head. Sae, I hear you. If it were anyone else, sure. But Ive known Matt for a while. None of this is out of character for him. Hes cautious. And that caution has saved his ass and mine, more than a few times.


    <em>Shes too entrenched in what happened to her to see an outsider as anything besides a liability. But its subconscious. Instinctual. Drawing attention to it may cause her to second guess herself. Conflict now vs. conflictter.</em>


    I stared Sae down, unblinking. Im not Randall. And this situation isplicated enough without you bringing in old baggage. It came out more barbed than intended, a possible side effect of <strong></strong>


    Nick winced, as Sae took a subconscious step back.


    Jinny stepped in the middle, gesturing gently. Lets focus on the present. She turned to me. Whats the best way to handle this? Can we throw them off the scent? Attach the tracker to someone elses car?


    Sae snorted. Pretty sure that only works in spy movies.


    I shook my head. Saes right. Sae looked over at me in surprise. Itd be a good idea if they didnt already know where Nicks staying. That ship has sailed. Plus, if the tracker suddenly starts moving, theyre likely to pay more attention.


    Nick scratched his chin. And if we leave it here, it confirms what theyre already assuming. Were here, waiting out the transposition event.


    Exactly.


    Still seems like a bad idea to drive it, since they might still be on the lookout. Nick nced at Jinny. Your cars in the park down the road, right?


    Jinny grabbed her purse.


    /////


    When the small, decidedly pink Prius pulled up in front of Matts house, I couldnt help but groan.


    <em>At least its not bright pink.</em>


    In truth, it wasnt much better. The pearlescent white with shifting pink undertones was more than a little eye-catching. It was simr to the paint job on Mary Kay Cadics. We piled in, only a few bodies short of this being a real clown-car experience.


    Ive gotta get my jeep in something simr, Nick grinned back at me from the front seat.


    Never took you for a pink guy. I said.


    I did, Saemented. But Jinny said I was wrong.


    I meant the general look, not the color. Nick scowled, then nced at Jinny, who was quietly tittering in the drivers seat. Whats so funny?


    No one clued him in. I left my seat belt loose, so I could face the rear window. With <strong></strong> back in the title slot and traffic as dead as it was, I was confident in my chances of spotting anyone following us by car.


    A notification dinged as soon as we left the curb.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: A Friend In Need</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Complete Ebrylis Trial.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Keep all members of the party alive. </strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ??? </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (L)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Before the Transposition Event</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ss Specific Boon.</strong>


    My brow furrowed, looking over the details of the quest. I had no idea who Ebryli was, or the details of a ss specific boon, but it sounded valuable enough that the undisclosed threat level was rming.


    Did you guys get a quest for the Trial?


    Yup, Nick answered from the front seat. It finally pop up for you?


    What was the threat level?


    Uh. Nick browsed through his menus. Medium. Should be nothing to worry about.


    Any secondaries on yours?


    Nope. No time limit, either. Just clear the trial, get the boon. Easy-peasy.


    This was a problem. The system was giving us differing information. For what purpose, I had nothing but theories. Unless it considered my secondary objective to keep everyone alive worthy of upgrading the threat level.


    Its showing in question marks for me. Imented, attempting to give them some sense of warning.


    Probably because youre lower level, Sae said.


    I frowned. It was possible that the quest was factoring in the lower leveled identity, but I wasnt sure I agreed.


    <strong>Matt: (Page Identity)</strong>


    <strong>Level 3 Page</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 5</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 4</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 9</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 10</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 5</strong>


    <strong>Will: 6</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1 </strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Pages Focus^, Awareness I, Stealth</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Critical Strike LVL 2, Bolster LVL 2, One-handed LVL 6</strong>


    <strong>Selve: 500</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    Keeping to the ethos of good lies being closest to the truth, Id kept my feats limited to things I could easily emte. Awareness and Stealth were both feats I already had. <strong></strong> was a passive feat that granted minor precognition, allowing the User to identify points of opportunity.


    Obviously, I didnt have ess to the actual feat. I took it because it allowed me to reverse engineer an exnation for anything unlikely that happened due to my actual skills, <strong></strong>and <strong></strong>


    Only there was a little symbol next to it that Id missed going over the stat sheet the first time.


    I focused on it. Considering how reticent the system was to exin anything, I was surprised when a text box appeared.


    But not as surprised as when I read the contents.

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52


    <strong></strong>


    The description <em>floored</em> me. My main concern with building up a User identity was long-term. The identity perks were just window dressing. If I somehow acquired a tank identity. Eventually, I wouldnt be able to back it up, and it would be all too obvious that I wasnt who I imed to be.


    Granted, I had no intention of ever being a tank. But with just a few choices of assimted feats along with the subtle nature of my Ordinator abilities, I could bridge that divide.


    Not to mention, I could potentially round out my character in ways that my chosen Ordinator branch had locked me out of. Page had <em>several</em> ranged feats that looked promising


    Are you salivating? Sae was looking at me in distress. She called up to the front seat. Anyone want to trade seats? Hes salivating.


    Nicks cool blue eyes studied me in the rearview mirror. Dude. You just ate.


    I <em>wasnt</em> salivating. I rolled my eyes. Just thinking about battle tactics. Though it would help if I knew more about your skills.


    Seems normal to me, Jinny piped up from the drivers seat. Thinking about sting mutant elk always makes me peckish.


    I wasnt salivating!


    The elk, really? Nick asked Jinny, eyebrows raised in disbelief. They had growths and shit.


    My initial reaction was ew. But the smell when we burned them Sae trailed off with a happy sigh.


    Okay. Now I want to trade seats. Or cars for that matter, I shot back. The idea of eating creatures as intelligent as the <strong></strong> was making queasy.


    Actually, Nick cocked his head. Thats not a bad idea.


    Im not eating mutated-cancer-ridden-monster-elk. I said firmly.


    Not that. Nick twisted in his seat to face me and Sae. You knowing more about our skills. Since youre doing the tactician thing.


    Saes mouth popped open, as if a thought had just urred to her. Thats right. We can share character screens.


    I didnt need <strong></strong> screaming in my ear to remember theplicated nature of <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    And you just thought of this now? I asked, attempting to buy time. It was possible that the system wouldnt consider voluntary sharing of information as a traditional method or appraisal, but it was far from a sure thing.


    We havent really had to use it much. Jinny admitted. Its mainly been the three of us, talking through options as we level.


    Sae had been uncharacteristically attentive towards me ever since Id discovered the tracker on Nicks car, and noticed my reaction was off. She leaned her head on her palm. Personally, Id love to see your character screen. We talked through some of it already, but that didnt really satisfy my anal-retentive side.


    Trantion: lets see if you left anything out, bitch.


    <em>I cant hesitate. Shes already suspicious. Give her one more reason, shell keep banging that drum until something falls out.</em>


    So I doubled down. Before anyone could do anything, I navigated to the party screen and highlighted Sae. There were grayed out options for demote or promote to party leader, as well as an option to ess the trade screen. And right below that, was the selection I was looking for.


    <strong></strong>


    I focused on it. And repressed a sigh of relief when the Identity drop down appeared.


    Thankfully, I hadnt left anything out. Id beenpletely transparent about the bullshit feats and stat allocation Id chosen.


    Done. I even managed to sound bored.


    Saes eyes zed over as she read over it, and her lip twitched in disappointment.


    Let me see! Jinny said.


    Not while youre driving. Sae shook her head. Alright, Im sending you mine.


    The others followed suit. I sat very still. If <strong></strong> fucked me, Id have to pretend to know every detail of their builds. Thankfully, it didnt. Either having an established User identity was a workaround, or there was a more intrusive method of identification that none of us had ess to yet.


    I read through Saes first. She was aggressively built as a support. Overly so. If there was ever a situation where she was thest man standing, the party was screwed. It was likely why I was able to handle her as easily as I hadlevel difference aside, I was much more attuned to one-on-onebat than her.


    As long as at least one person morebat focused was left on their feet, she was one hell of an asset. Her main debuff was <strong></strong> A smokescreen that partially blinded and demoralized opponents. There were a few poison-based damage over time abilities. She was able to buff weapons with either frost or poison, though the drawback was she had to touch them.


    Something ticked in my brain. You dont have a contact frost spell. When you tagged me during our spar was that the weapon buff ability?


    Sae nodded, smug. Figured that out by ident. Panicked and froze a goblin. Whoevers writing the descriptions of skills and items in general


    needs to be fired, I finished. She nodded in approval.


    Maybe wed get along after all.


    Her title was eye-drawing: <strong></strong>


    I focused on it, to see if there was anything more to read, and nothing happened. I was tempted to ask. Considering the highly personal nature of some of my titles, however, I decided it was probably better to leave it alone. There was likely a reason that despite the myriad of skills and feats wed discussed, not one of the three had talked about their titles. In my experience, at least, they tended to be revealing in ways that were distinctly ufortable.


    Still, it wouldnt hurt to confirm that.


    Do any of you have more than one title? I asked.


    An air of difort settled over the car.


    Because mine is more than a little annoying, I added, trying to defuse the tension.


    We, uh, havent talked about them much. Nick gave me a look that was almost begging me to drop it. As far as I know, you only get one.


    Figures, I sighed, and continued sorting through the screens while keeping an eye on the road. It helped that the system screen was semi-transparent, but I had to make a conscious effort to not tunnel-vision.


    Nick was a powerhouse. As hed previously said, his chosen feats all revolved around taking a beating and dishing it out. Like some sort of masochist tank-dps hybrid. What he hadnt mentioned was that his main counter-attack ability <strong></strong> relied on catching damage with a shield. From the description, it worked simr to a battery, building charge until he decided to dish it out. Also notable was <strong></strong> a feat that kept him conscious and on his feet until he died.


    Damn. Not sure if I would have picked that one for obvious reasons, but it made sense with his build.


    His title was illegible. A literal ck bar hung over it like a redacted military document. I suspected it had something to do with the ethos he mentioned. And considering how everyone had reacted thest time I mentioned titles, I decided to let it go.


    Having read through both their sheets, it was clear that Nick had a natural synergy with Sae. He was incredibly hard to kill, and as long as he was alive, she could buff him.


    <em>Is that the same Escde?</em>


    Wed stopped momentarily at a light. My heart hammered as I focused entirely on the street behind us. There was a ck Escde parked on the side of the road. They all looked the same, so there was no way to know for sure, but a feeling of dread settled over me.


    I nearly opened my mouth to call it all off, when a woman pushing a stroller approached the Escde. She pulled a key fob from her clutch and clicked it, the lights on the escde flicking on.


    The light turned green, and I kept watch as the car grew more distant.


    Barely visible, the woman pulled an infant in a onesie from the stroller, hoisted it in the air like Rafiki in the Lion King, and loaded it into a car-seat.


    <em>Keep jumping every time you see a ck car. Idiot.</em>


    Annoyed at how quick was to switch targets, I pulled up Jinnys sheet. Then I read it again. By the third time, I realized it wasnt going to make sense if I read it a dozen times.


    I studied her in the rearview. She saw me looking and gave me an uneasy smile. Happy to answer any questions you have about my sheet when Im not driving.


    In other words, Sae and Nick didnt know. I gave the sheet one more cursory scan, just to confirm I hadnt imagined it.


    Yeah. I had many questions.

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53


    <strong>Jinny</strong>


    <strong>Level 5 Magus</strong>


    And that was where everything went off the rails.


    There was so much wrong with her sheet, I could barely mentally catalog it all. Her stats were absurd. Intelligence and Will were in the mid-twenties, everything besidespanionship in the tens.


    She had more than double the number of skills I did, almost all of them spells that looked anything but beginner material. <strong> </strong> just to name a few. Her feat list was just as long. When Nick was discussing general marching order, hed asked Jinny to just reign down hell. I could see why he hadnt needed to be more specific.


    I went through her feats one by one, searching for something, anything to exin how the hell shed gotten so powerful at such an early stage. They were all good picks, but there was no bullshit asking-the-genie-for-more-wishes selection that would have made sense of it. All her feats were magic focused or ss-specific, save one.


    <strong></strong>


    It was the sort of feat youd take if you had something to hide. Something I was all too familiar with, and an exnation for how <strong></strong> had missed this.


    <em>Shes still watching me. Waiting to see if Ill say something regardless.</em>


    Her title, surprisingly, wasnt redacted:


    <strong></strong>


    Unless I was misremembering, the title was a reference to an old taoist aphorism.


    I frowned and took a moment to consider. Jinny specifically mentioned that they hadnt bothered to look at each others sheets in a while. If they had, it was likely early on, before whatever was happening with Jinnys was apparent. It would be one thing if I thought she was a possible danger to Nick. If that were the case, I wouldnt give a damn what she wanted.


    But this wasnt that.


    Considering how stacked her stats were, it was clear her presence was hugely beneficial to the party. And I suspected from the nature of the quote that whatever secret she was hiding was a personal one. Therefore, none of my business.


    I looked up to where she still watched in the rearview. Quick question. Have you tried using any fire spells while Saes <strong></strong> is active?


    Jinny sagged in visible relief. No. We usually use that for positioning, and start attacking once it wears off.


    What are you thinking? Nick asked.


    Depends on how Gloom works. Weve established the fact that the system doesnt give us all the information. If its demoralizing because they cant see, it probably doesnt matter. If its demoralizing because its gaseous and thats an effect of breathing it in, small chance it might bebustible. I shrugged.


    I like it, Nick grinned.


    So much for subtlety Saemented.


    There was a lurch as the tiny Prius pulled up under an overpass, and the smooth road was reced with rocks.


    Were here, Jinny said.


    I was curious. Especially if it turned out to be something I could copy somehow. But it was better to wait. The average person is terrible at keeping their own secrets, and this had been weighing on her for a while. Jinny was the one who sent it after all, and while there was social pressure to do so, Id put money on the fact that she was tired of keeping it to herself. But it hadnt blown up the way she probably secretly hoped for, and it would be in her head now. What was the cost of me keeping her secret, would Iat any given point in timesend Nick a message on the side asking about it, why I kept it in the first ce.


    Yeah. Jinny would initiate the conversation. It was just a question of when.


    /////


    If I didnt know any better, Id say the others were leading me into a trap. It wasnt as if wed suddenly gone off script or anyone was acting suspicionssave the many nces that Jinny was sending my way. It was more how abandoned and eerily quiet the path was.


    Our route took us first through the Das Pedestrian Network, a mostly abandoned series of tunnels connecting various Skyscrapers and business centers downtown. It was a well-lit series of white floored tunnels broken up by stone pirs, rtively well-maintained before the meteor, and while there were signs of vagrancy and fresh graffiti, it was still rtively clean and tidy.


    And empty.


    You guys sure were going the right way? I asked, finding the silence broken only by footsteps more than a little unnerving.


    Pretty sure, Nick replied from up front. It looks expansive, but most of the side passages are closed down and dont really lead anywhere.


    This isnt even the spooky part. Wait until we get into the Santa Fe tunnels proper, Sae said grimly. Its some real found footage shit.


    Fantastic. I muttered, fighting the urge to switch into my armor. Maybe it was just <strong></strong> working in overdrive, but I really didnt like being underground, with our only potential exit miles away.


    The only real upside was how difficult it was to be stealthy here. Id tested it, briefly, before we set out in earnest. Even with my <strong></strong> feat, my footsteps still echoed, albeit much more quietly than the others. Perhaps if you had the advanced version of the perk, or a magic item that specifically softened your footsteps.


    Otherwise, wed hear theming far before we saw them. Randall dipped out before you all found the trial, right?


    Nick walked backwards as he spoke to me. Yep. And we were basically done with the tunnels before his little freakout.


    No one wanted to go back, Jinny said. Its honestly a little unnerving, being down there. Especially when we both woke up there, with no light and no idea how to get out. She shuddered.


    I considered that. Would I have made it, even with a stronger starting ss, in a situation like Nick and Jinnys? Or Bretts for that matter? It was hard to say. And would likely depend on what title the system started me with. <strong></strong> could easily get me killed in that sort of situation. It almost had, initially. It took a certain kind of person to survive in that situation.


    Nick diverted, drifting over to the side of the hallway towards what looked like a storage closet. And here we are. I think.


    This is it, Sae confirmed.


    Below the door was a small umtion of dirt and grime. Not much, but enough to assume it had been used recently.


    These bastards all look the same. Nick groused. He slid the door open and revealed exactly what youd expect to be in a supply closet. Brooms, mops, and an astronomical amount of dirt. I enteredst, taking a small dust rag from my pocket and sweeping the dirt on the exterior inward before I shut the door behind us. The supply closet was lit by a single transparent bulb hanging by a cord.


    If I were to make a joke about Narnia I started.


    There was a groan around the group.


    yed out. Noted.


    Weve already beaten the wrong side of the tracks, bit to death too, though Nick will never admit it. Jinny shook her head.


    Tracks? I asked.


    As if answering my question, Nick moved a stack of pallets aside easily, as if he were shifting around books on a shelf. Open sesame!


    Also yed out, Sae murmured.


    Alright. Everyone suit up. Nick stared at the hole grimly. He was all business now, and equipped with hardy looking metallic armor, a silver sword with an emerald at the pommel that was at least half as tall as me, and a shield roughly the size of a car door.


    He looked heavy, and more importantly, like he would make a lot of noise.


    Beyond the pallets was a gaping hole, showing nothing but ck. Jinny pulled a brown satchel out of her inventory and handed out four shlights, giving me an encouraging smile when she handed me mine. Make sure you stay close.


    Last-minute check, Nick said, not turning from the hole in the wall. Everyone good on health potions?


    It was important that we all had our own individual supply, in case anyone got separated. The bare minimum was five. I had eight, but I hadnt advertised the excess. My excuse for the armor was already thin; no need to make myself look more suspicious. Once everyone confirmed, Nick turned and dropped down the waist-high ledge, then stepped into the dark. His shlight reflected off a long rail, bisected by rotten wooden nks.


    <em> Wrong side of the tracks.</em>


    I went back and listened at the door, making sure there were no approaching footsteps.


    New guy. Sae was staring at me over the drop-off. Hurry up.


    Still, I kept my ear to the door. There was nothing. Not even the slightest echo. Satisfied for the moment, I flicked my shlight on, and followed the others into the dark.

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54


    The darkness was <em>cloying.</em> I wasnt certain if it was an aspect of my new armor, or if it was really just that dark. Even the shlights, big and heavy enough to double as a vicious club, barely gave us enough illumination to see more than twenty or thirty feet ahead. The ground was a treacherous mix of concrete debris, gravel, and rocks.


    And beneath our crunching footsteps was a litany of other sounds. Squeaks, skitters, and the asional pping of wings. The hair on my neck stood on end. Unlike the sanitized and cheery aesthetic of the Pedestrian Network tunnels behind us, there was a feeling of wrongness here. Not unlike the first time I entered the adaptive dungeon.


    Something touched my neck, and I jumped, swinging the shlight around and bringing my saber to bear. Jinny squinted in the light, looking nearly as surprised as I felt. I quickly pointed the shlight away from her at the ground, so I could still see her face. She held a finger to her lips. At first, I mistook her meaning as some strangely timed reminder to not mention my discovery in the car. Then she pointed to her shlight, then behind me in the direction we were walking.


    I turned.


    A green <em>something</em> at ground level was illuminated within the halo of her shlight. Nick had slowed down considerably, and was gradually pushing forward, his angr shield held up to his chin. The metal of his armor was still audible, but less-so than it should have been. Possibly a side benefit of one of his feats.


    I kept pace beside him, hefting the saber experimentally. It was bigger than I was used to, but still small enough that it fell within the purview of <strong></strong> It wouldnt slow me down.


    Eventually, I got close enough to see what Jinnys shlight had been highlighting. It was a goblin. It could have been asleep, save the savage sh that ran from shoulder to waist, almost splitting it in half. I looked back at Jinny, and nodded that her message was received.


    <em>Jesus Christ.</em>


    It was overwhelming how many bodies there were. Mostly Goblins at first. Hewn, stabbed, eviscerated. I spotted at least a dozen, with more cropping up at every step.


    Something urred to me. A slight incongruity that didnt make sense.


    I messaged Nick directly.


    <strong></strong>


    Both the Arctic Wolfs remains and the Flowerfangs corpses had disappeared from the dungeon on subsequent visits. Now that I thought about it, though, the Arctic Wolfs pups had stayed where they were, buried in the snow.


    <strong></strong>


    Maybe it was because the creatures I killed existed in a dungeon, though why was beyond me.


    The stench hit me just after he mentioned it. I stuck my shlight in my armpit and pulled the neck of my underyer of shirt to my nose, trying not to gag. It smelled like a mix of ughterhouse and the apartment dumpster right before pickup day.


    Just before it threatened to be too much, we were past the small enve of goblins. It was still hell on my nose, but the bitter, chemical heavy scent that came next was at least marginally less nauseating.


    There were a series of holes bigger than my head punched in the wall on the left side. I didnt have trypophobia, but the visual was making me feel ufortable regardless. A bit of light from my beam bounced off something dark and reflective. It turned out to be chitin. A long and segmented centipede with a gaping maw, bigger than five Great Danes stitched together, was huddled in a death curl, its many legs clutched in on itself.


    I noticed that Sae took the long way around, and I unashamedly followed her.


    We kept up that pace for nearly half an hour. Id slowly drifted towards the back of the group. My hands were shaking from nerves. I needed an opportunity to summon before we reached the Trial.


    Thankfully, the others werent checking behind them often. I diverted the beam of my shlight out of the view of the group, and rather than risking someone noticing the click, unscrewed the back-cap until it flickered off.


    No one noticed.


    Slowly, I began the process of summoning Talia. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. I swiped at them until it was clear there was no point in doing so. It was all I could do to keep my breathing even and not draw attention to myself.


    There wasnt really a good way to do this. I needed her out now, in case something jumped us the moment we entered the trial. It was a risk, but this was possibly the only opportunity I had.


    After a few more painstakingly long seconds, I felt her presence. To my right, I saw a shlight beam pan across the tunnel wall. Someone was turning around.


    <em>What</em>


    <em>Hide. Now.</em> I sent an image of my threepanions, with <strong></strong> making sure to draw attention to their shlights.


    I got a sh of displeasure in response, and felt a gust of wind rush against my neck. The shlight blinded me. I held a hand up to block it, my eyes immediately watering. Jesus.


    Problem with the shlight? Saes voice called to me. She sounded genuinely concerned, rather than annoyed. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat.


    Where the hell had Talia gone? I fought the urge to look for her, instead fiddling with the shlight. Ituhjust went off. Didnt want to break silence unless I couldnt fix it.


    Not a bad way to get picked off, if thats what youre going for. Saes voice echoed off the walls.


    We should be fine now. Looks as empty asst time. Make sure you use chat if something like that goes wrong, Nick said. He sounded confused. Probably was wondering why Id used chat to ask him about the bodies and not the shlight.


    I smacked the shlights body twice and discretely screwed the cap in. The shlight flickered back to life. Fixed it. All good.


    After the others turned back, I felt another st of displeasure mixed with smugness, this timeing from directly above me. I looked up, and immediately wished that I hadnt.


    The upside-down outline of a wolf clung to the ceiling. A long strand of venom hung from her mouth, her teeth bared as she breathed in and out.


    <em> Get ahead of us. Find the Trial door. Get inside if you can." </em> I attempted to keep the <strong></strong> firm, revealing none of the uneasiness I felt.


    <em>And if entrance is impossible? I am just a summon, after all.</em>The second half dripped with derision.


    <em>Then wait outside, and say what I tell you." </em>


    <em>No. </em>


    <em>Excuse me?</em> I felt the vein on my forehead, pulsing.


    <em>I will follow your lead as long as our interests are aligned. But you will not puppet me, as you puppet the Flowerfang. </em>


    <em>Fuckin</em>


    But she was already gone, her outline scampering along the ceiling, almost invisible unless you knew she was there. Up ahead, Jinny stiffened, her shlight going to the ceiling just a minute toote. Were not alone.


    She ced her shlight in her inventory and withdrew her staff, casting a handful of glowing white orbs that followed her. Talia had disappeared, using Jinnys aside as a distraction. My palms were slick with sweat, cool air from the tunnel chilling my body.


    This wasnt good. I could dismiss her, even at a distance. She was my summon. But I needed her for the trial, and the worst part was, the wolf knew it all too well. If Audrey had misbehaved, I had no doubts on my ability topel her with <strong></strong> But the revenant wolf was different. Harder to control. And any attempt to forcefully get the result I wanted from her would seriously limit her cooperation.


    As much as it galled me, I decided to let Talia y this out. It took a long time to summon, but dismissal happened much more quickly. If she started saying anything I didnt like, I could remove her in a matter of seconds.


    Heads up, Nick called back to us. Some kind of dog ahead.


    Wed reached our destination. The Trial was encased by a golden door, iid with inscribed patterns and violet gems that twinkled from Jinnys halo of light. And sitting directly in front of the door, like some ancient guardian, was my goddamn summon.


    Talia spoke aloud. Wee, humans. It is a good day for hunting.


    Even as the others spread out into formation, I fought the urge to bring my palm to my forehead.

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55


    Nick held his sword out to Sae. Her hands glowed, and a creepingyer of slick green covered his de.


    I wouldnt do that, Talia warned, holdingpletely still. Her voice was guttural, but somehow, distinctly feminine. I wondered what the others thought of her. The wolfs appearance was typically intimidating on ount of her size, deep furrowed brows, and silver eyes that appeared to see everything.


    But to my surprise, she seemed to be suppressing some of her more rming side. Her teeth were hidden, even when she spoke. And her elongated tail slowly wagged back and forth.


    Nick carefully returned his sword hand to his side. Just, uh, taking precautions.


    Oh, not the preparations. Thats very good. A sign you may endure that which is toe. The fur on her tail ttened out, the tip bing much more pronounced as she pointed it in the direction of Nicks sword. More, the choice of magic. Frost wont work well on me. Her tail flicked to Sae. Poisons a better bet, but only if it works better than my own.


    Why the fuck is the monster talking? Sae whispered.


    Better question. Why is the monster giving us tips on how to fight her? I whispered back.


    Shes gorgeous. Jinny took a step forward, before Sae held her back.


    You, girl, have a fatal case of dog person. Sae rolled her eyes.


    Nick was looking back at the group for guidance, and finding us at as much of a loss as he was, turned back to my summon. We came here to fight monsters. As such, we were not prepared to meet a creature of such grace and poise. Pray tell, what is your name?


    <em>Pray tell?</em>


    My mouth dropped open. It would have been unbearably cheesy if Nick wasnt selling it so damn well. The level of charisma he was pulling off was approaching Hollywood levels, even if he was spouting B-Movie dialogue.


    Which made it all the more irritating when my summon <em>giggled.</em> Your ttery pleases me. I am Talia, the Watcher of the Sacred Realms, the Blessed Beast of the Everwind, and Protector of Precious Things.


    <em>Jesus Christ. Ham it up, why dont you? </em>


    Talia lifted her lip, discretely disying a single fang in my direction.


    Nick cleared his throat. And what is your purpose here, Talia, the Watcher of the Sacred Beasts, Blessing to the Realms, and Protector of Precious Things?


    My summon shook her head. Just Talia will do. And you, are my purpose. I am a spirit guide given corporeal form at the adjuration of the Goddess Sif, who smiles down upon you all this day.


    I shook my head. You cant just hand people a good thing without subjecting yourself to suspicion. She was being too direct. This wasnt going to work.


    Right on cue, Sae stepped forward. So youre here to guide us through the trial.


    I am here to apany you, Talia corrected. What lies inside is a mystery, even to me.


    Uhuh. Sae crossed her arms. So where were you thest three times we came down here?


    Did you intend to undergo the trial?


    I mean we thought about it but no.


    Talia nodded. Behold. Your question answers itself.


    Before Sae could say more, Nick stepped in front of her. So, your intent is to apany us? Just like that?


    Talias eyes slipped to me, single fang showing again, before she addressed Nicks question. I will partake of nothing you find within the trial. Therefore, it is customary to provide a small offering of thanks.


    <em>You little</em> I stopped, when the cleverness of what Talia was doing finally clicked. Shede to the same conclusion I had. People value something that is paid for far more than something given freely. If she just offered her help, theyd regard her with suspicion, maybe even turn her down.


    Instead, the others were given a small hoop to jump through, in order to earn her help.


    Just a moment, Spirit Guide, as I confer with mypanions. Nick herded us far enough away that Talia was likely out of earshot. Okay. What in the actual fuck do we do?


    We could use the help, Sae admitted. But Im not sure if I like it. Probably a no from me.


    Matt, Jinny? Nick looked at us. Youre both far better judges of character than I am.


    She seems earnest. Jinny said. Im not sure about the titleskind of felt like she was making them up on the spot, and she didnt correct you when you got them wrong


    Wait, I got them wrong?


    Jinny continued, but I think her intent really is to help. Even if shes overselling herself a bit. Matt?


    All heads turned to me. They wanted me to be the tactician, the big thinker. It was an easy enough role for me to slip into. Keep in mind, I have perilously little information Im drawing from here. That being said, I dont like it. And if that thing just showed up and offered its help clearing some abandoned tunnel, Id probably decline. I inclined my head towards the door. But look at what its sitting next to. That looks more like a pce door than a dungeon door. Contrast that door with killing goblins in the dark, and whatevers likely to be behind it? Maybe we need the extra firepower. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sae squinting at me, and swerved at thest second. Personally, I vote no. Just to be safe.


    I had to suppress a smile when Sae spoke immediately. Actually, Im changing my vote.


    Nick looked at Jinny. You?


    Im in favor. Jinny smiled.


    Guess were doing this, Nick said. He looked at me apologetically, I was leaning towards no, until you mentioned that thing about the door. Think we should go with your first instinct, rather than your second.


    I held my hands palm out. Fair enough. Probably the right call.


    Let me handle the offering. Jinny was ncing over at Talia, determined.


    /////


    We followed alongside Jinny, as she approached the wolf. Immediately, I noticed that her stance had changed. Her hands were in her pockets, and she was slightly hunched over so her head and Talias were on the same level.


    I remembered the sidement Sae had made about her being a dog person.


    Hello, Jinny said, in a voice as quiet as Nicks was bombastic.


    Greetings, Talias head swiveled towards Jinny, silver eyes focusing entirely on her.


    May I approach you? Jinny asked.


    You may, Talia said cautiously.


    Jinny took three steps forward, still leaving a respectful distance between her and the wolf. Nick had sheathed his sword, but I saw him rest his hand on the hilt.


    You asked for a small offering, Talia. Are you certain that will suffice? Jinny asked.


    So long as it is thoughtful, I will be satisfied. Talia inclined her head towards Jinny.


    You must have waited some time for us. Are you hungry?


    Talia red at me. Famished.


    <em>You told me not to treat you like Audrey.</em> I mentally groused at her, not bothering to hide my irritation. It wasnt like there was a shortage of meat in my inventory. Of course, she ignored me.


    To my delight, I watched as Jinny pulled three moderately sized stic containers out of her inventory. These were for my little friends at home. I havent been able to see them in a while, so I stocked up while there was still inventory.


    Pet food. Talias mask was slipping, her disdain apparent.


    Forgive the misunderstanding. My friends are Siberians, gically simr to wolves, and they eat a simr diet. Theres raw salmon, broli, carrots, apples, and bananas, all portioned correctly. Jinny popped the lid of one of the containers. Talia immediately took a long sniff and started panting. Would you be willing to sample it and tell me if theyll appreciate this particr mix?


    Damn. Jinny was good.


    I suppose I could. Talia said slowly. She stuck her nose in the Tupperware and took an experimental lick, after which she emitted a long sigh. This pleases me.


    The rest of us watched, stupefied, as Jinny fed the giant wolf the remaining containers. Whenafter asking permissionshe pulled a brush from her inventory and began tending to the wolfs coat as she ate, and Talia <em>let</em> her, I decided to stop trying to make sense of it.


    My previous estimation was correct. Jinny was some sort of Disney Princess, and we were all just side characters along for the ride.


    Nick elbowed me at some point during the process, and spoke in a low voice. Isnt she great?


    <em>Aside from the part where shes hiding something from you, sure.</em>


    Shes certainly something, I said aloud.


    /////


    As soon as everyone was through the Golden door, it immediately mmed behind us. A notification popped up in front of my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    I breathed out, settling my nerves.


    <em>Here we go.</em>

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56


    The interior was entirely different from what the door implied. It wasnt grand and pce like, or strangely modern, as the adaptive dungeon had been. The walls were a washed out gray, incrementally textured in a pattern that seemed familiar. The floor was covered with liquid slightly too viscous to be water, ck, aside from the reflection of green torches.


    As Nick moved forward cautiously through the tight hallway, I reached out to touch the wall.


    It was all I could do to bite back a shriek when the wall touched back. Tiny ck threads no thicker than strands of hair clung to my gauntlet and the wall bubbled. A cloudy white bulb appeared on the surface.


    I yanked my hand back and stepped away, careful to not to back into the other side. The white bulb disappeared.


    <em>The texture looks like the dead centipede. </em>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I swore aloud, and ryed the same message Id typed in a whisper, with the addition that chat was offline. The others mindfully stepped away. Sae poked the wall with the toe of her boot, and looked mildly nauseous when she saw the results.


    Well this ce sucks, Sae said.


    No kidding. Nick had made his way into the main room, and after confirming it clear, turned back to face us. And unfortunately, I think Matts on got it right on the bug count.


    He pointed to the statue in the center of the room. It was a fierce looking wasp, immortalized in stone.


    I felt uneasy. Gnolls and Flowerfangs were simple enough to manipte, thanks to abination of their simple minds and understandable desires. But using <strong></strong> on something more autonomous and purely instinct driven? I wasnt sure how well it would work, if at all. There were no doorways


    <strong></strong> didnt trigger, so there were no traps. But it still buzzed mostly silently in the back of my mind, with none of the usual backtalk, which made me wary.


    There are no doors that I can see, Jinny cast her light spell again, refreshing the glowing orbs that rotated above us.


    Matt? Nick prompted me. You want to take the lead here?


    After a moments consideration, I nodded. Fan out. Dont do anything particrly eruptive or loud without talking it over with the group first. When no one moved, I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. Treat it like an escape room. Attention to detail is the name of the game. Anything and everything could be a clue.


    As the others spread out, Talia sidled up beside me, taking higher steps than normal as if to escape the water.


    <em>Well? Would the nt have been a better choice?</em> The mental jibe wasyered in sarcasm.


    I didnt make eye-contact with her, but responded immediately.


    <em>You performed exceptionally well. I should have let you have more autonomy from the beginning.</em>


    <em>No criticism? No sidelong remarks?</em> Talia asked. On the surface, it seemed like she was mocking me, but Id worked with enough people with an ego to recognize a request for feedback couched as a bitingment.


    <em>Well. It would be ideal if we could coordinate more. I was able to solidify the vote in your favor, but only just. Other than that, theres nothing negative to say. You presented yourself in a manner that disarmed them, were simultaneously clever and patient, and allowing Jinny to groom you was brilliant in making yourself more approachable.</em>


    <em> that was the only reason I let her.</em>


    <em>Of course.</em>


    But I didnt miss the way Talia had puffed herself up after the praise. It had meant something to her, evening from me, someone she had ample reason to dislike.


    Maybe that was the key to building our bond.


    I approached the statue first and bent down, squinting to read the text beneath it. A single orange glowing globe floated overhead, illuminating it for me.


    <em>Four arms to fight, feed, and rend.</em>


    <em>Four legs to skitter.</em>


    <em>A legion of eyes to guide.</em>


    <em>An endless void once considered.</em>


    Really? A rhyming clue?


    I scoffed. Other than the obvious inference to bugs, there was a near endless number of interpretations.


    Could it be referencing some specific insect? Jinny asked. Shed taken up a spot next to me and was studying the que. In the background, I could hear Nick and Sae bickering about something.


    Probably not. I shook my head. The numbers are wrong. All insects have six legs. Arachnids have eight, and arthropods have many.


    Jinny gave me a funny look, and my social nerves picked up.


    Uh. Im not usually this insufferable, but in a situation like this I figure the details are important.


    Jinny chuckled. They are. All I was thinking was if we ever have a trivia night, youre going to be my first pick.


    I blinked. It wasnt really something Id considered, casually interacting with the three of them. We wouldnt be delving into dungeons and taking trials constantly, so it made sense. There would be down time. Normally, the idea of that would have terrified me. I had so little inmon with people my age with normal lives. Only, now, I supposed I did have something inmon.


    You might have to fight Nick for me, I said wryly.


    To the death. Jinny winked. Given her situation with Nick, if there was any inkling of flirting at all, it would have made me profoundly ufortable. But it was clear she was just being friendly. As I read over the que again, she circled around to inspect the statue more closely. No one told the wasp that insects only have six legs.


    Annoyed that Id been too busy counting sybles to notice such an obvious detail, I took in the statue, moving from one side to another to get a clear picture. Sure enough, there were eight legs in total. Four of them were held high in supplication as if praising some unseen deity, and the other four were nted firmly on the ground.


    Four arms and four legs, I said aloud.


    You smart people figured this out yet? Me and Sae are just kind of spinning our wheels here. Nick called over.


    Hey! Sae snapped.


    Working on it. I took out my burner and jotted down the clue. I could probably remember all of it, but that wasnt a risk I wanted to take. When it came to riddles, a single transposed word could change the entire meaning.


    Sae, possibly annoyed at being lumped in with Nick, left him and joined us in the center. She cocked her head. The antennae look like theyre pointing at something. Little ripples in the not-water emitted from her feet as she crossed to the back of the room. Hey! I found a door.


    My head snapped around, the situation in the elevator lobby of the adaptive dungeon all too fresh in my mind. Dont touch it!


    Sae held her hands up in the air, scowling at me. Easy, control freak.


    Beyond her, was the faint outline of a door. Incredibly easy to miss unless you knew what you were looking for, with a circle imprint ced vaguely where the knob would be.


    Looks like the way forward. Nick nced at me.


    It looks like one, yes, I mused.


    What are you thinking? Jinny asked.


    You guys got the system notification text at the beginning, right? It said that as the first to enter the trial, all paths were open to us. Meaning theres multiple.


    The paths might branch further in. Jinny shrugged. Theres nothing else in this room that looks like a door.


    Wordlessly, I returned to the statue. Sae was right, unlike the typical syed depiction the antennae were weirdly aligned, pointing directly at the outlined door behind us. So, if that was the misdirect


    There. I pointed. The rest of the arms are pointing skyward, with one pointing to that wall.


    Same with the feet, one pointing that way. Jinny observed.


    Sure enough, she was right. There was a single foot pointing to the back left corner of the room. I followed the direction, looking back and forth to confirm I was on target. I withdrew my saber and poked at the wall. Just as before, ck strands emerged. I kept poking. A strangely spherical hole appeared. Then another, and another.


    When it was done, I stepped back, not terribly happy with what Id uncovered. Four holes were arranged parallel, roughly at shoulder height. Large enough to swallow up a small dog. Or amodate a human arm.


    Okay. Not liking the Saw vibes. Nick said.


    I kind of like my door better, Sae responded.

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57


    It took some convincing. I tried to be patient, reminding myself that the others had never experienced a dungeon. In the end, everyone agreed to leave the more obvious door alone.


    But that still left us with two options. One set of holes corresponding with the arms, one with the feet.


    <em>Four arms to fight, feed, and rend.</em>


    <em>Four legs to skitter.</em>


    I frowned. So, if Im reading this correctly, the passage corresponding with the arms will probably involve something withbat. While the passage with the legs will require movement.


    Movement? Sae asked.


    Running. Jumping. Something that requires more than a little agility.


    Talia growled. The arm passage reeks of death. Though the same scent is far stronger from the back passage.


    Nick raised his hand. Hate to be the one to put us in harms way and whatnot, but my Agility is not very high.


    Ours isnt great either, Sae said, including Jinny in the statement. I knew that wasnt exactly true. Jinny and I would probably fare well in an Agility trial, but I had no intention of watching Nick do the Indiana Jones boulder run in heavy armor.


    That only leaves us with one option. Jinny turned towards the gaping holes in the wall, looking mildly nauseous.


    Ill go first, Nick volunteered immediately.


    It really shouldnt be you, I said to open air, as he continued striding confidently towards the wall. Youre our primary source of defense and direct damage.


    Its not the first time Ive been shoulderer. Never mind. Anyway, you cant lead from the back, Matt. He winked at me. I felt my stomach tighten. <strong></strong> hadnt triggered when Id revealed the openings, so it should be fine. But it felt ufortable, not being the one taking the risks. I wondered if that was my controlling side or something else.


    <em>He is truly your friend?"</em> Talia asked, the mental suggestion tagged with bewilderment.


    <em>Is that so hard to believe?"</em>


    <em>Honesty. Charisma. The bravery to take things head on. He would make a fine wolf.</em> It almost sounded like she was gushing.


    I couldnt help but feel annoyed. <em>Pretty sure youre not his type.</em>


    <em>Whelp. It is just curious. He is your opposite. The light to your darkness.</em>


    Talia was trying to get under my skin, and was partially seeding. I walked away from her, apanying Nick to the wall. The holes undted slightly. Go slow


    Nick plunged his fist into the wall. The orifice immediately constricted, locking him in.


    What isoh fuck. Nick threw his head back in a rictus of agony.


    Jinny and Sae cried out in rm.


    Even Talia jumped back, letting out a low growl.


    I crossed my arms. Are you fucking done?


    His face shifted into a grin. A littleic relief never hurts.


    I turned to Jinny, who looked anything but amused. Looks like hes stuck. Were going to have to take the arm off.


    Ill do the cutting, Sae growled.


    Ill cauterize the wound when youre done. Jinny offered, her expression cold.


    Nick chuckled nervously. Okay, okay, it was in poor taste.


    Lets get this over with. I stuck my arm in beside Nicks. Once again, the hole closed. The interior was frigid, and slimy, and immediately made me want to take a shower despite my armor taking the brunt of it.


    Jinny followed suit.


    Sae wentst, pausing just before she slid her hand in. I swear to god, if we all end up stuck here She trailed off, and stuck her hand into the wall.


    Immediately, the floor beneath us shifted. Talia jumped on just in time as the floor pivoted, the wall tearing loose from the flesh that bound it as we rotated one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. As soon as it locked into ce, the restraints were released.


    Does anyone else feel Jinny trailed off with a grimace.


    It hit me just a second after her. A wave of rage so intense it billowed in my gut, creeping up my neck. My hands balled into fists reflexively. More than anything, I just wanted to hit something, it didnt matter what


    I swapped into <strong></strong> immediately. I could still feel the anger radiating beneath it. But it was safely locked away beneath the tranquility of the title. I tore off my left gauntlet and looked at my arm. There were two tiny marks there, like a spider-bite.


    God dammit. Were dosed.


    Jinny was either impervious because of her title, or her stats were high enough that she could easily shake the effect off. She was talking to Nick in a low voice, and while he sounded raspy, he was listening.


    Sae, on the other hand, was giving me a look that I could only interpret one way. Like she wanted payback.


    I ducked under a brutal haymaker. She wasnt even bothering with the Wing Chun anymore.


    I reached out to her with <strong></strong>


    <em>Stop. Think about what were doing, why were here.</em>


    You made me look like an <em>idiot</em>. She seethed, swinging her arm in a vicious backhand that narrowly missed my face.


    And I promise you a rematch I stopped mid-sentence to shift out of the way as a footshed out at my head. When were safe, and away from here. I didnt care that she would likely win, so long as it squashed this idiotic beef between us.


    Jinny caught her arm and hauled her back. Enough. Sae struggled against her.


    And then an animalistic growl froze us all in ce. It had all happened so fast I hadnt even had time to take in our surroundings. Talia stood a few feet into the chamber, her hackles raised. Green torches came to life, illuminating the area in pairs as they toggled on like stadium lights.


    Before us was a ck bridge, made of the same material as the previous room. There was no liquid umted on the floor in this chamber, and it was easy to see why. At the unguarded edges of the bridge was an endless void. Beyond the bridge was a circr tform, maybe fifty meters across with arge hole in the center, rotating slowly like a gothic carousel.


    Only instead of horses, there were blurry humanoid figures holding weapons.


    Do we stay or go? Jinny asked, her voice panicked.


    I waited, tense. The bridge was a bottleneck. If we stayed here, our mages could fire at the figures as they crossed. But only if they yed by the same rules. I stared at their feet. They were walking against the movement of the carousel and heading towards us, but something about it seemed off. As if they werent really touching the ground.


    I watched one at the far edge as it moved closer. They were heading in a direct line, not heeding the bridge at all. It reached the edge of the circr arena, took one step off.


    And levitated.


    Matt, Nick said, still panting.


    I see it. No choice. Push. Now.


    Nick charged forward, his shield arm held high, everyone else following him into the breach. I reached to the nearest blurry figure with <strong></strong> attempting to impart hesitation and terror.


    A thousand minds screeched back.

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58


    The screeching feedback was almost enough to send the rage bubbling beneath <strong></strong> soaring to the surface. I ducked my head, grimacing, trying desperately to stay focused and keep my ce behind Nick.


    I reached out and ced my off-hand on his back, using him for bnce as we pushed across the bridge. There was a sh of motion, followed by an icy sting. Something warm trickled down my face.


    <em>Theyre shooting at us</em>


    An arrow had grazed me, inches from my eye.


    A cold, muted terror mingled with the rage still roiling in my gut. Ranged attacks were a massive problem. Nick only had one shield, and with the way this was developing, they had too many vantages for him to shield us all. I searched for the source of the projectile. There were five figures in all. Two swordsmen, arge brute wielding an axe towards the center, and two archers positioned at the back of the circr tform.


    Buff me! I held my saber back towards Sae.


    Ice or poison? Sae yelled back.


    <em>Theres insect theming. Poison resistance is more likely than frost. </em>


    Ice.


    A spiderweb of blue clouded my previously reflective de, dulling its shine.


    Archers are top priority! We need to I bit my tongue from the impact as Nick bowled full force into the single swordsman restricting ess to the arena. Then, with an ungodly amount of force, he swung his shield arm out. The swordsman flew up in an uncontrolled rag-doll, arms pinwheeling in the air. Itnded head first, its head impacting the ground and immediately jutting sideways at a sickening angle.


    Before I could even process what happened, Talia jumped off Nicks shoulders,nding full force on the axe-wielding figure and sinking her teeth into his neck, yanking her head back and forth in an attempt to rend flesh free.


    The sudden brutality of it was paralyzing. Of all the situations Id been in, the closest to this in terms of chaos was the aftermath of setting the Gnolls against each other. The difference was, I was in control then.


    <em>Do something. You had a n. Stick to it.</em>


    I slingshotted around Nick and sprinted towards one archer. I was far slower than I would have been normally. The tform was circling just fast enough that any quick movement was difficult. <strong></strong> red.


    I bent my knees and leapt as high as I could.


    A double-sided axe-head swung low, blisteringly fast, cutting a horizontal swipe where my knees were only moments before. The resulting gust of wind spun me, and Inded hard on my back, wind knocked out of my lungs.


    The axe-wielder had ignored therger, stronger enemy tearing at his throat and targeted me instead. It made no sense, unless


    <em>They know Talia is a summon.</em>


    I hadnt wanted to use the hand crossbowit was a niche weapon: both bows and true crossbows offered better range and damage for Users sped to use them. If I eventually gained notoriety as an Ordinator, even with the Allfathers Mask, it was the one piece of kit that might give me away.


    But as the massive blurred figure wielding the axe loomed over me, ignoring the wolf tearing at his throat, it became all too obvious that I couldnt afford to hold anything back.


    I pulled the crossbow and fired. The bolt sunk deep into the axe-wielders chest, and he staggered backwards. Talia attempted to capitalize on the sudden shift, releasing her hold and dropping to the ground, only to tackle the axe-wielder, pushing him towards the hole in the center.


    Shed somehow missed the critical piece of information Nick and I had noticed at the beginning.


    <em>Dont bother trying to push him in. I dont know how, or why, but theyre not really standing. Theyre floating.</em>


    Talias mental voiceshed back at me, heavy with frustration. <em>How am I meant to fight, then? They do not bleed. When their flesh is torn, it simply dissipates and reforms.</em>


    <em>Just buy time and trust me. Ill figure it out.</em>


    I received a reluctant affirmative, just in time to roll out of the way as an arrow ricocheted off the ground where Id just beenying.


    Across the arena from me, I saw Sae slide beneath an archers panicked punch, tagging his ankle with an overloaded frost buff. The lower half of his body froze quickly, immobilizing him. Sae threw herself to the side as Jinny pelted the frozen sections of the archer with hardened crystal. His left leg shattered first, sending him plummeting to the ground.


    It was a goodbo. And against a more standard enemy, I could see how devastating it would be. But murmured in the back of my mind, reminding me it didnt make any sense.


    The creatures werent really standing, they were levitating somehow.


    Losing their legs shouldnt cause them to fall.


    It was a feint.


    Sae pushed the attack, leg raised in preparation to stomp.


    <em>No.</em>


    I broke through Saes mental defenses with <strong></strong> all but screaming for her to get away.


    She heeded the warning just a second toote. The downed archer vomited <em>something</em> on the ground,posed of the same blurry material that formed its body. It stretched forward andtched onto Saes retreating foot. She fell to the ground immediately and screamed.


    Nick! I yelled, trying to locate him in the chaos. He didnt hear me. He was still dealing with the two swordsmen and had a shaky upper-hand. One of them was on the ground, being pulverized by repeated strikes from his de, while the other circled, trying to get clear of his shield.


    Even if he had heard me, he wouldnt make it in time.


    Golden sparks rained down over both Sae and her assant before the archer, now standing, could line up a kill shot. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jinny panting, leaning heavily on her staff.


    I was at a loss. If I went for Sae, the remaining archer would shoot me in the back. If I went for the archer, Jinnys spell would fade, and Sae was dead. I could try for a lucky shot, but I was far out of the effective range.


    <em>Jinny and Sae can both overcharge their spells at the cost of mana. Im not a traditional caster, but I have ess to spells. The same principle should apply to me.</em>


    The slightest nerve, hesitation, or doubt could ruin everything. I sunk deep into <strong></strong> Suddenly, everything lost its edge. It didnt matter if I failed. I reached out to Nick with <strong></strong> imparting as much calm into the spell as I could as I sent him the image of Sae on the ground.


    Then I turned and faced the remaining archer. He was already pulling the bowstring back. I couldnt see his eyes, but if I could, I imagined one of them would have been squeezed shut.


    How long had I spent living in fear? Before, it was fear of sickness, fear of failure, fear of being trapped forever in a life I loathed. But things were different now. Whether as a stroke of luck or a turn of cruel irony, Id been given the ability to change fate. To stack the deck in my favor.


    I reached out with <strong></strong> But instead of releasing the spell, I held on to it. It was almost imperceptible, but there was a tightness in my hand that grew warm, then unbearably hot. My vision swam.


    The archer released his arrow.


    I could see everything.


    Where it would hit, the velocity, exactly where it wouldnd.


    The split-second extended onward into eternity as the arrow spiraled toward me.


    I took a half-step to the side and brought my palm up, its shaft grazing against my glove as I adjusted the arrows trajectory ever-so-slightly and released the spell.


    Time sped up again, blisteringly fastpared to the snails pace just moments ago. The arrow flew directly towards the axe-wielder, who had just dislodged Talia, and was in the midst of a massive backswing. The arrowhead pinged off his axe at an angle, now twisting wildly in the air like a fumbled football, arcing over the center gap.


    Finally, the arrows serrated point sunk deep into the head of the archer standing over Sae.


    But it wasnt over yet.


    Jinnys magic faded away. The second archer screeched and released his draw, the shot going wide andnding with a thump in one of the swordsmans back.


    My vision tunneled to a pinprick as I gasped for air, throwing myself in a staggering run towards the archer before he could nock another arrow.


    /////

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59


    Imagine, for a moment, waking deep underwater. The salt stings your eyes. Your lungs burn, little bubbles of oxygen tickling your nose as they slowly trickle out. You struggle, try to fight your way to the surface, as the burning grows more pronounced, more unbearable. Your lungs convulse, pulling desperately for air against tightly drawn lips that slowly loosen. Until you finally breathe, water rushing in to silence you.


    But its not over. Because you reach the surface. And now, with water crackling in your lungs, its a mile of hard swimming to shore.


    That was how it felt. Id drawn too deeply. This wasnt a game. There was no mana-meter to tell me how close it was. All there was was a primal recognition of how close to the brink Ide. My vision was still tunneled as I reached the archer and plunged the frozen de directly into his chest.


    He screeched and threw his head back. Id watched what had happened to Sae, so I was ready when the Gaussian blur of white-noise ejected from his mouth. I tore the de free and let <strong></strong> guide my movements. My saber flew in a lightning fast pattern, carving off his leg, his arm, meeting little resistance as the limbs separated. I put the entirety of my back and arms into the final blow, cleaving him from head to groin.


    The two halves of his body separated. Some of the blur faded, little gray objects no bigger than cicadas attempting to bridge the gap and pull the butchered figure back together. Before it could fully reform, I moved behind it and pulled the from my inventory. Its entire body showed a dull gray save one exception: a little silver sphere no bigger than a walnut nestled in its left side, trying desperately to dig its way deeper through the growing frost.


    I dug it out with my fingers and, still breathing hard, crushed it. It let out an ungodly mew, and the blurry form that had once looked vaguely humanoid dissipated.


    Suddenly, the screeching feedback Id received on my first attempt to use <strong></strong> made all the sense in the world.


    I ran to where Jinny had dragged Sae, yelling as I approached. Hit the smokescreen! Now!


    Sae grimaced. She was bncing almost entirely on one foot, the other a bloody mess, as she reached out with both hands. A violet vapor streamed from her fingertips, expanding outward, until it covered the whole arena in a semi-transparent darkness. Jinny popped the cork off a health potion, holding it to Saes lips as she worked. The blurry enemies stopped moving.


    I studied the after-effects of the spell, several possibilitiesing to mind. How long does itst?


    Not long. Sae clung to Jinny for support. Less than three minutes. They can still hear, though not as well. Learned that one the hard way.


    Fades when we attack, Im guessing?


    Yep.


    Jinny was staring at me like Id grown a third eye. How did you


    I gave her the slightest shake of my head, and she stopped. When Id pulled my little stunt with <strong></strong> it had urred to me that Jinny might catch on. She was the only one with line of sightNick was too busy with the swordsmen, and Sae was preupied with having her ankles eaten.


    Id justified it as an eptable risk because I had leverage over her. But with the way she was looking at me now, I wasnt so sure.


    Nick jogged over to us, Talia limping behind him. Sae, you good?


    Not great. Whatever bit us is fucking with my head. If one of those idiots hadnt identally shot the other, Id be dead now. Sae said. She was shivering violently.


    Yeah. Nick spat to the side and wiped his mouth. I knocked one of them down and spent way too long beating on it before I realized it wasnt doing shit.


    Two minutes, I said. We need to focus.


    They have no veins, no vital organs, and seem utterly indifferent when their genitalia is torn away, only to have it reform momentster. I am out of ideas, Talia snarled. She was bleeding heavily from arge wound on her hip.


    The others stared at her.


    Dude, Nick said.


    I tried not tough at how quickly Talia lost her benevolent spirit guide persona. Still, she was my summon, and she was injured. I pulled a health potion from my inventory, removed the stopper, and tossed it to Talia. She caught the neck between her teeth and tipped it backward. Technically, I could just re-summon her when she died, but considering how close I came to tapping myself out with <strong></strong> and the difficulty of pulling that off without drawing attention, it seemed better to y it safe.


    Jinny made sure Sae could stand before she left her to tend to Talias wound. The wolf growled, and pressed her head against Jinnys thigh as a sound like a grease frier emitted from her thigh, followed by the smell of burning flesh.


    I kept my voice low, checking over my shoulder to make sure nothing hostile came too close. Good news and bad news. I know how to beat them, but its going to be a pain in the ass.


    Its <em>already</em> a pain in the ass. Nick and Sae said simultaneously.


    Their whole schtick is a misdirect. That was the point of dosing us at the entrance. Trying to keep us from seeing clearly until it was toote. Each blur isnt a single enemy. Each unit is a swarm controlled by a hive mind, I said.


    Sae shuddered again. Fucking bugs.


    Thankfully for us, the hive mind is within the swarms themselves. Unfortunately, that also means were basically looking for a needle in a haystack.


    Nick snapped his fingers. Its a Resident Evil 4 Regenerator situation.


    Exactly. I nodded.


    A what? Jinny asked.


    Basically, we break them up as much as possible, and pulverize them until we find the weak-point, Sae exined, then looked at me. What do they look like?


    I ryed the information as concisely as I could.


    Nick drove a fist into one hand, a determined look in his eye. Okay. Matts taking home the Heisman for this one. The rest of us have to make it count. He turned to my summon. Talia, Ive got a n, but I need you backing me up.


    Talia blinked. I am amenable.


    Good. Were gonna tag team big boy. Ill go first, but I need you to cover when I pivot away. If it works the way I hope it does, Ill be able to rotate back in for you rtively quickly.


    I shook my head. Not sure starting with the most dangerous target is the best idea.


    Nick grabbed my shoulder and smiled. Trust me, I know what Im doing. Just follow my lead. He turned to Jinny and Sae. Keep the sword guys busy. Just throw everything weve got at them. Make sure Sae stays out of harms way. If you get overwhelmed, pull Matt in.


    Okay, but you still havent said what theyre pulling me away from. I pointed out, distracted by how the mist was fading. When I looked back, Nick was already gone.


    Parasite squashing duty. Nick yelled over his shoulder from some distance ahead, sprinting directly at the massive swarm near the center, Talia bounding behind him. He closed on the swarm, holding his sword over his head in a mad charge. Lets see what you can do with that axe, bitch!


    There was a moment of stunned silence before the three of us moved.


    <em>Why did I agree to this again?</em>

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60


    Three violet shards of crystal flew by my head. All three of them thwipped into the Swordsmans torso, while a gout of me emitting from Jinnys hand held the other at bay. I had to smile at the sheer devastation of it. Another three shards followed the initial trio into the swordsmans torso, all equally spaced, in what was probably an attempt to get as much coverage as possible in hopes of destroying the hivemind hiding within.


    Fully confident Jinny could handle herself, I left her there and hustled to catch up with Nick.


    Nick must have been digging deep into his reserves. If I didnt know better, I wouldnt have believed hed already been fighting for some time. Unfortunately, his excess of energy seemed poorly spent. He was taking big, almost sloppy swings at the giant swarm, yelling epithets and mostly dull insults. Talia was drawing aggression from the nearby archer, baiting out his shots and dodging easily as she waited for Nicks signal.


    Every time the swarms axended, it was inches from doing serious damage to Nick. He seemed to be making a game out of dodging at thest second, even the blows with less force behind them that would have been much easier to block. Sweat poured down his forehead as he kept up the grueling pace.


    <em>No idea what he intended to do, but he''s losing ground quickly. This isn''t going to work.</em>


    My heart jumped into my throat as the swarm stabbed out with an uncharacteristically fast blow, aiming to catch Nicks neck with the pointed edges at the top of the axe. At his current speed, if he attempted to dodge that rather than block it


    I blinked as Nick barely managed to get out of the way. It shouldnt have been possible. He had gotten a burst of extra speed from somewhere.


    <em>No, thats not whats happening here</em>


    Before I could fully form the thought, therge swarm roared, bringing the axe up and around in a brutal swing that I recognized all too well. It looked unblockable, and even if Nick dodged it, the resulting air-current would knock him off his feet, potentiallynding him in an untenable position.


    <em>Get ready.</em> Imanded Talia.


    Only, Nick didnt dodge. He just stood there, watching the strike rush down at him, entirely unbothered.


    <em>What the hell?</em>


    His shield came up at thest second, the sound of the impact an ear-shattering ng that made me flinch. When his shield lowered, it was glowing bright red, and Nick was grinning like a madman. Take over! He yelled at Talia, held his shield over his head and braced as the big wolf used it as aunchpad. As soon as she was airborne, Nick spun and charged the archer. I sprinted alongside him, staying slightly behind and off to the side, my mind finallying around to what he was trying to do.


    This wasnt about trying to neutralize the big threat first.


    I nked the archer, <strong></strong> held behind my back. A tiny golden speck sat near the archers shoulder, barely visible beyond all the gray.


    Try the top third, ribcage and above! I called out to him.


    The crackling red aura from Nicks shield ran across his shoulders and back, feeding into his sword. Following a backswing that looked more at home on a baseball diamond than a battlefield, he struck out, his sword angled sideways. On a less permeable enemy, the attack would have likely hurt like hell but bounced off. In this case, it passed through the archer t, taking up as much surface area as possible.


    A small screaming sphere hurtled towards me and battered against my sr plexus hard enough to leave a bruise. I winced, managing to catch it before it flew away, and crushed it between my hands. Rancid goop dripped between my fingers.


    Get it? Nick called over unnecessarily, as the archer swarm was already fading.


    Yup.


    Nice. He grinned. Now we just have to do it three more times. Hey Tali, rotate!


    We fell into the rhythm easily, now that I knew what he was going for. The swarms were intelligent enough to mimic human behavior, but not so much that they picked up on tactics. Every time, Nick managed to goad therger swarm into a big attack, which he used to sunder a lesser swarm, then returned to Sae if his buff was running low. Sometimes, it took more than one try. But every time he did make contact, he managed tounch the hive mind directly towards me.


    Thest part in particr seemed highly unlikely. Which, in turn, made me wonder what his title was, the nature of all the redacted portions of his character sheet. I had a skill that allowed me to turn random elements in my favor. But it took conscious thought and effort. Nick seemed to have something simr that worked for him automatically.


    Once the two swordsmen were dead, everyone turned their focus to the giant swarm. Jinny cast an intimidating red spell that marked the swarm with a long gouge extending across its chest, and peppered it with crystal shards.


    With Talia serving as a distraction, Sae froze it repeatedly with overcharged buffs.


    My dagger wasnt giving me any informationthe swarm might have been too thickbut that hardly mattered. Nick and I repeatedly stabbed it from every angle, until Nick was breathing hard, and I felt like I was about to die from sheer exertion. Eventually, he drove his sword into the creature''s knee, and looked at me excitedly when a pathetic mewling came from within.


    The arena stopped rotating. My legs wobbled. It felt like I was onnd for the first time in months, and still feeling phantom movements of the tide.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The others reactions looked as perplexed as my own, as we all navigated to read the description of the feat.


    <strong></strong>


    Its, uh, good to have? Jinny looked up from her screens.


    Definitely helps on my end, Nick observed.


    The feat wasnt the sort of thing Id ever spend points for or rely on, but it was certainly a nice grab, considering we were getting it for free.


    Wheres the experience? Sae swiped through her screens, annoyed. That was way harder than half the fights weve been in. We should have at least gotten a level out of it.


    Though leveling was slowing down significantly for me, I wondered the same thing. The dungeon allowed leveling between floors. Maybe the trial is withholding experience until the end?


    For this level of effort, it better be more than just experience. Sae looked annoyed. Mid-tier threat my ass.


    I kept it to myself, but I agreed with her. This room would have easily killed me if I was solo. Going through something this grueling had better be worth it.


    As if on cue, there was a heavy grinding noiseing from the central hole of the tform. I looked down through the hole and saw a tform rising from the abyss,den with objects, and silver coins I was almost certain were selve.

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61


    Other than the two-to-three hundred selve sprinkled around the circr tform like set dressing, there was far more in a handful of wooden boxes. The total came to around six-thousand, a surprisingly decent haul for so early in the trial.


    The gear was far more interesting. There was a <strong></strong> that went to Jinny. Along with a fifteen percent cast speed bonus, it dealt half of the damage of the spell as melee to any target within five feet with a high chance of bleed. Jinny wasnt a fan of the appearanceit looked like something out of Harry Potter, and not the clean, Hogwarts style either, instead sporting the more bulbous-benign-tumor aesthetic of the Elder wand. Still, as a rare item, it was leaps and bounds beyond hermon staff.


    Sae picked up a set of leather gloves with metal ents. They were only umon, but had small protrusions set at the base of the fingers, not unlike a more flexible set of brass knuckles. That was apparently a major selling point for her, as her fighting style involved a lot of open-hand work and most knuckle dusters significantly restricted hand sticity by design.


    That left two items for Nick and I to choose from.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: Lowers the encumbrance of all equipped items by a significant margin. Users in heavy armor will be able to move as if they were wearing light armor. Those with a lighter equipment load will find it nearly weightless, as well as their base weight reduced. This effect can be toggled at will.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Rare</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: ???</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: The result of a failed attempt to forge a legendary item. Tantalizingly close to greatness, this throwing dagger still has utility for those with the uracy and patience to use it. Returns to the User when summoned unless sold or intentionally abandoned. </strong>


    You pick, Nick said, after we spent far too long reading over descriptions.


    Dont do that, I snapped.


    Do what?


    Be so infuriatingly good-natured. No one in this group is going to take advantage of it, but it wont always be that way. If you want something, say so.


    Nick blinked. Maybe Im being good-natured because I know you wont take advantage of it.


    If we werent friends, you can bet your ass I would, I retorted.


    But we are friends.


    You


    Okay, Sae interjected, her mouth thin, Just admit neither of you have any idea what you want, so youre putting off deciding by bickering like an old married couple.


    We both fell silent at that.


    Okay, the knife is kind of calling my name, Nick finally admitted. I dont have anything ranged, and the idea of a reusable ranged weapon that I dont have to worry about wasting sounds bomb.


    I picked the sheathed knife up by the thick stic strap and tossed it to him. Test it out first. It doesnt say anything about stat requirements, but real-life throwing knives arent exactly a reliable method of defense.


    True. It would suck if it was tied to agility. Nick pulled it free of the sheath. The metal looked lighter-colored than normal steel, almost ivory tinted. He held it by the tip of the de, and made a couple of practice arm movements. He grinned at me. You know, youre pretty light as it is. If that belt works out, we could totally pull off a Lord of the Rings.


    Hard pass. Youre not throwing me at anything.


    Nick was about to throw, then he paused, deep in thought. What about Get Help?


    I rolled my eyes. Thats literally the same thing with more pre-amble. And youre approaching the tolerable limit of pop culture references.


    Nick shrugged, then flung the knife at one of the wooden selve boxes.


    It sunk in up to the handle. Nick let out a whoop, and I raised an eyebrow. That wasnt an easy throw, and from what I saw, the de hadnt rotated at all. Nick had thrown it as if he expected it to rotate, and instead, it had ttened out almost immediately and flown directly in a straight line.


    He frowned. How do I get it toe back


    The moment thest two words were uttered, the knife flew towards him. It was moving with at least the velocity he had thrown it with, if not faster. And the point was aimed directly at his chest. He shrieked, voice pitched high, and pped it out of the air. It fell to the ground with a ng.


    Everyone, myself included, took a measured step away from the knife.


    Nick let out a nervous chuckle. Okay, maybe it needs some work


    The knife flew at him again, point first. Not as quickly as before, but just as urately. He narrowly dodged it, his eyes wide as it grazed off his armor.


    Stop summoning it, I said, taking a few more measured steps back.


    Im not doing it deliberately, Nick stood very still. I think it responds to thoughts. And its really, really, <em>really </em>difficult to not think about the knife jumped off the arena floor, traveling low this time. Fuckin leave me alone!


    Unsure of how to respond, but aware of the fact that Nick was heavily armored, I watched the absurdity alongside Jinny and Sae as the knife performed a series of frog-like leaps, chasing a man in heavy armor around the arena.


    You have to intentionally abandon it, Jinny called out.


    Its not listening! Nick yelled back.


    With a long-suffering sigh, I followed Nick with the sheathe hed left on the ground, and eventually intercepted the knife.


    Nick leaned forward, panting, his hands on his knees. He squinted up at me and spoke between breaths. So. Rock-paper-scissors for the belt?


    Nah, I strapped <strong></strong> sheathe to the underside of my arm for easy ess. After that valiant demonstration, who wouldnt want the knife?


    The more I thought about it, the more applications there were. A basic throwing knife would be both redundant and less practical than my current equipment, but it was the summon aspect that drew my eye. Assuming I could keep my thoughts in line, and setup properly, it ranged from an excellent distraction at worst to a possible long-range assassination method at bestsomething I was sorelycking at the moment.


    At first, Nick looked like he might argue, but either decided I had my reasons or just couldnt find the energy. He nodded, and walked to the pile of loot, strapping the belt around his waist. Oh my god. Its like Im wearing nothing but air.


    I ignored him, as something else had caught my attention. During the knife fiasco, Sae and Jinny had migrated to the shelf at the far end of the chamber, across the bridge opposite of the one wede in on. They were both poking at opposite ends of the shelf, movements slightly frantic.


    Problem? I called out.


    Big fucking problem, Sae shouted back.


    Jinny walked back across the bridge to us, her expression harried. There wasnt a door, so we were poking around for a hidden passage, like in the first chamber.


    There wasnt one? Nick asked.


    Jinny shook her head. Theres two exits, facing opposite directions. With only two holes in each.


    Nick groaned.


    A feeling of dread dawned on me slowly. Were going to have to split the party.

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62


    This was bad fucking news. You didnt need extensive game knowledge to piece together that splitting the party seldom went well. Granted, this particr section of the Trial was designed for it, so the chances of us running into an encounter designed for four people was unlikely. Still, in my experience, the system didnt really give a shit about fairness. Maybe it wouldnt throw us into a situation with impossible odds, but I had a feeling it would happily destroy us if we split up improperly.


    And most importantly, this system scenario wasnt adaptive, like my dungeon had been. If, for whatever reason, we couldnt make the cut, that was it.


    My face must have given away my frustration because Jinny prompted me. Matt, you wrote down the engraving, didnt you? Can we get it again?


    I flipped open my burner and pulled up the notepad app, then rattled off the text.


    <em>Four arms to fight, feed, and rend.</em>


    <em>Four legs to skitter.</em>


    <em>A legion of eyes to guide.</em>


    <em>An endless void once considered.</em>


    Legion of eyes sounds a lot like the bullshit we just went through. Sae rubbed her arm. Much of the armor on her foot had eroded, chewed through by a legion of teeth. The flesh beneath was somewhat healed and no longer bleeding, but there were still patches of scabbed skin dyed an angry red.


    Which, discounting the first few lines for simplicity, leaves us with an endless void once considered, I said sourly. Not much to go on, there.


    Could be a clue referencing unsteady ground, or might be about the rather long drop below this tform. Nick pointed out.


    Maybe, I hedged. It really was too vague to draw anything useful out of.


    More importantly, what about our Spirit Guide? Jinny was using a cloth moistened with a bit of water to clean Talias fur. Talia, for her part, seemed to be enjoying the attention entirely too much.


    Ill apany the weaker group. Talia eyed me. <em>Whichever one youre in, more likely than not. </em>


    The wolf summon was really making me wish Id brought Audrey instead.


    Unsure of what to do, I looked to Nick. My initial thought is that you and Jinny are the big hitters, so you should probably be in separate groups. This isnt really something I can decide. You know your team better than I do, and youre likely the hardiest person here with the highest chance of survival.


    Nick ran a hand through his hair, a pensive look on his face. Not a call Im excited to make. Its a lot easier when its just my ass on the line. He looked to Jinny. As much as I want you with me, I think Matts right.


    Its fine, Jinny said, looking slightly annoyed. Something unspoken passed between the two of them. You dont have to babysit me.


    Wouldnt dream of it, Nick said, a bit too quickly.


    Sae cleared her throat. If you two do want to stick together, I think Matt and I could scrap by if we had Talia.


    I stared at her in surprise, and she barked augh. Dont think I wasnt paying attention in the first half of that. I saw you shred that first swarm.


    Actually, Jinny gave me a cheeky look, Matt baited the other archer into shooting the one that downed you. Thankfully, she made no mention of how Id done it.


    Then you really saved my ass. Sae nced down.


    It was nothing, I mumbled, shooting Jinny a re. She responded by sticking her tongue out.


    Okay, Nick interjected, Im d were all bonding, but we have to make a decision here. My gut reaction is that youe with me, Sae. Jinny takes Matt.


    Why? Sae asked, her expression rebellious. Because Im weak?


    No. Because its smarter to parcel people out by role, Nick said, And youre injured. If you went with Jinny, youd basically have to tank. One mage, one melee. Not to mention, I could really use the buffs.


    Sae backed down at that, and murmured acquiescence.


    I looked at Jinny with a raised eyebrow. Guess that leaves us as the leftovers.


    Guess it does, Jinny nodded. Her expression was contemtive, but not at all uncertain. I guessed that she was likely thinking the same thing I was. Wed be having that conversation about her irregr character information far sooner than expected.


    Nick grabbed my shoulders, ufortably close. Please take care of Jinny. She means a lot to me.


    I didnt know how to respond, and all that came to mind was how ridiculous it was that hed formed this strong of an attachment this quickly, so I just nodded.


    Nick went to Jinny and took her by the shoulders, same as hed done to me. Take care of Matt?


    Jinny smiled. Well watch out for each other.


    Not yet done, Nick approached Talia. Keep my friends safe?


    It goes without saying. Talia answered, tail swishing from side to side.


    Nick turned away, then immediately turned back and pointed at Talias head. Can I, uh, scratch behind your ears?


    No.


    Had to ask. Okay. Nick pped his hands together. Let''s do this shit.


    /////


    Nick demanded I take the <strong></strong> in addition to <strong></strong> When I pushed back on it, he insisted, assuring me it was only a loan and I could give it back when the Trial was over.


    We said our goodbyes, inserted our arms in the receptacles, and got onest nce at each other as the opposite walls began to rotate. As soon as we were on the other side and there was no immediate threat, I took off my glove, checking my arm. The previous bite was still there, swollen and red, but there was no new addition.


    I think were good, I said, and pulled my gauntlet back on.


    Thats a relief. Kinda hate having my emotions messed with, Jinny said. The statement was innocent enough, but it served as a reminder that I needed to keep her at arm''s length, and be exceptionally careful when it came to tipping my hand. Even if I didnt have a personal quest to keep my role as an Ordinator hidden, my abilities came with too much baggage.<strong></strong> alone was enough to make me a prime target for enemies and allies alike, and I highly doubted it was going to be myst ability in that vein.


    Seems like you shook it off quickly enough. I smirked, alluding to how her inted stats had reduced the effect on her to practically nothing.


    Seems that way, Jinny replied, her eyes flitting away.


    I went first. It was darker in this chamber, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. The first thing that struck me was how muchrger it was. There was no noise, save for a rhythmic whoosh that echoed through the chamber and sounded like a mix of running water and heavy machinery. Above, there was arge rectangr tform suspended around three stories in the air. The only way up was two spiraling staircases on either side, which, absent guard rails, looked particrly unsafe.


    Maybe it was paranoia, but considering howrge it was, the apparent emptiness of the chamber made me uneasy. As did the idea of blindly climbing tantly treacherous stairs without knowing if something waited at the top.


    Any chance you can cast a light up there, without putting a spotlight on us? I asked.


    Good opportunity to try out the new acquisition. Jinny stepped in front of me and held her wand aloft. She flicked her wrist, and a bright yellow orb emitted from the wand. Simultaneously, there was the sound of metal shredding flesh, the tip of her wand glowing red as scarlet sh marks cross-sectioned the empty air in front of us.


    Something screeched, immediately followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor. Talia responded more quickly than me, pouncing on what was seemingly open air and digging her teeth in. Blood welled from where her teeth had pierced nothing but air.


    It took a moment to realize what was happening. The room wasnt empty.


    <em>Theyre invisible.</em>


    There was distant nging from both stairwells, as dozens of skittering footsteps hurtled our way.

 Chapter 63:

    Chapter 63:


    <strong></strong> calcted something in the back of my head for me. Judging from the number of footsteps, there were either three arachnids at best, or twelve bipeds at worst. For the first time in my life, I was hoping for spiders.


    <em>What kind of messed up situation has you hoping for spiders? </em>


    This was life or death. There was no time to be coy.


    Get ready to cast slow and use the doorway as a chokepoint. I shouted, ncing behind me to make sure Jinny was still good to go. Her mouth had firmed in determination, and the golden light of the spell already glowed at the tip of her wand.


    <em>Cover me.</em> Imunicated to Talia, tagging the <strong></strong> with urgency. She didnt hesitate, shielding me with her body as I went to work. My hands were shaking as I groped in the dark, looking for the invisible monster that Jinny had just identally ttened. My fingers tightened over a thin piece of carapace that resembled a neck. I hauled the creature upward, awkwardly and tried to cling on while it squirmed in my grip, <strong></strong> held in my off-hand, looking for anything that resembled a weak point.


    Its body lit up. It had an oddly oblong body, a rotund and bloated abdomen, followed by the long neck and strangely shaped head. The worst part was the arms. Two massive, scythe-like appendages that sent a chill down my spine. And its entire body was highlighted in gray.


    There are too many for me to protect you, Talia snarled. Move!


    The skittering from the outer chamber was growing louder. I dropped it immediately, drawing back as the noise of somethingprobably one of the scythed appendages sliced through the air where Id just been standing.


    I darted back into the narrow passage, back pressed to the outside wall.


    What was that? Jinny asked.


    No weak points. Hopefully, theyre stupid. Thats the only way were going to survive this.


    How do you know?


    Just trust me.


    Intuiting what I intended, Talia pinned the downed bug. She grunted in pain. Long red sh marks appeared, marring her coat. Her growling grew more fierce, and she whipped the creature in her jaws around.


    The skittering grew closer still.


    Now? Jinny asked.


    Not yet, I said through gritted teeth. It was possible to see their footstepsthey were moving quickly, and every time their legs touched the ground there was a small puff of dust. But it was minuscule. Entirely too easy to miss.


    A pebble rolled at the entryway, less than a foot away from us.


    Now! I yelled. Talia released the bug and skittered back into the entryway, just in time.


    A flurry of golden sparks emitted from Jinnys wand. They filled up the entire entryway, in a kaleidoscope explosion of would-be stars. Secondster, the sparks were disturbed as the first bug stopped, lotion suspended by the spell. The sparks continued to dance as more bugs ran into the halted ones, making vague outlines.


    I pulled my crossbow, the mechanism whirring as I plugged bolt after bolt into the suspended bugs, making sure every outline had at least one.


    Its not going to hold much longer! Jinny warned.


    I finished with the twelfth bolt, unsure if Id gotten them all. Still, the majority were tagged now with a bolt around center mass, making them infinitely easier to track. Do you have anything big that wont blow back on us?


    Depends, Jinny hesitated, her eyes zing over as she looked at her spell list. Are we trying to create space or kill them?


    Thetter was tempting. It was a group of fast-moving enemies, all bunched up together. If we got lucky with somethingfire was always a decent bet against bugsit would mean taking them out in one fell swoop. But if we didnt get lucky, it meant we were seconds away from being trapped in a kill zone with a legion of invisible bugs that were also <em>on fire.</em>


    Create space, I said.


    It surprised me that Jinny didnt wait for the sparks to fade. The tip of her wand radiated with a white glow. She cast it repeatedly into the slow, a small ball of incandescent energy that repeatedly expanded outward towards the trapped bugs.


    <em>That is a significant disy of power.</em> Talia whispered in my mind.


    <em>Just be d shes on our side.</em>


    Jinny kept going. Perspiration dripped from her forehead, and from her arm. She keeled forward for a second and grabbed her chest, a sweat-drenched bang sticking to her forehead. Despite her obvious difort, she raised the wand again.


    I stopped her, reaching out to pull her wrist down.


    What? She wobbled, disoriented.


    Save your strength. Were going to need it in a second. To get up there. I looked to the stairways. It was a long run, and unless I was entirely wrong, the bugs were just slightly slower than a human running at a full sprint. No matter how high your Agility was, that was going to suck.


    Oh. Jinny ced her back against the wall and gasped, pulling a small green leaf from her inventory and a pill from her pocket, cing them both under her tongue.


    I assumed the leaf was something for stamina, but the pill was a question mark.


    The golden sparks faded away, and it was like a cannon went off. An explosion of air, followed by whistling, bookended by a crunchy stato cacophony of carapace bodies hitting the far wall.


    Go, now! I yelled, and sprinted towards the left stairwell. Jinny was directly behind me, Talia bounding forward at my side.


    Talia deviated towards a floating bolt. Shed learned from her previous encounter, and dove low instead of high, her teeth sinking into an invisible appendage and yanking brutally to the side, like a dog ying tug-of-war. The bolt copsed to the ground.


    I caught a glimpse of several others, skittering our way. If we were on t ground, there might have been a chance to outrun them. But the way up was treacherous, and it was a safe guess that whatever survival instinct they were working with was weaker than ours.


    I stopped just before the first step, pushing Jinny in front of me. Any chance you have Feather Fall? Or something analogous?


    Nope! Watch your step! She charged up the spiral staircase, using one hand to steady herself on the pir. I raised an eyebrow. It was a high-stress situation, yes, but her total absence of hesitation was insane. I mentally flipped the switch on the <strong></strong> and felt my whole body grow lighter. It probably wasnt enough to save me if I fell, but at the very least it might make it easier to ascend the stairs.


    I took them two at a time at first, then after a near stumble forced myself to switch to one, my thighs and calves burning as the metal steps nged under my feet, countless vibrationsing from the bugs climbing below.


    It was a guesstimate, as I had no way to know for sure, but I doubted we were more than halfway up. If nothing changed, they were going to overtake us on the stairs at the worst possible time. I turned around and looked to my summon.


    <em>You can use Suggestion, right? Help me turn them on each other.</em>


    <em>Theyre too instinct-driven, it will not work.</em> Talias mental voice snapped back.


    <em>Try images, rather than direct thoughts. The ones in front first.</em>


    I sent her the idea of what I wanted. Talia stopped and snarled, then whirled around, her back feet bncing precariously on the stairs at an awkward angle.


    Unsurprisingly, it was difficult, using <strong></strong> on something I couldnt see. The crossbow bolts in their mid-sections provided a focal point, but there was a certain feedback I wascking. I reached out to the bugs behind, rather than the ones closest, letting Talia handle them.


    I sent them an image of three bodies, two human, one canine, utterly picked free of flesh by the time they arrived, tagged with hunger. Some of them resisted, but enough bought into the maniption that it didnt matter.


    Talia sent a simr image to the ones in front, only reversed, with the bugs now ravenously pushing at the back climbing over them and getting at us first.


    A chorus of shrieking followed as several bolts at the front rotated in ce, and the bugs began to scuffle.


    Deciding it was worth the risk, I took the stairs two at a time, arriving at the top. Thankfully, the tform itself appeared to be empty. There was no sign of anything visible, or additional footsteps that I could detect.


    Talia ran by me, tackling a particrly enterprising bug that realized there were two sets of stairs. I watched as the bolt plummeted from the high tform, disappearing out of sight.


    <em>Keep watch on that side.</em> Imanded, and she positioned herself at the pinnacle of the opposite stairway.


    Jinny had already reached the center of the tform and stood near the edge, her face pale.


    Wheres the exit! I yelled. A bolt leapt at me from three steps below, knocking me down. It hit far harder than Id expected, and would have flung me clear off the tform if I hadnt managed to catch myself. I toggled <strong></strong> off, and found it infinitely easier to get leverage.


    I threw the bug off the stairway and aimed a kick at another rising bolt, sending it crashing into the others.


    Jinny was pointing across a vast expanse of open air to the other side. An endless void once considered. I think there are two invisible paths. Or one, rather, with two possibilities


    I drove my heel at another bolt, feeling more than a little rmed as it appeared to fall out of the bug as it plummeted.


    <em>This isnt sustainable.</em>


    Then whats the problem? Poke it and see if its there.


    I tried that. I also tried throwing some debris onto it, poking it with my toe, everything short of taking a jump.


    My mind raced. Then well lure one of the bugs up.


    How exactly? Talia said.


    Thought about that. If we let one up, I think thats it. And with the way debris wont even stick, I dont think the bugs would. There are no buttons, no tells. Just two invisible bridges. Maybe if we had time, we could figure it out, Jinny said.


    Theres got to be a way. I felt my heart sink. Talia yelped from across the tform. More of them had started migrating to her stairway. An invisible de shed against my leg, sending me to one knee. I ced both hands on the floor.


    There is. Just like flipping a coin.


    <em>The most important aspect of test taking is to pick an answer and move on.</em>


    Dont!


    If this doesnt go my way, tell Nick Im sorry. And I wish Id gotten to know you better. Jinny gave me a perfect smile, as if she was rxing on a beach far away, as if everything was going to be fine.


    And then she stepped off the tform.

 Chapter 64:

    Chapter 64:


    Ive said before that predicting someones behavior is easy. That you start by assuming the worst and raise your expectations slightly until you have something more realistic. That of all the base instincts and baser desires, selfishness is the mostmon motivator.


    And I stand by that. All of it.


    But sometimes, people surprise you.


    It was a moment thatsted a lifetime. Stretching out long enough that I had time to mentally sort through my entire inventory, my abilities, and possible actions, all toe to one simple conclusion. There was nothing I could do.


    <em>It doesnt matter. You dont know her. It doesnt matter.</em>


    <strong></strong> chanted in my ear.


    But it did matter. The very first day, when the meteor struck, Nick and I had talked about Jinny. About how the rumor mills attention wouldnt be on him for much longer and would soon switch to her. It hadnt bothered me at all then, the idea of a persons life being thrown into chaos. It didn''t matter. I didnt know her.


    Yet, there she was, in an entirely different situation, deciding to prioritize the life of a stranger over hers. I couldnt understand it.


    And I didnt like the way it made me feel.


    Jinny began to fall.


    A brief fall, rather than a long one. She copsed onto empty space and pushed herself up unsteadily. When she rose, she was still smiling, though her knees were visibly quivering. Nailed it.


    I shed at a rising crossbow bolt, sending its invisible carrier spinning off the tform, and made a break for the center. Now closer, I could see what had convinced Jinny of the undetectable bridge. There were two sets of wooden posts, with rope that disappeared into nothingness a few feet out.


    I stepped out hesitantly, not feeling fully safe until my foot came down on something solid.


    Talia disentangled herself and followed behind me, limping onto the bridge. She was bleeding, every crimson drop plummeting to the dark chitin floor far below. We hustled across the bridge at first, but when it became apparent that none of the bugs were following, slowed our pace.


    But my mind didnt slow. It was still reeling, grasping at theories, endeavoring to cobble together anything to make what had just happened make sense. The theories grew more oundish the longer we walked. Maybe she was an agent of the Allfather, tasked with keeping me alive? Only that required a fervent level of dedication unlikely to develop in less than a week. Title interference? Perhaps she was suicidal. A stretch considering her attitude and behavior, but people whove decided to kill themselves often seem happiest right before they follow through. Or maybe she was a thrill seeker who enjoyed putting her life on the line.


    None of it tracked.


    We arrived at the other side in utter silence. Even Talia asked me for a health potion through suggestion, rather than speaking aloud. There was a in door before us now, entirely absent menacing armholes.


    Wordlessly, I slid down the wall, still catching my breath. Jinny sat down next to me, looking equally relieved. Taliato my utter shocksettled in Jinnysp, resting her muzzle on her paws.


    Here. Jinny held out a potion to me. Youre hurt. And youve been tucking into your supply to keep our guide happy, so its only fair.


    I dont buy it, I finally said.


    Im giving it to you.


    Not the potion, I waved her off. The whole Disney Princess facade. I saw you before. And sure, maybe you werent quite like the rest of themyou stayed in contact with Nick, while the rest of your group shunned himbut you fit in just fine. Rolled up together in your Priuses, and your Audis, and your Range Rovers, decked out to the nines in whatever was trending, pausing in the hallways to pose for Instagram selfies, not a care in the god-damned world. My words picked up tempo. I knew vaguely that I was saying things I shouldnt, especially considering what had just happened, but I couldnt bring myself to stop. And I cannot, for the life of me understand, how someone like that, did what you did. I pointed to the bridge. So please, exin it to me. Is it your title?


    Jinny held silent. There was a sadness in her green eyes that hadnt been there before. You know, I saw you too.


    When?


    The rankings arent public, but I organize the honor roll. You were always one spot above me. Some part of me hated you for that at first, just a little. But then I got curious. Who the hell was this <em>Matt</em>, and why had I never seen or heard of him? Jinny leaned back against the wall. Since we were so evenly matched, I figured the least I could do was invite you to Study Group. And I still couldnt find you. God, you must have walked by me at least half a dozen times before I finally put a face to a name.


    I keep to myself, I said.


    No. You dont. You revel in yourself. Jinny shook her head. I was trying to work up the nerve to invite you. It became something of a game, seeing if I could spot you. In the cafeteria, in the hallway. I got better at it. And the more I saw you, the more I realized.


    Realized what?


    That you might just be the angriest person Id never met.


    A moment of silence passed between us. I found it difficult to re-contextualize everything that had happened.


    Well. I ran a hand through my hair. Thats scathing.


    Jinny chuckled quietly and nced down. Im just saying, youre not the only one who sees. Who considers themselves above it all. Were all capable of judgment, just like were all capable of change. She stuck her hand back out to me. Now drink the dang potion before I have to ram it down your throat.


    Only if you call it the damn potion, I joked.


    Jinny pressed her lips. You know, rampant swearing is the sign of a limited vocabry.


    Do I strike you as someone with a subpar lexicon?


    Fine. Drink the <em>damn</em> potion.


    I did. Immediately, the pain in my ribs and ache in my leg faded.


    <em>The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. </em>


    A series of thoughts urred to me, one after another. Unlike the more oundish theories from earlier, all the pieces slowly clicked into ce. What I couldnt hash out before, was why Jinny was so quick to put her life on the line. Even if it got us killedthe expected response was to stall, to look for some clue, toe up with an alternative strategy that wasnt so extreme. It was simple self-preservation, and in this case, considering everything else, there was only one logical reason that self-preservation was absent.


    I reconsidered the dead-eyed smile when she returned to school. The way shed thrown herself into this trial with excitement, despite the obvious danger of the situation. How shed walked off the precipice with a smile on her face.


    How long have you known? I asked.


    Known what?


    That youre dying.

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65


    Jinny crumbled. She breathed out shakily, then back in, her eyes ssy and moist. For a moment, the decorative robes and bulbous wand faded away, and all I saw was the scared person beneath it. Only, unlike me, she wasnt scared of the system killing her or putting her in a situation she couldnt handle. Jinny was scared of something else. She looked to the side and ran the sleeve of her robe across her face.


    Talia pressed her head into Jinnys side and red at me as if Id done something unforgivable.


    Nick doesnt even know youre sick, does he?


    Jinny shook her head fervently. No. And he doesnt need to.


    Ordinarily, Id agree. That it was her business and no one elses. But Nick had grown this attached to her in less than a week. Maybe that was unfairmaybe their friendship had been deeper than Id realized previouslybut it was still a massive structural w in a team that had seemed otherwise solid.


    Jinny pped her face suddenly with both hands, the impact loud enough to startle Talia. Stop it. Stop crying, you idiot.


    I considered her situation. That <strong></strong> hadnt been able to pick up on it, alongside the vtility of this reaction. She must have buried it deep. Repressed it, potentially. I get wanting to be strong. Ive had to be. For as long as I can remember. You get better at it. But theres always a breaking point, where you cant hold the despair back anymore. And once that levee breaks, you really need to talk to someone.


    And who does the stoic, enigmatic Matt talk to? Jinny asked. Her question was a barbed challenge. She was understandably irritated, probably expecting me to dodge the question.


    Therapists, mostly. I answered point-nk.


    <em>When we could afford them.</em>


    Oh, Jinny said. She looked simultaneously nervous and crestfallen, as if shed wanted to talk about this for some time, but the words wouldnte out.


    Finally, she spoke again. I went to the doctor to talk over options, because of something unrted. The most straightforward possibility was a surgery. I was really torn because it wasnt an easy choice. If I didnt do it, my entire life would have been torn apart. And if I did it, the result was something that wasnt so easy to live with. There was all this pressure from both sides, from my parentsgod, even from the doctors themselves. They act all indifferent, you know? But they always have an opinion. And they push it on you, only instead they frame it as whats best for you. All throughout the process, the one thing I was hanging onto was, at least I had a choice. That it was <em>my</em> decision, and no one elses. A dark bitterness seeped into her voice.


    Until it wasnt, I prompted.


    Jinny smiled, still staring at the ground. It was like cringing at the price of taking your car in for maintenance, only to find out both the engine and transmission are shot. When the clinic was doing my initialbs, they found something irregr. A murmur in my heart. A few referralster, my biopsy results came back. Giant Cell Myocarditis. The bogeyman of all autoimmune diseases.


    How bad?


    Four, five months? If we did nothing. Even then, that elective surgery, that choice was made for me. Too much strain on my body otherwise. After that, they put me on the transnt list, but even before, I was looking at waiting up to a year. But there was a <em>chance</em> Id get lucky.


    I considered my experience. My smoke inhtion and broken ribs that had miraculously repaired themselves. And theres no chance that being a User fixed any of this? The way it fixed Nicks leg?


    Jinnys smile grew brittle. I had hoped. But no. I still have the same heart palpitations, along with a handful of other symptoms they told me to watch out for. And given everything thats going on? Jinny waved her hand, indicating the dungeon and the world beyond. Safe to assume the transnt isnt going to happen.


    <em>Dont be so sure.</em>


    There were still plenty of doctors, plenty of surgeons. And if the transposition event and subsequent happenings were anywhere near as bad as I suspected they would be, there would be plenty of newly emancipated hearts to go around.


    It was a perilously dark thought, too dark to share.


    So, when you stepped off the tform I trailed off.


    When he found me in those tunnels? Nick led me out of the dark in more ways than one. He was so happy, so confident. He had so many hopes for the future. I guess it inspired me. Jinny gave me a bittersweet look. Maybe its nave, but I always wanted to do something big with my life. I spent the month before the meteor grieving that it would never happen. That the most notable thing Id ever achieve was dying alone in a hospital room. When I saw my title, and what it was giving me, at first, I felt cheatedand then I realized it was a chance. An opportunity to make a difference. Using that chance to save someone with a lot more time than me well, it felt like as good an opportunity as any.


    Jinny didnt seem to fully understand how valuable she was. In the short term, she was a powerhouse, sure, but in the long term? Shed be unstoppable. I pushed myself up to my feet carefully, flexing my muscles and tilting my body to see if there was any stiffness left. Once satisfied, I looked down at her.


    Okay. Im not going to tell Nick


    Thank you! Her worried expression was reced with relief.


    I stuck out a finger at her. <em>You</em> need to. Sooner rather thanter. Well try to find a solution, but he gets easily attached. If the worst happens, and he doesnt know itsing, itll destroy him.


    Jinny tilted her head. I doubt its that serious. I like Nick, but from what I know of his dating habits he probably sees us as a fling more than anything else. Which is fine.


    I shook my head. After Nick busted his leg, that might have been true. He went through something of a desperate phase, where he was endeavoring to prove he could still charm the pants off anything with two legs and a pair of X chromosomes. But he wasnt the same person now. And he seemed far more invested in Jinny than in anyone Id ever seen him with.


    Maybe, but you were his friend first. That matters to him more than anything else.


    Jinny grinned at me smugly. You said we.


    What?


    Nick didnt think youd stick around for long. Figured hed help you out with the User status, wed stick together for a while, and youd probably go on your way. But you just said that wed try to find a solution to the problem. Youre thinking long term.


    More annoying than her smugness was the fact that Id done it almost entirely subconsciously. Even now that I was actively thinking about it, it didnt seem so bad. Nick, with his shy, royal ss would steal the spotlight, providing me with plenty of cover to operate undetected. And maybejust maybethere was a part of me that was tired of doing things on my own.


    Possibly, I admitted. But lets just get through this trial in one piece first, yeah? I held out my hand for Jinny to grasp and helped her to her feet. I went back and forth on whether to say anything more. To warn her not to throw her life away, simply because she valued others more than herself. In the end, I remained silent.


    Back in the firstbat room, when the four of us were together Jinny started.


    I froze.


    I saw nothing, Jinny said. Im just happy Sae is okay.


    A safe rule of thumb is that two people can keep a secret, as long as one of them is dead. Normally, this would break that rule. Id nned to me the incident on <strong></strong> but if shed decided to bury it, there was no reason to over-exin.


    Talia heeled at my side, looking between the two of us.


    <em>You are ying a dangerous game.</em> She mentally whispered.


    <em>I thought you liked Jinny.</em>


    <em>That is why it is dangerous.</em>


    I ignored Talia, and after ensuring that everyone was ready, pushed the door open. It led to a circr elevator that dropped straight down as soon as wed all set foot on it.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66


    My blood ran cold. There had been no mention of penalties for friendly fire, but since we entered the Trial as a team, the system might have certain limiters in ce to prevent team killing. The fact that it was now directly referencing that had to be intentional. I had the secondary objective to keep the team alive. There was no way it would pit us against each other.


    Unless it wasnt setting out to pit us against each other. Just me, against them.


    The elevator plummeted downward, its elerating speed adding to the nausea in my stomach. I nearly asked Jinny if shed received a notification before another popped up in my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    Matt? Jinnys voice startled me out of my horror. Whats wrong


    A tendril of darkness snapped out of the wall and grabbed at me. I saw iting and dodged, but it followed unhindered, turning on a dime, looping around my waist before I could get my saber out of its sheath. The tendril looped around my waist and mmed me back into the wall.


    Talia bent down on all fours and jumped upward in a mighty leap that still only closed half the distance. Her jaws closed inches from where my leg had been before she plunged back down onto the waiting elevator andnded hard, sprawling onto her side. I watched, suspended in mid-air, as she did a little circle, desperately trying to figure out a way to reach me.


    A million tiny threads looped over my arms, my legs, my torso, pulling me tight into the cold gtinous substrate of the wall, until I felt my back slide into it. Frigid slime covered my neck, my ears.


    There was a shrieking noise, and three charged crystals hit the wall next to me and exploded. Jinny was firing up from below. The tendrils loosened, then tightened again, twice as strong as before. I held my breath just before the wall consumed me.


    It didnt hurt, or burn, as Id expected. Instead, it felt like I was being dragged underwater at an rming speed, squeezing through a burrow of mud. With the tendrils binding my arms tight to my side, I couldnt reach into my inventory. Same issue with my saber.


    So, I did the only thing I could do. I began to summon. Wherever it was going, wherever it was taking me, it wouldnt hurt to have a little extra firepower on my side.


    /////


    I emerged from the wall in a heap, gagging for breath as the liquid on the floor pooled in my mouth. It tasted foul, like putrified offal and something else. I pushed myself up from the floor in disgust and found that my hands and legs were pinned in something sticky. I twisted around until I could see what held me. The white pattern was unmistakable.


    <em>Spiderweb.</em>


    My surroundings looked much like a sprawling mess of stone ruins amid a bog.


    Audreynded a few seconds after me, copsing rather pathetically onto the floor. She staggered upright, looking stunned and wilted, then bent down to sniff the dark liquid and audibly gagged. No. No, no no no. Poor meat.


    <em>Audrey, help. Dont get tangled.</em>


    Her head snapped up, and she scuttled over to me immediately, stopping a foot away to inspect the threads. Experimentally, she bit at one of them, and barely managed to free her mouth. She worked frantically, with abination of teeth and vines, growing more distraught as her efforts proved ineffective.


    A hole at least three times the size of a person opened up behind her.


    Id been holding still, for fear of tangling myself further. The fear of being eaten by a giant spider won out, and I spun in ce, bringing my hip to my hand and pulling the <strong></strong> out of my inventory. As Id previously feared, the movement further ensnared me in the web, locking me upside down, my hair drenched in the disgusting slush beneath. From my upside-down perspective, I sawed helplessly at my bonds as a massive, eight-legged silhouette emerged from the hole.


    <em>Hide. Wait for my signal.</em>


    Audrey hesitated, then skittered away, using her vines to scale a nearby wall and nestle into one of the many cracks.


    There was a low-pitched, feminine chuckle that sent a chill down my spine. My wrist was chafing from all the movement, but it didnt matter. I sawed faster, cutting myself more than once as the threads frayed.


    Ooooh my The spider drew out the words unnecessarily long. Is that an Ordinator in my web?


    From thebined shock of my ss being mentioned aloud and realization that further struggle was pointless, I finally stopped. Even if I got a hand free it wouldnt matter. Somehow, I doubted this was the type of creature to go down with a single crossbow bolt. Instead, I twisted around painfully to face her.


    And immediately wished I hadnt.


    From the voice, I was hoping for something lesswellmonstrous. More Quag and less Shelob. The reality was something far more horrifying than either. The spider part was ck and as big as a tank,plete with eight legs and an abdomen covered in dark chitin. Where things went off the rails was the head. There was a womans head, upside down, attached to a long prehensile neck. Her dark hair dragged through the water as it maneuvered closer to my face. Such a harmless-looking thing, for the catastrophe soon to follow in your wake.


    Youre going to have to help me out, as Im new to all this. Whats an Ordinator? I asked.


    Her joyous expression immediately cooled, her frown looking like a smile from the upside-down nature of her face. So, thats how were ying it? I had so dearly hoped that an agent of the blessed Allfather would treat a colleague with respect, but it seems that is not the case. To the web with you, then. A strand of webbing struck me across my waist and pulled me free, holding me upside down in front of her.


    <em>Now?</em> Audrey asked.


    <em>No.</em> I sent back firmly, though it took every ounce of my self-control to do so. Then, aloud, I addressed the spider. I misspoke. There was no way of knowing we served the same master. Though I am curious how you reached that conclusion yourself.


    Double-blind should have shielded me from any analysis effects. If nothing else, I wanted an exnation for how she figured it out, to avoid simr incidents. Assuming I actually made it out of this.


    Tales of the Ordinators have been passed down in my family for generations. Ive been observing you all, of course. From the beginning, there was something about you that caught my eye. Yourpanions dont know what experience looks like, a certain sheen of those tempered bybat, but I do. And the way you saved the little enchantress, well, theres only one ss capable of that. The spider held a leg aloft and inspected the fine point at the end, a queerly vain action for a creature so hideous.


    What happens now? I asked.


    Well the spider spoke slowly. There were several rules I broke to bring you here, only to discover that I mistook your intent. I thought the littlembs in your wake were intended as sacrifices, gifts delivered into my waiting web.


    To what purpose?


    Hard to say. To propose an alliance, perhaps.


    I blinked. Why? Is that even possible? Would I be able to exit the trial without clearing thest floor?


    The spider raised an eyebrow. It is possible. So long as you are the sole survivor, the alternative parameters are met. And while many creatures from the higher realms are less civilized than I, many can be brought to your side, given the proper motivation. As for the why, we are kin in more ways than one. She reached up with an arm to bring my head closer to hers. We are both reviled by the grand order. Maniptors that work best behind the scenes, loathed and hated by all. It only makes sense that we band together, does it not?


    I felt my heart-rate finally slow. As I stared into her dark eyes, I recognized an emotion. A human emotion, one I could work with.


    Loneliness.


    I gave her a savage smile. I already got the big one to give me some of his gear. Hell be weaker than he would have been otherwise. He has a unique sword Im interested in. The other two have more than a decent share of Selve and their items will sell for a high price. I was going to wait until we cleared the trial, and they were at their weakest to make my move.


    Yet, you saved one of them, she challenged.


    Do I look like a fool? Of course, I fucking saved the enchantress. The Trial was for four people. Letting someone die that early on would be wasteful, and potentially set me up for failure.


    The spiderughed. Spoken like a true opportunist.


    I tapped into an old bitterness to give my words weight, one Id been carrying for longer than I could remember. It was unbearable, the way they treated me. Like I was the weakest of them. Like I was prey, rather than predator.


    Unbearable and uncouth. You deserve <em>so</em> much better, The spider agreed.


    Dont rob me of the satisfaction, My voice turned urgent. Let me help you finish them. Their items are mine. Their bodies are yours. It will mark the beginning of our alliance.


    She studied me for a long time. Eventually, she seemed to find what she was looking for. Greedy. But I have no use for items tailored to humans. Your proposal is epted.


    The spider attached a thin thread to my arm. It was almost invisible and looked weightless. A small spidertched itself onto the back of my neck. What


    My captor turned ally loomed over me. It would be foolish for a spider to blindly trust another of its kind. I have not lived this long without learning how to take precautions. We will prepare the chamber together. This broodling has a particrly potent poison, and little understanding of how to moderate it. If I see you deviate, even a little, or endeavor to sabotage our efforts, I will signal her. And you will not have time to regret your betrayal.


    Seems like a rocky start, for what I was hoping would be a fruitful rtionship, I said, not bothering to hide my displeasure.


    She hesitated, then reached out to touch my forehead, the pointed tip of her leg glowing. Perhaps a carrot to apany the stick.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67


    <strong></strong>


    The web around my torso loosened. I dropped a small distance andnded upright, wobbling on my feet.


    <em>Might be the only chance. Have to do it now.</em>


    I made a show of stumbling, my knee going out as I moved awkwardly towards the spider, reaching out towards her for bnce. Whether it was vanity or hubris, she didnt move, rather nting herself in my path for me to catch my bnce.


    A warning wouldve been nice, I said through gritted teeth. Simultaneously, I opened my palm and pressed <strong></strong> t to her side, waiting until I pushed myself free to fasten it there with the residual webbing still left on my hand, all in one smooth motion. I was desperately tempted to check if it was secure, but a single nce down at her side could have easily given me away.


    The spider circled me, the scent of rotting flesh following her. Hm. Inexperienced as you are, there is much potential. I look forward to seeing what you be.


    So what now? Do I kill them all myself, or are you going to help?


    We will treat this as a training exercise. She moved from side-to-side, putting the tip of a leg to her mouth thoughtfully. Ill give you ess to my soldiers and allow you to orchestrate the arena while I observe your efforts. Your goal is to weaken them as much as possible. As long as there is no intentional sabotage I will not hold it against you if you cannot kill them. If you do, however The spiders smile was an upside-down rictus, chilling and disquieting, Then the reward will be reflected ordingly.


    It would be tragic to kill them too quickly. I matched her intensity, channeling my nervousness into savage giddiness.


    Oh? She raised an eyebrow.


    After how they treated me? Like I was <em>equal</em> to them? Its only fair that they suffer for it.


    The spider guffawed. Delightful. We will have such fun together. Now. Let us begin.


    A single glowing red thread crossed my vision. I remembered from the description of my new feat that it described mana as a weave. Somewhat instinctively, I reached out to it and felt it slide through my gauntlet and into my wrist. Heat rushed through me, leaving me flushed and panting.


    I could see <em>everything.</em> It was like my viewpoint had suddenly widened to a 360-degree camera with an unlimited field of view.


    The surrounding ruins were a ramshackle sprawl of stone and bog, ranging from half destroyed buildings to crumbling walls. A smallyer of fog pervaded the scene, stopping around chest height. And it wasnt just sight. I could feel the horde of spiders wandering the ruins, leaping from vantage to vantage to avoid touching the water beneath. There were a handful of invisible scythe bugs, radiating nothing but desperation and hunger.


    There were a plethora of advantages to this arena for a defender. Visibility was limited, and it would be difficult for ranged attackers with the broken up nature of the sight-lines. Plenty of potential sites for ambushes.


    At the far end of the bog were two sets of doors. Nick and Sae emerged from one, Jinny and Talia from the other. I only saw them for a moment as they reunited, before my view lost focus. Before it could fade entirely, I shifted focus back to the boss room, studying it closely. The main entrance was a hallwayden with several trap doors and vents connected to poison vats within.


    There was a connecting wall on the right, however, that was on the verge of crumbling.


    Theyre here. I said, turning to the spider.


    She scowled. And unfashionably early, too.


    How do Imand your underlings?


    /////


    Taking control of the spider army was simple. Once the matriarch allowed me ess, it was not unlike using suggestion, only with zero resistance. Id climbed to a high point on one of the more intact buildings and beganmanding the spiders. They formed webs incredibly quickly, so that was the first line of defense. The spider on my neck shifted from time to time, an ongoing reminder of a problem I needed to solve.


    I identally, dropped the <strong></strong> on my climb to the vantage and used <strong></strong> to ry a message to a perplexed Audrey to take the knife and find a weak-point for the spider on my neck.


    The rest of it wasplicated. Id been able to glean from conversation that the matriarch was either unaware that some Ordinators had summons, or didnt expect me to have any at my current power level. It was possible that it was a trap, and she was awaresome y to get me to show my hand if I gave my summons conflicting orders. But considering the rather difficult parameters to unlock my branch of the ss and how unlikely it was that she was aware of it, I had to operate ordingly.


    I sent Talia a mentalmand, warning her I waspromised and to tell the others Id been mind-controlled. She didnt sound convinced, but did as I asked.


    What happened next was unexpected. Nickpletely flipped the script.


    At some point between the discussion with Jinny and Talias reveal, Nick started glowing gold. An actual, honest to god golden aura emanated from his armor. And before I could even make sense of what I was seeing, Nick charged into the ruins. His expression was barely recognizable, some mix of rage and righteous indignation as he dispatched spider after spider with ruthless abandon, the other two barely keeping up as he plowed through everything that opposed him.


    I blinked. There was no exnation for this. Nothing in his skills that gave it away. Id intended to sandbag, set up half-hearted ambushes and traps that were just slightly off the mark, funneling them towards the far wall of the boss room. But at this rate, Nick was just going to plow through everything. It had to have something to do with his cked out title.


    <em>Slow down, dammit. Youre making me look bad.</em>


    What is happening? The matriarch hissed, her voice muffled, emanating through the spider on my neck.


    Im working on it, but the big one will be a problem. I murmured. Not sure whats happening to him. Hes tearing through any resistance like its nothing. Showing more strength than he ever did when we were fighting side-by-side.


    There was a moment of silence. Then the matriarchs voice returned, holding a hint of dread. I erred. Once I spotted you, I barely observed the others. He is one of The Order. That summon belongs to him, Id bet.


    Confirmation that shed spotted Talia as a summon, but mis-attributed her to Nick.


    The Order? Exin in words that mean something to me, please.


    The natural enemies of our benefactor. She snapped. They will stop at nothing to exterminate our kind.


    It tracked with his ss, a knight without a cause was just a mercenary. It was also too much to think about now. I needed to slow Nick down. The matriarch sounded angry enough that it was hard to tell how rational she could be. Even though I wasnt doing anything tant to undermine her, if I didnt at least impede his progress, her suspicions would naturallynd on me.


    Nick impaled three morebrador-sized spiders, lining his sword like a kebab, andafter finding the tip too impeded to impale more, gripped his sword with both hands and used it to beat another spider into a fine red mist. As he cleaned the corpses off his sword, he shouted, his voice ear-flinchingly loud even from some distance away. Wereing for you, bro! Just hang in there!


    Imanded three of the invisible scythe bugs to circle and attack from behind, targeting Jinny and Sae. Jinny realized what was happening in time and used her wand to down one. Sae fended off the other while Nick attempted to kill the grounded bug. After prompting from Jinny, he put his sword aside and forced the creatures body down, <em>drowning</em> it in what had to be less than two feet of water.


    <em>Jesus Christ.</em>


    The remaining two scythe bugs retreated, but theyd already achieved the effect I wanted. Nick slowed his pace, far more mindful of the exposed magic Users behind him. An intrusive thought urred to me. The best strategy for a group like this would be a pincer attack. If I was really endeavoring to kill them, Id herd them into a tight long space, and throw everything I had at them from both sides. As was obvious in the firstbat stage, Nick could only shield one side at a time. Jinnys slow might hold the other, but not for long. Itd be easy enough to bait that out, and once it faded, they were screwed.


    It was morbid, though necessary to think about, considering the Ordinators mechanics. While I had no intention of betraying Nicks group, if I ever had to deal with a powerful group of Users, luring them into a dungeon or trial might be the most practical way to even the scales. Especially since the system events limited outsidemunications.


    Jinny caught thest two scythe bugs with an area-of-effect st, while Nick and Sae drowned them, respectively.


    The spider on my neck vibrated. An unpleasant result. But you did well, considering the circumstances. Return to me. We still have some cards to y.


    I breathed out, relieved that Id put up enough resistance to satisfy her. It was only a temporary respite. If we were all going to make it out of this in one piece, with my identity intact, the next few minutes needed to go wlessly.


    As I returned to the matriarchsir, I sent Talia a mentalmand.

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68


    I returned to the spider, noting the locations of various gas traps and pitfalls at the entrance. They were subtle and flush with the chitin wall, but not perfect. For the gas traps, there was a small metal cylinder that caught light, giving it the appearance of a gun barrel iid into the wall. The triggering mechanism for the pitfalls was a small square protrusion that emerged no more than a millimeter from the floor.


    Compared to the first floor lobby of the adaptive dungeon, they were sloppy. I felt confident I would have spotted them, even without <strong></strong> If I was with the group, Id probably suspect something the moment we were tunneled into a tight area, especially considering how it was thest floor of the dungeon.


    I wasnt certain if Nick would catch on, considering the aggressive pace he was taking. But that wouldnt matter now.


    What took you? The Matriarch snapped as I returned to the chamber. She looked more than worse for wear, and though it was hard to gauge emotion on her upside-down visage, the scuttling back and forth was a dead giveaway, no matter how many legs she had. This is a disaster.


    I shrugged. A craftsman is only as good as his tools. You didnt give me much to work with.


    Such feedback would be wee if it did one smidgen of good. Her elongated neck drifted over in my direction, inspecting the spider on my neck, and moved further away. If you intend to switch sides at thest moment


    The spider will kill me. Even if youre dead, Im certain. I rolled my eyes. Now that weve got the pointless paranoia out of the way, Im <em>really</em> hoping to hear something useful about those cards of yours.


    Cards? The matriarch used her front legs to clean her mouth in what I assumed was a nervous tick, in a motion that was profoundly more disturbing given her human head.


    You said you had cards left to y.


    Ah. Of course.


    The matriarch pointed to the doorway. While there are mundane, system approved traps within the entryway, Ive been modifying and storing my own venom for quite some time. Once they approach the second door, it will flood the hall. They will die in seconds without an antidote, if not faster.


    I raised an eyebrow. Your venoms that strong?


    Indeed. We need only wait until She was interrupted by the sound of metal striking stone, impacting the wall to the left of the doorway. A single building stone came loose from the top, tumbling down andnding in the inch of putrid water with a st. Bollocks.


    The entire room shook with the sound of an explosion, as more and more cracks and holes formed. I could vaguely hear Nick swearing like his life depended on it, profanity emitting in a rhythm as he struck at the wall, over and over.


    Unsurprisingly, the Matriarch was shaking. I reached out and ced a hand against her carapace. She started at my touch, her head swiveling to look at me.


    I didnte all this way and find a fellow acolyte of the Allfather by chance, only to lose her now. You werent the only one with a few cards left. I kept my voice low, calming. Ive nted the idea in their minds that I might be moured. As long as you use me as a shield, they should pull their strikes. I stepped in front of her body, standing parallel to her head.


    The constant barrage against the wall continued. It would crumble any second now.


    I felt her long neck press against my left side, returning the gesture Id given her just moments before. Her eyes crinkled. From the stories of the Ordinators, I did not expect to meet one so noble. We will give the Allfather of Chaos much glory on this day.


    With a determined air, I withdrew my crossbow from my inventory and faced the ever crumbling wall. Keep your head down. Let''s show these simpletons what were made of.


    The wall exploded. Nick came barreling through like the Kool-Aid man from hell, a terrifyingly fierce expression on his face. As soon as he saw me, the anger faded, though his armor still glowed gold. Hey Matt. Thank fuck youre alive. He pointed his sword towards the Matriarch as Sae and Jinny filed in behind him, though he was still watching me. Listen. I know youre not yourself at the moment, but I swear Im going to get you out of this.


    <em>Now!</em> I signaled Audrey. There was a subtle breeze as her vine struck out and audibly snapped like a whip, <strong></strong> carving through the spider on my neck. A single heated line of pain set my heart racing, as I thought it bit before it died, then realized the knife had over-prated.


    I reached out and looped my left arm around the Matriarchs neck to stabilize her head, and brought my crossbow to bear with my right, pressing the tip of the bolt into the base of the spiders jaw.


    The Matriarch didnt even have time to look surprised before I pulled the trigger.


    There was a sickening squelch as the bolt tore through her mouth, parting tendons and flesh in a stter of dark blood. An awkward moment followed where no one moved, the boss chamber quiet enough to hear a pin drop.


    Or you could get yourself out of it that works too, Nick said.


    An ear-shattering screech broke the hush as the matriarch tore her head free of my grasp, two of her legs mming hard into my back and side, sending me flying. Air streamed past my ears as I flew, barely managing to mentally toggle the <strong></strong> on before Inded, rolling several times and sending up sprays of floor liquid before I came to a stop.


    Id known it wouldnt be a kill shot. Even if I had shot the Matriarch directly in the head, I doubted a critical hit from a single bolt would kill a boss-level monster.


    Targeting her jaw instead served two purposes: preventing her from directly injecting the disturbingly lethal poison she bragged about, and silencing her.


    The downside was how incredibly pissed she was.


    I struggled to rise, a sudden, agonizing pain shooting through my side like an electric shock, coursing all the way through to my upper back, cutting my legs out from under me.


    <em>Ruptured kidney?</em>


    Unfortunately, the monsters mobility was unhindered. She rose to her full height, her long legs extending toward the ceiling like ck skeletal fingers, and stomped down on me. My armor stopped the blunt points of her legs from prating, but little of the force.


    Stars exploded behind my eyes as I felt my ribs crack, my guts heaving reflexively as I tried not to pass out. My head went fuzzy, and the world grew hazy around me, the widened visual of <strong></strong> shrinking.


    The Matriarch rose again, not even bothering to pay attention to anything else, and drove a single leg towards my neck.


    My body ignored any attempt to move as my addled mindnded on one desperate thought, one thing I could be confident of. No matter what happened, Nick would take care of my family if I died here.


    I closed my eyes.


    Strong arms grabbed beneath my armpits and hauled me to the side, just as the leg sliced through the brackish water where Id been lying. Nick ran full speed into the matriarch with his shield held high and lunged forward at thest moment, impacting hard enough that the impact nearly flipped her over.


    The matriarch skittered away, hissing gutturally through her broken mouth as Jinny followed close behind Nick, wand flicking over and over as glowing crystal fragments mmed into the Matriarch.


    Talia darted perilously between her many legs, teeth and ws ripping into her soft underbelly.


    I looked up. Sae was panting as she dragged me, ringlets of dark hair hanging in front of her determined expression as she grunted.


    Never letting you live this down. Sae said.


    Figured.


    As Sae dragged me, I foggily drew a bolt from my inventory and loaded my crossbow. The Matriarchs head was outwith as much as it was moving, I was unlikely to hit a target like that on a good day. The baster base of her neck was a far better target.


    I fired a shot, watching in annoyance as it missed the neck and bounced off her massive abdomen. A small reflection caught my eye, cutting through the mise that possessed my mind.


    Drag me to the right, Imanded.


    The hell? This isnt Lyft


    Just do it, Sae! Something in my voice must havemunicated that I wasnt exactly angling for a better view because Sae relented, moving me in the direction I instructed.


    A well-timed kick from the Matriarch sent Talia flying. The spiderclearly tired of dealing with Nick, looped her prehensile neck around him, her open mouthnding on Nicks shoulder. Jinny reacted quickly, already reorienting her wand to point it at the monsters head, but I doubted shed be able to get the spell off in time. It was impossible to say whether the matriarch could mp down hard enough to break his armor. Better to not take any chances.


    I reached out a hand and called <strong></strong> back to me.


    There was a loud tearing as the silver de sliced through chitin, like it was nothing, traveling the length of the monsters body only to emerge from the front, zipping directly towards me. It pped into my hand, viscous with guts and dark blood.


    The monster screamed, her body curling in on itself as she staggered towards the doorway and copsed.


    Nick stood over her, sword at the ready. But he was hesitating.


    It only took a second to realize why. Even if the rest of the matriarch was monstrous, her face was definitely human.


    Finally, he spoke, You tried to turn a teammate against us. Most people would kill you for that. Hell, Im tempted to kill you for that. He leaned down. But lets take things down a notch. End the trial now, with us as the victors, and Ill leave you be.


    <em>Finish her, you idiot.</em>


    I chugged a health potion and felt my body respond far too slowly. The matriarch stayed still, save for a single leg that unfurled, struggling to reach the door. It was obvious what the monster intended. If she could get the door open and activate the venom trap, she was likely to catch both Nick and Jinny in the backssh.


    Calling out a warning would probably just distract him at the worst possible moment.


    Out of options, I reached out to Nick with <strong></strong> There was far more resistance than expected, but I somehow made it through, sending Nick an image of the spider opening the door, and a wave of venom washing over us, tagging the image with urgency.


    With my other hand, I activated <strong></strong> focusing the spell on the edge of his sword.


    Nick whipped around, the reaction absurdly fast. As the tip of the spiders leg reached the door-handle, Nick dropped his shield and two-handed his sword, shouting obscenities as he brought it down in a mighty strike.

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69


    Nicks sword carved clear through the Matriarchs neck. The blow decapitated her and split her carapace open, revealing brightly colored guts that spilled out into the water in a sickening series of plops. A rank smell released into the chamber, and Nick stepped back, covering his face with his forearm.


    Sae cringed, crinkling her nose. That is foul.


    Uh, Nick? I thought you were going to give her the option to surrender. Jinny said. She didnt look particrly bothered by the turn of events, just confused.


    Nick, by contrast, looked mildly shaken. I was. Seemed different from the other monsters weve fought. Then she reached for the door and I just had a feeling that something terrible would happen if I let her.


    Its a massive, Junji-Ito-lookin spider. Pretty sure you made the right call, Sae said. At least its over now. Right? She looked at me.


    Pretty sure, I answered. <strong></strong> had long since faded, but the short time itsted gave me plenty of information on the chamber itself. There were no doorways left, hidden or otherwise. It was a fantastic ability for gleaning information, even if it was limited usage.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Audrey scurrying away. Shed taken mymand to stay out of sight to heart. Almost reluctantly, I resolved her summon, feeling a tangible sense of relief as her essence returned to me. The Flowerfang had made the decisive win possible. Without her, this all got a lot more messy.


    Someone was absolutely getting the best turkey Kinsleys store provided when we got home.


    Nick and Jinny both fussed over me as I fended them off. My back and side still hurt like a bitch, but the nausea and shakiness was gone, thanks inrge part to the series of health potions Sae had been stuffing down my throat.


    It was strange how unbothered I felt after the experience. It had been terrifying in the moment, yes, but now that it was over, the trauma faded nearly as quickly as it had appeared. My title probably factored in to some extent, but I suspected after so many near-death incidents in such a short span of time, I was growing ustomed to the stakes. Hard to know whether to count that as a positive or a negative.


    Dude. Nick shook his head. That was clutch. Now never do it again.


    What? Be captured by a giant spider monster? Its not exactly high on my to-do list. I said.


    The idea of having to fight you was terrifying.


    That should be my line. I stared at him in bewilderment. Did you see yourself? You were like a golden, glowing wrecking ball of do-not-fuck-with.


    Still, the way you turned on her Sae started.


    I winced, waiting for the other shoe to fall.


    Might have been the coolest shit Ive ever seen. Sae finished, nodding in approval. Zero hesitation. Literally wiped the smug look right off her face.


    Did she look smug? Jinny asked. I was watching Matt when it happened.


    Maybe? Dunno. Her freaky ass head was upside-down.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>As the part of the first team to clear the trial, you have received the following:</strong>


    <strong>50,000 Selve</strong>


    <strong>Chaos Spiders Venom</strong>


    <strong>ss Specific Boon: Ordinators Implements.</strong>


    The group paused, gobsmacked, as we read through the screens.


    Nick let out a low whistle. Jinny was grinning from ear to ear. Even Sae seemed dumbstruck.


    Fifty-k? Thats gotta be split four ways, right? Sae said.


    Nope. Nick flicked through his invisible interface. Each. Two-hundred thousand total. Thats insane. More than enough for provisions and upgrades.


    Not that any of us are stupid enough to spend it all in one ce, I observed, looking at the rest of them meaningfully, But from a brief overview of the store, Im pretty sure thats new car money.


    Could be time for an upgrade. Someone was giving me shit about my Prius, recently, Jinny waggled an eyebrow at me.


    As they should, Saemented.


    Hey! Jinny said.


    I snorted. Somewhere in the back of my mind, <strong></strong> wastling, warning that I was growing toofortable, that none of this couldst. In the bounds of this strange new world, the others were just adventurers. And the nature of my ss would almost certainly put me at odds with them, if they knew. Especially Nick.


    Talia was off by herself, looking somewhat awkward now that the fighting had ended. I was about to call her over when Jinny tackled the wolf, wrapping her arms around her neck. Talia lookedpletely bbergasted, unsure of whether she was being attacked or praised.


    Thank you, thank you, thank you. Jinny said.


    I simply fulfilled my role as guide. Talia shifted ufortably.


    You did a lot more than that, Saemented.


    Jinny released her as Nick drew closer, and went down on one knee in front of the wolf.


    Gotta agree with Sae. If you hadnt told us where Matt was, we probably would have backtracked to find him. That tribute wasnt nearly enough of a reward. You said at the beginning of this, you dont receive rewards on thepletion of the trial, right?


    As a spirit guide, I have ascended beyond material needs Talia started.


    Shes always getting hurt. Coincidentally, theres a non-human armor category in the store. Jinny observed, her eyes sparkling.


    There is? I asked. Somehow Id missed that.


    Yep. Also, maybe we could fashion a little satchel to put health potions in, so shes not reliant on us to heal.


    Nick rubbed his chin. Good ideas. Yeah. Well all chip in and buy something for her. Its only fair. But only after we get a little pre-event barbecue going back at my ce. Never met anyone, canine or otherwise, who didnt like a little barbecue.


    Vegetarians. Jinnymented.


    Vegans. Sae said.


    Nick scowled at them both. Barbecued tofu is a thing.


    We might be jumping the gun here. Sae said. She approached the wolf, still standing a measured distance away. We dont know how the spirit guide mechanic even works. Could you even stay with us if you wanted? Or are you tied to the Trial?


    The groups enthusiasm dampened somewhat. Talia stayed silent and looked at me. Her expression was stoic, but her tail was wagging slowly.


    <em>They take care of their own. It is the sign of a good pack.</em>


    I considered our options. It was always dangerous, relying on others. It also wentpletely against the way Id lived most of my life. But there was a possibility I was being too rash. If anything, the Trial was a demonstration that there were things I couldnt do alone. And when I thought it was all over, I had known, withplete confidence, that Nick would take care of my family if I died.


    How many people could I say that about?


    <em>Okay. Make the call.</em>


    Talia blinked, surprised at my reaction. <em>Truly?</em>


    <em>Like I said, earlier. I trust your judgment.</em>


    <strong></strong>


    That was surprising. With the circumstances of our first meeting, Id never really expected the bond to ever increase.


    So long as you never ask to scratch behind my ears again perhaps I could be persuaded to try this <em>barbecue</em>. Talia said.


    Done, Nick replied instantly.


    Then I suppose I can go where I wish. I am a spirit, after all.


    There was a whooping cheer.


    I found myself smiling at the scene. The system gave me multiple identities for a reason. I could delve and explore various dungeons with Nicks group and still position myself in the greater scope of things. If the terribly named Adventurers Guild, panned out to be even half as decent as I hoped it would be, I could guide them to it. Being attached to arger organization would probably provide instion and protection from Daphnes group.


    Maybe I didnt have to choose.


    This had been an incredibly lucrative outing, between the experience, Selve, and the Boon


    I pulled up my ss screen, mentally kicking myself. In all the excitement, Id almost forgotten. On top of finally leveling and opening up the possibility of selecting a Page feat, Id received a ss specific boon as well.


    More than a little interested to see the quality of what wed earned, I pulled up the description. <strong></strong>

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70


    Wed paused at the elevator, leaving the disgusting and decidedly eerie boss chamber behind. No one wanted to wait to level up. Probably for the best, just in case anything happened on our way out.


    Unable to help myself, Id pulled up the boons description again.


    <strong></strong>


    I had to read it a few times to make sure I was understanding correctly. Some miniscule part of me couldnt help but wonder what it would look like if Id received four boons, rather than one.


    It was a considerable step forward.


    In a solo encounter, Talia would likely make up the majority of the damage. Audrey was fantastic for sneak attacks and distractions. Having them both out was incredibly taxing on my mana, to the point where doing so for the boss had given me a terrible headache in only a few minutes.


    And it was the solution to a hypothetical Id been puzzling over for a while: What would happen if a stealth situation with Audrey went sideways? It was likely impossible to summon Talia when my focus was split. Which left me at a massive disadvantage.


    Or rather, it had.


    Id have to test it, but if the mana drain reduction from having them both summoned and stored was significant enough, it made me far more flexible in any given encounter.


    Nick was sitting across from me, one leg propping up his arm. He blew a strand of hair out of his face a bit too emphatically. Okay. Matt, help?


    Youre going to have to be more specific.


    There are too many perks, and Im a kid in a candy shop over here.


    What are perks? I looked at him nkly.


    Nick rolled his eyes. Feats, you pedant.


    I ignored Saes, Ooooh, from where she sat next to Jinny. Guessing I cant talk you into taking Awareness?


    Nope.


    Considering how powerful it is, something specific to your ss would probably be best. How many ss-specific perks do you have to choose from?


    Matt scrolled through what had to be three or four pages of ss-specific perks before he gave up. A <em>lot</em>.


    It was hard not to be jealous. Most of the Ordinator perks I had avable were either locked, or of the leach-off-a-friendly-party-like-a-rat variety. Then again, I had a whole other ss to tap from now.


    Judging from this entire experience? Our biggest weakness is how small your shield is, I said.


    Its average! Nick eximed.


    I shook my head. Not what I mean. Though a slightly bigger shield would be better, when Strength and avability allows. What Im talking about is directionality. Its unlikely Im going the Strength route any time soon. Agility meshes much better with what Imfortable with, which unfortunately makes you our only defense.


    Youre talking about nks. Nick realized.


    nks, bad fights, moments where one or more of us overextends. Sae, Jinny, and I are pretty mobile, but in their case I imagine its difficult to cast while running away.


    The two of them nodded from their corner of the elevator.


    This trial was far more involved than anything weve dealt with so far. Nicks expression turned thoughtful.


    Before, the monsters mostly just ran straight at us. These bugs were a lot more coordinated. Sae agreed.


    It was the boss, I think. She was coordinating them. Complex mobs are probably going to get moremon as we level. We need a way to hunker down. If you have anything that can buy us time when were nked, or time to regroup, it could thoroughly change the tide of a battle.


    Got it.


    Nick scrolled through his screens, his expression intense. In all the time Id known him, Id never seen him look so serious about anything.


    He was really taking his role as party leader in stride.


    Helpline? Sae waved at me. I was leaning more towards poison than frost before this. But now Im not convinced. Without the frost buffs, I would have been mostly dead weight the entire trial.


    I sighed. Are you really going to keep calling me Helpline?


    Will it affect the quality of advice you give me? Sae asked.


    No.


    Then yes. She grinned.


    Whatever. How does your casting level, exactly?


    Sae flipped through her screens. Im unlocking a new element every couple levels or so. What I can do with them is affected by perks. Feats. She red at Nick. Now youve got me doing it.


    So poison for damage over time, frost for slow and debuff?


    Yup.


    Hm. I put a hand to my forehead. Even if Id decided to try to make this work, there were still things I needed to hide from them. But going overboard in that regard was a moronic way to lose trust. Focus on poison for now. It may have not been helpful here, but I can definitely see it being useful. Anything that increases lethality. If we run into anything we really need to slow down, I can sub in. I pulled my hand crossbow from my inventory, showing it to the group and exining what it did.


    Sae looked at the weapon with interest. The spider give you that?


    I hesitated. Brought it into the trial, actually. Im not all that urate with it, but figured it wouldnt be a bad idea to have a ranged option.


    To my surprise, no one gave me the second degree or interrogated me on where Id gotten the funds for it. Maybe it was because I hadnt disclosed the rarity of the item, or maybe this was yet another case of the average person being nowhere near as suspicious as me. They were just happy to be alive.


    Jinny asked if I had any feat or ability to use with it, and encouraged me to seek something along those lines. I agreed as lip-service at first, until I realized that she was right. Page might have something that would help me round out my repertoire.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 9 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Matt, Level 5 Page</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 13</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 15</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 14</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, </strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 13. Suggestion, LVL 15. One-handed, LVL 9. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 6.</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 3. Talia  Revenant Wolf, Bond LVL 1 </strong>


    <strong>Selve: 59,561 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 4.</strong>


    <strong><></strong>


    I sifted through the Page sss avable feats. There were far fewer feats avable than what Nick had imed to have, but far more than what was avable to me as an Ordinator at the moment. As luck would have it, there were some ranged options as well. One stood out more than the rest.


    <strong></strong>


    It was more utilitarian and less eclectic than most of my feats, but that did nothing to diminish how useful it sounded. Id been long overdue for an ability that affected my crossbow, and this more than fit that bill. I wondered if there was a limit, or if I could also use the skill as a workaround for a faster reload, cing it into my inventory and then drawing it back out. If it didnt automatically reload my crossbow, I could always buy a second. Or a third. Or a fourth.


    With that in mind, I ced one point in Intelligence, two in Agility. I leveled first with Sae, both of us reduced to a groaning, sweating mess as Jinny and Nick stood guard. Then we traded ces.


    <strong></strong>


    Everyone quickly stood to their feet.


    I thought more than one group could go through the Trial? Jinny pointed out.


    Probably resets after a clear, Nick said. He stepped forward onto the activation tile, and the elevator began to rise. Thankfully, it rose beyond its original stopping point, meaning we wouldnt be forced to go back through the split-group gauntlet again.


    I took up the back, my thoughts entirely taken up by group dynamics and tactics, when Jinny fell in step beside me.


    For someone whos only nning to be around some of the time, youre fitting in pretty well. Jinny said. Thement was more than a little transparent.


    There are other things I need to do, but I want to at least make sure Nicknds okay.


    And after? Do you see yourself staying with us long term? Jinny prompted.


    It was surprising to realize that I did. Id looked down on them initially for being so naive and unprepared. Going through the trial hadpletely turned that impression around. They all had their quirks, yes, but they were allpetent. I hadnt been able to spot any fatal ws in their dynamic. For a group that hade together almost entirely by chance, they were solid.


    It was strange to feel that confident in anyone, let alone an entire group.


    After the silence had gone on far too long to befortable, I finally spoke. Ill make you a deal.


    Yes? Jinny looked at me curiously.


    You want to make a difference, right?


    More than anything, She answered.


    Ill do what I can to help you. Either we find you a heart, or a way to make that impactas powerful as youll end up, I really dont think thetter will be difficult. And Ill seriously consider staying with the group long term.


    Jinny blinked. Generous. But Im still waiting to hear my end.


    It was hard to find the words. Why was I so bad at this? A small bit of detritus caught my eye, and I kicked at it as we passed. Just dont throw your life away for something that doesnt matter. You havewhatthree, four months now? Thats more than some people. More than a lot of people, probably. Dont waste it. Make it count.


    Her lips quirked in amusement. Inspirational, for a cynic.


    Okay. I rolled my eyes.


    Thought youd be one of those, everyone-is-shit and everything-we-do-is-meaningless types.


    No. I have trust issues. I rubbed the back of my head. And maybe I dont like people, much. But anyone can be useful.


    <em>And thats the problem. You never know who will be.</em>


    I think Im starting to understand you, Matt. Jinny suddenly pivoted on her heel, facing me directly, and stuck out her hand. Deal.


    I shook it, feeling more than a little sheepish.


    A notification popped up.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Light in the Darkness </strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Help Jinny aplish her goal with the time she has left.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Find a solution to her physical mdy.</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ???</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN ???</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: ???</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    I immediately scanned to the time limit before reading the rest in detail, hoping it would give more insight to how much time she actually had. Unfortunately, it seemed even more vague than many of the previous, already obtuse objectives had been.


    Im happy youll be around, Jinny said. A blonde bang had fallen out of ce, obscuring my view of her expression. I feel like the four of us are going to do great things together.


    By the time we reached the front entrance, there was less than five minutes left. The door had been reced with a permeable membrane. Talia went out first to scout aheadonly after did I realize how pointless that was. She probably couldnt return now that the trial was over. Nick exited, Jinny trailing behind him, then Sae.


    <em>Its okay to admit you like them.</em>


    Was that <strong></strong> telling me to be more sentimental? Maybe it was just tired of me doing mental gymnastics to justify the choices I was making. Still, for the first time since this whole thing had startedpossibly since myte childhoodit felt like everything was going to be okay.


    I stepped through the divider, darkness overtaking my senses during the transition.


    And that was when the screaming started.

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71


    Floodlights blinded me. My eyes barely adjusted before I heard Jinny scream. There were twelve figures waiting outside the trial for us, all arranged in a half circle. On the left and right edges were a bow and crossbow User respectively. Buzzcut and Daphne took up the center.


    Talia was unconscious on the ground in a heap, a single bearded man in heavy te with a knife poised over her, looking up at us like a deer in the headlights.


    Nobody fucking move I hissed through my teeth.


    But before I could finish, Jinny was already casting, her glowing wand held aloft towards the man in te at the center, face transformed into a visage of fury at the sight of the fallen summon.


    Everything moved in slow motion. I cast <strong></strong> on the crossbowman at the edge, thinking he would react the fastest, immediately preparing to cast it again on the other bowman. Nick was raising his shield to cover Jinny, his expression a mask of panic.


    I turned to focus on the bowman


    And found that hed already loosed an arrow. His lips twitched in preemptive satisfaction.


    There was a hollow thunk. Jinny reeled backward, her wand ttering to the floor as a bloom of red poured from her neck, blood dying her white regalia crimson.


    Nick shouted something and mmed his shield against the floor, a golden rune spreading across the concrete ground until the outside of it formed a translucent sphere that surrounded us. Then he dropped his shield and his sword and caught her before she hit the ground, cushioning her fall. The gloves and gauntlets of his armor were immediately coated in bright red.


    <em>Arterial blood. Jugr or Carotid. Could be less than ten to fifteen seconds.</em>


    I immediately pulled a health potion from my inventory, flipping it upside down and holding it to Jinnys lips. Then pulled another and poured it directly on the wound, over Nicks hands. Jinny wasnt thrashing at all. She was looking up towards the ceiling, lips moving soundlessly as if she was trying to say something. I put pressure on Nicks hands, helping to keep them in ce.


    Sae was backed up as far as she could go against the golden enclosure, looking between us and the figures aligned on the tracks, her eyes wide.


    My head was right next to Nicks and I could hear him, whispering. Please no. Baby no. We were going to do this together. Stay with me, were gonna get you help, just stay with me. Nicks entire body was shaking, warm liquid still escaping through both of our hands.


    Twelve people, they had a healer. No way they didnt. All I had to do was convince them in time


    <strong></strong>


    I stared at the window, not understanding. Slowly, I looked down again. Jinnys eyes were ssy, and a long wet rasp escaped her lips. Then nothing.


    She was gone.


    Oh god. Oh my god. Sae said it again and again, like a mantra, her face tight in a rictus of fear. Nick hadnt realized it yet. He was still speaking in soft tones, applying pressure to the wound.


    There was a dull ringing in my ears. I could feel the numbness of shock starting to set in, my mind slowing down.


    No.


    I pped myself hard, the sound of my glove across my cheek a wet impact that echoed across the bounds of the tunnel. Id gotten blood on my face, but that didnt matter. Needed to think.


    <em>Recover. Salvage. Survive.</em>


    I fell back into <strong></strong> letting the title consume me. Shock was reced with a familiar cold center I could operate from.


    <em>Necromancer.</em>


    The single word rose from my subconsciousness. They wanted Nick. If they somehow got their hands on Jinnys core, and Kinsley was right that they did have a necromancer, theyd have all the leverage they needed. I acted immediately, fumbling out how to open Jinnys inventory, physically holding still and giving the impression appearing I was helping Nick staunch the bleeding. There wasnt much there apart from her staff and selve, which I left where they were. I found what I was looking for in the misceneous tab.


    <em>User Core: Magus Level 6.</em>


    Fuck.


    Theyd beaten a rogue User to death for something like this. If User cores were anything like monster cores, they didnt always drop. I just needed to hide it, but how? And if we survived this, they were almost assuredly going to go through our inventories. I pulled up the chat, scrolling past nearly a dozen messages from my siblings to a specific contact.


    <strong></strong>


    The reply was almost instant.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My entire body screamed with nerves as I flew through the interface of the site, selling the <strong></strong> for a ten-thousand Selve, and the <strong></strong> which, strangely, sold for one. The transactions went through without an issue.


    I tried not to look at Jinnys lifeless body. Tried not to think about how quickly it had happened. Refused to contemte how shed saved my life only hours ago.


    Nick was still alive, as was Sae.


    If I was going to save either of them, I couldnt afford any distractions.


    <em>It doesnt matter. None of it matters. You didnt know her, right? </em>


    <strong></strong>


    No answer. Nick was weeping, his breathsing in long sobs.


    I stood slowly, wearing the detachment like a shroud. The patch of skin on my cheek was frigid where Id touched it. I turned back to the group of twelve. Strangely, the group appeared to be in disarray. The crossbowman still had his weapon trained at us, but the man in the center with silver gray hair and well-groomed goatee was up in the bowmans face, screaming at him.


    While Nicks spell muffled some of the dialogue, I could still pick up bits and pieces.


    Kill his fucking girlfriend and really think hes going to work with us now?


    What was I supposed to do? Let the spell hit you?


    Yes, you fuckwit. Theyre single digit levels and not much of a threat. Which I emphasized during the briefing, repeatedly! A fleck of spittle left his mouth with thest word, impacting the bowmans face.


    Almost casually, I ced my hands in my pockets as I studied their faces,mitting each one to memory. It was too early for a title switch, so I was locked out of <strong></strong> entirely on my own here.


    I spotted the mother who had been loading her child into the Escde on our way to the trial, talking in a hushed tone to three of the other figures all dressed in business casual. Their conversation was much more quiet, but I picked out the words, When we find the queen.


    A wave of self-loathing washed over me for missing the significance of seeing them parked on the side of the road on the way here, and I pushed it down brutally. At some point, I was going to pay for everything I was repressing, but that was fine. As long as I could operate now.


    That was another point of interest. Other than the two ranged figures and the man in the center, most of them hadnt even bothered wearing armor.


    <em>How cocky are they?</em>


    Better question. How capable were they of backing it up?


    Buzzcut smiled at me. It was the same, pseudo-friendly smile hed worn that first night in the alley. I ignored him.


    My gazended on Daphne, who stared back at me in shock. In a motion almost too subtle to notice, she raised her hand to waist level and gave me a small wave. When I didnt return it, Daphne walked over to the silver-haired man who was still audibly dressing down the bowman and whispered in his ear.


    He was some sort of leader. Of the group, or of this particr contingent was anyones guess. The gray-haired man looked at me, gave the bowman a single push, and approached the bubble, his eyes locked with mine. Matt, right? Then he nced down at Jinny, and sighed heavily. This is an unfortunate series of events.


    I mentally reviewed everything I needed to aplish here. Stop them from taking Nick. Barring that, convince them that it was worth leaving both me and Sae alive.


    It took everything I had to shove the anger down. Once that was done, I gave the man a congenial smile. There really are better ways to start a conversation.


    The golden dome faded.

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72


    Wait! Gray-hair called out to someone behind me.


    I looked back, just in time to watch Sae disappear back through the entrance to the trial. I clenched my fist in frustration for just a moment, then released it. How long had it been? Gray-hair held a hand up and snapped his fingers, pointing to the doorway. A slim man in a tightly fitting suit stepped around Nick, who still held Jinny in his arms.


    He squinted at the doorway, reaching up to adjust his horn-rimmed sses. Already copsed. She must have squeezed through at thest moment.


    So shes dead now, too? I asked ndly. A seething hatred roiled within me.


    Gray-hair studied me, then ced his hands in his pockets. It urred to me that he was mirroring my bodynguage intentionally. No one knows what happens if youre in one of these things when they copse. Hasnt happened to us yet.


    <strong></strong>


    It makes no difference to me. I nced down at Jinnys body, then back to the trial with disdain. Nick and I go back a ways. Only met the rest of them a few days ago.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick twitch.


    Ah. Gray-haired studied me. Daphne said you were reasonable, but I''m not certain I buy it. No one would me you for being upset by whats happened here.


    Not really my thing.


    Perhaps. I


    Cut the shit. None of us have time for it. I interjected. I didnt like gray-hair. He had the tempo of someone who was used to negotiating, dominated it. It was dangerous to let someone like that control the flow of dialogue. The transposition event is imminent. Unless Im totally off the mark, Im guessing you have the same amount of information about that as us, which is approximately fuck-all.


    Gray-hair gave nothing away, but the ufortable shifting of the minions behind him told me all I needed to know. Thats not what were talking about right now. He said, in the same tone a teacher might use to correct a student for going off-topic.


    Maybe. But context is important. You obviously want Nick, considering what I just saw in the trial thats not exactly surprising. Its a powerful ss, and capable of gifting User status to an NPC on top of all that. Thanks to dipshit over there, I pointed to the bowman, youve got an incredibly angry knight whos only going to get more angry over time.


    He considered that, then opened his mouth. What are you proposing?


    Get him under contract. I said immediately. Have him sign an exclusivity use with your merchant, like the rest of the recruiters. Hell have to work with you to some extent then, even if he hates you.


    Gray-hairs mouth quirked. And he stays with you for whatever the transposition event is.


    <em>Giving us enough time to figure out our next move.</em>


    It would earn a bit of good will back from this clusterfuck, yes. Hes upset right now, but honestly, they were dating for less than a week. Hell get over it. Im assuming, whatever you need him for, it would be easier if he did it voluntarily. And Im happy to give up the Page ss after the event.


    Gray-hair smiled, and I realized Id miscalcted. They didnt care about the Page ss. Whatever they were after, it was something else.


    Horn-rimmed cleared his throat. It <em>would</em> be far easier to integrate him with the rest of the court if


    The responding blow came faster than I could track. One moment, Gray-hair was standing there, hands at his side, the next moment Horn-rimmed was prone on the ground, coughing up a lung.


    A chill prickled gooseflesh on my arm. Gray-hair was in another league, ying an entirely different game. He smiled at me coolly. Good help is so hard to find these days, dont you think?


    Go fuck yourself.


    Gray-hair turned to Nick. Well, Ceaseless Knight? Your friends been speaking for you, but Im much more interested in what you have to say. Well let him keep his ss, let you stay with him for the transposition event, all by way of an apology. All you have to do is sign a piece of paper.


    I reached out to Nick with <strong></strong>


    <em>I know its hard. Just y along. Please.</em>


    Nickid Jinny down, gently, as if she was made of ss. Tears were still streaming down his face. His mouth was tight, his expression nk. He wiped his eyes. Weve been closer, recently, but I knew Jinny for almost a decade. She helped me adjust to, uh, being a cripple. Never judged me. Always supported me.


    <em>Fuck.</em> I closed my eyes.


    Nick raised himself to his full height, a head taller than me, and an inch taller than gray-hair. Jinny was a good person. Far better than me. His voice suffused with rage. And if you motherfuckers think for a god-damn second Im going to lift a finger to help you after what you did? Youve got another thinging.


    Nick leapt toward gray-hair, sword held over his head, his armor glowing much darker than before, closer to the tint of brass than gold.


    It was over before it even started. A white loop of magic tightened around Nicks neck, followed by a half dozen other loops that caught him effortlessly and forced him back down to his knees.


    Momentster, the same loops of magic proliferated around my body, forcing me down.


    Pity, Gray-hair said. He crouched down in front of me. In truth, I would have much rather done this your way. Now I have to decide what to do with you. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers again. Check them both. And see if the girl dropped a core.


    Horn-rimmed approached Nick nervously, Daphne nking him. Definitely the ss. Nothing particrly of note in his inventory he rattled off the various items Nick had in storage, jotting it down on a notepad.


    Daphne leaned over towards me while Horn-rimmed worked. Sorry, Matt. They only put me on this today. If Id known it was you She trailed off.


    I shrugged indifferently. Not like you owe me anything, Daph.


    Daphne winced, nced back towards Gray-hair, then took a step away.


    No core. Unfortunate. Horn-rimmed shambled over to me, finishing up his notes from the others. Page, as expected. Low level. Nothing particrly problematic here. Quick Crossbow of The Frost Leech, Broken Legacy, Chaos Spiders Venom, de of Woe


    de of Woe? Daphne asked, her expression puzzled.


    Gains additional utility when used from behind. Horn-rimmed rattled off the description.


    Didnt Dorian have one? Daphne asked. He never shut up about it. Its just weird, because with how many items there are, its the first time Ive seen the same one twice.


    I tensed.


    Horn-rimmed looked over his sses at her. Its umon rarity. Does it really matter?


    Daphne looked about to follow up, then nced at me with a thoughtful look. I guess not. She turned back to gray-hair. No legendaries, no artifacts.


    Gray-hair waved her off, then studied me. Im tempted to kill you. It would be easier that way. Cleaner. Yet, despite your friends foolishness, Id really like to avoid aggravating him further. Moreover, Daphne did vouch for you. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head up. In an eerily monotone manner, he listed my full name, address, and the names of my mother and siblings. All-in-all, far more information than I expected them to have.


    If you interfere in any way? Well. Just use your imagination. Gray-hair finished.


    I wont interfere, I lied.


    He turned around, removing his hands from his pockets and summoning several of the Users waiting, indicating the two of us with a backward swing of his arm. Use an instance to clean up the body. Take the knight. Put the page to sleep.


    I watched in silent anger as Nick was hauled away.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Something touched the back of my neck, and I lost consciousness.


    /////


    When I came to, both Jinny and Talias bodies were gone.


    The ascending atonal wail of storm sirens filled the distance, enting the profound sense of loss that radiated in my gut.


    <em>How long was I out?</em>


    I immediately pulled up the timer for the Transposition event.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73


    Thats the problem with loneliness, isnt it?


    Its always miserable in the beginning. Then days stretch into weeks, into months, into years. You learn little tricks to cope. Stay busy. Distance yourself from anyone that might crack the surface. Dehumanize anyone who gets close, view them as nothing more than resources and avenues for potential gain. When you stop relying on others, youll eventually find that youre forced to rely on yourself.


    There is nothing else but you. And you are the master of your own universe.


    After a while, you forget what its like. To be social. Denied themon source of dopamine and oxytocin, your brain starts to rewire itself. The tireless work that seemed so harrying before is no longer even fractionally enough. You take on more, and more, and more. The emptiness starts to fade. And sure, maybe there are nights when you still ache, and its all too much, and all you want to do is sit across from someone who knows your name and have a cup of coffee, and talk about the weather.


    Its not because youre alone, of course.


    Youre just overworked.


    Youre just tired.


    And once the night fades into twilight, you know the moment of weakness will fade as well. Dayes, with all its new developments and responsibilities, and you wont have time to be tired anymore.


    But it neversts.


    The ending is as inevitable as the beginning. There you are, plodding through life with all your routines, all your checks and bnces, all your carefully concocted methodology to maximize efficiency and minimize downtime when someonemost often innocently, entirely by identbreaks the routine.


    It doesnt really matter who they are. Someone on yourmute that repeatedly ends up next to you on the bus. The girl at the coffee shop who spends a scant few minutes chatting with you about your day. A coworker who projects their difort with solitude onto you, and as a result, wont leave you be.


    Doubt forms.


    The reason you isted yourself that long time ago bes opaque, difficult to pin down. And the doubt slowly metastasizes into denial. Maybe you can open yourself up a bit. Not entirely, as there are many benefits to this lifestyle youve grown ustomed to. Just a little. The possibility is as insidious as it is tantalizing.


    Maybe you dont have to be tired.


    Maybe you dont have to be alone.


    <em>You know, I saw you, too.</em>


    So, you drop your guard for a chance to see the sun. It warms you, thaws you, softens the carefully cultivated hard edges until you almost resemble something human again. Given how long the initial adjustment takes, its astonishing how quickly those changes are undone.


    And when the sun fades, as it always does, the night returns once more, and the ache returns with it. Fully restored.


    With no one to me but yourself.


    <strong></strong>


    I watched the timer tick down, as swift as it was interminable. For perhaps the fourth time, I attempted to struggle to my feet, copsing again with a grunt as my legs gave out. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew what this was. I was in shock. Id been running on empty for nearly a week, tapping deep into my physical, emotional, and psychological reserves to just keep going, and I was finally paying for it.


    There had always been a part of me that thrived on conflict. Enjoyed solving insurmountable problems. Applying eclectic knowledge to highly vtile situations.


    I can tell you Rousseau is just Hobbes in a brightened mirror. How to solve a multiple-choice question without even seeing the question itself. How to feed yourself on a budget of less than a hundred dors for a month. What makes a passable fake ID, and the giveaways that mark a bad one. I can quote the entirety of The Symposium from memory. I can consistently score a 1600 on the SAT, a 174 on the LSAT, and a 520 on the MCAT.


    None of that came naturally. It was a product of single-mindedness, diligence, and willingness to put in the work. Once upon a time, I prided myself on the ability to have an answer for everything. To survive, no matter the circumstance.


    Yet, I was entirely at a loss.


    <strong></strong>


    I banged the back of my head against the stone wall, the impacts echoing down the tunnel until my vision blurred. The pain brought focus. There would be time to processter. Every second I lost was a second I could never get back. I forced myself to focus on the ugly truth.


    Jinnys death, Nicks capture, and Saes disappearance were the results of my mistakes.


    It didnt matter that I wasnt the only one to make them. I didnt call out the Escde. I didnt push Nick to abandon the Trial after I found the tracker on his car. I didnt encourage Talia to disclose the truth: that her death would only be temporary.


    Mistakes were always a luxury I couldnt afford. That was more true now than ever before. I had to hold myself to a higher standard.


    I had to be perfect.


    <strong></strong>


    I summoned Audrey first, shielding myself in the difort as part of me tore free. She popped into existence with an audible snap.


    Bleeding Audrey said. She tilted her head at me, a single vine rising to poke lightly at my neck. When I reached up to touch the back of my head, I found my hair damp, and my hand came away wet, bright redyered on top of dark blood that had already dried.


    Absent any response and perhaps sensing something was wrong, she mbered into myp and plopped down, cing her head on my thigh. I reached down to stroke her petals, catching my breath from the summoning. When I made contact, I felt what I can only describe as a buzzing, an opportunity that wasnt there before.


    Slowly, Audrey copsed on herself, body folding over and over until all that was left in myp was a small length of fiber rope with a grappling hook attached.


    <em>Can you still see?</em> I asked.


    <em>Less. But it is much nicer than the ckness.</em>


    In a half walk, half stagger, I made my way to the decorative trial door. A notification popped, informing me that the trial had recently been cleared and would be unavable for some time.


    Sae! I yelled into the door.


    No response.


    If youre still alive, and you can hear me, I have to go.


    <em>Anyone can change. </em>


    Ille back when its over. If youre still in there, Ill find you. Just stay alive.


    There was a notification for a new quest, but I didnt look at it. I had to start building walls back up. Compartmentalize.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I had to wait for a pause between messages to answer.


    <strong></strong>


    It was difficult to decide what to do with my family. My first instinct was to get them to the lobby of the adaptive dungeon with Kinsleys help. If I could get them there, theyd probably be safe for the duration of what wasing. On second thought, that was high-risk even with a door. The suits didnt know Kinsley was there. Otherwise, theres no way theyd have left her at my apartment.


    <em>Think.</em>


    <strong></strong>


    My heart rate tripled.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I tried desperately to process what I was reading. A terrible possibility began to dawn.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Dread filled me, as I reached the conclusion long before Kinsley sent the message.


    <strong></strong><strong><em>I</em></strong><strong> was able to get a hand through the barrier. Users arent restricted. Im guessing this is happening everywhere inside the dome. The system moved all the NPCs to their home areas and trapped them inside. Whatever is happening, this seems really bad.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    And restricted Kinsleys ess to her door ability, so there wasnt a way to circumvent the restriction. She was right.


    This was bad.


    I was on my feet, sprinting down the tunnel before I knew what was happening, the aches and pains from the trial growing more pronounced with every step. I fought through the pain, my attention split as I attempted to summon Talia while navigating the store menu to buy back Jinnys User core and the <strong></strong> My inventory showed a surplus of fifty-thousand Selve, which surprised me, until I realized the source.


    The suits hadnt robbed me. Rather, theyd left me Jinnys share of the trial reward. Like some half-cocked peace offering for leaving me stranded and without a group right before the event.


    Soft footsteps trailed after me as I ran through the tunnel. I didnt have time to bring Talia up to speed as I shopped, picking up bolts, a massive quantity of health potions, and one final purchase that cost me nearly thirty-thousand selve.


    They didnt kill you. Talias voice was a low growl, angry and raw, as she ran beside me.


    No. I said.


    They will regret that decision.


    I shook my head. Revenge is a distraction. Have to stay big-picture. Survive the transposition event. Protect my family, find Sae, rescue Nick.


    It was a moment before Talia answered. That is, perhaps, prudent. And if an opportunity presents itself to rain chaos down on their heads in the process?


    We salt the fucking earth, I snarled.


    /////


    <strong></strong>


    I emerged from the entrance stairway to find what had to be nearly a hundred people milling around on the street. No one looked at me. They were all looking up, their eyes transfixed on the sky.

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74


    It took barely more than a nce to realize what they were all staring at. The sun was gone, what should have been a clear bluete-afternoon now appeared to be eveningonly the stratosphere was dyed mud red, instead of dark blue. Talia had stopped at the stairway behind me and peered out.


    Store me, the way you stored the nt. Taliamanded. Her voice was tinged with worry.


    You recognize it. I realized.


    The sky is reminiscent of my home.


    A realm of uros.


    Yes. For this much bleed-over to ur, whatever is happening is almost certainlyrge scale. Talia eyed me. Make ready.


    I reached out a hand to her, as I had to Audrey, and then stopped. An idea formed. <strong></strong> implied that I could fold summons into existing weapons. The utility of that was limited for something like a sword, unless there was some aspect I was missing. A throwing knife on the other hand? Especially one that returned whenever I summoned it? There were a lot of applications there. I withdrew <strong></strong> and held it out towards Talia, watching in fascination as she simply merged into it.


    Comfortable? I asked.


    <em>Not the word I would use, but it is better than the void.</em> Talia said.


    Someone screamed. Then another person, and another. My attention snapped back to the crowd that had formed in the center of the street. Among a handful of people holding hands to their mouths were pointing, shaking hands extending towards the newly warped sky. I looked up again and found the source of the rm easily.


    A dozen small pinpricks of golden light twinkled above, splitting off in a series of explosions, each branching fragment detonating again, and again, and again, until there were hundreds of tiny fragments hurtling downwards. Behind them were a series of familiar blue meteors,plete with the long extended tail. Unlike the smaller, golden fragments, they didnt appear to be heading straight towards us, each heading in a distinctively different direction.


    <em>We were the trial run.</em>


    It made sense in a horrifying sort of way. If you were going to do something thisrge scale, youd generally want to lead with a test case. Just to make sure all the kinks were worked out. With the isted nature of the dome, there was a part of me that held a small seed of hope that once whatever machinations the system was intended to carry out had run its course, apart from the influx of incredibly strong and potentially wealthy individuals, the rest of the world would remain rtively unchanged.


    As I watched the fragments rain downward, that hope withered and died. Whatever was left after all this would be unrecognizable from what we had before.


    If there was anything left to recognize.


    <strong></strong>


    A notification popped, informing me that the twenty-minute wait period had psed, and the <strong></strong> along with Jinnys User core were both returned to my inventory. Taking a moment to ensure no one was looking my way, I withdrew the mask and pulled it over my head, feeling the tell-tale wave of calm pass over me as I fell further into <strong></strong> Then I joined the crowd in the center of the street.


    Almost immediately, something urred to me that Id barely thought of in the midst of the turmoil.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I was asking a lot. And it wasnt guaranteed, even ignoring the fact that she was an atrocious liar. My mother and sister would probably take whatever she said at face value, but my Ellison would likely see through it immediately. He was naturally insightful that way.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Annoying as the timing was, it didnt hurt to consider it. There was a part of me that still believed that fire-walling everyone was the correct course of action. But Kinsley had consistently been my strongest ally by far. Her abilities and assistance had enabled me to do things I simply wouldnt have been able to do otherwise, and saved my life more than once.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Id sort out how much of the truthif anyto give herter. If I could concoct a convincing enough story, it was probably safer to go with that. The problem was, Kinsley was observant. She had also seen me lie before during the family meeting. Whenever someone catches you in a lie, or watches you lie to someone else while explicitly knowing theres deceit present, youve effectively given them a baseline for judging everything you say in the future. Making them far more likely to realize theyre being duped than the average person would be.


    And given the recent series of events, I wasnt exactly keen on losing more allies.


    There was a harsh re of static that seemed to radiate from everywhere at once. A noise, that could have been a jingle if it wasnt for the harsh, tritone nature of it, yed a series of three discordant notes.


    Every car parked on the street turned on simultaneously, the surroundings suddenly peppered in headlights and brake lights.


    On closer inspection, it wasnt actuallying from everywhere. The noise wasing from the parked cars, and a series of televisions on the outside-section of a nearby sports bar that suddenly flickered on.


    DENIZENS OF DOME 1, The voice boomed out loud enough that I felt the vibration in my chest. It had an otherworldly cadence and the sibnce and tonality of a snake that brought to mind the fantasticalparison of a snake that had learned to speak. My attention was drawn to the tvs facing outward on the deck. They were still rife with an old-timey ck and white static, but it appeared to be fading, an image beneath the noise beginning to show through.


    I wasnt the only one to take notice. A few people shuffled towards the screens alongside me, others peering into cars with internal GPS screens that now disyed the same image, a half-dozen looking at their phones.


    The image on the screen came into sharp focus. At first nce, it was a man lounging on a crystalline cathedra, gripping the arms of the chair lightly, one leg draped casually over the other. As the camera pushed in slowly, more details gradually became clear. He was wearing a simple ck tuxedo,plete with bow-tie. The apparel looked off-somehow, though that might have been due to his perilously thin form. He was wearing a mask that shed with his attire, a simple white facete, save for a jagged smile etched where the mouth would be. With a mockingly formal air, he raised a long arm, thinner than a childs, his fingers long and spindly, and waved. His sleeve fell back with the motion, revealing a sh of mottled gray skin beneath.


    I must say, were impressed. The figure tilted his headit would have been an almost human gesture, if it wasnt for the extreme angle. While some of you have been stagnant, an unexpectedly substantial number among you have enthusiastically taken the process in stride. One of youan ungifted no lesseven managed a surface level intrusion into the framework of the system itself.


    A chill gripped me, as I realized he was talking about my mother.


    The figure continued. But Im getting ahead of myself. There is no word in yournguage that urately describes what I am. So, you may call me Overseer. His voice, still sibnt, began to lose the disquieting cadence, bing less strange, though no less intimidating.


    We rarely see this level of progression in an instigation until the first transposition event has alreadye to pass. After that, everyone panics, practically trampling each other to consolidate power as quickly as possible. Overseer cackled, pping his hands together with delight. The mirth disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and when he spoke again, there was a growl in his throat. But here you are. As the forerunners of the rest of your species, youve set the bar rather high. Normally, the first round is a little reserved, as a high initial body count tends to be counter-intuitive to our purposes, but this is a special case. Given the progress youve already made, there is little reason to coddle you. This is a special case indeed. He chuckled, the noise crackly and unpleasant.


    And lets not forget that you have an Ordinator.

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75


    The Overseer stared at the camera. With his mask in ce, it was impossible to know for sure, but displeasure seemed to radiate off him at the mere mention of my ss. Eventually, he waved a hand. More on thatter. This event will be the first of many. No two are exactly alike. If youll direct your gaze to the heavens. He pointed a bony finger upwards.


    Everyone looked up. Only a few of the indigoets were still visible, still heading in distinctly different directions. The smaller fragments were still on a direct collision course. And, if anything, looked even more numerous than before.


    All those golden objects, plummeting towards you? Pay attention to where theynd. Many of them carry Illuminating Lux, a glowing crystal sphere of immense value you will need to fortify one of sixteen regions. These regions are highlighted on your map, which is new functionality you should find in the system screen. At the center of each region, you will find a receptacle. Your objective is simple. Fill the receptacle with Illuminating Lux. Once the receptacle is filled, the region will be considered fortified. If the receptacle in a region remains unfilled once the time runs out, however? Overseer waggled a finger. Well. Lets just say youll want to avoid that.


    Before he even finished speaking, Id pulled up the map. My lip curled.


    <em>Bastards.</em>


    At first nce, the map itself looked like a standard, more sci-fi presentation of a three-dimensional GPS map of the region. The vile part was how it was gerrymandered. Just like any city, Das hadmercial and residential districts. There were blocks upon blocks of office buildings, where few people lived. On the map, instead of neatly dividing everything into squares, each region was a chaotic mess of uneven rectangles that were anything but uniform.


    The intentand implicit threatwas clear. Every single region included arge section of residential, where hundreds of thousands of people lived. Most of them would be NPCs, teleported back. I stared down at the area around Pinecrest at the south-center of the map, where I lived.


    Where my family lived.


    Normally, Overseer continued, Wed give you a full day. But I think a group of go-getters like yourselves can do it in half the time, right?


    Keeping track of thending ce of a few hundred flying objects was no small task. Talia had mentioned something about significant bleed-over between the realms. If that was true, maybe my newly acquired feat could help with recon. I went through the mental hoops required to activate <strong></strong> and found a thread. It was fainter than it had been during the trial, but it was there.


    I suddenly had the disorienting perspective of a bird flying high above the city. Some instinct in the back of my mind told me that this view was the best I was going to get, and any attempt to get closer would sever the connection, but I didnt need to. Numerous descending golden objects were visible, as well as their trajectories. In an action that took far more concentration than expected, I split my view, fighting through the beginnings of a raging headache as I marked locations on my map.


    Overseer continued to drone on as I polka-dotted the map with tiny white markers.


    You might ask why this is happening. The answer is simple. The trajectory of your species crossed the point of no return less than fifty years ago. At the current rate, an extinction event was likely to ur two centuries from now. This is a correction.


    My headache lessened as my split-view faded. I made a fewst marks on the map from memory and looked up at the screen. The overseer was leaning forward, his manner somehow more amenable than before.


    When he spoke again, his voice was softer. Almost empathetic. To the ungifted. As your lot is more difficult given the circumstances, you will each find additional funds in your inventory. You are about to see the truth of these new celestials that walk among you. Divine or daemon. Heroes or scourges. What they can do, and what they cannot. Who will you follow? Will you follow them at all? That choice is entirely up to you. And for every event you survive, you will find those choices expanded.


    The pontification was meant to sound like mercy. To give hope to the NPCs. I was willing to put money on the likelihood that the real purpose was far more sinister.


    I checked the map onest time, looking up to confirm. If this was correct, an Illuminating Lux wouldnd just down the street. I pushed my way through the crowd. Somewhere near the back, a baby was crying. Two people clung to each other. Most of them were just watching, transfixed on the screen.


    Once I was clear, I walked away at a measured paceit took every inkling of self-control I had not to run. Triggering a panicking stampede would be counter-productive.


    I was about to pull up my contact list when the Overseer said something that stopped me in my tracks.


    One final note. Due to something of a logistical error, there is an Ordinator in your midst. I looked back at the TV. Thankfully, the mask was in ce, so I didnt have to worry about keeping the expression of rage off my face.


    <em>Isnt this difficult enough already?</em>


    Unfortunately, there are rules. Though it is within our power, we cannot remove them while an instigation is underway. I can only show you what happens if an Ordinator is allowed to survive.


    The TV flickered, a series of videos beginning to y. The first showed an army of bipeds surrounded by alien flora and fauna. All at once, they turned on each other and began to fire weapons that shot bright-green projectiles. The TV flickered again, showing a biped with skin like liquid metal holding his hands out, unleashing hundreds of what appeared to be demons on a small group of survivors. Anotherdifferent from the rest due to visible magic useunleashed a barrage of violet streamingsers the size of electrical pylons into a fortress, which copsed into dust and rubble momentster.


    They are parasites. Initially weak and craven in nature, they often hide in the shadows and attempt to disguise themselvesliterally or socially. If allowed to fester, their power will multiply, and they will consume everything in their path, and threaten the very nature of the correction itself.


    I gritted my teeth, telling myself it could be worse. It would be more difficult to infiltrate if everyone was constantly looking over their shoulder, but so far, Slenderman hadnt really incentivized them.


    Identify and kill the Ordinator, and find yourself with two possible bounties: Exemption from the Transposition, or gifted powers and advancement beyond your wildest dreams.


    And there it was. No one seemed overly attentive currently, more distracted by the sky and the image of the Overseer than the notion of rooting out whether the person next to them was the target in question. That wouldeter. After the harsh reality of what was happening began to sink in.


    <strong></strong>


    There were a series of harsh whistles, like a hundred bombs descending from orbit as the golden orbs began tond, the impacts that followed sounding more like explosions. I Instinctively covered my head and ducked into a nearby alley, a nearby st showering the street with pulverized concrete.


    I let <strong></strong> take over, washing away my fears and anxiety as I rounded the corner, grabbing the golden sphere from the ground before anyone else could react.


    As I stood up, the world around me had transformed into hell. A half-dozen imp-like creatures chased a panicking group of people down the street. In the distance, something that looked entirely too simr to a dinosaur leapt on a fleeing man and tore him to pieces.


    A series of smaller stato explosions beganthat took a moment to recognize as gunfire.


    I was about to withdraw my most recent purchase from my inventorythe one that had cost me nearly thirty-thousand selvewhen the ground started to shake.


    In the crossroads ahead, a massive stone fist as big-around as a redwood sent a handful of cars flying, others falling into the chasm, as it tore up through the ground.


    The ground beneath me copsed as the figure pulled itself up. Asphalt and sidewalk shifted as if the tectonic tes themselves were shattered, the newly sharp angle sending me rolling towards the massive statue as it emerged.

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76


    A once t road now dipped downward at an almost 90-degree angle. I barely caught myself in time, wedging a foot into a newly opened fissure and grabbing onto the edge of a curb with my freehand. The <strong></strong> was transparent and radiated bright gold, barelyrger than a cue-ball. It nearly slipped between my fingers before I caught it again and tried to force it into my inventory.


    <strong></strong>


    Are you fucking serious? I shouted to no one in particr. Audrey! Help!


    The Flowerfang uncoiled from her rope form around my shoulder, wrapping a series of vines around my waist and anchoring herself to a nearby light pole. I mentally toggled <strong></strong> and released my hold on the wall, half-running-half climbing along the steep angle until Inded on solid ground, syed out t.


    The thinging out of the ground was more than half-way there, its posture mirroring my own as it leveraged its chest against the concrete. It was hard to tell the color of anything, given how the sky was still a hellish red, but it looked as if it was made from orange y, the strange proportions of its face and look of its body giving the impression of a terra cotta soldier. Only, you know, massive.


    A small group of NPCs moved forward, peppering the statue with enough gunfire that my ears started to ring. The shots bounced off with little visible effect, though the statue looked irritated. Before it could fully stand, a woman dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, holding a massive war hammer over her head, jumped down from a nearby rooftop, bringing the weapon down on the statues hand.


    The struck hand lost traction and the statue nearly slipped back down. Before it could fall, it reached outwards with its massive arm-span. Its forearm pped down directly on top of the war hammer woman, leaving nothing more than a red stain across the concrete.


    No! One of the NPCs screamed, their voice raw.


    I fired off <strong></strong> at the gun-wielding NPCs who were still firing, stoking their terror, all but screaming for them to run. One made it. The others fell as the statue finally managed to escape the hole and stand.


    It was well over three times taller than thergest nearby building. Its cid face panned the surroundings as it took swipes out of buildings.


    Are we going to fight that? Audrey asked, the trepidation in her voice clear.


    Fuck no.


    Several more Users piled out of a nearby Suburban. Unlike the first, this group was clearly more experienced, decked out in armor. One at the front held a massive light-silver spear, which she used to poke at the statues legs, doing visible damage.


    I turned around, and pulled out the stic bag I used to store Audreys meat in my inventory to store the lux in, then withdrew my most recent purchase. A dark motorcycle appeared from thin air. Id picked it almost at random after discovering Kinsleys doors were no longer functioning. Normally, a motorcycle would never be my preference. Even if it wasnt eye-catching, the inherent danger of the transportationpared to a car was significant. Still, motorcycles could easily squeeze through alleys and backed-up traffic in a way that cars simply couldnt, which was more than enough to tip the scales in its favor.


    The skill to use it would hopefully trante from my experience with the e-bike.


    I straddled it, somewhat ufortable with the posture, as the length from the seat to the handlebars forced me toy down almostpletely on my stomach. Mentally, I reviewed my route. Most of the Illuminating Lux appeared to havended towards the center of downtown, the othernding sites were much farther apart and scattershot.


    The smartest thing to do was to skirt the center of downtown and scavenge what I could.


    I twisted the throttleand nearly shot directly into a wall.


    My assumption that the skill would trante was mostly incorrect. Twisting the throttle gently this time, the bike responded betterstill faster than Id like, but not unmanageable.


    <em>Really should have bought a helmet.</em>


    The further I got from my initial starting point, the more the monsters seemed to thin out. I was around halfway between the lux Id found and the closest marked spot on my map. ying with fire, I mentally swiped through my screens as I rode, careful not to identally elerate while my attention was split.


    When I reached Kinsley in my contact list, I was surprised to find more options than just chat. I could call her as well. Apparently, the event had enabled more functionality. There was a click, and the sound of a vacuum, somewhere near the back of my skull.


    Kinsley, I said.


    Voice chat, its about time. Kinsley responded. I felt an immediate wave of relief. Though she sounded shaken, her somewhat cavalier response probably meant my family wasnt in any immediate danger.


    Can you talk?


    Yes, Im outside. Familys all out of earshot. She paused then, and spoke after a second, None of the glowy bitsnded near here. The receptacles a few blocks over. You sound different. Like youre running your voice through a modtor or something.


    Listen to me. I need you to drop whatever youre doingfuck. I swerved between a knocked over food stall and gaping hole in the ground, narrowly missing a boa-constrictor sized snake that emerged from the now upturned manhole cover.


    My hands are a little tied right now


    This is critical. Two things. I need you to suspend any sales of a specific item. You can do that, right?


    Yes Kinsley said, hesitating. Though I think this is one of those things Im going to need an exnation for.


    Pull up the store page, search for Illuminating Lux.


    Wait. No one


    Yes, they fucking would.


    Kinsley swore. As soon as the Overseer had mentioned how valuable the items were, Id been worried about the idea of someone selling them. That worry had doubled once I learned the system was practically advertising the fact that <strong></strong> could be sold to a vendor once anyone attempted to store it in their inventory.


    I already suspected there wasnt enough to fortify every region as it was. If Users tied to individual regions started trying to sell the items once their quota was met, or some of them just didnt give a shit.


    I found them. Theyre marked sell-only for a hundred-and-seventy-five-thousand selve. And Matt someone already sold one.


    <em>God dammit.</em>


    Shut it down.


    Already on it.


    A few secondster.


    Done. What was the second thing?


    Now came the hard part. The part Kinsley wasnt going to be happy about. I turned into an alley to avoid a small mess of Flowerfangs crossing the street to intercept me from a nearby park, waiting to speak until I was through the perilously tight alley.


    How much can you reduce the price of healing items?


    Which items? Kinsley asked after a moment.


    Healing potions


    <strong></strong> red, and I took a hard left turn almost entirely identally, a molten fireball singing my hair as it passed overhead. The bike wobbled beneath me, then stabilized.


    Burn salves, anti-venom, anything that knocks down a status effect.


    Kinsley hesitated. I can knock down the price to fifty percent. Same as your discount. But the margins


    Forget the margins! I snarled, then fell silent, trying topose myself. This was the girl who had sold me cookies at the end of the world. Taking a revenue cut wouldnte naturally to her. Kinsley. Its ninth-circle-of-hell bad out here. Think about what just happened. The overseer just announced to everyone that every civilian in arms reach is a walking bag of selve. A thousand selve sounds like almost nothing to us, but were anything but the norm.


    And if I run out of stock? Kinsley asked.


    Set a high order limit with a timer, so no one can monopolize the supply. Otherwise I grunted in frustration. I dont know.


    There was silence on the line.


    You have to choose what you want to be. I said, echoing my fathers words from long ago. Words Id routinely chosen to ignore. And you have to keep making that choice. Over and over. Every decision you make is a hammer striking chisel. Its not as simple as good or bad. Its never that easy. All that matters is that, at the end of the day, the existence you carve out for yourself is something youd be happy with.


    I passed under a bridge, flinching as the body of a man who had jumped off to escape something unseen, crumpled to the asphalt a few feet to my left.


    God. That was the corniest thing anyones ever said to me. But its going to be hard to make a profit if theres no one left to sell to. Kinsley breathed an aggravated sigh. Fine fine. Dropping the prices now and discounting traditional first-aid supplies as well. But Im not discounting the anti-scarring stuff. Alive and ugly is still alive.


    Fair.


    I started panning through the store again, buying two of everything for as many ailments as I could. A notification scrolled across my screen, indicating that Kinsley had ended the call. Just in time for another message to pop in my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77


    The address was just a few miles off the historic district. Five minutes away from me, if that. I toyed with the idea of simply leaving it. There wasnt a lot of Lux in that direction, and even if there was, this wasnt an interaction I could have as Matt, the NPC. Until I had a viable exnation for my sudden transformation into a User, anything that happened would have to ur under an anonymous guise.


    Eventually, the closeness of the address and the urgency of Saras message won it. She hadnt seemed like the sort of person to easily lose her cool, and if she was panicking enough to send out a guild-wide message, it was probably indicative of her being in a particrly difficult spot.


    Plus, with the <strong></strong> there wasnt much on the line. If the situation were truly beyond the pale and there was nothing I could realistically do for them, I could simply drive away.


    I turned down a side-street, twisting the throttle until my bike reached the threshold of speed I wasfortable with. The constant and incessant screaming mingled with gunfire was encroaching on the serenity of my mind, drops in a well of terror that grew beneath the stalwart shield.


    I passed a small group of armed people crouched over a burned corpse, the scent of singed flesh plying at my nostrils.


    One of theman archerstood and watched me go, her wary eyes trailing me as I elerated by.


    Was the dead man a friend theyd lost? Or had they used the chaos as cover to kill and rob him? This was all happening so fast, both in terms of violence and body-count, that it was unlikely anyone would ever know.


    Was it even possible for any of us toe back from this?


    <em>It doesnt matter. Stay focused.</em>


    The bike still felt foreign and unfamiliar beneath me, but it was designed for both speed andfort. I felt myself rxing somewhat as I rode, and loosened my grip on the handles.


    A woman, missing one arm, stumbled backwards into the street. If Id run into her on a walk in the evening, the savagely fierce expression on her face would have stopped me t.


    <em>Sara.</em>


    She was beset on all sides by monsters that looked like abination of upright standing lizards and demons. They were darkly colored with violet ents. Tentative tongues flicked out of their mouths.


    The Adventurers Guild lieutenantshed out at one of the many dark figures that approached her, a long coiled whip unfurling in a series of lightning fast strikes. It appeared to be threaded with a mix of standard dark cord and magenta, giving it a vibrant luminescence.


    With the final strike in thebination, the whipshed around one of the lizard''s throats. Then Sara did something that seemed to defy physics entirely. Bracing the whip beneath her armpit, she used it as a fulcrum, tossing one of the lizard men into another. They collided together and fell to the ground.


    Saras whip could change forms at will. A solid weapon.


    Sara danced back, using the breathing room to switch weapons, recing the whip with a hand crossbow. Im going to make a purse out of you assholes. Thats right. Follow me.


    I looked back at the alley she was adjacent from. Sara had said there was a man down. That was why she wasnt running. She was drawing them away.


    Only, shed made a mistake with the weapon switching. <strong></strong> warned me that from the way the creatures moved, they were likely far faster than they appeared, and the magic whip was likely the only reason they were showing the previous level of caution.


    As soon as Sara brought the crossbow to bear, I saw them hunch, ready to leap on her. I moved as quickly as I could, using <strong></strong> to tangle up the two prone lizards and sting the one beneath with <strong></strong> It scrabbled in a new panic at the idea the others would consume its prey before it even managed a bite, and began to shove and attack the lizard above it, drawing blood.


    It would have been a decent opener if there were only three. But the two remaining lizards werent at all distracted by the disruption, entirely focused on their goal. One of them ran at Sara from the side, his stance low, his mouth open. The other was just a few seconds behind him.


    I ran through my options. It was unlikely I could stumble both of them. It was a miracle my first attempt to use <strong></strong> went so well, given that I was on the back of the motorcycle and my focus was subpar.


    A dangerous idea urred to me. It was haphazard, but my options were limited. I honked once, then picked up speed, driving directly at Sara. Her deer in the headlights'' expression faded almost immediatelylikely assuming I was one of the members of the Adventurers Guild shed pinged. Unsteadily, I drew <strong></strong> with my right hand in a reverse-grip, keeping my left glued to the bikes handle. A small red spot, the size, and shape of a pomegranate seed appeared in the back of the closest nking lizards neck.


    I used thebined momentum of the bike and my arm to drive the dagger into the critical spot on the lizards neck. The impact was jarring and I was immediately unsaddled, crashing to the ground with nothing but the dagger-struck lizard as a spiny cushion. With my other hand, I reached out for <strong></strong>, sending the now driverless bike careening into the lizard across from Sara.


    Supine and fighting a moderate stun from the impact, I released the dagger, still lodged in the back of the dead lizard and used <strong></strong> My crossbow all but flew into my hand, sighting dots already aligned, pointed upwards at the only lizard still left on its feet. I adjusted my aim slightly, so it hit the critical point, and pulled the trigger. The lizard copsed, dead before it hit the ground.


    Youre not from the guild. Who the fuck are you? Sara said. She fired her crossbow at one of the lizards on the ground, then, learning from the earlier misstep, withdrew her whip. Itshed across one of their faces, sending it reeling back, clutching at its eyes.


    Just a random passerby, I grunted.


    The other was crawling towards me in a fury. Instead of making the mistake of trying to rise to my feet, I tapped into <strong></strong> and readied myself in a half-crouch. When the lizard reached me, I snaked my arms around its neck, bringing it down to the ground on top of me with its belly facing up.


    It raged against me as I held it, my leverage and technique the only thing keeping it from tearing me to pieces.


    Kill it! I yelled.


    Saras whip struck the creatures stomach several times, leaving long red gashes. That only seemed to exacerbate the lizards rage. Its head rotated towards me, biting air rabidly, and I gave up trying to throttle it, both handspletely tied up with pinning its head and arms in ce. Its powerful legs thrusted against the concrete, and I risked releasing its head for just a second to drive a punch into its side. It shrieked, more in panic than rage.


    Im out of mana. Cant shoot it, might hit you. Saras voice held just an edge of panic before her gaze settled on the knife sticking out from the first lizard Id used to cushion my fall. She pulled the knife out, having noticed where itnded, and stabbed the lizard in my arms in the neck repeatedly.


    We both heaved out long, ragged gasps, as the lizard finally fell still.


    Get thest one, Ill get the blind one. I wheezed.


    Last one?


    Over there. Hit it on my way in.


    I crawled on my hands and knees to the lizard still cradling its head and ended it. My injuries from the trialspecifically where the matriarch had hit me, was significantly more tender than it had been before this mess. Fuck. I needed to catch my breath.


    Good news, Sara said. Its super dead. You left out the part where the thing you hit it with was a motorcycle. Tire tread right up the middle. Bashed its head on the curb on its way down, from what I can tell. She tossed me my dagger, and I barely managed to catch it by the hilt. Then the grocery bag with the illuminating lux still inside.


    I mentally kicked myself. Until my region was fortified, the lux was my main objective. If I lost track of it ying hero, I was an idiot. Sara cocked her head. You do all that on purpose?


    I waved her off. Bike-thing was a happy ident.


    Sara stepped further back into the street, looking back and forth. Any levity left her face, her expression grim. Where the hell are they?


    Waiting for someone?


    Our healer. Or literally anyone else. We all organized and divided up to look for Lux. Then the Guild-leader got hit.


    How bad?


    Bad. Sara nodded, her lips tight. If hes not dead already.

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78


    That was unfortunate.


    Tylerand his Adventurers Guild were the closest thing Id found to a decent organization. Every other group at the open forum was either disorganized, naive, overly opportunistic, or all three. I didnt hold any illusions. At this point it was unlikely that any groups leadership would be barely more than tribalincreasing the likelihood that a regime change after the loss of a leader would change the guildpletely, if in-fighting and session didnt destroy it outright.


    Take me to him, I said.


    Sara stared at me, as if trying to divine my motivations from sight alone. Theres something strange about your face.


    Do you want to save your guild-leader? Or do you want to stand out here in the middle of the apocalypse and talk about my face. I let my voice take on a hard-edge. This was my first interaction wearing the maskbottle-throwing guy exceptedand I wasnt confident how effective it would be under close scrutiny.


    Right. Sara moved quickly then, myment serving to rouse her. She hurried off towards the crumbling building, and I followed behind her, the distance between us growing. After a few steps, Sara slowed, and looked back at me confused.


    Who are you, again?


    <em>Did she hit her head? During the fight or before I got there?</em>


    Motorcycle guy. I cringed mid-sentence at describing myself that way. Saw you needed a hand. Rolled over a lizard and killed a few of them. You were taking me to see the Guild-leader.


    Ah. Right. Sara said. A struggle of confusion yed across her severe features. Then she simply seemed to ept this as fact and move on. For a moment, I was as confused as she was. Then it hit me.


    <em>The Allfathers Mask</em>


    I pulled up the description again, as itd been a while since Id reviewed it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: A mask that is not a mask. Thest boon of a dying god. A one-of-a-kind artifact that will, when worn, make it nearly impossible to remember specific details about the Users physical characteristics and voice, with more details fading over time. Only certain high-level perks or repeated exposure can partially counteract this effect. May magnify certain Titles before Title Integration.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I focused inward on the effect of the mask itself, as I could feel it actively calming me, eroding my earlier frustration at the idea of Tyler dying, and the usefulness of the Adventurers Guild dying with him. From my experience using the <strong></strong> I recognized a mental control option, albeit far more advanced. Only, instead of an on-off toggle, there were far more possible selections, arranged in an erratic pattern almost reminiscent of a constetion. I reviewed them carefully, seeing if I could glean what any of them did without turning them on.


    Some werepletely alien and unknowable, represented by jagged marks projected into my mind. Others were clearer, easier to define. The one I was currently using wasas far as I could tellmaximal. There was a path above it that was grayed out, but I was instinctively aware that this was the farthest I could go. Below the current setting were two options: Mind or body.


    I selected thetter.


    Then, I let Sara get a few steps ahead of me again, around the distance shed reached during the previous incident. What happened to the Guild-leader?


    Sara turned back slightly, and grunted, pointing at the trail of lizards that led from the street to the building. She showed no sign of forgetting me again after the masks effect was adjusted.


    There were three of us. This, She pointed to the building, was the onlynding site nearby, as far as we could tell. Looked abandoned. Then these scaly bastards jumped us. Her lip curled. Theyve got a chameleon thing going on. Not like Predator level, but they camouge pretty well. Our scout missed them, and they didnt miss him. He died. Tyler got bit a dozen times and fell unconscious. While they were eating the scout, I dragged him out here, and when he didnt wake up from the potions, I tried an antidote.


    Didnt work? I asked.


    No clue. As soon as they finished with the scout, they came after me.


    I looked at the trail of what had to be more than lizards on the sidewalk, feeling the beginnings of newfound respect. You did all this yourself?


    Yep. Sara said. Then her face turned pale, and she pointed to a bloodied spot on the ground. Thats where I ran low on mana and they got my arm. Probably did me a favor, tearing it free. Bought me a few extra seconds to cauterize it with what little mana I had left and get clear.


    Jesus. I hissed. The injuries Id received since this all started had been moderate inparison to what Sara had gone through in thest hour, and Id been on the verge of passing out more than once. How the fuck are you still standing?


    <strong></strong> Sara said.


    No shit.


    So, there were two people crazy enough to take that feat. This exact situation was why Id balked at the idea of the perk when Nick mentioned it. Something that kept you alive and conscious until the moment of death when there was a plethora of monsters around happy to eat you alive seemed like a recipe for a bad end.


    Tyler was covered in debris. He was on his back, his breathing visiblealbeit shallow. A single broken w extended out from his eye. Sara knelt down at his side. There was a mess of bites scattering from his neck to his torso. Individually, they didnt appear to be bleeding badly, but there were enough of them to still be cause for concern.


    <em>Generic anti-venom didnt work. I could take a scattershot approach, but Im uncertain if theres toxicity concerns from mixing too many palliatives. Got anything for me?</em> I asked Talia.


    She responded hesitantly. <em>The scaly ones are unknown to me. We have some in my world that look nearly the same, though they do not walk upright. If we were in my realm, I could rmend which flower to gnaw on or what sort of root to dig up. That does not help you here.</em>


    <em>Just need an idea of what sort of damage were dealing with.</em>


    Again, Talia was slow to respond. Shed lost some of her standoffish attitude ever since the trial, and I had to wonder if those events had affected her more than she was letting on. <em>Open one of their mouths and let me see it.</em>


    I followed her instructions, retreating away from Tylers body to the closest lizard corpse and bending down on one knee. Some stiffness had already set in. I had to break the lizards jaw before I could get a halfway decent viewpoint.


    <em>Strange.</em>


    The lizards mouth was pristine. Not a hint of que or decay. Its tongue was healthy-looking and pink. Erged grooved teeth were present near the rear of their mouths. No visible fangsthe pointed incisors were little more than that. Following further instruction from Talia, I carved into the lizards face with my dagger, looking for anything that resembled a poison nd.


    What are you doing? Sara asked.


    Theyre not poisonous, I said, stumped.


    Well, theres got to be some sort of status effect in y. Sara looked unsettled. Ive seen Tyler take a beating. A real beating. A few bites arent enough to knock him unconscious.


    <em>In my realm,</em> Talia cut in, <em>There are sacred ces, blessed by the gods themselves. My kind were intelligent enough to stay away, but baser creatures sometimes stumble in and gorge themselves on hallowed vegetation and animals. This exposure can sometimes result in drastic changes.</em>


    I put it together. The way the lizards mouth and throat were pristine and perfectly hygienic. <em>So they ate from a sacred ce. Residue built up. And now Tylers got an overdose of divinity.</em>


    <em>In so many words. What I cannot parse is where they found such a source in this godforsaken ce. There was no blood visible in their mouths, so they must have eaten recently. Any travel between realms erodes the touch of the divine, be it a blessing or a curse. So, it must have been here.</em>


    After a moment, I shook my head. <em>How do we fix him?</em>


    Talia told me, and I ryed the information to Sara. Good news and bad news. Good news, if he makes it through the next few hours hell probably live. Bad news, he probably wont be the same.


    Youve seen this sort of thing before? Sara asked, still looking down at Tyler with concern.


    Yes, I lied. The magic-dog-hiding-in-my-throwing-knife-talks-in-my-head-truth didnt really have a short form exnation. The divine energy is causing damage below the surface. Dont try any more antidote or status cleansing potionswe dont know how they interact with each other or if there are side effects from mixing them. Give him a health potion once per hour until he gains consciousness again, even if it looks like everythings fine.


    In your experience, how will he change?


    I shook my head, once again rying what Talia was telling me. Its hard to know. He could experience drastic physical changes and ss changes or very little at all. Same for his psyche. There were plenty of bites, but you wont really know until hees out of it.


    If hees out of it. Sara looked crestfallen.


    Encouragement andfort were two areas where I was vastly inexperienced. I channeled Nick, and reached out and pped her on the back. Hes built like a tank. Theres a chance.


    I really, truly hoped there was. Because without Tyler, I was back to square one.

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79


    Sara and I spent the next few minutes sharing information before the rest of her people arrived. Many of them were from the same region, so they were able to get a head start on gathering the Illuminating Lux, with several fragmentsnding fairly close to the receptacle.


    Were you able to gauge approximately how much well need to fill a receptacle? I asked.


    No. Sara scowled. When you ce them in the receptacle, they transform into liquid. The first we found nearby filled the receptacle by almost a tenth. Its the first time Ive felt lucky since this whole thing started. Then, the second filled only a fraction of that.


    Maybe they hold different values, depending on the difficulty of the location and the monsters guarding them.


    That was brought up. But the two we found were equidistant from the container, both guarded by nothing more than a mess of translucent crabs that did little beyond scuttling away. Sara was deep in thought, brow furrowing before she spoke again. The values may be assigned randomly.


    I had a less pleasant theory, extrapted from the subtle manner the Overseer had used to seed discord from the moment he began to speak. This entire thing seemed to be an exercise in the Tragedy of the Commons. Most peoplemyself includeddid not want a massacre. If the value was transparent, each receptacle requiring fifty lux, for example, initial selfishness would eventually turn to altruism as the receptacles were filled and Users with lux left over began to share resources with their neighbors.


    This was already partially offset by the option to sell lux to a vendor. Intentionally obfuscating the values would build desperation, encourage in-fighting and grabbing as much lux as possible until the receptacles were filled.


    And it was working. The Adventurers Guild was perhaps the group I was most likely to help, and I had no intention of sharing my map andnding locations Id found until my region was secure.


    There was the sound of several vehicles, either dirt bikes or ATVs, quickly approaching.


    Saras head shot up. Thats them. And our healer, I hope.


    My cue to leave. Id given Tyler as much time as I could. The rest was up to them.


    Stay safe. I left Sara behind and made my way to where my bike was still overturned on the street. A military style jeep barreled past, pushing ny, nearly hitting my bike as it sped down the side road.


    Hey! Sara called after me.


    I stopped and turned back. Yeah?


    Youre not bad in a fight.


    Neither are you.


    Point is, some of our recon guys saw a team of Users take down some big ape thing earlier, and it dropped a half-dozen lux. Not sure how many of us are left, or if wed even be up to something like that. But if the easy pickings run out, and we decided to take something big on, give you a call? Well split everything evenly.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong><ol><li><strong> User: ???, ss: ???, LVL: ???</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: NPC, LVL: N/A</strong></li><li><strong> User: Matt, ss: Page, LVL: 5.</strong></li><li><strong> Custom Entry</strong></li></ol>


    I stared at the fourth option. Custom entry had never been an option before. Out of curiosity, I selected it.


    <strong></strong>


    Anotheryer. The safest option was to say no. It seemed unlikely Sara would rip me off. Shed had an opportunity to steal the lux from me already when I lost track of the grocery bag, and she hadnt taken it. But the Overseer had just given everyone an excellent reason to be suspicious. On the other hand, with the way this was panning out and the dubious value of each lux, it was entirely possible Id find myself in ate-stage position where Id need just a little more.


    One paranoia beat out the other, and I selected option four. Maybe shed eventually make the connection between having trouble remembering what I looked like and the ordinator the Overseer was talking about, and the choice woulde back to bite me, but I doubted it. She had no idea what I looked like thanks to the <strong></strong> and the contact info gave her precious little to go on.


    What kind of name is Myrrdin? Sara asked.


    Welsh, I called back.


    /////


    The next few hours were more draining than any I could remember. After hearing what happened to Tyler and Sara, I avoided interiors as much as possible, opting to grab whatever lux I could find out in the open.


    Ellison had messaged me notes he and Iris had gathered from the Open Forum. They were surprisingly detailed, more dossiers than note-sheets, though given Ellisons talent for hiding in in sight and Iriss preternatural affinity for lip-reading, I really should have expected this. My siblings were always thorough. They had to be. I skimmed them, intending to read them all in more detailter.


    Rodricks Lodge was the group with the most presence in my region. My brief encounter with them had left an unpleasant taste in my mouth, but if their presence meant more hands on deck, I had no intention toin.


    Id switched the grocery bag out for a satchel Id found in the cracked open disy of a clothing store. Though it was more secure, it annoyed me to realize that the glow from the lux still showed through, making it entirely obvious to anyone who happened to be looking exactly what the contents of the satchel were.


    The undercurrent of anxiety escted with every lux I found. I was up to five now, and more and more Users were looking my way as I passed them on the motorcycle, res sent my way growing more dark, more hungry.


    <em>Dont push it.</em>


    I reluctantly turned back. From what Sara said, once the lux was banked in a receptacle, it was impossible to retrieve. I had no intention of tempting fate. On my return journey, I found my thoughts preupied with Rodricks Lodge. We knew they had a vendor. Kinsley could restrict sales through the site, but if a group had a vendor on hand, that was an entirely different matter.


    Drop off the lux. Get a handle on things. Make sure Rodricks Lodge wasnt going to fuck it all up. I took a hair-pin turn, heading down an abandoned side street, stillmitted to avoiding downtown if at all possible.


    With all that was going through my mind, it was a miracle I saw it. I have no idea why it didnt trigger <strong></strong> Maybe because it was stationary rather than moving.


    It was an apartment building in the midst of a raging fire that saved me. Orange light reflected off the wire like a horizontal re. It was pulled taut across the road at neck level. There was no time to do anything apart from react.


    I squeezed the break and the clutch hard, yelling out in pain as the bike toppled, sending me sliding along the asphalt as I cradled my head.


    A dozen sprinting footsteps raced towards me.


    Get the bag and the bikein that order! Someone shouted from the back.

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80


    The words shot adrenaline through me like a spike in the heart. I couldnt feel the pain from the impact and had no idea how bad my injuries were.


    All that mattered was keeping whoever it was from getting my satchel.


    Just as that thought flew through my mind, the strap tightened against my chest as someone pulled at it from behind. A boot mmed into my stomach in a kick that was more ser than any sort of martial art.


    I grunted, fighting shock as my insides recoiled, wrapping myself around the leg, trying to shield myself from a slow downpour of kicks and blows.


    <em>Wait for an opening.</em>


    <strong></strong> told me there were more than five of them. Their blows werent remotely simr in strength to the Matriarch, or either of the gnolls Id fought, but they still had the ground advantage. A nice, expansive surface of asphalt served as a backboard, ensuring every inkling of energy from their strikes rattled my body.


    Fucking give it up! The man Id been clinging to tore his leg free and rose up, with the clear intention of stomping on my face.


    I declined his offer.


    <em>Now.</em>


    In the split second he was off-bnce with the others hesitant to get in his way, I pulled <strong></strong> from my inventory and jammed it behind his knee-cap. He screamed and toppled.


    A stream of something dark and viscous bled from the knife and the terror in the mans scream escted as Talia half emerged, only the top-half of her body formed as she chomped into the mans side like a carnivorous genie.


    Two men and a woman rushed me at the same time. Considering the situation, I couldnt me them. Real life isnt an action movie. In an actual brawl, the mooks arent going to line up and take turns. They were far more likely to use the numbers to their advantage and amp up the brutality.


    I had to do the same.


    I shrugged the coil of rope off my shoulder and threw the bundle of it up in the air. Audrey extended out horizontally and snared two men, wrapping her vines around their necks and torsos in seconds and binding them together. Exposed skin bulged out of the tether. When they struggled, Audreys thorns dug in tighter.


    <strong></strong> guided me. I swiveled beneath the womans wild lunge, only realizing after the fact that shed had a garden-variety utility knife in her hand, and drove two lightning quick punches directly into her jaw with the same hand. She spun like a top.


    That should have been enough. Between the horrifying entry of the two summons and the brutality of the conflict. It wasnt. Perhaps, given the context of what was happening, and the sheer quantity of monsters these people had likely seen in thest few hours, an oversized wolf and a nt simply werent intimidating enough.


    An explosion rang out, and I felt like someone had pped me in the forehead. I staggered backwards, feeling more surprised than anything else, and blood began to run freely into my eyes.


    <em>Shot. Ive been shot.</em>


    The sluggish thought rattled in the back of my mind as I tried desperately to get a better perspective on what was happening.


    Reeling, I grabbed the woman by the convenient handle of a tightly bound ponytail, yanking her over, so her body covered mine, hunting for the source of the gunfire. I pulled <strong></strong> from my inventory and held it to her neck. As the womans organs lit up, and I roughly wiped the blood from my eyes, I got a decent view of the scene for the first time.


    Five of them were on the ground. Two more waited toward the back. One with a golf club, the other with a gun. A small crowd of nearly a dozen people were farther back, expressions terrified. The one with the gun was staring off into open air, looking at nothing, and still confused at what he saw.


    <em>Civilians. Except the gunman. Hes a User looking at a warning message for the first time.</em>


    Both Audrey and Talia had looked up from the people they were preupied with on the ground, startled by the sound.


    It was like there was a resistant mental switch I had to toggle in my mind. Id reacted entirely on instinct, as if I was being attacked by monsters in a dungeon. Even now, I was fighting the urge to dispatch the woman in my arms as she wed at the back of her head where I still gripped her, shouting obscenities.


    <em>Dont kill them if you can manage it.</em> I sent the mental message to Talia and Audrey. Talia released the throat of a man who immediately scurried out from underneath her and bolted. Audrey opened her mouth, releasing a half chewed hand of an unconscious man as it plopped onto the ground.


    <em>And if they die of blood loss?</em> Talia asked.


    <em>Because they pushed this? Their problem. </em>


    Aloud, I spoke to the man with the gun. You stupid motherfucker. I used <strong></strong> to amplify my voice in his mind, tagging it with as much fear as I could heap on. He took a step back. His expression and bedraggled appearance gave the impression of a person whod been living hard far before the system ever came into being.


    The man shifted backward slightly. The ample use of suggestion wasnt enough to scare him. He was used to conflict, used to being scared. He jutted his chin towards me in defiance.


    Big strong man, hiding behind a little girl like that.


    Little? She was a head taller than me, with strong arms, and extremely sharp nails. Between her broken jaw and my bleeding forehead, it was hard to say who was more damaged. Keep fighting. I whispered into her ear, pressing <strong></strong> into her neck. See if I dont carve you open to send a message.


    That, tagged with a healthy dose of terror, seemed to get through. The woman stopped fighting.


    In the back, I could see some individuals from the crowd beginning to nk out, opportunistic eyes glittering beneath the blood-red sky.


    <em>Control the crowd.</em>


    They made a decent effort. Talia had far more sess with a rapid series of throaty barks, but they didnt seem to recognize how dangerous Audreys vines could be and began to skirt around her.


    <em>This isnt working.</em>


    I directed my attention to the gunman. He had some experience. With the way he sighted the gun, keeping his stance firm, I could tell he would likely fire at the first opportunity. Alright. Listen up, dipshit. You just shot a User. This is clearly your first rodeo, so Im going to make it easy for you. That system text on your left? Thats your only goddamn warning


    As soon as he looked away from the gun at the system text, I fired. Id pulled my hand crossbow and kept it hidden, nose shoved up against the womans back, aligned in a ce the shot would miss any vital organs and pass through without impacting bone.


    I was aiming for his stomach. A gut-shot could easily be fatal in normal circumstances, but it was a slow enough death that health potions would make a difference. Brutal, but I needed to scare the hell out of the crowd to keep them from rushing me. I wasnt even sure it would work. Id only used the crossbow on monsters before, never humans. They rarely prated deeply, but then again, I hadnt really spent much time fighting fleshy, easy to target monsters.


    The bolt shredded through the womans side andnded


    Well. With the diminished speed, it hit lower than intended. The mans scream was around an octave higher than his previous bristling baritone, more a wail than shout as he copsed to the ground, hands clenching wildly as he dropped to the ground holding himself.


    I targeted four different individuals in separate sections of the crowd, stoking their already ample terror with <strong></strong> sending them horrifying images of crossbow bolts leaving gaping wounds. Sensing what I was doing, Audrey and Talia amped up their theatrics until the entire crowd was all but sprinting away. All-too-mindful of the time I was wasting, I went through the inventories of the injured people on the ground, checking for health potions. Thankfully, I found nearly a dozen, and administered one each as quickly as possiblyexcept for the gunman, who was still presiding in the gray space between blissful oblivion and a metric fuckton of pain.


    You gonna kill me? He asked between hissed breaths, each word abor.


    I reached up for the first time and touched my head. Some part of me had feared the wound was serious, and Id been afraid to check it. There were countless stories of people who were shot in the head and remained conscious until the shock and adrenaline wore out. What I found was a tender groove where some of my hair had been stripped in an extended line.


    <em>Graze.</em>


    Really should, I said. My heart, which had slowed, now hammered at the prospect. He was a User actively hampering the Lux gathering process. In a state of emergency like this, there was no question it was justified. Something about that line of thought gave me pause. Like it was too easy. I held the knife in one hand, a potion in the other. Why the hell are you and your people out here ying Mad Max?


    He peered at me, brow furrowed in pain. Have you looked around?


    Your Users


    The manughed in frustration, then cringed. G-gone. There werent many to begin with. As soon as shit starteding out of the ground, they left for the outskirts. Im the only one who stuck aroundOh god oh fuck that hurts. He curled up into a fetal position. I studied him. Before he folded like a wet paper bag, there was a hint of pride there, the neighborhood level of loyalism that, in my experience, tended to be stubbornly resilient.


    His radio chirped, followed by a scratchy voice. Jake, half your people just ran face-first into the region wall. Whats happening


    I reached over and rotated the dial for the radio mounted on his hip, until it clicked off.


    With that done, I looked at my map. Bncing staying out of downtown with a time efficient route, Id more than likely have to pass through here again. There were other routes, but each presentedplications.


    Region nine, right? I asked.


    Yes.


    How many of you are up to this shit?


    Most of us. The ones who arent cowering in their homes at least.


    Kinda fucked up, Jake.


    Try watching Users speed by with Lux for hours and tell me you wouldnt start to panic. And it aint Jake. Its Jacob.


    Thatst part really pertinent information right now?


    If youre gonna kill me, it is. I hate it when people call me Jake. His face was growing paler, jaw rotating in small, circr motions. I was losing him.


    Resilience could be useful. But if this was going to work, I would need to lean hard on Suggestion. Which meant I needed a way to make him as agreeable as possible.


    I have a question, Jacob. I began. And the way you answer will drastically affect our rtionship in the near future.


    What? He asked. No idea if that was his answer, or if the pain had grown so badly he missed what I said.


    I held the potion up to his face. Just trying to get a rough estimate. On a scale of one to ten, how motivated are you to undo the mess youre clutching now?


    For the first time, he stopped moaning and looked straight at me. Thats gonna be a ten.

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81


    It took more than a few uses of <strong></strong> to get Jacob to the point where he wasnt going to try to kill me as soon as my back was turned. Subsequently, he was amenable enough. Even helpful.


    One of the big problems with this entire set-up was the utterck ofmunication. On some level, I suspected that was the point. Cutting off our phones, enabling voice chat at thest minute, it all felt like an intentional move to cut down the likelihood of coordination between regions.


    I voiced this thought to Jacob, and he nodded along thoughtfully. He made something of a strange image, now that he wasnt trying to shoot me. His ratty button-down shirt wasplimented by denim shorts that were soaked red with blood. Despite the rather terrifying aftermath still visible, his injuries seemed all but healed.


    Skinny alien man is trying to get us to go all Lord of the Flies, Jacob said. Scare the hell out of people, limit ess to food, then put weapons in their hands.


    For a person who was trying to curb stomp me less than fifteen minutes ago, that was surprisingly astute. Well, its clearly working.


    People up top are always trying to get the lessplicated folk to scrabble at the bottom. Its nothing new. Jacob winced, shifting from side to side. He gave me a worried look. My group project might have turned into a solo-venture.


    I blinked. You mean


    Yeh. Other ones all numb. Cant find it. Jacob reached down, and I made a pointed effort to not watch what he was doing as he <em>adjusted</em> himself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him jump up and down, then give a little hip shake. Its probably just rescinded or something.


    Oh yeah, of course. Probably fine.


    There was an awkward pause.


    Theres been plenty of people who did okay with only one, right? Jacob asked.


    Uh. Sure. Napoleon, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lance Armstrong I winced. Maybe not Lance Armstrong.


    Or the other guy.


    Or him, yeah.


    I really needed to get moving, but I was trying to give Jacob room to breathe. He cocked his head.


    Would you consider Tom Green sessful? Jacob thought out loud.


    We should really get back to the matter at hand, I finally interjected.


    You got it, boss.


    That was the second time since Id healed his injury and revealed ways for us to coordinate that Jacob had called me boss. It wasnt a thought Id put in his head. Id initially assumed it was a colloquial fluke, yet he seemed to be rolling with it. All around us, the civilians were slowlying back. The threatening, dangerous vibe had diminished somewhat, but was still there. They seemed to look at the others Id left on the ground, now sitting ufortably on the curb, and realize theyd dodged a bullet. Still, I kept one hand on my satchel.


    Jacob turned to address them. I think, after what just happened, it''s time to change things up. A lone User almost wiped us out. The only way we keep that from happening again is by shifting strategies. Our first big problem: these. He cued me, and I held up the bag of lux. There isnt a way to hide them. Even at an off angle, you can probably make a ballpark guess of how many are inside this bag.


    Why is he still here? Someone asked. It was the woman Id fired through. She was still sitting on the curb, recovering, but had leaned forward, a mean look in her eye.


    I cleared my throat and stepped forward. Even through the mask, I felt the jittery nerves from public speaking. People are dying. We need to end this as soon as possible. Right now, everyones acting independently. Theres no way of monitoring which regions have lux, and which regions are tapped out. Thats where all of youe in.


    Jacob, sensing I was struggling, stepped up. Same setup. Scouts,munications, people posted everywhere. The difference is, we track any Users passing through our regions and let them through.


    There was a mbering of anger that went through the crowd. Jacob held up his hands. I know, were all angry and scared. Its not fair that most of our people took off, but we have alternatives. Once the User heavy areas are fortified, our friend here expects them to fan out, help fortify the rest of the regions.


    <em>If theres actually enough for all of them.</em>


    It didnt feel good leaving that out. I started to speak, fighting through an errant stutter. I-if any of you have friends or family in other regions, contact them through voice chat. We need people at the receptacles counting, and other people watching for the flow of lux.


    A woman raised her hand. I know someone in region fifteen.


    My ex-wifes in twelve.


    I stepped away and pulled up the interface to send a message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Jacob and Sara did most of the organization, although the former didnt seem to like thetter very much. I grew more confident in my selection of Jacob as a representative by the minute. He had a real understanding of hismunity, and was able to silence any dissenting voices, either logically or by rampant use of profanity.


    Before I left, we had initial cooperation from region 7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 17, and 19. Even in regions that were User heavy, the civilians were itching for something to do. Surprisingly, none of the regions had declined. We just didnt have a way to get in touch with the missing ones.


    Id toggled the mental switch, ensuring that they didnt all forget me the moment I walked away. Jacob was juggling voice chat and his radio when I began to make my exit. A few eyes followed me, but it wasnt with the same hungriness as before.


    I pulled my motorcycle off the ground for the second time, wincing at the damage my two untimely dismounts had done to the paint. I really had to stop dropping it like that, or there was a good chance of more than just cosmetic damage.


    A man in khakis and balding brown hair ran up to me. I nearly drew my crossbow, but stopped at thest second, hand tense at my side.


    Problem?


    Which direction are you heading? He asked.


    South. Im not certain why I answered. Something about his panic felt authentic, like there wasnt an agenda behind him asking.


    Going through region six by chance?


    Region six was slightly out of my way, but only slightly. Could be. Why?


    My kid, his wife, and a few friends I have there went quiet. And its not just me. A few of us have family there and no one''s saying shit.


    I tapped my fingers on the grips of my bike, voicing a hm. From a cautious perspective, that sounded bad. The sort of thing I should stay away from. Still, I didnt like how close it was to my home and if there was something either disruptingmunications or wiping out entire regions, I needed to know about it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Cant promise anything other than sticking my head-in, wont have time to find anyone in particr. I said to the balding man.


    He nodded, face still tinged with worry.


    With that, I started my bike and took off in the direction of my apartmentplex.


    /////


    I was worried Id wasted too much time with Jacob and the rest of region nine on a hypothetical that wouldnt work in practice. In reality, it started paying dividends almost immediately. It helped that region 15being centrally locatedhad finished with their receptacle and immediately went to assist the neighboring regions, including Jacobs. There was no visible change when the region was fortified. I hoped that fortification meant monsters would at the very least stop spawning or be banished altogether.


    I nced over my map. There were a few marked areas around region six, but it was one of the lux-poor regions overall. I wondered if


    A feeling of danger brought my focus up front. It wasnt <strong></strong> It was something more primal, more visceral. At first, I couldnt find it. There was a small cluster of demons shredding what looked like the remains of a person on a sidewalk corner on my left, but they were preupied. The feeling wasnting from them. I was almost at a loss before I looked upward.


    Ahead was a simple office building Id passed by a hundred times before. Only there was something wrong with it.


    <em>No windows.</em>


    Keeping to my earlymitment to stop throwing the bike around like it owed me money, I came to a slow, uneasy stop a few yards away on the map from the beginning of region six.


    When I moved one foot to the ground, there was a resounding squelch. I looked down. A wave of nausea and revulsion went through me, stronger than anything Ive ever felt.


    I called Sara.


    Hello? Sara said.


    Keep I trailed off, swallowing bile. Keep your people the hell away from region six.

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82


    Myrrdin? What happened? Are you


    I ended the call with Sara.


    There were no easy answers to the questions.


    Only suspicions, all of them too horrible to voice. The underside of my jaw tingled as I struggled to keep myself from vomiting, eyes still glued to the spot my foot had impacted the ground. Beneath my boot was a piece of dark red tissue that was stretched to the point of tearing. A mix of yellow-ck liquid pooled under my foot. Almost camouged by the red lighting, a thin veneer of pink-and-red flesh extended outward. It cut off with a horizontal abruptness at what, I assumed, was the region barrier. From there, it expanded outward into the region.


    I recalled my bike into my inventory, and cautiously ced my other foot down, fully prepared to throw myself back through the barrier if it did something I didnt like. The pink flesh retreated with a gurgling slide, unrooting itself and revealing asphalt beneath.


    I took another step, then another. The flesh skirted away from me as I walked into the district, forming a perfect circle around my feet.


    <em>My armor has Eldritch resistance. Its being repelled because its Eldritch.</em>


    The feeling of wrongness was overwhelming. I passed what was once a metal city bench that was now dripping, four flesh medallions hanging from thin ropes of skin, the skin itself petechial, marred with stretch marks and abrasions. I found myself fighting to avoid mentally calcting the logistics of it. On the ground next to the bench, a simple blue pacifiery lopsided, partially immersed in the fleshyer of ground.


    Beyond it was a trail of clothes that were strewn about, as if the previous wearers had simply disappeared.


    My mind struggled to connect the two scenesthe small city block Id ridden my bike through countless times, and the twisted hellscape before me. The two images didnt connect. I knew that there was a little Mexican ce with a car theme on the corner, but the flesh covered even what remained of the sign.


    When Dad was alive, wed eat lunch there every Sunday, and go to Marble b for ice cream after.


    There was a tiny yground, just a slide and a swing that Iris frequented after those outings, rushing to the slide the moment we emerged from the restaurant, trying to maximize the number of times she could go down it before it was time to leave.


    I struggled to make sense of it in my mind.


    This was supposed to be a correction. At some point, there was a lesson to be learned.


    What the fuck was the lesson in this?


    Movement.


    I spun, searching for the source. Just down the street, an ankle-high wave of flesh rippled, and a metallic object reflecting light appeared at the top of the wave,nding t. The wave came again, carrying the object another few inches along the ground and struggling to raise it up to the curb.


    Keeping careful watch on my surroundings, I jogged towards it. The flesh became less reticent as I passed, more daring. As if cognizant of my destination, it began to raise before my feet, sizzling as it made contact, trying desperately to trip me.


    It nearly seeded more than once, my heightened Agility helping to restore my bnce and keep me moving in the right direction.


    The flesh around the object intertwined and transformed into a jointless finger, pushing the object up onto the curb. I intercepted it, recognizing the object before I grabbed it. It was smaller, less vibrant than the monster or User cores had been.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Down both streets on the crossroads, I saw hundreds of tiny cores being pushed in my direction. Several orbs of lux alongside them.


    The idea of righteous anger has always been something Ive looked down on. Its rarely more than a farce at best, a paper thin excuse to impose moral strictures on others at worst.


    But right then?


    I felt it. A rage as white and hot as the sun itself, burning slowly ever since Jinny died, that spread. I gave myself a moment, and stared up at the blood-soaked sky and removed my mask. The anger stoked within me, growing stronger and hotter until it consumed every other emotion. What did people do when they felt like this?


    If I were Nick, I probably would have screamed my rebellion to the heavens. But I wasnt Nick. And as devouring as the anger was, I knew, given the announcement at the beginning of the transposition event, that the Overseer was likely watching me in particr.


    <em>If you mess this up? </em>


    <em>If you fail to take me off the board early, and I gain even a fraction of the power of those Ordinators in the footage you showed?</em>


    <em>Ill find you.</em>


    I reced the mask, allowing the anger to slowly wink out to nothing. Once it was dispelled to the point I trusted my judgment again, I walked in the direction the flesh was pushing the core. There was a set of double-doors that led into a small shop that looked like abination of a grocery and hardware store. The flesh became thicker, unwilling to move. It grasped at my feet, doubling its efforts to stop me. There was an orb of lux being pushed towards a dark hallway in the back, emitting red light.


    The receptacle was a simple ss column, chest high, with a silver rim. It was over three-quarters full, and radiated with a dull red light. There was a single lux on the ground, being slowly pushed towards a desated upper torso embedded in a wall. He was so disfigured it was difficult to identify him as once being human, little more than an arm, ribcage, spine and a gaping-mouthed skull with hollowed out eyes. He strained his one arm towards the lux on the ground.


    I scooped it up just out of his reach, hopping away when he lunged at me with a feral growl, only to snap back against the wall. Then I studied the lux with a frown, ncing back at the receptacle. Even with the variable quality of the lux, not nearly enough hadnded in the region for it to be that full.


    Unless


    I half-walked, half-ran out of the room, as the weight of something very heavy settled over my shoulders. The tingly feeling of a panic attack was settling over me, only held back by <strong></strong> and the mask.


    With shaking hands, I pulled up my contact list and called Kinsley. In the background, I saw the collective allotment of civilian cores and lux drawing ever closer.


    Thanks for calling bargain bin potions, where we give our items away for a literal steal, Kinsley said.


    The receptacles can be filled with civilian cores. Maybe Users, too, I said, the wordsing out in a rush.


    Oh. Okay, um, thats bad. Howd you find that out?


    Some eldritch monsteror hive of monsters, I dont know, wiped out region six. Theyre using civilian cores and lux to fill the receptacle here.


    Wait. The <em>monsters</em> are fortifying the region?


    I needI need a touchstone. That would normally be Nick, but Nicks gone, and Im lost in the wind here. I think I know what to do, but if Im wrong If Im wrong


    There was a moment of silence, and the background noise from Kinsleys voice call faded. When she spoke again, her voice was steel. Tell me.


    Theyre not just monsters. The people are still here. Their cores are gone, and theyve been twisted into something awful, but theyre still here. And theyre trying to fill their receptacle.


    Matt, are you okay? Ive never heard you sound this shaken.


    I pressed a hand to my forehead and found the mask instead. I made a mistake, Kinsley. I thought I had it all worked out and handled. Then someone died.


    The core you sent?


    Yes.


    Someone you cared about?


    No. Then after a moment. Maybe. I dont know. It doesnt matter.


    It wasnt your fault.


    One of the cores came close, and I kicked it away, sending it skittering across the fleshy ground. I hated it when people said that. My voice was cold. Yes. It was. People like us dont get to make mistakes.


    I could practically hear Kinsley throwing her arms into the air in frustration. <em>Fine.</em> How exactly does that trante to this?


    For now, whatever happened to them is contained to the region, I said, tapping my fingers against the wall. The question is what happens after they fortify?


    Best guess?


    Whatevers happening here spreads to the surrounding regions. But


    What if fortifying changed them back? Kinsley realized.


    Exactly.


    It took her a long time to respond. Meanwhile, I kicked away several cores and lux orbs, setting their progress back by minutes.


    Matt. Listen to me. Im not there. I cant see it, I have no idea how bad it would be if whatevers happening there got out.


    I know.


    But I can tell you that I trust you. I trust your judgment. Maybe more now that I know youre human and dont always get it right.


    I rolled my eyes. I thought you were getting antsy. And what you just said doesnt make any sense.


    Trusting and wanting to not be left in the dark are two different things. But thats irrelevant right now. Go with your gut. WhatShit, Ive gotta go.


    There was a beep indicating the voicemunication had ended.


    With Kinsley gone, I stared out at the wastnd of encroaching flesh.


    And made the call.

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83


    That was it.


    There was nothing more to say, no other discussions or negotiations to be had. Id consulted both Kinsley, and afterwards Talia. Talia hadnt known anything of the Eldritch, her advice remarkably neutral, as Kinsleys had been.


    Its ironic, in a way. When youre conditioned to take the selfish option for the sake of survival its easy to make decisions. Everything is binary. Plus or minus. Positive or negative. ck, or white. Its when you have to think outside yourself, consider multiple factors, that the colors begin to bleed.


    A movie yed on repeat in my mind.


    Scene after scene of the people beneath my feet, losing their minds in a never-ending haze of pain and confusion, losing consciousness as their neurons extended, merging with muscle tissue, nerve-endings, and violently twisting organs.


    Then, slowly, some sort of amalgam of consciousness and sanity emerging as they realizedthrough a lens of endless agonywhat they needed to do to make it stop. Painstakingly, they learned to move their form, coordinate, struggling against their senseless transformation, slowly moving the fuel to end their suffering, working tirelessly to fill the receptacle as their cruel reality of their body fought against them.


    And after they finally filled it, a wave of transcendent blue-and-green magic descended on the scene like the aurora borealis. Slowly, painfully, the sea of flesh separated, dividing up as bodies mended over the course of hours. Given the size difference, the baby who dropped their pacifier would be first, along with any other children in the region. Wails and cries of the young and abandoned would rise over the region, quieting slowly, one at a time, as their parents came to im them. Desecrated families, restored.


    A hundred-thousand people. Potentially more. All with a second chance at life.


    I wasnt going to kid myself. Pretend this fate was better than living out whatever the next few months in the dome would be like.


    Anything was better than this.


    A ball of lux approached the doorway. I watched it, impassively. The flesh and ground had thinned out around me, so it was difficult going, a single, finger-like protrusion propelling the lux forward in a series of slow, ineffectual taps.


    I went down on one knee and reached out, stopping the globe in ce.


    Another finger formed, emerging from the pool of flesh, prodding at the lux, as if unsure what had stopped it. An eye opened on the ground a few inches, blinking several times before it squinted at the lux. The fingers prodded at the lux again.


    My hand shook as I held it firm.


    Something whispered in my ear. Phliiithe


    I searched for the source of the voice, finding a half formed hole in the doorway, a protrusion hanging beneath it that vaguely resembled a lung.


    Pleeeeess another voice said, the source vaguely off to my left.


    Pleaaaase


    Save usss


    So cold


    Is someone there anyone


    Please


    There was a possibility this was all just a shadow-y. Maniption by an entity that wanted nothing more than to devour and spread. Still, I forced myself to look. To listen to their mewling, desperate voices. That felt important, though I couldnt begin to justify the reasoning.


    A frail, skeleton-like hand shot out from the ground, fingers closing around my wrist. It was the most intact portion of a human Id found, besides the wall-monster loading the receptacle. It flinched at the sensation as the flesh bubbled where it made contact with my armor. I nearly grabbed it to wrench it free, when a skinless face emerged from the ground beside it. It stared up at me with an eternal grimace, the pain in its expression all too clear. Its head was too small to be an adults.


    <em>Does the entity know I have siblings?</em>


    <em>Does it even matter?</em>


    Why Its voice was middle-pitched and raw, riddled with vocal cord damage.


    If you fill the container, whatever happened here might spread to others.


    My name is Joshua Denbrough


    Were not organized enough to stop it, if that happens.


    I live at  three zero four five Oakwood Avenue Apartment five eight two


    Countless people will die. My voice cracked.


    I want to go home. Take me home? It stared up at me, hand still disintegrating on my arm. For just a moment, I could see the boy he once was. High cheek-bones, a tight-lipped mouth that rarely smiled, and deep-sunk eyes.


    In another life, he could have so easily been me.


    I said the words. The most useless words in the Englishnguage. The same words I hated more than anything. Words Id heard so many times theyd lost all meaning.


    They were all I had to offer.


    Im sorry.


    Gently, I pulled the brittle fingers loose one at a time, and removed his hand from my arm. He didnt fight me. None of them did. I think it would have been simpler if they had, rising and shrieking, wailing against me, the monster showing its true face.


    But no. Nothings ever that easy. All they did was watch.


    I picked up the Illuminating Lux and loaded it in my bag. Eventually, I released my summons to help with the work. The flesh facsimile had done well, organizing all the cores and moving them out onto the main thoroughfare, but there were just too many for me to gather alone.


    Audrey and Talia took to the work grimly, seeming to sense the wrongness of the ce. Audrey was able to carry multiple cores and lux in her vines, while Talia picked up a maximum of two at a time in her mouth, making up for the smaller number with speed.


    Even with the three of us working side-by-side, it took nearly an hour to ensure wed scoured everywhere, surrounded by constant whispering


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    After a certain number, the system began updating me by the amount of the human cores, popping up from time to time to notify me.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There wasnt a notification for it, but I also found three Illuminating Lux.


    Some distant, detached part of me was curious about the Legendary User Core. The rest of me couldnt be bothered to care. Id need to look at it eventually, maybe it held some clue to the greater mechanics of what was happening, but now wasnt the time.


    I grabbed a bottle of bright-orange spray paint from a small hardware store and took one more loop around the region, checking for any missed cores as I drew a skull and crossbones on all the main thoroughfares, with arrows signaling to detour. Considering the breadth of what was happening in the rest of the city, it was possible most people wouldnt notice. But some would. And if I could mitigate the chances that the wrong person stumbled into the region, it was worth the extra time.


    The moreplete bodies had be moremon the longer Id lingered. They didnt seem to do much. Perhaps if Id waited another hour for the muscture to fully form, they would have.


    I called Sara as I sped away, pointedly not looking at my rearview mirrors. There was a wetness on my cheeks, likely perspiration from how long Id been wearing the mask.


    Myrddin? Sara said. Why the hell did you hang up? I thought you died.


    Everyone in Region Six is gone.


    Everyone? Sara asked, stunned.


    Did you not hear me? I was yelling over the sound of the engine, probably louder than I needed to. Theyre gone. Its bad, Sara. Chernobyl bad.


    Jesus.


    I saved your life, and your guild masters life. You fucking owe me.


    Uh. Yeah, you did. Whats with the hard sell?


    I did what I could. It screwed with my head and I cant think straight. Theres still room for human error. Think Pandoras box, but worse. You need to get everyone in thework to stay clear, especially people with rtives or friends there. Lie. Bullshit. Whatever you have to do.


    Zombies? Her voice was tinged with disbelief.


    Way fucking worse.


    God, worse than zombies, why am I not surprised. Ill handle it. You don''t have to call in favors to get me to keep people out of harm''s way. Sara hesitated. Myrddin, how much off-time have you had since this whole thing started?


    Theres no paid lunch in the fucking apocalypse, Sara.


    Youre swearing more


    Really!


    And you literally screamed at me when I asked you to repeat yourself.


    Had I? I didnt remember it being that explosive, but now that she mentioned it, my throat was raw.


    When was thest time you took a breather? Sara reiterated, emphasizing every word.


    Do inter-region negotiations and pondering existential horror count? I snapped.


    No. I dont think they do, Sara said quietly.


    Then I had to think about it. Id been running on high alert ever since I sprinted out of the tunnel Jinny died in. Even then, in the chaos, it was hard to say. I dont know.


    Were six hours in, Myrddin. It doesnt even have to be a long break. Just take five.


    Im holding lux, I cant exactly pull over.


    Ill guide you to a safe zone, theres not many, but theyre well spaced out and more are cropping up as time goes on. Tell me where you are.


    I nearly told her. That alone spoke to the fact that she was right about how tired I was. I bit my tongue before I could rattle off the cross-streets. When wed met, shed let me keep one lux. Nine was a different thing. Five dors on the street versus a bank-bag stuffed with cash.


    Sara seemed to realize why I was hesitating. You dont trust me.


    ItsI dont trust easy.


    No, thats smart. Other Users are getting more problematic as time moves on, I dont me you. Just take five minutes for yourself when you drop off the lux? Weve already lost enough good people today. From the unsteadiness in her voice, I gathered that she wasnt just talking about the scout.


    I forced myself to stop gripping the motorcycle like I was choking the life out of it.


    Okay. I will. Stay safe.


    You too.


    ////


    I flew by my apartmentplex, pushing seventy. Thest thing I wanted to do was open myself up to ast-second ambush and interception. There were a few Users milling around near the receptacle, decked out guys I recognized from both the gear and self-important airs as being from Rodericks lodge.


    And just beyond them, in a small clearing, was the region two receptacle.

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84


    There were too many people around, and I was moving too quickly to see how full the receptacle was. Civilians, both neighbors Id known for years and some I didnt, were lingering in a cluster around the receptacle.


    I pulled the front and back breaks evenly, not waiting for the motorcycle to stop before I jumped off and recalled it into my inventory.


    The crowd was thick enough that I felt a knot of anxiety settle in my gut, even in the guise of the mask. There were too many people I didnt recognize. Any of them could be Users from another region.


    A few people had turned around at the loudness of my entrance. As I ran closer, they seemed to clock the glowing satchel over my shoulder and parted ways. A thick man, seemingly half as wide as he was tall, stood in my way. He was wearing gray scaled armor, and openly wielded a pole-arm with a pointed tip, not unlike a spear with an extraordinarily long shaft.


    Hold up. Where youing in from?


    I didnt like the small smirk at the side of his mouth. Maybe he was just an asshole, maybe he was hiding something. The one thing I knew was that I didnt have time for assholes.


    I reached into his mind with <strong></strong> He was simple, so it was easy. Like reassembling a remote control. Something Id noticed as suggestion had leveled up, was the simpler or more vulnerable the target mind was, the more I could do with it. I couldnt read mindsactual, direct thoughtsbut I was beginning to recognize emotions in theirtent form without previous context.


    And Grayscale was scared. Terrified. I was rolling without <strong></strong> as equipping any title that wasnt <strong></strong> seemed like a terrible idea in my current state, so it was mostly conjecture, but based on how scared he was I guessed his machismo put-on and likely self-appointed role as warden of the region two receptacle was all window dressing. An attempt to control what little he could, while the world went to hell around him.


    There was a tiny dark knot of trauma.


    I stabbed at it viciously with my mind, connecting it to his fear, reawakening whatever it was that had initially unsettled him so badly.


    <em>Do you really want to screw with the guy who just brought back that many Lux solo?</em>


    Grayscales lip pulled tight and his tough-guy gaze averted away from me as he quickly stepped aside. I passed him, then thought better of it. All that fear could easily turn to resentment. He was vulnerable. Sometimes, if you give a neutral party something to do, some hoop to jump through to make them feel valued, its easier to flip themter.


    I answered his question. North. This is my region. Where are we at with the receptacle?


    Grayscale averted direction for the second time in five seconds, looking slightly whished, and fell in step with me. Rodricks people have been putting in work. They were hitting a good stride, but ran into something nasty. Lot of casualties. Since then, progress has stalled.


    Stalled as in stopped?


    Almostpletely. Last lux we had came in almost an hour ago.


    Fuck me.


    I hear that.


    Watch my back while I make the drop? I studied him after I said it. The first hoop was following me, answering my questions. This was the second hoop and the buy-in. If he agreed, it opened him up as a possible resource.


    He hesitated, just long enough to confirm he wasntpletely thoughtless, before he nodded. Finally, enough people had parted in the crowd that I could see the receptacle itself. It was positioned on a cracked portion of sidewalk next to a rusty USPS postal box.


    I hissed through my teeth. The receptacle was barely more than a quarter full.


    Thats it? Really?


    Grayscale scratched the back of his neck. The girl said each lux has a different hidden value. Most of the shit Rodericks people brought back didnt do much.


    What girl? I asked absentmindedly as I loaded the first lux into the receptacle. It clinked as it hit the bottom, the top curvature of the sphere still visible as it melted into nothing. I fought the urge to back off from the receptacle to see how much progress had been made, all-too-aware of how much was left in my satchel.


    You havent been back since this started?


    No. I was north, like I said.


    The little merchant girl, Kinsley.


    The world tilted. I was d the lux in my hands wasnt fragile. Otherwise, there would have been a real risk of shattering it. Somehow, I managed to keep my voice calm and collected.


    Didnt know we had a merchant.


    Mhm. Grayscale hummed in agreement. The one behind the system market, apparently. Just a kid, so thats how shes been keeping it on the low-down. Shes a smart one.


    Not that smart.


    Say again?


    Nothing.


    I loaded three more manually, then lost patience, turning the satchel upside down and backing away as the remaining lux dissipated, filling the receptacle. At the rate it was going, I found myself hoping that it would fully ascend to the top, despite knowing how unlikely that was.


    The rising volume of the receptacle stopped abruptly at the halfway point. There was a sporadic rise of cheers and apuse. Someone pped me on the back.


    <em>It isnt enough.</em>


    I nced at the transposition countdown clock.


    <strong></strong>


    God dammit.


    We were barely keeping pace. If I couldnt get things moving again, and it slowed to crawl permanently, we were fucked.


    I took three steps backward, my body feeling exorbitantly heavy. Saras warning to stop and take a break weighed tantalizingly on me. Almost involuntarily, I leaned against the post box, the small of my back feeling immediate relief from the support.


    My mind went to the tunnel. How Id watched the timer tick down, unable to force myself to move.


    <em>Cant do it, Sara.</em>


    No. I couldnt stop now. Not until this was over. After region six, the risk of going catatonic again was too high. Id pay for it, eventually, but only after my region was safe.


    My entire body fought against me as I shifted my bnce away from the post box. I nearly overcorrected, but Grayscale caught my arm before I could stumble. Easy. That was a good haul.


    I shrugged it off. Not good enough. Point me to the merchant? Need to restock, and Im not keen on waiting for the twenty-minute delivery.


    Youre going back in? Grayscale asked, his brow furrowed in disbelief.


    No choice.


    Shes with Rodericks guys. Grayscale pointed to the small, rundown duplex on the corner. It was a crackhouse before, peopleing and going at all hours of the night untilst summer when the police emancipated the upants for the fifth time. Not sure why the fifth time stuck, rather than the third or fourthmaybe that was just their threshold for being forcibly evicted, or they just found a better spotbut itd been empty ever since.


    <em>No posted guards. Doesnt speak well for the state of the group.</em>


    And Kinsley was in there alone, with Rodericks people. I didnt like that.


    I passed two of Rodericks guys, who shifted out of the way. They looked beaten and beaten down in equal measure, their eyes hollowed out and bloodshot.


    Mentally toggling the mask to the highest avable setting, I watched with muted fascination as eyes slid off me. Nonchntly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, I walked into the crackhouse yard, crossed over the dying grass, bypassed the door entirely and hopped the fence.


    Voices wereing from around the back corner of the house. People in the backyard, talking. I nced through the iron-barred window. No sign of Kinsley. Half a dozen peopleid out on cots. Judging from the sheer quantity of blood sopping through their bandages, health potions were the only things keeping them alive. I dropped to a crouch, mindful of anything on the ground that would give away my footsteps. I was about to venture a peek around the corner when I heard a familiar voice ring out.


    Im already marking your shit down to almost nothing


    Fifty percent


    Shut up, blondie, the adults are talking.


    But youre not an adult.


    Do we really need him?


    Yes. Hes my second inmand.


    Fantastic. Now, Roderick, kindly tell the hand of the king to shut the fuck up, so I can exin to you exactly how unreasonable youre being.


    There was a tense silence.


    Shut the fuck up, Bob.


    Thank you, Kinsley said.


    I lowered the setting on the mask to solely cover appearance and voice, and stepped out into the open.

 Chapter 85:

    Chapter 85:


    It was a peculiar scene. There were dark-green stic loungers scattered around the backyard, which was mostly dirt. The b of cement that had once been a porch was cracked from years of neglect and shifting earth. Further back, there was a grill that was more rust than metal, absent a propane tank. A slimly built, stodgy man in white and gold armored robes was seated in an oversized deck chair that vaguely resembled a throne. A golden circlet adorned his forehead, keeping the hood of the robe pressed tightly against his skull.


    Another man stood beside him, wearing thick leathers, with a weighted bo-staff slung over his back. He was holding a notebook and a pencil, and was writing into the notebook with enough ferocity and irritation that I half-wondered if it would catch on fire. Hed gelled his blonde hair until it stuck to his head t.


    Given the position of power, I was guessing the man in the robe was Roderick, and thick-leathers was Bob.


    I hoped there was more. A lot more. Because if this was all there was to Rodericks lodge. Multiple injured men holed up in a crackhouse, with their leader bickering with a merchant outside? We were in a lot of trouble.


    Kinsley had nted herself in front of both of them, hands on her hips as she gave them three different shades of hell. You already owe me. I had to step out of the shadows and put myself in harm''s way because you idiots would rather let your people die than use the site.


    Rodericks Lodge had an exclusive rtionship with our merchant Bob interjected


    Who is where? Kinsley looked around dramatically. Are they off gathering lux? Or on a bathroom break? Do you see another merchant here, Bob?


    Bobs sulking expression intensified and he fell silent.


    We are obviously appreciative of everything the Merchants Guild has done to fill the gap, considering our current circumstances. We are already in your debt. Roderick said, all pomp and gravitas. It is only natural that we would return the favor when the opportunity presents itself.


    And what Im telling you, Roderick, Kinsley spat, Is that Im already marking things down as much as I can. As low as the system allows me. Fifty percent for healing items, sixty-percent for gear.


    We have many irons in the fire, and the beginning of operations that will bear fruit after the transposition event. Would something like a dyed payment be possible? Roderick asked.


    Kinsleys face tightened. Are you seriously asking for credit?


    To Rodericks credit, he seemed to be handling Kinsleys acerbic nature fairly well, but from the way his cheeks turned red, I could see her constant mocking was a bridge too far.


    I intervened before Roderick could say something he regretted, and walked further out into the open. Problem?


    Roderick reacted immediately, holding his hand out toward me. Instead of a wand, he held a crystal globe with drilled out finger holes, the whole presentation oddly reminiscent of a bowling ball. While I was observing Roderick warily, Bob had unslung his weighted quarterstaff and brandished it in front of him.


    I kept a casual air. Take it easy.


    Youre trespassing, Bob growled.


    Unless youve been using the chaos of the actual-fucking-apocalypse to delve into the real-estate market, Im pretty certain this house is still on the market. Were all trespassing, I said.


    Hes with me. This is my colleagueuh Kinsley trailed off.


    <strong></strong>


    Myrddin, she finished, giving me a funny look.


    Both Bob and Roderick rxed. Roderick didnt rise, just remained seated, keeping his kingly facade at the forefront. He pressed two knuckles to his jaw. Ah. One of the nameless associates. And here I was, beginning to wonder if they actually existed.


    I grimaced internally. This was already demonstrating one of many reasons Kinsleys reveal was poorly thought out. Any organization without a merchant would be looking to lock her down, and a User-centric group like the Lodge would probably prefer her online market be taken downpletely.


    Nice wasnt going to cut it. Guys like this didnt give a shit about cordiality or manners. Projecting strength was the only thing that would work here.


    Spent thest six hours scouring the city. Havent really had time to sit around and look intimidating.


    Roderick let the shot go withoutment. And what sess did you find?


    Nine lux, delivered to the receptacle five minutes ago. Plenty of witnesses around to corroborate that. And what sess did you find? I asked, letting sarcasm into my voice.


    The moment I voiced the question, Rodericks face turned dark. There was a squeaking swish as the ss door opened behind me, and two men stepped out from the rear, standing just in range of awareness, both muscled and heavy.


    Bob visibly scowled and took a step towards me.


    I hit him with <strong></strong> and drove a mental spike of intimidation into his neurons. Bob stopped, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. Roderick noticed immediately, his body tensing. He didnt raise his spell focus again, but kept it on hisp, aiming vaguely towards me.


    Kinsley was looking between everyone present, her face a mask of confusion at the change of air in the room. Sorry, sometimes he doesnt y well with others


    I dug deep for the voice, finding it quickly in the darkness. It was a voice that had always been with me, whispering in the back of my mind, mocking my mistakes, sowing doubt after doubt.


    Not much, then. Pity. I only have one question. The entire group tensed at the danger in my tone as I spoke. If my guild leader was bluffing. If she was alone. What were you going to do when the transposition event was over, Roderick?


    Roderick stared at me, his brow furrowed. It would be best to mind your tongue, and consider your circumstances.


    I let out a low, sinister chuckle. Why not. Lets do a quick rundown. Theres a particrly high fence, blocking out prying eyes. A house full of injured Users. Two bruisers behind me. Bob. And you, Roderick. Only, Bob looks a little put off for some reason. I know his type. Hell hesitate just long enough that he doesnt matter. That makes this three on one.


    Hardly even odds, Roderick countered.


    For you.


    Kinsley caught on to what I was doing almost immediately. Myrddin, we need as many people as we can to help finish the regions receptacle. Dont kill them.


    This is all posturing. Hes one man. Roderick scoffed. Everyone else didnt seem so sure.


    Yeah. Thats probably what thest group said. Want to see how that worked out for them? I reached slowly towards my belt, essing my inventory and navigating the crowded window until I found what I was looking for. With a motion as unremarkable as if I were dropping unwanted litter on the ground, I dropped a User core.


    Rodericks eyes followed it as it plopped to the ground.


    He jumped me right after I found my first three lux. Tried to pin me down while his girlfriend and friend took potshots from afar. I saved him forst. He begged for his life, and pathetic as he sounded, I almost considered it.


    I dropped another core. This one thought he and his buddies could throw me around because theyd been mainlining strength. Wailed for his mother at the end. Had no idea that was a thing that people actually did.


    It was impossible to know if anyone present could identify items from a distance, but just in case they could, I selected the higher level cores.


    Believe it or not, I didnt set out to hurt anyone when the event started. But everywhere I go, they just keep getting in my way. One by one, I dropped five more cores with each word. Bobs face grew paler as each plopped to the ground.


    Could have picked those up off corpses. People who already died from something else. One of the bruisers said. He sounded anything but confident.


    I reached into Bobs mind with <strong></strong> again. This time, I sent him a vivid image of me, ughtering everyone present with casual ease.


    Maybe, maybe not. The cores are a rare drop. One-in-four, one-in-three at most. Theres really only a couple of possibilities. Either Im full of shit and somehow miraculously survived when everyone around me was dying. Or I killed a <em>lot</em> of people today. What do you think, Bob? I asked, turning my full attention on the man.


    Bob, as ufortable as he looked, managed to avoidpletely losing hisposure. He retreated to Roderick, leaning down to whisper in the other mans ear.


    The role felt disturbinglyfortable. A natural fit. Id spent so long trying to keep my presence small and inoffensive that it was liberating, in a way, to y the viin. I kept unflinching eye-contact with Roderick as I spoke. It makes no difference to me what you choose. Killing Users isnt much different from killing monsters to me. The Users just bleed more. Better yet, Ive discovered I have a talent for it. So, the question you need to ask yourself is a simple one. Am I fucking bluffing?

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86


    A good bluff doesnt stop after the words are spoken. You cant just stand around, waiting to see if the mark will buy it. People are by andrge more sensitive to desperation than any other emotion. Its why it''s so easy to pick out a panhandler from a distance regardless of how theyre dressed, or the little feeling you get right before someone tries to sell you something.


    You have to follow through. Inhabit the lie. Wear it, like its a jacket youve owned for years.


    Thest thing I wanted was for this to turn to violence. Allowing Roderick to sense that would be a counter-intuitive and an amateur move. So, just for a moment, I let myself believe it too.


    How would I take them, if I was the monster I was pretending to be?


    Kill the caster. But not quickly. Roderick shared the conflicting priorities of being both the figurehead and a magic user. I didnt have enough information to know whether Rodericks men would care if he died, but the fact that they were all still here implied that they probably would. Openly assassinate a figurehead, and you create a martyr with a pissed off following. Maybe they crumbleter, butter wasnt helpful at the moment. Disable and render them impotent, and you create an exploitable weak point and split the oppositions attention between the injured leader and the one pressing the attack.


    <strong></strong> was the first move. Rodericks robes had sewn in golden bits of armor that protected his vitals, but his sleeves were mostly unprotected. If I could pin his source hand to the wooden deck chair, it would both render him useless and begin to sap his body heat, adding a ticking clock to the scenario. A shot to the wrist was an iffy proposition at the best of times, but with the increased uracy of the ability and the static nature of my target it fell into the category of an eptable risk.


    Distance was off, though. Needed to be just a little closer to make the shot. I took a half-step in Rodericks direction, disguising it as a pivot to face the two goons behind me.


    They were a bigger problem. Both of them were sword and board types, not unlike Nick. The biggest differential was that there were two of them. They hadnt drawn their weapons yet, but their hands were ready, fully prepared to draw. In the short time it would take me to pin Roderick to his throne, one-or-more would have already brought their weapons to bear.


    As it had been demonstrated first hand, Nicks biggest weakness was a solid nk. I needed to throw <strong></strong> at them, and I had to miss, nting the knife behind and between them. A massive snarling wolf tearing at their backs would be more than sufficient to create an opening.


    Depending on which of them had the misfortune of Talias attention, I could reposition myself, so the recalled knife struck whoever wasnt in the process of being mauled, grab the burrowed knife as it made its way out and finish the job. Then it was simple as targeting the throat, or cephalic artery. They were both wearing bracers that only provided coverage to the outside of their forearms, leaving the inside covered with nothing more than a strap.


    I was already in Bobs head. From his behavior, I knew he would likely rush to Roderick first, overestimating how much time he had for me to deal with the other two. If I took too long, and he freed the Guild Leader, that would be an issue. There was the option of using Audrey to tie him up, but I had no intention of dragging this out.


    Problem was, Bob was tall. His banded leathers looked tough, so itd be awkward for me to get at his throat if his back was to me. A well-timed use of <strong></strong> would motivate him to check the bolt-tip beneath the arm of the chair, to see if it was redsmart on Bobs part because if it wasnt, it could be pulled out quickly without causing damage rather than broken.


    Unfortunately for Bob, the bolt was red. And the moment he bent down to look, or took a knee, Id be ready.


    Then, and only then, Id kill the caster.


    It wasnt all perfect. I was trusting that Kinsley would get clear, and that given his appearance, Roderick wasnt some sort of dual-sped melee casting hybrid. But those were small variables. Within the realm of eptable deviation.


    Fifteen, twenty seconds at most.


    Tension left me, as I went over it again, and I realized something. It was actually doable. There was always a chance of some feat or special weapon screwing things up and forcing me to improvise, but barring that, I had a solid chance of taking them all off the board.


    My face felt strange, and I realized I was smiling. The tension went out of my body leaving me with a rxed feeling. My hand subconsciously reached towards my side as I mentally rehearsed movements of the draw. One of the goons nearly drew his sword before the other one stopped him, cing a hand on his arm.


    <em>Try it. See what happens.</em>


    I nced over at Roderick, waiting for him to make his decision. I was so deep in focus, that when he licked his lips and spoke, I didnt hear him. Still, no one moved.


    What was that? I asked.


    I <em>apologize</em> for the misunderstanding. Roderick said. He grimaced when he spoke, as if repeating the words pained him. We appreciate what the merchants guild has already done for the region. It would not be nearly as well-defended, and our Users and inhabitants as well-armed, were it not for Guild Master Kinsleys benevolence and generosity. I think I speak for all of us when I say the consideration of a merger was premature. And poorly thought out.


    Still notpletely buying it, I nced over at Kinsley. Benevolent was, perhaps, thest word I would use to describe her.


    Kinsley, still wearing the expression of a person who had walked into a room and discovered a bomb, recovered quickly. Not going to lie, Rodrick, Im kind of pissed you thought I was lying about my guild. Not the best foot to start a business rtionship on.


    Half my men are injured, the other half missing in action. Its not been a day for clear heads.


    Kinsley walked up to him and nted herself there. I understand. And considering the peak fucked-upedness happening in thest six hours, Im going to cut you some ck. This is what were going to do. Im going to pretend you didnt intend to supnt me. It never happened.


    Roderick looked relieved at that, but Kinsley wasnt done. In return, youre going to publicly pledge to support the Merchants Guild when this is all over. You will be a trendsetter, paving the way for other groups to do so. And you wont be the only one. Word has spread. Several groups have already reached out to me. But youll be the first. Were going to be such close allies that people will wonder if were rted.


    Something about Kinsleys tone, her cadence, caught my attention. A brief memory bubbled to the forefront of my mind. The two of us, sitting across a table from each other in the sweltering humidity of the abandoned warehouse, negotiating.


    <em>Maybe you talked to a friend, who talked to a friend, who eventually gave you my number. I let you know I couldnt really pass as a pre-teen girl and take the test for you, but told you all the right things to say to Dad to get him to push it back.</em>


    I felt an odd swell of pride and bewilderment, as I recognized the tactic. Kinsley had less practice, but considering how she had only seen me do it once, it was impressive how quickly shed picked up on it.


    Rodericks defeated expression changed, turning crafty and opportunistic. Assuming we seed in fortifying the receptacle? Making this temporary alliance permanent would be beneficial for both parties. I ept. He stood and offered his hand to Kinsley. She shook it firmly.


    Then immediately wheeled around and grabbed my sleeve abruptly to drag me away. Give me a second to confer with my colleague, Ill get back to you. She called over her shoulder as she pulled me towards the house.


    It was like watching a deliveryman fumble a fragile package at thest moment.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My heart hammered.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87


    Kinsley led me into the crackhouse. ck graffiti covered the walls, and it stank of stale piss and cigarettes. Not exactly a sterile environment. There werent many healthy members of Rodericks lodge around, and those present were too busy tending to the injured to pay any real attention to either of us as we walked between the rows of cots. I wasnt certain why we were going into another groups territory to discuss this, but shed handled herself well enough outside that I was willing to temporarily give her the benefit of the doubt.


    Kinsley held her hand out to a patch of wall and a doorframe appeared. It was the same height as her transportation spell, but this one was a much lighter shade of blue, closer to white.


    Thought your powers were offline, I said.


    The mobility option, yes. I think overfucker limited those specifically, so we couldnt use them to transport lux or evacuate civilians when the event is over.


    Youre probably right. Smart.


    Kinsley paused with her hand on the door knob. Youre being nice.


    Oh, Im going to give you shit in a minuteand you know exactly whybut other than that, it seems like youve been handling yourself well, I said. So, what is this?


    See for yourself. Kinsley stepped aside and prompted me. I pulled the door open and stepped inside.


    The inside felt like their of a goatee twirling viin. Plush red carpet sank beneath my feet, quickly soiled by the questionable state of my boots. There were tall brown bookshelves surrounding the room itself, with no legible titles on the books themselves, their spines either nk or scrawled on in unrecognizable chicken scratch. At the far edge of the room was a long ss window the length of a semi-trucks trailer, giving a crystal clear view of the vibrant ocean beyond, with just a hint of sun on the surface far above.


    Please tell me that this has some practical application? I noticed how annoyed I sounded a bit toote, but Kinsley paid me no mind. She moved around me and approached the center of the room, where two chairs sat opposite of each other around a low, polished table that reflected the sheen of the ocean from the window above.


    This is <strong></strong> A skill assigned to Merchants whove hit Level 10. Itsts a maximum of eighteen hours, restrictsmunication based on parameters I set. No one can hear or find us. It allows or rejects people I choose. Actively rejects. As in I can say, Fuck off, Bob, and Bob will go flying off towards the door, kicking and screaming, knocking over shelves until he finds his way to the exit. Kinsley sat in her chair, indicating her head towards the one across from it.


    Thats a very specific example, I said.


    Maybe it happened, maybe it didnt.


    Any chance you can do the opposite? Use it to summon a person in particr?


    No. First thing I tried. Her face turned crestfallen. Anyway, the real upside is the cooldown time. Twenty hours. If revealing myself as a merchant does bite me in the ass, I can basically hide here indefinitely, exit for a couple of hours, activate it again as soon as ites off cooldown. Almost untouchable.


    There was an ufortable pause in the conversation as Kinsley reached down beside her chair and opened a small white-top cooler, withdrawing a red soda. She offered me one, and frowned when I declined.


    Ellison


    Is he in immediate danger? I interrupted.


    Hes physically fine, Kinsley said.


    Does whatever youre about to tell me potentially put my family in harm''s way?


    Not really? She looked unsure. Not directly.


    Then save him forst. I leaned against the top of the chair briefly, saw how my armor immediately sullied the surface, and decided to remain standing.


    Kinsleys jaw worked. Thats a little cold, Matt. Even for you.


    Why did you out yourself? I asked.


    Because people werent organizing the region, and no one would listen to me until I showed them a reason to. Kinsley looked frustrated as she said it.


    This puts me in a position where I have to protect you, and Im not sure if I can. Youve been organizing the region?


    When youre giving discounts to people buying wood for barricades and traps, they tend to listen more. And you dont have to protect me twenty-four-seven. Ive got the Lodge people for that. Kinsley shot back.


    <em>Barely.</em> I shook my head. That horseshit you spun to Roderick about other groups reaching out to you. All horseshit?


    Kinsley rolled her eyes and huffed. No. Are you really going to keep up the constant Q to this A, so you dont have to tell me what happened with Region Six? Or how your friend lost their core before the event started?


    Wasnt my friend.


    Matt


    Fine, you want some answers? Ill go down the list, I snapped, My friend was kidnapped because Ishocking as this sounds<em>wasnt</em> paranoid enough, and his friendprobably two of them, died when the same suit-fucks that sent me diving head first into your door took him away. Region Six is a bio-nightmare with the potential to spread and we all know how well people handle Pandora''s box at this point. Ive nearly shuffled off the coil several times, but thats not anything new, right? And to top it all off, the motherfucking Overseer decided to st out to the entire city that


    <em>theres a winning lottery ticket out of this shit, if they can just end me.</em>


    My mind caught up with my mouth, saving me just before a grievous error, every civilian is a walking bag of five-hundred selve.


    Kinsley studied me, her expression sympathetic. Sit down, Matt.


    No. Realizing how immature my reaction was, I followed her direction and sat on the edge of the chair, my weight leaning forward.


    Kinsley waited until I settled to continue. A few groups got wind of me quickly. It seemed a little too fast, but people are messaging and voice calling through the system a lot more now. Doesnt take much for word to spread. Kinsley listed the names of different groups I didnt know, with a few I didThe Adventurers Guild and LREat the bottom.


    Swerve the LRE for now. Give the Adventurers Guild priority if you can. They seem decent enough, all things considered. Dealing with everyone else is your prerogative. A shadow covered the room as a whale passed overhead. I turned to look at it, my lips tight. If the Domain was customized to the User, I could see why this scene and setting would be calming to Kinsley. But being underwater put me on edge.


    Even with a thick pane of ss between us and the ocean, I felt like I was drowning.


    What else? I asked.


    Can we talk about your brother yet? Kinsley asked, her fingers drumming on the chair nervously.


    If theres nothing more pressing.


    Kinsley stood to her feet suddenly and crossed the room to me, pressing a finger into my chest. Why do you keep putting him off? The way you care about your family is probably the one way youre not a jerk.


    My voice was cold. This <em>is</em> me caring, Kinsley. After what I just saw out there? The Overseer would happily purge an entire region if they didnt fortify before the time ran out. Maybe the consequences arent that dire, but it wouldnt surprise me if they were. The timer ends before we fortify? Thats my Mother, Iris, and Ellison.


    Okay, I kind of get it. Funny how that works, when you actually spend the time to exin yourself. Kinsley rolled her eyes. Nothing elsees to mind.


    Then hit me, I said.


    /////


    Given the ticking clock, I couldnt take all the precautions Id normally want togetting back on the bike, visibly leaving the region, then doubling back and infiltrating as a civilian would have been the safest y. One of the advantages of Kinsleys Domain was its size, and the fact that there were multiple exits.


    I changed into my hoodie and jeans and took a door that led to the alleyway behind my apartment building, waiting to remove the mask until I confirmed there was no one lurking nearby. Then I took the stairs to the third story and used the power conduit next to the gap in the overhang as a foothold to haul myself up to the roof.


    Eventually, I found Ellison sitting on top of the apartment rooftop, legs dangling off towards the edge, staring out at the red stained skyline.


    Hey El.


    This sucks. His voice was angrier than I expected.


    I sat down beside him. Down below, a group of civiliansmassive, burly menwere dragging barricades modified with outward facing stakes into the road. Greg was with them, doing his best to help despite his slim frame.


    Yeah. Its a disaster. I said.


    Theres nothing I can do. Ellison glowered downward.


    This is bigger than us. I imagine countless people are in a simr headspace right now. The ones lucky enough to still be alive, at least. We have to stick together, kid. I was trying to gently remind him that it could be worse. The piercing re signaled that I hadnt been subtle enough.


    God, youre so full of shit.


    I blinked. Kind of hostile, but sure, vent away.


    You act like family matters. Ellison spat off the roof.


    It does matter, El.


    Then why were you going to leave? He stared at me usatorially.


    I blinked. You mean for college? Thats part of life, kid. At least, if you want a decent shot at a better one.


    I saw the MIT eptance letter.


    Out of state doesnt mean gone forever.


    Youre right. This shits bigger than me.


    Ellison stood from the roof, gave me onest dismissive stare, then walked away. The tin roof nged as he lowered himself down. My heart was still racing as I listened to his descending footsteps, waiting until I heard the sound of our front door close. Even then, I kept my voice down.


    Hes gone, I murmured.


    Do you see what I mean? Kinsley hissed. Id kept her on a voice call with me, so she could hear everything on my end without rying it. I thought I was imagining it.


    Not a single sentence with more than seven words. Like there was a hard limit. Could be a coincidence. Brevity. But it doesnt track with how he usually acts when he hits a wall. Gets longer-winded, not shorter. You said he kept that up every time you talked to him?


    Yep, Kinsley replied.


    I stared out at the city. The ball of the reunion tower was engulfed in me, giving the odd appearance of a bleak torch held over chaos. Fear gripped at me. Projection,shing out, bringing up history that doesnt matter to deflect attention and end the conversation quickly. All things Ellison would usibly say or do. But never in a crisis.


    I wasnt even sure whether to tell you. It just seemed so small in the face of everything else. What does it mean? Kinsleys voice tinged with anxiety.


    I dont know.


    My brother and I had been growing apart for a long time. Hed left the innocence of childhood behind earlier than I had, and had been chafing against my directions and advice for years. Id tried to mend the gap when I could, but our circumstances had limited my efforts. A disturbing series of connections began to form, some Id previously shoved away as it seemed too unlikely to be true.


    When the civilian system framework came online, Ellison had been texting me. Only, Iris was the first one to mention the screens and inventory, and Ellison didnt jump on the bandwagon until after seeing Iriss message, with some piecemeal throwaway excuse about how he thought he was hallucinating.


    There was only one exnation that fit.


    My brother hadnt seen the screens when Iris or my mother had. Because he already had a different UI.


    Ellison was a User.


    <strong></strong> was an Ordinator exclusive perk. Considering the sheer number of feats though, it stood to reason that <strong></strong> wasnt the only feat that disguised a Users status. That would go a long way to exining why he showed up on the guild screen as an NPC. If he was being incentivized to hide his status, simr to me, it exined why hed kept all this so close to the vest.


    But the probability of two Users in the same household being randomly assigned a covert ss had to be astronomical. It wasnt a coincidence. The Overseer had specifically said during the announcement that they wouldnt interfere to remove me directly. Directly, being the operative word.


    Nickmy best friendhad a ss opposed to the Allfather, my patron.


    It wasnt a huge jump to assume that Ellisons objective was equally contentious.


    They were finding ways to get at me where I lived.


    Rodericks guys, a bunch of them arew-enforcement, right? Or exw enforcement. I asked.


    Uh, yeah. What, did you sniff that out of the air? Kinsley sounded confused.


    Their bootsit doesnt matter. Grab one of the still-injured guys that wont be able to fight, but looks like he has his shit together otherwise, I hesitated. Everything in me screamed that this was wrong, that family was supposed to be the one exception to my paranoia. That I was crossing a line I couldnte back from. You want someone who doesnt look too stoic, but is rtively calm and still socializing with others.


    To do what? Kinsley asked.


    Have him watch Ellison. Hands off observation only, no interference if he tries to leave. And tell him to be careful. My brother is nowhere near as s as he acts. Hes as much of a pain in the ass as I am, if not more-so.


    You want me to put a tail on your brother? She sounded as shocked as I felt.


    Yeah. Thats where were at.


    Fuck. Fine. But I want that exnation sooner rather thando you hear something?


    The sound of a screaming engine caught my ears. An olive-painted Hummer was hurtling towards the barricade, leaving a long line of smoke behind it. I withdrew my mask from my inventory, my body tensing. Then, I rxed somewhat when someone manning the barricade called out and began to move the barricade aside as Roderick, as well as a few of his men, came pouring out of the crackhouse.


    Iing. Green Hummer in a bad-state. You know it? I murmured.


    Just one? Kinsley asked, horrified.


    Yes.


    There were five when they left. Thats whats left of Rodericks Lodge.

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88


    Even as I prepared to leave the rooftop, a million warring thoughts about Ellison battled for attention in my mind. They dulled to a distant siren as I reced the mask, and felt the chaos in my mind dissolve to almost nothing.


    <em>Later. Focus on what matters.</em>


    I flicked on the <strong></strong> and stepped off the roof, using the nearby storm gutter to slow my descent. Even with the weight reduction, Inded hard enough to rattle my teeth, took a stunned half-step forward before my gait normalized, and I ran towards the Humvee. The vehicle had pulled up next to the curb adjacent to the crackhouse.


    Among others, Roderick and Bob stood on the grass as two armored Users unloaded several injured men from the back of the Humvee, passing them off to people waiting to help. One of the casualties was gray faced, his chest unmoving.


    Roderick took the survivor in better shape aside, moving out of the way for Kinsley as she jogged up to join the cloister.


    What happened? Roderick growled. He seemed less put together than before, confidence shaken now that the other half of his group had been called into question.


    They came out of nowhere. The man had a bandage wrapped around his head, slowly staining more and more red. That, the fact that his pupils were blown to hell and the sluggish manner of his voice belied a concussion at the slightest.


    Take a potion, if you havent already, I said, taking a position next to Kinsley.


    M fine.


    Do what the Merchants Guild Lieutenant says, Max. Roderick prompted him. I nced over, blithely wondering if Kinsley had arbitrarily given me a rank or if Roderick was just creative with his introductions.


    Max appraised me once more, looking me up and down. Then took his potion. His pupils shrunk almost immediately. Not quite a normal size, but a definite improvement.


    Now what happened? Roderick said, the desperation in his voice clearer than it was before.


    Users. Dont know em, but theyre organized. We were trying to do the motorcade bullshit, so the trucks were all in a line. Didnt know what was happening until the spike strip blew the wheels. His voice sounded clearer, better defined. Then, they swarmed us. More than a dozen. Decked out and armed to the nines.


    They let you go? I asked.


    Max shook his head. I have a tacticalCan we trust these guys, Guild Leader?


    As much as we can trust anyone, Roderick said, his mouth tight.


    Im an Estranged Officer. Thats my ss. No clue what that means in the greater scheme of things, but in practice, Im aplicated melee ss with tactical analysis, Max said. Ive taken a few feats to round out the tactical side of things. Short version, I can grade the likelihood of sess from 1 to 12. Twelve being a sure thing, one being impossible.


    On <em>anything?</em> I interjected, unable to stop myself. Depending on his answer and the limits of his power, no one seemed to realize that Max might be the most valuable person in the city. Definitely not the person you send out into the field.


    Anything within five hundred yards. Outside that range, I can still give estimates, but it''s based purely on the information I have. Cant ount for unknown variables. Max told me, a suspicious look on his face, as if self-conscious about the limits.


    It took everything in my self-control not to turn to Roderick and scream at him for risking such a valuable asset.


    How did you miss the ambush? I asked, not bothering to mince words.


    Theres a cooldown, Max said defensively. And our odds were on the lower end of the sess side from the beginning. Ranging between seven and eight. It dropped to four on our way back, then shot back up to eight when we detoured around a region. Figured it was just the chances of running into something that spawned out of this clusterfuck until it dropped to two.


    I was struggling to understand why anyone would go to so much effort. We werent in the dark hours yet. People were panicking, but the hysteria wouldnt truly start until various regions started to realize how unlikely it was that theyd finish their receptacles in time.


    Then things would turn ugly.


    Once the fighting started, our chances slid to almost nothing. I gathered as many people as I could and retreated.


    Where did this happen? Roderick asked.


    Weird thing was Max licked his lips nervously. They hit us in region three.


    They-havent they already fortified? Roderick nced at Bob.


    More than an hour ago, now. Bob confirmed, his brow furrowed.


    I silently absorbed that with the rest. Whatever that meant, it was bad for us. Region three was a neighbor, and if our neighbor was actively attacking people trying to bring lux back to our region, it was a giant disadvantage.


    Tagging onto that, Max said. The lux was almost an afterthought. They grabbed itst, and werent being cautious about it. Maybe because their receptacle was filled.


    Youre talking like you were there, Kinsleymented. Like you didnt just dip as soon as the numbers came up bad.


    Max paused. I wanted to see if thered be an opening. They were going out of their way to take people alive, so if I used my ability and went back in at the right time, its possible I could have gotten more of us out.


    You saw where they took your people? I asked.


    Max gave me a grim nod.


    I rubbed the underside of my jaw. If a region is fortified, and theyre still gathering lux, they might be hoarding it. To give to another region or <em>to sell to a vendor</em>  some other reason. How many did you have?


    Fourteen, split between the SUVs, Max said.


    My eyes widened. That was a helluva haul. Between the initial number and the likely possibility that region three had even more lux ferreted away, it was too tantalizing to ignore.


    Whoever they are, theyre sloppy, I said. Trying to simultaneously capture Users and hoarding lux is just asking for disaster.


    You have a n? Kinsley asked. The others looked at me as well, curious.


    What else? I shook my head. Hit them back. Its nearby, they have at least fourteen lux that we know of, probably more, considering how smoothly that ambush went for them. Its not like they can bitch about it after the event is over, when they were holding on to it after their region was already fortified, so theres no political capital to be lost.


    Maxs eyes widened until they appeared ready to bug out of his head. Youre going back in there?


    No. Were going back in there. I said, turning to Rodrick. I need your second, Max, and at least four others well enough to fight.


    Hold on, Maxs drawling ent became more pronounced.


    Roderick ignored him. Certainly. Im happy to provide anything that helps smooth our recent turbulence, doubly so if it means I get more of my men back.


    I couldnt help but smirk. Roderick was trying to double-dip, simultaneously working to win back some of our favor while using us to salvage his guild. It was a politically savvy move, and raised my opinion of him slightly. Luckily for him, both goals aligned with ours.


    /////


    I studied the people lined up next to the APC. It wasnt a group I had a huge amount of confidence in. We had the recently concussed Max, who kept trying to wipe something dark and viscous off his boots to the point it looked like a nervous tick. Bob, the soft-spoken bruiser. Now that I looked at him, I would have put money on him being in the legal fieldnot awyer, but paralegal or analogue, albeit one that spent far too long in thepany gym. Two nearly identical agendered spell-casters who were standing near enough to each other that their hips touched. Thest upant was a Samoan melee fighter that was low level, but apparently held a high-level proficiency in crafting explosives, and referred to herself as Chastity. She giggled when she said it, like there was an in-joke.


    I didnt ask.


    We were at least two people shy of the number I wanted. Rodrick was making an effort to scrounge up volunteers. He wasnt having much luck.


    Grayscale floated to the surface of my mind. The User that had tried to bar my way when I first arrived in the region. When Id probed his mind, Id gotten the impression that he was likely going mad waiting for something to do. Might be a waste of time, but one more person could do a lot to make our assault look legitimate.


    I looped back around, looking for him, finding him leaning against a dying tree a few feet away from the receptacle. Whats up with the lodge people? They look like theyre trying to put out fires with gasoline.


    Trouble, I said immediately, keeping my voice down. It wasnt in my nature to be this direct, but we were running out of time, and he wasnt the type of person that responded well to coyness. Theres a fortified region hoarding lux, and ambushing Users that pass through it.


    Bastards, Grayscale spat.


    Were doing something about it.


    Oh? He raised a quizzical eyebrow. Youre with them now?


    This problem affects our entire region, regardless of what you think of Roderick.


    So, what, youre going to kill them? Grayscale asked. There was something there, some fragment of trauma I had no idea how to interpret.


    No. I shook my head, though we had to be prepared for the possibility it woulde to that. Smash and grab. Get the lux, free the Users, get the hell out. As little bloodshed as possible. Want in?


    He did. I could see it in his eyes. But before Grayscale could respond, a rich tenor voice spoke from behind me.


    I volunteer.

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89


    There was an umon confidence to the voice. The sort of conviction chatans and con-artists can only dream of. Like he was speaking his own will into existence, and he knew it.


    I turned from Grayscale to study the neer.


    Golden hair framed intelligent green eyes that studied me back. He was my height, maybe half an inch taller. His armor wasnt armor, reallyit was the same threaded ker-analogueposite my original starter armor was made from, only far moreplex, with what looked like norse runes woven into the threading in various ces. There was an ornate ck-wood bow casually slung over his shoulder, with three different quivers and multiple pouches arranged at his side for easy ess. A single detoo long to be a knife, too short to be a swordhung at his side, next to a dangling ck weighted paddle. I was pretty sure it was a ckjack.


    <em>Hero</em>


    <strong></strong> echoed in my mind with a strange confidence, mingled with dread. Before I could say anything, the neer stepped in and held his hand out to Grayscale. Miles.


    Grayscale shook it suspiciously. Dane. The hell you doing in our neck of the woods?


    GrayscaleDane, ratherwasnt wrong. Miles was too put together. It wasnt like everyone else was dirty, though some were, but he held an air of sophistication and bourgeoisie edge that just wasnt native to the locals.


    Miles rubbed his neck with an aw-shucks, expression. He pointed across the way, towards the edge of the region, where a few nicer houses had begun to crop up. Believe it or not, I live here.


    Leaning towards not. Dane edged towards him, getting within inches of his face.


    Miles was unperturbed. If anything, he looked embarrassed that his attempt to volunteer had garnered this much attention. Fair enough. Dane, Im going to angle towards you, then reach into my satchel with my thumb and index finger to grab my wallet. Mind not skewering me while I do that?


    Slowly, Dane said, his hand resting on the heft of his pole arm.


    With a careful smile, Miles reached slowly into his satchel. His gaze never left Danes eyes, never drifted to his weapon. I felt myself tensing, preparing to move at a moments notice.


    The tension broke as Miles retrieved the wallet from his satchel and tossed it to me. I flipped it open, perusing the contents. Miles Dempsey. Address lines up. My eyebrow rose. DMV? City doesnt pay well, but it doesnt pay that badly. Why are you slumming it here? Midtown or Uptown would have made far more sense for a government employee, not to mention put him closer to work.


    I wont bore you, but Im a Director of Sanitation. My work affects people''s day to day lives. As such, I find it beneficial to be among the people. And Ive found that ces like these are where you find the truest reflection of the way things are. Miles said.


    Bullshit. Dane rolled his eyes.


    Again, I had to agree. The whole heart of the city speech wouldnd perfectly if he was a politician running for office. But he wasnt, and as such, it felt perfectly artificial.


    You in for the region three run? I ignored Miles, addressing Dane directly.


    If mealymouth over here is in, theres no way Im not, Dane said.


    First order of business. I tossed Dane the Wallet. Check his house. Make sure the ID is legit, and he actually lives here. I looked at Miles, Youre wee to apany him, if you like.


    Nah. Miles smiled, the expression slightly more forced than before. But only slightly. He pulled a keyring from his satchel and manipted it, so two brass keys stuck out. This one''s for the iron gate, that ones for the house door itself.


    Dane snatched the keys out of his hand and took off towards the street address, his armor audibly shifting as he jogged away, leaving me alone with the neer who watched therger man depart.


    You didnt know his name, Miles observed.


    Didnt matter, I shot back. He was already onboard.


    Maybe. But if shit hit the fan, that was going toe back to bite you.


    Yes, you did me a favor by introducing yourself, I get it. I lowered my voice. Just like I did you a favor by not immediately calling you out as a fed.


    Miles grinned at me. Youre baiting me, but Ill bite. Not like it matters. What gave me away?


    The government ID was legitimate, but Director of Sanitation, really?


    Yeah, I pushed back on that too, Miles sighed. Im far too charismatic.


    You here officially or unofficially?


    Unofficially. The office has standing orders to observe and report. No hesitation. No micro-expressions that gave him away. No tell or giveaway of any kind. Add in the ssic government bureaucratic inaction, and he was probably telling the truth.


    Myrddin.


    Pleasure.


    He made no attempt to shake my hand, and I did the same. After a moment, he cocked his head. You a magic user?


    No.


    Unfortunate. Look, I dont know what your deal is, but if youre telling the truth and trying to resolve our blockade issue as bloodlessly as possible, Im on board.


    Theyre our neighbors, I answered honestly, We have to live with them after this.


    Thats the kind of forward-thinking thatll pay dividends. So, you going to let me in on this, or not? Miles asked.


    I was torn. Another body could make a big difference in doing this properly. Miles was a maniptor and a liar, but his motivation for volunteering was clearhis house was near the edge of the region. He didnt want to see what happened if the receptacle went unfilled. None of us did.


    Still, I was curious. The most dangerous maniptors are the pathological kind. They select a backstory and history for themselves, and stick to it, as loudly and vehemently as possible. Why do you live here? Really?


    Miles snorted, pivoting to look at Grayscale as he jogged back down the street towards us. Two divorces with alimony payments, five kids on child-support. Just try living in midtown with that stranglehold and tell me how it goes.


    /////


    Dane unhappily reported that Miles house checked out. There wasnt any reason I could think of to bar him from volunteering, even if my instincts were still screaming at me to be wary.


    I was half expecting him to try to pry leadership away from me. That never happened. Miles was helpfnd generous, considering the circumstances, speaking with the others and going over basic strategies. Still, something about the two of us together made the rest of the group ufortable. We were sitting across from eachother at the back of the APC, a nervous energy pervading the rest of the group as they slowly shifted away from us towards the front.


    Okay. Bob held a hand out to Max. You want to tell us where were heading?


    Max stood, holding on to the overhead rails. Yep. So, far as I could see, the Users doing the ambushing are operating out of the storage facility on Mayberry. Its older, vertical rather than horizontal. Before this clusterfuck, it was the perfect ce to hide something you wanted to keep out of the public eye. The same holds true now. It should be mostly obvious where theyre hiding the lux, as its impossible topletely obscure the glow, but its harder to see inside a car, likely far harder than that in a storage unit.


    One of the androgynous magic users raised their hand. Im a little confused on what well be doing. Roderick told us not to hold back, but were also trying not to kill anyone? Their voice read more female than male, but it was borderline.


    I shook my head. Miles earlierment was still stuck in my mind. Whats your name?


    The girl started, as if shed forgotten I was there. Astrid. And this is my sister, Astria. She indicated the younger girl on her left. They were both young,te teens or early twenties, with identical short brown curls and blue eyes. But their faces looked too different to be blood rted.


    We need both of you to draw attention. Throw everything youve got at them, try to get them to focus on you, I said. Bob and the bruisers will tank any reprisal once youve got them angry. Dane watches the perimeter for nks. Chastity rains down hell, keeping them as pressured and disoriented as possible. We want a short-lived war of attrition. Enough to draw most of them out, while I go with Miles to find an alternative entrance, I said.


    Dane nodded.


    If we throw everything we have at them, Astria said, her voice a monotone murmur, Im not sure if there will be reprisal.


    No one seemed to want to respond to that.


    Try not to be too urate with the big stuff, I said. If you have to take a threat off the board, no ones going to me you. But if we rack up a bodycount and scare them too badly, theyll retreat inside and hold up there, making search and rescue almost impossible. We know theyre trying to grab people aliveso if we can lure them out with a small show of force


    They might not realize theyve ovemitted until theyre pinned down. Miles rubbed his chin. Not a bad n. It could work.


    Get ready, Max said. His face was grim, pale. Were in range.


    Probability of sess? I asked him immediately.


    His expression told me all I needed to know.

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90


    Max nced around the back grimly, as if worried everyone would disappear the moment he answered. Seven.


    Muttering rose to a fever pitch as the others discussed the evaluation. From what Max had said, his evaluation scale worked from one through twelve, twelve being a total sess, one being an abject failure. A seven gave us the narrowest expectation of sess. There were multiple questions I wanted to follow up with, when Maxs cool down expended.


    On the bench across from me, Miles caught my eye and gave a small shake of his head.


    I realized why immediately. There were other things I wanted to ask Max, but the previous evaluation was already unsettling the group. If I started asking questions along the lines of casualties and who was most likely to die, I was going to destroy their morale. Personally, Id want to know my chances at any timemore information was always better than lessbut most people werent like that.


    Seven aint so bad, Grayscale said, speaking directly to Bob, who had taken on a new shade of pale.


    Barely better than a coin flip. Astrid shifted closer to her twin, Astria, who was shivering.


    Its just a rough estimate, I interjected, There are things we can do to mitigate our risks, more so now that we know vaguely how difficult the situation will be.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It took a while, but Max was able to follow-through. Miles and Astrid were almost guaranteed to make it, with a twelve and eleven respectively. Everyone else ranked between seven and nine, except for me and Max himselfas he couldnt read me due to <strong></strong> or evaluate his own numbersand Astria, who was the least likely to survive based on the estimations, with an evaluation of four.


    I frowned, looking at the spell caster. Other than her silence and shivering, there was nothing visibly wrong with her. She appeared to be in decent health, cognizant and aware.


    What made her more likely to die?


    Maybe she just wasnt as good in dangerous situations as her counterpartbut the disparity between the two of them was strange.


    Make sure you prioritize protecting the casters. Theyre our strongest asset, and if we lose either of them, we lose most of our pressure. I emphasized aloud, the memory of Jinny all too fresh in my mind. If you have to give ground to protect them, do it.


    There were a series of nods.


    Goes for the two of you as well, I said directly to the twin magic-users. Look out for each other first, everyone else second.


    That was always the n, Astrid said, a hint of disdain in her voice.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My skin flushed as the vein in my forehead began to pulse. I was irritated and angry, overly so, likely venting my frustration from earlier losses into the current situation. There were many variables in what we were nning to do, and keeping chaos theory in mind, even slowing us down for Max to read me the evaluations was a possible exnation for the numbers changing. Still, it irked me to no end.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Wed held off for too long already, and besides giving me an idea of what we were dealing with and how involved I needed to be with the exterior force, if I delved too deeply into the minutia it would only muddy the water.


    What weapons are you working with? Miles asked me.


    After a brief discussion on load out, Miles offered to augment my repertoire. Again, he seemed a little too open and friendly, but we would be working side by side. My sess was his sess, at least in the short term. Taking gear and equipment from a rtive unknown seemed like a bad idea, but none of the things he was offering were avable in the storeeven if I had the twenty minutes to wait.


    <strong>You have received: </strong>


    <strong>You have received: </strong>


    <strong>You have received: </strong>


    Pearling? I asked. Hed briefly covered the sedative coating and the garrote, but had made no mention of the potion. Like free diving?


    He nodded. Brewed it by ident the first time, thought it was weird that the system even allotted for something like that, seeing how werendlocked. Kept it in my inventory for a while, until I was hunting a bounty with high Perception who nearly killed me. The sneaky shit was always my forte, even before, so it didnt make sense how he kept finding me


    Until you took the potion.


    Yup. Turns out he was literally hunting me by the sound of my breathing. Gives you around seven minutes, though Ill admit, thest two arent exactly pleasant. Miles sounded remarkably calm, considering how he was describing hunting another human. He was waiting, watching the potion in my hand in amusement. Youre, uh, not going to take that, are you?


    Ill think about it, I lied.


    Suit yourself, Miles shrugged, withdrew an identical looking potion and pulled the cork.


    Not having to breathe would be an advantage. It was also drastically outweighed by the risk of taking a potion from a rtive unknown who admitted to brewing said potion himself. Id take the offensive gear, but I wasnt going to put my life on the line just because he told me a story.


    If we got through this intact, Id have to ask both him and Chastity how theynded their vocations. As frequently as it was mentioned in my quest rewards, I still had precious little information on the subject.


    Any advantage I could get was critical.


    Infiltration team, get in position, Max said. There was a mechanical whirring as the rear ramp of the APC lowered, nearly touching the still moving ground.


    Miles stood, hand clinging to the metal handle on the doorframe as he twisted back to face me. Ready?


    Let''s get this done.


    There was a squealing noise as the APC braked. Miles leapt out,nding in a crouch and maintaining the low stance as he scurried off the street onto the sidewalk, his movements smooth and liquid. <strong></strong> told me he wasnt using a skill. Meaning, he was just that good at this.


    I followed him, trying to copy his form. I was partially sessful, but significantly slower, arriving beside him as we waited in the shadow of the closest building as the APC continued up the road. It stopped directly in front of the storage facility, brakes hissing loudly.


    What the fuck? I heard an unseen User call out.


    The APCs top hatch mmed open and Astrid emerged halfway, her curly hair ring straight back as she held a wand outward, the spell shed clearly taken time to charge before springing out radiating a brilliant blue. A sonic boom rang out, loud enough to rattle my ears from a distance, as the spell left her wand. The resulting blue projectile grew to half the size of a small car before it disappeared from my sight and exploded, a cacophony of shrapnel and crumbling brick following immediately after.


    Miles looked concerned. Thatll definitely get their attention. Along with anyone and anything else in the area.


    I got onest nce at the Users in our group piling out of the APC before I followed Miles down a connecting alley. Several more audible explosions followed. Someone screamed, and continued to scream, voice a keening wail over the constant barrage of explosions.


    Up ahead, Miles leaned around the corner and immediately snapped back into ce, swearing silently.


    <strong></strong>


    That wasnt ideal. If I was going to help mitigate the survival chances of the ground team, we needed to get inside as soon as possible. I ignored him, checking around the corner. As hed said, there were two of them. A man and a woman. Both sneaking worried nces towards the front.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Miles followup message went unanswered as I used <strong></strong> and reached into the male Users mind.

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91


    The throbbing rumble of explosions rattled in my ears like an overactive bass line. <strong></strong> didnt go smoothly this time. Miles was right that the man was disciplined, but he looked anxious, and any visible emotional fragility indicated a more significant underlying weakness. That observation was the only thing that kept me from visibly recoiling back from the bad connection. I couldnt afford to fail here.


    I took his resistance apart, looking for the reason he fought so strongly. There was loyalty therenot the dogmatic loyalty, but loyalty to an individual, the sort I was thoroughly familiar with.


    He feared death, but what he feared more than anything else was losing someone.


    And I knew exactly how to handle that.


    An image sprang up from my subconscious far too quickly. A scenario Id refused to let myself imagine, pushed below the surface, only to have its roots spread deeper and deeper.


    I showed him an image of the end of the world. His axe carving through a faceless Users throat at the top of a pile of bodies. He whipped around then, looking for someone to fight, anyone. Only to find himself entirely alone.


    Slowly, he moved from one city block to another. The buildings were shelled out husks of their prior glory, reflected on the ground in a continuous fracturedyer of broken ss.


    <strong><em></em></strong>


    As the hopelessness and despair overtook him, his mind harkened back to this single moment in time. If only he hadnt been so unflinching, so utterly focused on following orders, maybe he could have saved his family, his friends. The person he cared for, above all others.


    But no. In this nightmare vision of the future, he was alone. And he would always be alone.


    He began to leave his post at the door. Fuck this.


    The woman caught his arm. Elias told us not to move.


    And where is he? The man asked roughly.


    Youre being an idiot.


    I dont care. The man took off down the alley at a brisk jog.


    Dont leave me here. The woman hissed after him, cringing as another explosion sent loose ster and gravel plummeting down from the rooftop.


    <strong></strong>


    I was about to respond when I realized he was already moving, creeping up in that smooth, practiced motion that seemed to easily blend him with his environment. I frowned at the angle. He was approaching from her right, pressing far enough against the wall that she wasnt likely to spot him if she wasnt pumping perception or any observation rted feats.


    If she was running <strong></strong> though, shed see him clear as day.


    Miles reached into his pocket and withdrew a small metal disk with rounded edges, no bigger than a hockey puck. There was a quiet whir, barely audible over the chaos as the disk took flight over the womans head, dipping down on her other side, slightly behind her head and to the left.


    The disk edged forward, testing her sight-lines.


    I disregarded my previous concern. Miles not only knew about <strong></strong> he knew exactly where the expanded range of vision ended. Meaning he was using it himself. The purpose of the disk was to check if <strong></strong>or simr observational feats were present.


    The leather ck of the <strong></strong> hung loosely in front of him as he gripped both braided handles on either end. The one hed given me didnt look particrly special, save a small line of blue thread embedded in the center.


    He struck out like a constrictor snake, keeping one hand firmly in ce at her back with the other looping around her neck. In the same motion, he raised his leg and stamped the back of her knee, bringing her sputtering to the ground.


    Miles indicated for me toe closer with a smirk as he held the woman still, in totalmand of her movement, applying pressure to her calf with his foot.


    I didnt care if it was cocky or condescending. The only definitive thing I knew about Miles was that he was experienced. If he wanted to teach me, I wouldnt waste the lesson.


    <strong></strong>


    The woman was trying desperately to wiggle her fingers between the leather bond and thepressed skin of her neck. It urred to me that this was mainly working due to shock. If shed drawn a weapon immediately, Miles would be having a much more difficult time. Her eyes were wide and desperate as I approached, one hand reaching out to me and falling just short.


    It hit me all at once. The gravity of what we were doing. This wasnt fighting nameless monsters in a dungeon anymore. As the woman struggled, my mind caught over how normal she looked. She was middle-aged, dark pepper hair interspersed with salt. Exactly the sort of person you passed in the supermarket and never gave a second look. Just normal.


    She gurgled, and then her body went limp. Miles grunted, hefting her over his shoulder in a firemans carry as he lifted the woman. I moved in front of him, searching for a ce to dump the unconscious body. We ced her behind a stack of palettes, well out of view from the alley. If the other guard returned, hed likely assume shed abandoned the post.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I stared at him in rm


    <strong></strong>


    Miles returned to the lit doorway and pulled a small ck key from his satchel. It wascking traditional tines, a smooth line of dark metal where the ridges would be. That was unexpected. Id thought hed pick the lock, or have a non-traditional way of forcing it open.


    Id give my right nut for a snake cam, Miles muttered under his breath. He pressed his hand against the door. <strong></strong> ticked in the back of my head, telling me he was using a skill.


    Give me a second. I wasnt ecstatic about using Talia in front of a third party. Thest encounter with the suits wasnt long ago. If one of them spotted her in my vicinity, it wouldnt be a hard jump to connect the dots. But maybe I didnt have to. <em>Can you recon?</em>


    <em>I will do literally anything if it means being out of this dagger.</em> Talia rumbled back to me.


    <em>Stay out of sight. We know next to nothing about Miles, and giving him more information about my abilities at this point is asking for trouble.</em>


    <em>Easy enough.</em>


    I withdrew <strong></strong> and bent down. There was a rubber buffer at the bottom of the door, ensuring an airtight seal, but it was easy enough to move aside. Ignoring Miles curious expression, I forced the knife through the gap.


    A small tendril of smoke rose from the gap, indicating Talia had taken her traditional form.


    Miles blinked, looking from the doorway, to me, to the doorway again. And the point of that was?


    I quietly ryed the information Talia was giving me. Three people. Two of them arent wearing gear, doing some menial work and trying not to freak out. The other one will be a problem.


    Strength build? Miles asked.


    Spellsword. I said sourly. Doesnt look the slightest bit concerned, considering the circumstances. Not sure how were going to do this, without one of them getting a chance to shoot off a message.


    There was a long moment as Miles appeared to be deciding. He studied me again, as if he couldnt quite make up his mind until he finally came to a decision. You tipped your hand a little with the knife. Its only fair that I do the same.

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92


    Miles removed his bow from his shoulder and drew a coated arrow, knocking it and pulling the string taut, pressing the back door open slowly, as if a gust of wind or explosion had edged it open. Judging from his focus and the look in his eye, he was prepared to fire as soon as he had the spellsword in his sightline. At the same time, Talia made her move.


    What was that?


    All three heads turned towards the source of the noise, away from the backdoor.


    I held my hand at my side.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong> snapped the crossbow into my hand as I aimed for the spellswords lower body and fired a bolt, just as Miles loosed his arrow. His bow had significantly more power than my crossbow, but that worked towards our purposes here.


    The spellsworda cocky looking man wearing a fashionable tabard over jeans, immediately spun, dodging out of the way of Miles arrow. But he wasnt prepared for the follow-up shot, which nted itself in his thigh. He grunted and went down.


    I sprinted forward, climbing a small railing and vaulting over it to subdue a man who appeared to be sorting something at a foldout table. <strong></strong> red as he reached beneath the table, drawing out a massive chrome handgun Id only ever seen the likes of in movies.


    If that went off, everyone in the building would hear it, exterior conflict be damned.


    It was either his hesitation or over-dedication to trigger discipline that saved me. I closed the distance in seconds, grabbing the barrel of the gun and mming it upward into his forehead. He reeled back, stunned by the blow, and I used the opportunity to disarm him, pressing the release button and pulling back the slide just in case there was a round in the chamber. The round ejected from the top, ttering to the floor, and I dropped the gun after it.


    In a blind panic, he dove for the gun, giving me an ample opportunity. I didnt know whether he had another magazine or not, but it didnt matter. I got the garrote around his neck and pulled, using my left hand as an anchor and applying leverage with my right.


    <em>One Mississippi.</em>


    <em>Two Mississippi.</em>


    Miles was still dealing with his target. Id thought they would both be civilians, but the slimmer man had the foresight to open his inventory and prove me wrong, withdrawing two daggers. Miles skipped backward, drawing his ckjack. Just like back at the receptacle, he watched the mans eyes rather than his weapon.


    The manshed out at Miles chest. Miles shifted, keeping his feet nted, then swung his ckjack at the mans outstretched wrist. The man let out a cry of pain as his knife flew across the room, and another cry as Miles disarmed him, driving a fist into the mans jaw and sending him spinning like a top, catching him with the garrote before he could topple entirely.


    <em>Eight Mississippi.</em>


    A spout of fire saturated the room in dark orange. The Spellsword was back on his feet, wobbling, one hand outstretched as he poured a short gout of me towards Miles, uncaring of the coteral damage. Miles changed tactics, using his grip on the garrote to throw the man over his shoulder and drag him out of harm''s way.


    <em>Eleven Mississippi.</em>


    I needed to intervene somehow with Probability Spiral.


    There were a few options. Tripping him up, using an overhead light, or messing with his aim. But Miles wasnt like Nick, or Jinny, or Sae. He wouldnt just take chance things happening in our favor as providence. He was probably already suspicious after the guard in the alley. This needed to be meticulously coordinated.


    I loosened the garrote slightly and pulled it back, lifting my target''s head up, so he was looking towards the wall, then mmed his forehead into the concrete. Before the garrote even hit the ground, I was loading another bolt into my crossbow and aiming it upward, towards the metal frame directly above housing two long tube lights. I aimed at the rear supporting wire with my crossbow, reaching out with <strong></strong> simultaneously.


    I fired.


    The back wire snapped, the frame swinging forward perilously and mming into the back of the spellswords head, the metal frame echoing like a muted gong. His thin sword dropped from his hand as he stumbled forward, reaching back towards the wound with a stunned expression. After several long blinks, he made the gestures standard Users made when they were navigating their menu.


    Then he stared at it, visibly confused.


    <em>Trying to call for help.</em>


    I couldnt help but smile. Before we went in, Miles gave me the details on one of his feats.


    <em>Its called Squelch. Its a general feat, so anyone can use it. I found it by ident, because Ive been trying to learn all of them, and melee fighters give me the most trouble, so I started there. Its in with a bunch of generically named CQC shit, like Bash, Rend, Sunder. The naming convention doesnt exactly fit, but its close enough that you could easily skim over it if you werent reading each feat separately. Hidden in in sight. It can be toggled on or off, and when its on, allms in you or your partys immediate vicinity are disabled.</em>


    Id double-checked to ensure he wasnt lying. Squelch was there in my feat list, surrounded by melee skills that were still grayed out. The information was invaluable. And <strong></strong> had just risen to the top of my must-acquire list.


    I hopped over the unconscious body, charging the spellsword before he coulde out of his daze. My shoulder impacted his stomach and I grabbed him behind the knees, trying to topple him. He didnt quite fall, though he was pushed back, his feet scraping along the concrete as he wrapped his arms around my back. I felt him take a deep breath.


    There was a bone-shattering impact and Spellsword fell, dragging me to the ground, blood leaking from the side of his mouth from where Miles had hit him.


    I pulled myself to my feet, sporting several new bruises and feeling the residual effects of my previous injuries even more now.


    Damn. Miles shook out his hand. We were both breathing hard, but the fight had clearly taken more out of me than him. He half jogged to the door, and ced his ear against it. Nothing. Were not blown. Thank god theyre making a decent racket out there. Casually, he reached up and grabbed the steel wire from the still hangingmp, studying where it had severed and frayed. That was a hell of a shot. Id call you an idiot for trying it, but it worked.


    Wasnt sure why hed just shrugged the sedative off, didnt want to waste another coating.


    Could be a buff. Magic types have a lot more to y with than we do.


    Yeah. I was leaning against the folding table heavily, and my eyes naturally tracked to its contents. Miles, I called in rm.


    There were dozens of wallets, clutches, and purses littering the table. Some of them were already cracked open, IDs removed and scattered around.


    Well, one things for sure. They were definitely focused on Users. Miles took one look at the table and frowned, moving an assortment of junk aside and revealing a map beneath.


    Theyre sorting them by region. I realized. But why?


    Remember why you told me you wanted to keep the body-count down?


    Because theyre our neighborsoh shit.


    Region nine, six, and eleven. Lot of attention given to the IDs of people from those regions, while the rest are just scattered around. All regions are having difficulty filling their receptacles. Miles said grimly. And if those regions do fail


    There wont be anyone left to find them. Or at the very least, people from those regions will have their hands full for quite some time. I said.


    Miles crossed the room, grabbed a tarp covering something obtuse and awkwardly shaped, and yanked it off. There was a pile of weapons and armor beneath it.


    Any chance theyre just robbing them? I asked, my voice strained.


    No. Somethings tits-up in the state of Denmark. This is a processing area. Miles pointed back towards the door. They bring people through, identify them, strip them of weapons and armor. If the gear was the goal, theyd have it further in and locked down, or at least sorted. Instead, its an afterthought. Like they dont care if any of these three idiots happen to grab Dicks Compensating Longsword of Fertility and sell it on the market.


    I was starting to form suspicions, but stayed silent.


    Pre-dome, Id say we were dealing with human trafficking. Could still be that, but the way theyre doing thisunder the cover of the biggest disaster in US history? Could be way off base, but Miles clicked his tongue, and looked at me. Id bet good money theres a necromancer in the building.

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93


    This is fucked. Its a bloody war zone out there. The whole point of agreeing to do this was that they promised we wouldnt be bothered.


    That right, big guy? You know where Pat, is. Why dont you go tell him your thoughts, Im sure hes interested.


    Maybe I will.


    Stop egging him on. A third voice urged. We know they dont hesitate to drop bodies, you really think theyll hesitate to put us on that list?


    Our progress was a tense, slow-moving effort. Too slow. At this rate, the diversion team was going to have to pull out without us. Whoever this group was, they were either well-organized or terrified of their leadership. Less of them had rushed to the front than expected, with a decent number of guards and other workers remaining at their posts.


    Wed moved as efficiently as we could, subduing sentries as quietly as possible. It went disturbingly smoothly. After five sessful encounters, I was beginning to appreciate the subtleplexities of Miles <strong></strong> If I managed to get it around someones neck, even in the rare case they broke away after a few seconds, they werergely drained of mana and simple to subdue.


    Unfortunately, the halls simply werent as empty as we hoped theyd be and there was just too much ground to cover. It was time to change strategy.


    <em>Know anything about interrogation?</em> Miles had asked me.


    I confirmed that I knew some, and he nodded, telling me that he would take the lead, and Id y the disruptive element. Which I tranted from fed to mean ying the bad cop to his good cop.


    Two of the men left, leaving he pudgy User with a wispybover who had advised caution, alone in his chair.


    <strong></strong>


    Miles pushed open a green, man-sized locker and stepped out, looking from side to side in a disturbingly urate depiction of confusion. Huh. Could have sworn the bathroom was in there. Did I take a wrong turn? He asked the man.


    Hey Combover started to stand.


    I dropped from the metal support beams in the ceiling behind him, pushing <strong></strong> against his throat. I kept my voice low and gruff, tapping into the same source Id used in that first encounter with Roderick. Bathrooms across the hall. This is just the room you go in to shit yourself.


    Youre gonna regret this. Combover whispered.


    Miles put a hand to his chin. Sometimes Im bad at judging social cues. But that sounded like a threat. Did you hear a threat? He asked me.


    Sounded like a threat to me.


    I wasnt Combover started.


    I mmed him against the wall. He yelped, the sound cut short when I pushed the tip of my dagger against his throat. I pushed my face near him and leered. Let''s just get the weapons and armor off. In case youre tempted to I pushed the dagger hard enough to draw a single bead of blood.  threaten us again.


    With an awkward terrified bashfulness, Combover removed his weapons and armor, and emptied his inventory, all whilst trying to keep his neck as still as possible.


    You didnt have to make him take his pants off, Miles scolded. I nced down. Combover was wearing a ck sleeveless shirt and blue and white striped boxers that were more European than American, showing arge expanse of pasty, hair-covered thigh.


    He did that on his own. And he doesnt need them, I growled. Less weight means its easier to carry him out of here after were done.


    Oh <em>fuck</em> no man, please


    Miles shook his head and looked at the man. Dont mind my associate. He gets a little intense from time to time.


    On cue, I roughly maneuvered the man to the nearby wooden chair and forced him down. Two of the side legs came up as he sat down too hard, ttering back downward with a thunk. I pulled Audreys rope from my shoulder and wrapped it around his midsection, tying him to the chair.


    Combovers pupils were blown, all ck, with just a ridge of blue still visible. I wasnt originally certain how effective this would beits not like it was a particrly original strategybut it already seemed to be working. Dont hurt me. Im nobody.


    Miles pulled up a chair in front of Combover, straddling the back. He looked so casual it had to be calcted. The pose hed chosen both asserted his dominance in the situation and opened up his bodynguage, giving the impression of honesty, of having nothing to hide. Whats your name? Just your first name. So, you dont have to worry about anyone tracking you down or naming you as a co-conspirator.


    E-E-Emil, The man stammered.


    Emil. Good name, Miles nodded. Latin. Means to strive, excel. Suddenly, his nose wrinkled. And whats that smell, Emil?


    Gasoline. They store three cans over there for the backup generators. Emil answered quickly.


    Miles was priming Emil, simrly to how Id gotten Dane on my side. Only he was far, far better at it.


    How many Users has your group processed, Emil?


    Emil swallowed. A few dozen, maybe more. Its hard to say definitively. Im not always at the forefront.


    Of course youre not. Miles nodded agreeably. You had a rtively normal life before this. No record, corporate backgroundResearch and Development, Im guessing, though I could be wrong. You were always the support guy. The one that made sure everything worked behind the scenes. Then, you went home on time, kissed your wife, maybe watched TV with the kids before bed if it wasnt toote.


    Yes. Emils lip trembled.


    <em>How the fuck?</em>


    Nothing from <strong></strong> which meant, again, Miles was operating purely on conjecture and training. He was ying a dangerous game, trying to gain rapport this way. When you cold-read, its far safer to make broader, more generalized statements that sound specific.


    I could have gotten corporate background based on age, demeanor, and grooming. That he was married from the mismatched tan around his ring finger. But the confidence with which Miles was rattling off specific facts was beyond me. More mind-boggling was the fact that he seemed to be getting it all right.


    This isnt the life for you, Emil. It seems obvious to me that you were press-ganged into this. So, Im going to cut you a break. Tell us what we need to know, and well leave you be. Its information were after. Not you.


    Emil seemed to rx at that.


    What are they doing with the people theyre taking? Miles asked.


    The man in the chair immediately tensed, eyes flitting from Miles, to me, to the door.


    I ced a hand on his head and moved it, redirecting his gaze to Miles.


    Funny thing about generators? Theyre loud. See the foam on the wall? Thats soundproofing. No onesing to save you, I whispered in his ear. He shivered.


    Miles stared at Emil for a few moments longer, then looked to me, disappointed.


    Fingernails? I suggested.


    Emil whimpered.


    Too messy, Miles shook his head.


    I could carve into him. Start cutting bits off.


    How is that less messy? Miles stared at me.


    Wait! Wait wait wait


    Fine. I nced at the water-cooler in the corner. Come to think of it, Im a little thirsty.


    Miles gave Emil a sad, regretful look, then stood, retrieving a grease covered cloth from the shelf and unscrewed the blue jug from the water-cooler, bringing it over and cing it neck up at Emils side.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Miles nodded once. Then rushed forward, pushing Emil back in his chair and cing the rag over his face. The man immediately began to make muffled sounds of rm. I let Miles hold Emil as I traded ces. Then lifted the massive jug of water, making sure it audibly reverberated as I lifted it.


    Shit. Youll want to save your breath, Emil. Miles said, his voice full of regret. My partner tends to be a bit heavy-handed. Emil took a deep breath and stopped making noise. I let it hang there for a moment, then lowered the bottle without pouring any out.


    Ever wonder why they call it waterboarding? I asked, as if I was genuinely curious about the answer.


    Are you not gonna, uh.


    In a minute. Answer the question.


    Emil let out a gasp, panting.


    Etymology isnt my strong suit, but it seems self-exnatory Miles jibed.


    From a practical standpoint. I mused. Like, why does it have to be water? Thats so limiting.


    Not really following you.


    Lets experiment a little. I walked back to the supply shelf and retrieved one of the gas cans, popping the cap open.


    No. HeyNo. Thatll blind him. Miles said in audible rm. But his eyes were twinkling in amusement.


    Not right away. All the more reason for him to talk sooner rather thanter.


    I ced the can at Emils side. Hed fallen very still and quiet, trying to divine context from the conversation. The scent of gas reached him, and he started panicking, trying desperately to remove himself from the chair.


    I busied myself, putting a bit of water from the jug into an empty coffee cup, then reaching into the gas can with a rolled up piece of paper. While I worked, Miles spoke in an urgent tone to Emil. Keep your eyes shut as tightly as you can. Its going to burn, and theres nothing you can do to protect your ears, but you cant open your eyes, regardless of what you do. And try to hold your breath. Breathe in the fumes too deeply and your lungs are toast.


    Emil hummed a pathetic affirmative.


    I held the paper saturated with gasoline up to his nose, and began to pour water from the coffee cup onto his forehead.


    <strong></strong> filled in the rest. A slow burn that started at his face, worked its way into his eyes, his ears, his nose.


    The reaction was immediate. Emil began to thrash from side to side, as we both held him still. Miles was holding him still, staring at me.


    <em>And people think Im an asshole,</em> He mouthed.


    <em>Now?</em> I asked.


    <em>Give him a few more seconds, then grab the can.</em>


    I followed his instructions and stopped, cing the coffee cup out of sight and retrieving the gas can. Miles ced a hand on my chest and shoved, whipping the rag off Emils face simultaneously. Thats enough, he growled at me.


    He can take it, I argued.


    No, I cant, Emil gasped, blinking painfully, twisting in the chair to look at Miles. I cant take itgod that burnsIll tell you anything you want to know. Whatever you want to know.


    Where are they keeping the people and lux? Miles asked.

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94


    Emil didnt know much, but what he did know was useful. His groups name was Fidelis. Cutting through the heavily romanticized and editorialized description, they were fringe paramilitaries with a viagra-assisted erection for the Second Amendmentand not the kind with serious training. Mall cops, security guards, bouncers, bootcamp washouts and dishonorable discharge wannabes. In practice, they acted much like the soldier of fortune types they idolizedwith significantly less effectiveness, if I were to hazard a guess.


    After learning this, Miles pivoted, questions less focused on Fidelis itself, more targeted towards the ones pulling the strings.


    Emil saidafter repeatedly rifying the statement as a rumorthat Fidelis had been contacted and given a quest by another group. They were incredibly wealthy and appeared to be simrly aligned, the condition of joining the group that they prove themselves by clearing it.


    That was where things got foggy, thanks to Emils absence in rank. The way the quest system worked at a Guild level was almost entirely customizable for the Guild Leader. The amount of information given out about a quest was almost entirely their prerogative. Quest objectives themselves couldnt be changed, but the objectives themselves could be either shown or hidden on a needs basis.


    Which was important information, should I ever take a guild quest. It was entirely possible that information or objectives could both be seriously altered or obfuscated. And it gave Guild Leaders far more room to get creative than Id prefer. Maybe <strong></strong> could help me circumvent that, somehow.


    Unfortunately, this meant Emil had next to no idea what they were doing. They had an initial objective to capture one-hundred people, Users or Civilians, but the end fate of those individuals was unknown. They were instructed to bring anyone who was captured up to the seventh floor along with the Lux. Once there, they were handed off to several Fidelis higher ups and disappeared. As far as Emil knew, no one had returned from the seventh floor.


    The only other lead was Pat, a representative from the outsourcing group that roamed the building, acting as oversight.


    I was really hoping you were wrong, I muttered to Miles. He had subdued and gagged Emil, and was in the process of awkwardly shoving him into a nearby closet.


    About?


    The necromancer.


    Figures I wasnt. Its about the only thing the office has briefed us on. Miles turned his head to the side and spit, disgust prominent in his expression. Apparently, these guys are all about body count. They raided one hanging out in the sewerthe only reason we knew about him at all is he wasnt being very choosy about his disposal process. Reasonable mistake to make if you operate out of a sewer, but still sloppy. Care to guess what the inclothes found, clogging up the waterworks?


    No. I shuddered.


    Good call.


    What was he doing? I asked. My mind once again went to Jinny. Was he bringing them back, only, enved or bound or whatever-the-fuck?


    Nah. Miles rubbed the back of his neck. Well, not really. He was experimenting. Totally off his rocker, too. They found him covered in viscera and god knows what else. There were a half-dozen of his creations, plodding about, but from the reports, they werent exactly people and didnt pose much of a threat. Tough as hell, though.


    I rubbed my forehead. That didnt sound promising. Id half clung to the idea of eventually finding a friendly, necromancer to revive Jinny without really thinking it through. Faced with the reality, that seemed even less likely now. And the furtherplication left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. With all the fantasy creatures running around, it wasnt all that surprising to discover there were zombies. That didnt mean I was happy about it.


    Whats the n? Miles asked. I knew he wasnt just innocently deferring to me. He was capable of decisive action when the moment required it. Him deferring to me, acting like he valued my input, was all part of the same ploy. Building rapport, or evaluating me, or both.


    Stairway sounds like its well-guarded. I shrugged, motion highlighting the rope on my shoulder. We go up to the second level, find a good room to breach out of, then climb to the top.


    Been a few years, but I have some experience in that area. Still. You sure that rope and hooks going to cut it?


    I hesitated. If I was willing to use Audrey in nt form, it would have been easy. Only I wasnt keen on giving Miles more information about me.


    <em>Can you direct that form?</em> I asked Audrey. <em>Dont try anything right now, just need to know if you can.</em>


    <em>I dislike being rope.</em>


    <em>A pound of turkey.</em>


    <em>I enjoy this form.</em> Audrey said immediately.


    I suppressed an eye-roll. <em>Can you move it or not?</em>


    <em>Not directly. I can guide.</em>


    That would have to be enough.


    It should be fine, I confirmed to Miles. What about the outsider? Their oversight. We really want to leave him be?


    And risk exposing my identity to the group that got enough of a head start that theyre able to outsource necromantic research? Nah. I dont really want to risk getting on their bad side. Im not the one with the disguise power.


    I was about to respond acridly to his earlier statement when thetter sunk in. Every outside concern and worry emptied from my mind, the entirety of my focus drawn to this one singr moment.


    Sorry? I cocked my head.


    You have any Italian in your heritage?


    The hell are you talking about, Miles?


    Miles stared dead at me. Just something I noticed. When I first met you, I could have sworn you were White. Then, in the van, I realized my initial read was wrong, and you were probably Hispanic. Then Puerto Rican. Not really the sort of thing I get wrong oftenattention to detail and remembering faces is my bread and butter. Weird. So I kept looking. I realized you had some asian features, and your skin was darker, and there were a few other things that gged you as Filipino, and now Im half convinced youre Italian. And my mind is desperately trying to tell me that its normal, and I should ignore it, which only stands out to me more.


    I considered my options. Miles catching on that there was something off about my appearance wasnt ideal. If he had, others likely would eventually. It would be a bad y to overreact here. My hand itched at my side. Theres a lot of chaos. Might be losing your edge.


    Maybe. Miles nodded. But it puts us in an awkward situation. You know my name, my face, where I live. I know next to nothing about you apart from what Ive observed.


    And what is that?


    From what I could tell from our time in the APC, Im not the only he others follow your orders because someone, probably in Rodericks Lodgemost likely Roderick himself considering how Robert is here yet not heading things upput you in charge recently. And were about tond a shit-ton of lux. Im sure you can put together how that makes a man jumpy.


    Is this going to be a problem? I asked, my tone dangerous.


    Not if I can help it. His expression held the same intensity, though he looked slightly perturbed.


    It took running through it mentally several times before I realized what Miles was after. In his mind, I was the unidentifiable third party with a concealment ability. For all he knew, I infiltrated the region and was manipting Roderick to get at the lux, which I intended to steal and deliver to another region. Still, confronting me and voicing his concerns didnt make sense, unless he was hoping I would still work with him.


    When we find it, I have no problem letting you be the one to take possession of the lux and move it downstairs. So long as it ends up back in the vehicle with the others.


    Thatll work. Miles nodded.


    On one condition. I held out <strong></strong> to him.


    He grinned at me, then took it, sliding the de into one of the empty slots of his knife belt. And here I was, about to be disappointed. Alright then. Im going to start scouting the second floor for a room thatll give us the best way up to the roof. If you have anything else to do here while I do that well, I saw nothing.


    I understood immediately. Miles had no interest in putting a spotlight on himself when it came to the third party, but hed picked up on the fact that I wasnt satisfied with that.


    <em>Be cautious</em><strong></strong> whispered in my mind, reiterating something I already knew. Just being around Miles was dangerous.


    <em>If he does anything strange, anything out of the ordinary, reach out to me immediately.</em> I told Talia.


    <em>And if he chooses to store the knife?</em> Talia asked.


    <em>Then well know we have a problem. Just, keep me advised on his location.</em>


    <em>Your will be done.</em> It was almost a relief to hear the sarcasm in her voice. Talia had been unnaturally subdued, likely angry at the events that both preceded and followed her death. She wasnt over it by any stretch, but the sarcasm was a good sign that our dynamic hadnt permanently changed.


    Ill drop squelch for a few seconds when I find a ce, Miles warned. Anything more is too risky. You wont be able to respond, but youll know.


    /////


    I found Pat in a managers office. He was peering through the blinds towards the chaos outside. There was a current generation iPhone in his hand and he was speaking into it. Which struck me as strange, seeing as how phonemunication had been down for days now.


    His voice was a dull whisper, indistinguishable from this distance.


    Not sure how many. I recognize a few from Rodericks Lodge, but with the amount of firepower theyre showing off, it might be a joint effort. Motherfucker. I told him we needed more people here, and he blew me off. If youre listening to this recording after pulling the phone off my bloated fucking corpse, its all Ethans fault. I <em>warned</em> him. The doctors making headway, but it wont matter if they kill him. And they will kill him. What a waste.


    I followed a line of shadows from the desk to the far wall. The man was wearing weaved hybrid armor that looked expensive. Eventually, I got a look at his side profile.


    A rush went through me when I recognized him. He was one of the twelve. The one to the side of the archer that ended Jinnys life. The suit was reced with armor, but his long brown ponytail was still pulled together by a simple tie. Between that and the severe nose, it was absolutely him.


    I shrugged the rope off my shoulder and caught it between my fingers, sending Audrey a mentalmand before I let it drop silently to the floor. The rope began to grow thorns.


    Im going to do my best to get out. But if I dont make it tell Lilith that Im sorry I couldnt keep my promise.


    <em>Tell her yourself. Shell be joining you soon.</em>


    Painstakingly careful, I aligned the dull-glowing sights of my crossbow on Ponytails back, directly centered on his left lung.


    And pulled the trigger.

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95


    There was a moment of shock as the crossbow bolt pierced Pats back. At this close range his armor had kept the bolt from going all the way through him, but had failed to stop it from sticking. <strong></strong> was somon, Id half expected the shot would miss. Instead, he whirled to face me, surprise undercutting the clear pain written across his face.


    Who are you?


    It only took a matter of seconds to rationalize what I was doing. Id vaguely intuited that the suits might be here, but upon finding one had acted on instinct.


    I fired off <strong></strong> to buy time. Pat fought, harder than other targets that had managed to repel me, but the fear for his lifea frigid me kindled long before I stepped into the roomwon out.


    Without a single hesitation, I descended on it, like a bug beneath my heel, unleashing everything I had.


    <em>Every doubt, every cruel intrusive thought, every negative impression youve ever had about yourself, about what you are, is true. You are a failure among failures. Thats why they sent you out here to die. Youve always been a disappointment. You could see it in your mothers face, that fateful day she set you down and never picked you up again. Your fathers ambivalence. In the smirking expressions of your peers. They never liked you either. Most of them abandoned you. And the only reason the ones that were left kept you around was because they enjoyed watching you fail. Your utter mediocrity made them feel better about themselves. Even now, some part of you is trying to me this on luck. Because it''s never your fault, is it? You were unlucky then, and you''re unlucky now. But it has nothing to do with luck. Luckes around, luck eventually turns. Yours never does. Because the onlymon denominator of all your "bad luck," all your ipetence, all your pathetic failures? </em>


    <em>Is you.</em>


    Pat pressed himself back against the wall, eyes flitting from me, to the door behind me, and eventually the window.


    <em>Go ahead, try it.</em>


    I cast probability spiral on the window as Pat drove an elbow into the window.


    It broke. Just not in the way he wanted. Three separate daggers of ss pinioned his arm in ce at an awkward angle that was reminiscent of a frog on a dissection pad. He stared at it in shock as a small stream of blood began to descend the fogged ss.


    Audrey wrapped herself around his legs, thorns biting into his thighs


    Wait


    No. I grabbed him roughly by the back of the neck and shoulder and shoved him towards the fractured pane. The rest of the window shattered, leaving several shards embedded in his arm. Pat caught himself on the ss littered windowsill, eyes widening to saucers as I pushed his head down towards it. He pushed upwards, fighting the movement, struggling without leverage as Audrey held his legs still. I yanked the bolt free and his arms gave out. He managed to shift his head to the side to protect his eyes as his grip broke, and I shoved his head down towards the waiting shards. It impacted with a crunch that was drawn out as I dragged his head viciously along the side and pulled him back in.


    Pat fell back into the room, a long, deep gash blossoming red across his cheek. He dragged himself backward slowly on his one good elbow, his expression terrified. His wheeze was the byproduct of a rapidly deting lung, Wait. Just wait. You want information, something. Anything. Selve, Lux, whatever you want, I can make it happen.


    <em>Didnt you tell Talia that revenge was a distraction?</em>


    It took every inch of self-control I had not to end him right there. I loomed overhead. Address. For your headquarters.


    Listen to me, Pat said, his expression growing more frantic. I have plenty of information. But were under a geas spell. All of us. If I open my mouth about anything rting to my guild to an outsider, I die.


    It wasnt that I didnt believe him. It sounded like exactly the sort of thing their group would do. I just didnt care. There was no weapon to focus my attention on, so I watched his eyes and waited.


    Pat seemed to realize I wouldnt back down. Then, there was the slightest twitch of an eyebrow.


    I threw myself backward before <strong></strong> sent me the warning. A bent crystal devaguely in the shape of a kukriappeared in his hand, carving through Audreys vines and sending a curved projectile directly towards me.


    I sidestepped it barely, the scent of ozone hitting my nostrils as the spell impacted the wall beside me.


    No, not a spell. <strong></strong> picked up on an ability being used, but seemed tomunicate that it wasnt one I could copy. Because it wasnt his ability. It wasing from the weapon itself.


    Pat was back on his feet, in the process of throwing another curved projectile at me, before he diverted his attention to Audrey. A few of her mobility vines had been severed, which would have been a problem if she needed to cover a greater distance. But she didnt.


    Audrey grabbed at Pat, attacking his arms, trying to get the de away from him. When he wasnt being ambushed, the man was dexterous, faster on his feet. He managed to fend Audrey off, detangling himself and flinging her out the window. Audrey let out a pained noise.


    Unfortunately for him, that also meant he wasnt paying attention to me. I drove a knee into his stomach hard as he pivoted back, then drove a fist into his bloodied cheek hard enough that there was a cracking sound in my index finger. Pat rolled with the punch, stunned but still cognizant as he impacted the far wall. He was unnaturally winded due to his injury and reached down to retrieve a healing potion from his inventory.


    My crossbow reappeared in my hand in a second with <strong></strong> and I fired a bolt into the nerve cluster in his shoulder.


    Pat screamed. The ss potion bottle shattered as he dropped it. He stared down at the fragments, then back up at me, his face hardening in determination.


    <strong></strong> went off again. This time the level of energy was entirely different. Pat was trying something, and whatever it was, it was big.


    I charged him, withdrawing my dagger and sprinting forward.


    A warning went off in the back of my mind. That this was wasteful. With a group as big as Daphnes, you couldnt chip away at them one at a time. You had to cut from the center outwards, hoping that once you did enough damage to the core, the remnants would scatter.


    And that the only reason I was going for the knife, instead of the garrote, was that I wanted to.


    Pat blinked out of existence.


    I put my arms up at thest moment, barely managing to stop myself from running headfirst into the wall. A frustrated growl escaped my lips as I whirled, searching the room. He was gone.


    <em>Teleport?</em>


    My internal rage quieted immediately as I heard footsteps outside, sprinting towards the front of the building.


    <em>Escaping!</em> Audrey shouted directly into my mind.


    I vaulted through the window, skidding on broken ss and passed Audrey as I found myself back outside. I saw Pat sprinting towards the greater chaos, puzzling over his actions for just a moment before giving chase.


    <em>Hes not running up there to fight. Hes throwing in the towelpletely. Abandoning the operation.</em>


    Pat downed a potion and risked a look over his shoulder. His expression twisted in desperation when he spotted me. He lowered his head and increased pace. The man was fast, but even with the potion, he was injured. Explosions boomed out as I sprinted after him, doing mental math. If he was going to avoid the chaos at the front, hed need to climb the surrounding fence. It wasnt particrly tall, but the iron ts were thin and slippery.


    If I was in pristine condition, that would be it. I could use <strong></strong> to shoot through the fence and end him. But the throbbing in my index fingermy trigger fingerwas an incessant reminder that this wasnt the case.


    Id have to catch up to him on foot. The question was how. There was a reason he was booking it to the street. He probably had a vehicle. Any way you cut it, climbing the fence after him would slow me down too much to catch him before he reached the road.


    The wheels in my mind started to turn as I saw a path.


    I toggled the <strong></strong> on and ran directly at the gate, leaping up on a retaining wall and running along its length until I reached the end. Then, I jumped, air whipping across my face and neck as the pointed iron ts of the fence reached up towards me, ready for the smallest miscalction.


    Then I was past them, hitting the ground hard and keeping my momentum in a roll.


    Pat was further ahead of me than I expected. But it was doable. I could catch him.


    That was when I saw Astria on her hands and knees, pale as a ghost, as her sister threw projectile after projectile at the storage center. If I hadnt seen it so recently, I might have mistaken it for cowardice, or exhaustionrather than the way a person looks when theyre near the end.

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96


    A never-ending stream of profanity ran through my mind as I watched the fleeing man gain ground. He was out of the effective range for <strong></strong> and with this distance, it was unlikely Id hit him. If the mages could hold on for just a little longer


    I lost the trail of thought as Astria slipped, her face drifting perilously close to the road as consciousness nearly left her. Astrid, seeing her sister falter, fought harder.


    <em>Damn it. </em>


    Still, I wasnt ready to let one of the suits go so easily. Firing with my injured hand was a no-go, so I held my crossbow in my off-hand, sighting it awkwardly, aiming once again for center mass and casting <strong></strong> on the bolt.


    There was a <em>thwip</em> and the bolt flew through the air. It was more than a little off, spiraling through the air before an errant breeze corrected its flight, sending it spinning back towards the fleeing man.


    It almost looked like it would hit.


    But <strong></strong> wasnt a win button. It could tweak uracy, ensure small variables worked out in my favor if it was used normally,rger variables if it was overcharged. Unfortunately, there wasnt that much it could do when it came to being out of range. The bolt plummeted before it hit Pat, threading the needle between his sprinting legs and ttering off the asphalt.


    There wasnt a version of this where I could help the mages and catch this bastard.


    Everything in me, from the depths of my gut to the growing pressure in my chest, screamed for me to chase him. To cut him down before he summoned a vehicle and escaped. I wanted him more than Id wanted anything else.


    <em>Why?</em>


    I grimaced as my title asked the question. There was a rational reason to chase down Pat. Id used both the <strong></strong> and the <strong></strong> in our brief altercation.


    <em>He saw someone wearing the Allfathers mask. It was a brief encounter, so whatever he saw likely looked thoroughly different from me, with no alterations in appearance apart from what Miles had observed. The hand crossbow and the knife would be a problem if they were exotic or distinguishablebut Bean-Counter and Daphne didnt take them out of my inventory, just cataloged their rarity and effects. It stands to reason that a knife is about asmon as theyve always been, and how many people have I seen using a hand crossbow since this shitshow started? </em>


    <em>More than a few. It seemsmon among ssescking ranged skills, who chose it for the same reasons I did. The only real conclusion he can draw if he recognized any of the others is that Im one of Rodericks guys. And I tore the bolt out before the effect could kick in. </em>


    Realistically, barring some Hail Mary skill or feat, I was in the clear. So, why was it so hard to let him go?


    <em>You know why.</em>


    I swore under my breath, watching Pat for just a moment more as he summoned what looked like a high-end cked out dune buggy, finally feeling the all-consuming need to chase him g as the engine roared to high pitch and the tires squealed. He faded into the distance.


    It took a second to center myself, return my focus to what was important. I drank a health potion and observed the scene while I waited for my hand to heal.


    The front of the storage facility had been blown to hell. Our mages and bomb maker had done a decent enough job avoiding damage to the interior, but theres only so much you can do to put a cap on that much explosive power. There were clear casualties on both sidesChastitys face was barely visible beneath a mat of hair and blood. Dane hovered over her, shoving a potion in her mouth and discarding the next to an identical one thaty next to them.


    There were traces that pointed to the likelihood the enemy group had pushed forward, then retreated. A deployed forcefield that was shielding no one, and the corpse of a magic User strewn on the ground next to one of many cement barricades.


    My gaze lingered on him briefly, my lip curling in distaste. Id known there was a risk. Anyone who believed we could do this with no body count was an idiot. But that didnt make the reality any less unpleasant.


    I watched Astria, puzzled. She and Astrid were shielded by an oval teal bubble that extended upwards nearly three stories in length. It was possible something had gotten through and hit her if there was a window of vulnerability, or the shield needed to be refreshed, but her clothes were in pristine condition. There were no visible injuries that I could see.


    A thin, concentrated bolt of lightning thundered out from the third floor, striking the shield. It dimmed slightly. Astrid flinched, then grit her teeth, summoning another massive blue ball with her wand, aiming it towards the unseen sniper and releasing it.


    Behind her, Astria slumped to the ground.


    The beginnings of a theory ticked in my mind. Something that exined why Astrids likelihood of survival was so high, when Astrias was the lowest in the group. Still, I didnt have all the pieces. I needed more information.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Come on.</em>


    Miles Squelch had to be the culprit, even though I was outside the building. I looked for a way to close the distance without exposing myself to the sniper with the high vantage. It might be possible to loop back around the buildings behind us and use the APC as cover.


    Not enough time. If it worked the way I thought it did, Astria had minutes, if not less.


    With the blue light-show and the constant artillery barrage, they made a hell of a distraction. It was possible the sniper, or snipers, were entirely focused on the mages.


    I stepped out from the cover of the building, only my right-leg and portion of my side showing.


    Immediately, the hairs on my arm stood on-end. I threw myself backward as an explosion of arcing light left a ck, smoking crater where my foot had been. I looked back towards the Mages. Astrid was bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for air like a person who had just run a marathon. The reprieve wouldntst long.


    I spotted a familiar figure. Bob was close to the mages, crouching behind a cement barricade that was out of line with the others.


    Bob! I shouted, calling his name several times before he heard me.


    The hell are you doing out here? Bob shouted back.


    Forget that. I need to get to the mages. Well lose them if I dont.


    Bob looked over to Astrid and Astria, then peeked above the barrier, falling back down immediately when a bolt of lightning struck. Kind of pinned down over here.


    I remembered my previous estimation of Bob. That hed hesitate under fire. So far, that was holding true. But people can only be pushed so far before one of two things happen. They break, or they snap. And there was a dangerous look in his eye. The look of a man tired of dealing with magic horseshit.


    With an expression of rage, Bob rose from his cover and flipped the bird at the snipers with both hands and screamed. Suck it, you rain-cloud wannabe bastards. Fuck you!


    <em>Fuck me.</em>


    I fully expected Bob to copse to the ground, newly covered in Lichtenberg figures, as the lightning ravaged his body.


    Just before three bolts of lightning struck out, Bob ducked beneath the barrier, shuddering from the residual shock. Then he lifted one end of the barrier with both hands and half-ran, half-walked with it, dragging it alongside him.


    <em>Thats eight-hundred, nine-hundred pounds minimum.</em>


    Emtion told me it was feat-rted, but that didnt make the moment any less impressive.


    Bob made it halfway to me when all three snipers fired again.


    <em>Now.</em>


    I sprinted out to meet him halfway. Asphalt rustled against my knees as I slid into cover. Bob dropped the barrier t and pivoted to the other side, escorting me towards the two mages. He seemed to be running out of speed towards the end when I caught up with him. He copsed against the barrier once we were close enough.


    You gonna be okay? I asked him.


    Go. Bob waved me towards the mages, a heavy sheen of sweat on his forehead. I made a mental note to never let Bob get in melee range, and left him there as I crossed into the forcefield.


    Sound muffled. Astrid was standing upright again, Astria had fully copsed, unmoving behind her. The smaller girls mouth was moving wordlessly. Her features somehow seemed less defined than before. Astrid, byparison, looked sharper than when I left her. Her expression was dark, and she radiated an almost literal feeling of power.


    Astrid held her wand aloft, aiming for the darkened windows on the third floor.


    Stop, I said, putting as much authority and surety as I could into the single word.


    Astrid whirled, pointing the wand at me. What? Why?


    I nced at the barrier. The color had faded somewhat, leaving only the slightest hint of blue. How long until the barrier needs to be recast?


    <em> How much longer will the shieldst, Nick?</em>


    Between the dying mage and the forcefield, a powerful wave of dj vu swept over me, the circumstances feeling all too familiar. Thest time something like this had happened, people in my care had died.


    It would happen again. That was almost inevitable. But not here.


    My resolve cemented into iron.


    Ny seconds. Give or take, depending on how much they hit it. Why


    Whats wrong with Astria? I asked, keeping the questionsing, trying to limit pushback.


    Nothing. Astrid nced at her fallen sister in a mix of embarrassment and irritation, then back at me. She always folds when shit hits the fan.


    You care about her?


    What?


    <em>Do you care about her?</em> I pressed, annunciating each word for emphasis. I hated being this direct, but Astrids answer was important. If my theory was correct, and she was leaning on the dynamic intentionally, there was next to nothing I could do for her.


    Astrid looked me straight in the eye. More than anything in the world.


    Would you hurt her if you stood to benefit?


    Never. Her expression was resentful, as if some part of her hated me for daring to ask.


    It was the truth. Simplified, reductive, but the truth.


    Then we need to figure this out fast, I said, ncing at the woman on the ground. Because Im pretty sure youre killing her.

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97


    Astrid flinched backwards like shed been pped. It was the first time Id seen her act anything other than stoic or borderline hostile. That was good. The vtile reaction cemented the usibility that she wasnt doing this on purpose. I felt her eyes follow me to Astria as I bent down over the younger girl and checked her pulse.


    Its low. Way lower than it should be. I said. It would take too long to get the actual number, but Astria looked up at me through nearly colorless eyes that I could have sworn were previously a lighter shade of blue. Like her sister, the left side of her head was shaved, save a brte braid. The right side was full of brown curls that were cut off just below her ear. Her wrist felt frail in my hand, to the point I set it down gently instead of dropping it, for fear of hurting her.


    Im telling you, she just gets like this sometimes, Astrid insisted. Some of the anger had returned to her face. That wasnt good.


    Maybe. If youre wrong, she dies. You want to take that chance?


    no.


    My mind raced. Astria, from my brief read in the APC, waspletely dependent on Astrid. Which meant Astrid, by necessity, was probably dogmatically self-sufficient, not unlike me. Shed shut me down in a second if I let her get her bnce back.


    I need your Title and your background.


    Why


    Keep wasting the little time we have, and youll find out. I realized, when the stony expression came back to her face, that Id pushed too hard.


    Thankfully, Astria answered instead, her voice strained. Bad foster home. Been train-hopping for thest few years. Got stuck in the city when the dome came down.


    Tria! Astrid admonished.


    I grimaced. Based on their ages, it was a safe bet they were long-term runaways turned transients. There were few people more insr and slow to trust.


    Title and description?


    Caster. Astria said.


    I blinked. What, thats it? Compared to the other titles Ide into contact with, it was oddly generic. Suspiciously so. And yours? I asked Astrid.


    The same, Astrid seemed to relent, and made the telltale swiping gesture that indicated she was navigating her menu. A rare title gifted to a chosen few of the Gemini Cluster. The Users will find higher level magic more potent and easier to master at the cost of slower regeneration. The pool of power is greater, but does note freely. Why is the title so important?


    sses are rtively generic. Theres probably at least a few other people in the city that share your ss. As far as I know, titles are unique to the individual. And most of them are double-edged, My mind raced as I reviewed the information shed given me. There was nothing that specifically supported my theory, but a few aspects stood out. The reference to the pool of powering freely, the fact that they both shared the same title despite it being unique to the individual.


    Double-edged? Astrid asked. Fear was creeping back in her voice again.


    The system isnt our friend. It gives us a plenty of rope, but doesnt care whether we use that rope to climb or hang ourselves. Its satisfied either way, I think.


    Gemini. My mind hadtched onto the word ever since Astrid had said it as if it was important. It was part of what I was missing, I was certain of it. If I could only decipher why.


    <em>Its not Caster.</em>


    I snapped my fingers, staring straight at Astrid. Hows it spelled?


    Were wasting time. Astrid snapped.


    C-a-s-t-o-r. Astria answered. Her voice was weaker, almost a whisper.


    There it was. The piece I was missing. It was hellishly deceptive. If you were a magic User and received Castor as a title, you probably wouldnt give the misspelling a second thought after reading the description. But Castor in this case wasnt a description. It was a reference to a person. Or rather, a legend.


    Castor and Pollux. The Gemini Twins. Skipping over the usual greek mythology fuckery, they lived a long life and had many adventures. Until they pissed off the wrong people, and Castor died. Pollux was given the choice to either move on, or split his power with his brother, bringing him back to life.


    A feeling of disgust came over me, directed at the Overseer and the system itself. It would have been reaching to give someone like me this title and expect me to recognize it. Giving it to two foster kids turned runaways who probably grew up with subpar education was just cruel. They werent stupid. You couldnt be stupid and survive on your own for as long as they had. They were justcking critical information.


    You share the same abilities and feats, dont you? I asked. Most likely the same stats, too.


    Astrids eyes slid to her sister. I always ask her opinion when we level, but yes.


    Astria, I said gently, crouching down next to the younger girl. Do you care about your sister?


    I had to be careful here. Astria was emotionally fragile. If I came at her the way I confronted Astrid, there was a good chance she would break.


    Of course I do. Shes always taken care of me. Astria blinked, tears forming in her eyes.


    You say that like you havent been doing the same, I said. It surprised me when Astrid didnt intervene, rather, leaned in slightly to hear the answer.


    I havent, Astrias voice cracked, as she spoke directly to Astrid. Ive always been weak. Youve always protected me. Gotten hurt so I dont have to.


    Is that why youve been dealing with the pain when Astrid overdraws, and starts to pull from your portion of the mana pool? You knew about the title, but you said nothing. Was it penance for being weak?


    Astrids face ckened in shock. Tria. Is that true?


    Its the least I could do. The only thing I could do. Astria said. Astrid took a step back, shaking her head.


    I chewed on the inside of my lip. If the shield went down when they were both like this, Id effectively neutralized our mages. There was only one way forward that I could see.


    Help her up, I beckoned to Astrid, and she approached her sister slowly, grabbing her beneath the arm and lifting her to her feet, then retreated a few steps away, looking bewildered and hurt.


    Astria wobbled on her feet.


    I whispered in Astrias ear, You might think youre being noble by doing this. That shed be better off without you. But youre wrong.


    Astria stiffened.


    I continued. Think about every time shes stuck her neck out for you. Handled things when you couldnt. All that hard work to keep you healthy, and fed, and taken care of. And you want to repay that debt by abandoning her?


    The girls eyes hardened, her mouth forming a silent no.


    I took a step back before Astrid could draw close enough to hear, speaking at a normal volume now. In a matter of seconds. That shield wille down. Astrid wont renew it, now that she knows the truth. Which means whates next is entirely up to you.


    With that, I turned and left, returning to where Bob was still waiting by the barrier. My staying wouldnt help them. As a third party, Id already overstepped considerably on what should have been a private discussion.


    Wee back to the concrete express. Bob sighed.


    Appreciate you, Bob.


    Girls gonna be okay?


    I hope so.


    Bob took a breather at the halfway point, when something high-pitched and static, distinctly magic-esque reverberated over the yard. I looked back, and saw Astria and Astrid, standing side by side within a renewed shield, hands held in solidarity. Astriaunched projectile after projectile, destroying the remaining walls that covered the snipers.


    A bittersweet feeling of relief came over me. I was happy for them, truly. But their closeness struck a chord, an imperfect reminder of what I had lost. I closed my eyes. Id have to deal with this, eventually. Shore up my vulnerabilities, finish rebuilding the mental walls. If I didnt, there was only a matter of time before I started making mistakes.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    For now, I had a necromancer to hunt.

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98


    When I returned, Miles didnt ask any questions. That felt significant somehow. Either he wasmitted to his own usible deniability, or he already knew. Normally, Id say I was confident he hadnt been watching me, but considering his background and skill set, it wasnt a safe assumption.


    Before we started to climb, he grabbed me by the arm. Look. I know youre trying to limit casualties. Its part of why I feltfortable signing on, considering who youre working with.


    I raised an eyebrow. Sensing some history there. Something about Roderick I should know?


    Miles pressed his lips together and shook his head. Let''s just say I can see the two of us working together in the future. Which isnt something Id say about him.


    This unspoken business, the real reason you took a house in the neighborhood?


    Pressing me for info isnt going to get you shit. Miles looked me point-nk in the eye.


    I held my hands up defensively. Fine. Cant me a guy for trying.


    I dont.


    You were working up to something?


    Right. Miles ran a hand through his hair. Its fine to give most of these people a pass. Theyre obvious amateurs being kept in the dark, getting bossed around by idiots who dont know how to set up a basic perimeter.


    I studied him. You want to kill the necromancer.


    Want has nothing to do with it. Miles shook his head. Remember the one I told you about?


    The one living in the sewer, yeah. I also remember you saying he didnt pose much of a threat.


    No, Miles corrected, His creations didnt pose much of a threat. The necromancer himself was a different story. Shadow hands that came out of walls, tore through flesh like paper. Took down a half-dozen cops and several agents from my department before they got him. Reports from the survivors indicated that they heard the voices of friends and loved ones distracting them, trying to lead them into traps.


    Kind of buried the lead earlier, didnt you? I asked.


    Miles shrugged. Had to know you werent going to spook. Im good, but its a numbers game and the numbers arent in our favor. I doubt I could do this on my own.


    Noted, I said, not thrilled with the turn of events. Miles had been reasonable and even-handed up to this point. Now he was trying to prime me to kill on sight. If what he was saying was true, it was a reasonable stance to take. Even logical.


    But it was idiocy to trust a liar without knowing their agenda. Doubly so when you were talking about a fed.


    Let me be clear. We found a loner in a tunnel, luring in the elderly and the impressionable, and he still gave us hell. Imagine how much more dangerous hed have been if he had organizational support and dozens of people to work on?


    I get it, enough with the hard sell, I snapped


    Okay, Miles said. He didnt seem particrly confident, but also seemed to realize hed pushed things too far, and that pushing harder would be counter-productive.


    We scaled the outside of the storage building with no issue. Miles used a small red-glowing de, no bigger than a scalpel, to cut through the ss silently on the upper window, carefully cing the pane inside to give us an entry point on the seventh floor.


    The atmosphere changed somehow. It wasnt directly tied to anything, like the lighting or a smell in the air. Instead, it was a deep feeling of discement, almost primal, tied into a lizard-brain instinct that something was very wrong.


    As we made our way in, the feeling was further supported by theck of guards. ording to Emil, there were plenty in the stairwell, but it seemed like for the most part the floor was abandoned.


    They grabbed more than fifty people. Miles whispered. Despite his experience, he looked deeply unsettled.


    And? I replied.


    Where are they? Miles asked. Some of them are probably dead, but not all of them. Why arent there any voices or posted guards?


    His sudden nervousness was spreading to me secondhand. Every unlocked, orange-painted storage locker that lined the hallways looked like an ambush waiting to happen, every shadow seemed twisted and menacing. Paranoia or not, my instincts rarely failed when something critical was on the line. I forced myself to rx, widening my focus instead of letting it flit from object to object.


    That was when I saw it. Ahead of us was an abandoned cleaning cartthe generic gray kind with a bottom and top shelf that you often see in hotels. Its shadow reflected its form, but the angle of the shadow seemed off somehow.


    I watched it carefully as we approached, staying close to Miles.


    <em>There.</em>


    The point of a triangle emerged from the shadow. It curved as it extended out, forming the de of a scythe. There was an undercurrent of whispers, and Miles paused, his shoulders tense.


    And the shadow scythe shot out towards him.


    I acted without thinking, shoving Miles forward with both hands and dancing back. The invisible weapon cut a jagged scar through the ster right next to Miles.


    He rolled nimbly,ing back up on his feet with his bow at the ready, a notched arrow pulled to his cheek and pointed at me. I barely even looked at him, still concentrating all my attention on the shadows on the floor. Once the scythe missed, the shadows began to multiply in the space between us, spreading across the floor and up the walls like leaping fountains of darkness.


    Picking up on what was happening immediately, Miles fired a shot at the mass of darkness on the ground. His arrow passed through the ckness soundlessly and disappeared. The overhead light flickered and went out as the darkness reached the ceiling.


    Run! Miles yelled. He turned and sprinted in the other direction, shadows chasing after him. I did the same.


    <em>What should I do?</em> Talia spoke in my mind, urgently.


    I made a snap decision. <em>Stay with him. This isnt something we can fight. And if he finds the lux before we do I need to know about it.</em>


    The darkness nipped at my heels as I ran, the hallway growing darker as light after light was consumed by it. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I tried to formte a n. If theyout of this floor of the storage center tracked with the previous floors, it was effectively a square of four hallways. I really only needed to keep running in one direction to find Miles, though what wed do after that was beyond me.


    Long, forking tendrils of darkness struck out from the surrounding storage lockers, with sparse space between them. I leapt through, using <strong></strong> as a guide, managing to contort my body in such a way that each tendril missed. I was so focused on avoiding the shadow that I botched thending.


    My hands pped painfully against the ground as I barely avoided hitting my head on the concrete.


    Thorns cut into my arm and shoulder as Audrey unfurled, vinestching onto a distant door handle and hauling me forward. I regained my bnce and continued to run, my sore feet pounding painfully against the stone floor.


    The shadow was right behind me. I could feel the ground giving beneath my heels as I ran. Up ahead, where there should have been a conjoining hallway that led to the leftthe direction Id need to go to meet with Mileswas a mass of darkness so perfect it was difficult to look at.


    My only other option was a set of red mahogany doors that lookedpletely out of ce from the rest of the environment. Less like an upper-level office, more appropriate to something more sinister. A perfect entrance to a necromancersir.


    Lacking any other choice, I barreled through them, shutting the doors behind me and backing away slowly as I watched the outline of the door. The shadow didnt follow.


    <em>It did what it intended to do. Funneled me here.</em>


    The sharp artificial lemon scent of disinfectant reached my nose.


    I wasnt sure what I expected to see. The image Miles had painted, along with my recent experience in region six, had primed me for something horrible, something macabre. Vivisected bodies hung by chains above trenches of blood. Fingers and other extremities suspended in jars of fluid.


    Somehow, that couldnt have been further from the truth.


    I found myself in what looked like the wing of a medical facility. Unconscious patients wearing blue gowns were tucked into high-end hospital beds lining each side, most hooked to monitors that measured their pulse. There were more than ten on each side. All of them had well-defined muscture, meaning they were likely Users.


    Wake up, dammit. Come on. A voice called out.


    I drew my crossbow and held it in front of me, pointing at the ground as I moved slowly, my imagination running wild. Maybe one of the Users regained consciousness and was trying to rouse the others.


    What I found was not so simple.


    Instead of a panicked User, or a necromancer adorned in ck robes, I found a doctor. Or, at least, a man who appeared to be one. He was wearing a white coat with a stethoscope draped over his neck. His dark hair was receding severely and thinning on top, and his blue eyes were exhausted.


    Id never seen him before. But something about the way he set his jaw was familiar.


    He was leaning over a User on an operating table. If the monitoring device next to the table was correct, the man had tlined.


    The doctor rushed away in a controlled panic, returning with a long needle in his neoprene-gloved hands.


    Step away. I pointed the crossbow towards him, aligning the bead on his eye.


    The doctor raised his hands in the air, but didnt move. Sizing me up, he looked back and forth between me and the body on the table.


    Step. Away. I repeated, giving each word more emphasis.


    Listen to me, The doctor said. That man has been dead for more than two minutes. Serious brain damage starts


    At three. Im aware. I interjected. You killed him?


    The doctor held his silence, but guilt, clear as if it were written in neon, clouded his face.


    I pointed my crossbow towards the syringe. Whats in the needle?


    Adrenaline, the doctor answered. Mypanion, says youre here to cast judgment.


    Shadow monster in the hallway?


    Yes. And thats fine. I dont care what happens to me. God knows I deserve it. Just let me try to save him.

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99


    I positioned myself five feet away and held my crossbow to his head. Some part of me itched to pull the trigger. Necromancer, kidnapping and killing people by the dozen. It should have been clearcut, entirely justified. And I realized that for possibly the first time in my life, I was tired of granrity.


    Focusing on the minutia, theplexity and imperfect lines thatpose a person, was always how Id managed to stop myself from doing something stupid in the past. And whether it was due to exhaustion, or frustration at my recent circumstances, I was tired of looking for reasons to hold myself back.


    I wanted Miles necromancer who lived in the sewer, worshiping demons and spreading preschooler pt over tiny pieces of toast.


    I wanted simple.


    And life so rarely was. It was entirely possible he was what he presented himself to be. But serial killersthe smart ones, at leastcan be charismatic. So charismatic that, despite the malignancy of their crimes, we can be fascinated by them. People obsess over their pathology, dissect their motives and formative psychology. Consume an endless selection of books, and movies, and miniseries centered around the worst criminals outside of third world warlords and first world politicians.


    There was enough wrong here that I wasnt willing to trust my first impression. Hispanionthe shadow monsterhad tried to kill me. Even though I knew summons werent perfectly controble, it was hard to imagine the attempt would have happened with zero input from him.


    Hating myself for it, I switched titles to <strong></strong>


    A tidal wave of anxiety washed over me, so strongly I nearly staggered. Residual fear from the ambush, the close encounter with Rodericks lodge, and whatever was happening with Ellison ran rampant. The fear slowly changed to something else that anchored me in the moment. It wasnt pure focus, as it was with <strong></strong> Rather it was deeper, more primal. The desire to rend niceties and facade alike until the ugly, true face of everything was clear to see.


    Details from thest few minutes came into focus. Frown lines in the doctors forehead became more pronounced. He spoke with a nearly imperceptible micro-stutter, hunched over slightly. His eyes were haunted, not by what hed done, but by what hed done it for.


    <em>Paper residue on the stethoscope. Plenty of it. There were stickers there once, but he scratched them off. Pediatrics. Not a doctor. Overinted sense of self, so not a nurse either. Physicians Assistant, or some other analogue. He was barely hanging on before the dome came down. Something personal he couldnt shake, or an illness, or both. Only, it wasnt the dome that pushed him over. That happened after.</em>


    How many have you killed? My voice was emotionless, like it belonged to someone else. I caught my finger tightening on the trigger and loosened it. But only slightly. Miles warning was still at the forefront of my mind.


    The necromancers mouth tightened. Pull the trigger if you have to. Otherwise, Im injecting him now. He turned back to the patient, raising the needle.


    <em>Its adrenaline. 95, 96 percent chance. Whoever the User on the table is doesnt matter. The necromancer doesnt know him, either. Its less about reducing harm, more about being able to tell himself he did everything he could and using that assertion to cope. Still, on some level hes using this to evade the question, even though he knows hell have to answer eventually. Irrational. Emotional. Dangerous.</em>


    I watched as he plunged the needle into the mans chest. The necromancer wasnt new to the medical field. He didnt panic, or even frown, as he went through the process of attempting to revive the man on the table.


    <em>Miles is trying to reach you by speaking directly to the knife.</em> Talias mental voice held a touch of derision.


    <em>Voice and textmunication arent working?</em> I asked.


    <em>Considering what just happened, he wanted to avoid disabling his feat if it meant giving the necromancer a chance to call for help.</em> Talia said.


    <em>Reasonable. Shadow monster stop chasing?</em>


    <em>For now. Were pinned down in the north hallway. Miles found the lux in a storage unit. He wants to make sure youre not in peril before he begins to extract it. Are you in peril?</em>


    I closed my eyes, considering my next move carefully. If I brought Miles in on this, it was obvious what his vote would be. Hed made it clear. And it was probably the right call, I just wasntfortable making it without more information. But letting him extract the lux solo was also a considerable risk.


    <em>Im fine for the moment. How much is there?</em> I asked.


    <em>Twenty-five, give or take.</em>


    I breathed out slowly. It was hard to say with the variable value, but that might be enough to fill the receptacle.


    <em>Talia. Worst-case scenario, could you take him down?</em>


    There was a hesitation before she answered. <em>If he betrays us and attempts to steal the lux for himself?</em>


    <em>Yes.</em>


    <em>I am uncertain if I could neutralize himpletely. Hes one of the most capable Users weve worked with and likely has many abilities yet to reveal. Transporting this much lux is awkward, however, and Im reasonably certain if I acted at an ideal moment, I could do enough damage to ensure that he failed.</em>


    <em>Dont hesitate. If you get a bad vibe, or feel like theres even the slightest chance he might inventory the knife? Hit him hard."</em>


    There was another long pause. <em>Yourefortable giving me this much autonomy on something so critical?</em>


    <em>Weve already been over this. I trust your judgment. Speak to him with suggestion, tell him Im safe but trapped for the moment. Then tell him I said to get the lux and get out. </em>


    <em>Very well. Be safe, Matthias.</em>


    <em>You too.</em>


    On some level, I registered that it was the first time Talia had used my name.


    I returned my attention to the necromancer. He was bent over the hospital bed, hands gripping the railing hard enough that his weathered knuckles were white. Tears streamed down his cheeks.


    Quite the performance. Seeing as how your experimentation was the cause of his death in the first ce, I prodded, despite knowing from <strong></strong> that none of this was an act.


    Eleven. The necromancer whispered.


    Come again?


    Benjamin Hudson, Abigail Wace, Evan Robinson, Emma Wright, Ramon Weaver, n Copnd, Denzel Price, Oscar Davidson, Isabe Bates, Zoe Weber The necromancer extended a hand to the man on the table. And Hayden Greer. The names of the eleven people Ive killed. Only three of them were productive. The rest died in vain. Pointlessly.


    <em>Didnt hesitate or stumble once until he got to the end. Hes memorized their names. Guilt or self-getion. Probably both. </em>


    The necromancer looked me straight in the face, then reached up slowly. I tensed, rxing only when his fingers sped around his ck-patterned tie and began to undo the knot, folding it gently and cing it on the counter. A gift from my daughter. Id rather leave it intact, if its all the same to you.


    Did he intend to fight? My instincts and title said no, but Id been wrong before.


    Still think youre getting out of this?


    The necromancer shook his head. On the contrary. The people funding this operation will keep doing so, on a smaller scale. If you spare me, I can tell you beyond all certainty Im not going to stop. Im incapable of it.


    I cocked my head. Because you enjoy it.


    No. Again, the refusal was as clear as it was definitive.


    <em>Self-hatred. Pure as driven snow.</em>


    A stony smile yed across my lips. Youre giving me as little information as possible on purpose. Because you dont want me to empathize. You dont want to get out of this. Youre in too deep, and a bolt to the head is your way out.


    Why muddle what should be definitive? He asked, unknowingly echoing my earlier sentiments. By any and all definitions of the word, Im a murderer. I have every intention of doing it again. Ending me would spare dozens, maybe hundreds. Pulling the trigger would make you a hero.


    I shrugged. Potentially. But I dont care about that. Being a hero. What I want is information. Intel on what you intended to do here, and as many details on the organization behind you as possible. Give me that, and maybe Ill grant your request. What were you doing, here?


    The necromancer bit his lip. Something dangerous slipped into his expression. For one tense moment, I wondered if he might rush me. Try to force me to kill him.


    Then the dangerous gleam faded. He sagged, and sat on the rolling stool next to the table. Its a harvesting operation. Nothing more. I stop their hearts as painlessly as possible, then check them for cores. If theres no core, I try to bring them back.


    Hence the low bodycount, I said. When he looked at me, horrified, I added, rtively speaking. Why are the cores so important?


    The necromancer shifted ufortably. From what Ive been told, the other sses can kill monsters and gain significant experience from quests. Its easy enough to umte power withouting into conflict with other Users.


    Necro doesnt work that way.


    No. He shook his head. We have quests, but the rewards are limited. Almost all our experience is derived from manipting and consuming cores.


    So, what? You just decided, hey, I need more power, guess Ill just kill people?


    A dark chuckle escaped from the necromancers lips. Please. Everyone loves to poke fun of the Hippocratic oath, but theres more than a few of us that take it seriously. I took one look at the skill tree and swore to never touch it.


    <em>Hes dancing around the truth. Push harder.</em>


    I held out a hand to the body on the table. Yet, here we are. Doesnt look like it stuck.


    You should really just kill me. He leaned forward on the stool, his head down.


    Im considering it. But first, you have to tell me why.


    His gaze was fixed on the floor. I wasnt the only one who became a User after the asteroid hit.


    The first puzzle piece fell into ce, followed by the spective ghost of a half-dozen others. I closed my eyes. Your daughter did, too.


    That dark chuckle filled the room. It was a manic sound, filled with madness. God, she was always too smart for her own good. She had all these ideas about how to profit from her ability. A few days after the meteor hit, they found us.


    They? I asked.


    I cant tell you who they are, or were theyre at. They put every one of us


    Under a geas. I finished.


    His dead eyes lit up, slightly. Youve encountered them before.


    Tell me what happened, I said, my stomach twisting.


    The necromancers voice took on a broken monotone. They were straightforward at first. But when my daughter couldnt give them what they wanted, things took a turn. They took us into separate rooms. She tried to escape, and they killed her in the process.


    Why would you work with someone who killed your daughter?


    Instead of responding, the necromancer reached towards his side. As <strong></strong> didnt give me a warning, I saw no reason to stop him. He withdrew a small pearlescent orb and held it out to me.


    I reached out to take it, only to find his fingers locked around it, gaze still pointed at the ground.


    If thats what I think it is, Id never take it from you. Let me see it. Please. My voice was gentler than before, even as anger boiled within me.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Fuck.</em>


    Thats hers. My daughters. After she died. They let me see the body. I was in shock,pletely broken. Then <em>someone</em> came in to speak with me. The way he said someone, seemed to indicate he knew and actively hated the person, but couldnt speak the name. He seemed genuinely apologetic. Maybe thats a strange thing to say about a man who tortured you and your only family, but somehow, he did. He said it was an ident. That shed tried to run, and the guard who killed her was no longer with the guild. The necromancer sobbed once, then hardened, his eyes ring with hatred. Id let it slip a while ago what I was. Maybe that makes me a coward, but I was so convinced that if I could just offer them something equally valuable as a merchant


    Theyd take you instead. I offered, filling in the rest of the nks with damning rity. The man hed spoken to had to be the same gray-haired suit Id negotiated with in the tunnel.


    I already gave him all the information I had about my ss. At a low-level, it seemed practically useless. Summoning ghosts that faded away after minutes. Farthest I could see up the skill-tree, it led to eventually upgrading to reanimated bodies that were nothing more than shells. Everything after it was question marks. Which is umon, apparently. And this man imed to have knowledge of what presided at the top of the tree.


    Gray-hair deserved a special ce in hell.


    And what was that? I asked, already knowing the answer.


    The necromancer rested his chin on his hands. True resurrection. The ability to fully restore a deceased User from their core. I was a fool. A desperate and grieving one, but a fool nheless. I realized toote that there was no way he could know that. But after making that connection, the idea itself was just as insidious. Even if he was lying, wouldnt it make sense? That someone with a mastery of life and death could eventually fully restore a User? So I kept going. And going. And now Im here.


    I absorbed everything slowly. The necromancer had no way of knowing how drastically hed just turned my world upside down. Still, I needed to be certain. Onest piece to confirm the horrible theory in my head.


    Whats your daughters name?

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100


    Kinsley. And my name is Vernon Fields. Not that it matters. In a court ofw, I would have just given you motive alongside the smoking gun, and the assertion that I cannot stop my work. But there is no court ofw anymore. Vernons hands were shaking. He rotated away from me on the swivel chair.


    Though I kept my crossbow pointed in his general direction, I removed my finger from the trigger. <strong></strong> marked everything he said as true. My title was uncharacteristically quiet after the fact, as if in the face of the necromancers chilling story, its usual ghastlymentary would have been pointlessly over the top.


    That wouldnt have been enough, if the story didnt fit so well.


    Gray-hair and cohorts abduct Kinsley and her father and discover in the midst of an interrogation that theyve unknowingly acquired a two-for-one special. They lose the merchant, and are determined to salvage their losses and make the most of what they have. So, they mock up a body, or an illusion, or whatever. They even found a Level 1 core from a merchantwhich didnt track perfectly, especially if theyd bought things from Kinsley, and shed leveled before everything went south, but Vernon wouldnt necessarily know that. Then, they used the core and the carrot of True Resurrection to tie the remaining asset to their cause.


    After all, anyone is capable of anything, given the right situation and proper motivation.


    It seemed to me, given the contextoutsourced mercenaries with only a single member of their organization apart from Vernon himself, that they were confident Vernon would continue the work independently, and that necromancy wasnt overly high on their priority list, or at least something they wanted to avoid being directly tied to. It tracked with Vernons hypothesis that Gray-hair had no inside knowledge of the skill tree, and that Vernon was likely one of many resources they were leveraging, trying to get on top.


    And Vernon was right that the idea of resurrection existing had logic behind it. Towards the end of the Necromancers tree, there was likely some sort of resurrection that involved implementing a Users core. The level of autonomy that revived User would have waspletely unknowable, and Id be surprised if there wasnt some malignant twist to itshortened lifespan, amnesia, altered personality, imprinting on the necromancer themselves just to name a few possibilitiesbut its existence was a decent guess. From a purely rational, pragmatic standpoint, the suits had yed their cards brilliantly.


    That didnt change the fact that it was monstrous.


    I opened my mouth and nearly told Vernon his daughter was alive.


    Then, I stopped myself. Somewhere in the depths of my mind, I could hear <strong></strong>ughing.


    Vernon was already suicidal. Not in the traditional, inches away from writing a note and making toast in the bathtub sort of way. But it was clear that hurting people didnte naturally to him, and he wanted to stop, or at least for someone to stop him. If it had been Miles who wandered into hisir instead of me, he likely would have gotten his wish.


    The singrity of his mission was what was keeping him going. If I told him Kinsley was alive, and by proxy, that the murders hemitted were all pointless, would he be able to take it?


    <em>No.</em>


    All of which left me in a difficult position. If I let him go and did nothing, hed continue as he had been. The same reason relocating him wouldnt work. And killing him waspletely off the table. It didnt matter that there were no witnesses. Once the flow of information starts, it rarely slows. Enough people knew I was here, in this building. Other people connected to those people knew I was associated with Rodericks Lodge and the Merchants Guild. If she found out, my best-ced ally with the highest potential would be at risk, if not actively hostile. And Kinsleys name was rapidly bing public information.


    Thatst bit was likely an oue the suits hadnt nned for. It seemed far more likely for them to assume Kinsley wouldy low after what they did to her. Stay in hiding for weeks, even months, before she eventually resurfaced and signed on with another guild out of necessity, cing her conveniently out of their purview. With her bing a public figureespecially when people realized shed willingly cut pricing on healing items during the eventthe suits would need to hold Vernon closer to the vest, to prevent the possibility hed talk to the wrong person.


    I needed to be careful here. ying this wrong would be a disaster.


    So, I did what I always did when faced with a difficult problem. Sought more information.


    Lets break this down. I said. Vernon jumped, like hed forgotten I was there. I know you can give me information about the organization itself, but can you discuss the geas? About the process of receiving it. Consequences of breaking it. Or is it a Fight Club situation?


    Thetter, Vernon said. He seemed confused, like he didnt understand why I was still talking to him. He looked upwards in thought. I can discuss what it isnt. As far as I know.


    Is there any chance youll break it identally?


    No, Vernon said. I would be aware.


    In the case that you were notified, would anyone else be made aware of that, or is the warning exclusive to you?


    I would be notified, Vernon repeated. He couldnt answer, but the repetition and feedback from my title implied that the warning was exclusive.


    Okay. I could do this. I just needed to ask the right questions, extrapte from what he was unable to answer, and use <strong></strong> to fill in the nks. First, I had to make sure I didnt have a fox in the henhouse. Just because I trusted Kinsley didnt mean she wasntpromised.


    Is it likely that anyone the organization interrogates is under a geas?


    Vernons lips tightened. No answer. Nothing from my title. I needed to reframe the question.


    Im nning to create an evil, overarching organization. Obviously, I dont want people to talk about it. Wouldnt it make sense to get someone to cast a geasor some analogueon everyone I talked to? To ensure my motives and ns stayed private.


    Vernon gave that some thought. If you were able to find a cheaper, cost-efficient alternative, sure, I could see that. Otherwise, youd need to limit your applications.


    <em>The geas is expensive to use, and likely limited to members of the organization.</em>


    I smiled. That was good news. It meant I didnt have to worry about sleeper agents, and Kinsley was likely in the clear.


    Im aware that breaking the geas results in death. That being said, is there any way to remove it after its in ce?


    Vernon was silent again.


    <em>Yes.</em>


    I moved on. As Im seeking alternatives to the geas, what do you think I should prioritize beyond cost-efficiency?


    He had to think about that for a moment before he realized what I was asking. Something that stops people from taking direct action against you, for one thing. If its capable of monitoring their thoughts, letting you know whos a risk and who isnt, all the better. And being able to have arger number of forbidden topics would be ideal as well.


    <em>The geas wont act as a deterrent against coups, or punish someone for thinking of ways to break it. Its also limited in scope, and has a low number of restrictions it can ce on any given person.</em>


    Can you tell me anything about the court? I asked. It had stuck in my head, ever since Gray-hair pped down an underling for almost mentioning it in front of me.


    Vernons eyes widened in surprise. His eyes darted back and forth, as if he was furiously trying to figure out how to say something. After several false starts, he managed to voice the question. Do you know someone whos been taken?


    I shook my head. Its better for both of us if I dont answer that.


    It wasnt a good denial. And it wasnt meant to be. If what I had in mind was going to work, I was giving Vernon a reason for me being on his side without specifically saying it. Enough that he had usible deniability if he was interrogated by someone with a power simr to Tylers.


    There was one more thing I needed to clear up. There was no way Kinsley hadnt tried to reach out to her father since the voice and textmunication came online. In my evil organization, it would probably be a good idea to limitmunications from low-level members or contractors, to ensure they didnt leak anything not covered by my geas. Thoughts?


    Vernon nodded. Even better if you have someone specifically monitoring, recording, and approving iing and out-goingmunication of all guild members. Safer that way.


    There was more I wanted to know. The goal the suits were working towards, why they were so hellbent from the beginning on building as quickly as possible, how the hell the suits had gotten such a head start over everyone else. If I had to guess, based on my experience with the all-father, they had a deity on their side. Worst-case, more than one.


    Those were just things Id have to discover for myself.


    From what I can tell, youve only been working on Users. Can you not work with civilian cores? I asked.


    Vernons eyes slid to the side. Thats what I told them.


    On the surface, it was an arbitrary line to draw. But I understood why hed drawn it. Limiting your victims to people who stood a fighting chance, even if that chance was small, spoke to Vernons humanity. And the fact that hed gone so far as to lie to the suits conveyed that there was still fight left in him, still lines he refused to cross.


    That was something I could work with.


    How long does it take you to process a core? Do whatever you need to do with it?


    A day. Sometimes longer, if the project is more in-depth.


    I think we can help each other, Vernon. I finally lowered my crossbow, cing it in my inventory. From there, I withdrew Jinnys core, holding it out where he could see it. Because I have both a vested interest in the court, and whats at the top of the necromancer tree.


    Im sorry for your loss, Vernon said nervously, But giving me that would be a bad idea. Once a core is used up, it dissipates. Cant say for sure, but if theres a possibility of bringing the person back, its likely gone forever.


    I was using Jinnys core as a prop. A tool to further misdirect the suits from my true identity. Theyd checked her body themselves, and our inventories after hers. They knew she didnt leave a core behind. I realized, if there was an opportunity to bring her back, I needed to try. Stupid as it was, Id made her a promise. Her dying didnt change that. And she likely wouldnt be thest person I lost. If there was a way to mitigate that eventuality, it was irresponsible not to prepare for it.


    Of course. Which is why Im not giving you this one, I said.


    This one? Vernon asked, suddenly wary.


    There was no doubt in my mind that what I was about to do was necessary. It was the best possible solution to an impossible problem. But after this, on the off-chance there was a god, I knew exactly where Id stand.


    <em>Please. If there is a god, you were always going to hell. Nothing you do is going to change that, one way or another.</em>


    Ignoring the taunt from my title, I withdrew five cores. Three Users, two ungifted. The ungifted were age eighty-seven and ny-one respectively. The two oldest cores I had. Vernons eyes widened as I held them out to him.


    Where He started.


    Youd do anything to have your daughter back, right? I asked him.


    His expression softened. Yes.


    Im offering you an alternative. A way to keep your hands clean and still be able to work towards that goal.


    He reached out slowly and inspected the cores, reviewing them. These are real cores, but Ill burn through them quickly.


    Its around a week, right?


    What?


    What I just gave you, and what youve gathered already. A weeks supply.


    Oh. I suppose it would be, yes.


    Talias voice intruded in my mind, startling me. <em>We have a problem.</em>


    <em>In the middle of something. What is it?</em> I asked.


    <em>Miles has finished moving the lux to the metal vehicle.</em> Talia said.


    <em>Please tell me hes not trying to drive off with it.</em>


    <em>On the contrary. Despite my insistence otherwise, he is refusing to leave you behind and seems overly concerned you may be held against your will.</em> The frustration in Talias voice was clear. <em>He is currently fighting his way through the guards on the stairwell as it leads to your side.</em>


    I blinked, surprised that Miles would go to that level of effort. <em>Uh. Does he need help?</em>


    <em>If anyone needs help, it is the guards. Unless I interfere, you have five minutes before he finds you. Perhaps less.</em>


    Another timetable. Fantastic.


    <em>Dont interfere. I should be good by then. Just keep me updated.</em>


    If I was going to solidify this rtionship and get Vernon out of here alive, I needed to move fast.


    When you talk to the suits, tell them the truth. I started to pace. A third party attacked your operation and a User found you. After discovering what you were, he offered to provide you with cores indefinitely. Then he helped you escape.


    Vernon swallowed. I could guess what he was struggling with. Whether to ask me where the cores came from, or if hed rather live without knowing the answer. In the end, he chose thetter. Im assuming theres a catch?


    Other than reviving a core if you ever gain the ability? I waved him off. Nothing from you. What I want, you cant give me. Just tell the suits to meet me at Lakeside park four days from now, at noon.


    Assuming the transposition event didnt destroy any semnce of normality, Lakeside park was two miles from downtown, public enough that they wouldnt feelfortable making any big moves.


    And what should I tell them you want?


    I smiled. To offer my sincerest apologies for traumatizing one of their own, of course. Beyond that, what I want is simple. Entrance. Into their esteemed organization.


    Something unspoken passed between us. Finally, Vernon nodded.


    This was the first step. The foothold Id been waiting for. Id need to figure out a way to get around the geas and take more than a few measures in preparation, but four days was plenty of time. It wouldnt be immediate. They wouldnt trust a stranger, even less one bearing gifts. But Id eventually have ess to Nick, along with their considerable resources.


    Subsequently, it was a matter of cing the dominoes in the correct order.


    And watching them fall.

 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101


    <em>Thunk</em>


    <em>Thunk</em>


    <em>Thunk</em>


    Miles burst through the door of the necromancersir, his eyes wild. His bow was at the ready, the glinting arrowhead reflecting the sterile lights above. He aimed at me for just a moment before he lowered the bow slightly. Hey kid.


    I raised an eyebrow. Had me going. Seemed like you were actually worried before you opened your mouth.


    Calling you kid wasnt bait, you paranoid bastard. You just remind me of someone. Miles seemed to regain himself, and crossed the room to crouch down next to the body. The corpse was lying face down, the white front of the bald mans jacket stainedpletely red. His head was turned to the side, a single crossbow bolt impaled in his left eye.


    I gagged, held a hand to my mouth, and turned away as Miles poked at the corpse.


    Didnt fight much. Miles said.


    No.


    No defensive wounds. No other visible injuries.


    He thought he could talk his way out of it.


    Immortality or sob story? Miles asked.


    What?


    When he tried to weasel. Did he offer you immortality or tell you a sob story about a loved one who died?


    I didnt bother hiding my surprise. Sob story. Spent the whole exchange pontificating over his dead daughter. Youve dealt with more than one necromancer.


    Just a guess. He fell face first, but not very far.  Miles emitted a low whistle. Jesus. You made him kneel? Why not make it easy on the both of you and shoot him in the back of the head?


    Its not supposed to be easy.


    No, I guess its not. Miles grunted as he stood from his crouch and crossed the room to me. I felt his cool gaze as I ignored him and filled a syringe with the proper mixture of drugs and injected it into one of the unconscious Users IV.


    That your first? Miles asked quietly.


    Not exactly. But this was different. I answered, matching the quietness of his tone, letting vulnerability leak in.


    How so?


    The first oneI remember walking in. Losing myself in rage and grief and something else. Thest thing I remember was looking at a table covered in cigarette butts, and seeing a knife. I shivered. Then it all goes hazy.


    You cked out.


    Yeah.


    A hand gripped my shoulder. What you did here was hard. I know its literally thest thing you want to hear right now. And what Im about to say will feel hollow and pointless. But this was the just thing. The right thing.


    I paused in the middle of refilling the syringe. My lip quivered. He begged.


    Of course he did. They all do, eventually. People capable of what he did will do anything to stay alive, to perpetuate their ck stain of an existence. Miles shook his head. Youre not a monster for making that call. You just didnt buy his bullshit.


    Let''s not talk about it anymore.


    Sure. Of course, kid. He released my shoulder. Eventually, youll need to. Doesnt have to be a shrink, could be a loved one, or a friend. Just dont bottle it. For now, lets focus on all the people you saved.


    I cleared my throat, relieved. One useful piece of information that came from talking to him was what he used to put them under. Propofol. Ideally, wed reduce the dosage and let theme out of it on their own, but as you know, were under a time constraint


    We moved the body into a storage closet at my suggestion, so the first thing the recently revived saw wasnt a corpse.


    Miles watched attentively, paying attention to the dosage as I filled the syringe and injected it in another IV bag. Then he grabbed a spare syringe from therge medicine cab and worked on the beds opposite of me. Most of them didnt wake up immediately, groggily regaining consciousness.


    There was one exception. A boy, somewhere between my and Ellisons age, gripped my arm. Let me go, please


    I shushed him gently. Easy, easy. Youre safe. Roderick sent us. Were the rescue party.


    It took a while to get them all up on their feet. A few of them, pissed off and looking for an outlet, heard the explosions and volunteered to help. Miles and I managed to talk them out of it. Even the most lucid among the survivors were disoriented and unsteady. Not exactly in fighting shape.


    Once wed revived the rest from the other wing, nearly forty people stood around, migrating closer and closer to the door, eager to leave. Id never received so many teary-eyed hugs and handshakes in such a short span, and the overload of attention and physical contact was making my head spin.


    I came to thest bed and injected a syringe filled with saline into the bag. The User in question immediately stirred.


    Not. Yet. Give it a few more seconds. I whispered, ncing around to make sure there was no one looking too closely.


    Vernon stilled. Then, after nearly a minute, began to rise, doing an excellent job of reflecting the perplexed expression of someone whod been under and had no idea why. I stepped back from him and helped him to his feet, going through the facade of filling him in on the situation.


    It was a close thing, getting this all set up before Miles came crashing through the door. There was a splotch of blood on his shoulder, which I quickly covered by draping a bedsheet around his neck.


    Vernon had helped prop up the man hed failed to revive, holding him up in a kneeling position, so I could get the shot trajectory correct. Rushed as we were, I couldnt afford to get that wrong. If Id simply ced the body on the ground and shot the man in the head, Miles likely had the experience to realize the shot was inflicted post-mortem.


    It was lucky as hell that all of these people were put under before they were brought to Vernon, and that the ones hed revived were too out of it to remember him.


    My main worry was that one of the survivors would recognize the body. I was worried that Miles would see through my justification for removing the body, but he seemed to find it perfectly reasonable.


    Tell me the n again, I whispered, adjusting the sheet on Vernons shoulders.


    Vernons expression was frazzled, and he kept ncing at the people around us as if theyd turn on him at any moment. Stay with the group until we hit the first floor, then branch off. Head to the emergency exit and head east.


    And what are you going to tell the suits?


    Youll supply me with cores in exchange for recruitment. To meet you in four days at noon inkeside park. Wait. Four days, counting or excluding today? Vernon asked.


    Thursday.


    Got it. Vernon nodded. Thank you. For everything.


    Dont thank me yet. I left him there, and rejoined Miles at the front.


    Okay, Miles looked over the crowd. Congrattions. Youre not dead. Heres how we keep you that way.


    /////


    The maneuver was simple enough. Roderick had transport waiting to extract a block away. Wed take the survivors down the now cleared stairwell and back the way wed entered, giving them the chance to re-arm themselves at the stockpile before vacating the building. From there, theyd be taken to region three. Locals and members of Rodericks Lodge would disembark there and either continue to search for lux if they felt able, or help with reinforcing fortifications.


    At every step, I kept waiting for something to go wrong. Reinforcements from the suits arriving at the worst possible time, or the remaining mercenaries withdrawing just in time to catch us in the bottle-necked stairway, or the small group I led here finally sumbing to the superior enemy force.


    None of that happened. Miles and I were able to get the remaining survivors to the extract point.


    When I returned to the front of the storage facility, everyone was still alive. I used <strong></strong> to cover as the group fell back, battering down anyone who realized what was happening and tried to push forward with <strong></strong> There were several more bodies strewn on the ground, and likely more out of sight that had fallen to the artillery. But it was far from the bloodbath it could have been.


    Astrid and Astria helped cover the rest of the teams retreat and were among thest in the APC, Miles jumping in after them. He extended a hand to me. I took it, and sat hard on the bench as the APC whipped around. We jostled as it climbed the curb,pleting a frantic half-circle before we took off towards my region.


    Numerous bags of Lux illuminated the interior.


    <em>We won.</em>


    This was enough, wasnt it? Realistically, the twenty-five lux would fill the receptacle, or at least get it close. Id done my part, with as much due diligence as I could muster. My eyelids were heavy. The seat beneath me was nothing more than a simple bench with an under-stuffed cushion that belied the metal frame beneath, but at that moment, it felt like the most luxurious thing in the world.


    It was all going to be okay. I could rest now. There were thousands of other people in my region. On the off-chance what wed just imed didnt push us over the top, it would be close. Someone else could handle it. I couldnt micromanage everything.


    Sleep nearly took me.


    <em>What happened thest time you felt safe?</em>


    <strong></strong> shattered the reverie.


    My eyes snapped open. It took an inordinate amount of effort to pull up the timer.


    <strong></strong>


    No choice. If I lost consciousness, there was no telling when Id wake up. Had to push through. Just a little more.


    Tell the driver to stop. Im going to go.


    Miles said something inaudible. When I shook my head, he leaned in closer across the aisle. Come on, were golden. Twenty-five isnt enough for you?


    What can I say, Im insatiable. I reached up, using the personal railing that ran the length of the vehicle to haul myself to my feet.


    Just wait till we get back to the region, Miles warned. Bad idea to stop a convoy when youre an HVT.


    A what?


    Miles pointed to the lux. High-value target. Were a fucking piata just waiting for some thumbsucker with a bat.


    Right. I admitted. My judgment was slipping. I wobbled unsteadily on my feet, punching the button to lower the ramp, stopping it just before it made contact with the blurring road. Ill ride the bike out.


    Gonna burn yourself out. Crazy motherfucker. Miles shook his head. Still, he withdrew <strong></strong> from one of his many pockets and handed it to me. I took it and sheathed it at my side.


    Maybe. But Id rather be crazy than dead. Make sure the lux gets where it needs to go? I asked.


    Done. If we dont see each other before this shit-show is over, find me after. Itll be worth your while.


    Everyone on either side shifted upward to make room as I summoned my motorcycle. It had several deep gouges on the sides. It stalled at first, then roared to life on the second turn of the key.


    A small hand pulled at my arm. I turned to see Astrid, who immediately looked away in irritation. Astria asked me to pass along a message. She wanted to thank you for saving her.


    Beyond Astrid, still seated on her spot on the bench, was Astria, who smiled and gave me a small wave.


    You would have figured it out. I shrugged. Eventually.


    It was meant to be an olive branch of sorts, but Astrid shook her head, clearly not buying it. Stay alive.


    You too. I turned my attention to Miles. Message me if what we have fills the receptacle. If we finish ours, I''ll help the other regions as much as I can.


    Ill keep you updated. Miles said. He seemed to hesitate, wanting to say more, but eventually held his silence.


    Next to him, Grayscale stared at me like I was an idiot. It was a reasonable reaction, all things considered.


    Ready? Bob called to me from his spot at the front, one hand poised over the metal divider that separated driver from passenger. Chastity was slumped over on his shoulder, unconscious and snoring.


    I nodded.


    Bob mmed his fist against the divider. The APCs brakes squealed.


    I hit the throttle and the bike screamed, wobbling once as I hit the pavement but leveling out, picking up speed as I left the boiling cramped space of the APC behind. The easy lux thatnded around the outskirts of the city would all be gone at this point. Realistically, there was only one ce where Id find more. It was also the one ce Id been trying to avoid.


    Steeling my nerve, I began to navigate towards downtown.

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102


    For a few scant seconds, the neon hexagonal red square of a stop sign held my full attention. There was nothing significant about the sign itself. What was curious was my reaction to it. Id squeezed my brakes tightly to avoid going over the white line, despite the many blown lights, ignored signs and signal-lessne changes Id made on my way here.


    But for some reason, just on the cusp of reaching downtown proper, my muscle memory had kicked in. Maybe it was subconscious experience. I knew this particr intersection was busy. What was bbergasting was how that instinct had overridden everything Id just seen.


    Moments ago, Id passed a cluster of winged monkeys straight out of The Wizard of Oz, shrieking and battering their chests as they attempted to break into a childrens clothing boutique.


    In the far background, beyond a veil of buildings, was a giant lizard. It was shielding its face with dark wed hands, sparks streaming off its skin, taking the full <em>rata-tat-tat</em> brunt of a deployed .50 caliber machine gun that someone apparently had the foresight to not only own, but haul and set-up on the roof of a nearby apartment.


    And just beyond the stop sign, an honest-to-god griffin was in the process of eating a User. The only way I knew he was a User was the gear and a heavy crossbow abandoned at his bloodied feet. It wasnt going particrly well for the griffin. For the User either, but he was already dead, which in this case seemed more blessing than curse. The griffin, having already consumed the Users head and hands, seemed to be trying to stretch and rip the armor in something akin to a beef jerky approach, and was visibly frustrated at theck of sess.


    In the most abstract way, it was almost rtable.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    That was good news. Not great, on the off-chance the attention was stoking enmity between me and the team Id taken, but good nheless.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Interesting. I wasnt anywhere near close to advising Kinsley to distance herself after the alliance had just been formed, but our conversation lent itself to the theory that Miles didnt just happen to live nearby, that he was ced therelikely with a support team in ceto investigate something or someone. Roderick being high on that list of possibilities.


    I closed out the message, only btedly realizing that Id stopped paying attention to the griffin entirely. If it had charged me while I was talking to Miles, there was a good chance it might have caught me by surprise.


    <em>Stupid.</em>


    The griffin was still too invested in cracking open its meal to notice me. It had abandoned trying to slice the mans armor off and resorted to other measures. It held his headless torso in its strangely human hands and repeatedly bashed the corpse against the ground, screeching out angry cawing noises.


    I nced once more at the stop sign looming above me, and headed deeper into downtown.


    Cross-referencing the map notes Id made at the beginning of the transposition event with a brief back-and-forth with Jacobwho was, apparently, doing a hell of a job managing the smallmunicationswork wed established, I was able to safely limit my search to the northeast end of downtown.


    Coincidentally, in the same direction as the giant lizard being peppered by heavy ordinance. It was hard to make out details. Not just because of the distance. Every time I squinted, my eyes threatened to shut entirely, and when they did, it was almost impossible to force them back open.


    I popped two caffeine pills, wishing more than anything else that Id snagged more than just klonopin from the medical cab. Considering everything that was happening at that moment, it was a minor miracle Id even remembered. Once Mom finished tapering, the opioids were the best option to temper the cravings from withdrawal.


    The lizard, from what I could tell, was covered in semi-transparent blue skin, and approximately the size of arge building. It seemed reluctant to move while it was being shot at, which was a small favor. There was argending area of lux scattered around arge, historical cathedral. I hoped proximity to the lizard would drive other Users away. I pulled up to the curb and my bike faded to nothing, transferring into my inventory.


    Unfortunately, I wasnt the only one that had made the connection. Up ahead, a man in dark-blue leathers and an oddly eye-catching golden mantle made his way carefully up the stairs to the cathedrals entrance. He watched me as I approachedthere was nothing in his bodynguage that was overtly hostile, but there was a hollowness in his eyes and a firmness in his stance.


    Unsure what to do, I went with a ssic. Truce?


    Mantle cocked his head at me. Strangely, I had no feedback from <strong></strong>


    What? The man asked. Again, there was no feedback from my title. Something was wrong. Either he had a feat that was blocking my insight, or the Title couldnt read him at all.


    Split whatever we find in there, go our separate ways after.


    Sure. The man shrugged. If theres anything left.


    What makes you say that?


    Was scouting the ce when a bunch of people came through. Rough-looking folk. After they went in, there was a lot of noise, a lot of screaming. They were fighting something, or each other. nned to wait until they left, but theyre taking too long.


    Great. I scowled, rethinking my n. Either we werepeting against a group of Users for what remained, or we were up against monsters capable of ughtering a group of Users, which was almost as bad.


    Thanks for the heads-up. Actually I was seconds away from disengaging with the man when the cathedral doors swung open.


    A thick ck smoke emitted from the double doors, pouring down the stairway.


    <em>RUN</em>


    I would have, if my legs hadnt locked up. I caught myself on the concrete barrier and drew my crossbow, aiming it up the stairs. Chills went up and down my spine as a figure emerged from the smoke. His armor was sleek, almost futuristic, an amalgam of dark and red that added very little bulk. It was like the light itself didnt touch him, rather warped around him, leaving him cloaked in shadow. The face-mask of his helmet was darkened chrome, with two rectangr eye holes that were ck and empty.


    He held a cylindrical ck duffel over his shoulder and was otherwise unarmed. When he saw the two of us, he stopped. The eye slits in his mask glowed red briefly.


    <em>Get the fuck out. Now.</em>


    <strong></strong> had lost all of its usual bravado. It sounded panicked, terrified.


    It was only then that I noticed that the duffel bag, despite being casually thrown over the Users shoulder, was nearly touching the ground. He was short. A full foot shorter than me, if not more, a fact that did nothing to diminish the sheer dread his presence invoked.


    Seemingly unimpressed, the User made a slow descent down the opposing side of the stairs, separated from us by a railing. My skin crawled as he passed, every instinct, every fiber of my being screaming for me to run, to get clear.


    Is is there anything left in there?


    On the third step from the bottom, the User stopped.


    I cringed the moment the voice cut through. It was Mantle who asked. He licked his lips nervously, and was clearly also regretting his question.


    The replying voice was warped, modted. Theres probably more. Dont mind the mess.


    He continued down the stairs, looking back and forth three times before he crossed the street. My heart climbed into my throat. I looked back at the cathedral door. The dark smoke had dissipated. Even in the poor lighting, there was a line of visible corpses that led into the cathedral proper.


    It was such a small thing. My brother was careful in many ways, but he was always in a rush. Eventually, there was an ident. The hatchbacks driver saw him running across the street toote. If the driver hadnt mmed on his brakes the way he had, Ellison probably wouldnt have made it. Lost his life, instead getting off with the broken ribs and a shattered left arm.


    But it was a bad break. Both in damage, and the amount of money we had to scrounge up to pay for the medical bills after. Hed internalized that experience.


    And in something of an overcorrection, every time he crossed the street? He always checked three times.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 103

    Chapter 103


    Kinsley hadnt said anything else after myst message. In and of itself, that was surprising. She almost always had some snarky remark when my requests were moremands than suggestions. Maybe her experience with Ellison had unsettled her. Or something else hade up.


    I desperately wanted to be wrong. Ellison was family. Family had always represented an emotional blindspot for me, which made it far more difficult to rein in my preternatural tendency to assume the worst.


    Still, I had to consider it.


    The voice was disguised, but his speaking cadence was fundamentally wrong. Not to mention, there was an issue of presence. Id been pushing it, with how often Id been gone, and if the feeling of the mystery Users level of power and the effect hed had was urate to a high level, him being Ellison should have been impossible. Ellison had been close by every time Id been home. No suspiciousments, no oddly timed disappearances.


    If it was him? It followed that the system had assigned him a ss with a simrly ndestine objective to mine. I knew from personal experience that there were ways to avoid being publicly outed, avenues to circumvent identification through the guild and party screens.


    It was possible in theory. Jinny had a title that doubled every benefit, feat, skill, and stat point she received. But shed paid for it dearly, even if that price was paid before the system was in y.


    ams razor said no. It was too unlikely that Id met him in the wild. One-point three million peopleprobably significantly less now, but stind I just happen to run into my brother on a lux run? Much more likely it was just another asshole with divine interference, or been hopped up on amphetamines and grinding since this shit started.


    Something about that felt wrong. Denial I was desperately trying to rationalize.


    Ellison was one of the few people likely to respond exactly as I had at the beginning of the event. He didnt have my ability from the trial, but if he had something simr, something that allowed him to map things out and a get a bird''s-eye view of a situationthe sort of feat that would absolutely appeal to him as an early pickand was also keyed into themunicationswork, it was entirely possible that hede to the same conclusion I had, and it had led him here.


    My heart raced as I stared at thest message Id sent. There was still no response.


    Mantle let out a low whistle. Hed climbed to the apex of the stairs, and was lingering outside the door, as if afraid to go in. I followed him, nearly missing thest step.


    I thought Id grown numb to carnage. Thered been a never-ending stream of bloodshed and bodies since the event began. Still, the growing suspicion in my mind painted the scene with shocking contrast.


    Eight bodies in total.


    I closed my eyes. Only an idiot would pick a fight with these odds. Maybe theyd ambushed him on his way out. Forced his hand.


    Dont think so, Mantle said, pointing to the far body. I realized Id spoken thest part aloud when he responded to it. Another sign that I was slipping. Let''s do a quick sweep and get the fuck out of here before hees back. His voice was shaky.


    Centering myself, I stepped around the mess for a better look at what hed spotted.


    And felt a piece of myself crumble.


    The man at the far end was face down on the plush red carpet. A single, sightless brown eye stared up at me. One arm was folded beneath him, the other stretched out towards the pulpit at the left of a grand chancel. Most of the bodies had been looted, stripped down to blood-stained underclothes, no weapons in sight. It was impossible to tell who was armed or unarmed.


    But what was obvious was that the man hadnt been standing his ground. There were seven stab wounds that formed a circle around his back, where the des had prated his armor. In the center of the knife wounds was a hole I could see the carpet through. And there was a visible dent where his head had struck a pew on the way down.


    There was no way around it. He wasnt trying to fight. He was fleeing, and died before he struck the floor.


    I banished all notions of what I wanted to see, of what would make me feel better, and studied the scene.


    The men had been on their way out. Someone attacked their biggest User from behind. There was a gaping hole in the back right quadrant of his armor, exactly where his heart would be. The rest had folded. Some had fought in blind, disorderly panic. Others had tried to run. In the end, it hadnt made a difference.


    They all died the same.


    <strong></strong>


    I fought the immediate feeling of relief, remembering all too well how Id discounted the escde.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There was a pause.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    If Ellison had disappeared for any significant length of time, my mother and sister would have noticed and said something. Fifteen minutes to half an hour? Much harder to keep track of. Id been toying with the idea that he had either a feat or skill that allowed him to teleport, not unlike Kinsleys. Dipping away for a short time, then returning and making an appearance before anyone was the wiser. None of that exined his strange behavior when wed talked, but it was a start.


    Only, what Kinsley was saying put a solid hole in my operating theory.


    Still. Ellison could be cranky and immature, borderline cantankerous at times, but he always found a way to help when shit hit the fan. And the fact that his behavior was so out of character had me skeptical of everything.


    <em>Not to mention, he hates sitting idle. Add in the part where the ce hes parked himself is highly visible to anyone paying attention? It feels like a clear attempt to establish an alibi. Theres something there.</em>


    I nced up from the torn bodies to the front of the church. An icon of the Lady of Guadalupe was framed in brass behind the dais. She was d in flowing garments of emerald and gold. Her head was turned to the side, her gaze averted, eyes tightly closed.


    <em>What am I missing?</em>


    Out of the corner of my vision, I caught movement. Mantle had continued into the church at a brisk pace, making good on his previous sentiment to clear this ce and leave as quickly as possible. I took one more look at the bodies, trying tomit as much detail as possible.


    Then followed him.


    Mantle slowed down, ncing over awkwardly as I approached. Wasnt trying to get a leg up. You seemed preupied.


    While the apology seemed genuine, the fact remained that I was still getting nothing on him from <strong></strong> Before, there was a possibility that whatever interference I was getting came from the mystery User, but he was long gone now. Whatever was happening was likely due to Mantle himself.


    You said you were scouting the ce out. Any chance you saw the survivor enter? I asked, deep in thought.


    Why, you know him?


    No.


    Its possible he went in with the others and I just didnt catch it. Mantle frowned. I feel like I would have noticed someone that height, though.


    Maybe. It was another question without answers. I didnt like undefined variables, and it seemed my list of unknowns was growing greater by the day. Still, I had the cognizance to keep Mantle at the forefront of my mind. My unassisted read was that he wasnt anything particrly nefarious, just another scavenger in a city full of carrion. But scavengers could be dangerous.


    I stayed slightly behind him and to his left, letting him lead. We traveled deeper into the church, our path winding through a series of nondescript corridors until the telltale glow of lux was visible through a door at the end of a carpeted hall. Mantle swung the door open, and his jaw dropped open.


    Ho-lee shit. Mantle breathed.


    There were a dozen lux orbs stuffed in an overturned storage crate at the end of the room. I couldnt help but think that the number was probably triple that before Ellison


    <em>Not Ellison. You dont know that yet.</em>


    Before the User had collected his haul. More impressive was the aftermath. Two massive trollsy dead on the ground, each the size of arge bear. Like the Users, they both had multiple gaping holes in vital areas.


    <strong></strong> pinged gently in the back of my mind. I took a step back, all my attention focused on Mantle.


    What? Mantle asked, taking a step away from me.


    It took a moment to realize where the warning wasing from.


    Hear that? I asked.


    Mantle squinted, cocking his head slightly. No. If anything, its quieter than it has been in hours. The gunfire stopped.


    Exactly.


    The silence wasnt a good sign. It meant our friend unloading the machine-gun on the giant lizard had stopped firing. And I was willing to bet it wasnt because he won.


    I was about to say something to that effect when the ceiling caved in, raining down a seemingly never-ending torrent of debris on our heads.

 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104


    My ears popped from the sudden change in pressure, the semi-sterile scent of the church mingled with burning fuel and blood. A chunk of something impacted my head and sent me reeling, stumbling backwards until I caught myself on a wall, blinking painfully through a wave of blinding dust so thick it acted like a smokescreen.


    When it faded, Mantle was frozen in the center of the room. There was an oversized messenger bag on his shoulder that hadnt been there before, filled with the lux from the crate. He must have assumed we were under attack and moved quickly to secure it when the ceiling caved inbut that decisiveness under pressure evaporated the moment he looked up.


    Two giant orange eyes stared down at us, framed by an endless mass of craggy blue skin. For a split-second, I had an uncanny urge to scream. How the fuck had it found us?


    As if answering my question, the creatures eye centered on the lux in Mantles bag. It roared, and a scaly hand reached down towards him.


    I reached out with <strong></strong>


    <em>MOVE</em>


    Shit, shit, shit! Mantle threw himself to the side, one of the ck nails on the monster''s fingers puncturing carpet and floor inches from where hended.


    I toggled the <strong></strong> on and used the wall tounch myself forward. Despite the mental sluggishness, my physical movements felt light and nimble. I looped a hand around Mantles arm and dragged him upward, half running, half staggering towards the door frame. <strong></strong> screamed, and I forced Mantle downward, both of us t on our stomach as the reptilian hand swung through the air above us,nding with enough force to shatter the closest wall.


    Go! I yanked him back up again and sprinted for the long hallway.


    The lizard, seemingly tiring of trying to grab us through the building, took a more direct approach. Gigantic fists reigned down massive blows that obliterated the surrounding architecture.


    I danced between the falling debris, <strong></strong> pinging every few seconds as I threaded needle after needle, dragging Mantle along with me. But there was too much happening at once for that method to be effective. A wooden beam fell like a toppled tree, smashing against my shoulder and sending a wave of numbness down my left arm.


    If the beam had hit my head, that would have been it. Out cold at best.


    Mantle was full-blown panicking. Hed fallen after the beam struck me, and was scrambling ineffectively to return to his feet, slipping on the dust. The messenger bags straps had fallen down his arm, and the bag itself stuck out towards me, as if it was daring me to take it.


    <em>Survival of the fittest</em><strong></strong> whispered gleefully


    The thought was tempting. It would be childs y to tear the satchel off Mantles shoulder. In the chaos, he probably wouldnt even notice until I was gone. Securing all ten lux was the safest way to guarantee my receptacle was filled. But something stopped me. Probably because, among a myriad of unknowables, that was at least one purpose of the transposition. To push us to the brink. Make us turn on each other. Expose us for who we really are.


    Not for the first time, my mind went back to the people Id met. How Milesa fed, and one of the few people who knew what a necromancer was capable ofhade back for me, when anyone in their right mind would have left. The way that Kinsley had my back, going far above and beyond the terms of our agreement. And the tragically short-lived cohesiveness of my first group: Sae, Jinny, and Nick. Wed only been together for a moment in time. Maybe, in some alternate universe, that group would have cracked as time went on. Turned on each other.


    But I didnt think so.


    Even now, it was so easy to picture them at my side. Jinny, unloading spell after spell into the massive lizard, covering us as Nick stood at the front emitting that golden glow, shielding us from debris. Sae hanging back and making snarky remarks about how useless Mantle was, as she used her abilities to buff our weapons.


    Mantle wasnt the Overseer. Or a suit, or one of the assholes from region three. He was just some guy trying to make sure his region was safe. Just like the rest of us.


    I hauled him up again. Come on.


    Theres nowhere to go. Mantles face was a grim rictus of panic.


    I nced around, and found that he was right. Piles of rubble from the decimated upper level had added up, copsing both connecting hallways. Either identally or intentionally, the giant lizard had trapped us.


    There was only one avenue left. Above us was the decimated second floor, revealed through one of the many holes in the ceiling. A collection of broken walls, rubble, and shattered floors led upwards, to the roof of the cathedral.


    No choice. Have to go up.


    How He spotted the half-hazard obstacle course from hell. Are you insane?


    I shoved him hard towards it, pivoting as the lizard roared. The path was as temporary as it was unsafe. Any more damage to the building and the path would copsepletely.


    Mantle jumped, hauling himself onto a shattered wall and moving slowly. I used <strong></strong> to ensure hended safely during the more perilous maneuvers, prodding him forward with <strong></strong> when he hesitated. My belt made navigating the path behind him easier, though easier was a rtive term. I nced up at the lizard. Hungry orange eyes stared down. It had stopped attacking the church, and it wasnt hard to understand why. If its intention was to flush us out, we were already leaving. All it had to do was wait.


    I mbered upward, clinging tightly to the steep angled roof of the cathedral behind Mantle. For the first time, I had a clear and unobstructed view of the lizard. Now that I saw it, I realized how inurate that descriptor was. Luminescent blue skin aside, when you factored its angr head and scaly wings that couldnt possibly support its weight, the creature was really more of a dragon.


    It reared back with a triumphant roar, rising to its full height. A dull blue glow at the back of its throat grew unimaginably bright.


    I tackled Mantle, sending a mentalmand to Audrey. She unfurled, returning to nt form, and looped a vine around the crucifix mounted on the cathedrals steeple and another around my waist and Mantles upper-body as we slid down the opposite side of the roof from the dragon. The vine snapped taut, leaving us dangling several feet from the rooftop in open air. There was a sheer drop below. Long, but survivable.


    <em>Drop us, then get the hell out </em>


    The surrounding temperature must have climbed fifty degrees. An unbearable heat washed over me. Audreys vines went ck immediately as a growing wreathe of blue fire spread over the rooftop.


    I fell hard, barely managing to keep my feet beneath me. Grass cushioned the fall. My vision cked out for a moment, returning to me slowly as I tried to steady myself. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a cars engine.


    We need to get to the road. When no one answered, I looked around for Mantle. I saw him sprinting for the front of the cathedral, casting a nervous nce over his shoulder. The guilt in his expression told me everything I needed to know.


    <em>Motherfucker</em>


    I took off after him, closing distance quickly. Either he wasnt particrly high-level or hadnt put any points in agility. But something was wrong. My vision began to tunnel, the wide cone of <strong></strong> narrowing to a circle norger than a shlight beam.


    A maroon SUV with untinted windows screeched to a stop, the side panel door sliding open as Mantle leapt into it. I drew <strong></strong> and threw it towards the car. My throw went wide, but Talia reacted perfectly, emerging from the knife in a cloud of smoke and snarling, racing towards the car.


    She got halfway in, blocking the door with her body as Mantle tried to m it closed. I heard panicked voices within, as the SUV started, then stopped, then started again. Somehow, I had the cognizance to change my angle of approach, aiming for where the SUV would be, rather than where it was.


    A boot to the face dislodged Talia from the SUV, sending her into a painful looking tumble. But shed bought me the time I needed.


    As the dragon roared behind us, Iunched myself off the asphalt and through the still open door.

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105


    Golden light shined down through gray clouds. I squinted upwards, shielding my vision with a half-cupped hand. Synthesized pop sted over a light-gray wireless speaker on the patio table, a kitschy, catchy beat perfectly engineered to be a hit before it ever hit the album. The opaque ss of the patio table caught a muted reflection of the emerging sun, blinding my vision.


    There was an inescapable feeling, like I was in the middle of something critical and had been unceremoniously interrupted. For the life of me, I couldnt remember what it was.


    Something shuffled beside me and I started, ncing down. Talia was sitting on the grass next to me, trying very hard to look respectable and aloof, despite the wagging tail and the way she kept shifting from side to side.


    There was a clink on the table and the scent of freshly cooked meat filled my nostrils. Nick shoved the te in front of me, and stepped back. He was wearing a striped blue-and-white apron along with his signature grin, then ced another te gently on the grass in front of Talia. To the victors go the spoils.


    Not sure Id call us victorious, Saemented dryly. She was lounging in a poolside chair, dark hair done up in a casual bun, wearing a pair of designer sunsses. We survived.


    Nick stabbed a metal spat at her that was still covered in char. We kept our heads, when everyone else was losing their shit. Cooperated with multiple guilds to get people working together. Three regions fortified. All of whichat risk of sounding self-servingput us on the Adventurers Guilds A-List.


    Were still trapped in a dome, at the mercy of our anorexic overlord.


    Gotta take the wins when theye.


    I felt off, like I was missing something. Thats valid, but we really should be talking about next steps.


    Nick looked at me, betrayed. Bro. You worked harder than anyone. Turn off your brain for five minutes.


    Turn yours on, Jinny chuckled. She squeezed my shoulder gently as she passed to take a seat at the table, and nced at me sympathetically. Matts got a lot to deal with. None of us were called out at the beginning of the transposition.


    The majority of my anxiety faded the moment Jinny settled in next to me. Shed shed her robes for a casual blouse and jeans, and crossed one leg over the other, shing brightly colored sneakers.


    Everyone will be looking over their shoulder. Thats going to hurt you, when ites to the infiltration stuff. Sae said ndly, as if she wasmenting on the weather.


    No one knows his face, and he has the mask. Nick argued.


    Theyre not gonna stop there, Sae said. That shit the overseer pulled with the announcement? Name-dropping the existence of an Ordinator without going into detail? It was foundational. Laying the groundwork.


    I nodded, ignoring the underlying unease for a moment. Ive thought about that. Assuming whoeveror whateverrunning this show knows what theyre doing, my existence is a fluke somehow. But they cant kill me directly. They want the ordinator gone, and theyre intentionally doling out breadcrumbs to make sure someone eventually does it for them.


    If I didnt know you and saw the footage they were ying, itd make me more wary of anyone I met from that point onward. Saes mouth was tight.


    Its odd, Jinny mused, This obviously isnt their first go-around. Assuming this sort of thing has been happening in other universes or realities for centuries or longer, I cant believe theres never been a benevolent Ordinator.


    Which means theyre cherry-picking the footage, Nick realized.


    Its not just about making people scared. Its almost like theyre trying to cast you as a viin. Jinny continued.


    Sae took her sunsses off. Not just a viin. <em>The</em> viin. We know from the footage that they keep records of the events. And theres no shortage of fucked-up shit that happened during the transposition. It wouldnt be hard to pin some of it on the Ordinator. Its just a question of what theyll go with.


    My mouth dropped open. Fuck me.


    What is it? Nick asked.


    I put a hand to my forehead, suddenly nauseous. I might bepletely off-base here.


    Tell us, Jinny prompted.


    I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. Its easy to see the entire event as meaningless chaos. But outside of one exception, it followed a certain degree of order. Generally, the level of opposition a region faced was based on location and poption density.


    Right. Giants and dragons in downtown, lizards and lesser monsters on the outskirts. Nick said. He pushed my te towards me in something of a half-hearted manner, as if he knew I wasnt going to eat it before it went cold, regardless of what he did.


    And the exception? Sae asked. But the grimace on her face indicated she likely already knew what I was about to say.


    Region six. A heavy weight settled on my shoulders. The whole region was annihted early in the transposition, in a way that didnt track with anything else that had happened. Id never stopped pondering why.


    Youre saying they did that, so they could leave you holding the bag? Sae asked, raising an eyebrow.


    Not exactly, I furrowed my eyebrows, lost in thought. Im not the center of the universe. There was probably some other reason. Maybe they needed to reduce the number of people, or the organism that took over mutated and went out of control. But if Saes right, and theyre recording everything, they already have footage of me in the aftermath. They wont show my faceif they could, they would have already. However, it wouldnt be a hard sell. Everyones hurting, looking for someone to me.


    You could ditch the Myrddin personapletely, Sae suggested.


    Or at least pare down your usage of it, Jinny added.


    Maybe. That didnt seem right, but it was an option.


    Sure, you could go forward as Matt the Page, but what does your gut tell you? Nick asked. His blue-eyes seemed unperturbed, unbothered by the theoretical, as he waited for me to answer.


    I doubt the greater powers would just leave me alone if I retired Myrddin and avoided using Ordinator abilities. A small smile crested my lips. And if they actually follow through, its a huge mistake on their part. Giving me that level of infamy. There are plenty of drawbacks, but just as many benefits. Leaning into itthe role of the viin, could pay off exponentially.


    Hes making creepy faces again. Sae shivered.


    I opened my mouth, then hesitated. If I was alone, Id probably y it that way. My main concern is bringing it home with me. To my family and you all.


    Youve been ying this game before the rest of us even knew there was one. Like youd even get caught, Helpline. Youre too much of a sneaky fuck for that. Sae rolled her eyes.


    She stood, left her sunsses on the beach chair, and jumped into the pool. The resulting ssh spattered the rest of us with water. Everyone at the table cringed and sputtered. Nick hurled an intable beach ball at her head when she emerged.


    Jinny removed the towel hanging off the back of her chair and dabbed water from her face, shooting Sae an irritated nce. Flippant as she is, Im inclined to agree. If anyones equipped for that particr task, its you. But more importantly, are you okay with that? Theres no telling how long youd have to keep it up. And ying that role like that for an extended time alwayses with a cost.


    I shook my head. It doesnt matter if Im fine with it. Its the optimal y. Anything less would turn a potential advantage into a problem. And I have enough problems already.


    Jinny smiled sadly. She rose from the table, taking her empty te with her. Now that I thought about it, Id never seen her eat. Theres more to life than optimization. But were with you. Whatever you decide.


    The sliding door to Nicks house opened and shut. I idly watched through the window as Jinny made her way through the house. Through the dusty ss, she almost looked transparent, like she wasnt there at all.


    Nick cleared his throat. I know Im the leader, but Jinnys right. This is your call, Matt. I wouldnt wish it on anyone.


    A long silence passed between us, augmented by sshing as Sae began to swimps. Suddenly, I was ovee with the need to express something to Nick. Something Id never said before. It waspletely unlike me, but I couldnt shake the feeling that, if I didnt, I might never get the chance again.


    The first time we met. In the hospital. I started.


    Nick rolled his eyes. God, you were such a dick. I didnt even know it was possible to be that much of a dick to someone on crutches.


    You wouldnt leave me alone.


    Nick red. You were there all the time and you always had your nose in a book.


    I was studying.


    And Im a social animal man, what was I supposed to do?


    I stopped, considering whether to finish my thought. Again, that feeling that I might not have a chance again pushed me forward. There were other people there you could have bonded with. People that would have made more sense. I saw more than a few athletes with injuries when I came to visit youter on, people


    <em>Like you.</em>


    Nick nodded. There are other folks I would have had moremon ground with, sure. Youre asking why I singled you out?


    There had to be a reason. Like you saw something in me. Or sensed that I could be useful.


    I cant answer that, Matt. Nick sipped his water, oddly sage.


    Why?


    Because you dont know the answer. And if you dont know, I cant tell you. Because this is all happening up here. Nick pointed to his head. The moment the words were spoken, the scene of the barbecue seemed to fade in color. Slowly, the sun receded back into the clouds. Nick looked at me, his face uncharacteristically stoic. Youre spinning too many tes, my friend. Its only a matter of time before they alle crashing down.


    Its already happening, to some extent. But what am I supposed to do? I said angrily, pushing the te away, only noticing it was bare after Id moved it, nothing left on the off-white surface but a picked-over bone. I cant drop anything. Every goal I have is vital.


    Nick shrugged. The suits are dangerous. And I know youve dealt with iffy people in the past, but this is way out of your league. I was naive. I made this mess. It wouldnt be unreasonable if you left me in it.


    I promised. And I dont promise often


    Because your promises are iron-d. I know, I know. Youre a stubborn bastard. Nick lounged back in his chair and let out a deep breath. Look. If youre reallymitted to this, its time to go.


    I looked around at the facade. A fairy-talend where Jinny never died. Where Id found either the courage or foolishness to confide my secrets, and instead of breaking us apart, itd only brought us closer together. Was that even possible?


    Probably not. But it was a nice dream.


    Can I just stay here for a minute? My voice sounded faraway, abstract.


    Do it already.


    What?


    /////


    Do it already.


    Various sensations returned slowly. A brutal throbbing in the back of my head. The smell of sweat and fear, followed by the cold steel of a knife pressed against my throat. Frigid air from a vent brushed freely across my face, no longer restricted by the stuffiness of the mask. Momentster, I realized why.


    <em>They took it off.</em>


    I cant. He helped me. And hes just a kid.


    Mantles voice. I kept my eyes closed, trying not to mentally calcte exactly how bad this was, and failing.


    Ss. The gruffer voice from further up spoke again. They only need a little more. We pull this off, your region is solid, well be heroes, and we leave this probationary bullshit behind. Not to mention, this mask is going to sell for a fortune.


    Look at him, Kyrin. Hes the same age as your son. Probably younger.


    Doesnt matter.


    Why cant we just stop the car and drop him off on a sidewalk somewhere?


    He saw your face. All our faces, right before I put his lights out. And have you looked around? Leaving some unconscious asshole on out in the middle of this would be cruel. Hed be eaten alive, or worse. Putting him down is a mercypared to that.


    There was a beat of silence as the SUV took a hard right turn.


    Kyrin spoke again. People are dying in the street by the hundreds. No ones going to look twice if some random kid ends up dead. But if he lives and finds you somehow? Raises a stink about what happened here with the guild? Itpromises all of us.


    Fuck this. God fucking dammit, Ss said. I could tell from his voice that Kyrin had persuaded him. Now it was just a matter of working himself up to it.


    By my count, there were three of them. Kyrin, Ss, and an unnamed driver I reached out blindly with <strong></strong> aiming for the drivers side, picturing what I wanted. The throbbing in my head grew more intense, almost to the point that I lost consciousness again.


    A third voice chimed in. Brakes are acting up.


    What the hell? Kyrin asked. Ss, nut-up and do the kid for fucks sake. If we have to ditch the car, hes noting with us.


    Ss leaned down far enough that I could feel his breath, and whispered in my ear. Sorry.


    There it was again.


    I snaked an arm upwards, knocking the knife away and grabbing the back of Sss neck. Surprise registered in his face, his mouth opening in shock, just before I drove my thumb into his eye.

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106


    The biggest advantage of a knife is concealment and surprise. Take those two elements away, and the prospect of fighting with one bes far more precarious. My father told me something once, on one of those days, where he came home pale and stricken, and wanted nothing more than to sit in his chair and stare at the TV.


    <em>In a knife fight, the loser dies in the street. The winner dies in the ambnce. </em>


    Mantle reeled backwards, hand covering his bloodied eye, letting out a scream of pain. I hauled myself up and grabbed him by the throat, drawing my crossbow with my freehand and pressing it to his stomach.


    I flew backwards, momentarily airborne as the SUV took a hard left turn and collided with the panel of the side-door. Fire shot up my spine. The pain teaued as Mantle followed me. His forearmnded full-force on my rib-cageit was purely reflexive, an attempt to stop himself from falling, but judging from the sickening crunch in my chest that followed, his intent didnt matter.


    Jesus! Someone yelled from the front seat. I caught a glimpse of the two men up front. The driver was swiveling in his seat, trying to get a glimpse of the scuffle and keep one eye on the road, respectively. The othera medium build man wearing a crimson jeweled ringlet that was a borderline tiarahad gone up on his knees and was pointing a thorned wand in our direction, squinting with focus, trying to get an angle.


    Stop the van! Ringlet shouted.


    The brakes arent fucking working!


    Still pinned under Mantle, I drew my leg up and kicked outwards, trying to knock the wand free. I pinned Ringlets arm against the drivers side seat with my heel and ground my foot, feeling the bones in his hand flex.


    Ringlet yelped and mmed a fist into my leg. He was aiming for my knee but missed, fist impacting my upper thigh. When he drew back to strike again, I managed to kick him in the face, sending him colliding into the driver.


    There was an impact, followed by a sudden heat emitted from my side with the intensity of the sun. A slick feeling of wetness followed.


    I fought back against the shock that came with a realization. Id been stabbed.


    Mantle had stabbed me.


    <em>All that talk about not wanting to kill a kid sure went out the window fast.</em>


    His expression was a mix of pain and outrage as he tore the weapon free and stabbed down again, inches from where the first blow hadnded. My mind and survival instinct went into overdrive. I trapped the knife with my arm and struck out with an open palm, driving the meat of my hand into his nose. Cartge snapped, and blood spewed out of Mantles nose.


    My options were perilously scarce. Id thrown <strong></strong> and hadnt had a chance to summon it back before losing consciousness. Both Audrey and Talia were out of y. Nicks Saber wouldnt help me in such tight quarters.


    I reached for <strong></strong> and came up empty. Suddenly, the familiarity of the hilt jutting out of my side was all too significant.


    <em>Bastard stabbed me with my own knife.</em>


    A wave of rage followed.


    In the chaos, I was barely cognizant enough to make out what Beanie was saying as he yelled out the crossroads  heading north, currently under attack by a rogue User Calling all guild members, we are code bri


    I got both knees under Mantles chest and him off of me, ignoring the pain as the knife came free. Then I reached up and yanked at the top of the drivers side seat belt. It locked on the first attempt. When it ckened on the second, I looped the dark fabric around beanies neck twice and yanked it taut. Beanies eyes bugged out of his head. He struggled with the seatbelt but managed to keep one hand on the steering wheel. I ravaged his mind with <strong></strong>


    <em>If you dont keep driving, your friends are dead.</em>


    An ear-splitting shriek rang out, followed by a bright red light and a bang. The tempered ss window on my left shattered. Ringlet had recovered his wand and had apparently decided to be far less selective with his shots. I got a knee on Mantles knife wrist and threw myself at Ringlets shoulder first, hitting hard muscle. He wasnt squishy like most spell casters Id encountered. Either he was already built before the system came into being, or he was going for some sort of hybrid build. Regardless of why, he barely moved, absorbing the impact with a quiet grunt and managed to keep his wand pointed at my head, tip growing red, scorching my skin.


    I waited for thest moment and ducked. My face was pressed against the console between the seats, so I didnt see itnd, only the aftermath.


    Oh shit. Ringlet said, voice tinged with horror.


    Asshole. Beanie had stopped trying to loosen the seat belt around his neck, instead preupied with applying pressure to the gaping wound in his side.


    I pulled back and punched Ringlet in the jaw. <strong></strong> guided me as I alternated mming my fist and elbow into his face and throat over and over. Something broke, and Ringlets eyes lost focus. Instead of hitting him again, I reached over his body and grabbed the handle of the passenger side door, using all my strength to push it open against the wind and shove him towards the void.


    Ringlet all but allowed himself to be moved until he was hanging halfway out of the passenger side and beginning to tip over, then came back to his senses in a windmilling panic, grabbing the doorframe and trying to pull himself back in.


    If I had a little more time, I probably could have gotten him out. But I could feel Mantle working his wrist free. With a frustrated roar, I grabbed the door handle and, assisted by the force of the fifty-mile-an-hour wind, yanked it back. The sticposite door cracked as it collided with Ringlets head. Ringlet went limp, one arm still hanging out of the car, the other raising in the air as if to ward off an invisible blow.


    The force of the door closing pushed me back. I tried to pivot to face Mantle as I plummeted,nding directly on his waiting knife. It struck center mass, where my armor offered the most protection. That same hot feeling from the first blow radiated from my chest, and I realized it must have gotten through. No more than an inch or two, or I would have been dead.


    Beanie screamed. Blood ran freely from his side as he leaned over in his seat, arm looped around Ringlets ankle. From a brief look at the struggle, it didnt seem like Ringlet was just slipping out of the car. Something was pulling him. A feral growling was barely audible over the sound of the engine.


    <em>Talia.</em>


    Momentster, Ringlet was yanked out of the carpletely, leaving Beanie holding an empty boot and screaming.


    <strong></strong> was still stuck in my chest te. Mantle had tried to push it deeper at first, then pull it out. Finally, he snarled and abandoned the knifepletely, reaching towards his side and drawing a short sword.


    I inventoried my knife and drew it back out, holding it up and ready.


    We attacked simultaneously. What followed probablysted less than a minute, but felt like an eternity. I aimed for his vitals, organs and veins. Mantle gave as good as he got. The short sword was more awkward than a knife in the close-quarters, but there were still a half-dozen impacts. There was almost no pain, which in the back of my mind felt more than a little rming.


    Simultaneously, either the seat belt around his neck or the gaping wound in his side finally got the better of Beanie. He slumped to the side, hands slipping off the steering wheel as his forehead pressed against the passenger side ss. The SUV swerved, popping up on a curb at high speed and continuing onto the sidewalk, veering towards a building.


    I had a split-second to react, grabbing the passenger seat and bracing before impact.


    /////


    A deeply unpleasant feeling roused me. Something long and wet slid up my cheek, into my hair. A monotonous chime dinged over and over. Another wet stroke started at my chin and up towards my forehead.


    I sputtered, opening my eyes and pushing whatever it was away and touching something soft. Talia stared down at me, her canine face somber.


    Well I hacked up something and spit blood. If anythings going to eat me alive


    Your wounds are both many and grave. The death scent is upon you, human. I administered a potion, but it is still there, lingering. Talia rumbled.


    How the hell did you manage that? Just getting the cork out and the bottle in my mouth must have been a pain without opposable thumbs.


    With much effort. And I may have wasted a few of them. Talias face darkened. There is unfinished business outside.


    Before I could ask what she meant, the rest of the SUV came into focus. There was barely an inch of upholstery that wasnt sttered with blood. Beanie never got the seatbelt off. It was still wrapped around his neck, his face ashen and gray. The overhead lights were on, and the rear passenger door across from us was open. Mantle was nowhere to be seen.


    My mask had fallen to the floor on the passenger side, along with most of my equipment. I gathered it all wordlessly and reced the mask on my face.


    I stumbled out of the SUV, bracing myself against it as my knees nearly buckled beneath me. Half the engine block was embedded in a brick building, the frame of the car ordion crumpled and twisted beyond any potential of usability. I quaffed another potion, some warmth and feeling returning to me as it trickled down my throat. There was a dark red stain smeared on the ground, trailing to a battered heap.


    Mantle was escaping at the speed of a snail, slowly dragging himself down the abandoned road. A ck rage came over me. I took another potion and stalked over to him, grabbing him by the shoulder and flipping him over. He stared up at me in terror, his hands raised.


    Why? I asked, my voice cold. We could have split the lux and gone our separate ways. Now look what you fucking did. He quivered under the verbal barrage and squinted his eyes shut.


    You killed us all. Mantle whispered.


    I released him and took a step back. You brought this on yourself.


    All that self-righteous horseshit when you could have just let us go.


    He was wrong. What had happened was self-defense, by any reasonable metric.


    <em>If you ignore the part that came before, where you chased them down and jumped into the car.</em><strong></strong> cackled.


    I reached in my inventory and withdrew a potion. Then hesitated. Talia walked in front of me, a dark glitter in her eye. <em>This scum saw your face. Stole from you. Theft and double-cross aside, there is a reason they took you with them. They likely intended to kill you. </em>


    Yes I faltered, suddenly feeling very small. He had a knife to my throat. Before I fought back.


    <em>Then you owe him </em><strong><em>nothing.</em></strong><em></em> Talia growled. She pressed her head against my thigh.


    I knew it. That she was right. Saving Mantle was my first instinct. He didnt have long. There was no one else nearby and if I acted, there was a chance I could save him. Harm reduction had always been key to my ethos. It didnt matter that my actions had led to the deaths of two. If there was something I could do to stop that number from bing three, that was the appropriate course.


    Only, as I watched him crawl away, it dawned on me that it wasnt as simple as I wanted it to be. Because for the first time, my core philosophies were in conflict. Mantle would never forget my face if he survived. There was a strong possibility he could throw the people I cared about in jeopardy.


    Mantle ced his arms beneath him, as if intending to push himself to his feet. Then copsed.


    A purple notification light appeared in the corner of my vision.


    I removed my glove and checked for a pulse.


    Nothing.


    Numbly, I returned to the SUV and retrieved the bag of lux. Talia was still standing in the center of the road, her head cocked. There are many vehicles headed this way, pup.


    I froze. For the first time, I took in my surroundings. We were standing in the center of a cul-de-sac in a small middle-ss neighborhood. Judging from the distant skyline, I was somewhere on the north side of Das. Beanie had probably panicked, driving into a residential area and eventually a no-outlet road before colliding into one of the houses on the road.


    <em>And managed to get a message to their guild before he died.</em>


    The first set of headlights appeared at the end of the road, followed by another. Despair washed over me. I was so close. I could hop a fence, but if there were enough of them it wouldnt matter. Theyd cut me off.


    This might be it, I said grimly.


    It will be a noble end. Talia stood in front of me, facing the oing vehicles, her head held high. But it is surprising. That you would give up so easily.


    I havent given up. I multitasked, beginning the process of resummoning Audrey and pulling up the system message that wouldnt go away. Text scrolled in front of me.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107


    <strong></strong>


    It was aggravating that the advancement hade sote. I was positive Id received more than enough experience from Ebrylis Trial to push me well into the ninth level, if not enough to eclipse it entirely. And almost constantly since then Id been in some form of conflict, dispatching enough monsters alone that it felt like I should have reached ten some time ago.


    There were some theories that tracked. The reduced experience being an effort to curtail power-leveling prime among them.


    The transposition was objective-based. If fighting monsters during the transposition gave the same amount of experience as fighting them outside the event or in a dungeon, the situation would drastically favor Users who could effectively fuck off and spend the duration fighting monster after monster, while the rest of us scrambled to collect lux and protect our loved ones.


    That the system was enforcing such measures should have been a relief. Only, Id just leveled from killing three Users. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe I was teetering on the edge of level ten for a while and anything would have pushed me over, but I doubted it. It seemed far more likely that whatever limiter was mitigating XP gain for monsters wasnt in effect for Users.


    Most people wouldnt realize that immediately. And even if they did catch on, there was too much chaos for the average User to capitalize on that knowledge without simultaneously drawing a big red X on their back.


    Word would spread, however. Every User whod been ignoring the system would be panicking, ying catch-up. And ifno, not if, <em>when</em>there was another transposition, orrge-scale event?


    It would be far uglier the second time around.


    I looked up from the scrolling text to find that the procession of iing headlights had grown even longer. My first instinct was to run. Not to escape, necessarily. More to buy time, give me a few extra moments to make sure whatever I selected for the level was the best possible choice. These neighborhood streets were cramped. An endless sprawl ofpact suburbia. If I was in top condition, leaping a never-ending series of fences until I found one of the main outlets might have been a viable strategy to escape.


    Gingerly, I leaned from side to side, testing my body. I winced as a hundred different parts of me screamed out at once. My litany of wounds from the scuffle with Mantle had scabbed over but still felt sore and hollow, like lingering internal trauma.


    With the way I was feeling, Id be lucky to make it over one fence. And I probably wouldnt make it back.


    Hiding was an option. The sun had set, and the streetlights didnt offer much illumination. But again, my mobility was limited. If they had someone who could see through stealth, I was screwed.


    Talking my way out of it, bluffing the way I had with Roderick, seemed even more unlikely. The only reason Id been able to sell it in the first ce was that Rodericks Guild was already decimated and unprepared. They didnt want a fight.


    This current situation was different. Id already drawn first blood. Theyd being in hot, at the tail-end of the longest day any of us had ever had, operating on the assumption that they were about to sh with a thief on a murder spree.


    The only alternative was doing this the hard way. And I wasnt sure I had that in me. Even on a good day.


    I handed Talia the bag of Lux. Can you read?


    What? Talia asked. Of course I can read.


    Start making your way through the yards. Get to a main road. Youre looking for a blue sign that says 35E. Take that road and head south. Keep me updated on where you are, and Ille to you when Im clear.


    Taliawhod been facing down the iing Users like she was ready to tear through all of them, studied the bag, then me. You realize that if you are killed, it is the end of me as well. If this is some sort of noble sacrifice


    Its not.


    The scent of death lingers. If anything, its grown stronger. You need me.


    More than I can say. I wouldnt have gotten this far without you. At this moment, I need you to take the lux and get distance. If I make it out of this, its going to be close. And I wont be able to slow down, or recover the bag if someone takes it from me. I reached down and ced a hand on the small of her neck. Youre the only one I can trust with this.


    Talia shifted slightly when I touched her, but didnt step away. Finally, she growled, refusing to make eye-contact. If you die, I will forgo absolution to bar your spirit from the Styx myself.


    Before I could say anything, Talia took the bag in her mouth and sprinted into the yard to my left, nimbly leaping up and over the fence.


    There was onest precaution I needed to take.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I was about to ask for rification when I scrolled up on the chat log. My eyebrows furrowed as I read through a long-string of messages I had no memory of sending, one every five minutes on the dot, each containing crossroads or highway mile marker information. There were more than a few problems with that. One, Id been unconscious, prone on the back seat. Even if I was half-awake in some sort of fugue, theres no way I could have consistently known where we were. Two, they were remarkably consistent for someone clubbed over the head.


    If <strong></strong> was active, that was a possible exnation. But it wasnt. Id swapped to <strong></strong> during my conversation with Vernon. Outside interference was nothing new, but it was rare that it actually went my way.


    <em>Did the Allfather interfere directly?</em>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I felt the vein stand out on my forehead.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Royally</em> pissed, but processing the fact that I wasnt going to be able to persuade her, I asked Kinsley to idle somewhere nearby once she arrived. I didnt want my actions getting med on the Merchants Guild, just when it was beginning to take off. She reluctantly agreed.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 10 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 10 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 15+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 16+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 14</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Spiral, LVL 15. Suggestion, LVL 18. One-handed, LVL 14. Negotiation, LVL 9. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 9.</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 3. Talia  Revenant Wolf, Bond LVL 2 </strong>


    <strong>Selve: 49,361 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 2.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Augmentation had to be what Nicks friend was hinting at. The boost that came with Level 10. I scanned through the text frantically, trying to find another dropdown, or tooltip, or anything that gave a more specific description of how augmentation affected my stats.


    Nothing.


    I moved on, throwing all three avable stat points into Agility. It pained me on some petty level to have it finally overtake Intelligence as my highest stat, but it was the most relevant to my current situation. No amount of Strength or Toughness was going to help against the numbers that wereing my way. And even though the three Users had been operating beyond the pale, judging from the conversation Id overheard in the car, the guild they belonged to didnt sound particrly nefarious. Theyd been actively concerned about getting kicked out if their actions came to light.


    More than that, I didnt want to hurt them. For killing to be a reflex.


    Id been prepared to end the necromancer if it came down to it. And yes, maybe by jumping into the car and putting myself in harm''s way, Id created a set of circumstances where a violent oue was likely. I felt no guilt for that. Just a deep, boiling anger that theyd forced my hand.


    But there was a world of difference between those specific instances, and ughtering Users who thought they were avenging friends.


    I banished the errant thoughts, trying to focus on the system screen even as the cars drew closer. There had to be something that would help me get out of this. A silver bullet. I just needed to find it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I scrolled through a half-dozen options. Three for each Ordinator Ability. The options for Suggestion were eye-catching. <strong></strong><strong></strong> and <strong></strong> Thetter wasnt as dubious as it appeared at first nce, though it had the capacity to be used that way. From the painfully brief description, it was a tool that could be used repeatedly to ingratiate myself with others. The opposite of the quick fix I needed. I moved on.


    <strong></strong> was a mainline upgrade to <strong></strong> the primary difference being that it nixed one of the core weaknesses of the previous skill: the inability to force someone to do something they were intrinsically opposed to. On whatever passed for a normal day post-system, I would have stopped there. It was an invaluable upgrade. But it was single target.


    Of the three avable options, <strong></strong> was the most useful. It specialized the mental image aspect of <strong></strong> allowing me to haunt a group of individuals within a thirty-foot radius with ongoing delusions. There were problems, however. The radius was not only rtively small but static, and if a person made their way out of the bubble, the delusion would fade. And Id be giving up the basic utility of suggestion.


    I ran through the options for <strong></strong> barely reading the skill names and skipping straight to the description. <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> were both useful, but the former only effective over a long-span of time, while thetter was too eclectic to risk my primary skill for. Finally, I read thest option. And read it again, and again.


    <em>Thats the one.</em>


    I grew more panicked as a buggy pulled into the cul-de-sac. There were eight cars in total, behind it, more Users emerging than I could count. Two of them had parked at the edge of the outlet, close enough to block any vehicle from simply driving through. There was a chance I could squeeze the motorcycle through if I jumped the curb, but Id still be riding through a killbox.


    Before I could strategize further, a massive, familiar figure stepped out of the buggy. He was wearing an improvised eye-patch fashioned out of thin gray material, probably from a t-shirt.


    Im going to give you a chance to make this simple. Where are my men? Tyler rumbled. Nearly two dozen people filed in behind him, various weapons at the ready. The leader of the adventurers guild lifted a huge great-sword off his back and pointed at me. The outline of his de glowed dark blue.


    When the fight in the SUV began, one of the members had started to call for help before I stopped him.


    <em>We are code bri</em>


    Hed been trying to say Bright Star. The same code the Adventurers Guild used to identify a man down. If I wasnt so exhausted, I might have realized it before it was toote.


    All of this was suspect. The Allfather had warned me Id be in the crosshairs, but Id never imagined interference to this extent. There wasnt even a chance it was just bad luck. The series of events that led me here were so astronomically unlikely that it had to be intentional. An attempt to drive a wedge between me and the one guild I actually intended to work with.


    I kept my voice even. I know were all scrambling here, but you really need to tighten your recruiting standards


    Myrddin? Is that you? Sara gaped at me, approaching from the side.


    Myrddin? Tyler asked.


    Sara was still staring at me in horror. The User who helped pull you out of the rubble. His face looks different, but Im pretty sure its him. Same clothing, same aura.


    Tylers mouth turned downward. My gratitude is immeasurable. Now. Where. Are. My. Men? He spoke each word slowly, with emphasis, his expression hard.


    I double-checked the setting on the Allfathers mask. It was still on the highest setting. My mind went back to thement in the description about diminishing returns on repeated exposure.


    And Id spent too much time around Sara.


    <em> Its not just about making people scared. Its almost like theyre trying to cast you as a viin.</em>


    At the end of the day, I still had an in with the Adventurers Guild as Matt the NPC. Which meant I needed to find the best way to salvage this persona. Taking a long moment to consider what I was about to do, I lowered the setting on the mask to disguise my voice and appearance only.


    I drew my knife for a moment and examined the de, as if considering something deeply important, then held it loosely at my side. Dead.


    Why? Sara asked, her face ck with shock.


    I had an agreement with one of them. We split whatever we find. When the time came, he decided that instead of keeping to that agreement, he should take advantage of the chaos to run to the van with his buddies instead. I chased them, they fought back. Seeing as how it was three-on-one they had the advantage, and after subduing me, intended to execute the inconvenient loose end. It got ugly. But not the way they wanted.


    I caught the tail-end of a ping from emtion, telling me Tyler was using his lie-detection ability. Only he didnt react the way he should have. Rage red behind his eyes. He reigned it in, so quickly I had to respect the discipline. When he spoke, his voice quivered. Not likely. I knew all three of them from before. They were decent men. If youe quietly, I will personally guarantee your safety. But to be honest, Im hoping you wont.


    Whoever or whatever was pulling the strings was really going out on a limb. Tampering with a lie-detection ability definitely fell into the camp of direct intervention. Hopefully, whatever passed as arbitration among the deities would take notice. Still, it put me in a bind in the short term.


    I let <strong></strong> drive my words. So self-righteous. Nheless, lets look at this objectively. I pointed the knife towards the line of cars. By any reasonable standard, this is overkill. You didnt need this many people. Which means vengeance or rescue isnt really what youre after. You dont give a shit about the probationary brigade. What you really care about is the lux.


    In reality, he cared about both. But the point was to knock him off-bnce.


    Tyler bared his teeth. Stop barking and make your choice.


    Surrender or fight? I shook my head. Pass.


    Sara, reacting quickly to how red in the face her guild-leader was, jumped in. Be reasonable, Myrddin. Whatever happened, we have people who can get to the bottom of it. If you surrender, well have a chance to confirm your side.


    I wished I could. There simply wasnt time. The transposition event was ending in less than an hour. If they took me there was no way the mask was staying on. Kinsley and Talia were going to miss each other. And even if I exined everything, and they actually believed me, cleared me through Tylers ability, theyd never trust me. Id always be an outsider. And would burn two identities, instead of one.


    I already told you my side. Now, Im going to take a walk down the street, beyond your little barricade. And youre going to watch me leave. I pointed to the end of the street with the knife, then reced it in my inventory, leaving myself barehanded.


    Insane. Tyler shook his head.


    I selected <strong></strong>as my feat, and locked in the level up. The familiar pain of leveling ripped through my upper-body and arms, down into my legs. <strong></strong> activated. I focused on the surrounding area, keeping the lens narrow. There was a higher density of magic in the air now than there had been at the beginning of the transposition, which worked to my benefit. I could see the threads between every single person, their weapons, a far more profound insight than Id gleaned before, even inside the Trial.


    A line of dominoes. And I knew exactly how to knock them down.


    Hes casting something! Someone yelled from the side. But it was toote.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108


    <strong></strong>


    The vagueness caught my attention first. It was hardly the first time the system under-described a skill or item with the intent to obfuscate its true purpose. If I hadnt undergone the trial and received <strong></strong> from the Matriarch, and had the chance to observe how <strong></strong> intrinsically worked, I probably would have passed on cascade, given the vagueness of the description and the strongly worded warning at the end.


    But I was done worrying about alerting the wrong entities.


    The Overseer, or whoever was running the game, already had it out for me. ording to the Allfather, most gods, would have nothing to do with me at best, actively work to hinder me at worst.


    After learning more about my situation and receiving the mask, Id taken the path of least resistance, tried to stay out of the spotlight, hoping theyd lose interest if I didnt interfere. Only, that hadnt worked. Pieces were still being moved in the background, slowly arrayed against me.


    The Ordinator ss was feared because it represented disruption. It wasnt hard to put that together. <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> alone pointed to what the ss would eventually be, doubly so now that I knew those core skills could evolve. Along with the mask, it gave me all the tools I needed to drastically affect any group I was a part of. To guide them to victory, or bring them to ruin.


    Now, the Adventurers Guild was turned against me. And though I couldnt work out exactly how yet, theyd gotten to Ellison. My brother. My family. My blood.


    I was done ying nice.


    Hes casting something! Someone yelled. Saras whip unfurled andshed out towards my neck. When Id first watched her fight against the lizard men, her speed had intimidated me. Now it was like I was watching a slow-motion breakdown.


    I shifted backward, feeling the razor sharp tasselse within an inch of my neck. She struck out twice more as Tyler was raising his sword above his head, dashing forward.


    So close. I grinned at her. If you were a little faster, you might have kept the arm.


    Saras face screwed up in rage. Up to that point, her strikes had been methodical, carefully calcted to chain into a follow-up. Sheunched a wide sweep. I ducked under it,ughing as the whipshed around Tylers leg and stuck there. He stopped himself before he could slip, giving Sara a dark nce. Watch where youre aiming, dammit!


    Im<em>Oof</em> Sara stopped talking when I drove a knee into her stomach at the perfect angle. She crumpled to the ground. Her whip, stillshed around Tylers upper calf, was the only leverage she had to break her fall, and she held on to it instinctively. Tylers leg slid forward a few inches before he toppled.


    I made minute adjustments to keep them tangled and kept walking.


    Beyond them, approximately twenty members of the Adventurers Guild watched in horror. It was easy to guess why. Id left their leaders on the floor, and walked past them like they were nothing more than an afterthought.


    Any second now, one of them would rally and charge, shocking the others into action.


    To be honest, the slow pace I was taking had nothing to do with intimidation, though it worked to that effect. It was more that I wasnt confident I could run. There was a deep feeling of wrongness throughout my body, a jittery feeling of illness that threatened to overwhelm me at any moment. Still, I had a minute at most. There was no way I could get to the end of the street before <strong></strong> wore off. <strong></strong> was still useful without it, but not on this scale.


    I needed to go bigger.


    An arrow flew towards me. Poorly aimed, it went wide, a foot from my face. I didnt flinch. More arrows, projectiles, and spells followed. I weaved between them, ignoring the ones that wouldnt hit, using <strong></strong> to subtly alter the trajectory of the ones that would. Countless impactsnded all around me, passing harmlessly.


    Finally, one of their melee fighters grew a pair. A man wearing a gambeson and wielding a simple ymore rushed forward. I mentally raised the setting on the mask to maximum, ensuring anyone who hadnt had contact with me previously would be more likely to lose track of my movements.


    The man with the ymore continued his rush, but doubt crossed his face.


    <em>Supporting hands too low.</em>


    He choked up on the ricasso of the de, his hand moving just a bit too far up. He shed downward in a fierce diagonal that set the air on fire, and probably would have cleaved me in half if it hit. His de cut through the air behind me, striking the ground with a resounding ng. The bounce back retained enough force to cleave into his palm.


    Fuck!


    I outwardly ignored him and kept moving forward, adding insult to injury as I stoked his frustration, whispering to him with the suggestion that he was ruining this chance to prove himself. When he reversed course and charged me, I pivoted, sending what was effectively arge projectile wielding a sword into the oing crowd. Most of the Users along the edges managed to get out of the way, but he still took three down with him.


    One of the cars at the far end wasden with vibrant golden threads, drawing my attention. I probed with <strong></strong> and found a User inside, dripping with fear. I capitalized on the emotion, slowly melding it into something else.


    <em>They cant stop him. They cantnd a single hit. Their weapons arent working. Whoever he is, hes a killer. If he gets through, it''s my life on the line. But I cant just leave, I have to do something.</em>


    I let him fill in the nks, and couldnt help but smile when the headlights turned on, a distant engine roaring to life. I merged into the group, using the confusion from the mask to disappear in their midst as they tried to both attack me and avoid hitting each other, generally failing at both.


    It was harder than dodging the ranged attacks, but still manageable. <strong></strong> essentially gave me eyes in the back of my head, and as long as I was using <strong></strong> frequently, I had a solid foundation for predicting what anyone in my vicinity would do at any given time.


    Confused yells and screams rang out into the night, as des found purchase in the wrong targets, pikes and spears stabbing deep into legs and lower bodies. Some panicked and retreated, intending to reposition. I tended their fear, encouraging them to keep running. A few of them did.


    Others who lost line of sight were panicking trying to find me again. I gave them false memories of what I looked like, wearing clothing identical to guild-mates standing nearby, and watched as theyshed out in panic and their friends recoiled away, screaming obscenities and half-heartedly defending themselves.


    The skill usage was catching up to me. Id regained some stamina from the level, but it was draining fast. I couldnt keep this up for long.


    I was already halfway up the street, leaving most of the Adventurers Guild members present tangled up and scuffling among themselves. But now I was in a dead zone. It was only a matter of time before they realized their target was already gone and regrouped.


    Tyler and Sara had already recovered and were racing past the mess, dragging people with them as they quickly closed the distance. Hes right there. Stop him! I heard Tyler yell.


    The rumbling roar of an engine drowned out everything. A barricade carthe gray explorer with a plethora of chipped paint whose driver I messed withwas racing down the short street towards me, pushing seventy.


    Someone shouted a warning. Even as the Users behind me scattered, trying to get out of the way, I reached out a hand towards the car, the gesture more showmanship than anything else, picturing exactly what I wanted to happen. Then, I sent the driver an image of a body strewn out on the ground.


    He jerked the steering wheel to the side to dodge the non-existent figure. The cars left front wheel caught a pothole. The driver panicked and over-corrected, yanking the steering wheel one way and then the other. It caught a curb at the right angle and popped up on two wheels, giving me a detailed view of the undercarriage as it zed past.


    I turned around and smiled at Tyler, who looked paralyzed, unsure whether to push forward or get the hell out of the way of the out-of-control car.


    All around, the threads between began to fade, the world uncharacteristically blue in the new absence of red.


    I swooned on my feet, nearly cking out. A grinding, pounding headache thundered through my mind. I fought through it, and cast <strong></strong>


    <em>Is it left or right? Its definitely right.</em>


    The car shifted to the right violently, finally tipping the rest of the way over, rolling multiple times before it came to a shattering halt. The driver was hanging upside down, unconscious, hands reaching toward the ground as the engine chugged out ck smoke.


    I risked one final use of <strong></strong> to keep it from exploding.


    At some point, Tyler must have dropped his sword. Hed moved quickly, rolling out of the way of the car and sprinting directly towards me. Hands nearly twice the size of mine wrapped around my throat. Tyler began to squeeze, grimacing with the effort.


    Where is it, He snarled. Wheres the lux?


    I spit blood in his face. He recoiled, then redoubled his efforts. Vision narrowing, I raised a finger and pointed at the car. Everyone had scattered, giving the wrecked vehicle a wide berth. It wasnt that they were cowards. Just the bystander effect.


    I was right that gathering lux was all you cared about. You must really want me gone if youre willing to let one of your people die to make that happen.


    The smoking car caught fire.


    Tyler nced back and forth, expression torn, before he finally decided. Ill find you. No matter where you hide.


    Who''s hiding?


    Suddenly, I was plummeting downward. I covered my head with my arms to protect my head, colliding hard with the asphalt. Stars exploded behind my eyes as a savage kick scrambled my guts. But there was no follow-up. Just the sound of heavy footfalls as Tyler ran to the car and began to pull the driver free, yelling at the others to stop standing around and get him.


    It was toote.


    I staggered back to my feet, pulling the motorcycle out of my inventory and dragging myself onto it. A handful of arrows and magic projectiles peppered the street as I rode low, twisting the throttle to maximum and flying past the remaining car at the end of the street, getting a glimpse of the drivers panicking face. Just as quickly, he was gone.


    /////


    I peeled out of the street and into the main thoroughfare. Once I saw enough of my surroundings to know where I was, I lowered the setting on the mask to disguise only my voice and appearance. One by one, I chugged potions, leaving a trail of corks in my wake. The warm fluid blunted the pain, but the feeling of jittery hollowness never receded. Eventually, I reached down to grab one and realized I was out.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There were headlights behind me. I hadnt even noticed. The world around me was swirling and gray. I came to a slow stop, dismounting the motorcycle and nearly falling over, going to my knees.


    Holy fuck, youre a mess, Kinsley said. But there was a shakiness in her voice, tainting the snark. She helped me to my feet, and we limped towards the car.


    I stared at the vehicle she was guiding me towards, not sure whether I was hallucinating. The supple curves and sleek frame were unmistakable, capped off with a vibrant blue coat of paint. Kinsley, please tell me I have brain damage, and your dumbass didnt buy a Bugatti.


    Okay. You have brain damage. And sue me, I have more money than god and I needed something fast. Stop being such a choosing beggar. Kinsley scowled. She guided me into the passenger seat. The drivers side was modified with a padded seat, pedals raised high off the ground.


    The seat was leather, softer than anything Id ever felt. I leaned back against the headrest and closed my eyes, just for a moment.

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109


    It was hard to pinpoint thest time Id been this tired. Id been running on minimal sleep for as long as I could remember. Found an equilibrium for how much I could push myself, before the overdraw became a credit that would undermine the next day.


    There were always exceptions, of course. Emergencies that threw that equilibrium into flux. More often than not, the price was mental. But it had taken everything I had to drag myself out of that cursed tunnel. And thereafter, it took more, and more, and more.


    As close as we were to the finish line, it wasnt over.


    Light filtered in. Artificial yellow light from passing streetmps that cast an eerie glow in the car''s interior. I saw the faint outline of a canine figure, sprinting down the center of the highway. She looked over her shoulder, revealing the bag still held in her jaws. There was a grind of gravel as the car veered across the yellow line, the vibration of the warning grooves doing nothing to hold back the darkness, as the knowledge that Kinsley had found Talia drained away the modicum of remaining adrenaline and urgency keeping me conscious.


    The sleep was ck and dreamless, entrenched in a nothingness soplete that time itself seemed abstract.


    How curious. What an irregr choice. A voice cut through my mind, unlike any Id heard before. It was feminine and cruel, a mixture of my voice and someone elses. I got the sense that it was talking about me, rather than to me. The same way a doctorcking bedside manner talks to family members while the patient is present.


    Fuck off. I said, my voice projected rather than spoken. In any other circumstance, I would have likely found it within me to be diplomatic. After all, you never really know who youre talking to when ites to strangers. But the effort that would take just wasnt in me right now.


    Oh? It took a great deal of effort to find you. It speaks to my merits that I managed it at all. No wonder youve incited such a fuss among the upper echelon. The Allfather invested a great deal in you, in contrast to your predecessors. I wonder how much of his remaining lifespan he sacrificed, only for you to fritter it all away by not knowing when to <em>mind your tongue.</em> Her s tone took on a dangerous edge.


    I felt myself rouse, grogginess slipping away.


    Surprise, surprise. Im worthy of your attention after all. She said.


    What do you want? I asked, keeping my tone even.


    Gifting that artifact was a stroke of genius, loathe as I am to admit it. the voice mused to herself. It was practical. Strangely so for the likes of him. And without that perfectly timed gift, youd already be scattered to the wind. Entropys only real mistake was using a shrine of elevation.


    My caution turned to horror. If this wasnt just a dream, if I was speaking to another deity whod been watching me since the early floors of the adaptive dungeon, I was blown in so many ways it was impossible to track.


    Id already established my position on interacting with gods or deities. That being, its generally a bad fucking idea without knowing the nature of the gods themselves. That position had only solidified with further knowledge of the system and the carnage of the transposition event.


    wing back panic, I forced myself to focus. Judging from what little information I had, the Allfathers information, and allusions to them in certain titles, the Greco-Roman gods were likely the closest analogues to these faceless deitiesand as petty and brutal as they could be, they were fascinated with mortals who stood out.


    What I needed was a way to pique her interest. Permitting a few jumps in logic here


    Of course.


    Assuming the likelihood that youre bound by certain rules, and can only interact indirectly. If youve been observing me for as long as you im, I have to assume there have been multiple moments where you could have made my life considerably more difficult, if not untenable.


    I considered it. The voice drew out a dramatic pause. If it came to that, there wouldnt even be a need to dirty my hands. Justicar has been out for your blood since the news broke that an Ordinator slipped through the selection process. All that was required was a few choice words, and he would havepensated me with a worlds ransom.


    Recognizing what she was doing, I stilled my emotions. The deity was priming me. Dangling what she had over my head and seeing what dropped out. It wasnt entirely dissimr from how Miles had handled Emil. And if myparison to the Greco-Roman gods tracked, thest reaction she wanted was fear.


    Then, why didnt you?


    A spotlight appeared, highlighting a massive expanse of a ck iron. The scene changed as my perspective shifted, registering things that were simply toorge for me to make sense of at first nce. The expanse of iron was the front-half of a throne. Tall, ivory towers that I recognized as a womans legs were crossed over each other in a casual sit. The long pale beam of an arm crested upward into a curtain of shadow cast by a moon above.


    Count yourself prosperous. Few have heard my voice, and fewer still viewed the manifestation of my form.


    I tried to force myself to take this as a good sign, despite the terror it invoked. Still, I held my silence, not trusting myself to sound particrly grateful. Hearing myself described as Prosperous, in any setting, would have put my teeth on edge.


    There was arge sigh of disapproval. Save the odd exception, the previous Ordinators were petty things with no personal attachments, who cared for little more than power and advancement. This worked in the Allfathers favor, those that survived serving as excellent dissidents. A handful of times, they managed to halt the cycle entirely, requiring direct intervention and a not inconsiderable effort to dispatch.


    It sounds like any being in your position would beuded for acting, I said. Baiting her was dangerous, but if she was going to be this circuitous, I didnt really see an alternative.


    Indeed. As I said, it was under consideration. Especially given my first impression of you. I was so sure you were just more of the same. But I held off. Im still reserving judgment, but for the moment? Im d that I did.


    Images shed in front of my eyes, one after another. I saw myself betraying the Matriarch despite the pros of staying the course.


    Then I was on the motorcycle, swerving to the side to dodge a fireball, trying to convince Kinsley to lower the prices on emergency items.


    <em>You have to choose what you want to be. And you have to keep making that choice. Over and over.</em>


    Another image shed. Walking among the civilians that had ambushed me for Lux, dispensing potions to the gravely injured.


    Theption ended with an image that chilled me to my core. A younger version of myself, dressed in a poorly-fitting Macys suit, standing at a casket that had yet to be lowered into the grave, my face frozen in a rictus of anger, hands balled into fists at my side. Beside me, Mom was juggling my sister and brother. Ellison was balling his eyes out, though I could hear him, face buried in Moms shoulder. Iris was staring out at the horizon, mouth small, lips tight.


    I thought youd only been watching me since the shrine.


    The goddess voice was little more than a whisper. Yes, but I took the liberty ofbing through your memories. Do you remember the promise you made?


    That Id never be like my father. Because heroes were nothing more than fools. Unable to speak, I nodded.


    Ever since then, youve suffered, The goddess continued in faux sympathy that barely hid her underlying glee, There were plenty of people in this very city who could have helped you, your family. Yet, at every turn, every possible moment someone could have intervened, no one did. No one cared. You learned to banish that possibility. Work purely on a basis of equivalent exchange. So, I suppose, my question is this: Why are you bothering now, when things are more desperate than ever?


    I didnt harbor any delusions. My circumstances were hardly unique, especially in this day and age. Whatever her interest, it had something to do with how I shed with the typical Ordinator. Thisll sound ironic, given the circumstances, but what ites down to is simple. Id rather not live in hell.


    No. There was a vague sense of motion from the shadow that gave the impression she was shaking her head. Thats what you tell yourself.


    Its true. I insisted.


    Disappointing. I suppose Ill be getting in touch with Justicar after all


    Youre talking about us like were all the same, I snapped. There was an echoing silence, as the deity waited for me to continue. Were not. There are people who have power, and people who dont. Before the system, the extent of my power was knowing which bubble to shade-in on a scantron. My world has changed. Im deep in the minority. Both wealth and power are in arms-reach. I thought about the people in region six, whose lives were suddenly snuffed out. The civilians that were suddenly thrown in the crossfire without knowing why. And those people without power? Theyre still here, suffering. Struggling to get by, forever at the whims of forces beyond their control, while everyone capable of helping refuses to lift a finger. I cant just forget they exist. Or what its like to be one of them.


    So, The goddess probed, Youre a hero, then?


    No. My familyes first. My friendse first. Ie first. I learned to prioritize the hard way, and Ill never forget that lesson. But now that I have power? If theres an opportunity to make a difference, to help? I will <em>not</em> be another asshole with the power to change things for the better who does nothing. I <em>refuse.</em>


    The sound of chuckling permeated the chamber, escting into a cruel guffaw. All the effort he put into insting you. What he must have sacrificed. And in the end, you will be his undoing. Its exquisite.


    Who? I asked, confused, still off-bnce from the sudden outpouring of emotion. The Allfather?


    That old fool. The goddess snickered. Hes outdone himself. Literally.


    Her tone had changed, like she was wrapping things up. I still had countless questions, and this might be my only opportunity to ask them. Whats the point of all of this? The transposition, the other meteors


    Proceed carefully, before you consider yourself entitled to the secrets I hold. The goddess voice cracked like a whip.


    I bit back a sharp reply.


    Still her voice softened. You have entertained me. And that is more than most can say. I will not obstruct you. Furthermore, there is a key oversight the Allfather made in your implementation. I will correct it. And if you live to our next meeting, I may even deign to give an answer you seek.


    I started to ask why, then immediately stopped myself. Better to just ept what I was given.


    Why? The goddess said, as if reading my mind. Because it pleases me. And only a fool cuts pleasure short.


    /////


    Are you sure hes not dead?


    The scent of death has passed.


    A small hand punched me several times. Matt. Matt! I really need you to wake up, so you can exin <em>the talking dog in my back fucking seat.</em>


    I jolted to and looked around confused. Talia was in the back, looking more than a little nauseous as Kinsley navigated a turn at high speed.


    Where are we? I asked. System text scrolled in front of my face, further obstructing my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    I swiped it away for now, scrambling to pull up the remaining time.


    <strong></strong>


    What the fuck! I shouted. We werent even that far away.


    The freeway was out, Kinsley yelled over the engine. I had to take side streets, but were close now, I think. Ill pull up straight up to the curb right next to the receptacle.


    Something felt wrong about that, but I couldnt put my finger on it. I nced back at the bag of lux. Then it hit me.


    Wait. Didnt you say the Adventurers Guild reached out to you? I asked, thinking back to when Id first returned to find Kinsley had outed herself.


    Kinsley nced back and forth from the road to me. Yeah. Was going to mention it before you started yelling, but they reached out to warn me, some man on a motorcycle ughtered three of their people and took off with their lux.


    Fuck.


    That was you? Kinsley asked, her voice small.


    Lying was pointless. She was smart enough to see through anything I coulde up with short term. Itsplicated.


    Jesus Christ, Matt. Kinsley shook her head.


    How is itplicated? They tried to murder and rob him, so he killed them. Talia offered.


    I twisted in my seat to shoot her a re. Talia stared back, unaffected.


    Wait, Kinsley put a hand to her head, her eyes wide, So the Adventurers Guild are the bad guys?


    No, they were probationary members I waved a hand, cutting off the thought. I also needed to tell her about her father, but not before working out how to spin it. Short version, theyre not the bad guys. Ill exin the restter.


    That lines getting old, motherfucker.


    I already promised, get off my ass. Also, pull over.


    What? Kinsley squawked in rm. She nearly drifted into a parked car before I shouted a warning, snapping back into the center of thene at thest moment. Why?


    I shook my head, remembering that the numbers theyde at me with had likely only been a fraction. The Adventurers Guild is still your best bet in terms of alliances. And its a bad idea to piss off a big, influential group this early in the game, when youre still growing. You cant be associated with me.


    Fuck that. Im already associated with you. People have seen us together. And Im not just gonna ditch your ass because some assholes tried to rob you.


    I rubbed my head, appreciating the words. I know. And thank you. Ill still be in the Merchants Guild as Matt. Everyone weve interacted with knows me as Myrddin.


    Then what do we do? Kinsley asked.


    I grimaced, remembering herckluster acting skills. Youre gonna have to publicly disavow me.

 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110


    <strong></strong>


    So. It wasnt a dream. After reading the text, I still wasnt sure what to make of her. From my brief initial impression, Nychta wasnt the worst passive spectator to have. But the nature of her attention was problematic. I had no doubt she would have happily sold me out if Id disappointed her, and that wasnt likely to change just because shed given me a boon. To her, I was a novelty. And novelty is only useful while itsts.


    I added it to my burgeoning list of problems to solve at ater date.


    <strong></strong>


    A wave of fog had begun to roll in with the humid evening air. I clung tightly to the motorcycle. My apartment loomed in the background, like some morose reminder of what Id lose if none of this was enough.


    Iing lux! The voice came from an improvised lookout that was little more than a board on stilts. There was a roar of murmuring voicestoo many, the sound more fitting to a stadium than my generally quiet block.


    Through the fog, I saw the number of people crowding around the receptacle had grown exponentially. There were at least a thousand of them crowded around, their faces grim, too cautious to hope. Still, they parted quickly. A few hands pushed me forward. Grayscale had resumed his post, and fell in step next to me, escorting me towards the ss cylinder glowing gold.


    You look dead on your feet, Astrid emerged from the crowd


    Im fine, I said quietly.


    When she grabbed my arm, I tried to yank it away, my mind all reaction and fear, and found I didnt have the strength.


    Just, let me, Astrid said.


    I relented. Astrid slid my arm over her shoulder and let me use her for support. When the receptacle came into view, an irrational anger came over me. It hasnt gone up at all?


    Grayscale shook his head. We got a few more. But it barely moved. And after each drop, we had a wave of monsters. Its like they dont want us to finish.


    <em>Maybe they dont.</em>


    In theory, I was safe in the middle of the crowd. If anyoneid a hand on the bag of lux, we were in dire enough straits that the observers wouldnt hesitate. Anyone trying to interfere now would be swarmed in seconds.


    So, why didnt I feel safe?


    I spotted my mother in the crowd, holding Iris in a half hug. Ellison was standing a few feet away from them, looking aloof.


    Anyone particrly short make a drop? I asked.


    Like temperamentally? Grayscale asked.


    Height.


    Havent seen anyone particrly short. Been here ever since the strike team got back.


    Its slim pickings out there. Astrid added darkly. Rodericks helped with fending off the attacks, but otherwise, the lodge has been useless.


    Little harsh, seeing as most of them are either injured or recovering from being drugged out of their mind. Grayscale shot a look at her.


    Their words barely registered as anger washed through me. Id never imagined hurting my brother before, but now, it took everything I had not to drop the bag of lux and p the smug expression off his face. The thought was irrational. All the evidence pointed to the User at the church being someone else, and that my brother had just been an overwhelmed kid, coping with the end of the world. Id overlooked a lot of bullshit from Ellison. He was a kid in a bad situation, and acting out was par for the course. But if he had been that User, and chose to do something else with the haul of lux he pulled out of the church, putting our family in danger?


    I wasnt sure that was something I could forgive.


    Astria okay? I asked quietly.


    Astrid looked at me in surprise. Uh, yeah. Shes doing a lot better.


    Good.


    A message came in, directed to Matt rather than Myrddin. I noticed Id missed several, all repeating the same content.


    <strong></strong>


    That exined why theyd shown up in force for ten lux. They werent going to make it. I closed my eyes for a moment as I gathered my thoughts.


    Miles was waiting next to the receptacle with a neutral expression. If I hadnt spent time with him, I might have missed the worry in his eyes. Hey kid.


    Miles. I ced the bag of lux on the grass in front of the receptacle, and met his gaze in challenge. Anything happen while I was gone?


    Miles nced at the bloodstained bag, then looked away. It wasnt just worry. It was guilt.


    <em>He knows. And he thinks it''s his fault. That killing the necromancer sent me off the deep end.</em>


    Unable to handle the tension any longer, I opened the mouth of the bag and pulled out a lux, cing it in the receptacle. The line didnt move. Come on, I muttered under my breath, and deposited another.


    All at once, the line jumped up, filling to the metal rim. I stared in shock, not fully understanding what had happened. All at once, everyone around me looked down, reading the same scroll of text that went out to everyone simultaneously.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    A round of cheers went up, growing louder until it was almost deafening. Several people pped me on the back. Others grabbed my hand and shook it. Some part of me couldnt believe it. Couldnt believe that it was really over, that Id managed it somehow. Maybe this wasnt real. Perhaps I was still unconscious in the back of the van, my mind racing desperately to find closure in the precious few seconds I had after Mantle finally slit my throat.


    Someone tugged at my jacket. I looked down and saw Iris staring up at me. She didnt say anything vocallythere were too many people around for that, but she ced a t hand to her chin and extended it outward. Even if I didnt understand ASL, the meaning would have carried through.


    <em>Thank you,</em>


    I reached out and patted her head, then frowned. My gauntlet left a streak of blood down her hair. Another notification came through.


    <strong></strong>


    A bolt of nausea went through me. I didnt know for certain what the systems secondary means were, but I could guess, based on what Id learned in region six. Cores could fill the receptacle.


    Damn it all.


    Myrddin! Someone shouted, their voice projected over the excitement. The crowd parted, giving ample space as Kinsley stalked through. What the fuck did you do?


    Roderick followed in her wake. In the far left of my periphery, I saw Miles stir, positioning himself to cut me off if I ran.


    More than anything, I was surprised by the real anger I felt from Kinsley. Compared to the stuttering, unconvincing mess shed been when I introduced her at the family meeting, the difference was night and day.


    <em>Did she take a feat? Something to make her more charismatic? Boostedpanionship, maybe? </em>


    Any worry that Kinsley would be able to sell this properly disappeared. I squared off with her, hand at my side. I finished it. While were pointing fingers, what exactly were you doing all this time? Hopscotch?


    A disapproving murmur went through the crowd. Id underestimated how much goodwill Kinsley had umted over thest twelve hours. They didnt like the way I was talking to her, despite the fact that Id been the one toplete the receptacle. That was good. It would work to our advantage in the long term. Which was precisely why she needed to be meless.


    Someone ripped off the Adventurers Guild. Killed three of their members. Kinsley said, in that same voice that sounded cold and calm, but was loud enough to reach the ears of anyone nearby.


    An individual dressed in ck, riding a motorcycle. Roderick added. His focus was held casually at his side, but his knuckles were white.


    Are you kidding me? Astrid positioned herself between me and Kinsley. He finishes this, and as soon as it''s over, you assholes start throwing usations around?


    Enough, Astrid, Roderick warned. Think long and hard about whose side youre on.


    Astrid reached in her pocket and withdrew a middle finger. Sit and spin dickhead. The system putting a medal on your neck means nothing when youve been sitting around jerking off this whole time.


    Ive been <em>delegating</em>, Roderick hissed.


    Delegate my foot in your ass.


    Lets just take it down a notch. Or several, for that matter. Miles said. He put his back to the crowd and lowered his voice, so only I could hear. Weve all been under a shitton of pressure. Considering the day youve had, its understandable if you lost it. I can advocate for you. Just talk to me.


    No. I put a hand on Miles chest and gently pushed him away. When he tried to step forward, Grayscale got in his face, mirroring the moment wed met.


    Back off, the big man warned.


    Or youll, what, machismo me to death?


    Kinsley made her way around the clusterfuck and stood in front of me. Myrddin. Youve been nothing but a help to me. I dont like this. I dont wanna do this. Her lip actually trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes. So just help me clear it up. The Adventurers Guild said whoever killed their members stole twelve lux. If it was you, there should only be ten left in that bag. If theres more or less, you''re cleared.


    Miles had zero reaction to the lie, immediately understanding the trap she was setting. Alternately, Roderick shot Kinsley a confused nce so over the top it was almostical.


    Sorry to disappoint you, Kinsley, I seethed, But theres eight.


    Oh no. Kinsley stepped away from me and sobbed. Her eyes remained dry. That was a test you idiot, there were ten.


    Roderick raised his focus, his hand beginning to glow. Pruning members can be difficult, if youre unustomed to the experience. Allow me.


    There was a blur of movement. Miles had his hand on Rodericks wrist, diverting his aim. There was something dark in his expression, utterly different from his aloof facade.


    You dare


    Miles tone was menacing. He saved more people than he killed today. By a significant margin.


    Tell that to the Users whose cores he throws around like trophies. Roderick attempted to break Miles grip, and when he couldnt, lowered his arm.


    Why? Kinsley asked me. They werete, but the tears shed been struggling to summon now flowed easily down her cheeks. We were helping people. That was the point.


    Whatever he did, it doesnt matter now. Miles said, You want him gone, fine. But let him go.


    Kinsley wiped her eyes and appeared to gather herself. Leave the bag. Ill get another member and return whats left to the adventurers guild.


    Thats it then? After everything thats happened, were done? I asked.


    Were done, Kinsley confirmed.


    Without another word, I turned and ran.


    /////


    Minutester, I cut through the building wed selected previously, pausing for a scant few minutes to change into my hoodie and jeans. I wound my way through Kinsleys sanctuary, and entered the garage. It was expansive, with enough space for a dozen of thergest vehicles you could imagine. The sliding door whirred, and Kinsleys Bugatti pulled in. It looked even more ridiculous now that I had proper lightingeven with the booster seat, her head barely poked out above the dashboard.


    I opened the door and let myself in.


    I really, really hope that was worth it. Kinsley said. Her eyes were still red, and she swiped at them.


    It was the best I coulde up with, I said.


    You sure about this? Even if it was probationary members, they literally tried to kill you. Kinsley shook her head. Id be livid, personally.


    I leaned forward in my seat. The earlier interrupted rest had reduced my fatigue, but it lingered around the fringes. Better to avoid getting toofortable. Im certain.


    Kinsley tossed me a fresh blue gym bag, probably from her store. Returning what you took in a bag soaked with their members'' blood is kind of a bad idea. Switch it over while I drive.


    Got it. I held on to the handle grimly as Kinsley peeled out of the garage. There was a real possibility our efforts here were in vain. That the unfortified receptacles could now only be filled with human cores.


    Still, we had to try.

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111


    My stomach clenched in anticipation of finding out what was happening in the unfortified regions. I was deep in my mind as we drew closer to region 14. So much so that I almost didnt register the significance of what I was seeing as we passed through the intersection by the tunnel where Id been when the transposition was first announced.


    Significance being, the road wasnt an obliterated mess. The gaping hole the giant mob had emerged through was patched. It wasnt perfectthere was an odd golden sheen to the surface, but it was strangely orderly in the surrounding chaos. All around, people were picking themselves off the ground, brushing off dust, and looking altogether confused. Small groups clustered everywhere, some unharmed, some decidedly worse for wear as a never-ending procession of ambnces made the rounds, some stopping curbside as paramedics rushed Users and civilians alike out of buildings on stretchers.


    No construction crew worked that fast. Whatever had begun the transposition had seen fit to repair some of the infrastructure once the transposition ended.


    The fact that the barriers were gone presented another annoyance. Id already changed my identity to <strong></strong> within the Adventurers Guilds roster for usible deniability. If civilians were still trapped, Id intended to present myself to the Adventurers Guild as one of the recently uplifted. A former civilian that had won the lottery, so to speak. My Page identity worked as a solid cover. It was still level 3, low enough on the totem pole that it likely wouldnt raise eyebrows, considering how quickly those first few levels went.


    I eyed Kinsleys hands. Her fingers were white. Are you trying to strangle the steering wheel?


    Kinsley didnt blink, gaze glued to the windshield. Just doing my best to stay in the middle of thene. How the hell are you supposed to know where the cars at in thene when youre sitting off-center?


    Practice, mainly. Look, just find a focal point on your sidelike the line where the engine hood curves to the frontand line it up with the road.


    Thats not the engine hood. The engines in the back. Its the trunk. Kinsley corrected.


    Great choice for a starter car, I jeered, but my heart wasnt in it. Still, the advice seemed to get through, and she stopped gripping the wheel as tightly.


    I have no idea what to say to them, Kinsley admitted.


    My back spasmed, and I leaned forward painfully. Their leader, Tyler, has an ability that lets him detect deception. Stick to the truth. The barebones of it, at least.


    And youre just telling me this now? Kinsley asked, horrified.


    Ill signal you if hes using it, like this. I held my hand forward and tucked my thumb between my second and third finger in a motion that could easily be a nervous tick. But only exin if they ask. Youll need to talk to him about Myrddin, eventually, but for the moment, were a helping hand when they need it most. They might not even question you.


    Holy fuck, Kinsley eximed. She turned in her seat to gawk. And for good reason. There was a crowd of people standing in an oddly uniformed line across from a coffeeshopmany of them geared out, obvious Users. But they were only watching, as a chaotic street-fight involving hundreds of people broke out in an office park just beyond their line. Some were barehanded, others wielding an assortment of improvised weapons  baseball bats, tire irons, and cutlery that looked more intended for cooking than fighting, just to name a few.


    Theyre just watching. Why arent they doing anything to stop this?


    Not forck of trying, I said grimly, pointing off to the side. A man in te was throwing himself against an invisible barrier over and over again, screaming something. Now that I looked more closely, every User present seemed to be in some sort of distress. Pretty sure this is the edge of region thirteen. And it looks like the barrier is still up. Only its keeping the Users out now.


    <em>While the civilians fight among themselves to fill the receptacles with human cores.</em>


    Id thought this might happen. But up to that point, it was nothing more than a theory. Seeing it was something else.


    Barriers going to keep us out too. Give it a wide berth, I said.


    Kinsleys mouth worked furiously. But


    I know you want to help, but the Adventurers Guild gets priority. For obvious reasons.


    We turned to the left and diverted around the region. The sound of gunshots rang out behind us. Kinsley flinched in her seat.


    This is awful, She whispered.


    There wasnt anything to say to that. It was awful. And the damage wasnt limited to the unfortified regions. The powers that be rolling back infrastructure didnt do anything to reduce the psychological toll thest twelve hours had on the poption. No one would forget this. And every User who had been hanging back, not engaging with the system due to a varying mix ofmon sense, cowardice, or caution, wouldnt have that luxury anymore.


    Things were going to be entirely different moving forward.


    /////


    There they are. Pull over.


    The setup looked eerily simr to the scene wed just left. Hundreds of Users lined up along an invisible barricade. Kinsley parked a solid foot away from a curb and I hopped out, slinging the gym bag of lux over my shoulder, and sprinted towards them.


    Then immediately slowed to a jog, as my vision began to narrow.


    I recognized more than a few as members of the Adventurers Guild, and headed towards them until I spotted Tyler and Sara.


    This was a wealthy section of downtown. Premium apartments, surrounded by perfectly manicuredwns and trees, many of which were now marred or scourged respectively. Unlike region 15, 14 had yet to fully descend into chaos. Still, I spotted more than a few weapons among the civilians on the other side of the barrier as I approached, tense and paranoid bodynguage. Things were minutes away from popping off, if that. Tyler was talking to a reed-thin man within, who was holding a handgun loosely by his side. I only caught the tail end of their conversation as I approached.


    get the lux. Just wait.


    The reed-thin man shook his head. Theres less than an hour to fill it, man. Our lives are on the line.


    Jensen, look how close it is. You know me. Tyler hit his chest with his fist, emotion clear on his face. I always deliver. Just give me a little more time.


    There was a brief gap in the crowd,rge enough to reveal their receptacle. It was closer to the top than ours had been.


    These thingswhatever they arearent fucking around. Your help is too little, toote at this point. Jensen shook his head.


    Goddammit, my wifes in there, Tyler hissed through grit teeth.


    So is mine, Jensen countered.


    I nearly stumbled. Several things clicked into ce. Why Tyler had been so aggressive when hed confronted me earlier, and why hed tapped so many guild members to go after such a scant number of lux. I wanted to fix this, if that was even possible.


    Several Users spotted me, then, seeing the glow at my back, immediately parted, creating a path that led me straight to Tyler. Heard you needed some seconds, I said. The Guild Master turned and looked at me in surprise, then to the bag at my back. His mouth widened into a shaky grin. If it isnt the know-it-all from the open-forum.


    Here with the Merchants Guild. Guild Leaders right behind me.


    Saras eyebrow rose. She subtly elbowed Tyler, keeping her gaze on me. Kinsley, right? She did one hell of a job keeping people alive during the event with that shop of hers. Ours included.


    I nodded, feeling distinctly ufortableing within arms reach of them again, despite the differing circumstances. It took everything I had not to show it.


    Tylers expression was full of faux sincerity. It looked as if it were taking everything he had not to melt downpletely. Were prepared to offer you


    Nothing. I cut him off. Mind letting me through?


    Tyler bowed his head and stepped aside, leaving me a clear path. There was a time to barter. But not in front of a group of desperate Users, terrified for their loved ones. Even when Tyler discovered the lux originated from Myrddin, whatever they offered would pale inparison to the good will doing this unconditionally would invoke. And I wasnt about to destroy the foundations Kinsley had begun to build.


    I shrugged the bag off my shoulder and carried it in one hand, stretching out the other towards the invisible barrier. Anxiety bolted through me, as my fingers braced something solid. Id always imagined forcefields having some flex to them. This felt like touching solid ss.


    <strong></strong>


    There was a growing wave of dismay as the surrounding Users started to realize I was obstructed, and after them, an outcry of despair among the civilians beyond.


    Jensen pulled the slide back on his handgun, grimly inspecting the bullet in the chamber. Ished out at him with <strong></strong> my vision growing dark as I pelted him with graphic images of what would happen if he started shooting. He reeled back, but I could feel from him that it wouldntst long.


    More desperate now, I unzipped the bag and withdrew a single <strong></strong> and pressed it against the barrier. It nearly slid out of my hand.


    As ast ditch effort, I spoke, hoping there was some significance to the fact Id received a notification, that the system was acknowledging me somehow. I have more than enough to fill the receptacle, and no intention of interfering in any other way. Let me pass.


    <strong></strong>


    I heard Kinsley huffing behind me. Is it not letting you through?


    Frustrated and angry, I pushed harder against the barrier, sweat pouring down my forehead. As an Ordinator, I was an outsider. An exception. So, why was this the one way I was like everyone else?


    Tyler slipped to his knees.


    Someone put a hand on my shoulder. Sara. Her eyes were red, her face twisted in grief. You did everything you could.


    Family inside? I asked, struggling to keep the anger out of my face.


    Friend, Sara shook her head, wiping her only arm across her eyes. Thanks for trying.


    I hated that I nearly said it again. Sorry. Sorry, I came all the way here for nothing. Sorry I ripped you off, right after your people ripped me off.


    Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.


    <em>Fuck</em> that.


    There had to be something I could do. Anything. I wheeled away from Sara and pulled up my identity screen. I scrolled through my options to modify it, and found what I was looking for. Now that the existence of regions were revealed, my NPC identity now had the option to alter my home region. Declining the prompt to change it in any existing guilds. I looped the handles of the bag around both arms like an oversized backpack, and began to push into the barrier.


    Pain washed through me. It felt like touching the tines of an electric plug still in the socket, only instead of isted to a finger, over my entire body.


    Nearby, someone started sobbing.


    I pulled myself back to my feet, more slowly. And felt myself smile. Unlike before, there was flex to the barrier.


    <em>You cant keep me out. Because Im a civilian who belongs to this region. Those are the rules you set for this event. An oversight that youll change in the future, no doubt, but you cant change it now.</em>


    Sara was staring at me, her eyes wide. You were through it. Just for a second, but your palm broke through it.


    I shrugged, still grimacing at little bolts of electricity that ran up and down my body. Then pushed forward again. The pain met me, washing down my arms, the intensity doubling, then tripling again. By the time I got an arm through, I was spent.


    Small hands braced my back. Through the buzzing pain, I heard Kinsleys voice. Come on, you tentative fucks, hes gonna kill himself doing this alone. Push!


    Sara grabbed my shoulder and arm, supporting me. More hands followed, waiting. Tyler had picked himself up from the ground and put a hand hesitantly on my back. Are you certain? What if it kills you?


    <em>It wont. Unless theyre willing to break their own rules.</em>


    Do it, I said through gritted teeth.


    I knew you were meant for great things, Tyler smiled. Then he turned to the others and shouted. On three. One two Th


    I never registered three, expansive pain cutting through my body and mind as countless hands pushed me forwards.

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112


    After a few seconds, the feeling of thousands of volts of electricity began to fade. Awareness slowly filtered in. The long, textured wall of gray te I was looking at was the sidewalk. The twenty or so pinkish branching fingers of my hands, returning to a normal number as my eyes refocused. There was an inherent feeling that something had broken within my ribcage, too deep-seated to be a normal internal injury.


    I was inside, but the interior was different.


    Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by blue ocean, the depths as endless as they were vast. The bag of lux had spilled open, bouncing across the ground.


    A bolt of something stabbed through my back, and darkness rushed in as I copsed with a pained yelp.


    <strong></strong>


    No.


    I staggered to my feet, unable to lift myself up to full height. One painful step at a time. When I bent down to gather the lux into the bag, an unimaginable weight pressed down on me, and I found my cheek pressed against warm asphalt. It was almost nostalgic. A living metaphor made literal. This was nothing new. Life, knocking me down, over and over again. Setback after setback. After you get hit enough, its tempting to stop. Give up.


    That feeling is called learned helplessness. The notion that in the face of enough pain, enough adversity, theres nothing you can do to change it. And the best option avable is to just stop.


    But thats a lie. Your mind attempting to cope with circumstances that are as difficult as they are unfair. In reality, the pain never stops until you break through. Ignoring a problem never fixes it.


    I gave up trying to gather all the lux and picked up three, all the while muttering under my breath. All that umted power, all your deities and fucked up magic, and you still cant stop me.


    A gentle breeze chilled my chest. Which was odd when you considered I was wearing a hoodie. Then I looked down. A deep gash ran from my vicle to my waist. From within the tattered curtains of my hoodie, I could see the exposed white of my hip bone and two matching lengths of bone beneath my chest that were probably ribs.


    The pain filtered in after, rich and full, and my vision began to swim.


    As I began to lose consciousness, doubt obscured my earlier confidence. Maybe whatever was out there wasnt above ignoring the rules, especially if it meant taking an Ordinator out early.


    Then I realized it was far more likely that the unseeable force obstructing my way forward was just ying dirty. These wounds were meant to be painful. Not to kit least not immediately. Id bleed out in short order, but they probably wouldnt let ite to that. If I lost consciousness, theyd aplish what they wanted. Dy help long enough that the civilians were forced to eat each other.


    Anotherceration yed my back open from shoulder to shoulder.


    I screamed.


    Not dying wouldnt matter if I didnt find a way to render their efforts useless. I didnt like the option any more than I had when I first learned about it, but this was bigger than what I wanted. I navigated the level screen frantically, ignoring the stats entirely. The vision in my left eye faded to ck, imbuing my actions with additional urgency as I scrolled through the feats, so quickly they were almost a blur, until I found what I needed.


    <strong></strong>


    I locked in the level, banking the stats.


    Your move, asshole. I said through gritted teeth, fully prepared to burn myst feat on sleep resistance if it came to that.


    A wave of electricity poured through me, same as when Id entered the dome. But it felt different. Frustrated, almost. Like this attack was more punitive than anything else. Nheless, a pounding pressure grew in my skull. The dim vision in my left eye went ck.


    Go on, finish it! I screamed. Do it, you malevolent bastards! When no answer came, I licked my lips and whispered, more to myself than anyone else. Nothing else is going to stop me from finishing this.


    Normally, that would have been a bluff. Something I said as bravado to unbnce, or serve as an intimidation tactic. But it wasnt. As I pulled myself to my feet for the third time, blood dripping freely from me onto the concrete below, the image of a childs ruined hand tugging at my forearm returned to me.


    <em>His name was Joshua Denborough. He lived at 3045 Oakwood Avenue, Apartment 582. Region 6. And I couldnt take him home.</em>


    It wasnt just about helping the Adventurers Guild. Or helping the people of this region. The ugly truth was, Id benefited from Region 6s downfall. Gathered their cores and lux, and left them mired in a gruesome mess theyd never deserved. And maybe it wasnt logical, or rational, but there was a part of me that needed to do this.


    To bnce the score.


    Slowly, the blue dome receded. I was back in downtown. I shuffled forward, blood from my mouth extending downward in viscous strands as I approached the receptacle. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the Users on the other side of the barrier. No one was arguing or even talking. It was eerie to see that many people standingpletely still, a mix of respect and pained empathy struggled on their grim faces. Even the few that had their phones out, recording the moment, had set mouths and stoic expressions. Off to the side, Kinsley had buried her face in Saras waist, her shoulders shaking. The older woman held the girl close to her with her one arm, and gave me a solemn nod.


    <em>They saw everything.</em>


    I ced one lux into the receptacle, nearly dropping it. Then another. And a third. The glowing golding residue began to climb, only to stop millimeters from the rim.


    <em>Still moving the goalposts, huh?</em>


    With a groan, I shuffled in ce, about to head back for the rest. That was when I saw it. A single butterfly that had frozen mid-flight. Kinsleys shoulders had stopped shaking. When I took a single step, their gazes didnt follow, rather remained fixed to the spot Id been.


    Well, shit. A voice said. I pivoted slowly towards the direction of the noise, back towards the receptacle. There was a boy crouched down over it, studying the contents. This wasnt supposed to happen.


    He looked familiar, my foggy mind taking far too long to connect the dots that he looked the same as the boy from region 6. Obviously, I had no idea what that boy actually looked like, so what he actually looked like was the way Id imagined him, down to the outfit. Basketball shorts and a light gray hoodie with cutoff sleeves, and close shaved brown hair.


    You, my friend, are an asshole. He shook his head.


    People keep saying that


    Bet they do. The boy in gray eyed my injuries, then extended a hand. Die on your time, Im trying to have a conversation here.


    I was about to say something sarcastic, when I realized the pain had stopped. No, not stopped. But the all consuming edge of it had been taken off. My wounds were still open, but the bleeding had ceased, the stream of blood from the gash across my chest frozen in ce.


    Youre the proctor. I realized, remembering the system message.


    Thats your terminology for us, yes. Ideally, this would never happen. A face-to-face meeting. Theres no world where we should be having a conversation with any of you. The Proctor scowled.


    Funny how things work out. My legs wobbled beneath me.


    Not funny. Not funny at all. He stormed up to me and stuck a finger in my chest. Then wrinkled his nose and wiped his newly bloodied finger on his pants. See, heres the problem. A fortified region has many options, when ites to transposition. Ownership goes to the group that contributed the most. They can then choose how that region develops. Generally, these are all positives, with some hidden downsides, but you know.


    I didnt. But this seemed like an opportunity to pull back the curtain, if only a little. I needed to keep him talking. And unfortified regions?


    Therein lies the big chicken-fucking mess. The Proctor seethed. Unfortified regions dont go to groups. They go to a single ungifted. One who contributed the most and is still standing. That ungifted is then uplifted to User status, and has to decide between several dicier options for region transformation. Their reward for winning the Battle Royale, to borrow your terms.


    Cant it go to the group that contributed the most before the time ran out? I asked, not entirely sure what any of this meant.


    Nope. It has to be an ungifted. Andtake a wild guess here, dickheadwho do you think that ungifted is now? The Proctor made air quotes after the word ungifted.


    <em>Oh. Fuck.</em>


    Something must have slipped through my exhaustion and registered in my expression because the proctor pped sarcastically. Yep. Even though we both know what you really are. And Im desperately trying to find a way to not just hand you this goddamn region.


    Ill relinquish it, I said immediately. Voluntarily.


    Fantastic. The Proctors eyes narrowed. Wait. Why?


    Btedly, I realized Id made a mistake. Spoke too quickly and revealed my motives to someone who was already pissed off and probably looking for a way to screw me over. There was no question that my short-term actions over thest hour as Matt would already shine a spotlight on my existence, one that would make it far more difficult to operate. I didnt regret those actions, but thest thing I wanted was more public attention.


    As you said, I responded shakily, only growing more lightheaded. Im not a legitimate ungifted. Im not even from this region. And have no interest in it.


    Really? Still deep in thought, The Proctor pulled up a visible system screen, and shoved it over to me. It contained my identity information, including the listing for my home region. Because thats not what Im reading right here.


    This is petty. Arent you all supposed to be enlightened? Here to correct us? I jabbed, hoping to distract him, keep him from connecting the dots.


    You throw away a position of power without hesitation. Now, why would anyone do thatAh. Understanding came over the Proctors expression, followed by a leer. Your role works best with a certain degree of anonymity. Youre afraid drawing even more attention to yourself will make things more difficult eventually. It probably will.


    Is using an entire region to spite me really the best way to salvage this? I snapped, my veil of civility slipping.


    Maybe not, if I cared. The proctor poked me in the chest for emphasis, cringing once more and wiping the bloodied finger on his shirt this time, leaving a gray streak. My life is already forfeit for letting you get this far. So, theres no reason not to dig the hole a little deeper. You made this bed. Now lie in it.


    There was a snapping noise, and time began to move forward. I stayed on my feet just long enough to ensure the rising level of the receptacle reached the top, then fell. My head bounced off concrete, but I barely felt it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I stared up at the clear blue sky. A halo of faces stared down at me, more added by the second. Kinsley was among them. There were tears in her eyes. She wasnt the only one crying.


    Get a healer over here! Hustle! I heard Tyler shout.


    Youre really fucked up, Kinsley whispered.


    Ive had worse, I lied, then groaned involuntarily. There was a murmur of sympatheticughter.


    Anything else you want to do before we call it a day? Kinsley asked, rubbing at her eyes furiously. Fight a god? Unravel the fabric of the universe, maybe?


    I tried to shake my head, only to find I didnt have the strength.


    Im done.

 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113


    My body shook violently. I couldnt do anything to stop it. No matter how hard I tried, the muscles in my legs and arms alternated tightening and releasing. It was like being a prisoner in my mind.


    Hes having a seizure. Kinsleys voice,manding now, devoid of the emotion from moments before.


    Put this in his mouth.


    No. Thatll just fuck up his jaw Kinsley shouted. Help me cushion his headWheres the god-damn healer?


    Here, A new voice, feminine with a middle-eastern ent. Something grabbed my wrist. Might as well be a hummingbird. Heart-rate is through the roof. It shouldnt be that high.


    My vision was pinprick tight. I caught a glimpse of Sara, one of many faces surveying the scene, clearly wanting to help but not sure how.


    <strong></strong>


    Saras eyes widened. She pushed her way up through the crowd and bent down. Hes running a feat that keeps him conscious, regardless of injury.


    What? The healer squawked. Of all the <em>stupid</em>Never mind. Nothing surprises me anymore. Can he be sedated?


    Sara hesitated. I think so.


    Definitive answers please.


    A moments pause. Yes.


    Then we better hope this works. Or our friend here may have seriousplications.


    There was an inexpressible warmth that soaked through the back of my skull, trailing down my neck and spine. Then, nothing.


    /////


    I woke slowly, feeling as if Id slept for a thousand years. When I reached up to rub my face, my hand stopped, obstructed. I blinked at it, spotting a clear, taped-down tube funneling liquid at the base of my wrist.


    <em>IV.</em>


    There it was, the bag of saline and whatever else, next to an oddly high-tech looking heart monitor. Along with panic, an nostalgic feeling swept over me. Waking up in a hospital bed, with no clue where I was or what had happened in the interim. All too simr to how this started. Which put me at something of an advantage. Id done this before.


    I switched my title to <strong></strong> to ward off the panic, reached across my body with my other hand and began to peel the tape off.


    No you dont. Ellison put a hand protectively over the tape, then turned to the side. Heads up, hes at it again. Turn the tv off.


    An uncharacteristic surge of anger came over me. Remembering how there was a high chance Ellison was a User, yet hed practically abandoned our region, I pulled my arm away. Dont touch me.


    Matthias. My mother admonished, her voice shocked.


    Ellison blinked, looking from me, to the others in the room. Excuse me for caring.


    I snorted.


    Dont take it personally, Kinsley stepped between the hospital bed and Ellison, cing herself between us. Head injury, remember?


    <strong></strong>


    She was right. I took a deep breath and exhaled, letting the anger go.


    Ellisons hand curled into a fist, then rxed. An air of false cidity came over him. Whatever. Ill get the doc.


    How long was I out? And how are we paying for this? I looked around, confused, as my vision returned. The curtain on the far end was drawn, but from the lighting it looked to be midday, maybete afternoon. And this was anything but a standard hospital room. It looked more like a spacious, luxurious bedroom that someone had converted to home care. There were nature photos on the walls, a dark-wooded dusty night stand that had been pushed to the corner, and a card with the words Every Day is a Blessing, that hung above the door. Below, there were deep grooves in the carpet, probably left behind by a bed-frame.


    My mother had been sleeping on a recliner in the corner and was blearily rising to her feet. There were several mounds of nkets and pillows scattered around the room, one of which held Iris, still sleeping soundly.


    Kinsley eyed me suspiciously. If I exin, promise youll stay in bed?


    If you dont exin, I definitely wont.


    God youre unbearable. Kinsley climbed to the top of a stool that looked more at home at someones bar. Fine. Its been around eighteen hours. Were still in Region 14. And youre not paying for anything of this, so rx. A few things have happened, some we should talk about now, someter.


    Whose house is this? It looks expensive.


    Apartment, Kinsleys eyes slid to the side. Sort of. And its, uh


    There was a screech of metal, unfathomably loud. I nearly leapt to my feet, only prevented by Mom and Kinsley holding me down. I struggled, trying to get free, trying to get out of the way of whatever was making that noise. The door opened, revealing a dark-skinned woman in a doctors coat. She was brimming with barely contained irritation, heavy bags under her eyes.


    And why, exactly, Mr. Matthias, are you trying to get out of bed again?


    Feeling foolish, I stopped struggling. My mind tracked back to what had just happened. The noise that startled me. Had that been nothing more than the door opening? It sounded so much more thunderous than that.


    Hes more lucid, this time. I think hes just limating.


    Were all limating. The doctor took a seat on the stool at my side and flipped open a folder, flipping through it. Matthias, my name is Doctor Ansari. Hows your recall of thest day?


    Not great. I couldnt remember anything.


    No memory of moving you here from the hospital?


    None. I confirmed.


    Her eyebrow lowered. Any recollection of telling me to go fuck myself? Or your extensive colormentary on my recent divorce? Ansari asked. She looked almostpletely unfazed, but there was an edge to the words that told me she wasnt over it.


    That didnt sound like me, until I realized Id fallen unconscious with <strong></strong> still in effect. I cringed. Nothing.


    Im not being spiteful. Ansari tapped a pen against paper. This is important. You were very on target with your insights. Made the sort of observations youd generally need to be lucid for.


    At that reminder, I reached down towards my chest. There was no wound, only a long scar where the seraphic damage had torn through me.


    Unless theres something else at y, we might want to order an additional MRI.


    Unsure of how much information to reveal, I settled for as little as possible. I have a thing.


    Ansaris eyebrow quirked. A system thing?


    Yes.


    <em>Users.</em>


    What? My mother asked.


    Nothing. Ansari snapped her folder closed and bent forward, intensity in her dark eyes. Ive done everything I can for you. You were in bad shape. Enough that youd probably spend half a year in physical therapy in the old world. Even then, you wouldnt have been the same.


    It was that bad? I was almost afraid to ask. I took more than a few healing potions.


    Ansari blew air through her mouth. You and everyone else. They can save a life, but they only carry a person so far. If the adventurers guild hadnt gilded your parachute, youd probably still spend months recovering. It took the absolute extent of my abilities to shorten that to a month minimum.


    Thats not happening. I said immediately. A month was far too long. Ansari and Kinsley shared a look.


    Which is what she said youd say. Ansari sighed. Fine. I have an alternative, but its not proven, and ites with conditions. No fighting, no running, no walking. You need bed rest whenever possible, and if you are up and about, itll be in a wheelchair.


    Is that really necessary? My mother asked through glistening eyes.


    Ansari turned on her, her expression angry. Yes. His body has been through hell. There wasyer afteryer of barely healed injuries that were resistant to my methods. And thats just from the event. There were a half-dozen fractures from old injuries that either went untreated, or were tended by an idiot.


    Mom fell silent, jaw set tightly as she studied her feet.


    You fixed those too? Kinsley asked, trying to defuse the sudden tension.


    Of course I did. But my efforts will go to waste if he goes running off. Ansari opened a briefcase and withdrew two tall ck elixirs. Full transparencyand to be honest, Im still not used to saying thisbut these are from a witch. Someone I know and trust. Normally, that wouldnt be enough, but Ive seen her work. Its solid. Ansari suddenly swiveled, giving me a sidelong look. Go ahead. Get it out. Im sure youve already figured it out and have an obvious crack to make about my ex being a witch?


    None whatsoever, I said, making a mental note to try to make up for whatever Id said to the doctor to get under her skin so badly. Other than the fact that Im grateful for the coincidence.


    She wrinkled her nose, as if she found even that offensive. The side effects of consuming a full sk are nothing to sneeze at. Severe night terrors and nausea. Drink as much of a single sk as you can manage, limiting yourself to one a day. Any more and the toxicity will kill you. Once youre through both of them, you should be looking at a full recovery. That could technically be two days from now, but Id highly advise spreading them out over a week. Not that youll listen.


    Ansari went on for a while, emphasizing the importance of following her instructions, and brutally outlining the consequences of what would happen if I didnt listen. When she spent an overly long time describing thetter, Mom excused herself, saying something about checking on Ellison, looking more than a little unsettled.


    Finally, Ansari packed up her bag and left, leaving only me and Kinsley in the room. I braced myself when she shut the door, only feeling marginally better when it shut at a normal volume.


    Well. Lets get some light in here. Kinsley crossed the room, throwing open a window. It extended from the ceiling all the way to the floor. We were insanely high up, with an expansive view of the city beyond. I leaned forward, trying to get a better look at a series of objects, darting around the sky. My mouth dropped open.


    Are those people?


    Mhm. Everythings changing. Kinsley shifted from side to side. For the first time, I noticed how tired she looked. Like she hadnt slept a minute since Id been out. Almost all the regions have benefited from the transposition in some way. Means of production, portals opening up, rare materials. And a few sections that got something highly specific but useful. Most of the flying folks are using a charm from Region 7, for example. No idea how many they have, if they make it or hold a specific number, but were in talks. Speaking of which, Adventurers Guild folks are going toe by to help go over what you want to do with the region.


    Thats right. The proctor had mentioned that even the unfortified regions had to pick something.


    What are our options? I asked.


    No clue, Kinsley said. Youre the only one that can see it.


    Thats right. The system had given ownership of the region to me. Whatever the hell that meant.


    I shook my head. Jesus. Im having a hard time processing here. There were a half-dozen things I needed to do, including telling Kinsley that her father was alive. Even if it was a distraction, shed never forgive me if I kept it to myself, and she found outter. Kinsley, I owe you an exnation. And theres something else you should know.


    In a minute. Kinsley withdrew a handful of items from her inventory and handed them to me, first returning my weapons, then my mask. I held it up, studying the jagged lines.


    You kept my things safe?


    Took them off your body while you were in the ambnce. Figured if it was important enough for you to sell it to me, you probably wouldnt want some nosy person stumbling over it. She nced over, suddenly uncertain. Was that okay?


    I fought the urge to put it back on, slowly recing it in my inventory. Seeing as how you most likely saved my ass, yes, Id say its okay.


    Now, Kinsley pped her hands together. I suppressed a jump. She opened the closet and withdrew a wheelchair. Iris stirred from the movement, then fell back to sleep, turning on her side. Before we get into the heavy stuff, lets have some fun. Its time for a tour of the penthouse.


    I smiled. Id been itching to get out of bed. It was like shed read my mind. You still havent told me. Whos putting me up?


    Kinsley shed a mischievous grin. Thats because no one is. Its yours.


    Wait. What?

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114


    Kinsley summed it up, though I was still having difficulty processing. There were enough people in the know that my little disy was seen as more miraculous than suspicious. Most people in leadership, who spent a greater deal of time with the system knew there was a great deal of fuckery afootthings that happened beyond our understanding, and a variety of ways the established rules could be trumped or altered. Albeit morbid, another aspect that was helping divert suspicion within the region was the naturalparison to the fate of our neighboring region. Region 13 had lost nearly half of its civilians, ownership handed to a jeans and t-shirt type that called himself the prophet. When you contrasted the two, most people within Region 14 were just thrilled to be alive.


    None of them knew you from Adam, Kinsley said, a serious expression on her face. But they sure as hell know you now. They saw you take the beating of a lifetime for them. Civilians and Users alike. People dont forget that shit.


    The beating didnt surprise me, more the fact that I was alive at all. Id assumed that once the proctor arrived, the damage doled out to me would be undone, but from what the healer said, that was utterly wrong. Maybe if Id been on the cusp of dying, they would have intervened, but as long as I didnt die, theyd fulfilled their requirements.


    I wheeled myself through the kitchen as Kinsley talked, doing my absolute best not to be gawk at the tant opulence. The kitchen alone was nearly twice the size of my old apartment. Any concern Id held about navigating the chair through tight corridors quickly vanished. It was freshly painted, furnished with more white cabs and pantry space than I could imagine what to do with. Across from the open-n kitchen was the den, a wide, minimalistic space with a dark hardwood table framed by several leather couches and recliners, ented by a TV that looked too wide to fit in my room back home.


    Scanning back to the kitchen, my focus was immediately drawn to the coffee maker and espresso machine. I didnt recognize the brands, but both machines were stainless-steel and high-tech enough that they may as well have had the word <em>Expensive</em> embossed on their exterior.


    Anyway, like I said. After seeing what went down in region 13, most people here are understandably nervous. A few have been very loud about wanting to know your intentions, but considering the breadth of your injuries, theyve been shouted down. That reprieve is probably temporary.


    Did you brew a pot, already? Or was that someone else? I asked Kinsley.


    I did, Kinsley said, only half paying attention.


    I opened one cupboard, finding a stack of white tes, then another that had a tacky assortment of wine sses. Okay, I give. Where are the coffee cups?


    Top leftIll get them. Kinsley grabbed a folding stool from the pantry. As she climbed to the top of it and retrieved a simple white mug, she shot me a questioning look. Are you, uh, listening to anything Im saying right now?


    I was staring at the den. The far wall was all window, extending the length of the far side of the apartment. It gave a fantastic view. In and out. This ce isnt going to work long term.


    Kinsley deted somewhat. Oh. Well, it was only one of several options. The buildings owner was very amodating. There used to be a year-long waiting list for this ce, but theres been plenty of vacancies since the system came into being, and even more since the transposition. The Penthouse floor has its own elevator and the rooms are spaced outI know how you are about privacy. Really thought youd like it. She handed me the cup. I filled it and put the cup to my lips, tilting it back. I choked, nearly coughing and spitting it out. The taste was rich and dark, with the perfect level of acidity.


    Its fine. More than fine. And youre right on the privacy count. But the windows are a problem. Especially if people are flying around. And Im still not sure if living in this region is a good idea.


    First bit is an easy fix. Kinsley walked around the loft until she found what she was looking for. A ck remote with a plethora of buttons. She tossed it to me. Press W2


    I caught it easily with one hand and scanned the face. Thankfully, the buttons were arranged alphabetically. I pressed the button down, and jumped at the resulting mechanical grind as a curtain of metal shutters descended from the exterior top of the window, extending downward until it reached the floor, banishing all ambient light.


    Ah. I said, mostly speechless.


    Regarding the second bit. Kinsley held her arms behind her back. The Adventurers Guild seems to think it would be a good idea if we all relocated here. Me, and any members of the merchants guild.


    Meaning my family and whoever else Kinsley had picked up in the interim. I was of two minds. From one perspective, this was exactly the type of life Id always wanted them to have. Just living here would put Iris and Ellison in a far better school district, if school ever started again. The building itself was excessive. But when I considered it through a more cautious lens, it was a terrible idea.


    And if the suitse for us? Well just make it easier for them by being in one ce. Not to mention, werepletely at the mercy of the Adventurers Guild, if theyre the ones pulling the strings here.


    I thought about that, Kinsley nced away, Which is why a condition for my tentative cooperation was Rodericks Lodge being part of operations here. And I dont necessarily agree that us being together in one ce makes it easier for the suits. With what little we know about how they operate, spreading out only really works if they dont know where any of us are. If they find one of us, theyll absolutely use them to leverage against the rest.


    Though the idea of bringing the lodge downtown with us sat poorly with me, I understood the intent. As far as I knew, the only connection between the Adventurers Guild and Rodericks Lodge was Kinsley and the Merchants Guild. Bringing in a third party would prevent the Adventurers Guild from leveraging us, much the same way Guilds had leveraged merchants since the systems proliferation. Not that they would, necessarily, but I was done taking chances.


    Still, Kinsley had done well. She hadnt let anyone maneuver her into a corner, hadnt made any bad calls apart from possibly revealing herself too early. Shed saved my life more than once, along with countless others, and helped protect my family in region 2 while I was gone.


    It went against my nature to bepletely honest. Some lies are important. Some keep us grounded, make it possible to carry-on, even if in the face of something horrible. But Id realized a long time ago that I couldnt keep this up forever. This web was only going to get moreplicated, even more so now that my civilian identity was no longer anonymous.


    I needed a touchstone. And Kinsley was a good choice. She was smart, it would be difficult to buy off considering the extent of her resources after the transposition, and most importantly, I knew her motivation. As long as Kinsleys Father was alive, tied up within the system, she wouldnt be tempted to leave. All of which made her mostly impervious to what the Overseer was offering for my head.


    Anyway, you should look over the regionwhy are you looking at me like that? Kinsley stopped mid-sentence, suddenly appearing small. Is it uh time?


    Fighting an internal voice that screamed at me to stop, I double-checked to ensure Iris was still sleeping. Satisfied with the steady rise and fall of her chest beneath the nket, I slid the door shut. Then turned back to Kinsley and pointed to the couch. Probably better if you sit down.


    /////


    Against my better judgment, I told her everything. From my awakening, to what had happened in region 6, to the scuffle with the adventurers guild. I saved what had happened with Vernon forst, sparing no detail.


    Halfway through the story, tears streaked down Kinsleys face. She didnt sob. If anything, her face was a mask of barely suppressed rage. When she finally spoke, her voice was pitched low. I have one question. Have you ever used Suggestion on me? To make me change my mind, or affect my view of you?


    No, I said.


    Swear it. On your family. Kinsley insisted, barely holding it together.


    I swear, I said. I wasnt going to point out that if I <em>had</em> been consistently manipting her, it was thest thing Id admit to.


    But Kinsley was already moving on. God fucking dammit. Those <em>monsters.</em>


    I reached out to touch her shoulder, then let my hand drop. I wanted to tell him. That you were alive. But I didnt know how hed react.


    Kinsley snapped suddenly, And Im sure your dead friend didnt factor in keeping the necromancer research going, at all.


    There was a gentle ping of an elevator in the distance. I held my silence.


    She wiped her eyes. Fuck. I cant even be mad that you did it because it was the right call.


    It was? I asked cautiously.


    Yeah. I uh Kinsley cleared her throat.  Mom wanted to look into alternative medicine before she died. Being a responsible medical professional, Dad was against it. Until the traditional stuff didnt work, and she died anyway. He really did hate himself. For not doing more. Made all these cloakedments, about how hed be there for as long as I needed him, and how I was the only thing keeping him going.


    Vernon was suicidal. Or at least thinking about ending it, I realized.


    If he was asking you to kill him, hes probably regressed to the same ce. Just hanging on until he manages to bring me back, or at least gets confirmation that its not possible. When he finds out Im alive, it needs to be in a controlled situation where he cant hurt himself. Kinsley rested her forehead on both hands, then dragged them down her face until they covered her mouth in horror. Oh no.


    What?


    Shit! Matt! She stood and paced frantically, My names been blowing up all over the city. People have been talking about me, my market. If dad overhears something


    I held up a hand, cutting her off. Suits wont let that happen. Theyre more proactive and organized than any group that wevee across. Theyre probably already aware of the potential issue and are making sure their necromancer is fire-walled.


    Kinsley copsed back on the couch. Thats true. God, I hope youre right. But we cant leave him with them long-term. Your friend as well. That shit with the court is spooking me, for some reason.


    If the rest of the court is anything like Nick, itd be idiotic not to be spooked. I agreed. Thats a lot of power in the wrong hands. Assuming most of them arent there voluntarily.


    So how the hell do we get our people out? Kinsley voiced the question Id spent a great deal of time thinking on. My dad, and your friend.


    I had an answer, but was hesitant to share it. You sure you want in on this? Dont get me wrong, it would be easier with your help, but it wouldnt be entirely unreasonable for you to take a hands-off approach.


    Kinsley fixed me with a re. In for a penny, in for a pound, motherfucker. I already know youre the Ordinatorwhich, considering your abilities even now, would probably scare the shit out of me if I didnt already understand you to some extent. Im in this.


    I found myself lost in thought. The Adventurers Guild already has a bone to pick with Myrddin. If more info about the Ordinatores out, hell be an even higher priority target.


    Youre nning to join the suits, right? Wont that put you in jeopardy if it doese out that Myrddin is the Ordinator? Kinsley looked worried.


    I tapped the handle of my wheelchair. They seem more interested in collecting power and unique Users than killing them. Your father being a prime example. My initial read is that itll only increase my worthlike everyone else, they saw the footage the overseer yed at the beginning of the transposition, detailing what an end-game Ordinator can do. Theyll want that. Its possible some Users might still take an unauthorized shot at me, but thinking about it, thats probably less likely to happen with the suits than any other organization.


    And if it doese out, the Adventurers Guild will suddenly be far more motivated to take on the suits. Kinsley sat up straight.


    Which is a conflict we need to dy as much as possible. The Adventurers Guild struggled a lot during the transposition. Theyre not ready for open-conflict with the suits. Not even close. I said slowly, finally voicing ideas that had been rattling around in my head for days. We guide them, make sure theyre as high-level and kitted out as possible. Snag a few key alliances where we can, riding on the coattails of your well-deserved poprity. All-the-while stoking the mes between the two groups, as I feel out the enemy for weaknesses and things we can exploit, and sandbag them from within.


    Thats remarkably underhanded. Even for you.


    I shrugged. Just ying the cards Im dealt.


    Kinsley shook her head. No. Youre too good at taking this shit in stride. Too quick to connect the dots. I get the feeling some part of you has always been waiting to y this game, even not knowing what it was. If I wanted to bepletely cynical, Id wager that even telling me this much is calcted.


    Absorbing that, I kept my face nk. How so?


    Because our motives align. Almost perfectly,pared to anyone else. Theres no way Im leaving this game without my father.


    I sipped my coffee. Youre right. That is cynical.


    Kinsley rolled her eyes and walked across the room to the espresso machine, plugging inputs into the machine like shed been using it all her life. What about Ellison?


    Not sure. If we do decide to move my family here, Id want him on a different floor than Mom and Iris. Somewhere he can be monitored.


    Fair enough. I can make that happen if we go that route. And Sae? Kinsley asked.


    The name hit me like a wave, even though I was the one to tell Kinsley about her. Shed been on my mind ever since Id woken up, the violet notification light on the quest log a silent mockery. How long do we have before the meeting with the Adventurers Guild and the Region 14 people?


    Early evening. They just said to notify them whenever you woke up.


    Mind driving me somewhere?


    Even as Kinsley muttered an affirmative, I took a deep breath and finally pulled up the log.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Helpline.</strong>

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Helpline</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Locate Sae.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  ???</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: Low </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (S)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: ???</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    The quest objective was so vague it was almost nonexistent. To the point that I wondered if the nonspecific nature was some sort of mind game. The objective simply called for locating the target, alive or dead, and the rest of the text gave nothing away. Contrasting this quest with Jinnys, there was no allusion to a positive oueimplied or otherwise.


    It could just be coincidence. But if the system was self-aware and malicious, keeping the description limited following the deceptive bundle of horseshit that was <em>Light In the Darkness</em> would be a decent method for catching my eye.


    If anything, it felt like Id made the right call, waiting until after the transposition to read it. I was in a better headspace now than I had been at the time, though I was still obsessing over every little detail in the text.


    Even though it was cryptic, there were a few things that stood out. It explicitly stated the threat level was low. From my experience, if a quest was eitherplex or exceedingly difficult, the system would typically tag it with a ??? threat level. Granted, low didnt always mean easymy early quest in the hospital could have easily proved fatal if it went wrong. But it probably meant that this wouldnt be aplex quest. The fact it wasnt a chain supported that theory in tandem.


    If I wasnt wheelchair bound, I might feel better about the possibility of having to retake the trial.


    On some level, I knew what I was really doing. I was distracting myself. From the very real possibility that Sae was gone.


    Any doubt remaining in my mind had evaporated once the transposition started. Whatever was happening, it wasnt about correcting or fixing us, as the Overseer implied. It was a meat-grinder, pushing us headfirst through motorized des, intending to use whatever survived the process to some unknown purpose.


    And I held little hope for a meat grinders mercy.


    Rice Cake? Our driver shoved the open mouth of a cylindrical stic bag towards me, and wiggled it, so the wrinkled stic seemed to wave. I took the opportunity to study Kinsleys henchman, Steinbeck. That was how hed introduced himself,st name and nothing else. He was sporting a military crewcut, ck cargo pants, and a gray t-shirt that seemed vastly ufortable with the bulging shoulder muscles that rippled as he moved, threatening to shred the shirt at any given moment.


    No.


    Cap? He twisted his arm to aim the bag at Kinsley, wiggling it again, all-the-while never looking away from the road.


    Later. Save me a few. Kinsley shook her head. She looked simrly stressed, though likely for different reasons. Her eyes were zed over, and she was navigating system screens furiously, probably messaging.


    Ten-four. Steinbeck feigned azy, two-finger salute and returned his attention to the road. I didnt like involving outsiders in something this personal. Not to mention, it was the one timeline discrepancy that could still trip me up. Wed fed him a line about my friends being overdue after telling me about the Trial, that theyd disappeared before the transposition started, and I wanted to check on them after. It still felt like an unnecessary risk, but Kinsley either trusted the man or had enough leverage on him to vouch for his short-term loyalty. Considering how she handled me, there was a good chance of a contract being involved.


    Problem? I muttered under my breath to Kinsley.


    Negotiating with other merchants for market ess.


    I respect the hustle, but is that really what you need to focus on right now? I asked. There were half a dozen things off the top of my head that seemed more important.


    Kinsleys expression soured. Once the transposition ended, automatic restocking stoppedpletely.


    I took a drink of one of the tall ss potions and fought down a gag as the thick, acrid fluid worked its way down my throat and into my stomach, a process I could vividly feel all the way down. Something about what shed said suddenly clicked. They handed us the means of production, and now the training wheels areing off.


    Right, Kinsley said, only half paying attention. And Im working on getting the vocations we need. Armorers, Smiths, Alchemists, and so on, but thatll take time. Countless people are still hiding out due to how heavy-handed the guilds were early on. So, theres a shortage. Anything I put up on the store is getting bought up immediately. A few extra merchants would go a long way to fill the stopgap. Enter the Merchants Coalitiona couple chucklefucks that figured out the position Im in and have every intention of holding me over a barrel until I agree to their terms.


    Their terms that bad? I asked.


    Highway robbery. Kinsley huffed back in her seat. I offered 20%, prepared to negotiate down to 10. They countered with 2%, final offer.


    When did that happen?


    This morning.


    So, youve been arguing with them since then? I asked.


    Kinsley nodded. They wont budge. And they keep talking down to me.


    Its a power y. They insulted you with their terms, and they know it. This is about testing how much shit youll put up with.


    Then what am I supposed to do?


    I thought on that for a moment. Cut all contact. Keep pursuing other merchants, regardless of how good their selection is and how useful of an add they would be. Dont respond to anything the coalition sends you, dont say anything to them for the rest of the day. You have to show youre willing to walk away from the table.


    Kinsley sighed, visibly struggling to ept the idea. Ill think about it.


    Were here. Steinbeck called from the front.


    /////


    After some debate and argument, Kinsley had agreed to stay in the car, leaving Steinbeck to escort me. Reason being, he could easily throw me over his shoulder and escape if the monsters in the tunnel had repopted. Factor protecting Kinsley into that equation and the odds became much more questionable.


    Steinbeck had changed into his gear as we descended, a full-on suit of armor with two bronze colored, scythe-shaped swords criss-crossed on his back. Hed easily picked me up, wheel-chair and all, navigating the stairs, and dropped into the train tunnel as effortlessly as if hed been carrying a box of clothes. He snacked on a bag of Goldfish as he wheeled me down the tunnel with one hand.


    Do you ever stop eating? I asked. It was meant to be a joke, but came out more harshly than intended.


    Not when I can help it. Steinbeck admitted. Aint much in life that isnt improved by a full stomach. Or sharing. He held the bag out to me again. Come on, that growling in your gut is gonna ring the dinner bell for any monster down here.


    I shook my head, appreciating on some level that the man was distracting me. Ill eat something after.


    Had a few squad mates like you, once upon a time. Usually, the first ones to lose their lunch when we got intobat. Nauseous types, you understand. The thing we all sort of collectively figured out? If youre gonna puke, youre gonna puke. Full or empty, makes no difference. So, the question is, Matthew, do you want to taste bile and acid when you puke? Or that light snack you indulged a second time around?


    I bit back a smartass remark as we passed a section of wall that showed a small patch of red blood I was intimately familiar with. The ce Id sat for so long after regaining consciousness, the blood from bashing the back of my head against the wall over and over, trying to summon the strength to get up.


    Fine. Give them.


    Thats the spirit. Steinbeck grinned and dropped the bag in myp. He spoke again, after Id shoved two tasteless handfuls into my mouth. Could be wrong, but if I were to make a door for a Trial, itd look something like that.


    Up ahead was the ornate door. And twenty feet from it, was the b of cement Jinny had died on. Just like before, there wasnt a single trace of her. My jaw tightened. The suits were thorough. Theyd erased any evidence. For all but a small handful of people, it would be as if shed never existed in the first ce.


    Gotta be, I agreed, reaching down towards the wheels. Ill take it from here, Steinbeck.


    You sure?


    Yeah. Just going to open the door and call in after them. I wont go in.


    Steinbeck studied the door, then looked back at me. And if you open the door and some monster decides to give you a columbian necktie before I can cross the distance?


    Then you can tell the Guild Leader I refused your help out of stubbornness.


    Unsurprisingly, Steinbeck wouldnt to go back to the entrance of the tunnel. But he agreed to stand thirty yards back, and ced a pair of earbuds in his ears of his own volition. He must have raised the volume significantly because I could hear snippets of something orchestral and bombastic.


    There was a hollow emptiness in my chest as I grabbed the handle of the door. Some part of me expected to find her there immediately, lying dead on the floor, worked over by monsters and whatever else the trial had repopted with.


    Bracing myself, I threw the door open, finding nothing. Unless the format had changed, I knew the initial room opened up after a length of hallway. The hallway was still gray and mottled with chitin material. Beyond the hallway, I could see just enough of the first room to pick out the reflection of green torches on dark water. Something scurried away just out of sight, leaving ripples in the dark water.


    The trial hadnt changed much. It was impossible to say if that was a good thing or a bad one for a person whod retreated inside.


    Sae. Its Matt. Came back for you, like I promised. My voice echoed off the walls back towards me. I turned one ear toward the hallway, listening intently.


    No answer. Just the smallest ripple in the water.


    I kept talking. You, uh, missed some things. Nick is still alive. The suits took him, left me in the tunnel. I regained consciousness just in time for the transposition. It was a hard day. Harder than any I can remember. We lost some people.


    What was I doing? It was painfully obvious that Sae wasnt there. Either dead or just gone. I grabbed the handrims and prepared to leave. Then, unbidden, the words began to flow again.


    You, uh, want to hear a joke? I chuckled, putting a hand on my forehead. This probably wont surprise you, but Im a loner. Always have been. Its easiest for me to operate that way. So, going into the transposition solo should have been a return to form. Me, on my own, trying to contribute as much as I could. I leaned my head back and looked at the ceiling. Only this time, things got really dark. And desperate. And painful. I had to make some decisions that are gonna stick with me for the rest of my life. Andherees the jokeall I could think about, during the worst moments, was how much I missed having all of you at my side. People willing to share the burden. Friends I could rely onmaybe for the first time ever. I know its stupid. Outside of Nick, I didnt know you or Jinny long enough to call you that. But the more I consider it, the more likely it seems that we were headed that way. My voice cracked at the end, sounding pathetic as it echoed off the walls.


    <em>Before the suits ruined everything.</em>


    I crossed my arms over my aching gut and leaned forward in the chair. I keep thinking about stupid shit. Like the four of us training. Running dungeons together and eating barbecue or pizza at Nicks after. Trivia nights. Maybe that makes me an idiot, I dont know.


    Its hard to say how long I waited for an answer. Seconds, minutes, all blended as I epted the reality.


    Sae was nevering back.


    Ill be out ofmission for a few more days. But when Im back on my feet, Ill get a group together to run the trial for a more thorough search. I know that its pointless, that youre probably gone. But that doesnt matter. I have to know for sure.


    I wiped my face and spun the wheelchair around slowly, cursing myself for the weakness Id shown, even if no one had been there to see it. The pain I was feeling was a result of my foolishness. My hubris in believing that things could be different. Ignoring my carefully curated rules and allowing my mental armor to soften.


    <em>Never again, Matt</em>


    Im still here.


    The voice that emanated from the doorway and interrupted me mid-thought was faint, barely more than a whisper. Before I could turn back, Sae whispered again, more fervent than before.


    Dont look.

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116


    Okay. I have my back to you. I looked out over the grounds my first team had been decimated on, seeing each of the suits present in my mind''s eye. Other than a few inevitable nces, Id been doing my best to avoid it. Now I was forced to fully take it in. To remember and relieve every moment of what had happened.


    Beyond the tracks, Steinbeck had caught the movement and began to pull his earbuds out. I signaled for him to stay where he was, and he got the message, shrugging and recing the bud.


    Somehow, Id managed not to turn around. For all I knew, there was some monster mimicking her voice, luring me into dropping my guard. It was something in her voice that stopped me. The Sae I knew had been a proud personbordering on arrogant at times. When shed spokenif it was herthest two words, Dont look, had been suffused with so much shame and pathos shed sounded like someone else entirely. Id been so convinced she was dead, just seeing her would have made all the difference when it came to silencing doubt. It felt like some Ancient Greek or Biblical parable, where the simple act of looking would cost me everything.


    Still. Dont look. Why wouldnt she want me to look?


    If it were me, and Id been trapped in a dank, fetid dungeon for over a day, very little would stop me from racing out the moment the door opened. Gray-hair said he had no idea what happened to a User if they stayed in the area during a trial copse. Only that he wasnt sure whether they could survive.


    Joshua Denborough came to me again, his yed arm reaching up from the floor of flesh.


    There were a million different possibilities between alive and dead. Each uglier than thest.


    To add to theplexity, this sort of situation was not my strength. Interrogation, intimidation, maniption, and shock tactics came easily. Gently coaxing a scared and possibly injured person into doing something I wanted, with no leverage to speak of, was entirely ufortable. While I understood the basics, it would be too easy to slip back into old habits.


    <em>Should I use Cruel Lens?</em>


    Something floated to the surface of my mind. An image of walking through middle-school corridors looking for my sister, eventually finding her stowed away in her locker, unwilling toe out. It would have been easier to force her. But I didnt. Id been uncharacteristically patient, enunciating carefully in front of the vent, so she could see and hear me. Eventually, Id said the right thing, and shede out on her own. An aspect that hadnt seemed important to me at the time, but Iris had taken me aside to thank me forter.


    This was different. Sae was an adult and my sister was a child. But Cruel Lens was a bludgeon. Maybe a more subtle version of that passive approach Id taken with Iris was the better course.


    Is Jinny really dead? Sae asked. I cracked the door to look out, once. Her body was gone.


    Yes. I did everything I could, but shes gone. Got her User core and hid it, just in case theres a chance we can bring her back.


    Do you think thats really possible? Sae asked.


    I hesitated, then answered. Probably not.


    She was the best of us, I think Sae replied. She sounded more distant than before, as if she was drifting away.


    What do we do now? I asked, mindful to keep my voice low and gentle.


    There was a long, painful silence before Sae spoke. You showed up, like you said you would. Promise fulfilled. Now leave.


    I ignored the knee-jerk dismissal. If shed really wanted me to leave, all she had to do was stay silent in the first ce. Are you hurt?


    No.


    We didnt bring much in. How are you doing on food?


    Im fine, Matt theres plenty to eat. There was a hint of revulsion in her voice. I ignored it, and all the horrible implications carried with it.


    Thats not what I was asking. Anyway, some businesses are opening up again, courtesy of selve cirction hitting the public. I reached in my inventory and pulled out a bag marked with golden arches. Had to drive all the way to Northside, but I got you something. I held the bag out to the side and wiggled it.


    My favorite. Sae said dryly. How do I get the feeling you already knew that?


    I shrugged, opting for honesty. Observation is my strong suit. People watchings part of that. Im not some freak, I dont usually notice diet, but you stuck out a bit. Every few weeks, youd ditch the perfectlyposed sd and whip out a quarter pounder in the cafeteria while your friends acted like you were killing the cow in front of them.


    God. What a stalker. The usation was a weak jab by her standards.


    Is it really stalking if I do it to everyone?


    Who knows. Sae said.


    Want it or not? I asked, realizing I sounded like a grumpier version of Steinbeck.


    I could eat, She confirmed, a bit too quickly.


    I considered the current situation. My wheelchair was blocking the door open, and I was holding the bag in one hand. Sae, hand to god Im not fucking with you here, but I dont know how to get this to you. That ck waters still on the ground and will bleed through the bag and ruin the food if I just put it down behind me. Id check to see if theres anywhere to ce it, but I cant turn around.


    Just hold it there.


    Simultaneously, I sent a message to Steinbeck.


    <strong></strong>


    Had to hand it to his professionalism. Steinbeck didnt blink or ask questions. I watched as he read the message, then immediately dropped into a crouch behind a cement pylon. A small hand mirror appeared to the side of the pylon, pointed towards the doorway.


    I held the bag out further from my side. Suddenly, there was a presence behind me, unlike anything Id ever felt. A quick blur of motion shed by the fringes of my extended periphery, and the bag was gone.


    Something about the exchange shook me. Id never heard her footsteps in the water. She was there, for one moment, then gone. Across the tracks, the mirror was still hovering on the same ce. Only now, it was vibrating somewhat, as if the hand holding it was shaking.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There was a rustling noise from further back in the hallway, followed by a gagging sound. Ugh. Pickles.


    Guess Im a bad stalker.


    Sorry. Its good, Matt. Really really good. There was a muted noise that could have been a stifled sob.


    The exchange hadnt been quite as simple as it seemed. Id positioned myself outside the doorway, intentionally holding the bag a few inches from the entrance. Sae had simply taken it instead of asking me to move the bag inside the doorway. I had no way of knowing if there was some psychological restriction or system fuckery binding her to the trial, but I now had confirmation that there was no physical barrier keeping her from leaving.


    Still, we were at an impasse. Sae waspletely withdrawn into herself, either unable or unwilling to volunteer more information.


    Ill leave you alone, if thats what you really want. But I have to ask. Why wont you juste back with me? The suits are gone. Its safe now.


    Nothing is safe anymore. And even if it was, theres nowhere for me to go, helpline, Sae whispered. My mom and dadthey barely tolerated me before. If I went back to them like this, theyd never forgive me.


    Nicks ce was unupied since the kidnapping, but seeing as how it was likely still on the suits'' radar, that was probably a bad idea. My lip curled in irritation at the idea of Saes parents turning her away in a moment of need.


    Fuck em. I have a whole goddamn region of people who owe me. The least they can do is help find a ce for you.


    I dont want anyone to see me like this.


    We can


    No. We cant. You dont understand. She raised her voice, until it was a strangled cry. You cant possibly get what its like.


    Then tell me. I want to understand.


    She struggled through it, voice breaking. I waited my entire life. To not look at myself in the mirror and hate what I saw. For my reflection to match the person I am inside. Slowly suffocating over a lifetime of living in someone elses skin. And finallyfinally, I got the chance to be who I wanted to be. I could breathe.


    Several things clicked into ce. Least of which, the reason Sae felt so ufortable with the idea of going home.


    I knew from the moment I saw my title that the system was cruel. And I was right. Its all gone. Everything I fought so hard for. And now Im suffocating again.


    It took everything I had to temper the rage growing within me. Just like with Astrid and Astria, the system seemed to enjoy doing this. Taking people''s worst fears and throwing them in their faces.


    Youre right. I cant begin to imagine what its like. I tapped my fingers on the armrest. But Ill tell you this, Sae. Im living evidence that the system can be beaten. I managed to stop an event that should have been inevitable. Its neither perfect, nor infallible. We just have to find the loophole.


    You really believe that, helpline?


    I nodded. Im not promising a fix. Or that whatevers happened can be reversed. Theres no way to know for sure. But theres a chance. And if theres a way, well find it.


    I want them to hurt. Her voice was raw. The people who killed Jinny and kidnapped Nick. I want them to feel what we felt.


    Now that? I smiled coldly. That I <em>can</em> guarantee. The wheels are already in motion. Theyll pay for what they did. One way or another. But for the best chance of that happening, I need you in my corner.


    Im not an idiot. I know youre manipting me.


    Guilty as charged. That doesnt make it any less true.


    Jinny wont be thest person we lose, Sae said. Her voice trembled. And from what little youve said, it sounds like you just went through hell. People stumbling over each other, squabbling over pieces of this shit-city. What are you even fighting for?


    I considered that. In reality, there were more than a few times I nearly gave up. What kept me going was the same line of thought that struck me in the beginning. When was thest time you watched the news or pulled it up on your phone before the dome came down?


    I dont remember.


    Me neither, I admitted. And I think its because we all learned to stop caring. Apathy as a defense mechanism. The people in charge never gave a fuck about us. Things rarely changed, and when they did, it was either too slow or directly to our detriment. But now, <em>everything</em> is changing. And theres not a room packed with out-of-touch fossils driving that transformation. Its us. Yes, theres opposition, both human and otherwise, and an agenda beyond our capacity to understand. Yet, for the first time, we have the power to affect that change.


    My thoughts went to the Allfather, and the unique role Id been entrusted with.


    I dont know how itll shake out. Realistically, whatever we end up with could be far worse than what we had in the first ce. But even if it drags us into the dark, I think we have to do everything we can to guide that change.


    You might be delusional, Sae groused.


    Entirely possible. Havent taken my meds for like three days, I half-joked. Born Nihilist did an excellent job warding off my more harrowing symptoms, but I had no idea if it worked as a long-term recement. When she didntugh, I lowered my voice and prompted her. Come back with me, Sae?


    Okay. Her voice was closer. She was standing right behind me.


    Slowly, I turned around, affirming over and over again how necessary it was to not visibly react, no matter how bad it was.


    My mind didnt process the image correctly, at first. It almost looked like she was wearing a ck diving suit,plemented by strange, stgmite-ish shaped spikes of dark face-paint around her chin and jaw. Her face and hair werergely the same, but the entire surface of her eyes was dark red, with an almost octagonal pattern. Two appendages extended from the sides of her mouth, simr to mandibles.


    It was only then, when I realized they <em>were</em> mandibles, that I realized the ck bodysuit wasnt armor. It was carapace, or chitin. Shed been changed in ordance with the theme of the trial. I looked down, and found that along with an extra joint her legs were unnaturally thin, and seemed to naturally bend backwards now.


    How bad is it? Sae asked. Despite her fierce exterior, she looked uncharacteristically fragile, like the wrong word could easily blow her away. I couldnt see everything, in the water. Just bits and pieces. Jesus Christ, helpline, your face is frozen like its stuck that way. Fuck. Just say it Im hideous right?


    I wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but when she finally got a good look at herself, shed probably assume Id lied. She wasnt monstrous, as Id feared. Just foreign, and different, and difficult to describe. But were always our own worst critics, and what she saw in the mirror would be vastly different from my impression.


    Not at all. Youre still you. Still the friend who kicked this trials ass with me. I pushed myself out of the chair, grunting from the pain and exertion. Then, I reached out a hand. When she took it, I pulled her out of the trial hall into me, and hugged her gently. She clung tightly back, sobbing a handful of times before she fell silent.


    Wee back.

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117


    The apartment was more or less the same as how I left it. Save a stack of oddly warped hammers in the corner.


    Doing inventory? I questioned Kinsley, pointing to the stack.


    Nope. Kinsley closed the dimensional door, ncing at Sae, then back to me warily. She crossed the room, picking up a hammer with a handle that literally curved in on itself like a pig''s tail. Not really the quality I look for. How the hell did they get here?


    Maintenance or housekeeping? I guessed, ncing towards the kitchen, confused. The stools are gone too.


    I shook my head, returning my focus to the matter at hand.


    Contingencies. That was the name of the game now.


    I hadnt forgotten what happened thest time things were going well. Id been caught off guard and blindsided. Every second of inaction would cost me. If I wanted to keep the people important to me safe, I needed to move quickly and definitively.


    There were more than a few action items on the docket.


    When you said you had support, I thought you were exaggerating. Nice digs, helpline. Sae looked around, rubbing her arms furiously.


    I hooked him up, Kinsley said.


    God, its freezing in here. And my stomach is killing me. Sae stuck a thumb at Kinsley, Whos Oshkosh Bgosh?


    Kinsley almost choked on her tongue. <em>Bitch</em>


    <em>Kinsley, </em>I interjected, rubbing my forehead, Is the leader of the Merchants Guild. Shes also the founder of the system site. Thats how we know each other. Kinsley needed a way to sell her wares safely, Mom had the technical know how and savvy to make it happen. First to the top of shit mountain.


    Saes jaw dropped. Shes a guild leader?


    Got something to say? Kinsley bristled.


    Sae processed that, then stuck a finger at my face. You knew her before you ran into us. Thats how your gear was so good. During the trial, despite being lower level, you were still shrugging shit off that was bodying me. She gave Kinsley an approving nod. Your stuff is quality.


    Oh. Uh, thanks. Kinsley looked pleased, the blustering anger vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.


    You know, for a Keebler Elf.


    Look here cun


    Sae, I cut in loudly, giving Kinsley a warning re, then lowered my voice. Full transparency. Kinsley and I are going to have a conversation. It involves you. I know youre dealing with something traumatic, so if you want to give me the benefit of the doubt that Ill advocate for you, youre wee to bow out, and I can bring you up to speedter.


    Sae considered that, then nced down at herself. A shadow of distaste crossed her expression. Its tempting. But if I wanted to hide away from everything, I would have stayed in the trial. Before that, though, I really, <em>really</em> need a shower.


    It was easy to forget that shed been stewing in muck for two days because the rest of her appearance was so distracting. Still, her hair was visibly matted and what skin she had was smeared with grime. I felt like an idiot. Of course. Head towards the front door, take a right down the hall. The second door on the left is a guest room with its own bathroom. Rooms yours until we find you a ce.


    Got it. Sae headed back towards the bathroom, then slowed. Are you sure its okay? Me staying here?


    Its the least I can do. I waved her on. When shed disappeared around the corner, I lowered my voice. Maintenance took down the mirror, right?


    Both of them. Kinsley confirmed. The standing one is in the storage closet. And they uninstalled the bathroom mirror. Its gone. She seems fine, though. Tougher than you made her sound. Id be a mess in her shoes.


    Kinsley was right. Sae <em>seemed</em> fine. Seemed being the operative word. Trauma manifested differently for different people. Some stewed in it, processed for weeks or even months before they returned to normal life. Others put off the processing for just as long, instead fixating on moving forward. Id put money on Sae being in thetter camp. Which meant it would hit her eventually.


    We need to be careful. I shook my head grimly. Thanks to the transposition, most people in this city have had some sort of harrowing experience with monsters. A lot of the poption is apt to shoot first and ask questionster.


    Youre worried about a Frankenstein situation.


    Frankenstein was the creatorit doesnt matter. Yes. In short. I want her in this building if possible. With daily care if we can manage it. I have no ideas whatplications this new form carries with it, but if it lines up with the usual system fuckery, she may have specific needs.


    I pointed the remote towards the shutters and pressed the button. Or, at least, I thought I did. The firece roared to life.


    I scanned the remote and pressed the correct button again. A small vacuum robot emerged from its housing on the wall. It bumped into my footrest, then pivoted and zoomed away. It was V2, Right?


    No. W2. Like W for windows. Apparently, the app was way more intuitiveare you sure youre alright? Kinsley nced from the windows to me, concerned.


    Not the sort of mistake I made often. Tentatively, I prodded the protrusion of flesh on the back of my head, where it bounced off the cement when I fell. Id had a concussion when the meteor struck. This would be my second. Dont hesitate to check me, if you sense that Im off.


    Do you feel off?


    I feel fine, but thats not always how brain injuries work. You had my back with Ellison this morning. An old fear bubbled up from my gut. This thing with Sae. Choosing where shes living, the mirrors. Am I being too controlling?


    Kinsley thought about that. Long enough that I had to respect her for it. She was taking the question seriously. No. So, long as youre being genuine when youre giving her the option to decline. And considering what she just went through, I think she probably appreciates having someone call the shots for now. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously. And youre not using suggestion


    Im not. The only time Id even use that on an ally is when theyre in danger, or they missed something critical.


    Critical leaves a lot to interpretation.


    I grimaced. Look, theres


    The door to my bedroom was thrown open and banged loudly against the doorstop. Kinsley shrieked, and I nearly toppled the wheelchair.


    Iris was standing in the doorway, two malformed hammers held at her side. Her face was bright red, and she was visibly fuming, more worked up than Id ever seen her before. To my absolute shock, she actually shouted. Ughthese stupid hammers!


    I nced at Kinsley, to see if she had any clue what Iris was talking about. She looked as bbergasted as I was.


    Hey Iris. I gave her a half-wave, then leaned to the side for a better view of my room.


    The anger disappeared from my sisters face. She dropped the hammers, ran across the room and tackled me. Youre not a vegetable!


    I grunted and patted her head. Definitely not. Though I might as well be rooted to this chair. Uh. Whats with the hammers? I asked, signing simultaneously.


    Iris scowled. Her hands were a blur. This ability is annoying. They tell me, Oh, You Can Make Whatever You Can Draw. Only no, they leave out the fine print until after a painstakingly detailed sketch of a sword that there are pre-requisites, and I actually cant just make whatever. Apparently, I need my own tools and workspace first. To make it even dumber, I dont actually use the tools, just need to be in their vicinity. So fine, I require a forge. But I have no idea how to draw a forge, so maybe its better to start with something small and simple, like a hammer.


    My head spun. <em>Ability. My sister is a User.</em>


    Kinsley was leafing through an invisible screen excitedly. Iris  Trance Forger, Level 2. Holy shit. You won the lottery. In more ways than one. She smiled wickedly. We should renegotiate your contract.


    I held out a hand in annoyance. Keep your greedy fingers away from my sister while we figure this out. Also, since when did you understand ASL?


    I took a trantor feat. Kinsley shrugged. Seemed like a worthwhile investment, considering what were going for.


    Iris ced a sketchbook in myp, followed by a hammer. Considering the mess of failures in the corner, I was guessing it was the best one. I picked it up, studying it. It looked right, but the distribution was all wrong. The head was uncharacteristically light in both color and mass. Okay. So, it looks almost perfect, in terms of appearance. Seems like weight is the issue, even though you got the proportions more or less correct. Something about the grain caught my eye. This wood. Diddid you make the handle out of Ellisons baseball bat?


    I needed equivalent materials. The magic reforms it once the blueprint is done.


    I handed the hammer to Kinsley, and she took it, tapping a painted nail on the uncharacteristically light hammerhead. <strong></strong> told me she was using some sort of skill, though the glowing red ring around her pupil made that mostly unnecessary. Aluminum. Thats why youre having bnce issues. If only you knew a kindly merchant who would be happy to provide both workspace and unlimited materials for a nominal percentage


    Would you?! Iris wrapped her arms around Kinsleys neck, squeezing her tightly until the merchant made choking noises.


    Kinsley looked ufortable with the sudden contact, then seemed to smile and ept it. She nced at me.


    If you fleece my sister, I will hurt you. I mouthed.


    The merchant snorted, but nheless gently pushed Iris away. Well figure out termster. Lemme get in contact with thendlord for now, and well get you a space and some basic materials to get started.


    Is that okay? Iris looked at me with full-power puppy-dog eyes.


    Fine. I put my hand on my forehead. Just dont bite off more than you can chew. And ask for help sooner rather thanter. Furthermore, if youre going to take this seriously, we should probably get you an easel and better art supplies.


    Iriss resulting victory dance looked more like a series of muscle spasms than an actual dance. Which, of course, was when Sae emerged from the hallway, towel wrapped around her hair. Now that it was washed, the spiny carapace fitted to her form glimmered, almost reflective. She looked at the two girls, then to me. The Keebler Elves are multiplying.


    My heart went into my throat. If Id thought about it, I would have warned Iris ahead of time. But I was still barely keeping up with everything that was happening. Kinsley and I both looked at Iris, whod stopped stock still. She was studying Sae, as if entirely unsure of what to make of her.


    <em>Please dont freak out.</em>


    I hurriedly pulled up the UI, trying to head off any shocked reaction with a brief message. Before I could send it, Iris spoke. Hi. Did you get that armor from Kinsleys shop?


    <em>Iris,</em> I hissed.


    Uh. No. It was a drop. Sae said, looking visibly relieved. From a dungeon.


    Iris nced at me. Is your armor that cool?


    Im a new User. I just have the basics.


    But Iris wasnt even paying attention to me anymore. Instead, she scampered around Sae, sizing her up. Can I sketch you? For armor ideas. My future employer will pay you for it.


    Say what now? Kinsley blinked.


    Suppressing a snicker how the tables had turned on Kinsley, I shot Sae a message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I inclined my head.


    Sae bent down and poked Iris cheek. So cute. Matt must be adopted. You can sketch meter, after the three of us have a discussion.


    Actually, put a pin in that. Kinsleys expression was all business as she skimmed an invisible screen. The adventurers guild and region reps are in the lobby. She looked up from the message. Before I tell them to head to the conference room, have you reviewed the transposition options for the region?


    No. There wasnt time.


    I can stall. Kinsley offered.


    Dying would ensure I was well-informed, but people were probably already growing anxious. Thest thing I wanted to do was squander the good will I had and start things off on the wrong foot, again. Sae, are you good here for a few hours?


    Dont inconvenience yourself on my ount, Sae stretched. Just gotta get a cup of coffee and pose on the couch.


    I wheeled myself towards the door. Tell them were on our way, Kinsley. Ill cram in the elevator.

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The usual vein stuck out on my forehead.


    There wasnt nearly enough information to draw from here. Apparently, region 14 had a high vulnerability, but there was literally no exnation as to what that meant, what the underlying reasons were, or how to fix it. I hypothesized that uros Bind and Incursion Chance were probably corrted somehow. If we had a strong connection to the uros realm, that likely meant that dungeons and trials would be much moremon in this regionthus monsters were more likely to break free and attack.


    No clue what luminaries were, apart from the vague hunch that they were most likely individuals. Core and the significance of ranking was also lost on me. Something about the number of regions was bothering me, now that I saw the total of twenty, but I made a mental note to return to that when I wasnt in a time crunch.


    I reached out and blindly pressed several more buttons on the elevator, slowing our descent.


    What, again? Kinsley squawked. Why didnt we just make them wait before we got in the elevator?


    Excuse me for expecting this interface to be intuitive, I muttered, scanning more text.


    While the region having no patron deity was good for me, it was probably bad for everyone else and the region in general. I had no idea how one went about getting a deific patron, but even if I knew, the Allfather of Chaos was out. It would be too obvious of a giveaway, and thest time Id spoken to him, hed made it clear he was weakened and dying. Limited use. Nychta was a better choice, but only rtively. I knew nothing about her, which made even considering the option dangerous.


    Better to leave that for now.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong> Quests assigned in the region be far moremon and rewarding. However, the time limits are reduced, and penalties for failures grow significantly more severe.</strong>


    <strong>Increases: uros Bond, Vulnerability, Potential Core Development.</strong>


    <strong>Decreases: Security.</strong>


    <strong>Restricts Settlement Policy to Proportional.</strong>


    I furrowed my brow and reread the description. In a perfect world, this would have been the immediate pick regardless of the other options. Quests were by andrge the best way to rack up experience, and having more of them meant faster growth. Anything that put us that far ahead was worth a look.


    However, the penalty aspect severely tainted it. I knew from personal experience that quests werent always fair. Or achievable, for that matter. The only reason I hadnt failed most of mine was thanks to extended or unspecified time limits. If those time limits became more severe, and we werent perfectly organized to handle it, people would start failing more questsor rush in unprepared and die trying toplete them, costing us a User and a penalty. Itd be all too easy to spiral.


    <strong> The region flourishes. Materials rare in other regions be bountiful, along with rare monsters and items. A random ungifted is uplifted to the Dark Lord ss. All benefits remain if the Dark Lord is vanquished.</strong>


    <strong>Increases: Affluence, uros Bond, Security, Potential Core Development, Luminary Propagation.</strong>


    <strong>Decreases: Alignment, Vulnerability, Incursion Chance.</strong>


    Everything about the option set off rm bells. When it came to increases and decreases, there was practically no downside save alignment, which was obscure in contrast to the clearly defined gains. All we had to do was allow a dangerous User into our midst, with the implication that we could face no consequences if we dealt with them early on.


    Nick scared the hell out of me, and in terms of ranking, he was only a knight. I would rather not see what a Dark Lord was capable of.


    It was an almost automatic no.


    <strong> A precious resource is discovered to be bountiful within the region. Acquiring and processing it will take considerable effort, but the rewards for doing so are exponential. So much so that other regions may take notice.</strong>


    <strong>Increases: Affluence (Significant), Vulnerability, uros Bind, Incursion Chance, Potential Core Development.</strong>


    <strong>Decreases: Security, Luminary Propagation.</strong>


    Another legitimate option I didnt trust. Mainly because it was leaving a lot of shit out. The implied downside was that wed be so wealthy it would cause trouble from other regions. But what it was actually invoking was a phenomenon known as the Resource Curse, which had far more downsides than the option inferred. There are countless examples of this. Just off the top of my head, Nigeria and Ang both rank incredibly high on the list of oil producing countries, yet their currency value and GDP per capita are astronomically low.


    With Selve being a universal currency, the currency detion issue wouldnt necessarily apply to us. But developmental slow and industrial pigeonholing would, along with external region interference, once they discovered what we had. It was hard to say if the pros outweighed the cons.


    I pinched the bridge of my nose.


    <em>Jesus fuck, Im not an economist, give me a break here.</em>


    First day and youre already scaring the tenants. Kinsleymented in amusement.


    The elevator had opened on a lower floor. An old man with a cane waited outside the doors, staring back at me.


    Theres plenty of room, I offered absent-mindedly, still mentally running through the region options.


    The man shook his head, wispy white-hairs from a barely therebover floating before they settled back down. No, no. Ill get the next one, son. Youre him, right? Tentatively, he reached in his pocket.


    I immediately reached down to my back and partially withdrew my crossbow, prepared to activate <strong></strong>


    The old man withdrew a golden oblong object with trembling hands, gave an obvious backswing and tossed it to me. Adrenaline washed through me and I nearly threw myself from the wheelchair to dodge it, before <strong></strong> interfered.


    <em>Hes obviously not a threat.</em>


    I caught the object at thest second. It was somewhat shaped like a UFO, so reflective I could see the deep bags under my eyes.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Craft Level: Masterwork</strong>


    <strong>Description: The result of the purest inspiration and deft technique. This small piece of unknown metal allows the user to roll back a single feat and refunding their expended points. Once the process isplete, the charm will disintegrate.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Rare</strong>


    By the time I looked up from the description, the doors were already closing. Wait


    The doors closed, leaving me with the image of the old man waving with a twinkle in his eye. Annoyed by the abruptness with which the exchange had ended, I leaned back in my chair. The red ring around Kinsleys eye faded, and her mouth dropped open.


    Thats


    Incredibly valuable. I finished.


    Ive seen crafted items before. But never a masterwork. Kinsley mused. I passed the item to her, and she studied it. This is pristine. Crafted items almost always look shoddier than system created counterparts. Maybe thats because most vocational Users are still getting started.


    The system seems slow in general to assign vocations unless you start with them, I agreed. I was supposed to get a vocation with my chain quest for helping you.


    You were?


    Yup. Still hasnt happened. Look him upter?


    Already on it. Kinsley nodded. No way Im passing up any crafters at this point, let alone one that can make something like this. If hes not already attached to a guild, Ill snag him.


    Still split between the region options, I rattled them off to Kinsley. I was tempted to screw with the wording of <strong></strong> to poison the well and push them away from it, but Tyler would be present. Working around his truth ability was difficult enough without sprinkling in more lies.


    Kinsley transcribed the Region Options into a message to be sent to anyone present.


    Before we get in there, do you have a preference? I asked.


    With a sigh, Kinsley skimmed the text again. Im leaning towards <strong></strong> Split between that and <strong></strong> You?


    Narrowed it down to the same two, but leaning towards the opposite. Anything else?


    She let out a long grumbling noise. Im worried the others may push for <strong></strong> The other two options create short-term problems and hurdles with big payoffs if we can stick thending. Organization and production. Descent offers a lot of short-term gain with a long-term concern. If you dont have any experience with them, its impossible to know how dangerous these special, sses are. Were familiar with that issue, but they may not be. And we cant exactly exin why.


    Right.


    The elevator doors opened on the first floor. The lobby was covered in dark marble, flooring and pirs, and scattered with multiple couches and tables for impromptu discussions and get togethers. I wheeled myself out, Kinsley walking slightly ahead. It was eerily silent.


    When I surveyed the atrium, I realized why. Everyone was looking in our direction. Great, I groused quietly, You really are famous.


    Maybe check again before you me it all on me, Kinsley half-skipped, moving ahead. Sure enough, the assortment of eyes didnt follow her. They werent watching Kinsley.


    They were watching me.


    A few people approached to voice appreciation. Others followed with gifts, a handful of potions and Selve. I found myself on the receiving end of multiple handshakes.


    Weird. This is really weird. I whispered to Kinsley.


    Ive never seen you so ufortable before, Kinsley snickered.


    Allow me, a male voice said from behind me. Someone took the handles off my wheelchair and began to push me in the direction Kinsley was walking. Like the old man, they probably didnt mean any harm. But I still felt my anxiety climbing to a peak. It didnt stop until Kinsley, reading something Id let slip through, thanked the man pushing the wheelchair and took over, maneuvering me towards one of several conference rooms.


    That wasnt just difort, Kinsley said, the levity in her voice gone.


    Im fine.


    You werent fine. Ask for help if you need it, idiot.


    <em>Never been good at asking for help.</em>


    Kinsley opened the door and revealed the conference room. It looked more at home in a corporate office than an apartment. A long brown table with rounded edges was surrounded by rolling office chairs. The far end of the room was crowned by a projector screen, the projector itself hung in the center ceiling and powered down.


    Sara and Tyler stood as we entered, all smiles. Tyler was dressed in business attirea simple suit that looked off the shelf but fitted. Sara was wearing armor that looked more fantastical in nature, but the hint of regalia in the silver chain ents on the flowing garment still gave it a dressed-up air.


    There he is, Tyler boomed, The conquering hero.


    Saras smile was genuine, but more reserved. d were finally meeting in better circumstances.


    My heart jumped into my throat for just a moment before I realized she was referring to the meeting at the region barrier and before that, the open-forum. Sorry werete.


    Tyler shook his head. Considering the circumstances, you have nothing to apologize for. And you arent even thest to arrive.


    As if on cue, the door behind us swung open. A man entered with a leather folio under his arm. The Rolex on his wrist glinted in the soft office light, enting his light blue suit and tie. The suit was so high-end I didnt recognize it. Maybe because I was too fixated on his face.


    A strong jawline that jutted outward. A Hundred dor haircut. Stubble maintained at the perfect length. Eyes that saw everything and considered it beneath him.


    Itd been almost five years and aside from the gray streaks in his sideburns, he hadnt aged a day.


    Aaron Verner. Daphnes asshole father. Probably a suit. And worst of all, the man who yed a key role in my mothers indictment. Matthias? He said, in a perfect simtion of surprise.


    Whatwhat are you doing here? I asked, dumbstruck.


    Im the region representative. Aaron grinned, and held out a hand.

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119


    Kinsley tensed at my side. I was confident I wasnt showing anything on my face, but shed seen me go nk like this before. After briefly considering switching to <strong></strong> I thought better of it. I wasnt sure I could maintain myposure without my default title.


    If you said the word enemy, Aarons smug face would usually be the first association in my mind. He was rarely at the estate when I visited Daphne, but when he was, hed been kind. Eager to y the father figure and give advice. The faux parental aspect was strange, but I put up with it because his lessons were fascinating to me, fundamentally different from anything my parents and therapists had taught me.


    In my mind, hed upied the same space as Estrada. A valued adviser with no parallel. Which is why the betrayal cut so deeply.


    Aaron had tried to hang the entire Quad Sigma clusterfuck on my mothers neck. used her of misusingpany resources to create what the news at the time called the most dangerous ck market in the history of the inte, solely of her own volition. Thankfully, the DA wasnt an idiot, and offered to knock down the charges against her from what could have easily been life in prison in exchange for her cooperation if she testified against her former boss and associates.


    A few of them went down. Low security bids for a handful of yearsI think the highest was three. But save a lifetime ban on trading equities and six years of probation, Aaron got off scot-free, all his gray money undoubtedly secured in the Caymans.


    Its stupid, but I used to fantasize about hacking him, wiping out his savings, ruining his life. The idea eventually led to a two-month stint, during which I discovered I had no talent forputer science or programming, let alone hacking.


    Aaron slowly let his hand drop, grin diminishing to an apologetic half-smile. Of course. I saw the video before I came here. It wasnt the best quality. You looked familiar, but I didnt put it together until now.


    Was that even possible? Maybe. But I fucking doubted it.


    Do we have a problem? Tyler looked between us, concerned.


    No problem. Aaron shook his head. Matthias and I have some history. I wasnt always awyer. A lifetime ago, I ran the hedge fund, and his mother was one of our employees. He nced at Tyler. Im not certain how much you know about finance, but hedge funds generally operate in something of a legal gray area. As such, they present a juicy target for overeager prosecutors looking for another notch on their belt. Most of the charges were dropped.


    <em>Because you sold out your associates. Including my mother.</em>


    clear overreach on their partbut ultimately, it was my firm. My responsibility. It would be totally reasonable if he resented me for the part I yed. Aaron frowned, all sympathy and regret. If youd prefer, I can recuse myself. Pull another representative from the city council. They may not be as familiar as I am with the area. But its more important that things run smoothly.


    They let you practicew? I asked, genuinely shocked.


    Aaron smiled. Lifes little ironies. My firm is just down the street, and I live on the other side of the region. I was trapped in here with the rest of the ungifted during the transposition. Same shelter as Lizette.


    When I didnt react, he exined. Tylers wife.


    I tried to ignore the fact that by fortifying the region, Id unintentionally saved Aarons life. There were things that didnt make sense that took precedence. Id assumed for as long as I knew of them that Aaron was a high-up in the Suits hierarchy. Daphnes presence was too strong of a connection, and I was certain Id overheard one of the mooks tell Daphne her father would be pleased that first night in the alley.


    But if that was true, what the hell was he doing here, in a region that had missed the fortification deadline? They had a surplus of lux in region 3, and I doubted that was all they had. If they wanted to avoid suspicion, they would have just waited untilte into the transposition to fortify.


    So, what did that mean? Was it possible there was some sort of power struggle within the Suits? Had they left him to die as a part of some internal coup?


    Do you want to move forward with the meeting, Matt? Sara interjected. Or roll the dice with another member of the City Council?


    Kinsley nudged me.


    I shook my head slowly, then stuck out my hand. No reason to hold on to pre-system baggage, right?


    I had no doubts that whoever Aaron selected would be firmly in his pocket. And at the end of the day, Id much rather deal with the source than a proxy. As unpleasant as that source might be.


    Aaron returned my handshake with both hands, his megawatt smile returning full force. Im so d you feel that way, Matthias.


    I go by Matt these days. I wheeled the chair backwards and slid into the table, resting my arms across it. And now that I feelpletely underdressed, why dont we get started. I signaled for Kinsley to send the message containing the developmental options for the region.


    All three of them pulled up their UI, reviewing the options. I went over it as well. A message appeared.


    <strong></strong>


    I nced up from my reading. Tyler caught my eye, and gave me a reassuring nod. In the aftermath of the transposition, Id forgotten how much I liked the man.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The Suits were going to find out one way or another. They knew I had a connection to Daphne. It was possible sending Aaron in particr was a straightforward flex, letting me know that regardless of where I went, they were still watching. But it felt moreplicated than that. Plus, when it came time to broach the topic with the Adventurers Guild, Tyler was going to fly off the handle when he discovered how brazenly theyd stuck a thumb in his eye.


    Tough. Aaronmented, looking around the room. None of these options are shoe-ins.


    Dark Lords Descentfor one thing its too long, so lets just call it DLDlooks promising, Sara said, still engrossed in her reading. If we make Region 14 our primary base of operations going forward, a single User shouldnt be much of an issue.


    <em>You say that because the only special ss youve dealt with ran away and jumped in a car.</em>


    Youve never dealt with a special ss. Aaron said.


    I stared at him, gobsmacked, as he paraphrased the exact point Id considered.


    And you have? Tyler asked.


    No, but I hear things. Aaron leaned back in his chair, his hands steepled. The Ordinator is the big one we all know about, thanks to that little dog and pony show the Overseer put on. But he isnt the only one. And from the reports Ive heard, these fucks hit hard. Maybe you get an idiot who runs out in the street, screaming that hes the Dark Lord, and the problem takes care of itself. Maybe you dont. Its a total roll of the dice, and I dont like betting when I dont know the odds. Dont get me wrong, I think consolidating the Adventurers Guild here is still a good move. Fourteencks a guild, so its free real estate. And we could certainly use the protection.


    Im inclined to agree. Vetoing that option. Kinsley swiveled back and forth in her chair, ncing at me for confirmation.


    Same. I added.


    <em>What world did I slip into?</em>


    Theres already too much we dont know. I continued, Adding another variable would be unnecessarily dangerous. Fourteen didnt fortify in time, so every option is going to have a drawback. There are too many benefits for the special ss not to be a significant threat.


    I like the way you think. Aaron pointed at me.


    <em>Die in a fire.</em>


    Tyler nodded, I agree that the risks are too high. Were in ordance, then.


    Then that leaves us with two options, Sara skimmed through the invisible text.


    /////


    Tyler and Kinsley both made strong arguments for <strong></strong> positing that if we had a system in ce with Users prepared to assist with any quest that had dire consequences, or was about to be failed, we could mitigate any potential spiral.


    Aaron and Sara both argued for <strong></strong>Aaron seemed to consider the resource curse a total myth, and even if it wasnt, argued that it was most damaging to nascent countries, and we were too developed to be affected. I pushed back, stating that by the standards of this new world, we were underdeveloped. Something Aaron vehemently disagreed with. Sara was less concerned with that, more ufortable with the idea of increased penalties for quests, guessing any system we put into ce would be easily overwhelmed if the time limits were as unforgiving as the option implied.


    Which, of course, left me as the swing vote.

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120


    I felt all four of them staring at me. Aaron was still leaning back in his chair,pletely rxed. Either he was fine with both, or whatever oue he wanted was assured. Wed had arguments before, more for the sport of it than actually engagement with whatever the topic was. None of them particrly heated or high-stakes, but he won more than he lost. Seventy-thirty in his favor. asionally, Id realize after that hed maneuvered me into taking a position that seemed reasonable at first, but one that he knew to be ultimately indefensible.


    If anyone was a shoo-in to beat me at my own game, it was Aaron.


    I fidgeted with <strong></strong> absent-mindedly under the table, letting it fall and then bidding it back to my hand. Laying whatever extraneous elements led to Aaron being trapped in a doomed region aside, I had to assume he was involved with the suits, and that he still held some power.


    At some point, Id work through the minutia to see if there was anything I could use. Preferably after my necromancer gambit bore fruit, and Id gleaned more information in general.


    For now, I needed to make sure he didnt get whatever he wanted from the region. And what he wanted wasnt necessarily the Resource Paradox. If he hadnt trotted out the regretful apology right out the gate, and I got the feeling he legitimately didnt remember me, that would be different. But hedmp-shaded our previous rtionship. Hung it out there for everyone to see. There were too many possible mind games for me to narrow down which one he was ying.


    I needed to shake up the room.


    I didnt ask for any of this, when I meddled with the region. Had no idea the sort of responsibility and spotlight it would bring.


    Saved. Sara said quietly.


    What? I asked.


    Look around. You didnt meddle. You saved the region. Sara insisted. That being said, if youd prefer to let us drive the ship, no one would me you for it.


    And the opposite?


    Pardon? Sara asked.


    If I said fuck voting, the system established me as region owner, Im going with Dark Lord Descends.


    Matt? Kinsley stared at me.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aaron smirk. It was small, almost a micro-expression, but it was there. Sara and Tyler both looked at each other, and Sara gave him an almost imperceptible nod.


    Tyler rested his big arms on the table, and the wood beneath creaked. This vote is mainly a formality. Like Sara said, you saved this region and nearly paid for it with your life. If you chose a transposition elective that directly harmed the region, the Adventurers Guild would need to withdraw support and possibly interfere. However, none of the options youve presented directly harm the region. DLD is concerning long-term, but causes no direct harm. So if you decide to go your own way, I see no issue.


    Eloquent. Reasonable. One-hundred percent rehearsed. Theyd discussed the possibility Id go off-script before theyd even walked in the room.


    I crossed my arms, rubbing my thumb against my bicep. It was a movement that used to be my tell. Not bicep necessarily, thigh, face, and index finger were allmon mutations of the same giveaway. Id picked my bicep because I needed something visible and above the table, something Aaron would see. His eyes flicked down towards my arm then bounced back up, face utterly neutral.


    Just curious. I have no intention of going that route. But Im of two minds. I wasmitted to bnced stakes before I walked into the room. The resource curse is nothing to fuck with. Nheless, Aaron and Sara both made good points. Both the Merchants Guild and the Adventurers Guild have a positive reputationing out of the transposition and are growing exponentially. We might be able to handle it.


    As much as I appreciate your ability to overlook personal biases, you should go with your gut. Aaron shook his head. Im just awyer, not a professor of socio economics or political science.


    Right.


    Kinsley was selling Girl Scout cookies out of the back of a minivan before we met. And Im a high-school student. None of us should be in the position to call these shots, yet here we all are. Tyler. The Adventurers Guild consolidating in this region a sure thing?


    Tylers lips tightened. Yes. Most of our current territory is spread out and contested, which caused issues during the transposition. Consolidating is our best bet for now, then slowly establishing forward operating bases near allied groups.


    Good, well need the firepower. I rubbed my bicep again. Buckle up,dies and gentlemen, were about to break the resource curse.


    Aaron didnt react. But for the rest of the meeting, he sat up straighter.


    /////


    Thats it for me. Id love to stay and chat, but I have to report to the city council. My once mentor gathered his documents. Then fastened the top button of his suit jacket and readjusted his tie with a practiced motion. Whenever the local government decides to get off its ass and actually do something, theyll appreciate that you heeded my guidance.


    I waved him off, parroting words hed so often said to me. Happy to listen.


    His smile grew wider. Look at us. Maintaining civility in the face of the apocalypse. A cut above as always, Matthias. He paused at the door and turned back to me. Youre in an advantageous position now. A ce where you can finally use that mind of yours to its fullest potential. If you have time, swing by my office. Ive missed our talks.


    My lip curled. If I find the time.


    Ciao. Aaron waved as he left, his Rolex band clinking with the motion.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The more of the Suit''s time and resources I could waste, the better.


    Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard a distinctively feminine chuckle.


    During our text exchange, Kinsley crossed the room and shook Tyler and Saras hands. I know this is a sore point, but it needs to be said. Thanks for leaving Myrddin out of that conversation. He was a monster for what he did, but I doubt hell be an ongoing threat.


    Tylers smile was strained. You werent there. If he decides toe after us out of some twisted sense of revenge, trust me, that would be a serious problem. No need to drag your reputation over a hypothetical, however. Considering the good your guild did. There were probably too many witnesses to suppress the informationpletely, so it may still spread, but we wont be the ones spreading it.


    Sara nudged him. Tyler gave her a tired look, then continued. Were still investigating. Unfortunately, our focus is split between that incident and whatever happened to Region 6.


    Everyone looked distinctly ufortable at the mention of the quarantined region.


    Tyler continued. Myrddin killed three of my men and lied about it being self-defense. That much is iron-d. However, from some initial inquiries, there are elements that dont entirely line up. Gossip around the three dead members that paints a less than generous picture of their character. Its possible theres more to the story than a robbery gone bad. He sighed. Do you have a way to contact him?


    Ordinators Emtion shed.


    <strong></strong>


    A bead of sweat appeared on Kinsleys hairline. Yes. Theres no guarantee that hell answer, though. He tended to keep me in the dark even before the clusterfuck.


    Tyler nodded, apparently unbothered by whatever it was he saw. No sabotage of his ability this time. It made sense. And confirmed that whoeveror whateverhad screwed with his title ability during our altercation had crossed a line. The deities could break the rulesit had happened more than a few times at this point, but they didnt have free rein. Even they were beholden to the system to some extent.


    If he does get back to you, Tyler said, Tell him we want to talk. No set-up. No bullshit. Man to man, at a ce of his choosing.


    My instincts said trap. It was the third time in an hour I was tempted to switch titles. Jaded Eye or Cruel Lens would have been worth their weight in gold for this discussionbut the pain from both my healing injuries and my seething stomach from the witchs potion was already a constantly needling distraction. Coupling that with the way I kept jumping at loud noises and forgetting things, swapping away from <strong></strong> seemed like a terrible idea at the moment.


    Ill let you know if Myrddin returns my messages. Kinsley said.


    When are you nning to lock in the region option? Sara asked, watching me curiously.


    I blinked. As soon as this meeting is over. No reason to dy, really. Theres no timer, but the system doesnt clearly state any of its rules, so the sooner, the better.


    Sara looked to Tyler.


    Were done here. Tyler nodded.


    Sara stood. Lets go outside then. You can lock it in and see what happens.


    Could be ringly obvious, Tyler said, Region 4 was overrun with machinery and mechanisms, for example. Could be almost imperceptible. Still, I am curious.


    Why not.


    I wheeled myself out of the office and through the lobby, trying to ignore the tant stares and whispers as the others followed alongside me. The double-doors slid open and wind rushed in, the scent of smoke and blood lingering on the outside air.


    Nervously, I pulled up the region interface.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I confirmed the prompt.

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121


    Region 14 was simultaneously spectacr and minimalistic. The entrance to theno, myapartmentplex looked more like the entrance to a high-end hotel or downtown bank building. The buildings nearby were dozens of stories tall, and save for the asionally recognizable logo, it was impossible to tell if they were now-defunct office buildings or residential.


    The timer ticked down from five minutes.


    And youre sure we shouldnt bother with an announcement? I asked.


    What if one of the buildingses down? Kinsley added nervously.


    Sara shrugged. Despite her casual air, the tip of her foot tapped rapidly against the cement. So far, nothing like that has happened. Everyones aware that rapid changes may ur. They saw what happened to region thirteen.


    What happened with region thirteen? I asked, more than a little annoyed with how much Id missed in a single day.


    It was grim. Tyler sighed. The civilians tore each other to pieces, and they still barely filled the receptacle in time. Then things got weird. Really weird. Surprised the girl Sara elbowed Tyler. He rubbed his side, giving Kinsley a sheepish look. Guild Leader didnt fill you in.


    I red at Kinsley, who suddenly appearedpletely invested in something on the other side of the street. It was obvious that Kinsley wasnt just being practical, she wanted to live here. Shed been pushing for it since Id awakened. Im sure she had her reasons. How weird are we talking?


    Ill show you. Sara stepped out into the street, and pointed down it with her one good arm. The reflective ss of a nearby building was blocking my view. I wheeled myself down the ramp for a better look.


    I breathed out in a hiss.


    Up to a certain point, it was like any other downtown street. Cars parked next to meters, a food truck, and people going about their daily lives. There were far more vendors than wasmon for this part of town, their stalls strangely medieval looking in a way that didnt really match the setting. People were wearing armor and robes in the open now, which gave the strange feeling that we were adjacent to some sort of massive fantasy convention.


    Around a dozen blocks away, it stopped. The midday light ceased as deep shadows overtook what I assumed to be region thirteen, as if the sun itself had abandoned it. There were silhouettes barely visible at this distance, tiny specks of peopleor things shaped like people, milling about.


    What the hell? I muttered.


    We dont know. Sara said, still transfixed on the darkness. From what weve seen, none of the surviving civilians are under visible duress. But they dont seem interested in leaving their region or even talking.


    A few of ours were on the scene. Tyler said regretfully. But most walked away at the peak of the violence. Watching something like what happened there and being unable to do anythingwell, you can see how thatd be difficult. Cant say that I me them.


    Most?


    A shadow flitted over Tylers face. Yes. Owen. A boy not much older than you. Our only surviving member from region thirteen. He had family there.


    Past tense.


    Yes. Tyler confirmed. He stayed until the end. Supposedly, thest thing he heard before the lights went out was a voice.


    The overseer? Or something else.


    Different voice. No ones heard from the Overseer yet, Sara said.


    ording to his report, there was a gap of time between when the receptacle was filled and the result. Probably whoever owned the region making their decision. The voice announced, the prophet has been chosen. ckout hit immediately after. Tyler finished.


    Great. Not foreboding at all. I wanted to go look. Investigate. But that wasnt going to happen while I was still stuck in this chair.


    We sent a scout. Sara chewed her lip. She was supposed to check in.


    Let me guess, I said drolly, You havent heard from her.


    Still giving her some time, Tyler said, Shes good at what she does. Might just be waiting for a good time toe up for air.


    Of the twenty regions, thirteen and six are the biggest question marks. Kinsley finally joined the conversation, though she wouldnt meet my eye. Dungeons are popping up all over five, but the monsters are contained. Region fifteen seems to be doubling down on being some sort of trading and crafting hub. And the others are still either figuring it out, or being cagey about what they have.


    Region three? I asked, my voice cold. It wasnt so much that they were poaching lux. As desperate as the event was, some degree of strife and conflict was understandable, even justifiable. It was that they continued to do so even after their receptacle was filled.


    And, you know, the whole killing Users for cores thing didnt really work in their favor either.


    Totally istionist. Hostile to anyone not local to the region. Which means we have no idea what they have or dont have.


    Fantastic. Even if I decided to throw this all away and go home, Id still have a problem neighbor.


    I eyed something else. A construction crew at the end of the street and several open-backed trucks. Are they putting up a barrier? What if thirteen sees that as an act of aggression?


    A lot of the regions are throwing up walls and checkpoints. Kinsley confirmed. What were doing is nothing out of the ordinary. Region 5s the big exception. They seem to want Users toe there in droves. As many as they can get. Theyre charging for dungeon entry, but not nearly as much as they could be. Still figuring out the angle.


    I thought about the information I had and came to a decision. Get me in a room with Owen.


    Hes traumatized. Borderline catatonic, Sara said. Im not convinced he has any more useful information than what hes told us.


    Maybe. But it cant hurt. If you make it happen, hell talk to me. I grimaced. Whatever the next event is, we need to be ready for it. That means strengthening our positions on all fronts. And ensuring that what happened in region 6 isnt going to spread. Being proactive is the name of the game, from this point onward. If they don''t give us enough information to prepare for whateversing, fuck it. Well prepare for everything.


    There was an odd reaction, and I realized Id erred. I looked around, suddenly self-conscious. Its been a rough week. Ive gotten used to calling shots without any real regard to hierarchy.


    After a pause, Tyler rested a hand on my shoulder. Kinsley says youre her primary advisor. And that she owes much of the sess of the merchants guild to you. And given that your guild not only took a pay cut to help the entire city, but also managed to fortify your region, and save this one? He shrugged. Im prepared to seriously consider any advice you might have.


    The nagging puzzle piece finally fell into ce. What Id been missing this entire time. There are twenty regions. But at the beginning of the event, the Overseer said only sixteen needed to be fortified.


    We noticed that too, Sara said. As far as we can tell, every region had a receptacle. Havent made sense of it yet.


    I see. I rested my head on my palm. Whatever the reason for the discrepancy, it wasnt a mistake on the overseers part. Either the system had ns for the four regions that didnt have to be fortified, in which case it was strange that they didnt just gloss over that in the announcements. Or four of the regions had achieved some sort of clemency before the event began. And it was a total hunch, but I had a strong feeling that wherever the suits resided was probably one of those regions. Not a fan of the way theyre dividing us. Or the timing.


    Same here. Hopefully, well know more in a few days. Tyler said.


    My wheelchair jostled as Iris arrived at my side,nding with both feet. Only after did she seem to notice the group that had formed, and her smile lessened somewhat.


    <em>You called?</em> she signed.


    I checked the timer. Less than a minute remained. <em>Yup. Something might be happening soon. Figured you''d want to see. Where''s Mom and Ellison? </em>


    The double doors behind me <em>wooshed,</em> and I turned to see my mother step out from Iriss wake. She looked ss-eyed and bleary, as if shed just woken from a deep sleep.


    <em>Hes noting.</em> I asked Iris. More statement than question.


    <em>Havent seen him since this morning.</em> Iris confirmed.


    She scrambled carefully up on myp, eyes almostically wide as her head swiveled back and forth.


    Sister? I heard Sara whisper to Kinsley. Kinsley murmured an affirmative.


    The first thing I noticed was a shift in temperature. It was almost always hot, but this was different. More humid somehow.


    A single green sprout emerged from the crack in the sidewalk before me. Dozens more followed suit, thin green fingers scrambling for purchase. There was a resounding crack as the sidewalk itself shattered.


    Someone grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and yanked me backwards before it tipped over. When I looked back, something gnarled and brown was emerging from the concrete, widening the hole as it grew.


    People avoided the sidewalks and roads as more greenery emerged, wrapping itself around anything nearby, cars, meters, and drains. The unending orchard of trees sprouted gray-blue leaves and golden blossoms as they reached their apex of twenty to thirty feet.


    I caught a sh of movement from above and looked up. Behind a nearby skyscraper, a massive trunk, expansive in diameter, extended above the building and up into the clouds.


    Iris stared up at it in wonder.


    Countless car rms were going off, all at mixed intervals. Civilians and Users alike had stopped running from the chaos and were gawking at the scene, unsure what to make of it.


    Ho-lee shit. Tyler said.


    Its beautiful, My mother whispered.


    Going to be a bitch tomute. Sara approached the tree that sprouted from the concrete before us. She poked it once. Then tentatively reached up to a thin, low-hanging branch, testing it. Eventually, she lifted her entire body in a one-handed pull-up, then dropped andnded with a grunt. Its strong.


    I blinked. Regardless of how sturdy the tree was, there should have been some movement. But the branch hadnt budged. Whatever Id expectedmetal deep in the earth, some sort of oil analogue perhapsit hadnt been this. Not even close.


    Iris! My sister dropped from myp before I could stop her, approaching the tree as Sara had. Sara reached out to grab her, but Iris ducked away, giving the woman an apologetic smile. Before any of us could intervene, Iris touched the tree. Her palm was flush to the wood, her face a mask of concentration.


    Ordinators Emtion ticked in the back of my mind.

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122


    A small nova of near-transparent energy erupted around Iris. The disy was as impressive as it was highly visible. I moved forward, trying to break line of sight. Kinsley beat me there, apanied by two members of Rodericks lodge Id previously taken as unaffiliated Users.


    Quick on the uptake, Tyler barked out a verbalmand and Sara along with a couple other adventurers guild members following in their wake filled out the wall. Before I could even shout, any view of my sister was blocked by a wall of bodies. I approached, and two people parted, letting me through.


    Iris, what the fuck are you doing? I hissed, and immediately regretted the outburst. My sister knew there was dangereveryone did at this pointbut she didnt know the face of it. Not yet. Thankfully, she wasnt able to hear me. Her face was a mask of concentration, bordering on a frown.


    Whats wrong? I tried again, calmer than before.


    Iris started to finger spell in asl, then grew frustrated and spoke out loud. I thought it would make a nice handle for my hammer. But its more difficult than absorbing regr metal. Almost like the wood itself is fighting me. She swiveled toward me, a horrified expression on her face. Does that mean its alive?


    I shrugged, ncing around to make sure our human barricade was still intact. Probably. Its a tree. Hard to say more than that. Not like we can ask it.


    To my surpriseand embarrassmentIris did exactly that. Im sorry. I tried to take from you without asking permission.


    Someone snickered, and I felt my cheeks growing red with embarrassment.


    Still totally focused, Iris cocked her head. Oh. I see. You dont like the idea of being a hammer. What would you like to be, then?


    A single branch pointing east stirred, as if by a gust of wind. Even though I knew from Saras demonstration that the branches were far too sturdy for that. Iris looked in the direction the branch was pointing. You want to help hold back the dark? I dont know what that means.


    Region thirteen, Sara realized, ncing towards the neighboring region. It was firmly obscured from view now that we were effectively entrenched in a forest, but the ckness on the horizon was still visible.


    How would it even do that? Hold back the dark? Its a fuckin tree. Kinsley scratched her head. A thin branchshed out and smacked against the back of her neck. She jumped straight up with a shriek, then red at the tree. Dont make me get a lighter, stumpy.


    I considered what Tyler had said about the regions erecting walls, and a thought urred to me. Does it want to contribute materials to our defenses?


    Iris ryed the message. There was a tinkling of leaves that sounded suspiciously like an affirmative.


    Small problem. I want to help, Iris chuckled nervously. But I dont have the necessary tools. And I could get other materials to make them, but if youre as strong as you say, Im not sure theyd work on you.


    A branch shifted again, this time pointing to a smaller sapling with a trunk that was a lighter shade of gray.


    Iris started to head towards it. I caught her shoulder, considered the fact that we had an audience, and looked at Tyler. Give us a minute?


    Tyler nodded, and the group dispersed as Iris stepped away from the tree.


    <em>What?</em> she signed.


    <em>I dont want you involved with this. Not so directly. </em>


    Iriss eyes narrowed. <em>Why? </em>


    <em>Because it makes you a target.</em> I signed, my hands moving in sharp motions. <em>This isnt something to take lightly. There are people out there who want your abilities, and arent above kidnapping a little girl to get their hands on them.</em>


    <em>And you controlling a region doesnt already make me a target?</em> Iris responded, a streak of rebellion in her eyes.


    <em>Thats different. </em>


    <em>It is dangerous, Iris.</em> Kinsley said, backing me up. <em>More dangerous than you can imagine. People took me and hurt me just for being a merchant. </em>


    Iris made a wide sweep with her arm, staring both of us down. <em>Everything is dangerous. The world is scarier than it ever was, and thats saying a lot.</em> She stuck a finger at me. <em>I love you. And I know youve kept us safe. And I understand how hard its been. But this is probably why Ellison has been so standoffishtely. You cant protect us from everything.</em>


    Anger built in my gut. Iris was just riding the high that came from being a User. She felt optimistic and ted at the possibilities, the same way Id been before that first experience with a bounty brought that crashing down.


    I reached out with <strong></strong> pushing past her mental defenses


    And found that Iris was terrified. There was so much fear that it was a miracle that she wasnt a hyperventting heap curled up on the ground.


    The only thing keeping her going was a determination so strong it was almost blinding.


    It took me a minute to get it.


    Iris had never been useless. But in the context of a crisis, shed always yed third chair to me and Ellison. Generally out of the way, supporting and observing. It was just the nature of how things had fallen into ce. Ellison was far morefortable taking risks and putting himself in difficult positions. Iris was clever, but prone to anxiety and panic.


    Id never really considered how that must have felt. Watching your family strugglefight to surviveand feeling like your contribution was next to nothing.


    Reading people was my strength, but theres always blindspots for the ones we love.


    Her fear was probably heightened considering everything wed been through. Shed neverined or broken down. But there were times in the past, when things were hardest, where her cheery disposition hade off as artificial.


    Was the ray of sunshine act a facade?


    Has she always been afraid?


    I withdrew <strong></strong> immediately, somewhat nauseous at how close Ide to breaking my own rule. Kinsley was watching us, unsure of how to proceed.


    Sidebar? My mothers voice. The scent of tequ reached my nose. Just a trace, rather than the stink that came from a legitimate bender.


    I broke eye contact with Iris and nodded.


    That doesnt smell like gin. I groused, once we were out of earshot.


    Dont do that.


    Do what?


    Launch a preemptive strike because you know youre not going to like what Im going to say. My mother gave me a knowing look.


    I rolled my eyes. Fine.


    Youre smothering them.


    I clenched the air in frustration. Its not about control.


    Its about protecting them. Im familiar with the concept. Tried my hand at it once upon a time, if you remember. How well did that turn out?


    I blinked. Partially because I <em>didnt</em> remember. Shed been a decent mother until wed lost dad, then everything had gone to shit. But my memories of that time were patchy at best.


    Even though I had your best interests at heart. You hated me for it. Thats when I learned I couldnt force you to do anything. Mom reached out towards a low-hanging branch, touching the edge of a gray-blue leaf. It left a line of red on her fingertip. She winced and pressed the wound against her waistband. Theyre both getting older. Even if its the best thing for them. You can only advise and hope that they listen. If you take a hardline stance, theyll just get better at hiding whatever it is they want to do.


    I bit back a cruel response. There was a vulnerability in my mothers expression that told me she knew exactly how hypocritical it was that she was giving this advice. How badly shed fallen short.


    Okay. I said.


    She tilted her head, as if not quite believing what shed heard. What?


    You might be right.


    /////


    Iris had already started making tools by the time I returned to the group. She stuck a hammer-shaped object behind her back. Kinsley stood next to her, looking just as nervous.


    I told her itd be fine to make a few tools. Just to test the materials, Kinsley said.


    Let me see. I held out a hand. Iris tentatively ced the handle in my palm. There were issues with the design. Bark formed the handle, which would probably still chip off too easily, even if the wood itself was devilishly strong. But the weight was well-bnced, and the head of the hammer looked solid. I thumped it against the metal frame of my wheelchair and was surprised when it left a dent. The hammerhead waspletely unmarked from the impact, no scuffs or imprints.


    Not bad at all.


    And check this out. Kinsley held out a small twig, cing a metal zippo beneath it. She flicked the wheel and the spark ignited into me. The light-colored twig colored red around the me, but didnt catch fire.


    Its not mmable? I raised an eyebrow.


    Its called Wraithwood, ording to my identification skill. Stronger and more enchantable than Ebonscaleof course I had no idea what that was, but after a cursory search on the store, it seems to be a materialmonly used in high-level armor and weapons. No idea how well itll hold an edge, but I figure well need to test it anyway. Kinsley trailed off, seeming to realize wed left key business unresolved.


    <strong></strong>


    The sound of an engine grew closer. One of the trucks that had been working on a barrier at the end of the street had stopped, the vehicle stopped at a crooked line of trees blocking the road. The drivera man in a hardhat and reflective veststepped out, swearing like a sailor.


    Whos in charge here?


    Tyler, lingering nearby, left his group to speak to the man. Everything alright?


    Pretty far from alright, to be frank. Care to tell me how me and my guys are supposed to work with a god-damn forest in the way? Not even sure we could get the truck out, now.


    My first thought was that he could simply recall the truck to his inventory. But I wasnt certain how that worked if it wasnt a system assigned vehicle. I was the only one who could inventory my bike, for example. Anyone else would have to steal it the hard way.


    Were working on a solution, Tyler held both hands out catingly, ncing back towards us.


    Well work faster. The man grumbled. We were supposed to get this thing up in a week. Around the entire region. That was already gonna be difficult without the great outdoors fuckin up supply lines. Whats up with that anyway?


    Can you do it? I asked Iris.


    Do what? Iris asked hesitantly.


    Help the construction crew get barriers up. Checkpoints. Observation towers.


    Im not very high level. Iris put her hands behind her back. But as long as the designs are simple, yeah, I think so. The barriers, at least. She was being guarded, worried Id snatch the wind from her sails.


    I pinched the top of my nose. If you get a weird feeling. Like theres someone around you dont recognize, or if you feel like youre being watched. Anything. Message me and Kinsley immediately. Were also going to get some people to watch your backow.


    Thanks, brother. Iris released me from her stranglehold and bounded towards Tyler and the construction crew leader.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I hoped I wouldnt regret this.

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: A Steady Hand</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Ensure Region 14s Survival</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective I  Establish Short-Term Defenses</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective II  Establish Trade and Alliances with other Regions</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective III  Uncover the Region Luminaries (1 of 4)</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective IV  Discover the Secret of the Wraithwood</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective V  ???</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ??? </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (L)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Before the Transposition Event</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ss Specific Boon.</strong>


    The rest of the day passed quickly. But there were some growing pains. At first, the construction crew was clearly irritated, both by having to redo sections of the region barrier and by Iriss presence. Like the rest of my family, Iris wasnt used to mincing words. If there was a problem, shedment on it immediately. She was clear and up front about what she wanted, and that rankled them.


    After the initial negotiation, tension climbed so high there were multiple times I thought Id need to intervene, doctors warning be damned.


    Thankfully, that was unnecessary.


    Because Iriss personal debut left an <em>impact.</em>


    Iris spent a lot of time on a sketch for the barriers. Made sure there were supports in the correct ces along with other functionality thanks to Gideon Fenberry, an NPC architect who lived in our building.


    Its not very pretty, Iris said, studying her drawing. She seemed to be growing morefortable speaking aloud. There was a pencil smudge on her chin, and her hair had grown frizzy with the heat.


    Doesnt have to be. I replied nonchntly, still studying the details of the most recent quest Id received. The secondary luminary objective caught my eye.


    Normally, Id loathe the apathy towards creativity, Gideon said, shooting me a curious side eye. But considering the scale of this project, your brother is correct.


    He was a bit shorter than average, maybe a half-inch shorter than me if I were to guess, and a bit stuffy. His blue office shirt was wrinkled, but still tucked into his chinos. Large-sses framed his round face, and I had a feeling they were prescription. The only noteworthy element of his apparel were the vibrant magenta, yellow, and cyan vertically segmented suspenders.


    Iris ced her hand on a nearby felled tree and muttered under her breath.


    Looky there. Our mascotsmuning with nature again. One of the many men in orange vests milling around snickered.


    That helps, thanks. Iris patted the tree in appreciation and picked up her pencil, then began to draw excitedly.


    I nced over her shoulder. No one had managed to recreate Iriss ability tomunicate with the trees. My guess was that it had something to do with her ss, and that her connection to the materials themselves were heightened.


    <em>Can you</em> Iris started to sign, then stopped and spoke aloud to the man who had just cracked a joke. Can you help gather leaves?


    For what? The man looked at her like she was losing her mind.


    I was worried. Iris didnt deal with conflict well. With this degree of hostility and pushback, I wouldnt have been surprised if she shrank into herself. But whether it was due to the urgency of the situation, or just in determination on Iriss part, she didnt back down.


    For materials, Iris said. They dampen magic. Magic usersalong with artillery spellsare the biggest threat to us, ording to Users Ive talked to.


    And by Users, she was referring primarily to me.


    Iris continued, If we integrate the leaves into the wood itself, it should go a long way towards protecting us.


    And if one of those wizards can fly? The man challenged. Dont know if youve noticed, but there are people just flitting around up there.


    Iris nced at me.


    <em>Well cross that bridge when wee to it.</em> I mouthed. There werent many fliers. Only a half-dozen or so in the sky at any given time. It came without saying that wed need other defenses. This was barebones. A foundation for everything that woulde after. I didnt like that the regions were all walling themselves off.


    Iriss smile dampened. She pointed to the eternal darkness of Region 13, now less than a block away. Do you see anyone flying over there?


    The mans expression soured. Well, no.


    Then lets just worry about getting the walls up, and well deal with the fringe issuester.


    Hey Martinez. Didnt you have andscaping thing? Half-pint wants help gathering leaves.


    It was a rentalpany, you cretin. Martinez said. He wasying in the back of the truck, hat pulled down over his eyes.


    Yeah yeah.


    The more people help, the faster this will go, Iris said, probably missing some crosstalk.


    Unsurprisingly, the mans lip curled. He crossed his arms and set his feet, unmoving. Hispanions were less direct in their misgivings, but still made no effort to start gathering leaves.


    I sighed and grabbed a nearby bag. How many do you need?


    Iris nced at me, then the forest that had cropped up behind us. A thousand, give or take.


    Total? I asked, surprised by the number.


    Per section. More or less depending on the length. Iris said, clearly concerned for my well-being. But Matt, you should rest.


    Nah. I coughed, deep and painful, then turned to the side and spit blood and phlegm onto the ground. I could feel the workers watching uneasily as I thoroughly ignored them. So, what? I just pick them off the ground?


    No, they wouldnt like that. The Wraithwoods. Just ask them. Theyll understand, even if they cant talk to you directly. Its up to each tree how much theyd like to contribute, if anything. Iris said hesitantly. I could tell she was about to try to talk me out of it, so I immediately turned and wheeled myself to the nearest tree. The obliterated road was littered with roots and detritus, and I probably made a pitiful sight, maneuvering my wheelchair across the treacherous terrain.


    Doing my best to hide how silly I felt, I reached out and knocked on the trunk. I need leaves for the wall.


    A single gray-blue leaf detached itself from the tree and drifted slowly towards me. Remembering how my mother cut her finger against a leafs edge, I quickly withdrew one of the sturdier bags Id used to hold lux during the trial and held it open. Without prompting, a dozen more leaves detached themselves and drifted into the bag.


    With well over a hundred leaves in hand, I moved on to the next tree. And the next. Before long, I saw Gideon standing nearby, holding up a leather satchel. He gave me an encouraging nod.


    Careful! I heard Iris shout. She wasnt talking to me. Rather, one of the construction crew. The one with the attitude was still standing back, but several of them had followed my lead, unwilling to let the boy in the wheelchair show them up.


    Before long, we had more than enough for the first section and many more after that. Iris knelt in front of the materials, a bead of sweat on her forehead. She looked back at me and I nodded, gesturing for her to go for it.


    White light emitted from Iriss palms. Someone gasped.


    The wall wasnt constructed piece by piece, the way youd assume. Rather, a thin gray veneer of wood stretched up skyward, until it stopped, around three stories tall. Then, it thickened. Support beams extended from the wood itself, in a near perfect copy of what Iris had sketched. Small sliding sections that hid a portcullis assembled themselves. Slowly, the leaves rose from their various bags. They were oval naturally, and shed their stems as they drifted towards the wall. Iris arranged themyer byyer on top of each other, until the entire section of wall was covered. With the way they were arranged, the wall looked almost scaled in nature.


    I reached up and tried to pry a leaf loose. It was like attempting to pull a metal pole out of concrete. When I tried again, I noticed the other leaves seemed topress, locking the one I was tugging in ce.


    That was a minor relief. No one would be stripping the metaphorical copper out of our walls.


    Iris stood slowly, surveying her work with a distant smile.


    I ruffled her hair. Good job, kiddo.


    That was all it took to throw the construction crew into action. With the first section in ce, they seemed to recognize how much time Iris could save them and intended to capitalize on the advantage.


    By evening''s end, the district waspletely enclosed, with gated entrances on all four sides. I would have preferred having a few towers in ce, but Iris was asleep on myp, dead to the world. Shed gone nearly all day, only pausing for a nap halfway through when her mana was low.


    I shrugged. There were nearby buildings we could use as lookouts in the interim. And considering how quickly the construction had gone, this was more than a win already.


    She is very talented, Gideon said. Hed offered to push my wheelchair, and despite my previous feelings of weirdness about that, I was too tired to say no.


    Iris stirred against my chest, curling up tighter. I patted her head. Shes always been clever. <em>They both are.</em> Unbidden, my thoughts turned to Ellison.


    More than just clever. Gideon said enthusiastically. Generally, in my profession, people tend to lean one of two ways. Artistic or Pragmatic. Both are necessary, in varying degrees. But most skew one way or another. Your sister seems to understand the bnce. Even when she was experimenting. Another good sign. If even half of my students were so gifted. He shook his head.


    You were a teacher?


    Part-time at Columbia, when wasnt overloaded with work. Gideon affirmed.


    Hell of amute.


    Not really. I had a summer home there. His expression clouded. Though I suppose my days of teaching are behind me.


    I nced down at my sister. Everything is changing. We have plenty of existing infrastructure thats obsolete.


    Yes. Gideons mouth pulled downward. I have ideas. Ways to rectify and salvage what we have, improve it. But the city council seems more interested in sitting on its hands and bracing for whateveres next than rebuilding.


    I wondered, absentmindedly, if I was being baited. Then dismissed the notion. Gideon was smart, not above getting his hands dirty, and most importantlypatient with Iris. If hed been more like Miles, Id be far more suspicious and hesitant to bite. But he seemed too socially awkward to be manipting me intentionally. And even if he was, he clearly knew what he was talking about.


    I sighed. You affiliated?


    He blinked. Im redited.


    Do you have a guild?


    Oh. No.


    Before I could talk myself out of it, I pulled up Kinsleys contact card and sent it to Gideon. Reach out to her. Message, not voice. Shes swamped right now. Tell her Matt rmended you for membership, and exin what you can offer.


    And what is it that Im offering? Gideon asked, his eyebrow furrowed. You know Im not a User.


    Heres what Im thinking. Youve seen what Iris can do. Take on my sister as an apprentice. Teach her at a college level. Before he could argue, I held up a hand. Shes not stupid. Anything foundational you can think of, shes probably already learned. Keep in mind you likely wont be her only teacher, and manage the workload ordingly. In return, she helps with improvements you want to make around the region, as long as Kinsley green lights whatever it is you have in mind.


    Quick point of order. Gideon cleared his throat. This is <em>the</em> Kinsley, is it not?


    Yes. Unless theres another Guild Leader by that name Im not aware of.


    Is there any contract? Gideon asked, his eyes narrowing.


    Ah. Hed been to the open forum, or at least had interactions with a guild like the Local Relief Effort. Exined why he still hadnt joined up with anyone.


    No contract. Ill leave pay negotiations to you and her. I waved him off. There were too many irons in the fire to try to manage things at a micro level. Id trust Kinsley to handle the recruitment. And more importantly, to get one of her mercenaries to investigate Gideon.


    Even if he seemed well-meaning and wasnt triggering any red gs, there was no world where I trusted my sister to an outsider without due diligence.


    /////


    By the time I returned to my penthouse, I was spent. Between the physical exhaustion that came with being injured and the hell of drinking the recovery potions, it was hard to keep my eyes open. Sae was nowhere to be seen. Her guest room door was locked shut, no light emitting from beneath the doorframe. Probably asleep. Shed be just as exhausted as me, if not more so.


    And she wasnt the only one.


    Mom was passed out on the couch. Ellison had kicked open a recliner and fallen asleep watching a movie with the volume muted. He opened one eye to look at me as I came in.


    I gave him a half-wave and the eye closed, as if hed only woken to confirm that nothing was amiss.


    Gently, I ced Iris down on the loveseat perpendicr to the couch my mother was sleeping on, and pulled a plush nket from the hallway closet to drape over her. She didnt stir at all, further confirming my suspicion that shed pushed herself too hard.


    When I thought about it, I found that my reticence to live here had diminished. Iriss walls likely had something to do with it. I made a mental note to talk to the building super in the morning. From what Kinsley said, there were plenty of avable rooms and the building owner seemed ecstatic to dole them out to us. Id need to talk to them, whoever they were, sooner rather thanter.


    Wed lived cramped together in an apartment for too long already.


    Now that we had options, they deserved their space. Iris would probably still live with mom. That was the best case for both of them. My sister would be able to keep an eye on mom, and tell me if her issues started bing problems again. And she wouldnt be alone.


    Ellison was a different story. I wanted himpletely separate, on a different floor. Id thought about itprehensively. The elevator required a keycard, which meant itd be easy to track hisings and goings. Hed still have ess to us, but wed know he wasingwhether he wanted us to or not. Id need to be careful how I spun it when I told him. He was more keyed in to how I thought than most people, so I wanted to at least take the night toe up with a n. With that in mind, I sent him a message.


    <strong></strong>


    Either hed be there or he wouldnt. Hopefully, our rtionship wasnt that far gone.


    Saewell, I wasnt sure what to do with Sae. Eventually, I wanted the penthouse to myself. It would be easier to handle everythingas both Matt and Myrddinwithout anyone else tracking myings and goings. But I wasnt going to put that over her well-being. Shed been through hell. As long as she was in hiding, her social interaction was limited to me, Kinsley, and my family. Other than our initial discussion, I had no idea where she was at, in terms of headspace. And as Kinsley had so recently reminded me, istion could be a hell of its own.


    I crawled onto the hospital bed in my room, feeling profoundly on the back foot. From the moment I woke up, it felt like Id been managing people and delegating, which wasnt my forte. Hopefully, Kinsley would be able to take more of a leading role as time went on and everything settled. With that in mind, I finished what was left of the recovery potion, gagging at the taste.


    Idly, I pulled up my character sheet. There hadnt been any changes. I still wouldnt know how much the augmented stats altered my abilities until I could let loose.


    <em>One down, one to go.</em>


    Speaking of which. I had two levels to distribute. Id yet to bother with them, considering everything else that was going on. Now that there wasnt an immediately impending crisis, there was no reason not to take my time and consider my options carefully. I read through the Ordinator feats first, noting anything that looked promising, then through the Page feats. There was an improved version of <strong></strong> that looked promising, along with some general purpose feats that would help in the short term.


    I navigated to the dropdownand stopped.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It suddenly clicked. I was offered a ss forpleting the receptacle in Region 14. Id assumed that offer would simply be null, due to the nature of my subterfuge. But there it was. I focused on the carrot, and text began to scroll.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124


    <strong></strong>


    Interesting. The system specified that I needed to distribute stat points, leaving feat points unmentioned. That wasnt an ident. I knew from experience, it was possible to bank the feat points and use themternormally a terrible idea, considering the stakes. There wasnt really any excuse for not using everything I had at my disposal at any given time. But in this case, I could safely level and save the feat points in case I unlocked anything worth pursuing.


    I swapped my local identity to Myrddin to simplify things for the level.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 12 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 10 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 18+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 16+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 14</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 1</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw, Vindictive, Squelch.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 3. Suggestion, LVL 18. One-handed, LVL 16. Negotiation, LVL 11. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 10.</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 3. Talia  Revenant Wolf, Bond LVL 4 </strong>


    <strong>Selve: 112,000 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 6. Feat points avable: 4.</strong>


    The amount of Selve didnt line up. Id been around that number before, but Id spent nearly half of it on the motorcycle and a shitton of healing and curative items. I leafed through my notifications and found the exnation.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Huh. Kinsley hadnt mentioned it. Not even to grouse about it. Considering her miserly nature, I had to wonder how much shed made on the event itself. Probably a killing.


    Dismissing the anomaly, I returned to my listed stats. And frowned. Id been mainlining Agility and Intelligence, but they were both augmented now. Improvement before augmentation had been significant in an incremental way. There was no question I was a capable of maneuvers I wouldnt have dreamed of before. I absolutely thought faster on my feet, and was far less vulnerable to the mental spirals that had gued my adolescence and teenage years.


    Both Agility and Intelligence had served me well. Whether growth from here was incremental or exponential, the choice should have been clear.


    If it wasnt for the Adaptive Dungeon.


    I wanted to clear the Dungeons fifth level before engaging the suits. Completing the long-standing quest would likely an additional level. There was no way of knowing how involved orpromised I would be after the meeting, and I wanted as much firepower as I could get my hands on before entering the Lions Den.


    My safest bet would be boosting Intelligence and Agility further.


    But the real gamble, with the greatest reward, was the lithid.


    Before I could chase that train of thought further, I had to check something first. Groaning, I grabbed the railings of the medical bed and bore down, sweat beading on my forehead, as pain racked through me. It was far worse than any previous instance of summoning. The plucking feeling went beyond skin deep, and it felt as if my very organs were being strummed. I nearly stopped the process.


    A mist of shadow formed the dark silhouette of a wolf in the corner.


    You were not supposed to use magic, human. Talia growled.


    I panted, struggling to catch my breath. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. No choice. Had to risk it. An incongruity stood out. How would you even know that?


    The wolf panned the room, taking in her new surroundings. A new ability. Or something along those lines. I am still sightless in the void, but sounds and voices make their way to my ears. From what I gathered, you retrieved our pack member. Is she well?


    Further confirmation that I was making the right call. There was no way I could hide this from her.


    As good as she could be, considering.


    That is a relief. And cannot have been easy, considering your state. Thank you. Talia approached the bed and lowered her neck, pressing the crown of her head into my hand. Her fur was surprisingly soft. I was suddenly paralyzed, not knowing what to do. Shed likely take any reciprocation as demeaning.


    Dont thank me yet, I said quietly.


    Talia pulled away and took a step backward. Exin.


    You still want the suits, right?


    Teeth glinted in the darkness. Naturally. They struck me down without cause, and decimated a smaller pack that posed no threat to them. I loathe them nearly as much as the wretch.


    I winced, suddenly grateful the room was dark enough to hide it. I agree. Beyond what they did, their methods are unconscionable. They cant be allowed to monopolize power on a greater scale.


    Yes.


    And we agree that we should leverage every possible advantage to make that happen?


    On that, we are in ord. Her voice reticent. By now, she probably sensed the catch, but still hadnt connected the dots.


    Ive been considering this for a while, I said, speaking quickly, Keep in mind, Its impossible to say for sure. The sample size is too small.


    Speak inly, human.


    Id done everything I could to frame the conversation. Now it was up to Talia. Ive killed multiple monsters outside of the dungeon and received nothing but standard drops. Given that, Im guessing, because of the nature of my ss, the Adaptive Dungeon has a higher chance of dropping monster cores.


    No. Talia said immediately, a low growl in her throat.


    I held up a hand, Just hear me out. Were talking like this because I value you. Highly. Too much to spring this on you out of nowhere. You pulled my ass out of the fire multiple times. Im honestly not sure I would have made it through the trial if it wasnt for you, doubly so for the transposition event.


    Then <em>listen</em> to me when I tell you that a lithid is not to be trifled with! Talia shouted. Their kind thrives on pain. Delights in suffering. Acquiring one would be an exercise in self-destruction.


    Not a summon. I shook my head. Not like you or Audrey. Not even close. From what youve said, its too evil for that. It would be nothing more than a tool. A weapon to be unleashed on our enemies and dismissed as soon as its work is done.


    Her silhouette quivered. It tormented me for days. But it felt like an eternity.


    You saw the suits, Talia. I tried to redirect her to the big picture. You know how powerful they are. Didnt you agree that we needed every advantage we could get?


    If you are correct, and follow this path, I will not follow. You will have topel me for <em>anything.</em> Talia seethed.


    Iid my head back on my pillow. Which is why were talking about this now. If you decide this path is untenable, Ill discard the core.


    After a moment, she stopped shaking. Could you do it? What youre asking of me?


    I considered that. If it was my mother, or Iris, or Ellison who died. Absolutely. It wouldnt be easy. But it would be my first course.


    Your first? Her voice cracked.


    Revenge is a distraction.


    Yes. Youve said that before.


    I didnt have time to exin what I meant. I pushed myself up in a sitting position and studied her. There are lines that cant be uncrossed. These lines are universal, tranted across every society, sophisticated or undeveloped. You dont maim or torture unnecessarily. You dont attack your enemys family or loved ones if theyre uninvolved. And you dont hurt children.


    And if they do it anyway? Talia growled.


    Then it gets ugly. Suddenly, youre unburdened by civility, unencumbered by rules. Theres a certain freedom in that. Maybe you use that justification to get a little dark, or gruesome. But I think theres a better way.


    If you say <em>forgiveness</em>


    No. I shook my head. Aarons face popped up in my mind. Not even close. Its better, I think, to use them. Ingratiate yourself. Get close enough that they eventually be dependent on you. Exploit them for every benefit and advantage they can offer. Create weaknesses and undermine them in the shadows. And when they start to panic, inevitably overextending in a feeble attempt to cling to their waning power? All you have to do is watch them fall.


    Talia slowly sat down. At times, you frighten me, pup.


    That doesnt change the fact that Im in your corner, Talia. Always.


    And when this group is gone? Talia prompted. Her eye gleamed in darkness.


    Assuming any of this actually happens? Pull the trigger whenever you want. The only way this works without creating resentment between us is if I give you the option to veto. Unconditionally.


    She looked away, scuffing the carpet with her paw. There is sense to your argument. Still. As hard as it is to admit. This is difficult. For me.


    I thought about what I knew about Talia. What I knew about wolves. Even with how the cliched Alpha/Beta hierarchy had been thoroughly debunked at this point, dominance was important to them. Talia herself embodied that, refusing to take anything that resembled an order unless it was framed as a suggestion. There were some elements of her personality that made me think of her as a Viking at times. The warrior spirit.


    Take your time. I smiled wider than normal, letting a growl into my voice. In the interim, let me ask you another question. How often have you had the opportunity to destroy your enemy twice?


    Talias head slowly swiveled towards me. Her teeth glittered in the darkness. She chuckled. This would be the first.


    /////


    I slotted four points into Willpower, praying that would be enough to meet the requirements for controlling the lithid. In truth, it was only a short-term gamble. If it didnt work out, Id be prepared for whatever high-level summon came next. The remaining two points went into Intelligence and Agility, respectively. Leveling was less painful than usual with Willpower as the primary focusand of course, Id locked it in one level at a time.


    My vision faded as darkness took me.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125


    The void was all around me. Nothingness. No sensation, no sense of weight or distance.


    ck.


    It was strange to be here again. Back where it all started.


    If I rxed my mind, it was almost like everything that hade to pass was a fever dream, and I was reset to the frantic moments after the meteor. In reality, it wasnt the same. The overload of panic and existential terror was entirely absent.


    Id gotten used to it. epting the unknown was almost automatic.


    The text loomed in front of me, magnified several timesrger than what Id grown ustomed to on the system ovey.


    <strong></strong>


    When I went to select the only option, I was surprised to find the text field empty. Before, the options had all been selected for me. Theyd all been answers I likely would have selected if I was beingpletely and totally honest with both the questions and myself, but generally things I never would have admitted to. Other Users had simr experiences.


    Maybe that was meant to be a safeguard. There was no way Id have taken it seriously enough to answer honestly the first time around.


    Given theck of mouth, I didnt speak so much as focus my thoughts on the text. Yes.


    <strong></strong>


    I waited.


    <strong></strong>


    The window snapped shut. Confusion formed the beginnings of rm as it became clear something was wrong. This was either a malfunction or something worse.


    Hello?


    There was no response. The silence dragged out long enough for my rm to turn to dread. If something went fundamentally wrong, did that mean I was stuck here? Forever catatonic in my bed.


    Suddenly, the text reappeared.


    <strong></strong>


    No.


    <strong></strong>


    A quiet anger swept over me. Apparently, the old saying held true. Three people could keep a secret if two of them were dead. Even in the realm of gods. And I was getting really fucking tired of deific interference.


    More importantly, I needed to know if Nychta had intentionally set me up to fail.


    And what, if I may ask, would have happened without this intercession?


    <strong></strong><strong><em>are</em></strong><strong> friends of a sort. In answer to your question, the session would have timed out, and youd be returned to your body, with no penalty or benefit.></strong>


    If Im filling in the gaps correctly, the gods use the Null to grant sses to mortals?


    <strong></strong>


    He was including himself in that, of course. Letting me know he wasnt a lesser god without saying it.


    Something crucial urred to me. When Id spoken to the Allfather at the shrine of elevation, his message text had been capitalized. The same held true for my initial venture into this ce, after the meteor, and when Id awoken the Ordinators summoner variant. It was just a guess, but a grounded one. The Allfather had been my proctor the first time around, and continued to directly oversee anything to do with my advancement as an Ordinator.


    How do we proceed? I asked.


    <strong></strong>


    The vein above my brow would have popped out, if I had a forehead to speak of.


    First, Im assuming if you wanted me to know who you were, you would have told me. Your associates


    <strong></strong>


    I sighed. The <em>other</em> gods havent been shy when it came to introductions. Figured that came with the territory. Secondly, Im pretty sure you want something. Nychta emphasized that Im marked. Im assuming when she told you about meeven though I really wish she hadntshe did so with confidence youd keep it to yourself. Not that I have any clue what any of you actually want. Or expect for this to be myst deific house-call.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>:)</strong>


    The symbol appeared on its own, floating towards me in the void before dissipating to nothing. Something shed through my mind. An image in the hotel lobby of the same symbol emzoned on a metal backte behind the reception desk.


    Nychta didnt tell you about me. You told her.


    <strong></strong>


    Business?


    <strong></strong>


    While the entity talked to itself, I spoke again. Are you willing to tell me anything about the game? Or my brothers ss?


    The text paused. <strong></strong>


    I sighed. Figured


    <strong></strong><strong><em>me.</em></strong><strong> And thats saying something.></strong>


    A cold chill went through me. And if you were being so unspeakably unprofessional, what would you advise the supplicant to do with this information?


    <strong></strong>


    Behind the babbling text, I sensed a grain of truth. It was dubious. This entity wasnt my friend, and had already admitted they werent above lying for their own amusement. But the already significant concern I felt for Ellison had grown exponentially.


    <strong></strong><strong><em>Miner?</em></strong><strong> They were going to present Miner as one of your options. Blech.></strong>


    I mean, Im not opposed to a resource gathering ss.


    <strong></strong>


    A wall ofughter scrolled, long and excessive. If I had a body, there was no question Id be in cold sweats right about now. When the text returned, it was all business.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I hesitated. On the surface, it looked the same as the sheep and wolf question from the first go around. Only, it wasnt. Hawks were generally fiercely solitary and territorial. By contrast, ravens werent nearly as passive as sheep. They werent necessarily birds of prey, but in addition to scavenging, they did hunt. Sometimes alone, sometimes cooperatively. And their cleverness was well documented.


    Raven.


    <strong></strong>


    Good. A softball.


    There was amon undercurrent of thought that more severe penalties worked as a deterrent for criminals. If I remembered correctly, this wasnt the case. Surprisingly, it did almost nothing to reduce recidivism, either. It just made people more likely tomit additional crimes to cover it up. If the penalty for robbing someone is already horrific, youre much better off just killing them after to reduce the chances of being caught.


    Reformation.


    <strong></strong>


    I wanted to roll my eyes. Really? Were doing Theseus?


    <strong></strong>


    Another philosophical problem with a twist. The unaltered version didnt refer to man at all, rather whether a ship that had all itsponents reced over time was the same ship. There wasnt a correct answer to the paradox. This version was furtherplicated because the question made no reference to the mans brain. No notable damage or otherwise. And with the brain being key to who we are, it was entirely valid to argue that he was the same.


    I changed my answer at thest moment. No. Hes not the same.


    <strong></strong>


    It was a struggle to put it into words. My reasoning has nothing to do with the recements from the surgery. And theres no mention of brain damage. But his mind wont be the same. Trauma and hardship always catalyze change. Good or bad. And after an ident of that severity, grieving over what he lost, and undergoing treatments and exhaustive physical therapy? I cant imagine anyone woulde out unaltered.


    <strong></strong>


    Before I could respond, the darkness faded, and I jolted upright in bed.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126


    The sun bathed my bedroom in orange hues as I reviewed the options for Kings Ranger. I tried to focus on the positives.


    It appeared to be a mostly ranged ss.


    As a secondary, it integrated cleanly with Ordinator and was tied to my true level, which meant I didnt have to worry about itgging behind in level like my Page ss.


    It was usable as an additional identity, if I wanted to go that route.


    There were options that served as shortcuts for mastering other weapons, which solved my problem of constantly falling back on a crossbow.


    All things considered, it really could have been worse.


    Still, I kepting back to the same repetitive thought. Nychtas friend was an asshole.


    Unlike both the Ordinator and Page ss, Kings Ranger personified the one element Id wanted to avoid from the start. It was shy as hell. There were trick shots, massive attacks that drained almost all mana to utilize, even some options for drawing aggression.


    More problematic was that the name wasnt for show.


    Kings Ranger. Emphasis on <em>King.</em> There were feats like <strong></strong> that gave bonuses to acting on the Kings orders. <strong></strong> granted a massive power boost foring to their defense. The potential connection to that court the Suits were pursuing wasnt lost on me.


    I supposed it helped to some extent in terms of providing an additional cover. It would be easy to spin as an alternate reason for seeking the suits out. But I didnt like the idea of being beholden to anyone. Especially when I had no idea who they were. With luck, the ss being my secondary would diminish whatever pull the King, might have with his entourage.


    There were two acquisitions that came with the ss. <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> a skill and feat respectively. Because of the nature of hand crossbows, and the clunkiness of theirrger counterparts, Id been limited on range from the start. It was possible to inflict serious damage at considerable range with <strong></strong> and its counterpart, but it was unreliable by definition as a method of attack. Being able to pepper targets at range while my summons ran interference, then swap to my crossbow for anything that broke mid-range range, was far closer to ideal than the way Id been haphazardly throwing myself into fights.


    It would help differentiate me in social settings as well. Using the same weapons regardless of identity was going to bite me in the ass eventually. If I wanted to distance Matt the Page from the Myrddin persona, it would be easy enough to have the bow as Matts primary weapon. Bow and saber for Matt, knives and crossbows for Myrddin.


    <strong></strong> was a little more questionable, in terms of benefit.


    ording to the description, it buffed navigation and mobility in familiar environments. Id lived in or adjacent to cities all my life, so I was most likely to see that benefit in urban environments. Which was a serious boonif the skill itself wasnt a joke. No way to know until I tested it.


    All that in mind, I used all but one of my feat points to purchase <strong></strong> which upgraded the <strong></strong> skill. It was the first time Id seen a feat directly affect a skill. I couldnt help but wonder if this was the sort of flexibility the directbat oriented sses had ess to from the start.


    I nced at the time. Just past seven. As antsy as I was to talk to Ellison, waking him up and dragging him off somewhere was the perfect way to start this off wrong. I just needed to be patient. With that in mind, I bought a small training bow and a padded target.


    <strong></strong>


    Still working her ass off. No surprise there.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I cocked my head, considering the possibility. It was an excellent idea. Not to mention, it would give mom a project to work on to distract herself, decreasing the chances of a backslide.


    The problem was the potential for misuse. Scams, misinformation, or worse, a streamlined method for necromancers or simrly incentivized Users to lure others into a trap.


    <strong></strong>


    Myst unread message was from Sae. Itde inter than the others, close to four in the morning.


    <strong></strong>


    I wasnt certain how to answer. The purely pragmatic answer was no. Given what shed been through and what she was dealing with, any help she could offer was likely to be unreliable at best. But shed never struck me as particrly proactive before. When wed formed our short-lived party, Sae seemed happy to let Nick and Jinny operate as co-leaders and went with the flow of whatever was put before her.


    Which made this departure from the norm concerning.


    <strong></strong>


    I winced after sending it, hoping she wouldnt notice the grant attempt to stall. Our main hurdle was her inability to go out, well, pretty much anywhere. There was a very real possibility anyone who saw Sae would misidentify her as a monster and actor rather, overreactordingly.


    After a few more moments, I reached out to Iris.


    <strong></strong>


    A notification pinged, notifying me that the bow and target had arrived. I eased myself out of the bed and into the wheelchair to ce the target on the far side of the room, next to the walk-in closet. I took a position across from it and took a few minutes to study the bow. It wasnt particrly sturdy and had a light pull. Which was fine. It was meant for training, after all.


    I nocked an arrow, noticing how smoothly it locked into ce, and, taking in a quick breath, drew the string to my chin and released.


    The arrow whizzed through the air,nding with a thump in the third ring of the target.


    Interesting.


    <strong></strong> had taken an adjustment period to get used to, and even now, there were still times it felt unnatural and unwieldy. Every time I used a crossbow had me wishing for a Glock instead. But with <strong></strong> my movements were instinctive and intuitive, like Id been doing it all my life.


    The result wasnt perfect, however. I took a few more practice shots and realized the problem. Horizontally, the arrows were well centered. My issue was vertical. I waspensating too much for drop, still adjusting for distance like I was using a crossbow.


    Keeping that at the forefront of my mind, I tried again.


    One arrownded in a perfect bullseye.


    Encouraged, I tried to replicate it and failed. Still, every shot I fired afternded in a tight grouping within the center ring. Itd take some work, especially when I added more range into the mixthe entire reason I was considering a bow.


    I tore myself away from it after an hour of practice. Ellison had a strict internal clock that woke him at eight every morning, regardless of how much sleep hed had. It was well past that now, and he still hadnt responded. He was either avoiding me, or wanted me toe to him.


    Fine. If thats how he wanted to y it.


    I opened my door to find Iris swaying on her feet outside the guest room door, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. She was still wearing the same clothes from the previous day.


    Wheres your brother? I asked.


    Woke me when he left. Iris yawned. Said he was gonna go talk to Kinsley about something.


    <em>This early?</em>


    I mped down on the beginnings of rm and fired a message to Kinsley, checking to see if Ellison was there. The anxiety grew more significant when she didnt answer immediately. Maybe Ellison had fed Iris a line of bullshit, and Kinsley was still asleep, but I wasnt willing to leave it up to chance. Kinsley was my achilles. The foundation of everything we were building and working towards. Few people knew that, but with his involvement up to this point, Ellison could easily put it together.


    If he was working to undercut me, he would absolutely start with Kinsley.


    The gruesome aftermath from the cathedral yed on repeat in my mind.


    Gotta go. You need anything?


    Iris shook her head, stifling another yawn. Nu uh. Just gonna talk to Sae.


    Dammit. If it wasnt for the Ellison issue, Id ease Iris into this, frame it so Sae understood what we were trying to do. Still. Out of all of us, Iris was the most empathetic. Which was probably why shed moved my request to the top of her list.


    Id just have to trust her. Thanks, kiddo.


    Iris knocked on Saes door as I passed her, exiting the penthouse into the hallway.

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127


    My panic faded somewhat as I reached Kinsleys door. There was music ying within, barely audible with the soundproofing, and the scent of cooking reached my nose. That was strange. As far as I knew, neither Ellison nor Kinsley were any good in the kitchen. Ellison was terrified to even toast his sandwiches after an incident where he almost set the apartment on fire.


    I banged on the door. When there was no answer, I banged again.


    The electric deadbolt utched, and a smiling, dark-skinned woman opened the door.


    I blinked. Abuelita?


    Estrada lightly swatted at me. For thest time, Matthias. Im not that old.


    Whats the historical justification for hitting a guy in a wheelchair again? I straightened my hair, watching her with amusement. My once professor looked different. Closer to how I remembered her from our office hours, when she was still teaching.


    Chitn Estrada shook her head.


    Whatever Id been expecting to find, it certainly wasnt this. What are you doing here?


    Before she could answer, Kinsley yelled from deep in the apartment. Is that Matt?


    Estrada twisted in ce to answer. Yes.


    Good, maybe he can help solve this <em>clusterfuck.</em>


    Doubt it. Another voice. My brother.


    Swearing, Nia. Estrada challenged loudly. In all the time Id known her, Id never heard her raise her voice.


    Uh. Sorry. Kinsley sounded genuinely chagrined. Which was even stranger.


    Well, from the sound of it, Ellison hadnt done anything drastic. Id been so prepared for the worst that dealing with anything less felt like a relief.


    Whats happening? I asked in a low voice, as Estrada let me in.


    Im cooking. And your brother and Kinsley are negotiating.


    Before I could ask what the obvious question, I saw them. Ellison and Kinsley were sitting across from each other. Ellison looked irritated. What really took me back was Kinsley. Her typical grumpy disposition was gone, reced with a dead-eyed stare and neutral expression.


    Bringing him into this isnt going to help. Ellison sighed.


    I cant know whats going to help, if you dont tell me what you want. Kinsley steepled her fingers under her chin.


    You cant give me what I want.


    I scanned the room, considering how to approach this. Theyd clearly reached an impasse. Jumping directly in just after arriving would make Ellison feel cornered, like we were ganging up on him.


    Miss my message? I asked Kinsley.


    She nced at me and sighed. Kind of in the middle of something.


    I noticed Estradas family photo on the table. When I nced towards the kitchen, she was still milling about, steam rising above the stove. Estradas living with you? How did that happen?


    Oh. Kinsley lost the dead-eyed expression for a moment, suddenly nervous. Guess you havent looked at the rostertely. Before shit hit the fan, I may have told her a little bit about my situation, and she basically gave me a crash course in economics. Pretty much became a consultant in everything but name, so it was only fair to make it official. Estradas in the Merchants Guild now.


    Irritating as it was that she hadnt consulted me on that decision, it was probably the right call. Since it seemed more and more likely we were consolidating here, Id want Estrada in our region anyway. Granted, I would have tried to do it less directly, and kept her insted and uninvolved with the guild, but I appreciated that Kinsley had recognized her value and put her on the payroll.


    See? Ellison leaned back on his hands, smirking. The Merchants Guild is growing by the day. You can handle losing one person. Its not like Im helping anyway.


    Kinsleys dead-eyed expression snapped back into ce. She focused on Ellison, unblinking. Yes. I dont need you. And the Merchants Guild would survive your absence. That doesnt mean I dont want you in it. Youre a founding member. More than that, you think fast on your feet, and the information you gathered at the open-forum formed the foundation for the alliances were building today. Which is why Im willing to revisit your contract and adjust it within reason. If you want more to do, Im willing to work with you on that as well. Things are entirely different than they were a week ago. Not being able to contribute now means nothing when the world could flip itself on its head tomorrow.


    I couldnt help but be impressed with how much Kinsley had improved. There was no trace of the desperation that gued her during our negotiation for the dungeon key. On an average personhell, even a shrewd personit would have worked. But I knew from years of experience that you couldnt take a hardline approach with Ellison. Hed just egg you on and stop taking the conversation seriously.


    Right on cue, Ellison scratched his chin. But if the state of things is <em>so</em> vtile, what if the world flips itself back? Ill just be useless again.


    Kinsley cheeks reddened. You


    Look, Im going to save you a lot of air. Nothing you say will convince me. Theres no magic words that will suddenly make me want to stay. Theres nothing you can offer me. Were done, kid. Ellison leered.


    The taunt worked. Kinsley puffed herself up, about to bite down on the kidment, which was undoubtedly what Ellison wanted.


    Enough. I looked between them. Neither met my gaze. Ellison. Lets take a walk.


    Roll, you mean? Ellison tried.


    I ignored it. Come on. I want breakfast.


    /////


    Sams, the restaurant that branched off from the lobby downstairs, was apparently a spinoff of Nick and Sams, an upscale steakhouse in downtown. Id never been, but it had enough of a reputation that Id been hearing about it for as long as I could remember. Sams seemed to havergely copied the originals aesthetic.


    The expansive dining area was bordered with a barrage of modern art with price tags in the thousands. Above us, the ceiling curved upwards, opening in arge circle where a crystal chandelier hung as the only source of light.


    Most people came here for lunch or dinner. It wasnt really a breakfast ce, though the menu could have convinced anyone to the contrary.


    Ellison stared at me, daring me to say something, probably looking for an excuse to bow out early.


    With moderate effort, I held my silence.


    This is riveting, really. Ellison tried.


    I said nothing.


    The sounds of the kitchen and the couple whispering in the corner booth were the only noises present. Ellison ordered Bananas Foster Belgian Waffles. I wanted eggsbut after my daily dose of recovery potion, I wasnt sure I trusted my stomach to handle an omelette, let alone an omelette with duck confit, whatever the hell that was.


    Our waitressa blonde woman with kind eyesrmended their breakfast souffl. Again, I had no idea what to expect, but she seemed to think it would satisfy my egg request.


    When our orders came, Ellisons was precisely what it said on the tin. Belgian waffles with fancy quartered bananas. Then the waitress slid my te in front of me. And all I could think was how it looked like a giant yellow cupcake, sans frosting.


    Ellison pped a hand over his mouth. I thanked the waitress. He waited until she walked away to burst intoughter.


    What?


    Your reaction. You looked genuinely stumped.


    I tilted the te up towards him wryly, noting how it wobbled. This look like eggs to you?


    No. Ellison wiped his eyes. What even is that?


    Unable to help myself, I poked it with my fork. Its, uh, bouncy.


    My brother doubled over withughter. For a moment, the jaded person Id grown ustomed to faded away. I remembered teaching him how to ride a bike. How determined hed been to make it happen on his own, despite falling, over and over again. I remembered our nights of talking about pointless shit, like Marvel movies and anime power-rankings.


    At some point along the line, wed lost that. And I couldnt for the life of me remember when.


    Silence returned as we dug into our breakfast. It turned out, the waitress had picked perfectly. The souffl was definitely made of eggs, but it felt fluffier and lighter somehow. The only other ingredients were bits of sun-dried tomato and herbs. With theck of strain on my stomach, I devoured it,pletely unaware of how hungry I was.


    I leaned back slowly, fully sated, and studied my brother. Hed torn through his waffles just as quickly.


    Did you ever think wed be here?


    Ellison set his fork down. Trapped in a dome indefinitely, surrounded by people with powers


    Not that. I mean, eating at a ce like this.


    Oh. God. For as long as I can remember, Burger King was luxury. Kind of hard to imagine a life beyond white-bread sandwiches and pizza pockets, to be honest, Ellison said, studying the remains of his te. Then, he looked up. Did you?


    Not really. I hesitated. Not for a long time, anyway. With your ages, the timeline didnt really track. As it was, Id have tond one hell of a job to supplement you and Iriss college funds. I looked around again. Maybe after. Once we all made it through, we coulde to ces like this.


    Ellison scooted the lone banana around his te. You are being tactically vulnerable. Hoping a healthy dose of nostalgia will change my mind.


    I know I cant change your mind.


    He stuck the fork at me. Then whats the point of this.


    I wanted to eat breakfast with my brother. And I guess I want to know why.


    Why what?


    Why youre doing this now. I shook my head. Sure. We sh. And there have been times when Ive been too heavy-handed, or shot down your ideas. But Ive always had your best interests at heart. Always encouraged you to explore and discover what drives you, despite our circumstances.


    You have. Ellison nodded slowly. The agreement threw me. Id expected him to immediately push back.


    What I cant understand is the timing. We built something. All of us. You, me, Iris. Even mom. And now that its alling together, you want out. Why?


    For a moment, I thought Ellison might leave. Push back his chair and walk out the door, never to be seen again. Instead, he rxed, shifting in his seat. Do you remember when I got suspended?


    Vaguely.


    Really? He raised an eyebrow. Because its one of my most vivid memories. Right up there with the trial and the funeral. I got busted for letting a friend mooch off me during a midterm. He got a failing grade, and I got suspended for a week. Do you remember what you said to me?


    I did. But I wanted to hear what he remembered. That was a long time ago.


    Ellison smiled to himself. I thought youd be furious. You werent even angry that Id let a friend cheat. Just disappointed that Id taken the risk. After that, you told me that I should always put myself first. Always. Thats a weird thing for a kid to hear, you know? Totally counter to everything were taught. Sharing,passion, rainbows, and fucking butterflies.


    The first shred of guilt Id felt in yearsnced through me. Surviving was day-to-day, back then.


    Ellison held up a hand. Im not contesting that. Anyway. Because it was so umon, the advice fascinated me. I cautiously took it to heart, and after a while, realized you were right. Nothing in the real world reflected the lessons Dad taught us. People who share get taken advantage of. Compassion is just a tool others use to feel better about themselves.


    Dad couldnt possibly know what was in store


    He lied to us. Ellisons distant gaze slid to me. And so did you. The longer I watched you, the harder I clung to your philosophy, the more I realized it. Youre a hypocrite, Matt. And after I realized that, it was all I could see. The tear in the projector screen. And the more I saw it, the more I started to hate you.


    I fell deep into <strong></strong> and banished emotion, letting the words wash over me. That doesnt make any sense.


    Ellison shook his head. First, you put your life on the line to save a region that has nothing to do with us. Then you woke up, beat to hell and in a wheelchair. And the first thing you do? Bring some broken girl home. She cant even leave her room, and when she does, its like shes scared the walls will swallow her. Theres no endgame in it. You just did it because she was your friend or something. And those are just the most recent examples. Youve never practiced what you preach.


    I bowed my head low. You have <em>no</em> idea what youre talking about.


    Ellison threw his hands in the air. Maybe I dont. Could be this is all part of Matts master n. But if thats true, its yet another example of you keeping me in the dark. Im done.


    What about your sister. Mom. Are you done with them too?


    For the first time, Ellison hesitated. Itsted a fraction of a second, but it was there. Yeah. I am. Until recently, Moms been nothing more than a burden. Iris is too naive.


    It was obvious what he was doing now. He was angling for a clean break. One so severe it could never be mended.


    I held my head up and looked at him. Really looked. He squirmed under my gaze. I know youre trying to twist the knife. Make this conversation irreversible. Its not. We can go back, Ellison. To before we sat down at this table. Before you asked Kinsley to void your contract. Itll be like nothing ever happened. Ill bury it.


    Ellison put a hand to his mouth, then slowly lowered it down to the table. Thats not an option, Matt.


    My eyes stung. I didnt want to do this. But I had to know. You know what bothers me, about your whole philosophy? The philosophy you say I gave you? And maybe I did. I dont know.


    What now?


    I seethed. If I was out there, during the transposition? If I was a User? I would have run myself ragged trying to protect all of you. Theres nothing that could have stopped me from fighting, no cost too high. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, but who gives a fuck. Its a hill Id be happy to die on. But <em>you?</em> I red at him. Someone following the path youre on? I get the feeling they wouldnt raise a fucking finger to help anyone. Family included. Theyd still go out there, of course. To get theirs. Because thats all that fucking matters, <em>right?</em>


    If he had no idea what I was talking about, it would have sounded like hypothetical raving. But the truth was written all over his face. A wave of rage that surged from nowhere, shattering his apathy. There it was. Final confirmation Ellison was a User. For a moment, I thought he might leap over the table and strangle me.


    Ready for the I jolted at the sound of our waitresses voice. She looked between the two of us, her eyes wide. Ille back.


    Its fine. I took the bill and flipped it open. It looked remarkably simr to Kinsleys original invoices, before wed ironed out the store. I signed my name and left a tip. There was a squiggle of text on the upper-right-hand side of the receipt. I focused on it. Tara Strd. Whyd she write down her name?


    Probably for you to add her as a friend.


    But why?


    Ellison gave me a dry look. Then pointed to where the waitress had dotted the I in Strd with a heart. She likes you, idiot. You probably saved her cat, or grandma, or something.


    Oh. Now I could nevere back here.


    Im guessing you want me gone. Ellison said. Hed turned sideways in his seat to stare at the nearby wall, his veneer of apathypletely reformed.


    I shook my head. Youre my brother, Ellison. That hasnt changed. Go talk to Kinsley. Shes cooled down by now. Shell find you a ce somewhere in the building.


    Some distance would probably be better. Itd be awkward if I keep running into you all after this. He made a vague gesture between us.


    Ill let her know.


    Great.


    Good.


    I couldnt bring myself to look at him. For once, I need you to take what Im saying at face value. This isnt a gambit, or bait, or a guilt trip. Whatever angle youre working, I genuinely hope it goes well for you. But if you get in too deep, you can always call me. I will always be here for you. The door never closes.


    Just... stop. Ellison pushed his chair out and stood. Hell, you should be celebrating. Im finally out of your hair.


    With that, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.


    I waited there for a long time after he left.

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128


    <em>Ellison made his choice. Hes an enemy now. Same as the rest.</em>


    I shook my head. That was wrong. Not only was Ellison young, hed just been through one of the biggest societal upheavals in thest century. If not the biggest. Anyone would be confused. Reevaluating what you once held as fact and using that as foundation for challenging old thinking was a natural part of learning.


    <em>Even if thats true, it doesnt excuse what he did. You can say with rtive confidence that he was the User at the Cathedral. Yet, no noteworthy contributions to the receptacle before you made yourst drop, right before the buzzer. He had every intention of letting you all die.</em>


    There had to be a reason. Something I was overlooking. Considering how he was already halfway out the door before wed talked, Id avoided confronting Ellison on his User status directly, reasoning it would only push him further away. As it was, that was only a partial sess. My brother had chosen to remain in the building, unready to strike out on his own yet.


    Still, that was probably temporary.


    <em>Ellison ignored both nuance and context, andtched on to the most selfish, self-serving aspect of what you taught him and ran with it. Then he followed it to its logical conclusion, with no budgeting for wiggle room or gray areas. Youve spent plenty of time ruminating on the far-reaching aspects of your philosophy. You know exactly where it leads.</em>


    Shut up. I hissed,ying back on the couch and cing a hand on my forehead. There was no one left to witness my frustration. Itd taken arge chunk of the morning and afternoon to get my family settled. As expected, Iris and Mom had opted to live together. Id spoken to them separately to ensure that was what they both wanted. They were still taking up two apartments at the end of the hallIris was using the adjacent room for a future workshop. ording to Kinsley, Ellison chose an apartment on the seventh floor, content with the tradeoff of reduced square footage in favor of distance.


    The only ce we were likely to run into each other now was the lobby.


    <em>Maybe thats for the best. If you need to deal with him, itll be easier</em>


    Shut up! I shouted at no one in particr, then immediately felt stupid. Sae was still in the guest room. Iris said their initial meeting was productive, giving her plenty of ideas for how to improve Saes situation, but I hadnt seen Sae herself since yesterday.


    <strong></strong> could go fuck itself. Even if I wasnt overlooking anything, and the reality was exactly as it appeared, there was no reality where I dealt with Ellison preemptively. Perhaps he wasnt an ally anymore, but he was still my brother. The only way Id ever consider that line of thought was if he posed a clear and direct threat to the rest of my family. As it was, he was just selfish.


    And, frankly, not nearly as rational and pragmatic as he believed himself to be. There were plenty of holes in what he was putting forward. If he was truly that cold and calcting, what hed done made little sense. Even if the situation was the worst case, and he was actively working against us. The smarter move would have been to ingratiate himself with both the Merchants and Adventurers guild. He was already positioned for it. Which made the justification to shut himself off from the resources of both over notions of philosophy, hypocrisy, and pride, a borderline idiotic call.


    And whatever else he was, my brother wasnt stupid. Either it was an emotional decision, or there was another a reason.


    Tired of spinning my wheels anding up empty, I nced over to a pile of boxes next to the door. Id been explicitly forbidden from helping with the moving process. Instead, Kinsley sent some of her mercenaries over to help Mom and Iris pack up the apartment, and they had stopped by afterwards to drop off most of the things from my room.


    With a sigh, I started going through the boxes. One was mostly clothes. I didnt have a lot of variety when it came to wardrobe. Generally jeans, unbranded t-shirts, and hoodies. As I unpacked, my mind began to wander in another direction.


    Kings Ranger wasnt exactly an ideal fit, even beyond the fact that it implied the King was a real User who would potentially hold sway over me. The immediate issue was one of stats. From the feats Id reviewed, it prioritized Agility, Strength, and Intelligence, in that order. It would have been worse if Nychtas Ally had assigned me a ss with Strength as the primary focus, like a variant of Knight or Barbarian. But current circumstances still called for reevaluating my leveling strategy if I intended to use a bow at long distance. Heavy draw weight was crucial to both range and pration. At my current strength, I could probably manage to draw and fire an averagepound bow. But the bows Id seen both in Kinsleys store and in the wild were exclusively recurve. Even the training bow I bought took significantly more effort to draw than I expected.


    It went without saying that the higher quality, harder hitting bows would likely have a strength prerequisite along with agility.


    Which rankled. If Ordinator was better rounded, I would have no issue using Kings Ranger like Id been using Page. Cherrypicking feats with no requirements that augmented and iterated on my current fighting style, and ignoring anything that was tertiary or unsuited. An additional pool to draw from when it suited me.


    But if the Overseer was to be believed, the Ordinator ss wouldnt reach its full potential until farter. Which made it necessary to lean on Kings Ranger in the interim.


    <em>Why couldnt it be a mage ss?</em>


    Anything with magic focus would have taken care of my range issue. I could have kept leveling Intelligence as my primary stat. Thanks to my experience in the Null. I was going to have to find a way to work around the conflicting goals of two sses that didnt work particrly well together.


    I opened another box and found it stacked to the top with test prep and study materials. Most of the notebooks were full of half-awake scribblings and bullet-points, only a few of them nk or partially filled. I kept the mostly nk notebooks and tossed the others, along with my prep-books. It felt strange discarding items Id once valued so highly, but there was no point in keeping relics of a bygone era. They served no purpose now.


    There was a high-pitched series of clinks, like marbles mashing together. I reached below the textbooks, searching for the source, and pulled out a brown drawstring bag. It was full of multi-sided dice, all the same variation of dark blue, ck, and red.


    My thoughts immediately went to Daphne. Our afternoons of Fifth Edition Dungeons and Dragons, that eventually came to a bitter end. If all went well with the suits, Id be seeing her soon.


    Strange to think about.


    I withdrew a crimson twenty-sided die with silver lettering. Back when Id yed regrly, it was always the dice I used for overly difficult skill-checks or perilousbat situations. Daph called it the Oh-Shit dice, and made a point of calling it out every time I fished it out of the bag.


    It wasnt superstition, exactly. The reason the dice seemed to roll better than the rest was simple. The sample size of a few rolls per session was too small. If I rolled it enough, itd roll the same as any other dice.


    Still, after a few sessions, Id subconsciously started to rely on it.


    As I fiddled with the dice, rolling it around in my palm, something urred to me.


    <strong></strong> increased the chances of a certain variable working in my favor. It was a reliable way of creating windows of opportunity and using the surrounding environment to get an edge, and creating unexpected obstacles for any opponent. Without fully realizing it, Id been using <strong></strong> the same way I learned to use its predecessor. Casting it once in hopes of achieving a specific result. The description was too vague. But the name itselfcascade in lieu of spiralseemed to imply something more.


    I held up the dice and studied it. Id start with something simple to rule out what the skill was capable of.


    <em>Give me a twenty.</em>


    Taking a deep breath, I emptied my mind, and began to lower the dice towards my kitchen counter with the silver one facing up. This was the control test. If I didnt drop it, and set it firmly on the counter, it shouldnt be possible to achieve the goal I wanted. Better to rule out the impossible first, before I started testing in earnest.


    Whatcha doin, helpline? Sae asked.


    I jumped in my seat, sending the dice flying. Sae had crossed into the kitchen to talk to me. Shed spoken just before entering awarenesss range, and made absolutely no sound before that. The shower and nights rest had gone a long way towards improving her bedraggled appearance, though the redpound eyes were still off-putting.


    Sae reached up and caught the dice out of the air without turning her head. Then ced it back down on the table and slid it across the counter.


    I caught it beneath my hand, my brow immediately furrowing at the timing.


    <em>No fucking way.</em>


    Slowly, I removed my hand and revealed a silver 20.


    <em>That shouldnt have worked. Too many moving parts, and I had no idea Sae was there. The only time I ever tried something remotely simr, it nearly knocked me out, and all the arrow had to do was hit the target. Notnd in a highly specific manner.</em>


    Nice. Sae raised an eyebrow. Can we retroactively say I was rolling to talk you into raising the thermostat?


    I bit back a catty response on the table etiquette of calling out what you were rolling for before you actually rolled, and used the penthouse remote to bump the temperature five degrees higher. Done.


    No banter? Saes face fell. Please tell me youre not abstaining from your usual assholery out of pity.


    I shook my head, Nope. Im abstaining from assholery because I want something.


    Oh. Well I dide out here to try to make myself useful, especially considering everything youre doing for me. Iris is far too nice, by the way. Guess Im game. Sae shrugged, then her eyes narrowed. As long as its not too weird.


    I thought about it. As an exception to my Remain Unidentified as an Ordinator use, Kinsley would have been ideal. But she was busy, and I relied on her too much as it was. As the only standing member of my original group, Sae already knew my cover story of receiving User status after the transposition event was bullshit, and that in truth, Id been a User long before that. And from the footage the Overseer had shown, Ordinators varied drastically. Even factoring for the possibility that more information came out, it was unlikely shed be able to connect the dots. There were too many sses and abilities to make that logical jump. Still, Id need to be careful.


    Matt? Sae tried again.


    I made a decision and stuck the dice bag in my pocket. Come on. Grab a notepad and pen from the box.

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129


    Before I exined anything, I wanted to make sure I could back it up. I called Doctor Ansari first and asked if it was alright to use minor abilities. Ordinators Guile significantly reduced the amount of mana required to use anything on the Probability tree, so I figured it wouldnt hurt.


    She muttered something disparaging, but eventually relented after I promised to do nothing physically taxing, stop if I got short of breath, and agreed with her requirement to stay in the damn wheelchair. When I asked if there were any early indicators beyond shortness of breath to look for, the response was, Sudden unspeakable pain followed by loss of consciousness. After that, she hung up.


    Dr. Ansari <em>really</em> didnt like me.


    We sat around the coffee table. Sae listened as I described Rangers Fortune, outlining <strong></strong> as clearly as I could without calling it by name. She clearly didnt believe me at first. I understood why. As paradoxical as it seemed, magic required little faith. Most of it was obvious, the cause and effect easily apparent. What I was describing was far more abstract.


    Weve all been under a lot of stress, Helpline. Sae said, cutting my exnation off. And with the system throwing all these fantasy elements and powers into the mix


    You think Im losing it, I said dryly.


    I didnt say that, Sae answered quickly, ncing away. But werent vivid dreams one of the side effects of the recovery potions youre taking?


    Id warned Sae earlier because I didnt want her to panic if she heard me screaming. Still, I could understand why that was working against me now.


    Pick a number between one and twenty.


    Sae raised an eyebrow. Between? So, I cant pick one or twenty?


    I shrugged. Whatever you want. Just figured youd want to go for something lessmon.


    Fine. Thirteen. Sae said.


    I held up the twenty-sided dice and prepared to roll, picturing the number in my mind.


    Wait. Sae took the drawstring bag and pulled out a ck twenty-sided die. It matched the unnaturally dark chitin that covered most of her body. Use this instead.


    Why? I was curious to hear her reasoning.


    I instinctively picked a number without really thinking about it. Its possible you forced that choice somehow. Subtly suggested it.


    That was surprisingly paranoiding from her. You think Id do that? I asked.


    No dumbass. Sae rolled her eyes. If the point is to prove something, it helps if to eliminate any doubts I might have before we start.


    Fair enough. I took the dice from her hand and paused, ncing over conspiratorially. What if thats the loaded dice, and I arranged it this way because I knew youd request a substitution.


    Sae gave me an even stare. Dont be a dick.


    Fine.


    I pictured the result I wanted. Unlike before, I actually rolled the dice, giving my power plenty of time to work. It came to a stop, spinning on a corner, before it came up on thirteen.


    Sae blinked. Okay. Kinda creepy, but still possible.


    With a smirk, I rolled the dice again. And again. On the third result, Sae stopped me and rolled the dice herself. When she came up with a seven and one, she red at me as if Id sabotaged her somehow. Im still swapping your dice.


    Thats fine.


    Sae pulled three twenty sided dice with different coloring from the bag and handed them to me. Go again.


    She meant for me to roll them one at a time. I had something a little different in mind. So far, I hadnt strained myself at all. I could afford to push a little more. Focusing in, I imagined the result. While red and blue dice wouldnd normally on the table, the gray dice would settle on one and skitter towards her. Whether she caught it or it fell to the carpet, it would stillnd on the desired number. This was the first time Id tried for a split result, contingent on what might happen.


    The blue and red dicended together, jettisoning the gray dice towards Sae.


    Sae caught it in a chitin fist. Redo?


    I shook my head. No need.


    Sae opened her hand and drew in a breath. She looked up and muttered, as if calcting something.


    Not sure what the exact chances of that are, but


    One in sixty-four million. Sae grinned. If life ever goes back to normal, Helpline? We are so going to the Horse Races.


    /////


    Testing took most of the day. Sae seemed genuinely excited about the possibilities of my power, and helped think up ways to test its limits. Id described the many ways Id used <strong></strong> couched as hypotheticals, and Sae shook her head.


    You know what your problem is? Sae asked.


    Which one?


    Lack of creativity. She fell back on the recliner, snapping her notebook shut. Obviously, youve got a lot going for you with this. The potential is borderline bullshit. But youre too practical. Tripping, fucking with car engines, interrupting attacks. Its so one-note. She made a winding motion with her hand, Like youre so obsessed with getting from point A to point B, you automatically pick the most efficient route.


    Isnt that ideal? I cocked my head.


    If you want people to figure your shit out, sure.


    I stayed very still.


    Sae gave me a frustrated look. Its not hard to put together. One of the first things Nick told us about you was that youre very private and tend to hold your cards close to the chest. So far, thats urate. I dont care why youre lying to the others about being an NPC before the transposition, thats none of my businessthough Ill admit, I am curious. But it goes without saying that you wouldnt want other people to know about this power. She studied her hands, and her expression further soured. Since that first scuffle, Ive wanted a rematch. Ive thought about how to fight you. And knowing you have this ability thoroughly changes any strategy I had. Of course youd want to hide it.


    Feeling like we were drifting into ufortable territory, I asked a leading question. What did you mean, people figuring my shit out?


    Sae held up a finger. One. You can only screw with someone the same way so many times before they wise up. If I trip once, Im a clumsy idiot. If I trip twice, consecutively? Somethings up. She extended a second finger. If I tend to fall all over myself when the same User is around, you bet your ass Im going to be looking hard in their direction. The same goes for vehicle malfunctions, or missing when I know Id usually hit.


    I realized Sae was touching on a serious blindspot. I had a tendency to fall back on what worked under pressure. Thus far, Id been rtively anonymous, so employing the same strategies over and over hadnt done much harm. The conflict with the adventurers guild and my uing infiltration into the Suits had made that thoroughly unviable.


    With enough attention to detail, even if they didnt understand how, it wouldnt be hard for someone to figure out what I was doing, and how to mitigate the damage.


    Im not confident how to counter that. I admitted.


    Yeah. Sae chewed her lip. Ive been racking my brain while weve been testing.


    Oh?


    I think its a question of extremes. Using your power subtly most of the time, so low-key its almost impossible to detect. Then, when pushes to shove, and you have to go big, and you have to do something visible, making it look like something else entirely.


    I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. Like another ability.


    Sae grinned. From an entirely different ss. Think about it. Were talking about a skill that makes something with one-in-six-million odds an everyday urrence. You could confuse the hell out of anyone trying to get a handle on you.


    <em>Or terrify them.</em>


    A simple example was telekinesis. Regardless of whether telekic magic existed, it would be trivially easy to make people think I had it. Id been avoiding using gestures ever since I realized they were unnecessary in an attempt to hide my ability. ying it up instead was an interesting idea, and only the tip of the iceberg. Id have to dig deep ande up with a portfolio, but there was plenty I could do in theory to imitate elemental magic, or advanced meleebat skills.


    Saes phone beeped. She nced at it, then at the light fixture above the table. Thats time. Want to try the If-Thens?


    Above us, a half-dozen dice were bnced on their edges on the light fixture. The first if-then was my idea. I wanted to see if I could get <strong></strong> to activate under specific conditions. First, I made the trigger holding a hand beneath the dice for two seconds or longer. When that worked for both of us, I specified Sae. The dice remained fixed for me, only toppling when Sae held out her hand.


    Next, Sae suggested we test how long themandsted. I cast the ability, trying to keep my mana use even. Shed ced a die on the fixture roughly every half-hour for thest four hours.


    I held up a ss, walking from left to right. One by one, they clinked into the ss, until I reached thest dice, the first wed put up.


    I shook the ss beneath it, in case my depth perception was off. I guess thats it.


    You <em>cannot</em> tell me youre disappointed right now. Sae stared at me, ck jawed.


    Not exactly. But Id be happier if there was some way to confirm that the time limit was tied to the abilitys level. Its earlier iteration had nothing like this, so there was no way to know for sure.


    Three and a half hours is <em>fantastic.</em> Theres so much you can do with that. Sae stood and stretched up to grab the errant dice. The movement lengthened her chitinous body in a manner that looked off, somehow. She clenched her fists in excitement. Not to mention, youre not even breaking a sweat. Holy shit. I want to see how this would work inbat. Weve gotta get back out there.


    I held my breath, expecting at any moment for her to realize what she said and take it back. Getting the recovery potions down had been brutal, but I was on schedule to finish the second potion tonight. Meaning, if she was willing, I could take her to the adaptive dungeon with me. Not to fight the lithid, of courseconsidering what Talia said the creature was capable of thatd be a terrible ideabut maybe to revisit the earlier floors to test Saes abilities, and ensure I got a level out of it. I had a feeling that the dungeon would recalibrate for a party of two.


    But that would mean throwing Sae into abat situation that she might not be ready for.


    Is that what you want? I asked.


    The excitement petered out of her expression, and her hands slowly lowered to her sides. I cant slow down, Helpline. Every time Im alone, and the lights are off, Im back in the trial. With the whispering walls and that fetid water soaking into me. Reliving every mistake over and over. I have to <em>do</em> something. I have to move.


    That I could rte to, even though the rest of her situation was so far off, I ran through it in my mind, considering the possibility. You realize thats not sustainable.


    Sae nced down. I know. But its what I need right now. Iris said shed have something that would work temporarily byte tonight.


    Ill be back on my feet tomorrow. If Iris pulls throughkeep in mind, shes new to thiswell find a ce to spar and see if youre up to it I stopped mid-sentence as a message rolled in.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Whats up? Sae asked.


    I nced at her, my expression hardening. Well talk moreter. Its time to see how the assholes behind the scenes are going to spin this.

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130


    After double-checking to make sure the hallway was clear, I made my way to Kinsleys apartment.


    Kinsley led us in, Sae trailing behind. In normal circumstances, I would have introduced her to my old teacher. But Estrada waspletely focused on the TV, her normal congenial manner nowhere to be found. Instead, she was sitting forward in the recliner, peering at the image with unmitigated focus.


    On its own, this wasntpletely out of the ordinary. She often acted this way when a student asked a particrly difficult question. The kindly grandmother qualities disappeared when she called on her full intellect.


    Nia, did you suspend the market for the next hour?


    Kinsley swiped an invisible screen away. Its done. Put up a down for temporary maintenance, message, so people didnt freak out.


    Good. That should ward off at least the initial panic buying.


    Cant leave it down for too long. Steinbeck said. He was leaning on the kitchen counter, eyes glued to the TV. If people think their only source ofmerce is unreliable, demand will grow exponentially.


    I am aware. Estrada snapped. Finally, she seemed to notice us. Her eyes flicked to Sae, then immediately back to the TV. Come in, Matthias andpany. The monster is showing its face.


    Sae hesitated. She didnt look particrlyfortable, confronted with a new personI could understand why. Kinsley and Iris were both kids, naturally disarming. She sat down on the far end of the loveseat opposite of Estrada.


    On the television, the overseer was speaking. He looked much the same as before. His body was perilously thin, with limbs that were little more than twigs, though it was impossible to gauge his actual size. Something about his bodynguage seemed different from before. His pose was the same, but he was drooping somewhat.


    And so ends the first transposition. His tone was tter and more irritable than before. Even with a shortened time limit, most of you performed admirably. Despite some unexpected irregrities.


    An image shed, a barricade of red-and-blue lights surrounding a squad of police and riot shields. Most of them were unrecognizable, though I recognized Yulia, the woman at the Das Police Department recruiting table that was talking to Iris at the open-forum. She was near the middle of the huddle.


    Hundreds of goblins rushed towards them with clubs and rudimentary swords, while taller variants waited at the back, taking potshots with slings and bows.


    It was a bad match up for the goblins. In a formation that looked more like a spartan phnx than a modern police tactic, Users with pikes, spears, and long swords paired with the police in SWAT gear and riot shields, waiting until the goblins clustered up to the point they were almost immobilized to strike.


    Jesus. Sae poked me, still transfixed on the images. Was it like this everywhere?


    I shook my head. No. Inner-city got hit the hardest. But I didnt know it was this bad. Howd they even manage to gather anything?


    From what Ive heard, certain humanoid monsters were dropping lux. Kinsley said, grabbing a seat across from Sae. No idea if the bastards dropped it naturally, or picked it up at some point. Either way, the drop rate was so low that the average User probably wouldnt see one.


    As goblin bodies piled up at the shield wall, they seemed to realizea bit tootethat they needed to change tact. A goblin with red-face paint raised a cudgel and shouted something inaudible, and most of the throng followed him to the far-left edge of the phnx.


    Yulia turned back and yelled to someone off-screen. A series of rapid reports rang out, tearing through the ranged goblins on the backline. The attack wasnt as horrific as it should have beeninstead of dropping the goblins immediately, the impacts were reduced to the same effect as being hit with a frozen paintball, disorienting the goblins and knocking them down at best. Suddenly, the left side of the Phnx parted, allowing two Usersone with a giant mace, another with a double-sided axe through, easilyying waste to the bunched up attackers. When they began to pull back, Yulia leaped over the shield wall, spear glowing a vibrant red as she drove the cluster of goblins against the barricade of police cruisers in a barrage of attacks so quick they blurred together, pinning them against the cruisers while the heavy hitters continued to decimate the goblins.


    Interesting. There was clear disciplined strategy at work, the phnx, utilizing NPCs with firearms with User attacks.


    The scene switched, showing members of the adventurers guild working together to bring down one of the giants Id spotted near the city center. Tyler and a handful of other bruisers hacked away at the giants legs, while more mobile Users attacked from range and set traps, dodging in and out as the giant tried to swat at them. Sara scaled the gianther dismembered arm reced with a glowing yellow prosthesisused her whip to elerate the process. When she reached the giants shoulders, she danced around its shoulders and neck,shing out at its eyes, doing whatever she could to blind it. Eventually, it fell to its knees and toppled.


    Coordination worthy of celebration. The Overseer crooned. But not all of you were cooperating quite so smoothly.


    The next scene was a stark contrast. Two massive groups of Users that rushed at each other on a fivene road, forming colliding walls of violence. It could have easily been a LARP, or a reenactment of some kind, before the moment of collision. The impact was almost palpable through the screen, as flesh collided with flesh.


    As far as I could tell, they had no way of differentiating friend from foe. There were multiple instances of friendly fire. A bedraggled man with wild eyes was stabbing another man on the ground repeatedly. Someone tackled him. A mage, who held a wand to his face and seared him until he was almost unrecognizable. The mage stood to his feet, swaying slightly, then stood stock still as he studied a sword jutting out of his chest.


    I looked over to Kinsley. The hell happened there?


    Kinsley chewed her lip. Given the area, it looks like it could have been neen and twenty? No idea why theyre fighting.


    A familiar image came into focus. Our siege of the storage center in region 3. I felt some relief, as most of the attention was centered on the conflict outside the facility. That relief shifted into unease as I witnessed exactly how brutal the diversion had been. The assholes in region three had streamed out at first, trying to overwhelm us with numbers. Astridunched artillery spells at the encroaching force, aiming at their periphery, trying to do enough damage that she couldnt be ignored but avoiding the sort of center mass hit that could have easily wiped out Users whose defense wasnt up to snuff.


    Still, it wasnt perfect. A glowing artillery stnded a bit too close to the group, severing the leg of a nearby User, who copsed to the ground. Another fell next to him, his eyes open.


    <em>Dead before he hit the ground.</em>


    A user screamed in rage and rushed at Astrid. Bob darted out from the median and tripped him with a bow before he could attack her shield, driving the end of the bow into the mans head. A bit too hard, as blood trickled from the mans ear.


    The camera panned towards the building and began to move towards it. Recognizing the direction it was headed, I held my breath, gripping the handles of my wheelchair tightly. It passed through a cked out window and into a hallway, where Miles and I were working in tandem to take down the Users in the entryway.


    I breathed out quietly as I saw myself, garroting a user. My proportions were off, but more importantly, it looked like I was standing in deep shadow, even thoughconsidering the overhead lightI should have beenpletely visible. Miles made exactly the impression youd expect. He looked like an action hero from a bygone age, managing to smoothly dodge attacks and put his targets down with the minimal force needed.


    The overseer continued on, detailing the achievements and shorings of several regions. Eventually, he shifted gears.


    Many of you took initiative. Put your lives on the line to protect the ungifted. The Overseer narrated. But there are always cowards.


    It cut away from the previous scene and showed a crowded receptacle. A handful of Users in starter gear stood around fear written on their faces, diminishing somewhat as a more proactive group made a deposit and immediately left.


    For those of you who chose to do nothing? Who blindly allowed others to carry the weight, ignorant of their toil? Well. Let us state this simply to ensure you understand. Everything youre about to see, is entirely your fault. The overseer pointed towards the camera.


    What followed was footage interspersed from region 13 and 17, the regions that had failed to fill their receptacles. Id only caught shes of the chaos in region 13. Now, viewing it in its entirety made me sick to my stomach. Gangs of people kicked in doors, dragging others out and executing them like livestock.


    Its almost too obvious. The way theyre using tragedy to radicalize any remaining bystanders. Estrada said, her voiceden with detached interest.


    And exacerbating the tensions between new and experienced Users. I shook my head. Anyone who wasnt a User before the transposition is going to get lumped in with the people who stayed passive, unless they have someone respectable to vouch for them.


    Estrada looked away from the carnage on screen, locking eyes with me. This is pure propaganda. A calcted process of creating division among the masses, when division will hurt us most.


    Despite trusting her judgement, I hoped she was wrong. Because if Estrada was correct, the overseer still had another avenue to drive that division home.


    The footage cutoff mid-scream, eerily silent without the cacophony of background noise. Slowly, the Overseer leaned forward. With the way he was positioned, the jagged smile on his mask was almost crookedly apologetic.


    What we are about to show you should not have been allowed to happen. It urred outside the natural order. It is the natural result of a warning unheeded.


    I braced myself for the inevitable, as the blood-redndscape of Region 6 filled the screen.

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131


    Steinbeck let out a low whistle from the back of the room.


    What <em>is</em> that? Sae whispered.


    Gehenna. Estrada murmured.


    Are those things people? Kinsleys face was pale.


    Theres a lot of ugly in the world. Shootings. Genocide. Apartheid. The list goes on and on. At first, its nearly impossible to look away. Our minds need logic, some sort of pattern to follow. So, at first, we stare the horror in the face and search for the reason it exists.


    Eventually, the reality bes clear. There is no reason. It simply is. And dwelling on it only harms our state of mind. Eroding our worldview, digging talons of anxiety into our psyche.


    The prospect of looking away bes too tantalizing to ignore. To forget. Allow ourselves to be desensitized.


    I didnt want to shut this out. I could see the shambling figures in my peripheral, the endless expanse of crimson.


    So, why was it so difficult to look?


    You were warned of the cancer in your midst. The overseer crooned. It wasnt subtle. We showed you what woulde to pass. This is the cost of your inaction.


    The view of region 6 was a slow, sweeping panorama. It settled on a ck dot, surrounded by red. Slowly, the recording zoomed in, the ck dot gaining more distinct, human like qualities. His features were cast in silhouette, almost indistinguishable beyond being human. My heart caught in my throat as I recognized the moment the Overseer was showing. My foolish disy of defiance.


    <em>If you mess this up? </em>


    <em>If you fail to take me off the board early, and I gain even a fraction of the power of those Ordinators in the footage you showed?</em>


    <em>Ill find you.</em>


    The figure tilted his head up towards the sky. Any moment now, Id remove my mask.


    One-hundred-and-seventy-four thousand lives. Ended pointlessly, for the sake of nothing more than hubris.


    I braced myself as the recording zoomed in closer. With only one potion left, I could be back on my feet in less than twelve hours. Id need Kinsleys sanctuary. Hell, we both would. This was bad, worse than Id feared. The number of people I could rely on was about to shrink to low single digits, maybe less, if they bought everything the Overseer was saying.


    Onscreen, I reached up slowly towards my mask.


    Then the recording cut away.


    <em>Why? They had me, dead to rights.</em>


    Neither gifted nor ungifted was spared from his wrath. The Ordinator lingered, afterwards. Sullying what was already defiled.


    They showed the silhouetted figure striding among the dead, picking up cores from the ground.


    For those of you unaware, there is a small chance that, upon death, a gifted or ungifted may drop a core. This core is of little mary value. But it is not worthless. To some, it might be more precious than anything left in this world. They contain a portion of the persons very soul.


    Of course, they were careful to edit out any footage that showed the twisted remnants of region 6 moving said cores, or the tainted receptacle.


    But that wasnt the only element they were avoiding.


    I watched myself reach out towards something. My memories of that moment were scattered, but Id used both Talia and Audrey to speed up the process. Again, the footage cut away.


    I covered my mouth, hiding a predatory smile.


    <em>So, thats it. You cant show my summons. More importantly, you cant show me without the mask. Thats one of your rules, isnt it? And not one you can y fast and loose with. You can tell people I exist. Stoke their fear. But you cantnd the killing blow. That must be infuriating.</em>


    An unnatural calm settled over me. I closed the chat message Id intended to send to Kinsley the moment my face was shown, and nced over at her. She was shivering, fear written across her expression. Her shivering crescendoed to full-blown shaking as the scene changed again, showing a silhouetted figure facing off against the adventurers guild, making no effort to hide the connection.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Word would spread quickly. Vernon had probably already told the Suits my name. If they were as connected as I expected them to be, it wouldnt be hard for them to make the connection. And with the Overseer implying to the entire dome that I held the power to wipe out an entire region, the likelihood of my recruitment had just skyrocketed.


    But all of that would be for naught if Kinsley cracked.


    <strong></strong>


    Slowly, Kinsleys shaking slowed until she was utterly still. Her fear was gone, but the rage in her face remained.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The ordinator must be purged. Unfortunately, we must abide by the restrictions of the system. And this all we can speak on this matter. But, we urge you. Make haste. The longer you dy, the more his power grows.


    Anyone working out a n to take this asshole down? Sae asked. Her expression was grim.


    Be careful not to lose focus on whats important. Estrada said. She looked somewhat disturbed from watching the broadcast, but there was steel in her voice. We established that we were being shown propaganda. That hasnt changed. Whether the Ordinator did what they are using him of is not set in stone. They did not show him attacking the region directly, only salvaging from the aftermath. And even if he is responsible, he was not the one to put a city into chaos, forcing people into conflict with countless innocent lives hanging in the bnce. Regardless of the veracity of their ims, it is likely they are using him as a scapegoat.


    He doesnt seem like the kind of threat we can ignore, Sae insisted.


    Our tes a little full. And Im still wrapping my head around everything else, I answered honestly. But after this, there will be plenty of factions out for justice. Well cooperate with them as much as we can.


    Yeah. Kinsley agreed quietly. At the very least, we need answers. To make sure what happened to region six doesnt happen again.


    The Overseer continued in the background. To end on something of a lighter note. We cannot disclose the exact ranking, as the victor of this event received something priceless for their efforts. That being said, Regions three, five, and fifteen were the first to gather enough Illuminating Lux to fortify their areas of operation, and thus were rewarded handsomely for their excellence.


    Excellence. What a joke. I knew next to nothing about the other two, but Region 3 had been hoarding lux and preying on Users that drifted into their territory. Whoever the victor was, I hoped it wasnt them.


    The overseer leaned back on his crystal throne. With that, the first transposition eventes to a close. You might be tempted to recuperate, grieve those you lost. Enjoy the spoils of your victory. We strongly advise against this notion. Continue to hone yourselves. Make the most of the gifts youve been given. Because this reprieve is only temporary. And the next event could be right around the corner.


    There was a collective silence that pervaded the room, as the television turned to static.


    Steinbeck broke it. Son of a bitch needs to eat a sandwich.


    Kinsley snorted. Thats your answer to everything.


    Respectfully, Maam? If you put me in a padded room and starve me till I look like that guy, Id probablye out a sadistic motherfucker, too.


    This goes a bit beyond hangry, Steinbeck.


    Sae joined in. And whats with tuxedo? Who wears a tuxedo anymore?


    Maybe the cosmic horror store was out of suits in his size. Steinbeck shrugged.


    If only that bowtie was a little tighter Kinsley trailed off, swiping through an invisible menu. Her smirk disappeared.


    Problem? I asked.


    Adventurers Guild. Kinsleys mouth moved silently as she read through the message. Looks like a mass message to essential members and other guild leaders. Calling for an emergency meeting in two hours. Vague on any details apart from the topic being a joint threat.


    It wasnt hard to guess what they nned to talk about. I nced over at the open window. The sun had set, and thest vestiges of gold and orange were fading fast. Id nned to get plenty of rest for my venture into the Adaptive Dungeon tomorrow.


    It looked like that wasnt happening.


    /////


    All told, as we filed into the plush bleacher seating at the ground floor of one of therger rooms of the conference hall, I wasnt particrly worried. There were already dozens of people around us, with more entering by the minute. Being here meant we were still in the circle of trust. Above suspicion, at least for the moment.


    As long as we were coolheaded and kept our stories straight, this would be nothing more than another ufortable bump in the road to our goals.


    Or at least, thats what I thought. Before a familiar face took a seat beside me.


    Expensive cologne assailed my nose, as the man leaned over me to extend a hand to Kinsley. From what Ive heard, congrattions are in order. This is your region now, right?


    Oh, Kinsley blinked, and returned the handshake. We did, uh


    Miles, He said, giving her his megawatt smile.


    <em>Fuck. </em>


    Miles settled into the seat beside my wheelchair, and peered at me. Sorry, thest few days have been chaos. Have we met?

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132


    Not that I remember? I gave Kinsley a questioning look, struggling to stay indifferent despite the rising internal panic.


    Why the fuck was Miles here? He had no direct connection to the adventurers guild, at least as far as I knew. It was possible that he was one of the people theyd talked to, as part of their investigation. But it felt like more than that.


    Matt, this is Miles. He assisted with the raid on region three. Kinsley said quickly, eyes darting back and forth. She probably felt ambushed. Couldnt me her, really, as I felt simrly. Him being here, choosing a seat next to us? None of it was coincidence. The question was whether this was a coordinated attack or a fishing expedition.


    Wed had ample time to get our stories straight over thest few days. If it was just a question of sticking to them, that wouldnt be a problem. But this was Miles, someone I knew from experience, had a hell of an eye for detail.


    Doing my best Nick impression, I gave Miles a rueful smile and shook his hand. Ah. From what Ive heard, you did us trapped civvies a serious favor. They were kidnapping Users from region two, right?


    Miles waved away thepliment, his eyes twinkling. Nah. All I did was take down some mercenaries. Your guild mate did most of the heavy lifting. Instead of drilling down on that, like I expected, Miles was suddenly distracted, ncing across the room, lighthearted expression dimming. I followed his gaze to where a group of people were finding their seats. I didnt recognize any of them individually, but their corporate call-center aesthetic immediately called to mind the recruiting table at the open forum, luring people in with barbecue.


    LRE. I leaned towards Kinsley. Surprised the adventurers guild was willing to pull them into this. Whatever this is.


    Thats not even the bottom of the barrel. Look three rows below them Miles was careful not to point, or even look directly at them. I followed suit. The group was dressed in all ck, and seemed to have adopted something of a viking aesthetic,plete with blue face-paint.


    Aesir. Kinsley scowled.


    Whats their deal? I asked.


    Mostly ex-cons. Supposedly targeting and robbing Users from the jump, Miles said, his voice cold and analytical. For the moment, the veil of congeniality faded away, and I could see the hardened operator. Nothing definitive, though. Just rumors. Probably why they werent cklisted. Say, he leaned toward me innocently, Youre the boy who lived, right?


    Yeah. He knew exactly who I was. I groaned dramatically. Please tell me people arent calling me that.


    Rx. Came up with it all on my lonesome. Miles grinned. I couldnt help but marvel at how good he was at presenting a non-threatening air. There was none of the suppressed danger Id felt from him during the transposition. If this were my first impression, Id probably suspect him of <em>something</em> trying to ingratiate himself to the Merchants guild, perhaps, or working some sort of angle, but itd be far harder to make the connections Id made during the transposition with the image he was presenting now.


    Still. Its a hell of a thing you did. Miles spoke casually, as if he was talking about the weather. I imagine most people are still too relieved that it happened it to question how it happened, exactly.


    Over-exining anything at this point would be a dead giveaway that I was either nervous, or trying to curry favor. I smiled again. I appreciate that you helped fortify our region


    But you dont know me. Miles finished, almost sheepish at the admonition. Of course.


    The following silence dragged out for what felt like an eternity. I knew what he was doing. Using a break in the conversation to create difort and make the other person volunteer information they wouldnt otherwise. Normally, Id let it backfire. Hold my silence. But winning, this interaction wouldnt help me. I needed to seem normal.


    Any clue why were all here? I asked.


    Yes. Miles stretched his legs out, draping his hands over his knees. Unfortunately, my lips are sealed. The big man in charge has sworn me to secrecy. But given the timing, you can probably guess the topic.


    The Ordinator. I said glumly.


    Natural that anyone in the merchants guild inner circle would be quick on connecting the dots. He raised an eyebrow. Though you dont seem thrilled by the idea.


    This feels like an intentional distraction.


    How so?


    I struggled for a moment, deciding how much to reveal or hold back. Talking about Myrddin felt like an obvious tell, but not talking about him when Miles knew he was associated with us would be just as much of a giveaway. Eventually, I shook my head. The Overseer revealed himself as <em>the</em>mon enemy to end allmon enemies. When that happens, its natural to overlook differences and consolidate powernot all of us, but most, allying together to ensure we were prepared as possible for the next event.


    Miles studied his nails. They were buffed and trimmed to perfection, gleaming in the top-down lighting of the conference room. Had to wonder if hed done them himself or found a salon crazy enough to open days after the transposition. Youre ignoring something crucial.


    The event beingpetitive?


    Yes.


    Im not certain that it was.


    Interesting.


    Obviously, I cant speak to what it was really like. And I dont mean to diminish your experience, or the experience of every other User out there busting their asses


    Miles interrupted, The hedging isnt necessary. Your life was on the line too. Every civilian was dangling off a cliff.


    I propped my chin on a fist. Think about it. Region fourteens receptacle was nearlyplete. From what Ive heard, the other regions that failed fortification were simrly close. They may have shorted us intentionally, but given the chaos, and the likelihood that region three wasnt the only regionor individual Users for that matterto hoard materials given the illuminating luxs inherent value


    Ah. Miles smiled thoughtfully. Given the variables, If they intentionally shorted the supply, youve postted the rate of failed fortifications would have been far higher.


    Significantly. Closer to thirty to forty percent. I paused. Something about the way he was filling in the gaps struck me as rote. My uneasiness mounted, as I realized Miles had already reached this conclusion. He just wanted to hear me say it. My guess? They gave us exactly what we needed for each region to fortify. Probably more.


    And how does Myrddin factor in?


    There it was. The trap. Testing how much we knew. Miles hadnt asked about the Ordinator. He asked about Myrddin. There was nothing in the Overseers wrap-up that connected Myrddin to the Adventurers guild for anyone but the Adventurers Guild themselves. If I answered as if hed ask about the Ordinator, hed have me. If my response was too oblivious given the context of the discussion, hed have me.


    Clever.


    I met his eye, unflinching. You think Myrddins the Ordinator?


    Its looking that way. Miles held my gaze, then nced over at Kinsley. I already know how she feels about him. If things hadnte out so publicly, I almost wonder if they would havee out at all. But now, Im curious about your experiences.


    We didnt talk much.


    With a guild that small?


    Kinsley interjected. The Merchants guild had a shaky start. Several individuals with differing purposes who came together out of necessity. Myrddin wasnt stupid, but he was generally the action guy. Off doing his own thing unless we needed him. I appreciated the break. Holding a conversation with Miles under these circumstances was like fighting a barbed wall. There wasnt much I could do to throw him off bnce, and the chance of slipping up grew higher the longer we spoke.


    Which makes you the, what, tactician? Miles pointed at me.


    More strategist, really.


    So, even if your interaction was brief, you must have had a read on him. One strategist to another.


    I rolled my eyes. Another veiled attempt to gain rapport.


    Ill prove it to you. Miles said, crossing one leg over another. An average person would be sweating right now, worried about being outcast due to their association with a person who may have caused the deaths of a sizable portion of the poption, but youre cold, calm, and collected. Reason being, youve equalized the coteral and insted yourselves as a byproduct. You had a bad apple, publicly renounced him, then managed to save a region of roughly the same size in a coincidentally dramatic manner that naturally endeared others. He hunched, deep in thought. Now, Im not confident why exactly you went for the Hail Mary. Maybe it was to help the adventurers guild. Perhaps it was because you already had an inkling that Myrddins off-book activities would require something big to sway the court of public opinion in your favor. If thetter is true, youre a bastard, but brilliant nheless.


    Any chance youre arriving at the point soon? I asked.


    The point is, Im able to piece that together from my brief interaction with you, a handful of ounts from people who interacted with you before the event, and paying attention. So, you must have had some sort of read on Myrddin. Even if themunication between the two of you was limited. And Im not asking for charity here. Quid pro quo. If you help me out, Ill tell you the working theory.


    It wasnt just about painting a connection between us, though hed done that well. Miles was flexing. Trying to make me feel as if hed already figured everything out, and he was just looking to corroborate what he already knew.


    ssic cop tactic.


    If youre asking if he seemed like the kind of person capable ofmitting an atrocity


    Im not. Just your basic read.


    Why was he hammering on this point? Why did my opinion on Myrddin matter to him? He didnt know me from Adam. The only justification I could think of was that hed gotten wind how Id handled the situation with the Adventurers Guild and the rogue SWAT officer at the open forum. But if theyd been willing to discuss that with him, he was in this deep.


    There had to be something I was missing. Miles had felt somewhat responsible for Myrddins downfall, misattributed the conflict with the probationary Adventurers Guild, offered to advocate for me at the receptacle, intimidated the members of Rodericks Lodge whod wanted to kill me right then and there. Why the sudden switch?


    Kinsley was being forthright when she said that Myrddin kept to himself. He was stingy with any details on his ss or outside activities. Generally conflict averse. When Miles raised an eyebrow, I continued. Got the feeling it wasnt for any principled or moral reason, but because he wanted to avoid drawing attention to the Merchants Guild, and by proxy, himself.


    You didnt like him. Miles read between the lines.


    I dont like most people. Doesnt mean much.


    Tyler passed by us, taking a seat beside Miles. Miles pped him on the back and leaned in to whisper something, to which Tyler nced at me and nodded. He looked mostly the same as when Id seen himst, with one notable exception. A thick eye-patch that covered his right eye. The skin around the patch looked inmed, veins and blood vessels standing out around the affected area.


    Tyler leaned forward and smiled apologetically. Kinsley told me you intend to raise your level as quickly as possible to catch up once youre up and around.


    Just trying to cover lost ground. I answered slowly.


    Were happy to assist. But recent revtions have changed thendscape. If youre willing, wed like to split your time, Tyler said.


    Kind of hard to agree to anything with all the cloak and dagger going around, I muttered


    Also, Matt does have a region to manage, Kinsley added.


    Tyler nodded, understanding. You have a full te. Its understandable you wouldnt agree to anything without knowing why. But I have a feeling, once everythingsid out, youll want to be involved. Tyler gave Miles a t look, and the smaller man studied a distant wall innocently. Also, I apologize for our friends <em>unnecessary</em> drop-in. Your name came up on the short-list for a group were putting together. I put in a good word, but Miles wanted to evaluate you himself.


    I stuck a thumb at Miles. Hes assisting?


    Tyler shook his head. Taking lead. Weve gotten to know each other quite well over thest few days. Im He stopped himself, reaching up towards his eyepatch with a grunt. There was a tick in my mind, like emtion telling me he was using a skill, but it wasnt fully firing off. The dry click of an empty revolver, rotating cylinders. Ill need to focus on administrative matters. Miles is better suited for this sort of thing, regardless.


    It reminded me of something Id almost forgotten in the chaos.


    Tyler had nearly died in an ambush that ended in Sara sacrificing her arm to save him. But hed lost an eye. Obviously, their healer had managed to regenerate it, as hed been back to normal thest time I saw him. However, Talia had suspected the lizards had eaten something imbued with divine energy and infected Tyler with it, to unknown long-term effect.


    Something clicked in my mind. That was probably how the gods had justified spoofing his ability, giving him a false negative at a key moment. Bypromising itpletely, pulling out all the stops to kill me earlier.


    But if that was true, the gods had not only failed, but paid dearly for it. Tyler had used the truth-seeing ability sparingly during our region meeting, far more sparingly than when Id first met him and during theter altercation at the open-forum. Add in the fact that he wasnt leading the group investigating Myrddin, considering how much he must have wanted to, it all pointed to a vital realization.


    Tyler knew his ability couldnt be trusted.


    Which meant if my hunch was correctbarring any monumental fuck-upsmy chances of sess had just skyrocketed. I just had to get through this.


    The confused murmuring of the conference room had increased as more people arrived, growing into a low roar.


    Tyler nced back at the crowd. Its about that time. He stood and walked towards the front.


    Miles followed behind him and stretched, pausing to turn and shoot me azy grin. Well chat moreter.


    I tried one more time. Not sure what I could even do to help you. Im just a kid.


    No. Youre not. Miles waved behind his back as he walked away.

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133


    I was more confident now that I had Tylers trust. His wife had been in the region wed saved, and whatever he and Miles had talked about, I was reasonably sure he didnt suspect me. The man was careful, but he didnt hide his emotions well.


    Miles was another story.


    Id watched the way he worked first hand, knew a fraction of what he was capable of. And that fraction frightened me. Whether he possessed the hubris required to bring a suspect into an investigation was irrelevant. From now on, It was safer to assume that anything he said, any actions he took, were all part of a mind game.


    Even if they werent.


    Miles leaned against the wall behind him as Tyler began to speak. His voice was imbued with a unique gravitas that immediately quieted the crowd. Id like to apologize for bringing you all here on short notice. Its a time of great hardship for all of us. While theres no definitive number, there are estimates of casualties beyond two-hundred thousand. Nearly a sixth of the citys poption.


    The number made my head spin. I knew it was bad. Towards the end of the transposition, you couldnt travel a block without seeing a body. Usually more than one.


    There isnt a single person in this room who hasnt experienced a loss of some sort, whether it be great or small. Tyler paused there to study the crowd, let his words sink in.


    I angled my wheel-chair just enough that my extended peripheral epassed the crowd. Some looked more crestfallen than others. <em>Everyone</em> was tired.


    Most of you saw the broadcasts. The one that urred before the event, and the follow-up that aired a matter of hours ago.


    There was an angry murmur in response. Tyler nodded. The powers that are driving this, seem to view our tragedies as nothing more than setbacks, our victories as the result of their gifts. None of us agreed to be a part of whats happening. No one signed up for this.


    A few agreements were uttered.


    Divisions have already begun to form, as have alliances.


    Are you fucking serious? Someone said. It was a man from the Aesir group, caucasian, with long dreadlocks that extended below his shoulders. His arms were crossed.


    Tyler paused, a sh of anger appearing for only a moment before he banished it. Instead, he extended an open palm. Was there a question in the back?


    Did you really bring us all here for a pussy-ass kumbaya pitch?


    Surprisingly, the Guild Leader chuckled. Speaking of division. A nervousughter followed, and the Neo-viking turned red and sat down. But no. As much as Id prefer arge-scale allianceand willing to consider a smaller alliance with practically any party present here todaythat is not the purpose of this meeting. Tyler took a deep breath and looked around, his face stoic. Theres no telling how long this ordeal willst. After less than a month, our losses are catastrophic. If it continues at this rate, less than half a year from now, we will be obliterated.


    A heavy silence fell over the room.


    Everyone in this room is here because you understand the importance of banding together in times of crisis. Tyler did a slow sweep, surveying the room. I understand that there are conflicting objectives, differing methods and purposes among our groups. What Im proposing is not a full-blown alliance. Simply an agreement. That in matters that pose an existential threatdisasters with a likelihood of high casualties, we act as one. Yes? He pointed towards someone in the back.


    A woman in businesswear and sses in the LRE row lowered her hand. She idly spun a golden pen that had yet to touch the notepad beneath. Were not opposed to this sort of thing in theory. But if this meeting is about the Ordinator, were not interested. The overseer told us practically nothing about them. Not to mention, the footage shielded their appearance. We have better things to do than chasing bogeymen in the dark.


    Another murmuring bubbled up from the crowd. Some in agreement, others in dissent.


    Tyler reached up, clicking a remote control. The first slide came up on the projector screen. It was one of the stills from region six of me standing in the center of the hellishndscape. He pointed to the figure. What if I could tell you not only his name, but his objective? Give you ess to the tools youd need to identify him? Would that hold your interest?


    The woman slowly inclined her head.


    Fair enough. Heres what we know. Tyler picked up speed. Sometime in the first half of the transposition, nearly one-hundred-and-seventy-five thousand men, women, and children died. The surrounding city was transformed into what you see before you. If youre keeping up with the math, thats correct. Most of our casualties stemmed from a single region. There were no eyewitnesses that saw the actual transformation, so we can safely assume it happened quickly. Shortly after, a solo-user wed previously encountered called it in to my associate. This Users name was Myrddin, and as of this time, we believe him to be who the Ordinator was referring to.


    What did he look like? Someone called out.


    Tyler grimaced. We believe Myrddin is in possession of either an item or ability that obfuscates his appearance. The result is subtle but effective. You might see him as tall and stern, while a friend standing next to you might see him as short and hispanic. Thankfully, this is not limitless. My associate spent a short amount of time fighting alongside him, and was able to identify him as the same person, though he looked entirely different.


    I watched, in a mix of horror and fascination, as Tyler recounted the events, touching on nearly every interaction wed had during the transposition. He was careful to divert me and suspicion away from the Merchants Guild when it started pointing that way, stating clearly that every other member of the merchants guild was ounted for. I had a feeling the only reason there wasnt a world of suspicion being thrown my way was my name was on the Adventurers Guilds roster, apanied by the NPC ss. Tyler was emphatic that there wasnt a feat that could dupe this, with confidence that indicated he must have researched and cross-checked thoroughly.


    If that was one of the key reasons I wasnt suspected along with Tylers personal bias, I needed to find a way to totally absolve myself, and quickly. Because Ellison had managed the same thing with the Merchants Guild. With over a million people still standing, it was astronomically unlikely we were the only ones. And if that came out before I established an alibi that could somehow clear me after the fact, I was fucked.


    The woman from the LRE raised her hand again, and Tyler called on her. This is all very intriguing. But if Myrddin can change his appearance at any given time, Im not seeing how its possible to track him down, let alone catch him.


    Tyler nced back at Miles. I think thats my cue to let the professional take over.


    Miles rubbed his neck in an aw-shucks way as he swapped ces with Tyler. He leaned down too close to the standing mic and cleared his throat. Hi. Im Miles. Ie from a long and decorated history inw-enforcement. No need to get into the details, but Ill be heading up the Ordinator Task Force in cooperation with the Adventurers Guild.


    It struck me that the shyness wasnt an act. Miles wasnt a good speaker. The natural, almost super-human charisma he possessed on an individual level seemed to leave him the moment he started speaking into the mic. Tyler outshone him significantly. It didnt help that the crowd seemed less than thrilled to be speaking to a government official, considering how the government had done approximately fuck-all since the transposition started.


    Tyler did an excellent job bringing you up to speed on the actual events. Ill briefly recount my experience, as its tied intimately with what I suspect Myrddin is after. Miles struggled with the clicker, and eventually the image shifted to a still from the broadcast: Myrddin stooping to pick up one of the User cores in region six. Not long after the dome becamemon knowledge, I was reassigned to what the men in charge called the necromancer initiative.


    <em>Fuck.</em>


    All at once, I realized why Miles was so invested in this. Why Tyler felt he could trust him. They had something inmon. Myrddin had duped them both.


    There was a certain subset of Users that were killing people en masse. To the extent that localw enforcement picked up on it immediately and notified the proper organization, who, in true bureaucratic fashion, pawned it off on us. Miles nodded towards the front-middle row that contained the DPD, Yulia taking up the corner. He flipped through several slides, giving them a much more detailed rundown of the sewer necromancer that hed described to me.


    With one notable exception.


    Miles went into detail on a necromancersir. The concept of their itself reminded me of Kinsleys sanctuary. ording to Miles, their served a double-purpose as abined workspace and hideaway for the User. And if the User died, their would remain solvent for an hour, then dissipate.


    Welle back to that. Miles smirk faded. Now, I had a feeling there was a necromancer involved. All signs pointed to it. Before we fullymitted to the course, I warned Myrddin about the dangers a necromancer posed. Hed been nothing but cooperative up to this point, so there was no reason to withhold vital information. Unsurprisingly, this did nothing to dissuade him. I didnt trust him, exactly, but it was in line with his prior motivesprotecting the region and minimizing casualties.


    Miles paused for a moment as if waiting for questions from the crowd. When none came, he continued. We got separated during the raid. Our paths converged at the top floor of the building, in the necromancersir. Myrddin beat me there and neutralized the threat. I only got there in time to see the aftermath.


    His green eyes shed in something I couldnt parse in time. It was almost giddy. This is where it gets <em>interesting.</em> Ive spent thousands of hours in various interrogation rooms. Taught electives at Quantico on the topic. Theres a certain art to it. You cant always get a confessionsome perps are too smart for thatbut after a while you can easily spot the lies. Everyone has a tell. I say all this, so you can understand who exactly were dealing with. Because nothing about the events Myrddin recounted felt inauthentic. If anything, he seemed genuinely distraught over killing someone, justified as it was. Disyed all the markers of a person whod gone through a truly traumatic experience.


    Miles thumbed the clicker, returning to the image of me standing in the midst of region six. He was so convincing, that it wasnt until everything came out at the end of the transposition that I started having doubts. Those doubts persisted, until I returned to the raid site on my own, finding it abandoned.


    He thumbed the clicker again, and the familiar image of Vernonsir returned to the screen. Seeing is believing. This was taken hours after the necromancer had supposedly died. I retrieved the alleged necromancers corpse and brought it to a colleague of mine, who performed an autopsy. He found that the victims wounds were inflicted post-mortem, and the actual cause of death was due to an overdose consistent with the drugs the necromancer was using on his victims. Anyone want to connect the dots?


    An ufortable murmuring followed as the various guilds conferred among themselves.


    Yulia raised a hand. When she stood, there was a clear handprint bruise around her throat, and her voice was raspy. Myrddin was probably already searching for a necromancer. Part of the reasoning for his actions at region six was to acquire leverage for when he found one. He likely cut a deal with the real necromancer and killed one of the hostages as a scapegoat.


    Jesus Christ. He already had a regions worth of cores at that point. Someone muttered.


    Who would be capable of something like that?


    This is disturbing and disquieting. The LRE woman said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. But if youre experienced as you say, and he still managed to elude your suspicions, Im lost as to how the rest of us are supposed to identify him.


    Thats a fair question. To answer it simply, power has limits. I highly doubt Myrddin conceals his appearance at all times. Which is why I called in a favor and had my colleague work up a profile.


    There was a rustling of paper, as two stoic-looking users at either side of the conference room began to distribute handouts. An uneasiness grew in my gut as the papers grew closer and closer, each person reading them.


    Miles clicked to a bullet point slide. Were looking for a caucasian male. Age range between eighteen and thirty. Disadvantaged socioeconomic background, despite being highly educated. It follows that hes mostly self-taught. Charismatic, but not necessarily in a way that makes him stand out. Exceptionally maniptive. Unlikely to form close tonic or romantic attachments. Generally, ruthlessness and an absence of moralpass goes hand in hand with these types, but you already know hes shrewd and exquisitely deceptive. Hell likely be going out of his way to conceal these aspects when hes blending in. But they may bleed through when hes pressed hard enough.


    My world began to spin, and I forced myself to take slow, steady breaths.


    Its far more likely that he seats himself adjacent to powerful figures and institutions, rather than in a ce of direct leadership, and has a tendency to show up at the right ce at the right time, which will likely appear to be nothing more than happenstance.


    <em>He knows. Im fucked.</em>


    I reined in the panic strand by strand. Miles didnt know anything definitively. Couldnt know. Half a dozen people in this room alone probably fit that profile. However, our conversation hadnt been a coincidence. He must have already realized that I shared some characteristics, though not necessarily how perfectly hed pigeonholed me.


    If I panicked now, itd be all the confirmation he needed.


    Its unlikely hes an existing guild mate or member. Reiterating what Tyler said, as far as were aware, the roster system is for the moment iron-d. There are Users who can shield their true ss from other Users with identification abilities there was a shocked gasp that went over the room. Apparently, that nugget of information wasnt widely known yet. But none that we know of that can supersede guild rosters. If you know something we dont, feel free to step forward.


    No one did. There was a natural pause, though, and I decided to use it to my advantage. I raised my hand.


    Miles raised an eyebrow as he pointed to me, a small smirk ying at the side of his mouth. A silent challenge.


    And if we suspect someone of being Myrddin, what then? This profile casts a wide. Im sure you have some sort of n in mind, considering what could happen if you dont.


    Miles cocked his head at me, then looked back towards the crowd. Matt raises a keen insight. As expected from the newly minted savior of Region Fourteen. I found myself to suddenly be the focal point in of the room, as people nced at me and whispered to each other. Make no mistake, we need to handle this issue as soon as possible. If the Ordinator did, in fact, use the chaos of the event as cover for what happened to Region Six, its likely hell do something simr when the next event rolls around. Having an amped up necromancer in his pocket only exacerbates the threat. However, this is all theoretical. No one has seen Myrddins face. Thest thing we need right now is for this to devolve into a witch-hunt. He met my eye again. If there is someone you suspect to be Myrddin, do not confront them directly. Simply log whatever information you have about the person, and forward it to my colleague. Please don''t hesitate to add him on your social tab.


    The clicker made an audible noise, and the slide disyed a name inrge text. Avinash Raju. Hell be first on the list.


    And what do you intend to do with him? The woman from the LRE asked. I dont mean to be callous, but these are desperate times. Someone with the power to level an entire region could be extremely useful, if they were brought to heel.


    An opportunist. I made a mental note to get her name from Kinsleyter.


    Apprehension is the priority if were able to do so safely. That being said, were not going to take any chances. Miles answered. The adventurers guild has a method of power suppression, and the ability to confirm that an individual is, indeed, the person were looking for. He nced back at Tyler uncertainly. However, thetter can only be used sparingly. So, we want to be sure before going that route.


    My focus dimmed as Tyler and Miles fielded more questions from the crowd, and I considered my next move.

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134


    The meeting concluded after what felt like an endless round of questions. I intended to make a casual bee-line out of the conference center, but I was waid by abination of well-wishers and schmoozers. I handled them as politely as possibly, slowly making my way to the exit at what felt like inches per minute.


    <strong></strong>


    She was sticking closer to me now, her jaded facade slipping. Every minute that passed, she looked more like the little girl selling cookies at the end of the world.


    <strong></strong>


    Finally, we cleared the entryway doors of the Adventurers Guilds new headquarters and began to head towards the apartment tower.


    What Kinsley started, stopping mid-sentence as I cut her off with a message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Kinsley didnt send a follow-up message. Now that we were out in the open, she was walking a few steps away, lost in thought. I wondered if we were thinking along the same lines.


    It all came down to an unknowable. The true purpose behind the tragedy of Region 6. There could have been a simple exnation. Maybe a contagion or monster that was meant to be weaker had mutated somehow, its effects far more devastating than the game runners intended. Or they needed to reduce the total poption within the dome for some other reason. In either scenario, it made sense that they would use me as a scapegoat if the intention was to get me off the board early.


    But if that wasnt the case? If the sole purpose was to weaponize the massacre at region 6 to incite this exact situation?


    Then it was my fault.


    Not in the traditional sense. I hadnt done anything to directly cause this, other than existing. However, that didnt change the possibility that it happened because of me.


    I had to carry it. And do everything I could to prevent the past from repeating itself. If that meant working myself half to death, or cooperating with people I didnt like, or a straight up faustian bargain, that was fine.


    But I refused toy down and die.


    Thats an interesting look. Someone called from the dark. A red ember cherried as Miles took a long pull on his cigarette. He wasnt <em>on</em> in the same way as when hed dropped in on us before the conference. The dark circles around his eyes looked more pronounced.


    I leaned towards Kinsley. Catch up with you in a minute?


    Kinsley nodded, giving Miles a neutral stare. Ill walk slow.


    I wheeled my way over to the trellised bench. A no-smoking sign was etched into the beam that supported the tted overhang. Beyond the bench was an alley that lead to an emergency exit. Miles must have snuck out. It confirmed my earlier thought, that he didnt handle public pressure well.


    The whole lurking in shadows, making cryptic remarks bit is going to get old fast. I said, unable to hide the resignation in my voice. Miles shoved a blue-green pack of camels in my direction, raising an eyebrow. I shook my head. Im seventeen.


    Rx, straight-edge. One year doesnt make that much of a difference. I got the feeling he wasnt talking about the legal smoking age. Miles kept the pack where they were. After a moments hesitation, I took one. He cupped one hand around the tip and lit it for me.


    I took a cautious pull and coughed, trying to hide my disgust.


    It looked like you decided something. Just curious if it had anything to do with what we talked about. Miles finally said.


    Youve put me in a difficult position. Absentmindedly, I took another drag. It didnt taste any better, but this time I didnt cough. A light buzz sharpened my mind, building pressure on my temples. Masks off?


    Masks off. Miles confirmed.


    You already know I fit the profile. As far as I can tell, you havent told anyone in immediate leadership, though Id bet that friend of yours, Avinashwho coincidentally, is about to be extremely well-connected for how insted he must beis fully aware. As well as a few others for insurance, if youre overly cautious.


    Considering the power of the individual were dealing with, itd be boneheaded not to take precautions.


    Which means I need to keep you alive. I saw Miles lean forward a bit, and inwardly smiled. My guilds reputation is already going to take a hit from what you and Tyler revealed at the meeting. Not a massive one, but a hit nheless. Itll be unrecoverable if someone takes you off the board, bringing further usations to light. I cant contribute much at my current level, but if Im able to cover ground on that front quickly, the simplest way to ensure that doesnt happen, is staying in proximity to you whenever I can.


    Miles chuckled. While Im touched by your selfless concern for my safety, Ive done this before. I dont need your protection.


    But it wouldnt hurt.


    No.


    Which leads to an optics issue. I sighed. My father told me once about a shortcut the cops used to spot guilt. He said, look for the person quickest to help. Which honestly sounds likes bullshit, and potentially harmful if you run across an honest-to-god altruist. But I looked into it, and apparently its an actual thing. More than that, its somon that its almost like theres a veritablepulsion for guilty parties to insert themselves into investigations into their crimes. Theyll drop by the police station, or suddenly remember something important, or just linger around the crime scene itself.


    I didnt know your father was inw enforcement. Miles lied.


    Yes you did.


    He shrugged, shivering at a sudden cool gust of wind that tore through us and shielding his cigarette that had burned down to barely more than the butt. Yeah. Thats a real thing. Though Ive always thought it was more of an ego-trip than true psychologicalpulsion.


    You were baiting me with it. Hence, the drop-in before the presentation.


    I was. His green eyes glittered in the dark.


    I turned my wheel-chair, so I was perfectly centered on him. Cards on the table. I know Im not Myrddin. So, yes, maybe agreeing to work with you is bad for me short-term, especially if Im knowingly walking into a trap youveid out. Still, it seems like the quickest way to clear myself, even if thats going to be uphill for a while. But I wont sign up for this, if the reason youre bringing me into it is to clear or confirm your suspicions.


    Because you want to help, Miles said, voiceden with irony.


    I dont give two fucks about helping you. I shook my head. Or finding the Ordinator, for that matter.


    What then.


    I looked off into the darkness. I could see the creeping flesh of region 6, slowly encroaching in my minds eye. Joshua Denboroughs hand jutting upwards, like a crooked g pole. I cant get the images from the broadcast out of my head. They were haunting. Statistically speaking, someone I knew died there. And I probably wont ever know who.


    My second ex-wife and my daughter used to live in that area. Miles mashed the butt of his cigarette under his feet. I knew theyd moved. But hearing what happened still nearly sent me into a panic attack.


    Thats what Im saying. It could have been your family or mine. Obliterated in minutes. And if youre right


    Itll happen again.


    Unless we stop it.


    So, Miles raised an eyebrow. Youre walking into the lions'' den.


    Counting the suits, that made two this week.


    I hesitated. Contingent on you not wasting my time, yes.


    Miles eyed me, fishing another white cylinder out of the pack. When I asked you how you felt about Myrddin, you deflected. But you werent a fan. Before.


    The answer took longer to formte than I expected.


    If I was honest, I liked being a User. The feeling of power coupled with the victories and sesses was so tangible and real feeling, I couldnt imagine giving it up. I even liked being an Ordinator. The way the ss forced me to n yed to my strengths, and I enjoyed being able to control the battlefield.


    That wasnt all there was to it, though. My limits were constantly being pushed, to the point I continuously took actions that were natural solutions at the moment, but grew more and more questionable as time went on. My victory over Talia, the betrayal of the Spider Queen were early examples. More recently, during the standoff with Rodericks Lodge, Id been fully prepared for them to call my bluff. Mostly to sell the liebut there was no doubt in my mind I would have followed-through, even if it meant the deaths of multiple Users.


    Were those actions justified? Probably. In most instances, my life had been on the line, or Id been acting to protect someone. But that didnt mean I liked it.


    No, I finally said. There was something about him that scared me.


    Figured.


    Why?


    Miles stood from the bench and rolled his shoulders. Heard the saying, Like attracts like? Personally, Ive always found it to be horseshit. More often its the opposite.


    Like resents like.


    Exactly. Had that issue with my first wife. First, Im not as convinced its you as you seem to think. Even if I was, I wouldnt act on it until I had something concrete Miles rubbed his neck, Thank my recent crisis of confidence for that. But if youve been truthful, Im guessing Myrddin didnt like you either. Too many simrities in the way you both think. Which could be invaluable if you can predict his next move. So yes. I intend to use the hell out of you.


    Miles was asking me to y a dangerous game.


    I frowned. Never thought we had much inmon, but that might be a blindspot on my part.


    We all have them. Miles said darkly.


    So what now?


    Miles frowned, looking out towards the sky. This all came togetherst minute. Theres some people I need, if theyre avable. Or still alive for that matter. Ill also need to cherrypick a few folks from the Adventurers Guild to fill the gaps. Probably best to keep this small. Minimize risk. He seemed to release hed been rambling, and gave me a sheepish grin. Ill contact you in a few days.


    Good. There was some time. I breathed an internal sigh of relief. With the final quest floor of the adaptive dungeon tomorrow, and the rendezvous with the suits directly after, my schedule was swamped. And for any interaction with Miles, Id need to be at the absolute top of my game.


    Looking forward to it.

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135


    It was closing in on two in the morning. Still wired from the meeting, Id parted ways with Kinsley, finished thest recovery potion, and headed down to the apartments gymplex. Despite usually being locked around this time, Id gotten special permission to ess it after hours from thendlorda middle-aged woman with a blonde bob haircut named Dawn, who coincidentally never seemed to sleep. It wasnt the iron I was after, but the adjacent racquetball court.


    A handful of Users in the area had converted it to a small training arena. Thick gym pads lined now-scarred white walls.


    Id made the mistake of underestimating the adaptive dungeon the first time. I wasnt about to overestimate my abilities after being mostly wheel-chair bound for thest few days.


    Carefully, I stood, and took a few tentative steps. My muscles ached slightly, but there was no immediate rebound of pain. Feeling slightly emboldened, I jumped up and grabbed onto one of the overhanging tforms that ascended in something of a stairway to a rail-less octagon suspended by a central pir, and attempted to lift myself up to chest level.


    I overshot from the sudden burst of movement, nearly tumbling off the tform back onto the ground, hanging perilously by one arm.


    But I didnt fall. Even hanging one-handed, my grip was solid. Surprisingly so.


    The sudden dexterity had to be the augmented agility at work. I just hadnt expected it to be this effective. When my stats had been augmented, Id beenpletely run down and exhausted. There was a notable boost then. Now that I was well-rested, the increase felt exponential.


    And I hadnt even toggled the <strong></strong> on yet.


    Curious, I tried to lift myself up with one hand. I managed it once, my chin touching the plexiss rim of the tform. When I tried to repeat the feat, my arm began to tire, muscle giving out at the halfway point.


    Right. Augmented agility did nothing to boost my strength.


    I dropped to the ground in a solid crouch, the wooden floor echoing with the impact. After considering it and deciding there was no real reason to wait, I messaged Sae.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I frowned. Was I too short? Or was it that I was messaging her when we were staying in the same apartment?


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    After a quick scan of the conversation, I worded my next message very carefully.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There was no response message. Couldnt really me her. Even through the viewpoint of <strong></strong> I still felt a lingering sense of horror at the mimunication.


    Still, it made me think. I needed to diverge my maskless life from the profile. Not all at onceif I altered my behavior drastically, it would be painstakingly obvious to someone as perceptive as Miles that I was overcorrecting, gging clear guilt. But if I deviated over time, slowly painting my altered self in subtle strokes that were different enough to cast doubt? That could still be an effective strategy, even if he was looking for it.


    I rifled through my pockets, eventually withdrawing the wadded receipt from Sams with the waitresss name scribbled on the corner. Miles had specifically called out that Myrddin would be unlikely to form close tonic or romantic attachments. Bad fucking timing for my best friend to be MIA, but maybe I could do something about thetter.


    Even if the thought made me mildly queasy.


    The t white wall of the racquetball court door swung inwards. I spun, reaching down towards my hip. Then stopped.


    Sae was wearing a dark overcoat. Beneath the sleeves were a pair of gloves that looked slightly oversized, but did an excellent job masking her attention-grabbing ws. The chitin around the base of her chin was covered with an orange scarf, herpound eyes concealed by a pair of reflective aviators. The finishing strokeand, I suspected, the reason for the overcoatwas whatever magic Iris had managed with Saes legs. Armored augmentation on her legs thickened them, while some clever trickery in the design made her knees appear as if they were bending the correct way. Though considering her uncharacteristic trudge, there was probably a limitation on how quickly she could move and maintain the facade.


    It wasnt perfect. Sae still looked suspicious as hell. But no one would mistake her for a monster.


    Iris worked fast.


    Your sisters an angel. Sae took the sses off, revealing hexagonal-tiled red eyes. Helped me try it on. Its not functionalshe was really beating herself up about that and promised the next version would be, though honestly, I was just happy to not look like a freakthen exined how it worked and passed out on the couch. She paused. We safe here?


    I nodded. Should be. Landy said I was the only one with ess.


    Good. First time I havent been freezing and, of course, Im too hot. Sae ripped the scarf off and starting dismantling her augments, leaving them in a pile in the corner. I looked away on reflex. While I waited, I plugged the waitresss name into my social, hesitating on the mental trigger to add her.


    I blurted out the question before I could think better of it. How do I ask someone out?


    Sae slowly turned. Any more hard right turns tonight, and Im gonna get whish, Helpline.


    Forget it.


    Youve seriously never done that before? Asked someone out? Flirted?


    I hadnt. For one, it had always struck me as a frivolous waste of time, given my situation. Dating was for people who didnt have to worry about where their next meal wasing from. And Id never really met anyone I found attractive enough to even consider it.


    Just drop it. Lets do what we came here to do.


    Oh hell no, now Im interested. Sae grinned, stalking into my vision. This adonis that melted your icy heart.


    I crossed my arms. Shes a waitress. And its nothing serious.


    Huh. Does she know you exist?


    She made the first move.


    Are you sure?


    I rolled my eyes, despite the fact that Id utterly missed it at the time. She wrote down the system equivalent of her number on the receipt.


    Huh. I mean yeah, thats interested. But you have to be careful and consider her motivations.


    Thanks for the vote of confidence.


    Seriously. Maybe its just hero worship, but from what little Ive picked up, youre in a position of power as the region owner and connected to two serious guilds. Sae cocked her head.


    I considered it. If the waitress did have an ulterior motive, that was probably ideal in terms of bncing the scales. Honestly, its better if shes looking to get something out of it.


    Sae gave me a dead stare. So, youre just looking to she smacked a hand against her wrist twice. It clinked, rather than the meaty p she intended.


    That queasy feeling came back into my stomach. God no.


    So if its not sex, and its not romance, what are you even wanting out of this? Sae lookedpletely perplexed. It was a fair question.


    Its an optics issue. I finally admitted, not sure how else to say it. With this spotlight on me, I need to do whatever I can to look normal. Stop people from asking questions before they start.


    You want to reduce your disquieting, possibly-a-serial-killer vibe. Sae guessed.


    I winced. Okay, hurtful but yes. Thats the general idea.


    Sae tilted her head thoughtfully. I mean, shes already bought in. Short of ghosting her, shell probably take anything you do as reciprocated interest. How nice is the ce she works at?


    Ufortably fancy.


    Fine-dining people tend to be particr about their food. Dont do a restaurant until you know what she likes. Do coffee, or boba, or something.


    That was surprisingly insightful. Should I, uh, wait a certain number of days before reaching out?


    Sae shook her head. Nah. There are people who y those games, but thats mostly a myth. As long as you didnt start spamming her texts the second you got her contact information, or send significantly more messages than she does, youre fine. Sooner is usually better, to be honest.


    I nodded. Slowly, the ridiculousness of the conversation began to sink in, and I felt my cheeks redden.


    Sae snickered. To be a fly on the wall in that coffee shop.


    Shut up. Thoroughly ready to forget this conversation ever happened, I stalked to the center of the room, my footsteps reverberating on the scuffed wooden floor. Your turn in the hot seat. Lets see what you can do.


    For the first time, doubt shadowed Saes expression. It feels weird.


    Your bnce? I guessed. Her center of gravity had changed significantly.


    I finally looked at my character screen yesterday. Most of the abilities are written in anguage I cant understand. But the stats themselves are significantly increased from where they were before.


    Which stats?


    Strength and agility. Both in the low thirties.


    My eyebrow shot up at that. Compared to where she was before, being in the thirties of any stat was an insane boost, even if it didnt align with her ss. Sae shook her head. But thats not the weird part. It feels wrong to take advantage of this. Like


    Like youre tacitly approving of what happened to you. I finished.


    Yes. Exactly. Sae peered at me suspiciously. How can you be so insightful when ites to psychological shit and simultaneously clueless when ites to what we just talked about?


    I ignored the jibe. None of us chose to be in this situation. And sure, there are some monsters that probably prefer this to the world we had before, but theyre the minority. Personally, I think theres no shame in using the absolute hell out of any tools youve been given. Regardless of their source. Thats just survival. But thats just my feelings on it. What matters, is what you think.


    Sae chewed her lip. I think I want that rematch.


    I smiled. dly.

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136


    It was better to maintain the appearance of low stakes. A friendly spar of no consequence. Even if, in reality, Saes performance directly decided whether it was worth risking bringing her into the adaptive dungeon. Wed skated through the trial by the skin of our teeth, and the venture hadnt ended well.


    While it was true that, as individuals, we were both far stronger than we were during the trial thanks to her recent stat boost, ourbined strength was still probably less of that than our original group. There was just no easy recement for the powerhouses wed lost. Nick and Jinny both.


    There was no safety. No Nick to bulldoze through monsters if either of us were overwhelmed or injured. If I was going to take Sae into the dungeon, she needed to be rock solid.


    I took a spot towards the rear of the court. Sure you dont want to go over your abilities first?


    Im sure. Saes expression was nk as she stared me down. Her demeanor had changed since Id epted the rematch, much of the anxiety suddenly absent. The shift in behavior was disquieting, but probably a good sign. Ive worked out what some of them do. You already know what I had before. Not really keen on giving advantages away. She licked her lips in a manner that scared the hell out of me. How hard do you want to go?


    I hefted a wooden practice saber in my hands. Though light, it was more than heavy enough to cause injuries if I wasnt careful. Its just a spar.


    Last time we sparred, you almost broke my nose, bashed my head against an armoire, and threw me into a pool. Sae red at me.


    That was an ambush. I reacted ordingly. I shrugged. However, point taken. No broken bones. After reevaluating the ws on the end of her long fingers, I added, Or deepcerations. Nothing that would do permanent damage or risk causing an injury that would take more than a simple health potion to fix. Beyond that, we want this to be as real as possible.


    Youre worried Ill choke. Sae frowned.


    Its just as likely I may be the one to choke. I said. She pursed her lips, and I exined. Seriously, Im counting on you here.


    Dont patronize me.


    I bit back an irritated reply. It was better to be honest, even if showing weakness was something that went against my nature. Look Ive started experiencing certain issues ever since the event. Everyday noises startle me. And even though Im probably far safer here than, well, anywhere else, its almost impossible to drop my guard.


    Post traumatic stress. Sae connected the dots, and her irritation seemed to melt away.


    Exactly. No idea how bad it is. So, this isnt just about evaluation. Its about ountability. I watch your back, you watch mine. If either of us sees anything out of the ordinary, or a ring issue that wasnt there before, we call each other out on it.


    Seemingly mollified, Sae rubbed the back of her neck. Youre making it really hard to bepetitive right now.


    Just putting my cards on the table. Some of them, at least.


    Sae set her legs in a manner that looked more like a sprinters stance than anythingbat rted. Ready?


    Ready, I confirmed, not entirely sure what Sae intended. Did she n to use her superior strength and speed to plow me over before I could catch my stride? It was a viable strategy, considering the stats, but I couldnt help but be slightly disappointed by the direct approach.


    Without looking away, I evaluated and catalogued my surroundings. There were beams in the center of the room, tforms that formed oversized steps ascending the left and rear walls, where a railed catwalk led to an octagon supported by several beams in the center. I seeded <strong></strong> on her legs, anchoring the spell to activate when I pressed my index, third, or fourth finger to my palm. Then an anchored a section of heavy looking pads on the rear wall to my thumb, one of the tforms to my pinky. The mana drain was significantpared to the dice, but far less so on the inanimate objects than Sae herself.


    Thick crimson fog rose around us, obfuscating my view of her. I felt myself freeze up. This was some variation of the <strong></strong> ability shed had before. All at once, I was surrounded by red again. I could almost see the silhouettes of figures, shuffling


    <strong></strong> screamed, pulling me out of my reverie just in time as Sae emerged like aet through the mist, glowing blue fist cocked backward.


    I threw myself out of the way with no time to think andnded hard on my side, barely managing to salvage the momentum and roll out of it. I sheathed my saber and immediately withdrew my practice bow with <strong></strong> There was a meaty thump as Sae mmed into the pads on the back left wall.


    The fog was dissipating quickly, but if I yed this too passive, shed be able to regroup and try that insanely quick charge again. I nocked an arrow and released it. It <em>fwipped</em> into the evaporating mist and hit the floor with the tter of wood on wood. I pressed a finger into my palm and listened for her to fall, then took another shot, and another.


    Time out. Sae said.


    Unless youre conceding, we didnt establish time-outs when we went over the rules. I answered, taking another shot in the direction of her voice. There was a loud crack, the feathered tail of the arrowing spiraled out of the mist andnded next to me, sliced in half.


    <em>Did she just deflect that arrow with her ws?</em>


    Seriously, wait. I might not be able to control it. Its like Im constantly peaking. Hard to dial it down.


    I considered that, my heart pounding in my chest. The safest option would be to call this off, let Sae drill for a few days until she was fullyfortable with her abilities. But I wasnt sure we had time for that.


    Its fine.


    What?


    I have the level advantage, as well as more practical experience. And realistically speaking, you wont be holding back in a dungeon. Its better that we get a sense of what you can do.


    What if I hurt you? She sounded small, some anxiety returning to her voice.


    I mean, dont <em>try</em> to hurt me, if its avoidable. But lets y this out.


    There was a moment of hesitation. I watched the mist for movement. It stirred back and to the left, and I drew another arrow, loosing it in the direction of the disturbance. There was no sound of the arrow bouncing off anything, as if the mist itself absorbed it.


    You dropped this. Sae leapt from the mist holding the arrow Id just shot out towards me, intent on jabbing the rubber-tip into my neck. I let the bow fall and braced. <strong></strong> took over, and I used my body as a pivot, deflecting her momentum away from myself.


    But she wasnt as light as before, just like all that strength wasnt for nothing. Sae kept her grip on my arm and fell to the ground, pulling me forward and nting a foot on my chest.


    Then, with a movement as casual as a kid kicking a ser ball, Saeunched me. I flew backwards, hit the floor and eventually slid to a stop, trying to shake off the disorientation before it cost me.


    Shed knocked me over by one of the tforms that led up to the octagon.


    I baited her, waiting until thest possible moment to throw myself forward as she aimed a brutal kick towards my mid-section, her leg hitting the tform behind me instead. It splintered even as she grimaced in pain, and I spun on my back, kicking a leg out from under her and withdrawing my saber in the same motion.


    But Id underestimated how many new tools Sae had to y with. Long ck des formed of chitin emerged from her elbows and she swiveled, driving a blunted edge into my saber, knocking it away. When the follow-up strike came, I was already leaping upwards and back, <strong></strong> helping me clear the chest high tform andnd on top of it.


    There was less than a second to appraise the des. They were around a foot and a half long, and didnt seem to carry much of an edge. More bludgeons than swords. It wasnt a bad set up for hershe could use the elbow extensions to soften and disorient a target, then move in with her ws for the kill.


    Problem was, I had no idea how to defend against it. If I was going to win, I needed to figure out a solution. Quickly. I retreated up the tforms, Sae chasing behind me. When she reached the seeded tform, I pressed my pinky to my palm and the tform copsed, dumping her off, following it up with my third finger, making certain she fell.


    Without hesitating, I used <strong></strong> and pulled my crossbow, firing from the hip as Sae plummeted towards the ground, momentum still carrying her towards me. A feeling of victory rose in my chest. Sae fought well to this point, but there was no way she could avoid a shot at this range.


    The arrow struck her and bounced offbut did nothing to counter stop her heel from obliterating the tform beneath my feet.


    Shended hard on her side, and I fell right beside her. My head banged against the wall as Inded and stars exploded behind my eyes. I stabbed the saber towards her blindly, and she knocked it away with an elbow de, mming the dull side into my gut before I could so much as blink.


    There was a momentary reprieve as we both scrambled to our feet and put distance between us.


    I panted. Youre a lot better


    So are you. Sae flexed her wrist suddenly, and two thorn-sized ck projectiles shot towards me. The double-tap. I dyed my reaction just long enough to insure I didnt dodge into the second. They embedded themselves into the ground a foot away from me. The range wasnt longprobably shorter than my crossbow. But if she intended to use them in conjunction with her poison buff, they didnt need much in the way of range.


    She rushed me before I couldment further. I barely fended her off, <strong></strong> working on overdrive to redirect and deflect her attacks as we shed over and over again. Her strength and speed were oppressive as she threw herself at me, every blocked hitnding like a battering ram.


    Shed clearly spent a lot of time thinking about how to use her abilities, and managed to put them into execution almost wlessly. It wasnt just that she was better, though she was. The tentativeness to her movements was gone. As if shed ovee a mental barrier thatd been holding her back before.


    The system had taken something precious from her. Her identity and to some extent, her humanity. And in return, it had made her a force to be reckoned with.


    If I was being honest, I wasnt confident I could take her in a straight fight. Maybe if I was ying dirty, screwing with her head and using both summons, it might be doable. But it was hardly a certain oue.


    That felt like an important reality check. Because Sae was just one User among a sea of hundreds of thousands. And after the transposition, every single person in that seathe vast majority of them, at least, would be searching for an edge. An advantage. Theyd be leveling and growing as quickly as they could manage, gathering items and artifacts to solidify their power.


    And every one of them was a potential threat.


    We were both fatiguing now, though I was fading faster than her. I wasnt built for long, drawn out battles. Even if it was just a spar.


    I stabbed out suddenly with my saber, using the final instance of probability cascade, hoping to catch her by surprise.


    Sae recovered from the stumble, swiping my saber away and sending it tumbling to the ground. I reached for my inventory just as she grabbed me by the throat. The sharpened tips of her ws pressed lightly into my neck.


    Tap out. Sae growled.


    With a smirk, I nced down. Draw?


    She followed my gaze downward and groaned. Id managed to pull out <strong></strong> and press it against her abdomen just as her hand had closed around my throat.


    Ugh. Fine. She released my throat and copsed to the ground. Really thought that was a win.


    Almost was.


    Sae peered at me suspiciously. In truth, Id intended to sandbag. Throw the match if it meant building her confidence back up. But that intention hadntsted longer than five seconds. She was packing too much power for me to do anything half-assedly. A singlepse in focus would have been my undoing.


    I snorted, poking at my bruised ribs. Let''s never do that for real.


    Sae raised an eyebrow. Because well both end up in the hospital?


    Or bleed out in the ambnce.


    Silence held as we regained our breath. After wed taken an adequate amount of time to rest, we started discussing strategy. Sae hadnt used her buffs nearly as much as she could have, the influx of strength and speed distracting her from what were previously her core abilities.


    Conversely, Sae gave me shit for my continuedck of creativity.


    We <em>just</em> talked about how you need more variety than tripping people. She red.


    One, it was a spar and theres not that much to work with in here. Two, defending against your onught took the entirety of my attention. But yes, youre not wrong. I had been using the power in a more effective waycasting it beforehand and triggering those actions after. Now, I needed to test its limits.


    So Sae said. Were really doing it then. Finding a dungeon tomorrow and getting back to the grind.


    That posed an interesting quandary. If it lined up with the trial, the dungeon would probably reset any floor we entered as a party. If my theory held, Id originally intended to redo the first and second floors as a softball, intending to save most of my mana and strength for the lithid. The lithid itself was still off-limits. But now that I thought about everything up to that point, the dungeon seemed to primarily adapt to level first, ss and individual second. Which meant Sae would be bringing our average level down, while punching far above her weight-ss.


    Our priority should be getting you to level ten as quickly as possible.


    Thats a big jump. Sae opened one eye and looked at me. Sounds like you figured out what Nicks friend was being all cryptic about.


    The system augments stats at level ten, buffing the two highest you have. From what I can tell so far, its not necessarily a direct buffmore like getting several feats based around the skill, giving it more utility. Your Strength and Agility are already a force to be reckoned with, even as they are now. After? Youd be terrifying. I said.


    Good. Sae stared up at the ceiling. Its better than being weak.


    The n I have in mind makes sense. Itll help me expand my repertoire with the ability, and hopefully boost your level. However, it will require some, uh, flexibility on your part. I admitted.


    She shifted, and I felt her eyes on me. Why do I get the feeling Im not going to like this?

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137


    I was perched on the overhead rafter of what appeared to be arge, banquet style dining hall. Annoyed, I squinted at my scrawled notes. They were a byproduct of trying to cram preparation for the fifth floor inst night after practicing at the training grounds. Not surprising that they were sloppy, considering I could barely see straight by the time I got back to the room.


    So, for a bow, were thinking either light, water, or divine.


    Talia was sitting across from me, dubiously staring down at the hall below us.


    Talia? I tried again.


    Divine would be best, but from what I understand, such things are rare. And I would not be surprised if the lithid has no weaknesses whatsoever. Talia finally said. Then nced back towards the floor. As much as I understand the purpose of this, are we sure shes alright down there?


    I looked down. Sae was surrounded by goblins and, well, bits of goblins. Arms, legs, torsos were all scattered around the banquet hall. One of them jumped on her back and tried ineffectually to sink its teeth into her chitin shoulder. Sae snarled, grabbing it by the neck and mming it shoulders down onto the nearby table. The goblin shrieked as Sae bashed her knee into its head, over and over. Two more were trying desperately to tear her off the third. In a howl of rage, Sae sunk her ws into its neck.


    Doing great Sae! I called down.


    Covered from head to toe in viscera, Sae spun and shouted. Eat a bag of dicks! Then flipped me the bird.


    Dont forget to use your magic!


    Fuck you!


    See? Shes fine. I went back to my notes.


    Matthias. Talia admonished.


    Audreys down there helping. Even as I spoke, Audrey had seized one of therger goblins by its hands and legs, holding it steady while Sae<em>Jesus</em>did extremely violent things to it. If it starts to go sideways, well know immediately.


    I wanted to be the one to help her. Talia glowered.


    I sighed. Its hard to know how shell respond to you. As far as she knows, you died. Discovering that you survived could throw her off bnce while were in the dungeon. This was about building Saes confidence back up. Id been extremely careful with the first and second floors. When wed entered the adaptive dungeon as a partied pair, the first floor had reset. But it wasnt the simple puzzle from before. The first floor was absolutely littered with flowerfangs. Sae and I had worked together to clear it. Id put it a decent effort at first, and when it was obvious she was holding her own and then some, Id taken a back seat, saving my strength for the lithid fightter on. Much to my surprise and delight, the system had given Sae the lions share. Which meant she was absolutely raking in experience. More importantly, theres a visibility issue.


    Visibility? Talia asked.


    Dont get me wrong. Audreys fantastic. But youre my strongest, most reliable summon. Hence, I want to utilize your abilities as much as possible. Talia perked up at the praise. I chewed my lip. Unfortunately, if things keep going ording to n, its only going to get more difficult to do that.


    Understanding lit in Talias eyes. Thats why youve limited my contact with others. Because the nefarious group youre hunting already saw me.


    And theyre not the only ones. Thankfully, weve mostly been careful, and the Overseer kept you out of the recap footage. Hardly anyone knows you exist. Kinsley being the main exception. Still, you could easily be connected to Myrddin if the adventurers guild talks to Jake and the rest of region nine, though we hit them so fast and hard its possible your presence went over their heads.


    Talia mulled that over. I see the issue. Our enemies could use me to connect Myrddin to you, while our allies could connect me to Myrddin. It is aplex position you are in.


    Right. If they were coordinating, wed be fucked. I was momentarily distracted as a dismembered goblin head sailed through the air, tongue lolling out, face masked with surprise. Thankfully, I cant see the suits working with anyone. Spying, sure. Cooperating is far less likely.


    It was a problem Id been running up against for a while and hadnt worked out a solution. Dyeing Talias fur was a possibilityif she was amenable, which I doubtedbut that wasnt really viable if the suits stayed as quick on the uptake as theyd been so far.


    <em>Scary!</em> Audreys voice popped into my mind.


    I dropped the notebook and drew my bow immediately. The goblins had clustered together. Tworger variantshobgoblins, unless I missed my guess, were crowding Sae with axes, attacking in tandem, while the smaller goblins took turns stabbing at her back. Another spindly looking goblin was rushing forward with a torch.


    Id tested <strong></strong> some earlier. While it was significantly more powerful than spiral, there were some limits that held it back. I couldnt, for example, reach out towards one of the hobgoblins and give him a heart attack, or disable their lungs, or cause acute kidney failure. When Id tried on previous targetspale, almost translucent humanoids that lived in arge cave on the second floorthey experienced severe pain that seemed to fade after a short time, but it hadnt killed them. Whatever I inflicted seemed limited to the surface or close to the surfacemuscture and otherwise. Id managed to take one down from a neutral standing position to writhing on the floor with a broken leg. But it had taken a significant portion of mana to do so, and considering the numbers, it wasnt worth it.


    Far better to use it on subjects in motion, queuing actions that could reasonably ur within a given timeframe.


    And when it came to that? The results cost far less mana and spoke for themselves.


    I started casting.


    Sae shrunk back, holding both arms out in front of her with a grimace. One of the hobgoblins roared in bloodlust. Then all of a sudden, his hands went to his throat and his eyes bugged out as he choked on his own tongue.


    Letting out a roar of her own, Sae drove her fist into the other hobgoblins armored head. I managed to pre-empt the hit, and the hobgoblin shrieked, pirouetting in ce from the hit, swinging blindly far to Saes right.


    I wasnt close enough to confirm, but if it worked as I suspected it had, the hobgoblin would be seeing double for the rest of its very short life.


    That was probably enough, but I wanted to test the ability further. I double cast <strong></strong> on an arrowthe first to guide the arrow itself, the second an if-then for when itndedand nocked it. Then, I exhaled and released the arrow. It shredded through a smaller goblin''s temple. Its arms immediately went limp and its mouth hung open as it turned to its fellows and staggered to them for help, clinging desperately to whatever appendage was in reach as they frantically tried to shake it off.


    When Sae dispatched the choking hobgoblin and advanced on the second, I returned to my notes.


    Your cruelty grows. Talia observed.


    Ufortable, I shrugged it off. Im being more creative. And theyre just goblins.


    They will not always be.


    I let that hang, squinting at my chicken-scratched notes. From what Talia had already told me, in terms of physical strength, the lithid wasnt much more powerful than an average human. What made it dangerous was the psychological attacks and foresight. It was capable of skimming thoughts both on the surface and drilling deeper down, confronting the target with their deepest fears via hallucinations and taunts.


    The fact that our methods had severalmonalities was not lost on me. Given that disquieting connection, Id done my best to reverse engineer the methods I would use to take myself down if given the same tools.


    The results were grim.


    My family was a clear vector of attack. Friends too. Especially if it went after the unresolved cases like Nick and Jinny. Depending on how deep the rabbit hole went, there were numerous instances of despair and desperation in my history that it could call on.


    But the real ringer was my father.


    I could remember the burning soles of my barefoot feet as I made my way down the sidewalk towards the house his cruiser was parked next to. Seeing people crowded around on their cellphones. Then through the crowd, a door left wide open.


    And that was where it stopped. Like a roll of film, sliced in half. Regardless of how much I reyed it.


    Textbook repressed memory.


    In reality, Id seen the incident report. I knew what happened. My father made the house call, then died from multiple gunshot wounds. All six shots fired from a revolver over the span of ten seconds. Tragic, but realistically? Not the worst way to go. He was dead before he hit the ground.


    His killer was on death row,st time I checked.


    Id made peace with it a long time ago.


    However, knowing that and seeing it were two different things. And judging from the memory, I must have seen it. Walked through the door and found him, lying on the floor, bleeding, while some cracked up wife-beater waved a revolver around.


    I forced myself to imagine it, along with a plethora of horrific permutations. Ufortable as it was, I had to be mentally prepared for the lithid to dig up that memory and throw it in my face.


    Would it help us, if I was able to alter my appearance? Talia suddenly asked. I looked up to find my summon lost in her thoughts.


    Well yes. I answered cautiously. Is that something you can do?


    Talia slid a paw down the wooden grain of the beam, tracing the grainline. Not at this time. But I feel as if I am on the cusp of something. Stalled at the precipice of dominion.


    Now that she mentioned it, my summons did level with me. When I conveyed that thought, Talia shook her head. I have experienced a minor increase in power each time youve leveled. This feels different. Like a coiledsh in my mind that I may direct, when it finallyes untethered


    It sounded simr to the threshold Id crossed at level five, when Id unlocked the conjuration variant of Ordinator.


    There are two possibilities Ive been considering based on what happened during the transposition, I finally said. Either we find a way to alter your appearance, or I let you go.


    Surprise and hurt showed in Talias expression, and I immediately exined. Not release you as a summon. Unless thats what you want. Just, Ive been thinking about that sh with the adventurers guild. You took the lux and started racing down the highway. Its hazy, but from what I understand, you made it pretty far. There doesnt seem to be a range limit. Or if there is, its significant.


    I see. Youre considering me as a scout. Talia cocked her head.


    This isnt something I could offer Audrey. Much less the lithid, assuming it drops a core. Theyre both a short leash situation. But youre quick, intelligent, and you can take care of yourself. Assuming you operated at night, you could scout, look for dungeons, maybe even clear them yourself if theyre low enough level. Get in too deep and I could just resummon you. Youd have more freedom. Plenty of room to run.


    Talia broke eye-contact. There is considerable trust in your offer. I feel as if I have not earned it, with my actions. With the way that Ive treated you.


    I snorted. I dont give two fucks about attitude. Just actions. How long did it take you to get those health potions open and down my throat while I was unconscious, bleeding out all over the van again?


    Silence, whelp. Talia rolled her eyes.


    Point is, its your decision. I want your help. But Im aware that we didnt get off on the best foot. Youve earned some autonomy. Dont waste that power on something youd hate doing.


    Maybe I shall use it to develop opposable thumbs. Talia cocked an eyebrow in challenge.


    I chuckled. Not going to lie, that sounds low-key horrifying.


    <strong></strong>


    There was a wet st as a red dripping organ that looked very much like a liver bounced onto the rafter and sttered red all over my boot. I wrinkled my nose.


    Jesus Christ! Why?


    Oh, Im <em>sorry,</em> Helpline. Did I get blood on you? Sae asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.


    I peeked over the rafter and saw Sae staring straight back up at me, drenched from head to foot in viscera. If this was a Carrie cosypetition, she would have nailed it.


    Uh. You missed one. I pointed to a goblin that was crawling away with only its arms, dragging itself across the floor. Sae stalked towards it, catching up easily. Then summarily drop-kicked it into a wall. It hit with an audible <em>hurk</em> and crashed to the ground, utterly still.


    Our pack mate is an excellent huntress. Talia nodded approvingly.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    How was it? Sae asked. Some of her fire had gone out after thest goblin died. Now, she mostly just looked tired.


    I slid down the support beam and kicked off three-quarters of the way down,nding squarely on my feet on top of one of the long dining tables. Do you even have to ask? Look around.


    Sae surveyed the bodies. Yeah, we won. There were so fucking many of them, though. Guessing you had to pull plenty of strings for me with that ability.


    I blinked. I lifted a finger exactly one time. When they finally started coordinating and backed you into a corner. And this dungeon is adaptive. It scales. You took out two-users worth of monsters almost entirely on your own.


    <em>At a higher level, no less.</em>


    Oh. Sae perked up at that. So youre saying Im better than you.


    Pretty sure I said nothing of the sort.


    It was implied.


    Not on your life.


    So full of yourself. Sae sat down on a bench, swiping through an invisible menu. Hit level nine. Can actually read this shit now that Ive got the trantion feat. She nced up at me, warily. Might be good to stop soon. Im dead on my feet.


    As much as I wanted her to lock down the augments as soon as possible, it was better that we yed it safe. So far, this had been a positive experience. Empowering. And I knew from experience that this was when the dungeon stopped giving a single fuck about fairness. The increase in bullshit from the third floor to the fourth was significant. And if it was particrly harrowing, it could easily leave me too drained to aplish my primary goal and unsettle Saes headspace.


    Yeah. Lets call it. Well stop by the second floor, so you can rinse off in the caves mineral pool, then Ill get Kinsley to door you out when we leave the dungeon.


    <em>If my service has been eptable, may I ask for a reward?</em> Talias voice appeared in my head.


    I inwardly groaned, guessing what wasing. <em>What is it?</em>


    <em>I understand your position. And how this mayplicate things. But if what you are saying is correct, this may be thest opportunity. I wish to speak to our pack mate. To wish her well.</em>


    It was hard to understand why this was so important to my summon. Nevertheless, it <em>was</em> important to her. Whether it was due to pack mentality, imprinting, or whatever else. Which was why it killed me that I had to decline.


    <em>Talia</em>


    <em> If I present myself like a spirit guide, as before, it will not jeopardize you.</em>


    I cocked my head. That was a possibility I hadnt considered. But I questioned whether it was as simple as Talia implied. Audrey had already been subject to some scrutiny, though Sae was willing to ept my very thin exnation that the summon was ranger ss rted. Considering the circumstances, she was already taking a lot in stride. And I knew from my experience with Kinsley that trust only went so far, even if Id effectively saved someones life.


    But Talia had never asked me for anything. And Sae could probably use another win, even if it was a small one. And Talia was a decent enough actress. If she did this the way she intended? It was enough of a minor risk that I was willing to chance it.


    <em>Fine.</em>


    ////

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138


    I knew there was a chance this wouldnt go how Talia wanted. Of that original group, Jinny was the friendliest towards her, with Nick as a strong second. Sae, byparison, was a distant third.


    It was entirely possible that this could backfirepletely. People dont always act rational after a tragedy. Looking for someone or something to me is par for the course, and what better scapegoat than the spirit guide that led us to ruin?


    Realistically, there was nothing that Talia could have done.


    Elevators creeping me out. Sae eyed the iron bars warily. Its got serious cage vibes.


    All three floors Sae had cleared were wholly different from my original experience. The elevator was the one aspect that remained rtively unchanged. Figuring it wouldnt do any harm, I briefly recounted my original experience with the dungeon, leaving out the more problematic aspects and altering the story some.


    So, the bear almost killed you, but you took it out on your own. And now youve got the shadow thing left.


    Pretty much.


    Before I could say anything further, Sae rounded on me. There was a cloud of anger in her expression. Why, exactly, are you doing this?


    I studied her. To finish the quest.


    Does it require you to finish it solo?


    Well, no.


    And you said getting me to level ten was a priority, right?


    Yes.


    Then heres an idea, smartass. Sae stuck a finger in my chest. Give me a day to rest, and wee back and finish this thing together.


    There was something beneath the acerbic demeanor. Worry, concern maybe? Still, that wasnt going to happen. Im on a timetable.


    What fucking timetable? Sae held her arms wide. Feel free to exin it to me because I dont get it. This dungeon doesnt mess around. By your own admission, it would have happily killed you if you so much as picked the wrong elevator.


    I appreciate the offer, really I said honestly. And if things were even slightly different, Id take you up on it. But theres something valuable to me in the solo-instance. Something I might not be able to obtain if we went that route.


    Sae stepped away and crossed her arms, giving me a cold stare. More secrets. Whatever youre after must be worth it. But I dont understand why youre so quick to put your life on the line when youve already got it made.


    I <em>dont</em> have it made. Everything I have is bnced on the edge of a knife


    Bullshit. You have an entire region of the city, uncontested, with multiple strong guilds backing your authority. A power that could easily tip the scale of any conflict, as weve so thoroughly seen, and a family that needs you. Yet, youre still acting like you have nothing to lose.


    Uncontested for the moment. And you seem to be under the impression that passivity is an option. I said coldly. Let me ask you a question. Do you really think the suits are going to just stop at some point? Just sit back and say to themselves, You know what? Thats enough power. We can dial back on the atrocities, kidnapping, ckmail and extortion for a bit. Is that how you think this is going to go?


    No. But its not all on you.


    Like hell its not. I bit back. Im not going to sit back in my ivory fucking tower and pretend like things have changed. This is the same dog fight it always has been. The second they took Nick, threatened my family, and killed Jinny, there were two choices. Lay back and let them do what they please, or wipe them out.


    Sae backed off. And I thought I was angry.


    Its not about revenge or posturing. I turned away. These are people who understand how to take advantage of the ws in the system. Any system. Elites who soar to untold heights by treading on the heads of those below them. They have no code. And they were killing people by day three. Day-fucking-three, Sae. When everyone else was trying to figure out what the fuck a feat was and deciding whether they needed to go to a psych ward.


    I get that theyre bad news.


    And you want them to hurt.


    Yes. Sae said, her agreement troubled. The elevator doors opened on the third floor, and she stepped out. She was clearly exhausted from the previous ordeal, but somehow, she seemed lighter than before. Like some burden weighing her down had been lifted.


    While I was d for her, I couldnt help the sh of envy at that.


    She stepped aside to let me pass, and I couldnt tell from her non-directional eyes if she was studying me or staring at the wall. That question answered itself when she grabbed my arm. Did you mean what you said to me, outside the Trial?


    That the Suits will pay?


    Sae shook her head. Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet. No. About us. Being friends.


    Oh. I stopped, mid-thought, struggling to switch gears. Id said more than I should have outside the trial, when I was convinced she was dead. Which put me in something of an awkward position. I wasnt much for oversharing. Or sharing, for that matter.


    Right now, Sae was adrift. Looking for anyone and anything to cling on to.


    Look, if everything you said was bullshitif youre just manipting me? Thats fine. Regardless of motivation, you probably saved my life. God, youve done more to help me than my parents ever would.


    It wasnt bullshit. I said quietly.


    An expression of relief crossed her face. I dont think we should back down or let them be. Neither of us are capable of that, I think. But there has to be something after the suits. This cant just be about destruction. Eventually, we have to stop.


    I realized what she was getting at. This is about something that happened in the dungeon. Youre different than you were. Like you reached some conclusion or shift in perspective. Did it scare you?


    Sae bit her lip. Not exactly. Its difficult to say. And Im worried what youll think of me, if I tell you.


    Just say it.


    Her eyebrows knitted together. I mean, I was mostly ying a support role before. Even when there were only three of us. I buffed Nick, watched Jinnys back. Only fought directly if we werepletely outnumbered. So, when you told me Id be taking point to get the majority of the experience, and that youd only interfere if I was overwhelmed, that was intimidating at first. Then, after the second floor, when those pre-historic humansor whatever they wereflooded me, I didnt have time to doubt myself. I fell back on my instincts. And after a while


    Even as Sae trailed off, I understood.


    All you really had to do was look at our priorpanions inparison. Nick fought like a ssic hero. He dispatched his enemies efficiently and without hesitation. But if there was an opportunity to show mercy, or talk his way out of a situation, he fell back on that as defaultthe standoff with the spider queen a prime example.


    Yet Sae had been different in the adaptive dungeon. There was an undercurrent of brutality to the way she fought.


    If Nick was a knight in shining armor, Sae was a Viking donned in chitin face-paint, screaming a war cry at the top of her lungs.


    It was rming to find something like that in yourself. Was it new, brought on by your environment and circumstances? Or had it been lurking beneath the surface, hidden in some line of DNA or strand of neurons this entire time, waiting for the opportunity to show itself.


    It sounds as if the pup has grown into a wolf. A voice called from behind us.


    Sae whirled, ws extended, ready to rip the neer to shreds. The tension in her body lessened when she saw Talia, but only slightly. What the fuck is this? You died.


    Talia approached with a baleful stare. Then bowed her head. As a spirit, death is never permanent. I am truly sorry that I could not protect you properly. All of you.


    A war yed out over Saes features. Anger struggled against happiness, threatening to snuff it out.


    Unable to help myself, I came to Talias aid. Why the fuck didnt you warn us? I pressed, letting a simmering rage into my voice. A short message or warning could have made the difference. You let us walk into a guillotine.


    Talia kept her head bowed.


    Sae put out a hand and shot me a stern look. Matt, stop it.


    Youre just going to take whatever she says at face value? I asked, feigning exasperation.


    I get that youre angry. So am I. Sae hesitated as she worked through the issues in her head. But text chat was offline. And once the trial had started, that membrane went up, covering the entrance. Even if she shouted, we couldnt have heard her. Not to mention, there were twelve of them. Talia wasnt much stronger than us, and you saw how quickly Sae trailed off, hands curling into fists.


    Whatever. I walked away, cing my back to a nearby wall.


    Talia approached Sae, nosing a clenched fist with her muzzle until Sae rxed and gently stroked Talias head.


    At first I had my doubts. But you were all so noble and steadfast. You covered for each other, and did not leave your wounded. When you invited me to join you, I was ttered. Real grief filtered into Talias voice. Just as I was horrified when that possibility was torn away. With thest vestiges of my consciousness, I watched you disappear back into the trial and thought you gone forever.


    Sae was quiet.


    When I regained consciousness, I became aware that you had returned. Not unscathed, but unbroken. A huntress through and through. Pardon the indulgence, but I had to speak to you. Just once. To see you in the flesh and apologize, for my shortings. Talia held her head high. I will take my leave now.


    The story about dying and regaining consciousness, bing aware of Sae, was all manufactured. But it felt like the emotion andmore surprisingly, regretthat Talia was conveying was genuine. Id thought she was just angry. She was a summon, after all, there was only so much she could do. However, this exchange was making me realize that Talia didnt see herself that way. She considered herself elevated and strong. And took the responsibility that came with that estimation seriously.


    Even now, shed started to walk away. Sae watched her go, wearing aplex expression I couldnt begin to parse. Finally, she called after the wolf. So, thats it?


    Talia stopped. What do you mean?


    Jinny is dead. Sae said coldly. We all fucked up. Matt didnt see iting. Nick immediately lost it as soon as her body hit the ground. And I ran away like a coward. You dont get to martyr yourself and take all the me.


    You do not have to


    Im not making excuses for you. For any of us. But we all yed a part. And if you saw yourself as part of our pack, then why are you running away now?


    Talia studied Sae. Her eyes flicked to me. <em>Im unsure how to respond. This is not how I expected it to go.</em>


    It made sense now. Why Talia had been so insistent on talking to Sae.


    <em>You wanted her to me you. To help her move forward by offsetting her guilt on someone she might never see again.</em>


    When Talia didnt answer, I offered the only advice I could think of.


    <em>We dont know whats going to happen with the lithid. So, obviously best to not make any promises. Just be as honest as you can.</em>


    Talia processed that, waiting a long moment before she spoke again. Though my death was not permanent, it was not without cost. There are challenges before me. It is uncertain if I will be able to return to you as I was.


    Sae strode over and crouched down on in front of her. Talias tail wagged as she waited attentively. Sae reached out, cing a hand on the wolfs chest, and shoved her gently. Then hurry and do what you need to do. So you cane back. Sae stuck a thumb at me. Knowing this guy, things will go to shit soon enough. He might not be willing to admit it, but we need all the help we can get. And when youre back, well get you that armor we promised you.


    With that, Sae turned to go, leaving Talia behind. I nodded to Talia and followed.


    Even if I cant return, know this. I will be watching over you. Talia called after us.


    /////


    After Kinsley used her power to door Sae back to the penthouse, I made my final preparations for the fifth floor of the adaptive dungeon.


    It was a long timeing.

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139


    Iris sat across from me at a diner down the street from the adaptive dungeon. Shed sent me a message that she was hungry and mom was MIA. Despite it being well past noon, she kicked both legs out in front of her in excitement as the waiter brought a stack of pancakes thered in syrup.


    It was almost nostalgic. Like the old days.


    Only instead of SAT prep, I was perusing Kinsleys store page, racking my brain on how to prepare to fight a creature that might not have any discernible weaknesses. I chased an over easy egg across my te, brow permanently furrowed, as Iris prepared to dig in. Theres only a fork in here. Give me a knife?


    I passed my roll of silverware over, dimly aware that my own over-easy eggs were getting cold.


    Wheres Ellison? Iris asked.


    Hm? I responded, trying not to lose focus. The waiter passed by again, topping off our water and leaving without saying a word.


    Just, his stuff is gone from your ce. And hes not with me and mom. So, where is he?


    <em>Shes trying to distract me.</em><strong></strong> whispered.


    I huffed in irritation, not at Iris, but the Title. It was always so grating when there wasnt a direct threat. Which is why I generally leaned back on <strong></strong>


    That was odd. Id intended to make the switchter, minimizing the time Id have the title chittering in my ear. Had I just altered it subconsciously?


    Unable to stop myself, I pulled up the title screen and selected <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Apparently, Id changed it a little over twenty minutes ago. That was concerning. The low-threat dungeon crawling with Sae had gone wellI hadnt hesitated or frozen during the brief time we were fighting togetherbut that didnt mean I was at a hundred percent.


    Matt, Iris asked. Her dirty-blonde hair was in a side-ponytail, and her nails were painted. She looked a hell of a lot better than she had a few days ago.


    Ellison is working some stuff out. And we should be patient with him while he does. I nced up from the store page suspiciously. You already messaged him, havent you.


    Just a few times. Hes ignoring me. Iris pouted.


    Yeah. You know how El is. The harder you try with him, the more he pulls away.


    So nothing happened? Iris asked. There was an implication in her tone that hinted she knew there was more to it.


    I rubbed my eyes blearily. Nothing had shown up on the store page when I searched for divine bows or crossbows. Now, I was going through the vor text of umon or rare items in my price range, looking for anything that hinted at divine association. So far, the search was unproductive. Hes a kid trying to figure out how to be an adult in a world that somehow makes less sense than it already did. He just needs time.


    I guess. Iris carved into her pancakes, making content noises as she shoveled them into her mouth. It just worries me.


    Why? I asked idly, mentally turning the page.


    Because hes not as together as he acts. He used to cry at night.


    The words immediately broke my focus. An image of Ellison came to mind. He was so strong, so unppable most of the time. The day hed been suspended, he came home and exined it in the same sort of tone a person would use toment on the weather. For a long time, Id just thought he was stoic.


    But as it turned out, the facade wasnt perfect.


    Id snuck back into the apartmentte one night a few years ago to the sound of sobbing. A sound so unfamiliar it was almost alien. When I snuck a nce around the dividing wall, I saw Ellison there, clutching his chest like his heart might explode, weeping tears that glimmered on his cheeks in the darkness, folded halfway over like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.


    When I opened the door and closed itlouder the second time, the crying immediately stopped. I walked in, poured two cups of water, and sat with him in the dark to spare his dignity. Ellison gave me the typical catty line about being out sote, but it was clear his heart wasnt in it.


    I tried to get him to open up. That night and the days that followed. As sure as I was that there had to be something more to it, there didnt seem to be anything specific bothering him. Eventually, I came to the uneasy conclusion that the nights crying alone on the couch were just his way of venting the emotion. Which wasnt great, but arguably better than keeping it bottled until it exploded.


    I gave Iris my full attention. Yeah, he did have episodes. Didnt know you knew.


    But you dont think its weird? Iris asked. That the crying got worse the week before the meteor?


    <em>This isnt an innocent conversation. She has an angle.</em>


    My jaw worked as I considered that. Things had been worse than usual, before the system appeared. Our usual avenues for cash had dried up, which was why I was so dead-set on getting the tip-sheet from Nick. Id dismissed it as stress at the time, refocused my resolve on working my ass off, so he didnt have to worry as much.


    Only, now, looking back at the timing, it went a long way to painting Ellisons distress in a new light. Which begged another questionIf hed known what was about to happen, why didnt he tell us?


    Iris was watching me, waiting for an answer. When I couldnt form one, she rested her head on her hand, sipping her water. The waiter immediately came by and refilled her ss, ignoring mine, which was still filled to the brim.


    I think I know what happened, Iriss expression turned pensive. You pushed him away. Just like you always push everyone away.


    What? No. Thats wrong, Iris. I dont push family away. I bit back, raising my voice slightly before I realized it.


    Sure you do. Iris twiddled her straw between her fingertips. Thats why you pawned me off to that architect, rather than helping me yourself.


    With a small-fucking legion of mercenaries watching and reporting your every move. Youre literally safer now than you have ever been.


    I wonder if thats true, Iris responded.


    As I stared at her, my heart raced. This wasnt happening. I wasnt within a hairs breadth of losing both of my siblings, days away from each other. It was up there with some of the worst things I could possibly imagine.


    <em>Focus on that thought.</em>


    I tried to listen to <strong></strong> but it was impossible to focus on anything as Iris yed me to my very core.


    Its obvious. Iris said. Her eyes took on a zed look. Someone as obsessive as you doesnt just suddenly decide to take a hands-off approach. Youre probably hoping Kinsleys people get sloppy. She stared me dead in the face. Ive always been the weak link. Your stupid, overly empathetic little sister. Bleeding heart, disabled, and broken. I barely even had the courage to speak before I became a User. We both know youve always wanted to be free of me.


    My mouth was dry. Ive never thought that. <em>Ever.</em> If you want me to spend more time with you, Ill make time. Things will be tight for the next few weeks, but after


    Always an excuse. Iris rolled her eyes. Im going to the bathroom.


    As my sister stood to leave, I fought back a storm of emotions. All the while, my title whispered in my ear, slowly eroding the pain. This felt exactly like when Ellison had left. It was almost y for y, point by point. As if it were intentional.


    An overwhelming sense of dj vu swept over me.


    Slowly, curtains of stone lowered over my tormented mind, shutting out all emotion as I withdrew something from my inventory and ced it on my knee beneath the table.


    <strong></strong>


    Her back was to me as she walked towards the womens room beyond the tables.


    Iris. I called after her.


    My deaf sister turned to look at me, showing an expression of utter disappointment.


    I pulled the trigger.


    The crossbow made an audible twang and the bolt flew out from beneath the table, striking Iris directly in the chest. She wobbled on her feet, staring down at herself as blood blossomed. Iris fell to her knees, helplessly wing at the bolt.


    Someone screamed. Time slowed down as Iris fell backwards, and I recounted everything that had led me to this like a mantra.


    It wasnt necessarily unlikely that Id invite my sister to lunch while I prepared for something. That was standard. But today was different. Id intended to go to the adaptive dungeon. And Id specifically been preparing myself for the lithid to use my family against me. It was my intention to avoid them until the matter was resolved, leaving early in the morning with Sae. So, it made far more sense that Id send her to Kinsleys than invite her here. And as much as I was sure Iris was capable of being disappointed with memaybe rightfully soshed never approach it this way. Shed hint at it, or perhaps avoid me entirely. Direct conflict was Ellisons style, not hers.


    It was possible that a bad title could alter her behavior. But not this drastically. If this was still the earlier days, and Daphne was my only example, perhaps I could have believed that. Yet, the more Users I encountered, the less viable that seemed.


    Astrid and Astrias title reflected a sibling dependency turned literal. Like them, each of my titles reflected a part of me that had existed before the system, good or bad.


    It was clear by now that titles werent absolute. They could augment who you were, exacerbate it, even push you towards extremes youd usually never considerBut they couldnt change you entirely.


    The final piece was simple. When Id called out to Iris as shed walked away, shed heard me. Her back was to me, and she still turned when I called. Undoubtedly, it was probably possible for Iris to get her hearing back through some sort of system loophole. Healing, or a boon or reward of some kind. But she would have been so excited, everyone with her contact info would have gotten a celebratory message.


    All of this led to one, immutable conclusion:


    I was already on the fifth floor of the adaptive dungeon.


    And the lithid hade to y.


    Enraged, I loaded another bolt and stalked across the room to my sisters body. I pointed the crossbow at her forehead. Are you done?


    There was no response. Through the peripheral of my vision, I saw people exiting the diner in panic, some of them taking off in cars or on foot, while others crowded around the building in a half-circle.


    <em>What if Im wrong?</em>


    My resolve began to crumble around the fringes. In the distance, I heard the sound of sirens. I repeated myself once more, my entire body so tight it felt as if I could snap at any moment. Are you fucking done?


    Slowly, as if it was a post-mortem spasm, Iris moved. The movements became less spastic, more guided and intentional. She reached up with one hand and ripped the bolt free, the open wound bleeding freely. Her head rotated slowly until dead eyes stared directly above my head. Her lips parted in a wicked smile. Oh no. Were just getting started.


    The world around us fell away, revealing the dungeon beyond.

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140


    The body disintegrated into dust before I could react.


    There was an unearthly shriek as a metal paneled floor pockmarked with dirt and rust reced the ck and white diner tile. The booths and tables aged hundreds of years over the span of seconds, the cushioned seats growing a yellow patina of discoloration before eventually turning brown.


    A familiar off-white wallpaper speckled with silhouetted flowers spanned the entire wall around a two storied hall. There was at least double the vertical space than in the diner, maybe triple.


    This wasnt good. I kept my crossbow and saber at the ready and forced myself to focus.


    If the diner and preparation memories were false, that meant I was missing time. Everything from escorting Sae out of the adaptive dungeon onward was suspect. Meaning, whatever preparations and ns Id made before entering were practically useless if I couldnt buy time to piece them together retroactively.


    Your own sister. And you didnt even hesitate. The voice was harsh and throaty, yet simultaneously quiet. Like it was being inhaled rather than exhaled.


    It was a sloppy imitation. You made more than a few simple mistakes that anyone who spent time with Iris would have easily picked up on. While I ran my mouth, I checked everywhere for broken legacy, finding it hanging on my hip. I could sense that Talia was within the de, but she didnt seem to be responding to suggestion.


    There was no grappling hook, meaning Id opted to leave Audrey behindprobably because I was worried the lithid could easily tamper with her simple mind.


    A performer saves their best material for the finale. The lithid chortled. This time it came from above and behind me. I whirled, seeing only a dpidated expanse of stoves and appliances that were arranged as if this was once an oversized kitchen.


    Talia, I hissed, trying to wake my summon.


    Her barely conscious voice rang in my head. <em>Barely any meat on the bones. Let them be. </em>


    What the fuck did you do to her? I said, slowly rotating in ce, looking for any sign of the lithid.


    The eerie red glow that permeated the room pulsated as the lithid replied. The summon bitch? Nothing more than what I did to you. Shes even weaker now than she was in the cage. Helpless, even as I feasted upon her tasteless suffering. It cackled madly in a mix of pleasure and raw joy, and I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Impotent and mired in a past that never happened. She cant bring herself to move forward. Its so trite, so one-note, so stale.


    <em>There.</em> I spotted a round, visual distortion on the stretch of wallpaper. I continued my slow pan of the room, waiting until my crossbow was pointed towards it and activated <strong></strong> firing a bolt into the distortion.


    A scream of agony morphed, modting slowly into tion.


    I swapped weapons quickly as I reloaded, so the crossbow was in my dominant hand, as I closed on the distortion. The bolts hit the target but elicited no reaction.


    Unsure what else to do, I plunged my saber into the distortion. It passed through easily up to the halfway point of the de, where it caught.


    Shes nothing like <em>you.</em> A wreathing dark snake with dark, oily skin corkscrewed up my de where it split,shing around my gauntlet. An existence willing to cut away pieces of himself, rather than allow the past to have a hold. You are delectable.


    A series of images shed through my mind. Ride alongs with dad, asking him questions about his job with obvious interest. Begging him for stories when I sat on his oversized recliner at night, and listening wide-eyed as he grudgingly regaled me with what I asked for.


    An audible hissing reached my ears. I nced down, and realized the lithid was burning. The reaction wasnt as definitive or extreme as with the remains of region 6, but judging from the bubbling ck surface, it <em>was </em>reacting.


    I waited until the boiling reached a fever pitch and I felt its grip weakening to act.


    Releasing the sword and yanking my arm clear, I loaded another bolt and in one smooth motion, pressed the crossbow to the lithids flesh.


    It squealed and unraveled, winding itself back into the wall. Then the wall exploded, as a length of darkness the size of a tree-truck emerged from the distortion, mming into my chest.


    I flew backward, my body screaming in pain as I tumbled heels-over-head, springing backward with my fingertips and eventuallynding on my feet. A metal ng resounded next to me, and I spotted my saber.


    The lithid continued forcing its way into the room in a manner that resembled ground beef from a meat-grinder. It groaned loudly. No no. no! The sword is so boring. Give me the knife, Matthias. Give me the knife


    A needle of fear shot through me. <em>Give me the knife, Matthias.</em>


    Something about those words resonated.


    More than that, for every pound of matter the lithid pushed into the room, the less confident I was that I could handle whatever it would be when it reformed. I looked around, searching desperately for an exit.


    <em>There.</em>


    Behind the square line-up of dpidated appliances, in the darkness, I spotted what looked like an opening. A corridor hidden by shadows.


    It didnt matter whether this was aplete hallucination or not. If I was able to distance myself from the lithidregardless of if that was literal or metaphoricalit would buy time to mentally regroup.


    I reloaded my crossbow and raced into the corridor.


    At first, everything was dark.


    Then a single pinprick of light illuminated the hall. It grewrger as I kept up a steady jog until its form became clear. It was a single lightbulb, hanging by the cord from the ceiling. Maybe fifty feet down the corridor was another bulb.


    I followed the line of lights, the only sound my own echoing footprints and heavy breathing.


    My steps slowed as the final bulb in the row expanded, radiated arge, spotlight-like circle of illumination beneath it.


    There was a pic table seated on a bed of grass. And on the pic table, I spotted a younger version of myself. He was wearing a long-sleeve shirt with a hood. Round sses that did little topliment his face. He was sweating as he leafed through a hardback. It was absolutely massive in his small hands.


    Curious, I stepped around to the side.


    <em>Crime and Punishment.</em>


    I was nevermitted enough to literature to lug a Dostoevsky around in the wild. Which meant, if this was the day I thought it was, Id picked it out of an immature re for the dramatic.


    Like clockwork, someone in flip-flops with an ankle bracelet appeared across from me.


    Her features were cast in darkness, but seeing as how the ankle bracelet was decked out with gold, there was only so many people it could be.


    Im d you called. Figured with everything going on, you might not want to see me. Daphne said.

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141


    Thats probably for the best. Taking some time apart. The younger version of me answered. I did a double-take. Was my voice really that subdued and robotic?


    What? Daphne asked, her warm disposition unsettled.


    There was a notebook in my bedside table. Its gone.


    Maybe Ellison was being nosy? Daphne tried.


    He shook his head. Nope. As far as I can tell, its no longer in the house. Did you take it?


    I didnt even know you had a journal.


    I dont. It was mostly a series of half-formed thoughts and ns for the future. Some documentation of the trial. And post-therapy notes. Since you didnt answer, Ill ask again. Did you take it?


    Daphne breathed a heavy sigh. God, youre an ass.


    Were done. I rose from the table and slid the book into a backpack.


    Wait, Matt


    With all the legal shit, we shouldnt be talking anyway. Different camps and whatnot.


    Daphne stood to her feet, cing her palms t on the table. Weve been friends for years


    During which, youve tried to drive wedges between me and my family, followed me around, and repeatedly vited my privacy. Id say the friendship has run its course.


    I winced at the harshness of the scene. It wasnt that Daphne was a bad person back then. The good always outweighed the bad. But the bad was too substantial to ignore. She was obsessive. I think, if her father had ever been willing to get her tested, she would have easily been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.


    Our friendship started normally, if a bit awkwardly, with our parents constantly bringing us along for lunches and dinners thinly disguised as business meetings.


    It was umon back then for me to have a friend my age, and as such, I thought that our rtionship was normal. The irregrities a more social person would have picked out went entirely over my head. Daphne seemed to always be avable and never ked. She was interested in me, and being an adolescent with very little idea of who I was, we shared that interest. There was some frictionshe wanted to invest far more time into our rtionship than I did, and had trouble identifying social cues or subtle indicators that I was ready for our interactions toe to a close.


    It was only after a few years that the veneer cracked enough to reveal the reality beneath.


    In reality, Daphne didnt always have time for me. She just chose to prioritize me over anything else, sometimes to serious detriment.


    She got angry and standoffish if I didnt spend enough time with her.


    Some of my personal items, including anything Id so much as scrawled in began to disappear sporadically.


    And it wasnt so much that she had trouble identifying social cues, more urate that she intentionally ignored them.


    Itsmon for people with BPD to develop a strong fixation on an individual. That fixation can be romantic, or as it was for us, tonic. asionally, it works out well enough. Often it doesnt. What it came down to was that Daphne had boundary issues, while I had boundaries in bulk. Even if our history hadnt been recentlyplicated, it was a terrible fit.


    Matt, stop. Daphne called out to the younger version of myself. In my memory, shed sounded angrier. Hearing it again, she just sounded sad. Are you going to tell?


    The inevitable question, and the one thing Daphne cared about more than me. Her secrets.


    Depends. He shot Daphne a nd look. You nning on making this difficult?


    No, Daphne said quietly.


    As long as thats true? I have no idea what youre talking about.


    Daphne left the younger me standing there by the pic table. An expression of anger filtered over his features as he watched her go.


    Slowly, he turned to me. How little


    Before he uttered a word, I slid <strong></strong> beneath his ribcage. He coughed once and fell to the ground, his face white. Thest thing I was interested in right now was listening to the lithid puppeteer some twisted version of myself. And I couldnt shake the feeling that the more I let it speak, the more power it would have over me.


    Still, it was strange. Seeing myself like that.


    <em>Talia.</em>


    Nothing. Not even a half awake response.


    For a moment, I considered dismissing and resummoning Talia. Then immediately thought better of it. If the lithid was capable of reading this deeply into my history, it was absolutely capable of reading my more recent memories of how my powers worked, and setting any number of traps.


    Leaving Talia aside for the moment, I tried to summon Audrey as a test case. Instead of pain, I felt nothing. Like attempting to siphon water from stone.


    That answered that.


    I took a seat at the pic table and began to sort through the contents of my inventory. There wasnt much beyond the usual suspects. My bike and weapons still took up the majority of the contents, along with a few healing potions and the rollback charm. The first new additions were a pair of earplugs, and what looked like a knock-off Sony recorder.


    With little reason not to do so, I pressed the y button as I continued sorting through my things.


    <em>Your name is Matthias. You are seventeen years old and a senior at Talmont High-school. Assuming it ever opens again. In a few minutes, youre about to enter a floor of the adaptive dungeon that contains a creature called a lithid, capable of creating hallucinations and, if Talia is correct, full-blown delusions. You must keep in mind that nothing youre seeing is real, and any psychological effects or distortions youre experiencing are temporary. The same holds true if you cant remember anything at all.</em>


    My dictation carried on for some time. While I was careful not to make any direct mention of the Ordinator ss, I specifically called out the results of the transposition event, the situation at region six, and the recent developments at region fourteen, along with my position as region owner.


    <em>Mom and Iris are fine. Things arent great with Ellison, but theyre mendable if hees around. Everyones alive and safe.</em>


    I stopped rooting through my inventory when I found the bow.


    It was made of a dark-gray wood, augmented with tarnished silver swirling embellishments.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: This longbow is enhanced with magical outrement in the form of enchanted runes. Some runes reduce the draw weight of the bow, allowing greater range and power regardless of the strength of the User. Others seed the projectile with traces of the divine.</strong>


    <strong>Item Ability: The first shot fired inflicts an additional 200% damage, with a significant boost to critical damage. This effect resets every hour. </strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Epic</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    God <em>damn.</em> It checked both the boxes for long-range and burst damage, shoring up weaknesses Id carried forward since the beginning. It wasnt a perfect solution, necessarilythe cooldown left something to be desiredbut it was one hell of a start.


    Still, I was worried. There was no way the name was a coincidence.


    <em>By now, youve probably noticed the additional items in your inventory and on your person. The bow is of particr interest. Kinsley had no history of it in her records, and as far as we can tell, the entry appeared minutes before you started searching for a bow. It was too good to pass up, and the price was a steal, but Im all but certain well pay more for itter. At the very least, it shows Nychta has a continued interest in our survival.</em>


    I hefted the bow, feeling out the weight one more time before recing it in my inventory. Concerns about Nychta would have to wait until my life wasnt on the line.


    <em>Now, onto the n. If youve already put it together, stop this recording. If not, Illy out the details now. If the lithid is as powerful as Talia expects, it will likely already know what we intend. No point in trying to hide</em>


    The recording cut out suddenly.


    I reached over and scanned backwards, reying thest few seconds. It stopped at the same point.


    Panic welled up, and I crushed it ruthlessly before it could overwhelm me. This was par for the course. If Id thought far enough ahead to make a recording, I must have also known the lithid screwing with it was a real possibility. Which meant, if Id done this right, it should be possible to piece together my n from the inventory and Talia alone.


    As I continued cataloguing my inventory, the panic slowly faded. That was a good sign. <strong></strong> was far harder to handle before the integration. Still, I hadnt attained the integration until I was already in the dungeon. The decision to use it wasnt the strange part. What seemed off was that Id waited until entering the dungeon to use it.


    It served as my first indicator that something was wrong. Maybe that was intentional.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The arrows made perfect sense. A viable way to use the Spider Matriarchs toxin at range. They were longer than a standard arrow, with a hammerhead ss tip that contained a green liquid. There was vor text that indicated this was an ideal projectile to use on a slime, meant to be shot in its path, rather than directly at it.


    I was already wearing the amulet, which hopefully stacked with my armor.


    But thest two acquisitions had me entirely at a loss. What kind of fucking n was this? Trying the Matriarchs toxin on the lithid made senseit was sourced from a trial boss, and likely packed significantly more punch than anything you could grab on the open market. Yet, the <strong></strong> seemed like an utter waste. It specifically denoted that it was only effective on low-level creatures or NPCs, unless imbibed voluntarily.


    And I had no idea how Id intended to get a psychic monster to willingly drink poison.


    The goblin confit waswell, a disturbing introduction to confit. Supposedly a troll delicacy, it was created by force-feeding goblins an excess of sweet berries for months until they expired from the strain, then slow-cooking cooking them in gilded truffle goat butter.


    WhichI mean, what the fuck. I sure as hell wasnt going to eat it.


    Maybe the intention was to trick the lithid into eating the confitced with poison, but again, it being able to read my thoughts made that a tall order with questionable returns, considering that the poisons effectssted less than ten minutes.


    A groggy growl reverberated in my mind.


    <em>Talia?</em>


    Talias voice was drowsy, only slightly more lucid than before. <em>What a terrible dream where are we? </em>


    A sh of movement from the corridor caught my eye. I scurried out of the spotlight, unsure if itd even make a difference. <em>It wasnt a dream. Were on the fifth floor of the adaptive dungeon. The lithid is screwing with our minds. Breaking out of the initial delusion was the first barrier.</em>


    <em>Ill shred it to pieces,</em> Talia hissed.


    <em>Youll get your chance. Are you coherent enough to fight?</em>


    One by one, small shadows emerged from the darkness. Humanoid silhouettes around half my height. Smiling white teeth glittered in the dark. They all held short des that looked strangely domestic, more like something out of a kitchen knife block than a fantasy equivalent.


    <em>Oh yes.</em> Talia answered, her voice so raw with spite, I couldnt help but wonder what the lithid had shown her.


    <em>Then get ready.</em> I drew <strong></strong> and threw it directly into the center of the advancing shadows.

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142


    The smiling shadows assailed us on all sides. There were dozens of them, the sole saving grace that they didnt seem to have much in terms of health. I nailed one between the eyes with <strong></strong>


    Talia tore pieces of the first few shadows and took several ncing hits from their knives


    Go for vitals! I shouted back at her. Theyre coordinated. Theyll keep dogpiling if you give them an opening.


    I resent that turn of phrase. Talia''s voice was muffled as she ripped a chunk out of a shadows torso. But she listened to the core of what I said and came up with her solution. Venom dripped freely off her fangs as she snapped at the small cluster of shadows that surrounded her, aiming for their arms and legs.


    I wasnt certain if poison would work on them, but if it did, they didnt have much body-weight to speak of, so the effect would be stronger than normal.


    A shadow charged at me, its bright knife angled downward towards my chest as it leaped through the air. I grabbed its knife-hand and neck, pivoting and mming its lower half onto the spotlight illuminated park table. There was a sickening crunch that I btedly realized was its spine snapping. It went limp, dropping the knife and staring up at me, inverted smile forming an eerie frown.


    Join us the shadow whispered, pointing towards the ground where its knife fell.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another shadow copsing to its knees, feebly attempting to remove the bolt Id fired from the <strong></strong>


    <em>Theyre weak to the cold effect, too. The only real advantage they have is numbers.</em>


    I tried to reach out towards the mass of them with <strong></strong> and got no feedback whatsoever, even as my mana drained.


    <em>Of course. Theyre not real. More puppets than anything else. I cant direct them because theyre already being directed.</em>


    I fired my crossbow twice more, taking a page from Talias book and being less selective about where I hit. Mechanical gears ground as it cocked back, and I nearly loaded another bolt before I saw multiple sets of eyes open around ceiling level.


    Above My warning yell was cut off as <strong></strong> red. The shadow above me dropped, its knife a descending spike as two others attacked from the sides.


    I threw myself back onto the pic table, using <strong></strong> to stabilize the first shot, lodging a bolt into the eye of the shadow that dropped from the ceiling. When the others reacted, I rolled off the table and spun, drawing the bow and firing it instinctively as I retreated backwards. Eventually, I felt my thigh brush against Talias fur.


    Is this it? The lithids just going to throw numbers at us until we crack? I sneered, wiping a trickle of blood from my mouth.


    Unlikely. This is just the opening blitz. Theres a twist, somewhere.


    All Im seeing is mindless shadows. Basic pack behavior.


    This is not how a pack hunts. Each is opportunistic, trying to position themselves for the best strike at the expense of the others. More than that, the way they fight feels familiar. Talias voice was wary.


    <em>Dont think about it. Wipe them out.</em>


    <strong></strong> sounded panicked, as if it was attempting to draw my attention away from something. As it had never intentionally led me astray when the chips were down, I let it refocus my attention purely on thebat itself.


    Still, they were multiplying and pressing in tighter. I needed something close range. When I reached for my inventory, dozens of heads snapped around, eyes conveying hungry anticipation. I averted course at thest moment, drawing my saber instead.


    Angry cries filled the darkness as they pressed in on me.


    <em>They want something from me.</em> I realized, conveying the thought to Talia. What was it the lithid had said? That the saber was boring?


    <em>Ignore them.</em> Talia answered in my head. She bowled over several shadows that abandoned her to attack me, pausing for a half-second each to nick them with poison and move on.


    The shadows fell, one after another, faster than they could replenish. We pushed them back together, out of the spotlight and into the darkness. Nicks saber shed in my hand in wide, artful flourishes as I used their illuminated eyes and daggers as markers, aiming for necks and arms. It wasnt as second nature as <strong></strong> but what itcked in familiarity it made up for in range. Talia formed up beside me, snapping at shadows.


    For the first time, it felt as if we were winning.


    <em>Theyre luring us away from the light</em>


    <strong></strong> warning came toote. As I attempted to ry the warning to Talia and retreat, every marker I used to locate the shadowseyes, teeth, and daggersdisappeared. Countless invisible hands gripped my sword arm, wrenching at it until the sword fell away.


    Simultaneously, the shadows yanked Talias feet out from under her. She yelped, sections of her body obscured by darkness.


    When I tried to help, I found my legs rooted to the floor.


    <em>Why are you so afraid of what you are?</em>


    A ck rage fueled by helplessness rolled over me. I tore my arm free and yanked <strong></strong> out of my inventory. All at once, the human organs of multiple shadows attacking Talia illuminated the darkness.


    I moved.


    The de sang as I ripped through the shadows, eviscerating them. First the ones that clung to me, feeling a dark thrill as I felt them fall away, my fear dissipating as their incorporeal bodies copsed to the ground.


    A sense of cold purpose washed over me, even as I heard them chittering in the darkness,ughing. I hauled one of them off Talia and slit its throat. Stabbed another in the eye. Another across the belly. Unsparing Fang guided my movementshelped me know where to ce my feet and leverage my weightbut the knife work was entirely mine.


    Let her <em>go.</em> I shouted. And the shadows trembled. Talias eye stared up at me widely.


    I fired off <strong></strong> I wouldnt be able to use it again for the rest of the dungeon, but that was fine if it meant finishing this. The threads that connected the shadows to the lithid became visible.


    The beauty of the knife was the efficiency. The brevity of the path from point a to point b.


    All at once, the gritty desperation of it all fell away. I danced among them, de stabbing, shing, twisting, a feeling of unique purpose washed over me. Every neuron and muscle fiber cooperated in perfect union.


    As if this were what I was meant for. Raucousughter reached my ears, barely identifiable as my own.


    The threads from harrowing anticipation led me to the final shadow. It was retreating, casting terrified nces over its shoulder, a gloating smile nowhere to be seen.


    I flipped the knife into my off-hand and drew the crossbow with my dominant, using <strong></strong> to fire a bolt into its thigh. It toppled and fell, dragging itself away. I grabbed its hair and pulled its head back, driving the knife into its back over and over.


    Something tugged at my pant leg.


    I whirled, prepared to plunge my knife into the next target.


    The prey has fallen, Matthias. A wolf I had to concentrate to recognize stood at my side. Her thick eyebrows were pulled together in concern as she stared at the knife in my hand. I am not your enemy.


    Talia?


    Are you alright? Talia cocked her head.


    I lowered the knife and ran a hand through my hair, unsettled. Just lost myself for a second there. Jesus. My heads killing me.


    The shadows fell away, a bright light overhead blinding us. Birds sang, and as my eyes adjusted, perfectly manicuredwns came into focus.


    A damning feeling washed over me as I realized not only where, but <em>when</em> this was.


    What is this ce? Talia asked.


    It was all exactly as I remembered it. The rock yard with weeds that never stopped cropping up, no matter how often it was sprayed. A waist-high iron gate that squealed loudly when it swung open. And a small alcove where I sat to read on weekdays after Id finished my schoolwork, waiting for dad to return.


    Thest home I ever had. I answered quietly. I turned slowly, towards the end of the road. Identical to the memory I reyed infinitely in my mind, my fathers police cruiser was parked at the end of the road. A few neighbors stood at a safe distance from the house, several on their cellphones, either recording or chattering into them.


    And I remembered everything.

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143


    Kafkas <em>Metamorphosis</em>y open on myp, unattended, as I watched dads parked squad car at the end of the street. Hed been inside the paint-chipped house for a while now. Ellison was kicking his legs out in moms antique rocking chair, the chair emitting a rhythmic squeak as it reached its apex, leaning so far back it threatened to topple at any moment.


    Im starving. Ellisonined.


    Youre not starving. Youre hungry. I corrected absentmindedly, still focused on the flurry of unusual activity at the end of the street.


    Its almost six thirty. Ellison said.


    Dads work is important. Keeps the city safe. Being off-schedule goes with the territory. The same couldnt be said for every cop. You had to either be blind or tantly ignore the news to believe that. But dad was old school. All about listening and protecting themunity. Putting people first. He talked about them like they were individuals, not some faceless conglomerate. And even if I found him naive at times, it was hard not to respect how much he cared.


    A muffled pop reached us. It could have been anything. Car backfire, or an unfortunate squirrel that scurried its way into a power converter.


    Then a cluster of five muffled bangs followed, identical to the first.


    I slipped from the alcove, cing my back against it. Get down. I snapped at Ellison. He flopped wide-eyed from the chair to the ground, both of us flinching from the tter as it fell, one corner banging against the wall.


    Gunshots? Ellison whispered, his face pale.


    Wheres Iris? I hissed.


    Napping with mom.


    We waited in tense silence for a follow-up. When none came, I peeked over the flowered cushions, exposing as little of myself as possible. A few of the neighbors had emerged from their homes, gawking at the house at the end of the street.


    My heart hammered in my chest. It was impossible to tell exactly where the sound hade from, but it was undoubtedly from the direction of the end of the street.


    Doubt and fear gnawed at me, along with the screaming need to do <em>something.</em> Anything.


    Check on Mom and Iris, then call 911 I told Ellison.


    What are you going to do? Ellison asked, rmed.


    Keep watch. Stay low and get moving.


    Ellison jolted into action, retreating towards our parents room in a low crouch.


    Its hard to exin what happened next. Put it into words. The best I can describe it is as a scene that materialized in my mind. An image of my father bleeding out on the floor, frightened and alone. It was so visceral and real that I had to confirm it.


    Time bled together as I walked out the front door and through the gate in a daze, leaving it open behind me. Asphalt burned my bare feet as I walked numbly towards the house, my pulse vibrating in my neck, vision shuddering with every heartbeat.


    Dad had taught me about the bystander effect early on. Given me a slightly sanitized rundown of the murder of Kitty Genovese, a woman who was stalked and murdered over the course of half an hour, even as she screamed for help and dozens of witnesses watched from their windows. The records are spotty, but it was probably more than an hour before the first call came in.


    Our so-called neighbors were just standing around, trying to peer through the door at a distance for a better look.


    I hated them for their inaction. Hated them with every fiber of my being.


    No one even tried to stop me as I walked past. Im not sure what I was thinkingapart from if dad was hurt, I wanted to help him, slow the bleeding and buy time until the ambnce got there.


    As I stepped through the front door, the scent of mildew and stale cigarettes washed over me, followed by a metallic scent Id identify farter as methamphetamine.


    The walls were bare and undecorated. Soiled carpet stuck to my bare feet.


    A womany unconscious on the floor, battered and bruised. Her face and upper-body littered with dark and purple bruises everywhere her tank top didnt cover. Numbly, on autopilot, I stooped down and pressed two fingers to her neck as my father had shown me.


    There was a weak rhythmic pulse beneath my fingertips. I left her and moved on.


    Dad wasid out on the floor next to the couch. Hed fallen backwards, likely due to the six gunshot wounds in his chest. His once vibrant blue eyes were almost colorless, expression locked in a permanent rictus of surprise. As if he couldnt believe someone had actually shot him.


    I pressed my fingers against his neck, though there was no need. He was gone.


    A wave of grief washed over me and then disappeared, as if it had crossed an invisible threshold and was suddenly snuffed out.


    Something cold and foreign took its ce.


    Who the fuck are you? For the first time, I noticed the skinhead on the couch. He was rubbing his head with both hands, the cylinder of a light-metal revolver clinking against his temple.


    When I didnt answer, he unraveled further. It doesnt matter. God dammit. Look what that bitch made me do.


    The woman you beat to hell made you kill a cop? As the words left my lips, it felt like someone else was saying them. The utterck of usation in my voice was probably what saved me. I sounded genuinely curious.


    Fuck. Im fucked. He rubbed his head vigorously, the revolver leaving red marks on his skin. My gaze strayed from the man to the surrounding scene. There were dozens of burned down cigarette butts in the ash try, and a bowie knife on the table next to a ss pipe.


    It called to me.


    This had happened before. Ellisons oblivious bully sitting on the overpass, practically begging to be pushed, was the most recent example. But there had been others. Many others.


    Id always managed to talk myself out of it. Therapy had helped. Talks with my father had helped.


    Now my father was gone, and the therapy couldnt help me here. There was no disproportionality to focus on. No unevenness in the scales. And with my father dead, the cops wouldnt look twice beforebeling it self-defense. No consequences to speak of.


    Still, he outweighed me by fifty to seventy pounds.


    You have to wash your hands. Get the GSR off.


    The man stared up at me. What?


    Gunshot residue. Youre coated in it at this point. You have to wash your hands. I was twisting advice dad gave me on how to speak to someone in a crisislet the slightest doubt into your voice, and theylltch onto it. But if you speak with confidence and authority, theyll cling to your words like a lifeline.


    The man stared at me. At first, I thought he might call out my bullshit.


    On his long list of issues, the GSR was near the bottom. The murder weapon and empty shells were towards the top, along with the many witnesses who had heard the shots, and if Stockholm syndrome hadnt set in too deeply the unconscious woman could easily turn on him.


    The man stood to his feet suddenly, dropping the gun. Fuck! He rushed to the bathroom.


    Using a filthy rag from the table as a buffer, I picked up the gun by the trigger guard and popped the cylinder open to confirm he hadnt reloaded. The casings were empty. Good.


    With that sorted, I took the knife from the table. The hilt fit snugly in my hand as if it had always been there.


    Everything blurred together after I followed him into the bathroom. The next thing I remembered was my mothers face, hovering above me.


    Its okay, baby. Its okay. Tears streamed down her cheeks, ruining day-old mascara. Give me the knife, baby.


    I handed it to her.


    Sirens drew closer.


    /////


    <em>Its a rare thing to lose your husband and son in the same evening. Does she think of that night when she drinks, I wonder? </em>


    Talias growl of rm came toote. A sharp, stinging pain sunk deep into my back. I screamed, whirling to face the threat anding face to face with a mirror.


    <em>No one would have med you for it. The sentence would have been light, the situationden with mitigating circumstances, even if they knew the truth of how it all went down. Why, then, did you run from it, lock it away so deeply that even I can only show you this much? </em>


    The lithid had leaped back several feet after the surprise attack. It had also taken my form, d in the eldritch armor, a twisted mongrel at its side. Dagger in one-hand, crossbow in the other.


    Bastard. Talia said through gritted teeth. That might be the actual lithid. It looks far more real than the shadows did. Talia said. Matthias. Can you fight?


    I swooned on my feet, unable to answer her. <strong></strong> was fading, but from the remnants, this form didnt have threads as the others had. I withdrew a health potion and chugged it, then wiped the residue from my mouth.


    Pretty sure youre on the money, I panted. We need to end this quickly.

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144


    How could I forget something so important?


    More than that, I had other memories that directly conflicted with it. Recent memories. I remembered googling the killers name less than a year ago to confirm he was still in prison.


    And mom was there. She knew. Shed known for years, and wed never talked about it. And despite the many opportunities she had to throw my shorings in my face, shed never mentioned it, or even hinted at it.


    The only times Id ever been to court was during her hearings.


    Another memory bubbled to the surface. Cold water plunging down over me as I clung to myself and shivered, words repeated over and over.


    Youre a good boy, Matthias. Listen to me. You did nothing. You wandered in here looking for your father and that monster threatened you. Dragged you to the bathroom and tried to drown you. Everything else is a blur, you understand?


    Had she taken my ce?


    I wanted to believe it wasnt true. That the Lithids power was just that all-epassing.


    But the dull chill coupled with the constant pounding in my head said otherwise.


    Move! Talia roared, mming into the back of my knees and dead-legging me. The near-silent whisper of a crossbow bolt sailed over me, directly where my head was. Talia left me to pick myself up as she raced to intercept the mongrel racing towards usmore monstrous mutt than dog. They collided in a horrible blur of ws and teeth and yelps.


    Nearly twenty feet away, the Lithid advanced towards the shing dogs, holding its aim and looking for an opening.


    It likely had little concern for friendly fire. The thought stirred me out of my daze, throwing me into action. I loaded the first of the poison bolts and spiked it with probability cascade, pulling the trigger and firing it at the lithid. The bolt spiraled through the air andcaught by an errant breezestruck the lithid dead-center as it dodged away.


    It hissed and immediately switched targets, its attention entirely on me.


    <em>You hid it away because of how you felt. For the first time that emptiness within you was filled. The knife brought you joy, unfiltered happiness, and contentment. Things youd never felt before. Things you swore to never feel again.</em>


    Shut up! I shouted, firing another cascade bolt at the lithid.


    It was ready this time. Not bothering to dodge, it raised a hand and swatted the bolt away. <strong></strong> ticked in the back of my mind, recognizing the ability as <strong></strong>


    On my left, Talia was losing her sh with the mongrel.


    I juked an iing bolt, using awareness to guide me, and rushed towards her.


    <em>Give me an opening, Talia.</em>


    Talia reacted perfectly, pressing a paw against her attackers chin and shoving its head up.


    The lithids smug voice whispered in my mind. <em>Youve spent so long, trying to suppress the monster youve always been. Because society puts people like you in one of two ces. Prison or institution. But the world has changed now. You dont have to pretend anymore. </em>


    I drove my dagger into the mongrels side, and twisted the de immediately, withdrawing as it yelped and snapped at me. Talia sunk her teeth into its neck, pressing her advantage.


    <strong></strong> screamed, and I flung myself backwards to narrowly dodge a bolt, catching my weight with one hand and pushing hard against the ground


    A ring of fiery pain zed through my body, expanding from a second bolt that plunged deep into the nerve cluster between my corbone and neck.


    The Lithid advanced, two crossbows in either hand, exining how the second bolt hade out so fast. It inventoried a hand-crossbowOne I recognized as the shoddy, sightless repurposed piece of plywood that had been my first weaponand reloaded the second.


    A wave of cold deeper than the frozen wastnd of the fourth floor washed over me.


    <em>It copied my face, my abilities, and gear Ive owned, including the poisoned bolts.</em>


    I slugged an antidote quickly, noticing with irritation as the Lithid raised an identical potion to its lips. Then, bracing myself, I tore the arrow out before the heat-drain effect could do any more damage.


    My vision narrowed to a pinprick.


    You know the truth. Youve always known. The reaction to the system proves it. Weve always been teetering on the precipice of savagery. One bad day away from discovering who we really are. But you continue this pointless struggle. When you killed those three Users during the transposition, you didnt even allow yourself to savor it.


    Sensing it was near, I struck out recklessly with the knife, my blood ame as poison and antidote raged war within me. The Lithid countered me easily with <strong></strong>intercepting my rushed attacks and sending me spinning with a savage backhand.


    Even as stars exploded behind my eyes, my mind raced.


    How was I supposed to beat this thing if it knew every move I would make? Id gotten a lucky shot off when it was distracted with Talia, but ever since it started focusing on me, it easily dodged everything I threw at it. At this rate, Id be finished before my summon put the mongrel down.


    <em>What was the n? There must have been one. I had the foresight to make an audio recording in case the lithid trapped me in a hallucination. I must have had something more. Some strategy.</em>


    I staggered away as the Lithid prattled on, trying to buy time.


    I can free you, Matthias. It whispered. Give in. Surrender control and bring me to the outside world. Within a day, your burdens will be gone. And I will reforge you into what you were always meant to be.


    A harrowing realization struck me. Talia had said the Lithid fed on suffering. With the dungeon being adaptive, Id assumed that suffering would be my own. But that wasnt necessarily true. If I lost here, and the Lithid invaded my mind and took over as it implied, everyone around me would be in danger.


    <em>Focus.</em>


    Though our motivations were entirely different, the parallels were significant. Both of us intended to use the other as a weapon in the outside world.


    But there was a key disparity that had to do with the nature of the adaptive dungeon. The Lithid had been generated exclusively as a monster for me to fight. Shed hinted that Talias pups had always been dead. Had I entered the fifth floor with someone else, it would have been entirely different.


    If the Lithid died without dropping a core, my life would continue on as it had.


    If I died, however, the Lithid would cease to exist.


    And it was possibly the only monster in existence with enough self-awareness and external knowledge to piece that together.


    It made a critical mistake, telegraphing its intentions. The Lithid didnt want to kill me. It wanted to break me.


    I took a split second to review my inventory


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I snorted. The <strong></strong> wasnt meant to be used as bait. It wasnt meant for anything at all. The randomness of the item was a hint.


    There was no n.


    Ide to the conclusion that if the Lithid could read my mind, there was no way to prepare for it ahead of timethat any concrete strategy could easily be used against me if I stuck to it while the enemy was aware.


    The poison of clouded judgement wasnt for the Lithid. It was for me. Intended to create an opening the Lithid couldnt predict, once Id gathered enough information within the dungeon to generate a strategy on the fly. My vision more or less returned, save the corona of violet pulsing around the fringes. I wiped the blood from my mouth and grinned at the Lithid. It was standing a few feet away from me, a strange expression on its face that looked almost wounded.


    Behind her, Talia was chasing the mongrel. It darted between parked cars and trash cans, beating a pointless retreat. Shed have it in a matter of moments.


    You can read my mind, right? I leered. Then you know that this isnt a bluff. Because Ill do whatevers necessary to win.


    Wait The Lithid reached out a hand and rushed towards me.


    But it was toote. I swallowed the poison of clouded judgement and quick drew <strong></strong>loading it with three cascade-infused arrows and fired them straight up in the air.


    Its impossible to fire a projectile perfectly upwards. No matter how precise you are, the most minuscule shift will inevitably alter trajectory. Iughed maniacally as the three poisoned arrows reached their apex, and, following the directive of <strong></strong> plunged directly towards me.

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145


    There was a bone-jarring impact. My skull collided against the sidewalk as the Lithid tackled me to the ground. It outweighed me significantly, and as my lungspressed, it became nearly impossible to breathe.


    Strong arms grabbed me and began to yank.


    <em>It''s trying to get us both out of the way.</em>


    I locked an arm around its neck and kicked its knees out from under it, forcing it into a grapple. I was slower than normal because of the poison of clouded judgement, but that worked to my advantage. The lithid reacted to my intentions rather than my actions, and I was able to secure it in a clinch.


    Its body juddered violently twice as two of the arrows pierced its upper back. I shouted in pain as the third pierced my forearm.


    The lithid roared, its version of my mouth opening inhumanly wide as it shrieked.


    <em>Thats the second dose of the same poison. If I dont get another round of antidote soon, this is over.</em>


    My survival instinct kicked into overdrive. I needed to do whatever I could to end this quickly.


    I sunk my teeth into its throat. Bilious liquid ran into my mouth and eyes as the lithid squirmed. A chunk of flesh came free, and I spit it out, blindly plunging my dagger into its side, over and over. It swatted at my wrist, and I felt something break.


    All at once, it slumped, and I rolled over on top of it, both hands gripping its neck tightly even as pain radiated up my fractured forearm.


    Fucking. die. already. I growled, shifting my grip and bearing down harder.


    Matt it hurts. Jinny said. She stared up at me with terrified eyes, hemorrhaging crimson from the wound in her neck. You dont have to do this. Anyone can change.


    My grip loosened for a fraction of a second.


    Three spears of darkness pierced me. Subconsciously, I could feel the lithid attacking my mind. I tried to push it back. The street from my childhood was overtaken with the crimson flesh from region six. Jinnys body was still there, lifeless on the ground, as Nick sat beside her, watching impassively as I struggled.


    Hey man. You have to know Im probably donezo. Im not you. Never been good at biding my time. Nick rubbed his head sheepishly. Probably did something stupid already, and its not like the suits would ever let that pass.


    And even if hes not, you have me to worry about. Ellison walked in front of me, hands stuffed in his hoody. He studied me impassively as I writhed on the ground. It wasnt chance that I ended up with a special ss that could also disguise itself. Theyre going to use me against you. And sure, maybe youll win, but do you really want to deal with the aftermath of killing your brother?


    I felt the lithids grip on my mind grow tighter.


    Miles crouched next to me, peering down. Sure, youre clever. And youve grown ustomed to being the big fish in a small pond. But were in the ocean now. Im more experienced than you. Eventually, youll make a mistake. And Ill be there waiting.


    Estrada rocked slowly, back and forth, in a rocking chair to my left. You must know where this is going, Matthias. The bodycount from the first event was astronomical. They speak of correction, but their intent is clear: whittling us down until only the strongest remain. She peered at me through her sses. And the list of people you mean to protect grows ever longer. Perhaps, it would be wise to stop while you are ahead. The task before you is impossible. You are alone. And you will always be alone.


    Next to Estrada, my fathers killer idly spun the revolver. He grinned at me, even as he leaked from a half-dozen stab wounds. You know, I never nned to kill a cop. It just sort of happened. One day, I was fine. The next, boom. He ced the gun on the scarlet ground, barrel pointed at the others. Guess you can rte. Its only a matter of time before you snap with someone innocent in the crosshairs.


    Thest of the struggle faded from me, as I closed my eyes.


    <em>No.</em> Another voice whispered, low and angry. <em>You said it yourself. The enemy needs Nichs. Even if he rebelled, they would not cull him so thoughtlessly. Who will save him, if you surrender now?</em>


    But Ellison I whispered.


    <em>You know neither his mission nor his intent. The wretch is preying on your fear, your tendency to assume the worst. He is an errant pup. Patience and understanding will bring him back to you.</em>


    I barely heard her. It was as if the lithid had eroded my mental barriers entirely, and the weight of every burden crashing down on me at once.


    A mental shock jolted me, kept me from being swallowed in the flood.


    <em>Your responsibilities are many. That is true. I watched as you took them upon yourself, one after another. And if we were not here, in this crucible, you would not hesitate. Because that is who you are. That is your resolve. It is why I cannot bring myself to hate you, though there are many reasons I should. </em>


    And if I be a monster?


    <em>You offered me a choice, before we entered this ursed ce. I have chosen. This is my vow. I will remain at your side until the end. And if, in that time, you lose to the darkness. I will stop you. Now </em><strong><em>fight!</em></strong><em></em>


    The hallucinations of my friends and enemies disappeared. I awoke to the clear blue skyTalia standing over me protectively, and an exquisite pain as gray matter oozed out of my chest. There was a glowing red light in the center of the mass. I spit blood and stared at it, until I realized what was happening.


    At some point in my unconscious state, Id grabbed <strong></strong> In its haste to overtake me, the lithid had shown me its back. The red mass was a weak spot.


    I drove the knife home.


    Then immediately fell back, curling up in agony as the gray matter boiled, retreating out of my body and reforming in the shape of a womanthe first form Id seen it take, what felt like ages ago in the elevator.


    No, no, <em>no.</em> Ive imed you! The lithid shouted in rage. Another dark spearnced from its side towards my chest.


    There was a blur of motion as Talia leapt in front of me, grunting as thence struck her. She wobbled on her paws, unsettled but still standing. Her voice was a pained whisper, quiet and resolute. He is mine, wretch. You will not take him from me.


    Another spear pierced Talia. I tried to stand, forcing my way to my hands and knees, struggling to stand.


    Its funny. So fucking funny. The lithid seethed. Those memories you cherish so deeply? Of the pups that suckled on your teats in the dead of winter, as you all huddled in a cave for warmth? None of them are real. Youre just like me. A construct of mana that exists solely because this human drew breath. I wanted to reveal that, eventually, once Id wrung you dry of every drop you had to give. As a parting gift. Those children you mourned were never real in the first ce. They were always lifeless corpses in the snow.


    Talia roared. Her body exploded, awash in silver me. The influx of heat was so intense I had to shield my face with my hands. When I lowered them, the spears of darkness were gone. And Talia had changed.


    At first, I thought shed reverted to her original form. She stood nearly a foot taller than before. The navy in her coat was gone, giving her stark resemnce to the winter wolf Id fought on the fourth floor. Only, her eyes were golden instead of red. And the reflectiveness of her fur was different. It wasnt white.


    It was silver.


    You The lithid started


    Talia tackled it in the center of its dark, formless mass, driving it to the ground. White mes engulfed the lithid, and it shrieked in pain, squirming beneath Talias paws.


    Talia spoke directly to the squirming mass. It will be some time before I can hold my creator ountable for their cruelty. In the interim, I will settle for you.


    I winced as the mes consumed the lithid, and it writhed desperately. The disy went on for a good minute, the lithid shrinking rapidly to the size of a beachball, before Talia stopped to regain her strength, exhausted and panting.


    Why Even the lithids voice sounded small. I needed the power only wanted to be free


    Even if they never existed. They were real <em>to me</em>. Talia shouted, pressing down on the lithid and burning it around the edges.


    Talia. I called to her weakly.


    She spun towards me, an expression a rictus of grief and anger. <em>What.</em>


    I tried to stand and fell back to one knee. Its your prey. Your prerogative. The lithid needs to die. That much is obvious. But I think, if our roles were reversed, you would advise a clean kill.


    Talia bared her teeth. For a moment, her fire burned brighter. Then her face rxed, expression growing stoic. Revenge is a distraction. We have to stay focused on the whole.


    Yes.


    She turned her stoic gaze down on the lithid. She reached out with a paw, cing it on the center of the dark mass. Be at peace.


    What was left of the lithid burned away in seconds.

 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146


    Slowly the expanse of sky and street below me eroded, leaving a simple gray-paneled room with visible support beams. Even the original dungeon floor was gone. The lithid hadnt left anything behind. I tested my arm carefully and was surprised to find it in working order.


    Out of curiosity, I checked my inventory and found that none of the arrows or bolts had been spent.


    Everything that happened within the lithids thrall was undone. Physically, anyway.


    Mentally? That was another story.


    My hands shook violently until I sped them together. And I could still feel the tremors. When the shaking subsided, I pulled up my UI and looked at the time.


    Only five minutes had expended over the course of what felt like a lifetime.


    It was hard to be disappointed with theck of a core, considering what wed just been through.


    There was too much to unpack and process here. I needed to keep myself distracted for the moment, the sudden influx of notifications presented a perfect means to that end.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I tensed, waiting for a wave of pain from the stat increase.


    Nothing happened.


    <em>What, was I expecting mypanionship muscles to hurt?</em>


    Feeling foolish, I pulled up the details on the boon.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Too bad it didnt drop a monster core. The boons only half a reward without it. What are the chances of running into another lithid any time soon? </em>


    With <strong></strong> negativity annoying the hell out of me, I navigated to my title screen.


    <strong></strong> was grayed out. During the initial sh with the lithid, Id received a notification that the title had been integrated. I now understood the basic premise of title integration and could appreciate the potential benefits. Most titles had a specific use case, but the cooldown kept me from swapping between them freely. If I continued to integrate them, Id eventually reap the benefits of all my titles simultaneously, with a minor loss of effectiveness. But losing <strong></strong> first was irritating, as it had be something of a crutch.


    I reviewed the others briefly.


    <strong></strong> would be terrible to lean on for any extended period of time. Insightful as it was and useful for digging up secrets, it twisted my perspective far more drastically than the other titles, and I wasnt sure I could stop it from leaking into my personality.


    That left <strong></strong> and


    I blinked. There was a fourth title. One I hadnt possessed beforepleting the dungeon floor.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Interesting. Dangerous as hell if I used it wrong, but the titles potential as an oh-shit button was undeniable.


    And that wasnt even factoring in the synergy with <strong></strong> which would keep me conscious and on my feet even with severe injuries and major blood loss. Id considered nixing that feat with the charm the old crafter from my region gifted methere were situations where it was simply better to lose consciousness. Now, I wasnt so sure.


    I added it to the ever-growing list of abilities in need of further testing and returned to the deluge of notifications.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: The Kinsley ords</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective Complete  Gain loot and levels as you fulfill your contractual obligations.</strong>


    <strong>Extended Primary Objective Complete  Explore the dungeon, venturing at least to the fifth floor. </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (M)</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Increased rtionship with Kinsley, Merchant.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Progression towards Vocation  Anima Seer</strong>


    <strong>ept Vocation: Y | N</strong>


    Fantastic. Id finally uncovered a vocation.


    Just, what the hell was it?


    Id read Jung at some pointrecently enough that I knew Anima represented the part of the psyche that focused inward on the subconscious. But the concept was heady and borderline overlyplicated on its own. Tack seer on at the end, who the fuck even knew anymore.


    And how was it a vocation, exactly?


    Far too many questions for me to just blindly ept it, even though Id been waiting for a vocation for some time. I focused passed the Y | N text on the vocation name, hoping in vain for a tool-tip.


    To my surprise, another window appeared.


    <strong></strong>


    I immediately confirmed the prompt without bothering to read the description twice.


    While it was possible I was screwing myself out of a potentially more lucrative vocation further down the line, the ability to guide my allies towards ideal progression was tantalizing enough. Throw in the advantage of being able to widen my perspective to whomever I touched?


    Granted, there were obviously limits. There had to be.


    Otherwise, I could just walk around the city for a few days, identally, bumping into everyone I met and gain a borderline omniscient perspective. But there was no way in hell I was turning this down.


    <strong></strong>


    I swiped the level notification away for the moment, too tired to even consider dealing with it.


    <strong></strong>


    A giant jump from where we were before. Curiously, I looked over to Talia. She was deep in her thoughts, head resting on her paws.


    I said the obvious. That was hell.


    It was.


    It had me, for a moment. Dead to rights. If you hadnt pulled me out


    Talia breathed out in irritation at the praise. With a minor eternity spent locked in the clutches of that wretch, I had considerably more practice than you.


    Thank you, Talia.


    We have plenty of time for the sixth floor.


    I turned my head and stared. Did you just make a joke?


    Talia looked away, and I couldnt help but chuckle at how simultaneously awkward and regal she looked. The silver and gold form was striking. So, your new form. Part of the change you mentioned?


    I believe it is.


    Any changes to your thought patterns, your instincts?


    Talia turned a baleful eye on me. Apart from the overwhelming desire to ughter anything that remotely resembles a lithid, no. Though I feel a profound distaste for Vernon and his necromancy Im reasonably certain wasnt there before. Theres also part of me that feels drawn to those poor creatures in region six.


    To what purpose? I asked.


    Absolution.


    Huh. I cocked my head. That sounded almost temr-ish. So that me wasnt just fire. Its probably most effective against both eldritch monsters and the undead.


    Theres something else. Talias brows furrowed as she focused. All at once, she began to shrink, her color darkening, eventually turning ck with streaks of brown around her chest. Her chest jutted out, and her pointed ears grew rounded and floppy.


    When the change wasplete, Talia looked nothing like a wolf. Rather, she resembled the meanest Rottweiler Id ever seen. I believe the power read my intent. Or your nature.


    You can change at will?


    Mana permitting.


    Not having to hide her regardless of what role I was ying made things a hell of a lot easier. But, there was still a long road ahead of us. And one more question I couldnt leave unanswered.


    What made up your mind? I asked.


    Talia looked away. Is the answer important to you?


    Yes.


    My summon took a seat in front of me. From the beginning, there is much about you that has given me pause. One moment, you seem capable of great kindness and benevolence. The next, you are brutal and cruel. You take great effort to hide these extremesyour kindness, your cruelty. I have spent much of our time together attempting to ascertain which side is the act.


    Her expression was indecipherable. But during our battle with the lithid, I saw much. Of your memories, your life. Your nature. And I believe I finally have my answer.


    You dont have to say it. I cut in, dark shame clouding my mind. If shed seen the same memories I had, there was no point in dancing around it. She knew what I was.


    Only after did I realize I was asking the wrong question. You are not one or the other, Matthias. Youre both. And that is not such a bad thing for an ally to be. Talia finished.


    Was that even possible?


    I wasnt certain.


    Still, I knew one thing for certain. Im d to have you with me, Talia. As an ally. I held a palm straight out, and she pressed her head against it.


    And given the fact that it is bad form to start an alliance with a secret Talia reached towards her shoulder and withdrew something.


    I stared in shock. Not at the fact that her new form apparently included an inventorybut at the small ck sphere in her mouth.


    You killed the lithid. The core dropped for you. I realized.


    Talia ced the monster core on the ground before me. All relief I felt at not ever having to deal with or think about the lithid again faded away. She lowered her head and let the sphere drop thest inch. It clinked to the ground, rolling in my direction, before it stalled at my feet.


    You intended to use it as a summon. And while Im certain this experience dampened your enthusiasm somewhat, our circumstances remain the same. So, the question is, Talia gave me a serious look. What do we do with it?

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147


    It always came down to the same question. What, exactly, was I willing to risk for power? My path through the system seemed expertly designed to constantly push me to the brink of what I was willing to tolerate, tossing out little tidbits to reign me back in if I ever drifted beyond that point.


    <strong></strong> was a particrly egregious example.


    Without it, I had zero interest in the lithid. None. Nada. The psychological trauma it could dole out on ark simply wasnt worth the risk. Even the idea of being in the same room as Iris made me ufortable after what it put me through.


    And then there was my mother. If shed buried what happened in my childhood for this long, this was absolutely, undoubtedly, the worst possible time for me to bring it up to her while she was on the road to recovery. Which meant the poignant mix of horror and curiosity would remain nestled in the back of my mind, positioned to make me doubt myself at the worst possible time.


    Putting that aside for a moment, the lithids potential for coteral damage was astronomical. Far greater than any summon Id held thus far. If the lithid rebelledeven in a small wayaround my friends and family, the harm done from even a brief encounter could be catastrophic.


    I could avoid using it around them at all costs, but some crossover was inevitable.


    And if I couldnt control it perfectly, and it decided it was hungry?


    No. Not worth it.


    Enter <strong></strong> The fact that I was stuck with it regardless of if I selected the lithid as a summon felt as if the system was tantly waggling sunk cost facy in my face, mocking me for even considering the possibility of disposing of it.


    Even the description itself felt tailored to me:


    <strong></strong>


    It emphasized that the boon wouldnt mind wipe the lithid or perfectly enve it to my will. Rather that the experience had marked me to other eldritch creatures, and that lithids were powerful enough that they appreciated being bested in battle, and would intrinsically know that Id managed such a feat.


    It was a fucking mess, and I was no closer to a decision than I had been fifteen minutes ago, when Talia gave me the core.


    It is rare, to see you this indecisive. Talia observed.


    I cantIts like bringing a loaded gun into my life that I can only store on the kitchen table. Will it help me defend myself? Yes. Is it powerful? Definitely. Does it have the potential to bite me in the ass? Abso-fucking-lutely.


    Its difficult to believe I am about to say this, but, Talia hesitated. When you summoned me for the first time, it was clear you were perfectly willing to dismiss me if necessary. You were exceedingly careful, and had I not given you the correct responses, I have no doubt you would have followed through.


    Thats different. I extended a hand out to her in frustration. Smart as you were, you were also pissed. Which made it far easier to read your intentions and motivations. Im not certain how Im supposed to feel out a monster with the capacity to read my every goddamn thought and potentially edit my memories.


    It might not be as all-powerful as youre giving it credit for. Talia countered. Both times it manipted me, I was pulled into a dream state almost immediately. Same for you, if I understand correctly.


    When I nodded, Talia continued. Then its possible its abilities may be drastically reduced when we are not in its thrall. Or that they may be entirely different from the creature we encountered. My mind was unaltered, but my abilitiesin both forms Ive inhabitedhave been drastically different from those of my original body.


    Right. I considered that. The summoning process tailors the summon to the User.


    Now that I consider it, that might make it more threatening, rather than less. Talia hedged.


    She wasnt wrong, but I gave her a sour look anyway. Changing your mind?


    Talia shook her head. I simply wish to avoid making an instinctual reaction, biased by stirred up strife from the experience we just had.


    I hated the idea of it. But Talia was right. This situation was as personal as it got. Any attempt to say otherwise was just lying to myself.


    Okay. I picked up the core and held it out in her direction. The lithid got us both with its initial hallucination and memory edit, but I imagine it had quite a bit of time to prepare. Once we broke out of it, it more or less focused on me.


    Talias eyes lit up. Yes. It only attempted to assail me directly after youd fought it off, and I presented therger threat.


    It made a few choicements about preferring me as a victim. But I cant imagine a being with this things capabilities getting tunnel vision. If it were able to, it would have targeted us both. Separated us like it did at the beginning. I think its more likely that once we actively engaged it, it could only focus its mind fuckery on one of us.


    Then


    Were doing this. I squeezed the core tightly, a deep knot of anxiety tightening as I came to the decision. But there are conditions. We both get a veto before I make a final decision. And we proceed with caution. Both of us.


    Talia scowled.


    This isnt what you wanted. I get that. But I dont see another way. I shrugged. If its too much, you still have that veto.


    No. No. Talia lowered her head between her paws in a pout. If we are going to rely on each other, I cannot shirk the parts of that responsibility purely on the basis of finding it dreadful and unpleasant. And disgusting. And macabre.


    Any more adjectives to throw out? I asked, hiding a smile.


    My summon showed a sh of teeth. Id prefer to get this over with. When are we going to do it?


    I looked around. Though the room was ordinary and bare, I didnt like the idea of summoning the lithid in its own territory. Even if it was mostly inconspicuous.


    Lets head down to the second floor. I need to make some adjustments beforehand.


    /////


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 13 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 13 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 6</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 19+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 17+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 21</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 3</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw, Vindictive, Squelch, limation.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 3. Suggestion, LVL 18. One-handed, LVL 16. Negotiation, LVL 11. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 10, Bow Adept, LVL 3.</strong>


    <strong>Boons: Nychtas Veil, Eldritch Favor, Ordinators Implements,</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 5. Talia  Eidolon Wolf, Bond LVL 9 </strong>


    <strong>Selve: 50,329 (-100 per week)</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 0. Feat points avable: 2.</strong>


    Not even the tranquility of thekeside greenery on the second floor was enough to calm my nerves. It didnt help that I was once again dumping my points into willpowera stat of highly specific usefulness at bestand I still couldnt find anything in the feat list that would allow me to get around the Suits mandatory geas. The geas presented a serious problem, as it prohibited me from reporting my findings to anyone, and more importantly, lying to their leadership.


    If I couldnt find a way to circumvent that limitation, the goose was cooked, and any chance of getting Nick out went clear out the window.


    After I read through the avable feats for the fifth time, <strong></strong> cackled.


    <em>Theres nothing here. Same as thest four times. At this point, its just stalling.</em>


    There were a few mages I could go to for help. Astrid and Astria ranked at the top of the list, or maybe an alchemist if I could find one. That was an issue forter, however.


    Before I could talk myself out of it, I withdrew the monster core from my inventory and <em>pulled,</em> feeling the sphere grow smaller as I absorbed the soul within.

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148


    Imagine, for a moment, the darkest secret you have. Something that haunts you, lingers in the forefront of your mind like an iplete shadow. It should be something you are desperately afraid of, something youve managed to live with by shoving it as far down and deep as possible.


    You know the one.


    Now imagine that your hand has been forced, and youre now required to reveal that secret in front of everyone you care for. Despite knowing how their opinion will change, imagining the looks on their faces.


    That was how it felt, summoning the lithid. Like fighting through a wave of never-ending shame, reaching the bottom and somehow finding more.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    A swirling gray mass of orange and ck exploded before me, wind pressure pounding against my armor and knocking me to the ground. The second floors serene blue sky filled with clouds, a spiraling wind funnel descending to the summons point of origin.


    <em>It shouldnt be able to attack!</em> Talia shouted in my mind.


    <em>I dont think it is. Doesnt make sense with how high its bond started. </em> I responded in the same manner, our surrounding environment far too tumultuous for anything more than telekicmunication. As if to directly contradict me, the wind picked up speed, rampant gustspeting to lift me off the ground.


    I looped my arm around an upraised root, anchoring myself to a nearby tree.


    <em>Release it before its toote!</em> Talia said, her panic ringing clear.


    <em>If it gets worse. Just hold on a little longer.</em>


    When I looked back towards Talia, I saw her clinging to the tree beside me vertically like a squirrel, shooting daggers in my direction. Her ws were dug deeply into the tree, but she was clearly slipping. The wind grew even more intense and one paw came free.


    I mentally prepared to release the summon.


    Then the wind died. An eerie silence fell over the clearing.


    A shadow fell over me, and I looked up.


    Less than a foot away, a silhouetted figure towered over me. Where it had once reminded me of viscous motor oil before, its skin was tinted dark blue, its reflective aspect of now bringing to mind a dark ocean, or a moonlit night.


    Slowly, it raised a hand and waved. Hi.


    <em>Hi?</em>


    The panic in my mind slowly eased as I shifted to my feet, studying the summoned version of the lithid carefully. It had no facial features to speak of, and the silhouette didnt register as female, as it had before. It read more androgynous than anything else, its voice equally in-between. Strangely enough, it sounded nervous.


    Talia, I called back, refusing to look away from the lithid for even a moment. You good?


    Apart from the <em>several</em> nails I left behind in the tree? Yes. Talia sounded genuinely annoyed at the loss.


    Ill resummon youter. Subconsciously, I straightened my back. As petty as it sounds, I didnt like that the lithid was taller than me.


    Suddenly, it shifted form, legs and torso shortening until it stood half a head below me.


    My eyes narrowed.


    Now that I was looking for it, I could feel a subtle vibration from <strong></strong>


    You are wee to try. It would take you a long time to learn in your current state and require significantly more mana than you possess. The lithids statement was oddly candid, stating the reality without rubbing it in.


    I waved it off. Thats not I stopped. It should have known that wasnt what I was trying to achieve. You stopped reading my mind?


    I sensed you didnt like it. The lithid inclined its head towards Talia. She doesnt either, but as shes also fantasizing about eating me, turnabout is fair y.


    Thats a lie. Talia snarled.


    Still, this level of cooperation wasnt what I expected.


    Can you iste how deeply you look? I asked.


    Yes. The lithid confirmed.


    Read my surface thoughts again.


    I braced myself and turned my focus inward. Now that I was looking for it, the intrusion felt like a whisper, a tiny spectator lodged in the depths of my mind. When I felt confident that I could detect it again, I told the Lithid to sever its connection with Talia and me, and the feeling of being watched receded.


    There was an underlying sense of anticipation as it leaned closer.


    Well, you already know why were here. I leaned slightly away.


    The tiny spectator popped into the back of my mind again.


    <em>No.</em> I scolded. The spectator receded immediately, and the lithid huffed in frustration.


    How am I meant to respond correctly when I dont know someones motivation? It whined.


    The same way as every other being. Talia growled. She crossed over in front of me as she had during the battle, acting as a shield. You guess.


    Start by exining why you seem entirely different from before. I added.


    Oh! The lithid smiled. Or at least, I think it smiled, from the way its gtinous cheeks seemed to stretch. Because Im not hungry anymore. Its very nice. Before I was a summon, I was starving constantly.


    Talia and I looked at each other. I studied the lithid warily. Youre not hungry now?


    No. Well, I could eat. But it isnt remotely the same.


    For suffering. Talia said tly.


    Not just suffering. Catharsis tastes far better and tends to be better for the host. But its harder to achieve, and most hosts break long before we can get to that point. The lithid shifted from side to side, and shot me a series of nervous nces.


    I sighed. What?


    Just, Id love to know what you thought of my work.


    Your work?


    The lithid nodded vigorously. It was more mean-spirited than it needed to be, perhaps. Because of the hunger. But I was very proud of it. It was some of my best, I think. Pathos coupled with self-realization and growth. I really let the muse run wild.


    The verbiage and persona suddenly clicked.


    I felt the vein in my forehead begin to pulse. Jesus Christ.


    What? Talia nced between us, unsure of what she was messing.


    Its an <em>artist.</em>


    Aw. The lithid approached me. When I held out a hand to stop it, it settled for hugging itself excitedly. It means the world hearing that from you!


    Im lost, Talia said dumbly, unknowingly cutting off my scathing retort.


    Exin it to Talia. I stepped aside, not trusting myself to refrain from throttling the creature.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as the lithid crouched down in front of Talias face, nting its hands on its knees. Ah. Right, a wolf wouldnt have a lot of experience in that regard.


    Dont talk down to me, wretch


    Art is a living beings attempt to imitate the objects and events of life. The audienceor rather, those witnessing the art can experience a variety of emotions and feelings through the eye of the artist. However, some emotions have to be earned. We cannot, for example, simply be told the protagonist is victorious. We have to see them struggle to attain that victory, feel empathy for their pain, to truly feel the magnitude of the victory once they ovee it.


    A wave of irritation washed over me.


    <em>What an asshole.</em>


    It took Talia a second to get it. When she did, her lips pulled back, and she unleashed a full-throated growl, taking a threatening step towards the lithid. You used my pain, my <em>tragedy,</em> as fodder for your <em>art</em>?


    I did my best, considering the source material. The lithid shrugged, oblivious to the growing anger of the wolf. Its difficult to draw water from a stone. The system didnt give you much of a backstory. The mother who outlives her children trope is <em>so</em> clich.


    Talia dove forward, ws outstretched, snapping and snarling as the lithid danced around her, shouting in surprise. It dodged around the clearing, swearing loudly as Talia pursued it. Talia was faster, but the lithid was more mobile, creating a chase that looked very much like a matador evading a bull.


    Itd be wise to stop it. And I would.


    In a moment.


    It was easy enough to fill in the nks. Most lithids probably started out simr to this one. More symbiotic guides than parasites, looking to draw from the release that came from a deep emotional revtion. But when the host died, they turned nastier over time, drawing nourishment from suffering instead, gearing their delusions towards it. As much as I wanted to believe the lithid was deceiving us, it wasnt. If it was trying to ingratiate itself, it was doing a terrible job. Of course, it could know that and be ying it against the grain to achieve the same ends, but I suspected that wasnt the case.


    Because I was pretty sure I knew why our bond was so high. Why it was so pleased with my recognition, and delighted to see me, even when the hunger was twisting our perceptions. Something Talia said echoed in my mind.


    Enough. Both of you. I said, putting plenty of authority in my voice. The two of them stopped next to theke, still staring each other down.


    Lithid. I called. It returned to me, ncing backward at Talia as it walked, nearly stumbling over the same root Id clung to when Id summoned it.


    She ispletely unreasonable. The lithid huffed. It cocked its head at me. Have you made your decision?


    Not yet. I still have several questions.


    Ask away. It seemed pleased to be interrogated, somehow.


    I held out a finger. How much of the abilities you disyed have you retained?


    In a realm of uros, most of them. The lithid confirmed. Simple maniption and cerebral deep dives are easy enough to perform on the fly. I can possess simple minds easily and use the host as a weapon. Sapient minds are more difficult, scaling to a significant degree contingent on the hosts intelligence. The more in-depth hallucinations take a significant amount of preparation, as does detailed duplication of a particr being.


    I raised an eyebrow. Id expected its abilities to be somewhat nerfed, but this made it an incredible asset within a dungeon or simr analogue.


    Outside a realm of uros? I asked.


    This is just my guess, as Ive never existed outside a realm. But I should still be able to perform surface level mind-reads and possess less powerful, non-sapient hosts.


    When I thought of Ellison, my mind ticked over a dangerous possibility. Could you use a duplicate form on the outside?


    Im not certain. The lithid mused. Its unlikely Id be able to retain the form for a significant length of time. Slightly longer if the host was willingpossession will work simrly.


    After processing as much of that as I could, saving the more oundish ideas for when I had time for more detailed theory crafting.


    I ran a hand through my hair. Before, you said you were a little hungry. Im concerned about that. It may have been reset for the moment, with your death and resurrection, but whats to stop it from getting to the point it affects your personality.


    Totally reasonable, the lithid said in a schmoozing tone that grated. I dont remember much from when I was born, but I do remember the hunger. It was far worse than it is now, and if I do get hungry Well


    Spit it out. I barked.


    It put two fingers together in an oddly childish gesture. If you could just let me dwell within something or someone youre about to kill, that would satisfy me immensely. The lithid said shyly.


    I stared at it in horror. Talia made a gagging noise.


    If thats too much


    Slowly, I put a hand over my face. No no, <em>why not?</em> You can eat their suffering, then Audrey can devour the corpse! The buffet is stocked for everyones dietary needs!


    Ive upset you. The lithid realized glumly.


    Leaving that disquieting. request alone for a moment, Talia said, The mechanics interest me. You can dwell within someone without possessing them? In the outside world as well?


    Of course. The lithid said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.


    And they would remain unaware of that? Talia pressed.


    Its very unintrusive. The lithid confirmed.


    Picking up on what Talia was driving at, I felt a small surge of anticipation. And youd be able to hear what theyre saying?


    The lithid suddenly pped its hands together, making us both jump. Oh! Yes, Id be an excellent spy.


    Are you male or female? I asked suddenly. Talia gave me a questionable look, and I shrugged. It had been rattling around in my head for a while, and referring to human-esque creature as it, felt degrading, somehow.


    Both. Neither. The lithid ced a hand under its chin. Though I really ought to be male, considering.


    Considering what? I asked dryly, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.


    Well, you already have a female summon. The nt is both, but looks and sounds feminine. Add another female to the roster and people might start getting the wrong impression.


    Shes a wolf! I eximed.


    Hes a human! Talia said simultaneously, equally put off.


    The lithid shrugged. Doesnt matter. Theyll still talk.


    If anyone knows about all three of you at any given time, wed have far more serious problems. I argued, feeling stupid for how heated I felt.


    Judging from the memories I looked through, a few gods know already. And while the majority areplete degenerates, theyvee a long way from the wild days. Wouldnt want to screw yourself out of a boon or favor due to an optics issue.


    Jesus. Just be whatever you want.


    Male. The lithid confirmed. Its form shifted to reflect the change. Its body was slim but muscr, a figure suspiciously simr to my own.


    Talia? I prompted her.


    Talia stared at the lithid with distaste. As much as Id like to say otherwise, he is too valuable to turn down.


    The lithid hopped up and down in excitement. Then, Im in?


    Not quite. I studied him, dreading giving the question voice. Our bond is exorbitantly high. Audrey started at one, Talia at zero. I need to know why our bond in particr is so elevated.


    Oh. The lithid shrunk back. I was going to wait and address that when the time was right. I cant tell youter?


    Now or never. I reiterated.


    Before I say anything, The lithid hedged, bear in mind I have a solution for your geas issue.


    That got my attention immediately. And?


    Ill tell you when the timees. The lithid bowed his head apologetically.


    I grit my teeth. Fine. Keep your leverage. Now answer my question.


    The system didnt force me to admire you, or instill loyalty. In truth, Ive been waiting to meet you for a long time. But I am, in some ways, a ve to my nature. You had to run the gauntlet first. Even though you well you made me. The lithid was the very picture of anxiety, his arms held close to his body, shuffling from foot to foot as he waited for my response.


    <em>Foul creatures sustained by hate and regret, formed in the void between worlds when a sapient beingmits the unforgivable.</em>


    There were plenty of things I wanted to ask about, but I wasnt sure I could handle the answers. I breathed out, as the small part of me that still argued for banishing the lithid withered and died.


    Pick a name. We have shit to do.

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149


    The lithid had chosen Azure. One degree of separation away from calling itself blue. Since it wasyou knowblue.


    I shook my head. Creatives came up with the worst names.


    Earth to Matt? Kinsley prodded me sternly. Youd give me hell if I was zoning out during prep.


    Cant n if I cant think. I countered. Realistically, though, she was right. I was having trouble focusing on anything since the lithid encounter. And my hands were still shaking.


    We were back at the warehouse Id found her in. As a hideout, it seemed as good of a ce as any. The windows were all boarded up and high off the ground. Difficult to ess. Whoever owned it was either outside the city when the dome came down or had abandoned the property, as everything was exactly as wed left it. Kinsley had been here for nearly a week and no one had found her.


    Most importantly, neither Miles nor the Suits knew it existed.


    Thinkter. Kinsley did a slow circle around the facility. Ditched theputer, shotgun, and everything that could be tied back to me. A few things that probably couldnt, but I got rid of them just in case.


    Fridge is gone, I noted wryly.


    Bought it from the from the store. Not worth the risk, and its not like youll be spending that much time here. Hopefully.


    Hopefully. I repeated, barely paying attention.


    Jesus, Matt. Dont sound so confident.


    I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake myself up. Depends on how many resources theyre willing to dedicate to vetting me. We should know in the first forty-eight hours how difficult this is going to be.


    Itll be fine. Kinsley insisted. Anyway, I brought in a cooler and a couch I bought from a few different ces. Enough to make it looked lived in.


    I had to marvel at the difference between the scared little girl I found here and the guild leader shed transformed into. Even in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, Kinsley radiated authority. If she survived the next few years and made the leap to adulthood without cracking, she was going to be terrifying.


    I nudged a medium-sized pink polka-dotted dog bed positioned next to the bed with the toe of my shoe and snorted.


    Kinsley rolled her eyes. Fuck off. It was the nicest one I could find. The only one I could find. Lotta people picking up dogs these days.


    Oh? That was either heartwarming or horrifying, depending on how cynically you wanted to look at it.


    Another merchant was talking about it.


    What happened with the group that was giving you problems? I asked, though I already knew something had happened in her favor. The quest that tasked me with finding more merchants for the merchants guild had been markedpleted a few hours ago, despite no action on my part.


    Got tired of the standoff and had them all assassinated. Kinsley said ndly.


    I stared at her, my eyes narrowing.


    Kinsley gave me a t look. Not sure whats more rming. That youre out of it enough to take that seriously, or that you think Im capable of it. Whatever. You were right. They folded like cardboard after I walked away from the table. Started reaching out to me individually, trying to cut a deal for themselves.


    A situation you used to pressure the holdouts and y them against each other?


    Of course.


    Nicely done. I held out a fist and she bumped it absentmindedly.


    I fucking hate this ce. Kinsley said, ncing at the vent next to the shelves.


    Barring some disaster, this is probably thest youll see of it. I shrugged. Safer that way. You mentioned the door power had changed? You can use it more now?


    Once an hour. Kinsley winced. Ive been trying not to lean on it heavily and save it for emergencies, but I <em>have</em> been using it. Should still be able to get you from here to the apartment and vice versa the majority of the time..


    I dont expect you to lock yourself out of a key ability for me. Ill try to give you an hour lead time when Iming and going.


    Yeah. Doubt filtered into Kinsleys expression. Matt, are you sure you dont want me to send some people with you tomorrow? Id use a proxy to hire them so theres no direct connection. The best guys I can find. People whove been doing this a lot longer than either of us.


    I shook my head. Cant risk it. It doesnt matter how good they are. If they make a single mistake, or theres an ability in y we dont know about, were blown before we even know their location. Myrddin needs to look like a solo operator on the run, low on resources. Angry, frustrated, with just a hint of desperation.


    Kinsley nodded slowly. Its weird how you talk about him like hes someone else.


    Justpartmentalizing. I spotted a light patch in my shadow, a passing shimmer of blue before it vanished.


    Azure wasnt the kind of summon I could just bring in on the spot. Or in the city at all for that matter. The lithids summoning process was shy and eye-catching, and probably needed to be done in uros if I wanted to keep itpletely concealed. So I was in the unfortunate situation of having to keep him summoned and on me. Azure had suggested staying rooted in my shadow as an alternative to concealing him in an implement, and so far, he was mostly invisible.


    Kinsley bit her lip. Im worried about my dad. Hes not built for this. Even if hes prioritizing saving, me, hes gotta be running on empty by now. Its only a matter of time before he breaks down.


    Hey. Youve taken care of my family. Ill do everything I can to take care of yours. I squeezed her shoulder, trying to impart a sense of confidence without promising anything. If things went south with the Suits at the wrong moment, there was a chance Vernons fate would be out of my hands entirely.


    Judging from the sad smile, Kinsley knew the score. Thanks. I hope your friends okay too.


    A grim silence dampened the atmosphere. Everything was up in the air, and despite my predictions and ns, neither of us could be certain how well this would work out. Hell, if the Suits had done the math and worked out that Myrddin was the Ordinator, and ended up being a little more short-sighted or less brazen than I predicted, there was a real possibility they might deem me too much of a liability and kill me outright.


    Oh, I finally got a vocation.


    Kinsleys eyebrows shot up. About damn time, considering how long the systems been teasing it. Whatd you snag?


    Anima Seer.


    The fuck?


    Thats what I said.


    As I gave Kinsley the rundown, she pulled up her interface and swiped through several windows. No equipment for it in the vocation tab.


    Figures.


    I swear, every upgrade you get has a sinister twist. Sounds helpful as hell though. Especially when you start leveling it upand hey. She grinned. Even if its trash, Ill finally have a way to funnel you selve.


    Cant you use quests to do that? I asked.


    No. Kinsley said, her expression significantly more grumpy than moments before. Its stupid. I gave you a quest to survive the transposition, when you were unconscious, testing a smaller amount first just to see if it worked. It went through, but I received an arbitrage warning for assigning a quest that was too easy, and got fucking soft-banned from giving quests for three days.


    Another obstruction. I rolled my eyes. The system <em>really</em> doesnt like handouts.


    Kinsley tapped her foot. Well,e on you bastard, show me the goods so I can pay you.


    There was an awkward silence.


    I huffed. Okay, fine. I have no idea how to ess it. There was nothing new on my interface, and the associated abilities werent on my character sheet.


    Did you check your trade screen? Kinsley said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.


    That was the one ce I hadnt checked, as Id barely used it since the store hade online. Sure enough, there was another icon shaped like an anvil, intersected with an S.


    I focused on it, and a dropdown appeared.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I focused on each of the skills in turn.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My dreams of omniscience were crushed for the moment, but thebination of skills and my new summon gave me a hell of a lot more avenues for information gathering than I had before.


    I generated a contract for Kinsley, marking <strong></strong> as the service rendered and leaving the selve amount nk. When I attempted to activate the skill, her face popped into my mind easily. When I immediately switched gears and tried to pull up Ellison, it drew nothing but a nk. That figured. Id squeezed Kinsleys shoulder earlier. <strong></strong> being retroactive was probably too much to hope for, but I had to try.


    Setting that aside, I focused on Kinsley again, waiting until her face appeared in my mind, then fell deeper into the trance.


    The resulting overload of information hit me like a tidal wave

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150


    Thousands of lines of text streamed through my vision. It wasnt the void, but I was so blind it might as well be. I staggered on my feet and attempted to catch myself, iling wildly as rapidly flowing text obliterated my vision. My hand impacted something solid, and I clung to it. I nearly fell several times as I fought an inevitable sense of rotation until it felt as if I was clinging to the handhold upside down, straining against it to keep my feet nted on the floor.


    Matt!


    It took me a second to realize. That was Kinsley, sounding as freaked out as I felt.


    Then the floor started to shift beneath me.


    Cant make anything out. I said through gritted teeth. Its like its throwing every merchant ability at me simultaneously. Maybe every ability, period.


    Can you filter it? Kinsley shouted, her voice unnecessarily loud.


    Dont know. I panted. Thank christ I hadnt tried this on the fly. It would present an obvious point of weakness to anyone who was watching. All theyd need to do was wait for me to read someone and n ordingly.


    Try. Kinsley urged.


    I wanted to, but there was too much white noise to strategize. What are we even looking for?


    Uh. Hold on, hold on, let me think.


    Think faster.


    Kinsley fell silent, as I experienced the sensation of enduring a rollercoaster without a seatbelt.


    Oh! She finally said. I need a way to pad inventory and make it less likely to run out of stock. If that even exists.


    At least a third of the text I was reading faded out, the entries rapidly disappearing pixel by pixel. There were still an overwhelming number of entries. They scrolled slightly slower than before, but were entirely illegible.


    Be more specific, I said, gagging as my breakfast staged an escape attempt. I think its narrowing down the options.


    Um, something that would appeal to crafters.


    Nothing changed.


    Too vague, I snapped.


    An ability that would provide a benefit to crafters that sell through me.


    The text slowed to a crawl, nearly throwing me off. It was possible to read the options now, though the feats with longer descriptions still slipped past before I could finish them. Still, it was easier to adapt now that my focus wasnt split between reading the options and not falling over.


    Slowly, the text began to fade, the real world filtering in. Id drunkenly clung to a metal trunk across the room from where Id previously been standing.


    Determined not to waste the charge, I closed my eyes and honed in on the text.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I rattled off the information to Kinsley as I read, not trusting myself tomit the description to memory.


    Gravity seemed to kick back in, and I staggered to the couch, the sense of nausea fading far more slowly than Id like. Kinsley was still jotting thest of what I said onto a notepad shed found god knows where.


    Absolutely excellent. Especially if the decrease in degradation is small. <em>Every</em> merchant is going to take that, but I have one hell of a lead, and any crafter who isnt an idiot will buy in if Im not too greedy with the split. Kinsley muttered. Better to offer generous deals and lock down exclusivity while I can. But hot damn, thats expensive.


    I nodded, and immediately regretted doing so as the world nodded with me. It was by far the most expensive feat Id ever seen. I had to wonder if it was due to the obvious benefit of the feat itself, or if the price of feats at higher levels was significantly inted.


    Not to sound like an ungrateful ass, but was that all? Kinsley asked, peering over her notepad.


    Right. <strong></strong> was supposed to give me a more profound insight into the ss and ideal progression, not just info on a single feat. I vaguely recalled long blocks of text in the original scrawl that were too drawn out to be feat descriptions, but the blocks themselves were utterly indecipherable.


    Just that, I think. Not sure why it shafted me on the rest.


    From what Ive heard, and my own personal experience Kinsley jotted down a few more notes, then ced the notebook in her inventory. Vocations are god fucking awful at the start. And while that might have been somewhat pointless if the feat was cheaplike obviously Im going to take a perk that goodits anything but. That one level between visibility and being avable for purchase would have screwed me if I didnt know it wasing. Could have taken six more levels to unlock.


    I cocked my head. Yeah, I see how thats useful.


    Is this going to be a Matt thing or a Myrddin thing? Kinsley asked.


    Definitely Matt. Itd be wasted on Myrddin.


    Hoped youd say that. Im gonna give you twenty-five-k for each member of the Merchants Guild you do this for. Some mercenaries too, if theyre willing to extend their exclusivity.


    Give me a second to recover before you start merchandising me. I grumbled.


    Kinsley pressed on as if she hadnt heard me. Ill pitch the Adventurers Guild on it as well. The more people we get you in front of, the faster youll level the vocation, and the better off well be.


    I agreed, though Kinsley was still thinking faster than I could manage at the moment. Your pricing seems overinted.


    My ass. Its easily worth that, if not more. You need to streamline the processmaybe get a Q and A document for people to fill in, so you can have a specific target <em>before</em> you go to ear-infectionndbut almost everyone with the means would pay to get some of the systems many nks filled in. Kinsley squinted. Hell, tons of people would probably throw money at you just for the additional information section alone on feats they already have. And you should <em>absolutely</em> raise the price of that motherfucker when it levels, and you gain more functionality.


    I said nothing, as my thoughts returned to the imminent meeting with the Suits.


    Dont die, Matt. Kinsley said. Seriously. None of this matters if you screw up and croak. These people arent messing around.


    Good talk. I staggered to my feet, vision still swimming. Im gonna go find a bucket.


    Dont let them get a rise out of you. Kinsley called after me.


    Yeah yeahWhere the hell is it? I could have sworn there was one around here.


    Kinsley nced away. I may have tossed the bucket.

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151


    When Id nced over the contract, Id read the number as twenty-thousand, and was more than happy with that number considering we didnt know what the ability did. Somehow, Id missed the extra zero.


    Kinsley and I bickered for a whileI used her of doing the new-money thing of throwing money around irresponsibly, while she insisted two-hundred thousand was chump change, and to consider it a retainer.


    I left the majority of my User cores with Kinsley when we parted ways. It wasmon sense to leave the majority of them off my person, considering their inherent value to the Suits.


    Back at the apartment, I used my vocational ability once more. Iris had stopped in to visit Sae, and I took my sister aside and ran the ability, with the foreknowledge that I needed to sit down first. She was pushing level 5 already, and there was an uing feat at level 7 called <strong></strong> that would grant a more detailed understanding of the underlying mechanics of items and structures she created, helping to ground any overly fantastical designs she came up with.


    She vented for a while about the sudden entourage of grizzled mercenaries that followed her around. After hearing her mainintthat they mean-mugged anyone who came too close and intimidated people around her, I tuned out of the conversation and let her vent. Even if Iris didnt like it, it was for the best, and I was d that Kinsleys personnel were taking the assignment seriously.


    I knew that everything that happened in the lithids clutches wasnt real, but that didnt change the fact that it was hard to look my sister in the eye.


    After Iris left, I went to the Adventurers Guild headquarters and searched for Tarathe waitress whod left me her nameon the social interface. There were multiple Tara Strds in Das, but only one who lived in region 14.


    The request pended for less than a minute before it was epted. I was halfway through writing a meticulously edited introduction message when a notification dinged. Tara had messaged first.


    <strong></strong>


    I stared at the message log, not entirely sure what to do now that shed beat me to the punch.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It wasmon knowledge that I lived here nowa new reality that irked me to no endbut it still felt strange confirming my location to a stranger. So, I did what I always did when a line of questioning made me ufortable. I dodged the question, employing some of Saes earlier advice and keeping it casual.


    <strong></strong>


    There was a long pause between the messages, and I scowled. Somehow Id managed to screw this up already. Before I could beat myself up more, another alert dinged.


    <strong></strong><strong><em>could</em></strong><strong> skip the coffee.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    What the fuck did being in the same building have to do with coffee? And did liking variety mean boba or tea would be a better option? How was I supposed to read between the lines here?


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    What the hell? In something of a panic, I left my room and banged on Saes door. Sae answered half-awake. WhatChrist, what happened in the dungeon? Youre white as fuck.


    I shook my head. The dungeon went fine. I messaged Tara.


    Howd that go? Sae asked, her expression a mix of amusement and irritation.


    Not great.


    I read the conversation verbatim.


    Once Id finished, Sae stared at me in disbelief. Bullshit.


    I know. How the hell did we get from coffee on the weekend to send the elevator down for me?


    You being this naive is the bullshit part. Your girls down-bad. Wear a rubber. Guess Ill go to the money grubbing imps for a bit. Sae grabbed her overcoat.


    I blocked the doorway. That was <em>not</em> the intended oue here.


    Sae studied me confused, until her eyes lit with realization. Oh right, youre a prude. Why did you opt in, then?


    When the fuck did I opt in? I asked, bbergasted.


    I mean, its kind of obvious. You didnt say anything when she offered to skip the coffee, and when she asked if you were kinky, you said you were flexible.


    No one was talking about being kinky!


    Come on, Matt, what did you think mix it up meant in this context?


    Ifuck me. I trailed off as I read through the messages again.


    Sae snorted. She will if you send the elevator down.


    Not helping. I didnt like feeling this ipetent. And it wasnt like I was bad at reading social cues. If Nick hade to me with the same string of messages, I would have seen it clear as day. It was just harder to read between the lines when I was a part of the equation.


    There was a pause and Saes expression softened. Look, rx. It was a mimunication. Right now, she thinks youre down for a hookup. And yeah, shes being a little aggressive, but were in the middle of a sustained crisis. Theres probably a ton of people looking to relieve stress. Just dont feel pressured to do anything youre not ready for. If you want to salvage this, just tell her youre wiped out but still down to meet for coffee over the weekend. Also, send that message soon. Otherwise, itll feel like a ke.


    Okay. I walked away, already working on the reply message. I turned back and looked at Sae suspiciously. You wont tell anyone, right?


    Sae rolled her eyes. That your dating game is abysmal? Even if we werent friends, Helpline, you dragged me kicking and screaming out of the darkest ce Ive ever been. And Ive been to some <em>dark</em> ces. Your secrets are safe with me.


    The contemtive look Sae gave me made it clear she wasnt just talking about Tara. And she wasnt wrong. Id given her a lot of information for the sake of convenience that painted my history in a questionable light. At first, Id though she was too absorbed in her circumstances to take the reveals at anything apart from face value. But she had noticed. She was just waiting for the exnation.


    Thanks, Sae. Just give me some time. Im spinning countless tes right now. I finally said. Sae closed the door and I returned to my room, deep in thought.


    I needed to decideeither deal her in as I had Kinsley, ore up with another lie for the pile that would better exin the inconsistencies. The main concern holding me back from the former was that I didnt know what Sae wanted, and there was a good chance with all the chaos, she didnt either.


    Kinsley was safe because of her father. That bond was solid. Shed never leave him behind, and the Overseer had emphasized that only one person could escape the game entirely by killing me. As far as I could tell, Sae hadnt even contacted her parents, and there were hardly any people left in the city she had a real connection to.


    For now, it was better to keep the role to myself.


    Taking Saes advice, I shot Tara another message.


    <strong></strong>


    The resulting message didnte in until I was already in bed, falling asleep.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    The day of the meeting dawned. Kinsley doored me from the apartment to the hideout as wed nned, and Id walked from the hideout to the park.


    I was initially worried that my masks effectiveness had taken a hit and people might recognize me from the video, but the Allfathers Mask still worked perfectly in that regard.


    There was no need to scout Lakeside. I knew the park like the back of my hand. It was a perfect ce to study, plenty of space and greenery, and theck of a yground meant no screaming children.


    I stuck to the rooftops instead, and spent the lead up to the meeting time scouting the surrounding streets, scanning faces, and looking for any out of ce vehicles lingering around the spot. The park wasrge and winding, with multiple discrete exit pointsso if they did intend to ambush me, theyd need more than a few members deployed on the ground.


    Only, nothing stuck out. Not a single person, Escde, or suspiciously parked van. Every random passerby passed a quick scan, even as my title grew crankier by the minute.


    An oddly dense section of grass within the park stirred. If <strong></strong> hadnt screamed bloody murder, I might have dismissed it as an animal. I pulled out a pair of binocrs from my inventorya new acquisition from Kinsleys paydayand kept them centered on the oddly shaped mound.


    My heart raced as I realized it was breathing. The camouge was insanely good. I could barely make out a forearm and leg. Everything else was a green blur that blended into the grass perfectly.


    I spotted several more simrly dense patches of grass behind it, spread out around the park.


    I circled again, looking for anything out of the ordinary.


    A thrill of anticipation went through me as I spotted a Silver Benz on the top-level of the hospital parking garage, one street over from the park, ten minutes after noon. Clearly out of ce, as there was plenty of parking on the lower sections. The lower levels wouldnt provide nearly as good of an overlook. It must have pulled up in thest few minutes while I was scouting the other side. Two peoplea man and a woman in inclothes exited the back seat and discretely shut the doors behind them, descending the stairs and taking the crosswalk across the street, entering the park as a pair.


    I didnt recognize them. More importantly, they didnt carry themselves with the same air of professionalism as the Users in the tunnel had. That,bined with the utterck of surveince, told me the Suits were treating this like a simple meet. Sendingckeys to deliver a message.


    My focus returned to the Benz. It was still running, front windows cracked slightly open.


    <em>If theres leadership present, theyre behind the tinted windows, calling the shots from a distance. </em>


    It was time to flex a little.

 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152


    I kept low and approached the car from the rear and to the right, staying in what should have been a natural blindspot, assuming the rearview mirror wasnt positioned strangely. In case it <em>was</em> oddly positioned, I cast <strong></strong> on the Benz, hearing a resulting click as the cars locks released simultaneously.


    The gears ground several times as the driver fiddled with the locks.


    Before the spell wore off, I opened the side door and slipped into the passenger seat.


    This my Uber? I deadpanned.


    At which point I realized I may have miscalcted. Because while Id expected someone higher ced, this was drastically more than Id bargained for. Gray-hair was sitting in the drivers seat, one hand on the driver-side panel, the other holding a half-eaten sandwich, staring at me. A drop of brown mustard dripped from the sandwich andnded on his pleated pants. He slowly lowered the sandwich, cing it on the console, and dabbed the mustard off his pants with a handkerchief, as if I wasnt there.


    The Benzs front console disyed a screen showing multiple viewpoints from body cameras within the park. My eyes narrowed. They did have people in ce. If Id scouted within the park instead of outside, <strong></strong> would have triggered.


    Gray-hair folded the napkin and dabbed his face, staring straight ahead, stone-cold. Did you break my car?


    No idea what youre talking about. The application of <strong></strong> had faded by now.


    Gray-hair tested the locks. When they worked, he seemed to thaw a bit, adapting the same casual manner I recognized from the tunnel. Good. I like this shirt. Getting blood out is such a pain. Heughed as if hed just told the greatest joke in the world.


    Itd be hell on your upholstery.


    In part. The carpets, for certain. The leather though? He smiled dreamily. With a little dish soap and water, it wipes right off. But Im guessing youve already seen your share of blood. Isnt that right, Ordinator? He stared straight at me, waiting for a reaction.


    So, they had connected the dots. That was unfortunate in some ways, fortunate in others. They were less likely to pull anything if they thought I was capable of leveling an entire region.


    I ignored him, looking out towards the park. This could have been a straightforward conversation.


    If it was up to me, I would have handled it that way. Gray-hair said. The matter was above my paygrade.


    Gray-hair wasnt the leader then. Or, at the very least, not the only one. He reached down towards the console. When I bristled, reaching towards my side, he held eye-contact and slowly popped apartment open. There were two bottles in clear view, dark-ss craft beers with a goldenbel.


    <em>He expected this. Or ounted for the possibility.</em>


    The feeling of being out of my depth returned.


    Gray-hair picked one up and flicked the cap off with his thumbnail and extended it to me. I took it, inspecting the bottle carefully. <strong></strong> didnt trigger. I took a precautionary sip, nearly gagging on the unpleasant, acrid vor. It was like licking a bitter, yeasty, oak barrel.


    We can still have that conversation. Gray-hair observed as he opened his beer in the same manner. Main difference being, I hold a far higher opinion of you now than if wed met on a park bench.


    What was going to happen? I asked, noticing the lithids blue-shimmer in my shadow again. If I went to the park?


    The woman you saw leave my car spent her previous life as an institutional psychologist. We still rely on her talents from time to time. Gray-hair took a deep pull from his beer and let out a satisfied sigh.


    She was going to evaluate me.


    Yes. Gray-hair inclined his head. If you passed and provided the cores as promised? We intended to hash out a deal. Offer to ce you under our protection, should you be so inclined.


    <em>Not fucking likely.</em>


    <em>Anything?</em> I sent Azure a mental prompt.


    <em>Hard to say for sure. Im getting more emotion than direct thoughts. But nothing to indicate deceit.</em> Azure confirmed.


    And if I failed? My tone was dangerous.


    Gray-hair lookedpletely rxed. If she thought you were insane, or a potential liability? Our civilian snipers would have filled you with enough tranquilizer darts to knock out a horse. Then we would have interrogated you for the location of the rest of the cores, eventually disposing of you humanely once we had what we wanted.


    A cold chill went through me. Not from the content of the threat, but the matter-of-factness with which he said it.


    What happens now? I asked.


    You dont strike me as a maniac, so I see no reason to go to n b. Everything else is a matter of negotiation. So, tell me. Gray-hair shrugged. What can our humble organization do for the monster that has the entire city jumping at shadows?


    I dont need your protection. I said, rejecting his earlier notion. But I can see which way the wind is blowing. Guilds are the future. Unaffiliated Users will begin to hit roadblocks, as guilds soak up more and more territory. Fees, locked down dungeons, conscription. Eventually, it will be almost impossible to make any progress as a solo operator.


    Gray-hair chuckled. Manifest destiny never left our spirits. Damned as we are.


    I have a few options. But at the end of the day, Id rather y for the winning team. I leaned towards him, matching his smile.


    And thats us? Gray-hair asked.


    Ive been watching your group for a while. Only seen hints and shadows, though Ive been looking. From what Ive gathered, your people are ndestine, disciplined, and utterly ruthless in your pursuit of power.


    Many dislike thatbination. Gray-hair took another pull and ced his beer aside. Some ced highly in our very organization. There are those that believe that power held in secret is no power at all. What do you think?


    Further confirmation that there was some sort of internal strife. This wasnt just about recruiting me. He was being careful, trying to avoid bringing anyone in that would weaken his side.


    Was that why hed chosen such an eye-catching vehicle? Hed hoped I would find him, so he could evaluate me away from hisrades?


    I considered Gray-hair. What I knew about him, how hed acted in the tunnel. The way hed want me to respond. His entire demeanor and presentation could be burned down to a single idea. Walk softly, and carry a big stick.


    Power is power. I finally said. No matter the face of it, the real movers and shakers are always lurking in the dark.


    Aptly put. Gray-hair said. Then he stirred, seeming toe to a decision. You have the cores?


    I withdrew the seven User cores and ced them in the still-openpartment.


    Excellent. Gray-Hair withdrew a Man envelope from the side-pocket and handed it to me. When I went to take it, he held on to it for a moment. I assume you prefer your identity remain anonymous, for obvious reasons?


    Its a necessity.


    Collecting personal information is a key part of the recruitment process. Leverage and whatnot. Fortunately for you, I find this anonymity youve achieved too valuable to throw away. Maintaining it will take some doing on both our parts. I can shield you from that side of things. But there is a cost. Gray-hair released the envelope.


    I opened it and slid the documents out. There was an eight by eleven picture of Buzzcut at the top.


    Suddenly, I understood. Gray-hair wasnt just aiming to shore up his faction within the Suits.


    Gray-hair was cleaning house.


    I waited, to ensure my voice was steady. How do you want it done?


    His home should provide an ideal staging ground. Its well sound-proofed and isted.


    I wasnt sure I wanted to know the details behind the soundproofingment.


    Anyone else to worry about? I asked.


    No. He lives alone. Gray-hair rubbed his head, a single strand of hairing free. Its all in the dossier. And this is a selfish request, but if at all possible, dont drag it out? In all honesty, I rather liked him.


    I should have kept the question to myself. But I couldnt. What did he do?


    Created unnecessary problems that require a solution. Does it matter?


    No.


    You have a week to prepare. Well meet here the morning after.


    Sensing the meeting was finished, I pulled the handle and opened the side door.


    Behind me, I heard the whoosh of a car window rolling down. Gray-hair grinned after me, his teeth overly white. Ill tell Vernon you said hello.

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153


    I doubled back multiple times on the way to the hideout, alternated moving through both low and high poption areas.


    No sign of a tail. But Id been wrong before.


    Emtion hadnt pinged once during the conversation with Gray-hair. He probably didnt use a skill on me directly, but that didnt mean someone hadnt. Someone nearby, in one of the cars behind us. After returning to the hideout, I stripped off my armor andbed through it for a tracker, specifically focusing on the armors back, underarms, and legs. I checked the <strong></strong> list to make sure Gray-hair hadnt made subtle physical contact at any point. He hadnt. Subsequently, I dumped the documents on a nearby table and tore open the man envelope, searching for anything that resembled a tracker.


    Nothing.


    Still not satisfied, I changed into civilian clothes and sat down on a bench across from the hideout, Allfathers mask tuned to provide maximum coverage.


    I was looking for drive-bys. Anyone who slowed down a bit too much in proximity of the hideout. Problem was, this was a congested area. Cars slowed down all the time. Some man in a pickup rear-ended a Miata and got out, screaming at the driver, who cowered in her seat.


    Annoyed, I used <strong></strong> to convince him she had a gun on herp. The screaming driver paled and immediately got back in his car, pickup chugging exhaust as it sped around the Miata and through a nearby stop sign, narrowly swerving around oing traffic.


    <em>Considering the task he gave you, wouldnt it make more sense if the Suit</em>Talia started


    <em>Call him Gray, for simplicity. </em> I said. It was overly terse, even for me.


    <em>If Gray didnt bother tracking you until you aplished the task? </em>Talia said.


    Azures bright and cheery voice chimed in, grating. <em>Wolf-girls got a point. He knows where youll be. Not necessarily when youll be there, but its a lot easier to keep tabs on a house than a person </em>


    <em>What the fuck happened with the mind-reading?</em> I interjected. <em>Can you do it or not?</em>


    <em>I I mean the surface has a lot of interference. </em>Azure babbled. He sounded genuinely intimidated by the question. <em>Im sorry. I tried.</em>


    <em>Trying</em> didnt help me.


    But I had enough self-awareness to know when I was discing anger, and managed to avoid directing that thought at the lithid at thest moment. It wasnt his fault. Not to mention with the way he revered me, itd be disturbingly easy to use him as a punching bag, due to the high bond and the fact neither Talia nor I liked him much.


    I needed to be especially careful to avoid that.


    Even though Azure had put me through hell, all of my summons had a rocky start. Talia wanted to kill me for the death of her pups. Audrey had every intention to eat me alive.


    Azure had done what he was effectively programed to do. Touch a nerve. More stomped than touched, but whatever. Punching down on him for acting ording to his nature would be nothing more than bullying.


    I rubbed my brow, suddenly tired.


    <em>Its okay. I appreciate the honesty. Id much rather know you dont have something than think you do and be wrong. </em>


    Eventually, I gave up and returned to the hideout. I let all three summons out and sat squarely on the couch, lost in thought.


    Azure invited Audrey onto hisp, and when the nt epted, started feeding her meat from the cooler and petting the Flowerfangs head. Out of the corner of my eye, Talia sniffed at the pink dog bed. She looked over at me and the lithid suspiciously. When neither of us paid her any mind, she rotated in a circle andid down.


    There was a new quest in my notification screen.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Blood and Intrigue</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Kill the target.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Avoid drawing attention, being tailed, and aplishing the Primary Objective in any manner that might blow back on the quest giver. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (???)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (???)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Week.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Possible recruitment into ??? Guild</strong>


    Why even bother filling in the quest name? Iined aloud. Just put three fucking question marks in every field and call it a day.


    Big meat bad. Audrey scowled, and started to say something else before Azure shoved more ground hamburger in her mouth.


    On one hand, I was relieved that the quest wasnt part of a chain. On the other, it was entirely possible that it was a chain.


    Such a simple mind. I heard Azure whisper. So much potential for fun.


    Hey. Talia barked, fur on the back of her neck standing straight up.


    Fun? I asked dangerously.


    The lithid wilted. I mean, you told me not to read you or the dogs minds. You didnt say anything about this one.


    Fair enough. Hed gotten both my and Talias hackles up, but pointed out an oversight in the process.


    I leaned my face on my hand, staring at the new summon. Do not mind-read any of my summons, friends, or family except for Ellison. Do not attempt to harm any of my summons, friends, or family. Do not manipte them. Do not feed on them.


    Azure deted. What if theyre already suffering, and I just take a nibble?


    I spoke slowly. Do not, <em>nibble,</em> on my summons, friends, or family.


    But why? Thats so wasteful. The lithid sounded genuinely distraught.


    I pinched the bridge of my nose. Do you know what a conflict of interest is?


    Yes. Azure sighed heavily.


    Then you get it. I dont give two shits about our opposition, but I want to avoid putting you in a position where youre incentivized if the people around me are hurting.


    So youre looking out for me? Azure asked brightly, bumping his shoulder into mine.


    Obviously, youre my highest priority. I rolled my eyes. Now scoot over? Its a big couch. The lithid did as I asked with noint, seeming in oddly high spirits after our talk. After a few minutes, I understood why. There was a bright light as Azure changed forms into a flowerfang, with red coloring instead of Audreys purple.


    I opened my mouth, then hesitated. Audrey seemed delighted with the development. She interwove a vine with Azures, and they gallivanted around the room as a pair, doing an excellent impression of the grouped up flowerngs from the second floor.


    Azure? This should have gone without saying, but


    Azure popped back into his human form, sulking. I promise not to imitate you or your summons, friends, or family. Audrey looked equally disappointed.


    I considered the implications, if there was anything I was missing. The rest, yes. Unless I tell you otherwise. But I turned my attention to Audrey. You know Azure isnt a real Flowerfang, right?


    Audrey tilted her head, deep in thought. Yes. Yet, its nice. To see another.


    Maybe Audrey was lonely. I sighed, hoping I didnt regret this decision. You can imitate Audrey.


    Azure let out a whoop and shifted to flowerfang form.


    Azure is wee to a wolf form as well. Talia said. I twisted in my seat to look at her, shocked. What? If we ever go scouting together, it will be more helpful to have two mobile sets of eyes.


    That was shockingly pragmatic, considering what Azure had done to Talia. Fine. But no social use of Talias form. Dont use her form to talk to anyone besides us.


    Thank you! Azure sounded delighted, but his interpretation of a flowerfangs smile looked downright sinister.


    <em>Is there a reason you didnt use him to follow Gray?</em> Talia asked. <em> Azure could have easily slipped into his shadow.</em>


    <em>Grays high up. And if my read is correct, hes mired in some sort of power struggle. Hell be taking additional precautions.</em> I nced at Azure, spinning his newly minted vines in something that resembled a dance. <em>And even with the bond, Im not certain how much we can trust him yet. </em>


    <em>So hes probationary.</em>


    <em>For the moment.</em>


    Do you intend to carry out Grays assignment? Talia asked aloud. Azure parted from Audrey, wandering over to hear the answer.


    I began to leaf through the dossier. Im not going to kill someone just because some asshole snaps his fingers.


    But itd be so satisfying if you did. Azuremented.


    I put the documents down, studying Talia. Theres more than one way to skin a cat. Due diligence is the name of the game here. As tempting as it is to take Buzzcut out, its entirely possible that might be the worst option. Especially if Gray is nning to tie up loose ends after we do the dirty work for him.


    Talia pointed her nose away, with an oddly displeased expression. Then what do we do?


    I returned to the first page of the dossier.


    Buzzcuts real name was Cameron Reed. He was thirty-four. Graduate with honors with a major in economics. But the minor was more interesting.


    <em>Criminal Justice</em>


    Thatbination screamed one of two things. Forward-thinking criminal, orw enforcement.


    Research. I answered.

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154


    I went to the local library for a change of scenery.


    As it turned out, Buzzcut was a little of column A, little of column B. The dossier covered his career extensivelyHe was hired by the Austin City Police Department right out of college. Climbed through the ranks with many des and no ck marks except a few excessive forceints that went nowhere. Eventually, he hit lieutenant, at which point he submitted an application to the FBI. The interview went well. All signs pointed to him getting in.


    Then, out of nowhere, he was pped with an Internal Affairs investigation for murder-racketeering, and fled to Moro before he could be brought up on charges.


    It was easy enough to read between the lines.


    Say whatever you want about the FBI, background vetting is one area where they do not fuck around. They willb through social media ounts, they will knock on doors and talk to that one friend who passed you a joint freshman year. If you, anonymously, put an edgy manifesto on the inte in middle-school, theyll track it and connect it to you. And if you happen to be a corrupt local asshole whos growncent, operating with minimal oversight while ying god, or taking kickbacks, or fist-fucking the civil forfeiture cookie jar, they wont just tell you to jog on.


    Theyll happily kick everything they uncover to someone who wont hesitate to act on it.


    I was guessing, but it was a solid leap. Cameron was dirty as hell, the FBI uncovered the skeletons in his closet, and passed the smoking gun to Internal Affairs.


    The question was, what was he doing back here when the dome came down?


    There was nothing in the dossier to exin the sudden reappearance stateside. Maybe he ran out of money, but I doubted it. Guys like Cameron always find ways to line their pockets, with or without a badge.


    Even the concept of a direct confrontation already seemed like a bad idea before I got to the ss information. Then it went from bad to suicidal.


    Because Cameron wasnt a recon specialist, as my encounters in the alley and coffee ce had led me to believe. He was a Level 19 <strong></strong> with all the capabilities that implied and more. Health regeneration, armored skin, increased damage as the fight went on. From the stats, he could easily out damage me to begin with, and the longer a fight went on, the more dangerous he grew. He had a few odd feat choices geared toward reconnaissancethat would help me if it came down to a fight, making the biggest gulf between us a question of stats, but it also meant if I ended up having to retreat, he had a decent chance of tracking me down.


    I dropped the documents in disgust, rubbing my eyes. No matter how I decided to go about it, this wasnt going to be easy.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I clocked two people approaching me.


    No, two people and a child. I flipped one of the pages I was taking notes on and waited. The woman cleared her throat.


    I nced up, as if Id just noticed them.


    Are you Matt? She asked, smiling a little too wide.


    Thats me. I leaned back and stretched, keeping my bodynguage open and unguarded.


    They introduced themselves as residents of region 14, and thanked me for my intervention. I gave them the humble variation of the aw-shucks-dont-worry-Im-not-a-tyrant response Id thoroughly mastered after the first ten times Id had this conversation. Subtly alluded to the fact that I was just in the right ce at the right time, and that there was a group of people who lived in the region helping me with the decision-making.


    I was getting better at it. Id expected the regional popce to resent me as a carpet bagger. That might still happen once the warm fuzzies faded, but for now, they seemed to consider me as more of a novelty than anything else.


    They chattered on about their previous white-cor jobs for a while. The wife was in talent-acquisition, the husband was in real-estate. I pretended to listen. In truth, the parents were forgettable.


    Their kid, on the other hand, was interesting. At first, I thought he was hiding behind his mother. Typical kid-stuff. But while he was holding her hand, his body was turned away from her, and his head panned from the northeast to the northwest sides of the library.


    <em>The same reason I sat here. Hes watching the exits.</em>


    Whos this? I asked.


    Oh! The mother said, as if shed forgotten he was there at all. This is our little warlock, Parker.


    Mom. Parker said. He didnt draw it out, just stated it tly. Then he looked at me. Hey.


    Hows it going? I asked him.


    Fine. Parker said. He wasnt being rude, just low energy.


    I pried gently into the familys circumstances. It was more or less what Id guessed. The parents had been trapped inside the region, while Parker was stuck outside. The fact that hed survived the transposition alone implied that hed seen some shit, even if he hadnt strayed far. It was a hard situation, and I had to imagine that the power dynamic in the family had turned upside-down overnight.


    Still, they hadnt forced him to introduce himself, or corrected him for being short. They didnt seem afraid of him, either. All good signs.


    In a somewhat awkward transition, I steered the parents towards the topic of vocations, leaving myself an opening to introduce mine. When I offered to give their son a reading, they dly epted.


    I shot Parker a direct message:


    <strong></strong>


    The kids eyes widened.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The kid bit his lip.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I did Parkers reading as his parents stood by. Now that Id managed it several times, I could keep a straight face even as my equilibrium did backflips.


    So, at level five, youre going to get ess to a feat called uros Resonance. Dungeon, Trials, anything that lets us slip over to the other side is considered a Realm of uros. I made air quotes. uros Resonance will highlight those realms within fifty yards. Obviously, you dont want to go in solo. Or at all. Theyre extremely dangerous. But if youre part of a guild


    Were not, the mother said quickly.


    I continued on, pretending not to notice the social blunder, its the sort of information Users wouldpensate you well for. And theyd help with the scouting process, so youd be safe in the meantime.


    Do you know any Guilds that would be interested? The father asked.


    Mind giving me a minute to check? I asked. The family nodded and stepped a polite distance away.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I deleted the message and rephrased.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I motioned for the woman, struggling to remember her name. Um, Siobhan?


    She left her husband and son behind and leaned over the cubicle. Yes?


    When you said talent acquisition, my mind automatically went to HR.


    Siobhan smiled. There was something in the expression that was slightly predatory. Oh no. My job was a bit more aggressive than that.


    Aggressive how?


    Siobhan looked up at the ceiling, innocently. Some might call it poaching.


    Okay, thanks.


    As Siobhan walked away, I reyed the entire encounter in my mind. Shed been exceedingly polite. Almost milquetoast, to the point I hadnt bothered learning her name. The kid seemed to be putting up with holding his mothers hand, rather than initiating it. Shed been clever to not hold him in front of her. And while Id found something of value from the reading, there were plenty of other useful feats he had visibility on that mom probably would have name-dropped if I hadnt taken an interest in the kid.


    Jesus, I had to pay more attention. These people were sharks.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Kinsley was taking the age-old approach of expanding while the iron was hot, and figuring out the logisticster. The merchants guild still didnt have a building.


    I waved the family over and gave them instructions to contact Kinsley, then sent them to the hotel lobby. Dad got foggy eyed. Mom was appreciative, but I could tell she was gloating.


    Finally. I reached down towards the upside-down note sheet covering the dossier.


    Why are you looking up non-extradition countries? Miles asked, leaning over the other side of my cubicle and staring at one of the open books with a quizzical look on his face. Its not like we can leave.


    I jumped. Then gave him a death re. Research.


    On?


    I rolled my eyes, keeping my lie as close to the truth as possible. Background on a new hire for Kinsley. Guy imed to have spent a few years abroad in Moro. He was evasive about why hed left in the first ce. Seemed shady.


    Well. Miles popped a mint into his mouth. Moro <em>is</em> non-extradition. But it also happens to be a favorite for undercovers who need to establish an overseas history on the fly. Something to do with the double-benefit of their documents being rtively easy to doctor, and their government being notoriously difficult when ites to information inquests. Miles shrugged. Guys probably shady regardless. Better to steer clear.


    I grimaced, as Miles once again unknowingly pulled the rug out from under me. Thanks for the tip. Did you want something?


    Yeah. Got the band together. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned. Figured youd want to meet them.

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155


    My first thought, as I followed Miles to the Adventurers Guild Hall, was how oddly cavalier he was. Hed effectively drawn a target on his own back with the presentation, yet he didnt seem worried.


    Correction. He <em>appeared</em> not to be worried.


    Now that I was looking closer, there was a distinct oblong outline under Miles dress shirt that was probably ker, and hed mastered that method of looking while not looking. Turning and walking backward while he talked, ncing up every so often and being particrly mindful of corners.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two people keeping pace. No way Miles missed them. We had an entourage.


    <em>Anything?</em> I asked Azure.


    <em>No.</em> Azure sounded puzzled. <em>Its like hes a nk. Like theres nothing there.</em>


    Figured.


    You get everyone you wanted? I asked.


    His mouth turned downward. More or less.


    So thats a no, then.


    Miles pointed to a bulletin board as we passed it. The header read MISSING, with an overstuffed coge of pictures attached to what I assumed to be contact names. The pictures ranged drastically in quality. Some were clearly done by professional photographers for graduations, weddings, while others were low dpi images printed onputer paper. The ages of the missing ranged nearly as much. Adults, elders, and children. On this board alone, there were hundreds, many posted directly on top of each other.


    More than a few had emails and phone numbers attached. In case other contact methods came online? I couldnt imagine being that behind the curve.


    Creepy Overlords did us a favor in some ways, getting rid of the bodies after they made us run the gauntlet. Morgues would be overloaded, streets lined with body-bags, and you''d still probably stumble across one every so often. Problem being, now we dont know who lived or who died. He cocked his head and looked back. Abandoned, died in the chaos, or was taken.


    Theres not a database? I asked, surprised. It felt so odd that Kinsleys Market was still the only site on the intr.


    Turns out, not all of us have a genius for a mother. Miles delivered the line smoothly, with a nonchnt shrug.


    I felt the world grind to a halt. Id almost forgotten this happened with <strong></strong> sometimes when I was on the verge of a panic attack. Only this time, wed skipped the panicpletely.


    I stared at the back of Miles head and screamed. My voice didnt echo. I panted, waiting for the emotion to subside. Then took a deep breath.


    <em>Okay. No one knows who set up the site except me, Kinsley, Iris, Ellison, and my mother herself. Ellison doesnt like me, but he hates authority more. All three kids know how to keep their mouth shut. Which means Miles talked to my mother, or he pulled up her record and did the math. The first would be bad. The second is recoverable. Either way, he wants me to know that he talked to her and that she slipped up and gave him information, whether or not that actually happened. Its what I immediately jumped to, and considering her state, shes the point of weakness. Miles is looking for a reaction. If he did talk to her, this getsplicated. We briefly covered what she needed to keep to herself, but Miles is too fucking good at this. Its better to assume she spilled everything. Meaning he knows that the Merchants Guild started far smaller than Kinsley and I have been leading the public to believe. Thats not necessarily an admission of guilt, but it doesnt look good. Have to assume hes aware of the fact that we only brought my family in four days before the transposition.</em>


    <em>Factoring it all together  He''s narrowed the original members down to Me, Kinsley, and Myrddin. Or just me and Kinsley.</em>


    <em>Which is damning. Its obviously me if hes gotten that far. So, whats stopping him?</em>


    <em>Kinsley. Hed have to burn a lot of political capital to take me off the board right now, but my poprity is nothingpared to hers. Shes a saint. If hes right, Kinsley is either an aplice or an idiot, and no one whos talked to her for longer than five minutes will think shes an idiot. If he has eyes, hes also probably noticed that shes snapping up every mercenary avable on the open market.</em>


    <em>Miles cant know that Kinsley would never take it that far, but hes likely worried about open war.</em>


    <em>He could just kill me.</em>


    <em>No. Its Miles. Everyone was angry and scared at the emergency meeting. He could have whipped them into a murderous frenzy, but he didnt. Advised catch and capture. But we stacked the deck too much between the Region 14 - Adventurers Guild Alliance, and our joint poprity. If he did things the proper way, thered be too many gaps for us to slip through. Following that philosophy, hes probably waiting for an opportunity to disappear me in the middle of the night, and interrogate me offsite away from external interference.</em>


    <em>I wont break. But that might not matter. Thosements about doubting himself were real. This is personal for him. Cop guilt discement. He feels like he evaluated Myrddin and failed, and now its his responsibility to make it right. No way of knowing whether hell cross that line, but I cant let it get to that point.</em>


    <em>But why hasnt he taken me already? Assuming he talked to mom yesterday, why not wait to throw this in my face until he has me secured?</em>


    <em>Oh. </em>


    <em>Oh Miles.</em>


    <em>If you just trusted yourself, youd have me, hook, line and sinker.</em>


    <em>Yet, you cant do it. You cant risk the possibility that Im not who you think I am.</em>


    <em>This was a gambit. From the very beginning. If Im stupid enough to attack you in broad daylight, you brought ker and backup. Simultaneously, youre making a show of parading me around, knowing that if Myrddin is alive, hell be keeping an eye on his old guild mates. If it really was just the three of us, and we did have a rocky rtionship, he wont be happy that Im helping your Taskforce. Youre using me as bait, nning to grab him if hees after me. And if I do nothing, not wanting the timing to seem suspicious, and Myrddin doesnt show, youll have the final push you need to tighten the rope.</em>


    <em>Now. How do I react?</em>


    He was watching me. I could see his eyes in the reflection of a nearby mirror. If feds were waiting in the Adventurers Guild Hall, I was walking into a tribunal disguised as a strategy meeting. I needed to hit him with somethingpletely unexpected.


    I needed to get dirty.


    Slowly, I stopped, allowing the massive influx of anxiety to erupt. It was difficult at first, taking the lid off for the first time in a decade. When it got this bad, I crawled under my bed and clung to the ts. My safe space. But my safe space was gone. I was nowhere near the apartments. The anxiety overflowed and didnt stop. Pins and needles shot up my back, to my neck. My head hung on its own, and my upper body began to shake.


    Tears streamed freely from my eyes. I crooked my head and tried to look at him, then dropped it again. I nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh I mped down on the stutter.


    Miles grabbed my shoulders. Kid, are you okay?


    I nufuck. I nu


    I started to hyperventte, pressing one hand into my corbone.


    Miles eyes lit in recognition. Okay. Okay, I got you, youre having a panic attack.


    I groaned and looked around. People from my region were staring.


    As usual, Miles was fast on the uptake. I watched from the corner of my eye as he waved his guys away and carted me towards a nearby alley, sitting me down on a milk crate behind a dumpster, hidden from the street. A mix of conflicting emotions went through his face. Probably wondering if he was being yed.


    He was. But not in the way he was worried about.


    Miles crouched down, a safe distance away from me. What do you need? My thirteen-year old gets these. He ran a hand through his hair. Sometimes he wants to be wrapped up in something, sometimes he just needs space


    Space, I said, gasping for air.


    Miles nodded. But he didnt wait for me to regain my breath, my bearings. Whatuhwhat set you off there? He chuckled. Last conversation we had, you were stone-cold.


    I shook my head, still recovering. Then enunciated each word carefully. I know. That youre a just doing your job. My f-f I mped down, waited. My father was a cop. You have to investigate. Have to ask questions.


    You can talk to me. Miles encouraged. Im on your side.


    His Good Cop was perfection.


    I pursed my lips tightly, then forced the words out. Thi-thi-thi-this is the longest my mother has been sober in six years. And theres all this pressure, and Im doing everything I can, but things keep piling up one after another and everything keeps going wrong and she always rpses eventually.


    The words hung heavy between us.


    He would know that everything I was saying was true, if hed done his homework. And of course he had. Because it was Miles.


    Miles breathed a long sigh. Grow through what you go through.


    I wiped my eyes. Youve been in the program?


    He shook his head. My third wife. Heard that on repeat for about a year. That, and One day at a time. For what its worth, I think your moms on her way up. She had her chip out on the table at the caf where I tracked her down. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Drinking a coke.


    Did she freak out, when she realized why you were asking questions? I didnt have to fake the concern.


    Nah. Miles shook his head. Honestly, Im not even sure she knew it was anything more than a casual conversation. She was so proud of what you all built, even though she was trying to hide it. And she didnt tell me anything directly. About the site. I just pieced it together from what she said. He bit his lip, a sh of guilt across his face. Lets just call it a day for now. You can meet the guyster.


    I sent a mental message to my summon. <em>Azure. You said before you could copy me easily on the surface, if needed. Because of our bond.</em>


    <em>Oh, um. Yes.</em> Azure answered.


    <em>How sure are you?</em>


    <em>One-hundred percent. </em> Azure chuckled nervously. <em>I may have tried it.</em>


    <em>How long did itst?</em>


    <em> Five minutes, but I ended it early. From the mana drain, Im guessing I could maintain the form for at least three times as long.</em>


    <em>Good.</em>

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156


    It didnt feel great doing this to Miles. Fed or not, I meant what I said. He was a good guy. But this was about survival now. And survival was where I lived.


    No. I struggled to my feet.


    Im not sure if I understand. Miles said.


    Youre being very patient with me, but I want this over with. I started to walk towards the Adventurers Guild building. Miles caught my arm and redirected me down the sidewalk instead.


    Come on, the Five Guys down that way just reopened.


    Not exactly hungry, Miles.


    Yes, youre very determined, I can see that. Miles ignored myints and continued to push me towards the restaurant. But be practical. You look like life punched you in the balls and kept swinging after the count. At least go to the bathroom and wash your face.


    Its fine.


    Its not, Matt, Miles hissed. He checked around us before he spoke. Look. It took a lot to get you in that room. These guys are pros. If they sense weakness, theyre not going to give you the time of day.


    It was a good half-measure, seeing that there wasnt an easy way for him to get out of this now. He was giving me time to collect myself and prepare for the bus that was about to hit me. While I was in the bathroom, he was going to message his colleagues, tell them to go easy. Some of them might. But hed probably spent thest few days convincing them, going over the profile. Their first thought would be suspicion. That Id gotten to him.


    Sorry. I huped.


    No, kid, <em>Im </em>sorry. I was so gung-ho to fix my fuckup, I nearly gave you a heart attack on the street.


    Fuckup? I asked curiously.


    Miles almost said something, then bit it back. Not your problem.


    He stayed by the door while I power-walked to the bathroom. I turned the water on and cleaned my face, but didnt bother with pressing a paper towel against my eyes to reduce the redness. I wanted Miles to remember, while his taskforce mmed the Iron Maiden home.


    <em>Youre terrifying.</em> Talia muttered.


    <em>Was that panic attack real?</em> Azure asked, clearly about to gush.


    I shot Kinsley a message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Fuck.


    Squelch. Had to be.


    Miles was seriously doubting himself, but he was too clever to drop his guardpletely.


    I held my hand out. The shaking had stopped. <em>We dont have much time. Talia, I need you on standby in case this goes sideways. Stay ready.</em>


    <em>Done.</em> Talia confirmed.


    <em>Azure</em> I hesitated.


    <em>Are they friends?</em> Azure asked eagerly. And I understood why he was asking.


    <em>The gloves are off. Do as you please, so long as it doesnt tip our hand.</em>


    <em>Whats our desired result?</em> Azure was all business now.


    I thought about it carefully. <em>Radicalize the fringes. Find the ones that are convinced Im the Ordinator, make them overextend. </em>


    There was a pause before Azure answered. <em>If theyre too angry, things may turn nasty. </em>


    <em>We want that. Itll keep Miles off-bnce and create tension with the skeptics. Deepen their doubt. Report any pertinent thoughts you pick up to me.</em>


    <em>Split them down the middle. Azure mused. I like it.</em>


    <em>Stay sharp. Both of you.</em>


    I switched titles, selecting <strong></strong> from the dropdown. Id have to work against it here. Force myself to eliminate any of the titles innate ego and smugness. y against type.


    When I exited the bathroom, Miles was waiting with a white cup in his hands, decorated with red. He held it out to me, apologetically. Milkshake?


    How nice. Hed even bought me a prop.


    /////


    By the time wed entered the Adventurers Guild and climbed the stairs to the meeting area, Miles looked visibly irritated. To our right, there was a ss panel with an endless line of sparring mats. I caught a glimpse of Sara in workout clothes, doing one-handed bicep curls, and waved.


    She smiled, set the barbell down and waved back, then pulled the towel from around her neck and wiped her face.


    Hopefully, she was still here when I left. I couldnt drag Miles directly, but I needed to startying the groundwork to discredit him yesterday.


    Miles had selected a meeting room that was all ss, front and back. It lended further credence to my theory that he wanted Myrddin either see this directly or hear about it second hand.


    There were four of them inside. Three men and a woman. I noted in dark amusement that they looked nothing like Id imagined. Instead of the standard fed suit, they were each in some variety of casual-wear.


    And from the look of it, they were already arguing. Perfect.


    Miles threw the door open. It banged loudly against the doorstop.


    d you could join us. The woman said, in a dry monotone.


    <em>Detractor</em>


    We got held up. Miles gave her a subtle re thatst a fraction of a second, then smiled. Thanks for warming up the projector. Since were runningte, best cut the intros short. From left to right, Foster, Cook, Waller, Hawkins.


    I sized them all up behind the guise of a friendly nod.


    Foster was a dark-skinned man in a ck t-shirt and jeans, his head shavedpletely bald.


    <em>Skeptic</em>


    Cook never quite outgrew the frat phase and had the kind of face that made him look like he was constantly chewing something. His Hawaiian print shirt was unbuttoned around three buttons lower than anyone would reasonably befortable with.


    <em>Detractor</em>


    Waller immediately returned to his notes, peering through opaque framed Ray Bans at a yellow legal pad. He wore a vest over his t-shirt that looked vaguely bohemian, all random chevrons and muted colors.


    <em>Detractor</em>


    Hawkins, wore a simple tank-top and cks, her blonde hair framed in a short cut bob.


    <em>Undecided</em>


    Everyone, this is Matt. Our behind-the-scenes correspondent for the afternoon. Miles said.


    Hi Matt. Hawkins smile reached gigawatt levels as she turned up the charm. She shook my hand in both of hers, and her touch lingered. Thanks for taking the time.


    Always heartwarming when the local celebrities pencil in the little people. Cook smirked, giving me a half-wave.


    It was the least I could do, considering the circumstances. I channeled Nicks casual friendliness. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Miles g. That regret he felt for railroading me made him my strongest ally in this room by far.


    Waller. Miles snapped his fingers. Youre the expert, here. Want to kick us off?


    Waller peered over his sses at Miles, then his eyes slid to me. Given the choice, Id prefer to start with our new addition.


    Miles stopped mid-step, genuine confusion in his face. Thats a little unexpected. Matt is a guest.


    We can theorize all we want, but its no substitute for someone who knew the man. Waller jotted something down. I focused a small burst of mana on his pen and the tip snapped, spilling ink over the page. Shit. Waller tried to rip the page free before the ink bled through. Judging from the annoyed look on his face, he failed. Pursing his lips, he nced up at me. Is that amenable?


    Of course. I took three long steps towards the table before Waller held up his hand to stop me.


    There, if you please. He pointed to a single bottomed out office chair at the window side of the room. The cement was extraordinarily well-thought-out. Anyone who happened to be looking could see me from the outside, oblivious to my state, while Miles and the rest of his people were perfectly shielded. Id have to look back and between the projector screen and the panel, while they could monitor both my reactions and the screen simultaneously.


    And of course, Id bet every bit of selve Kinsley had paid me on the office chair being broken, locked in a lower position.


    I watched for the telltale shimmer from my periphery as Azure slithered from my shadow into the shade beneath the table. Once he was in, I gave Waller a bemused smile and took a seat on the office chair, standing briefly to pull the lever and raise it.


    It worked, but only until I sat down. The chair lowered me slowly to its previous ce with a muted hiss.


    Miles took his seat at the end of the table, looking mildly sick to his stomach.


    Now.


    How did I want to y this?

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157


    The oue was already decided. That much was certain.


    Their side of the room had something of a frustrated air, as if they were all waiting for a foregone conclusion. Even if the detractors werent entirely onboard, theyd toe the blue line if the majority decided to pull the trigger.


    They were waiting for Miles.


    Which meant my only outward advantage going into thisthat Miles was doubting himself, unsure of the course hed put into motionwas somewhat mitigated if they were less likely to listen to him. As expected, this was more trial than inquiry.


    Still. There was a sliver of hope.


    No conviction is a sure thing. The guiltiest person in the world can escape out from under a mountain of evidence if they create enough doubt in the trial.


    My fathers words.


    And from cursory research in the matter and my personal delve into legal minutia, he was correct. Juries blew bird-in-hand convictions all the time because prosecutors failed to use the bounty of evidence at their disposal to create a convincing narrative. My circumstances here were, in many ways, worse than a fair trial. My judge, jury, and prosecutionprised the same group of people. Which meant, on top of the evidence, there was a mountain of bias that would be insurmountably difficult to ovee.


    Alternatively, the advantages were scant. But not insignificant.


    Its several magnitudes more difficult to get a conviction for a death penalty case than a multi-year imprisonment. The threshold of proof is higher, the jury acutely aware that any lingering doubt will sit far more heavily once the sentence is carried out.


    The same concept applied here to a much greater degree. If they got it wrong, the death of an innocent person would be on their heads.


    And sure, it was possible that I was overestimating their humanity. That theyd done the ruthless arithmetic and reached the conclusion that the possibility of killing one innocent person was worth the high-chance of taking out a monster capable of destroying an entire region and killing hundreds of thousands off the board.


    But I didnt think so. If that was the case, Id either be hanging upside down in some basement while one of them worked me over with a car battery, or dead.


    Miles might have been the holdout, but they were all taking a serious risk, questioning me here. Putting both themselves and the Adventurers Guild in peril. A risk that was borderline idiot if they didnt have some form of counter-measures in ce.


    A strong suppression ability, or something along those lines?


    No, still too risky without knowing definitively it could be contained.


    <em>Instance?</em>


    It rankled that I still didnt entirely understand what instancing did. I knew it was an umon ability that some Users possessed to iste a selected area from civilians and spying eyes. That it was sometimes used to tidy up bodies or contain vtile powers. And that there was more than one type.


    This whole set-up supported that theorydangling me here by the back window for Myrddin to see didnt make sense if all instances created a visual interference or a pocket dimension. More than likely, this one contained abilities and possibly people.


    If that was true, there was a simple enough way to test it.


    I drank my milkshake. When I reached the bottom and was noisily sucking air, I made a show of looking around for a trashcan and, finding none, stood and walked towards the door. One second, let me toss this.


    Wait Miles said.


    Before he could finish, I turned the knob. The door didnt budge, a surge of <strong></strong> indicated the remnants of an ability used on the door that spanned the room. I tried to follow the threads and search for the source.


    It wasnt tied to anyone in the room.


    <em>They had someone outside set it up. Meaning theyre locked in with me, and they know it.</em>


    Contingencies on contingencies.


    When I turned back, half of them had risen out of their seats. Hawkins seemed to have teleported across the room, now standing within arms reach, her smile significantly more forced than before. Cook in particr looked ready to leap over the table.


    Hawkins touched her hair, prodding it to make sure it was still in ce. It was. Was that a tell? Sorry. Probably should have mentioned this earlier, but with all the potential for counter-intelligence, we have a standard operating procedure.


    I nced at Miles.


    Miles nodded. No one leaves the ckout area until the meetings over.


    ckout area? I asked.


    Theres a power that restricts outsidemunication within a certain area. Hawkins exined. Weve found it invaluable. Without it, people could just hop on a voice call and effectively broadcast audio to whomever they wanted.


    Ah. Yeah. That would be a problem. I frowned, as if I was suddenly realizing how many conversations and meetings Id had could have been transmitted that way. I was walking a thin line here. Furthermore, I needed toe off as inexperienced and somewhat naive, but if I came off as stupid, Miles would realize immediately that it was nothing more than theater.


    Had to strike a bnce somewhere in the middle.


    Theres a bin under the lectern. Waller studied me intensely. He was waiting for me to insist, push back, try to get out of the room.


    Instead, I nodded to him apologetically and tossed my cup in the trash bin and returned to my seat, doing nothing to give away the fact that this small interaction was enough to confirm my suspicions. Miles, his people, they were still clinging to decency. Bureaucracy. None of them were ready to go full ck site without checking their boxes first.


    Which meant the sliver of hope was expanding.


    As soon as my ass hit the chair, Waller fired off amand. In contrast to Miles, his voice was stern and nasally. Naturally grating in a way that demanded respect. Take us through the timeline.


    Which timeline? I looked between Miles and Waller.


    The formation of the Adventurers Guild, and your first encounters with the individual known as Myrddin. Waller said tly, staring me down.


    Hawkins smiled. Be as thorough as you can. Even the smallest detail can make a huge difference.


    <em>And the smallest fabricated detail you can disprove will give you enough rope to hang me with.</em>


    Azures voice cut through my mind.


    <em>Foster was weathering a midlife crisis before the dome. Male pattern hair-loss was already doing a number on his self-esteem, and then his long-term partner left him shortly after. He was passed over for promotion a handful of times. Theres some animosity between him and Waller, though hes not thinking about it enough for me to get anything more specific.</em>


    Of course, the only skeptic on my side also happened to be a wet nket. <em>Get more specifics if you can. Next?</em>


    <em>Cook hates himself almost as much as he hates you. Which is impressive, considering how they suspect you of literal wholesale ughter.</em>


    <em>Why?</em>


    <em>Hes doing his best to suppress it, but Im still getting shes. They had him in a behavioral analysis unit, reviewing footage. Twisted subject matter, even by my standards.</em>


    <em>Let me guess. Cook found something he liked in the footage.</em>


    <em>A little too much. Cant nail down exactly what it is, but it totally unsettled him. Was on a leave of absence until Miles pulled him back in.</em>


    <em>I can work with that. Keep going. Hawkins and Waller?</em>


    <em>Hawkins is solid. DEA. She was working with Miles to take down Roderick on a RICO case, stayed with him when the focus shifted to necromancers. Hawkins might be the only person in the room who doesnt believe youre manipting Miles to get out of this. They all think highly of him, but she has Miles on one hell of a pedestal.</em>


    <em>So Miles is DEA, then?</em> I asked. The Roderick RICO connection was concerning, especially considering their alliance with the Merchants Guild, but Id need to pull on that threadter.


    Azure hesitated. <em>No. I get the feeling he was assisting Hawkins in an unofficial capacity. And that isnt unique to her. From what I can tell, Miles has filled in as a pinch hitter for almost everyone in this room. Every one of them owes him. And theyre incredibly loyal. </em>


    Fucking fantastic. Feds had a well-recorded history of not ying well with other institutions, both at the local level and with other federal agencies. Normally, I could have leaned on that a little, but Miles being a divide-crossing messiah had just nixed that tool from my toolbox.


    <em>Anything from Miles himself?</em>


    <em>No. Still drawing a nk. But Matt, he''s not the one you should be worried about.</em>


    <em>Wallers a rabid dog disguised as a beancounter. Yeah. I know the type.</em>


    Azure sounded panicked. <em>Its worse than that. That profile Miles sted out at the emergency meeting? It came from Waller. This is his area of expertise. And hes convinced youre the one theyre looking for. He knows</em>


    I cut Azure off quickly, <em>Dont tell me the specifics. Whatever he throws at me, my reaction needs to be as authentic as possible. Just amp up his confidence in his findings.</em>


    <em>But hes going to crucify you.</em>


    Let him. The stronger he clung to his profile, the more jarring it would be when I pulled the rug out from under him. Id interrupted Azure before he could get into the details of the warning, but the context was clear.


    I couldnt bullshit my way out of this without falling into one of the many traps Waller had undoubtedlyid.


    The best way forward was ying this straight. I looked up at Waller. Is it okay if I start a little further back, for context?


    Waller inclined his head. Certainly.


    I took a deep breath, my brow furrowing in focus. I was walking home from school, the morning the meteor hit

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158


    I went over all of it with the feds watching from behind their panel, in painstaking detail. For the most part, I stuck to the truth. Everything from the park where I first met Kinsley to the open-forum was mostly urate, excepting any mention of bing a User that early. Other elements were subtly tweaked.


    The encounter with the SWAT officer was abridged somewhat, making it sound less like a one-on-one encounter, more like a mass-shooting Id escaped after someone next-door was shot. As far as I knew, the officer was still alive, and I didnt want to risk them tracking me down.


    To further muddle the scope, I covered my first encounter with the suits in graphic detailtransposing the bounty that had brought me there, to a mysterious text from Nick that took me across townte in the evening. imed that I noticed an expensive looking dagger on one of the bodies, grabbed it, and ran, while the Users present were too busy licking their wounds.


    Waller steepled his fingers. So, you saw individuals fighting with fantastical powers beyond your understanding, witnessed a murder, and your first impulse was to rip off the killers?


    I shrunk into myself slightly. I get how it sounds. But Id just lost a job, and it looked valuable. When you dont know where your next meal ising from and there are people at home youre responsible for, you get used to taking what you can, when you can.


    Hawkins'' expression softened in what could have been genuine empathy.


    Wallers eyebrows knitted together, and he was about to ask another question when Miles stepped in. Lets not get bogged down in that for now. How did this lead you to Kinsley?


    I hid a smile as Wallers second pen apparently ran out of ink, and he scowled at it in frustration. Then I told Miles, y by y, exactly how that second encounter with Kinsley had gone. How shed bailed me out from the suits and asked for my help, how Id originally shot her down until she offered a solution to the shortage situation. And how Id gotten the idea for the merchant site early.


    How did you meet Myrddin? Waller asked irritably, apparently tired of the context he asked for.


    I shifted ufortably in my seat. Towards the end of the open-forum, a man pulled me aside. I wont bother telling you what he looked like, because as we know, that doesnt matter.


    What was he like? Foster asked, speaking for the first time. Waller and the rest of the room twisted to look at him. They were too professional to show actual irritation, though their stares spoke volumes.


    Oddly calm. I focused on Foster as I thought back to Gray-hair, how hed struck me. <em>Authentically</em> calm. That stood out more than everything else. Not sure if any of you were present, but the vibe there was rough. Like a pressure cooker with stuck valve. And in the middle of this barely suppressed panic was this person who looked like he was just set apart from the chaos. Unfazed. Like hed seen it all before.


    Why did he single you out? Waller asked.


    I rubbed my forehead. The flyers advertising the site. We were being careful, but maybe not careful enough. Ellisonmy brothergot them from me and passed them out. Im not certain how Myrddin knew, but he had one in his hand. He might have been the first outsider to ess the site, now that I think about it.


    And how did he approach you? Waller prompted.


    Casually. I frowned. With an air of superiority. Like hed alreadypletely figured out what we were doing and was interested in getting in on the ground floor. He asked a few questions I either didnt want to answer or didnt have the answers tohow many people we had, how we intended to expand.


    What was your impression of him? Cook asked, with a knowing smirk.


    Suspicious. I cocked my head. Most people strike me that way, at first. Even knowing that, I couldnt shake it. Something about him put me off. He did me a favor right off the bat, though. Pointed out some shady guy walking into city hall who turned out to be one of the shooters from the hospital, and when I left to follow him, told me hed find me after.


    Why do you think Myrddin pointed out the shooter without intervening himself? Waller asked.


    Not sure. A test, maybe.


    Moreover, why did you intervene? Waller pressed, leaning forward.


    Because it felt like the right thing to do? I dont know. I bit my lip. I couldnt do anything at the hospital. People were dying all around me. The man next door was begging for help before they put a bullet in him. And I just ran.


    I thought about region six, focused on the harsh reality of it, and the tiny skeletal hand grabbing my wrist. Of Iris dead in the lithids hallucination. My fathers funeral. I felt almost nothing focusing on each individually, but rotating through them got a reaction, and my eyes began to water. I ran a sleeve across my face.


    Hawkins approached, gave me a sympathetic nod and passed me a tissue box.


    Im sure you guys already know what happened with the shooter and the Adventurers Guild, so Ill spare you. I made a show of blowing my nose, then allowed my expression to harden. Because after that was when everything went to shit. I met with a friend at this Turkish coffee ce. His name was Nick.


    Was? Waller prompted.


    I brooded. Hopefully not past tense, but its hard to say. It turned out, Nick was a User, and hed brought two others with him. Theyd found a door to something called a Trial, and he wanted my advice on strategy.


    Why would he consult a civilian about that? Waller said. He didnt roll his eyes, but I could hear the skepticism in his voice.


    Because we were friends, and he often came to me for advice? And hardly any people were organized and connected to experienced Users that early? Not really seeing the issue there. I dulled the retort slightly, but Waller still bristled.


    Good. He wasnt unppable.


    Waller tapped his pen against his notepad. What happened next?


    I made a mistake. I stared down at the ground. Myrddin approached me again after the meeting with Nick. Hed followed me from the open forum, and pointed out the fact that Nick had a tail. It took me a minute to get a look at him, but it was one of the suits from the alley.


    Yes, yes, your mysterious shadow organization. This time Waller did roll his eyes.


    What was your mistake, Matt? Hawkins asked, shooting Waller a subtle look of reproach.


    I swallowed. I was already in over my head with the market. The timer was counting down to the transposition event. I wanted to help Nick without putting myself in trouble I had no business in. Even though I still felt like something about him was off, Myrddin kept pushing to join us, and we didnt have anything resembling muscle to back Nick up. Kinsley sent him to a dungeon on a trial run, and he passed with flying colors. Brought back an ungodly number of valuables and gear and looked rtively unscathed. So, I asked Kinsley to send him to shore up Nicks party before the trial.


    Im guessing it didnt work out so well? Waller prompted dryly.


    This is where we get into the weeds a bit. I pursed my lips. Because I dont know what really happened. Only what Myrddin told me. ording to him, the trial itself went fine. It was only after that everything went to shit. They were ambushed by the suits. One of Nickspanions died, the other retreated into the trial itself before it copsed. Myrddin said, before they took him, that he heard one of them talking about adding Nick to something called The Court.


    The table stirred at that. Miles leaned over and whispered something into Hawkins ear, and she nodded. Cook and Foster looked at each other uneasily.


    <em>Its working. Youve thrown in enough curveballs and referenced events and outside knowledge that their uncertainty is growing. They knew nothing about the suits, but it seems like theyve known about the court for some time. Hawkins, Cook, and Foster, are all worried that Waller is about to burn you as a source.</em>


    As if he sensed this, Waller looked around the room irritably, and the chatter died. His cold gaze returned to me. Myrddin told you this. And then what?


    I blinked. Then the transposition happened. I rode it out with the rest of my region. Kinsley and Myrddin were messaging, but I wasnt privy to their conversation. Youd have to ask her.


    You <em>know</em> we cant. Shes been stonewalling our inquiries and Im guessing that <em>someone</em> told her to do so. How were you able to secure region 14? Waller dropped his pen.


    I shook my head. That was as much a surprise to me as it was to the rest of you. I have some theories, but theyre not pertinent to this.


    Of course theyre not. Waller studied his notes.


    I nced at Miles, confused, then back to Waller. Have I offended you in some way?


    Waller folded his sses and ced them in his chest pocket. Let me get this straight. Myrddin never had any interaction with your family. He briefly interfaced with your friends, who are now conveniently either missing or dead, leaving the only people alive who had any meaningful long-term contact with him you, and the politically insted merchant girl who is umting a sizable fortune and a small army. Is that right?


    Theres nothing <em>convenient</em> about it. But yes. I said. There was no point in giving him anything more totch onto. I let confusion filter into my expression as I looked at Miles for help. What is this?


    Miles nced away.


    Dont look at him. Were having a conversation. Waller stood to his feet, leaning over the table. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a clicker. The projection screen whirred to life. He motioned towards it. I looked over, sure I was prepared for everything.


    I wasnt.

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159


    A picture of Dr. Svelt stared back at me. My therapist for nearly half a decade, before money got too tight, and we couldnt afford him anymore. If they had my session notes, this was about to get a lot uglier.


    What the fuck, Miles? I asked. I didnt have to manufacture the outrage.


    Do Waller started


    I held up a hand and cut him off. No. I want an exnation.


    Miles shook his head, regret clear in his expression. You knew we had to look at you. The sooner you answer his questions, the sooner this is over.


    Sure. I held my hands wide, ring at Waller. Go ahead. What questions do you have for me about my fucking childhood therapist.


    Several, but well start with the obvious. Are you aware of what happened to Dr. Svelt?


    My anger gged, reced with concern. No.


    Waller crossed his arms. Dr. Theodore Svelt was subpoenaed after one of his clients beat a coworker to death on a golf course with a putter. He subsequently lost his license after a series of malpractice allegations arose, centered around a failure to report several clients who, ording to his notes, posed an immediate danger to themselves and others.


    I dont understand what this has to do with anything


    Then let me illuminate the situation. Waller moved the projector to the next slide.


    The profile Miles referenced at the emergency meeting was blown up on the screen as Waller pulled a damnably familiar looking notebook from his bag, decorated with numerous yellow page markers that emitted from the top. He licked his thumb and paged to the first one.


    March 23rd. Matthias referenced homicidal ideation again today, directed towards a juvenile harassing his sister. The ideation is nothing new, with less specificity and focus than previous examples. He continues to grow more adept at warding them off, implementing the exercises and perspective work weve focused on. His innate rationality and knowledge of investigative process and forensics continues to act as a prohibitor despite the absence of empathy. He seems well-grounded, though I do wonder how much of his restraintes from the understanding that he would be quickly identified as a suspect.


    As Waller read off several more entries, my expression grew darker. Eventually, he snapped the notes shut. Theres a lot of psychobabble. But despite the bias Svelt clearly holds in your favor, theres a problematic through-thread, Matthew. Waller studied me. Your therapist seemed worried about what might happen if you were to find yourself in a situation where you knew, confidently, that you could get away with it.


    I spoke to Miles, who was still studying the floor in great detail. You said Id get a chance to help. To prove myself. I let pain into my voice.


    And low and behold, his fears came to pass. In the form of Brandon Givens. Waller tossed me a file. I opened it slowly, numbly leafing through a collection of crime scene pictures.


    This wasnt what we talked about, Waller. Foster stared holes in the back of his colleagues head. Both Hawkins and Miles seemed to agree, watching their colleague with distaste.


    Thirty-five stab wounds, supposedly incurred after your mother entered the house and found Brandon attacking you. The lead detective called it self-defense and closed the investigation quickly. Par for the course when a cop killer meets a convenient end. Waller smiled. The coroner, however, didnt seem so sure. He noted that many of the initial stab wounds were administered at a strange angle. Almost ny degrees. Your mother would have had to be on her knees or just under five feet tall.


    This has nothing to do with Myrddin. I said through gritted teeth.


    I think it does. Waller shook his head. Because you never went back to Dr. Svelt after that. I think this was your first. Maybe there were othersthere were a few events in your history that are questionable to say the leastor perhaps you were just biding your time. Studying. He bent down to look at me. Plenty of medical and anatomical textbooks left behind in your old apartment. In our experience, the system has a tendency for revealing who we really are. And I think it handed you the anonymity youve been waiting for.


    <em>Hes swaying them. You need to do something.</em>


    I pulled into myself. You know, theres a lot I could say. Excuses I could make. About how those textbooks were for work, how I used them as reference for standardized tests. Im sure you already know that. But youre right. I looked at Waller. It wasnt my mother. I killed him.


    The air of tension grew thicker.


    I studied the diagonal threading in my jeans. Dad was a cop, but he was a pretty understanding guy. He told me, once, that experimenting was part of growing up. That hed prefer I didnt smoke weed or drink underage, but he understood that forbidding those things was mostly pointless. He just wanted me to be smart about it. There was really only one substance he came down on. Heroin. He said the problem with it was it felt so good that everything else would feel dull inparison. That trying it once had ruined countless lives, and the high wasnt worth what Id pay for it.


    I stared at Waller defiantly. They say revenge isnt satisfying. That after its done, no matter how warranted, or justified, you just feel empty. Thats not how it was for me. I felt ted. Overjoyed. Like Id aplished something I was meant to do.


    Only it didntst. Waller tried to lead me.


    I shook my head. When it faded, I realized Id lost something too. Little things I enjoyed before seemed less significant, less meaningful. Even day-to-day colors seemed less vivid, less notable. Some of that was grief. Some of it wasnt. And ever since, Ive been trying to w that humanity back. The high wasnt worth what I paid for it. Not even close.


    So youre a good killer. Cook jeered.


    I snorted. No such thing. But Im not the one youre looking for.


    Waller looked visibly unsettled. As if hed expected me to crack, and I had, but not in the way he wanted.


    Miles sighed and stood. Im sorry this was so invasive, Matt.


    Im not done. Waller snarled.


    No, I think you are. Foster stood, staring down Waller.


    How is this not obvious? Waller stalked towards Foster. His voice was pitched low, barely audible. Hes the only viable suspect, and literally confessed to a history of violence. Youre genuinely buying that two people who fit the profile just so happened to be working together?


    Or your profiles shit. Maybe you lost your touch. Foster whispered back, apparently finding his backbone.


    You


    Hawkins stepped between them. Regardless, weve reached an impasse. She nced at me sympathetically. I think we could all use a breather.


    They were in a difficult spot. Traditionally, Waller probably had enough for an arrest. This hadnt gone well for me. But Waller had screwed up, pushing this as far as he had, making it clear I was their prime suspect. As Id guessed before, the threshold of proof was significantly higher considering what Miles intended. Now they were stuck. Id created enough doubt that they couldnt reasonably disappear me, but as soon as they let me out of the warded room, there was a possibility Id say fuck-it and go nuclear.


    Can I offer a solution? I asked. The quiet discussion around me wound down.


    Were listening. Miles said warily.


    Waller.


    The man seemed surprised that Id called him. He reced his sses. Yes?


    Youve obviously gone full Will Graham on my ass, so let me ask you a question. Is there anything in your research that indicates Id be a danger to my family? I gave him a strained smile.


    Wallers lips turned downward. They might be the only people Im confident <em>are</em> safe from you.


    I nodded. From what Ive learned, the situation at Region Six came on quickly. Essentially, right after the event started. Exploded from a single point and spread to the region limits.


    Thats more or less true. Hawkins confirmed.


    Is this leading somewhere? Waller probed.


    House arrest. I said, voicing the idea as if I were still mulling it over. If I was the Ordinator, I wouldnt be able to nuke the region, surrounded by my friends and family. Assuming the Ordinators even able to do that when an event isnt active. Actually, thats probably the safest ce to put me.


    You think he cant manage what he pulled in region six if an event isnt active? Miles asked.


    I shrugged, If hes capable of doing that much damage on a consistent basis, why the hell are the rest of us still here? He would have used it to deal with Kinsley and I as soon as she kicked him out. Miles too. Innocents in the crossfire be damned.


    Waller raised an eyebrow. Youll allow us to post people outside your door and throughout the building? Kinsley wont interfere?


    At the end of the day, its more security. I dont see why not. Itd be hard to monitor myings and goings otherwise. Then itll just be a matter of waiting for a sighting.


    Everyone looked towards Miles. Even if they doubted his judgement, he was clearly still calling the shots.


    Miless lips thinned to a white line. He looked vaguely nauseous, and I didnt need <strong></strong> to tell me why. He was already doubting himself. Moreover, hed made an effort to parade me around publicly. If Myrddin attacked, Miles would have directly put innocents at risk. Including my family.


    House Arrest. For now. Miles said, voiceden with doubt.


    /////


    <em> I got plenty we can work with,</em> Azure said gleefully.


    <em>Later.</em> I told him.


    I was worried about exining Sae, right up to the moment Cook and Foster cleared her room, finding no one. Cook bumped shoulders with me as he passed, sending a leer my way. Well be right outside if you need anything.


    Thanks. I waved him off cordially.


    As the door swung shut, I heard Hawkins voice. Kinsley in there?


    Nothing on your end? Cook asked.


    No. Everyone else is ounted for, but as far as I can tell, the guild leaders The door clicked shut.


    I pulled up my UI and tried to send a message to Kinsley, returning the same error message indicating squelch was still in effect.


    A white doorway appeared in my kitchen, next to the refrigerator. I retreated to my closet and changed quickly, pausing to check my bare skin for any trackers or listening devices. Then I stepped through it without hesitation, my foot barelynding on the soft carpet of Kinsleys domain before dulcet tones reached my ears.


    What the fuck is happening? Kinsley squawked. If thedy you sent my way hadnt identally tipped me off that youd left with a tall and handsome stranger, I wouldnt have been able to figure out things were going bad and gotten Sae out in time.


    Sae approached, looking equally disgruntled. There I was, enjoying my mid-afternoon nap, when a screeching midget dragged me into a portal.


    Its a doorway.


    Whatever. Sae quirked an eyebrow. But she has a point. Youre not nearly enough of a celebrity to have your own armed escort.


    I nced at Sae. Youre sleeping a lot.


    Im depressed.


    Fair. I stared off towards Kinsleys oversized fish tank. The feeling of drowning washing over me once more.


    If this is a coup, we can take them. I have enough mercenaries. Kinsley said. Her hackles were understandably up. This was the closest thing to a home shed had since this clusterfuck started.


    Its not a coup. And we fuck things up with the Adventurers Guild if this turns to open conflict. I studied Sae. Despite her frank estimation of her state of mind, she looked far better than she had a matter of days ago. She was rebuilding herself.


    What? Sae said.


    Can I trust you? I asked. For the first time, I let <strong></strong> evaluate her. I didnt like using it on my friends or allies, but that wasnt a line I could afford anymore. It seemed like a kinder alternative than letting Azure root around in her mind.


    Yes, for fucks sake. Sae red at me in frustration.


    <em>Shes still unstable. But shed also take a bullet for you. Probably more than one. Youre the only anchor she has, and shes painfully aware of that. She is as loyal as she is angry, and shes incredibly angry. A dangerousbination.</em>


    I bit the bullet. Im the Ordinator. You, me, and Kinsley are the only ones who know definitively. Yes, Ive been the Ordinator from the beginning. No, I didnt sandbag or avoid using my power during the Trial. No, I didnt turn Region Six into a gory wastnd, yes, whatevers running the system tried to pin it on me, no, I dont know why. The n was to use that infamy as an in with the suits, but now there are several Users withw enforcement backgrounds who put the pieces together and just press-ganged me into an interrogation, and Im currently under house arrest. Yes, I have a n, yes, you y a vital role, and no, youre probably not going to like it.


    While they stared at me aghast, I checked my objectives, scanning through until I reached the Personal Objective: Remain unidentified by other Users.


    There was no indication that Id failed it. Which meant it likely referred to my identity as a whole bing public knowledge.


    YouyoujustYoure just gonna tell her like that? After all the hoops you made me jump through?! Kinsleys jaw worked furiously.


    Sae blinked several times, eventually settling into a stoic expression. Not that I dont have a million questions, but Im guessing from that info-dump were at a crisis point.


    This thing with the suits is on a strict timetable, and if this investigation stays focused on me, I cant do shit. I contemted for a moment, trying to decide if I could afford to prep an extra day. No. It needs to be tonight. But I get that Im being a little unreasonable, so if you have anything you cant wait to have answered, shoot.


    Sae held up one finger. First, you sure youre not panicking and jumping the gun here? Doesnt it look reactionary if something happens to clear you right after they pull you in?


    It usually would. I admitted. But they dangled me out as bait for Myrddin. It makes sense for him to move quickly on this, before they have their defenses shored up.


    Myrddin being you.


    Yes.


    Got it. Sae considered that, then held up a second finger. Why is the Ordinator so reviled, exactly?


    Kinsley and I shared a look. I tried to answer thoughtfully. From what little I know, the Ordinator represents a potential disruption to whatever process the Overseer and his people are attempting to instill. It gains exponential power as long as Ordinator lives, so its in their best interests to take them out early.


    Sae gave me a nd look. Youre disrupting the system.


    Yes.


    The asshole system that turned me into a bug-monster, that system.


    Uh. Yes.


    Sae held up a third finger, an annoyed expression on her face. Why the fuck wouldnt you tell me about this sooner?


    Even with <strong></strong> reassurance, I didnt like expanding the circle of trust. More links in the chain meant more potential points of weakness. The longer it got, the more likely it would snap.


    I rubbed my face and crossed the carpet to Kinsleys sitting room. To my surprise, there was already a whiteboard waiting,plete with a collection of multicolored markers. I picked one up. Azure, Audrey, and Talia all popped into existence and took various ces around the sitting room.


    Wait, I dont know this one. Kinsley stopped in front of Azure and peered at him.


    This one would <em>love</em> to get to know you. Azure said, dripping fascination.


    Matt. Your new summon is creepy.


    Divine guardian, my ass! Sae eximed.


    That lie was his idea. Talia didnt hesitate to throw me under the bus.


    Matts always been dodgy. <em>You</em> were supposed to be a spirit guide. And why the hell are you white now?


    I sighed, and popped the cap. Lets get started.

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160


    I returned to my apartment.


    Ironic that I was beginning to finally think of it that wayas minenow that I was on the verge of losing it, along with everything else.


    There was a throbbing hum as Sae stepped through the portal behind me. It was harder to read her these daysalong with the physical changes and expressionlesspound eyes typically hidden behind sunsses, shed be far more reserved than before. Still, the way her shoulders drooped and the way she pulled herself inward was simple enough to read.


    Its not toote for you to bow out. I called over my shoulder as I pulled my social UI and tried to send Kinsley another message, mainly to confirm squelch was still in effect.


    Thats something youre gonna learn about me, Helpline. I dont back down. Sae stared at me coolly. Still, the bluster fell a bit t.


    You get that what Im asking you to do isnt just for me, right? I asked gently. It serves a dual purpose.


    Sae waved me off. Yeah, I get it. If I kept hiding forever, my ability to find a solution to this shit She gestured to herself would be severely gimped. This theater gives me a chance to present myself in a positive light. Not to mention, my usefulness would be limited.


    Sae.


    Fuck off with the mothering. Its just a lot, alright?


    Yeah.


    Sae crossed through the living area and went to her knees, removing one of thecquered white panels beneath the TV. An adjustment Kinsley had insisted on that seemed extraneous at the time, given our alternative methods of getting in and out unseen. Sae peered in, only to turn and give me a thoughtful look. Sure youre going to be able toe off as an inexperienced mook?


    I shrugged. Not long ago, I <em>was</em> an inexperienced mook.


    She shook her head. When youre in the shit, you tend to push things too far.


    How so?


    The first time I got intobat, it was a nothing. A couple of low-level goblins. But I was shitting my pants. Jinny had slightly more experience than me, and she kept shrieking whenever her spells went off. Hell, Nick took to it better than any of us, and he was on the verge of losing his lunch constantly, especially when he cut something open.


    My brow furrowed. Youre saying I seemed off.


    Way toofortable. It didnt matter because Nick vouched for you. But that first ambush? The Trial after? I must have wondered a half-dozen times what your background was. Because you just slipped into this analyticalbatant mentality, like youd been wearing it your entire life. She studied the door. I guess, in a way, it makes me feel better that you were experienced before then. Otherwise, someone might get the impression youre some kind of psycho.


    My lips pressed together. As much as I understood that Sae had a point, it was a precarious bnce. If I presented myself as too meek and timid, it would seem incongruous inparison to the type of person who would fight through a forcefield to attempt to save a region. Going too far the other way would arouse suspicion as well.


    I opened my mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a sudden explosion of noise.


    <em>BANG BANG BANG</em>


    That was a cop knock if Id ever heard one. I snapped my fingers once and pointed to the hole. Sae slipped into the crawlspace, gripping the handles on the reverse-side of the panel and pulling it on behind her. It didnt align perfectly. I helped secure it from the other side until it locked in.


    <em>BANG BANG BANG BANG.</em>


    More insistent this time. If I made them wait much longer, there wouldnt be a door left to bang on. I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned the TV and Blu-ray yer on. Unfortunately, thest person to use it had apparently been Iris. A still image of aputer-generated princess belting out a song within the bounds of an ice castle manifested on the vibrant screen. I spent precious seconds scrubbing through the video, looking for anything that resembled a dialogue scene, and pressed y on the first one I found, slowly bumping the volume from mute.


    I dropped the controller and headed into the bathroom, kicking my shoes and socks off and mussing my hair, putting a few drops of Visine into my eyes.


    BANG BANG BANG


    I threw the door open, revealing both Foster and Hawkins, Hawkins with her fist stopped an inch from the door. She studied my appearance. Where were you?


    Asleep. I said irritably.


    Foster shook his head. Told you.


    Hawkins shot him a look, then gave me a level-stare. Took you a while to answer the door.


    No, waking up took a while. Answering the door went fairly quickly. I red at her. I was being intentionally obstinate. Regardless of how in the right they were, theyd turned my life upside down over the course of the afternoon. Being too cooperative would be an obvious tell.


    Should be thest check for the night, Matt. Foster said sympathetically. Probably being overly careful, but with theres too many new and unknown powers in y to take half-measures.


    d youre expending so much manpower on watching me, rather than looking for Myrddin.


    Hawkins pushed past me and did ap around the room, sticking her head into each door as Foster waited by the front with me. You, uh, talking to anyone in here?


    I shook my head, sticking a thumb towards the TV.


    Interesting choice. Foster said.


    Background noise. Cant sleep without it.


    Uhuh. He raised an eyebrow as the animated snowman on screen cracked wise.


    And maybe I like the soundtrack okaychrist. Is she gonna be done anytime soon?


    Hawkins strolled in, as if shed just gone for a casual walk in the park. You said you live alone? I didnt miss the way she eyed the guest room.


    Yep.


    Problem? Foster asked.


    Just doesnt look that way. More than one toothbrush in the bathroom, couple of mugs in the sink. nket in the guest room seems a little odd. Hawkins eyes slid to me. Unless you just happen to be a fan of system knock-off Hello Kitty. Surprised you and Cook missed that, Foster.


    Along with breathing room to deal with the suits, this was precisely why I needed to redirect the focus of their investigation quickly. None of the feds were pencil pushers. They all had clear field experience and were extremely perceptive. It was only a matter of time before I made a mistake I couldnt exin away.


    Or, I rolled my eyes, They were paying attention when I went over how most of my family lived in this suite during my recovery. Given everything thats going on, moving has been something of a scattered process.


    Of course. Hawkins pulled a pot of coffee off the machine and sniffed it.


    Foster smiled apologetically. Anyway. This isnt the Kremlin. Miles was clear. Youre allowed to stretch your legs or work out some frustration at the rec center. Well be rotating out, but Ill be around tonight and tomorrow morning, then back in the PM after Ive caught up on sleep.


    Smart on Miles part. Political. He was keeping a sympathetic presence near me by keeping Foster nearby, and making up for any potential weakness that created by making sure there were two of them on my floor at any given time.


    Still, it wasnt like he strong-armed Foster into acting this way.


    Thanks, Foster. I said.


    You got it. We heading out? Foster looked at Hawkins, whod helped herself to the stale coffee and still had that leveled stare focused in my direction.


    Hawkins inclined her head to the door. Ill be right behind you.


    Once the door was shut, I entered the open kitchen and leaned against the counter, facing Foster, making sure to keep my hands visible and my posture non-threatening. This the part where you tell me <em>why</em> youve apparently decided to swap to bad cop over the interim of a handful of hours?


    Hawkins sipped her coffee, then set it aside. Know anything about work dogs, Matt?


    I blinked, thrown by the non-sequitur. Like, seeing eye-dogs?


    No. Drug dogs, corpse dogs, etcetera.


    Only a little, but it felt like more of a rhetorical question. I shook my head.


    Lotta controversy around them these days. But they have their uses. Hawkins looked up, as if she was recalling a memory. A Long time ago, before I ended up where I am now, I was rank and file up in Aledo assisting with an investigation. A little boy disappeared. He was small. No more than fifty pounds. We were about a week beyond the first seventy-two hours. Understand the implication there?


    It was safe enough to answer, seeing as how practically every police procedural had sted this particr factoid out to the public at some point. With every day that passes after the first seventy-two hours of a missing person''s case, the chances of sess plummet.


    The kid was dead. I said tly.


    Hawkins nodded. The detectives running the investigation came to the same conclusion. They had almost everything they needed for a conviction. A solid suspect, pieces of trace evidence in the suspects possession including the victims backpack, a shirt, and an iPad. It was damning. All they were missing was a murder weapon and a body.


    Guessing you found the body.


    Not right away. The suspect owned fifteen acres. Canvassing was hell. Foliage so thick you could have walked over a hundred shallow graves without realizing it. Eventually, the DIC stopped being a chintzy bastard and ponied up for cadaver dogs. They have this system, right? The handler and the dogs. Theyll canvass an area, and every so often the dog will signal. Hawkins raised her arm and moved a pointed finger in a circle. False positives aremon, so theyll usually wait for both dogs to signal repeatedly. Only we didnt have to wait long. Both dogs signaled almost immediately, ten yards away from the house. Sure enough, there was upturned earth underneath a clump of leaves. We started digging and found


    Hawkins made a sarcastic magicians flourish. A fucking buried possum. We dug under it, of course. The killers who <em>think </em>theyre smart love to hide bodies under animal corpses.


    Was it there?


    No. Hawkins nced at her coffee cup. Wordlessly, I held out a hand, and she passed it to me. My fingers brushed her skin lightly, and somehow I managed to avoid smiling at the minor victory. With my new vocation ability, I had the means to spy on both Miles and Hawkins now. Three more made a set. I refilled the cup and handed it to her. But twenty yards to the south, the dogs signaled again. And again. And again.


    He was killing animals and burying them.


    By the dozen. Hawkins looked disgusted. That went on for at least a week. A week of digging in dirt and finding stinking, mutted bodies in shallow graves, none of them human. Fatigue set in.


    I sighed. Fascinating as this is, Im not really seeing the point


    Im getting to it. Hawkins cut me off. One of thest graves we uncovered was fresher than the rest. A horse. It wasnt even close to dried out, and its stomach had been shed open, the remains thoroughly infested. Ill save you the gory details


    Those <em>werent</em> the gory details?


    Trust me. Hawkins shuddered. It was bad. No one wanted to go near it. Shortly after, some rookie found the murder weapon. A baseball bat tossed into his neighbors field. DNA did the rest. Matched the traces of blood in the grain to the blood on the backpack. Word came down that the DA was willing to prosecute the case without a body, and we packed it in.


    My mouth twitched. No one bothered to dig under the horse.


    Hawkins chuckled. Thats right. Miles said you had good instincts. It stuck in my craw. Even if every other star aligns, prosecuting a murder case without a body is risky at best. And this wasnt the kind of guy who would crack and just give it up, even if the verdict came down as guilty. There was a good chance the family would never be able to bury their son. It kept me up at night. So, Imitted the unforgivable sin of jumping the chain ofmand and brought it up to my lieutenant. Told him everything.


    Whatd he do?


    He was pissed. And instead ofying into the detectives, he grabbed a crime-scene tech, threw three shovels in the back of a squad car, drove us to the property, and marched across the field to the grave. And after a few hours of cutting through filth, and rot, and viscera, we found him.


    I dumped the rest of the coffee in the sink, watching it swirl down. Congrattions. Was this meant to be some thinly veiled parable about how youre not afraid to get your hands dirty?


    During the interview


    Interrogation.


    interview, Hawkins emphasized. Waller uncovered something ugly. You didnt bother denying it. Instead, you came clean. Warts and all. But it was a little too easy. Im uncertain whether weve dug deeply enough.


    Its time for you to go. I said coldly. I needed these people out of my life as soon as possible.


    Sure. Hawkins ced her mug in the sink and approached the door.


    Unable to help myself, I called after her. That lieutenantthe one that believed you and put his career in the lhat was Miles, wasnt it?


    Hawkins paused, her hand on the door. When she turned back, her expression was unreadable. In the off-chance we end up taking this another direction? Whether its six months or a year from now. No matter how suspicious or mundane the circumstances, if something happens to Miles? Youll find me back on your doorstep. And I wont be as nice the second time around.


    Got it.


    Have a nice night, Matthias.


    As soon as the door clicked shut, I sagged, hand pressed to my chest, heart beating rapidly beneath my palm. I previously thought Id won Hawkins over. Or at least earned her sympathy. As it turned out, I was utterly wrong.


    I turned the TV off, set my rm for a half-hour and tried to catch some sleep on the couch. If everything worked out perfectly, and they bought it, this could all be behind me.


    But sleep wouldnte. The insides of my eyelids felt like oppressive curtains, robbing me of precious minutes.


    Eventually, I rolled off the couch and opened the door. Foster and Cook were standing outside.


    Looking a little rough there, champ. Cook sneered. Hed changed from his blue flower-print Hawaiian shirt to a red flower-print Hawaiian shirt. At least the man was consistent.


    I ignored him and nced at Foster. Mind if I take you up on that rec time?


    Foster grinned. Sure thing.


    A few minutester, we strode down the hallway. They nked me professional, Cook behind me and to my left, Foster ahead and to my right. The formation was tight. If I had to do anything physical to alert Kinsley that the wheels were in motion, they would have clocked it immediately. But that wouldnt be necessary.


    The solution was the most recent entry in the quest screen.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Totally Real Merchants Guild Quest</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Find a dungeon and clear it.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Avoid turning Kinsleys hair white before her sixteenth birthday you bastard.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: 1 Selve</strong>


    <strong>ept Quest? Y|N</strong>


    I rejected the quest. With squelch blocking directmunications, it was the best alternative we came up with for getting a signal through. Currently, Kinsley and a solid chunk of her mercenaries would be ironing out a highly visible trade deal with merchant holdouts on the far end of the city. This had been in the works for a while, shed just have a slightlyrger entourage than previously intended.


    Leaving me, the building, and the feds coincidentally vulnerable. It was alling together.

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161


    We went down to the converted racquetball court area. Foster went in before me, while Cook waited outside the door.


    I observed them carefully. Other than Miles, I had very little experience with how high-level field agents operated. Cook seemed rusty, reflecting what Azure had told me. He hadnt operated in this capacity in quite some time. Foster, on the other hand, cleared the court almost casually. He was thorough but calm, the only indicator of focus a slight tightness around the eyes. A total reversal of Cooks wound tight as a coil presentation.


    Foster ced his back against the far wall, watching from a distance as I slugged the training bag like my life depended on it, circumventing the mental prompts from <strong></strong> I knew how to throw a punch, and Id been in a few minor scuffles throughout my childhood, but that was about it. My strategy pre-dome generally boiled down to aiming for something vital and running the fuck away as soon as there was an opening.


    Without relying on the Gnollsbat skill, I must have looked green as hell.


    Pivot your back foot and twist your torso. Foster called over.


    What? I pulled my shirt up and wiped my forehead. It came away damp, dark with sweat.


    Youve got decent upper-body strength. But youre trying to just punch with your arm.


    Foster crossed the room and demonstrated in slow motion first, then more quickly, mming the bag with a punch that reverberated like a gunshot against the soft material.


    I tried to copy the way he put his entire body into the strike. The first time, I nearly fell over. It was significantly harder to do this without <strong></strong> and I caught myself wishing for the simplicity of a knife.


    Still, Foster was patient, and guided me with a handful of light touches, manipting my form until I struck the bag hard, eyes widening at the sound it made.


    Foster nodded. Fast on the uptake. Good. I take it your page ss didnte with abat skill?


    No such luck.


    He nodded. Plenty of sses didnt. Theres no small number of people who died during the transposition because they just didnt know how to protect themselves. Ive been hounding both Miles and Sarayou know Sara, right? When I confirmed that I did, Foster continued, To get some sort of formal self-defense curriculum going.


    Like a dojo? I asked. It sounded ridiculous, but I didnt want to shit on his idea for no reason.


    Foster made a nonmittal grunt. Nothing out there. Just some sses with experienced instructors open to the public. Practical shit. Brazilian Jujitsu, Krav Maga. Maybe a little St for weapons training. And of course, my personal favorite Fosterunched into a brutalbo that involved a mix of elbows and knees, nearly knocking the bag from its base. Muay Thai. He grinned.


    I was impressed, despite myself. Foster didnte off with half the swagger of the few guys in high school I knew that brayed about having a ck belt, but his skill was in to see. <strong></strong> pinged, even though Foster was, assumedly, using a skill hed honed the hard way, long before we had a system.


    What about Judo? I asked. It was <strong></strong> closest real-life analogue, and I was curious to hear what he thought of it.


    Mmm. Foster nodded. Its a solid philosophy, if a bit limited in scope. Good for fighting outside your weight ss. Problematic in the context of our situation, though. Redirecting aggression and momentum only works up to a certain point. And wearing down your opponent doesnt matter if your opponent has superhuman stamina.


    That was true enough. <strong></strong> had helped me out of more than a few binds, but there were certain situations where it was of limited use. The offensive aspect was limited, intended to finish fights quickly with brutal capitalizing attacks that left me open if I didnt make enough of an impact to finish things then and there. If I needed to wear something down, I was almost always forced to fall back on my abilities and weapons. And it was almost inevitable that Id eventually find myself in a situation where <strong></strong> was useless, and I was unarmed and low on mana.


    Judo and Muay Thaipliment each other rather well,e to think of it. Striking and grappling covered extensively between the two. Foster mused. For a moment, I wondered if he was baiting me, but he was too caught up in his thoughts for that.


    Suddenly, I had a tantalizing proposition for one of my two empty emtion slots.


    At this point, Id take anything. Even if that means learning it the old-fashioned way. I admitted, smiling internally as I watched Fosters head perk up.


    That can be arranged. Obviously, I cant teach you with things as they are now, but assuming you want anything to do with us after Foster trailed off. He looked ufortable, as if he felt like broaching this was taking advantage of the circumstances, when in reality it was the other way around.


    I sighed. Im not sure about the others. Especially Waller. But Id be open to staying in contact with you. Especially if youre willing to teach me.


    Fosters eyes lit up. Id like that.


    Furthermore, I can get you your self-defense program. A cushy spot in either the Adventurers Guild or Merchants Guild. I gave him a cold look. What I need is for you to make all of this go away.


    Fosters expression darkened. The sound-profile of the training area shrunk to the sound of my heart beating in my ears.


    I snorted, then started tough.


    Foster stared, shocked for a second, thenughed with me. You son of a bitch.


    Yeah, okay, that was uncalled-for. I wiped my eyes. Saras stonewalling you?


    Not stonewalling, exactly. After the shock, Foster had dropped his guard. He wasnt keeping the same distance from me as he was before. That was good. By the end of this, wed be the best of friends. She says they dont have the resources. Given what Ive seen, Im inclined to believe her. Its a hair short of chaos all the way down.


    Inded a few more experimental punches on the dummy, emphasizing the technique that Foster had shown me. Youre not emphasizing the value.


    Foster adjusted my form absentmindedly. The point is empowering the helpless. Charging a high price would defeat the point.


    The value Im referring to has nothing to do with money. I gave him a pointed look. Think about it. Putting the civilians aside for a moment, who do you think the first people in line will be?


    I could practically see the lightbulb turn on above Fosters head. Magic Users.


    And crafters, and plenty of others with massive potential who just happen to becking in directbat. All brought into the Adventurers Guilds magnanimous embrace.


    Foster grappled with the idea. Spin it as a recruiting tool.


    They took plenty of casualties during the transposition. Theres no world where they dont jump at the opportunity.


    Fosters mouth turned downward. That just feels so


    Cynical? I raised an eyebrow. Even if it benefits the guild, it achieves your ends. Altruistic ends at that. Not seeing the downside.


    Before Foster could answer, there was a weighty thump against the wall that framed the entryway, punctuated by a strangled curse. We both froze, straining to listen.


    <em>Cook?</em> I mouthed at Foster.


    The agent pressed a finger to his lips and drew a ck polymer 1911 from his shoulder holster. He crossed the room, his footsteps silent.


    Slowly, he pressed himself against the wall and cracked the door.


    Then jumped back, throwing himself against the door as a series of vicious barks and snarls bounced off the walls in multiplying echoes. I saw a few inches of muzzle and yellow, sharpened teeth as <em>something</em> attempted to force its way in. Foster strained against the door.


    Run! He shouted.


    Where? I said, panicked. Theres no way out!


    Foster turned, bracing his back against the wall, and pointed up towards the observation railing that lined the top of the court. If someone climbed the tforms and made their way into the octagon suspended in the center of the training room, itd be possible to climb the fencing and slip through. Instead of running, I bolted forward and mmed my shoulder into the door next to foster. There was an audible yelp and the muzzle withdrew.


    Are you fucking crazy? Go. Foster stared at me as we both struggled to hold the door shut as somethingrge and mean-sounding mmed against it, jarring us violently.


    Talia was really selling this. Now, it was my turn to do the same.


    I drew on every bit of Nicks sharine heroism I could muster, and somehow managed to deliver the line with a straight face. Screw that. Im not leaving you.

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162


    I shook my head, hoping I was projecting the correct amount of terror. It looked like a monster.


    Fosters eyes darted back and forth. Finally, he seemed to decide. Were not here just to monitor you. Miles thought he thought there was a chance someone might make an attempt on your life.


    Someone?


    Myrddin.


    What? Why now? There were plenty of chances before.


    Foster looked away.


    Holy shit. For talking to the Taskforce. That motherfucker used me as bait? I said, outraged.


    Wasnt my idea, didnt like it from the start. Foster said, looking guilty as hell.


    I held my silence as the creature mmed against the door. It doesnt matter. Pointing fingers isnt going to help anyone. How the door exploded inward nearly a third of the way, throwing me to the ground. I scrambled to my feet and rammed my shoulder against it, wincing. How do we get out of this?


    Fosters brow furrowed. Send for help, barricade the door and try to get to the penthouse elevator.


    I pulled up the social UI and sent a message to thendlord, then to Kinsley. The second message didnt go through. I red at Foster, furious. Why are you jamming me?


    Foster looked bewildered. Im not. Im just a civilian. Cook was the User, and the one running squelch.


    I swore. Cooks still alive.


    The lights cut out, reced by an eerie red strobe. A voice spoke through a crackly inte that echoed throughout the building.


    <em>We are under attack. The designated authorities have been contacted. All civilians are to lock themselves in their rooms until the danger has passed. Do not answer the door for anyone.</em>


    Cook being alive changes things. I locked eyes with Foster. Youre sure Im the target?


    Miles was.


    I ran through the scenario in my mind. Okay. Whos in the building right now?


    Hawkins and Waller. Miles is running overwatch on an adjacent building.


    You have a way to contact them? I asked.


    Foster held up a walkie.


    I nodded. Tell them to met us on the Penthouse floor. Its defensible, and the elevator requires a card swipe. One entrance, and one exit. Cook is still alive for the moment, but Myrddin doesnt like loose ends. If we just rabbit, hell finish the job.


    We dont have the firepower to fight Myrddin on our own. Foster shouted back.


    True. Which is why were not going to fight him. If this works, we get Cook out. But we need that monster out of the way. Im guessing its a summon or something along those lines. I nced at the gun in his hands. How good of a shot are you?


    Best youve ever seen.


    Then Im casting the line. I pulled my hoodie over my head and wrapped it around my arm. Fosters eyes widened in understanding.


    Then he smiled grimly. If we survive this, Im never letting Cook hear the end of it.


    <em>Thump, Thump, Thump</em>


    Timing it perfectly, Foster swung the door open. Then mmed it shut again after a dark mutt, more hyena than dog, charged through, strands of drool hanging from its mouth. Talia skidded on the slick surface as she tried to course correct, giving the vague impression of a cartoon character attempting to sprint on ice.


    She gained traction and charged me, barking and snapping. I held my wrapped arm out like a shield and Talia sunk her teeth into the thick material, the rest of her ramming into me, knocking me to the ground.


    <em>Are you sure?</em> I asked.


    <em>Do it.</em> Talia confirmed.


    I strained against her, getting a hand around her throat and, with all my strength, shoved her upward.


    A half dozen gunshots rang out in groupings of two. Blood spattered my face as Talia slumped, and I struggled to shove her limp form off me.


    Foster had fallen into a crouch, still bracing against the door, the muzzle of his 1911 smoking. I stared at my fallen summons body. All six shots hadnded in a tight grouping at the base of Talias skull.


    A voice spoke, muffled, from outside the door. First, you and the Oshkosh reject kick me out of the merchants guild. Then you narc on me to the Taskforce. And now youve killed my dog. Never liked you much, Matt, but this is a cut above.


    Foster aimed carefully and positioning himself away from any potential ricochet, and fired his remaining rounds through the door. The high caliber rounds punched through the door like it was tissue paper.


    Close. Azure chuckled. Then his voice took on a dark malevolence. Check on that boyfriendtely, Foster?


    Fosters professional stoicism was obliterated in a split-second. <em>What the hell?</em> Foster mouthed, panic in his eyes.


    Kyle wanted to stay in, eat takeout, watch Fiddler on the Roof for the fiftieth timebut you went to y super cop, and left him all alone. Bad move.


    Foster ejected the magazine and reloaded, his expression livid. I caught his gun arm before he could unload the entire magazine into the wall.


    Remember the profile. Myrddins highly maniptive. Hes done his homework, and now hes screwing with you. Trying to knock you off bnce. I mouthed, the words barely more than a whisper.


    What if he isnt? Foster whispered back, eyes darting back and forth.


    Ny-percent sure its bullshit. Either way, we wont know until we get Cook to drop squelch. You can message Kyle then. Go. Ill meet you at the elevator.


    Are you sure? Foster looked uncertain. Hed been charged to protect me, and now I was advising him to put me in harms way.


    Hes probably a hell of a lot stronger than me, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Reaching in my inventory, I withdrew a cylinder filled with golden liquid from my inventory, showing it to him, then recing it. Ill be fine. Just get Cook out of harms way.


    We traded ces. I braced my back against the door and drew <strong></strong> watching as Foster bounded up the tforms and entered the suspended octagon, scaling the fence and clearing the railing in a feat of jaw-dropping athleticism.


    Getting bored, Matt. Azure crooned. Youre cornered. Either one of you opens the door, or I slice open the fed and kill you both.


    I retreated to the center of the room, nocking an arrow. A few momentster, the door swung open, and Azure stepped in and closed the door behind him. He was wearing the Allfathers Mask, along with my Eldritch armor.


    I loosed an arrow, and it struck the wall next to him. Azure fired several bolts around the room, none of theming anywhere close to me. Then threw out bags that emitted a foul smelling smoke that filled the room. Then he knelt down next to the door. His hand dissipated into shadow. <em>Hes dragging Cook towards the elevator. Were clear.</em>


    We moved quickly. As Azureid out bolts on the floor, I resummoned Talia, sweat trickling down my brow. Once Talia had reemerged in her silver wolf form, I nced at her apologetically. Are you alright?


    That was unpleasant. Talia growled.


    Yeah. You took one for the team.


    Considering what you are about to put yourself through, I cannotin. Talia watched me with concern.


    I pointed to the door, Get moving. Make sure no one sees you until its time.


    Be careful, pup.


    Azure opened the door for her, and Talia slipped through. I knelt over theid out bolts, casting <strong></strong> on each of them.


    You had to bring the boyfriend up? I murmured, keeping my focus on bolts. A single mistake here could easily kill me.


    Like you said, Azure shrugged. Gloves off.


    Guess I did.


    I finished casting the spell on every bolt.


    There may be a problem. Azure said, hesitantly.


    What? I whipped my head around to face him. He shifted his weight back and forth, projecting nervousness. Spit it out, were already taking too long.


    You feel differently to me than other Users. I thought it was our bond. Theres a certain resonance


    Azure!


    I felt it again, when I was phasing through the lobby. A presence, simr to yours.


    My blood went cold as I slowly connected the dots. Another unique ss?


    My suspicion as well. I couldnt locate them, though my senses are dulled in my etherial form. Its possible a third party is taking advantage of this situation.


    Fuck! I kicked Fosters ejected magazine, sending it skittering across the floor. Then I looked at Azure. Dont break character unless I tell you.


    Azure bit his lip. This n already puts you in danger. Adding an unknown variable


    Stay on target. I mean it. We either push through this, or we die.


    The violet message notification light pinged in my vision, flickering as scores of messages came in. We were out of squelch range and almost everyone in my circle had reached out to me, though I was missing some context from previous messages that couldnt be delivered. Mom and Iris were hunkered down in their room. Even Estrada had messaged.


    The only person missing from the list was Ellison.


    I shot him a message. <strong></strong>


    Of course, he didnt answer.

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163


    I covered my eyes and threw the cylinder. Even behind my arm, the resulting explosion was painfully bright, leaving a corona of pulsing violet around my vision. I sprinted out of the converted training area, leaping over training equipment and catching a glimpse of myself in the wall mirror, looking mussed and harried.


    My side stung. Blood darkened my shirt, the self-inflicted wound bleeding far more heavily than expected.


    The lobby was abandoned, pulsing red cast by the eerie rotating emergency lights. A few people called out to me as I ran. Foster was in in sight, waiting by the elevator, Cook over his shoulders in a firemans carry. The elevator doors opened. Hes right behind me


    White-hot pain radiated through me, as a bolt pierced my back. I staggered and nearly fell, clinging clumsily to the concierge counter for support. Id been careful to ensure the bolts didnt strike anywhere vitalthe application of <strong></strong> was the only reason Azure was able to circumvent the summon rules and hit me at allbut it still hurt like hell.


    Foster dumped Cook into the open elevator and drew his service weapon. The muzzle shed three times as he fired, Azure darted to the side kicking off a wall and sliding along the tile ground, firing another bolt that struck me in the shoulder.


    I swapped into <strong></strong> The pain shrunk to an incessant buzz that put my teeth on edge, but it was far more manageable now.


    Come on Foster yelled, his shout capitalized by another shot from the 1911. I staggered towards him.


    <strong></strong> red. I reacted toote. Six thin, surgical looking knives, barelyrger than needles, struck my chest in a semicircle. They didnt pierce deeplybarely more than a half inch, but I felt a strange buzzing that seemed to radiate between them. A familiar figure, short, in ck and red armor stepped out from the shadows beside the elevator, his face covered by a chrome-mask.


    The same person from the cathedral.


    The person who was probably Ellison, unless my guess was wrong.


    Chrome-mask charged at me, crimson energy charged in his palm.


    An image red of the dead User at the cathedral, with the gaping hole in his chest surrounded by six shallow knife wounds.


    Understanding dawned. If he hit me with that, I was done.


    Even as my body screamed, I let <strong></strong> guide me, caught Chrome-masks arm and stepped in, using his momentum to throw him over the concierge desk. His back struck the counter, and he toppled over, the maneuver buying me precious seconds.


    A bolt struck me in the gut. The pain overwhelmed me, and I fell to my knees.


    Foster fired twice more, once at Azure, once at Chrome-mask, who ducked back down behind the desk. He pulled the trigger again and the gun jammed. God <em>damn</em> it. He gave up on clearing the jam and pulled a ck-metal kukri out of Cooks inventory.


    But he was toote. Azure stood over me, casually loading a bolt and pressing the crossbow to my head. Last chance Matt. I know either you or Kinsley have the legendary core. Tell me where it is, and Ill end her quickly.


    I leaned forward and spat. The wad of saliva dripped down Azures thigh, and he stared at it in distaste. Fuck. You.


    Have it your way. Azures finger tightened on the trigger.


    I closed my eyes. There was an audible twang as the crossbow went off, the arrow ricocheting harmlessly off the marble.


    Talia tore the crossbow from Azures grasp. Sae ran alongside her, her chitin feet clicking against the hard surface. She leapt over me and mmed her fist into chrome-masks helmet, knocking him back against the desk. He pulled two bludgeons from his back andshed out at Sae, the weapons glowing with red energy.


    Out of nowhere, several civilians armed with baseball bats charged from their hiding ces and attacked Myrddin.


    Sae grabbed me roughly under the arms and hauled me towards the elevator. How is it, she grunted in my ear, I always end up dragging you around?


    Sae? I asked, surprise in my voice.


    Who the fuck is that? Foster shouted.


    Dont shoot! Shes a friend, I called back.


    Sae pulled me into the elevator with Foster covering us, while Chrome-mask struggled against Talia and Azure incapacitated one of the civilians with a mana garrote. I had to hand it to the civilians. Despite an absence of abilities and ack of User status, they were giving Azure hell.


    Talia slipped in at thest moment before the doors slid shut, and the elevator began to rise.


    I thought you were dead.


    Almost was. Would have been, if that bastard had his way. Sae grunted, leaning against the elevator wall and catching her breath.


    Myrddin? I pulled the six small knives from my chest, wincing as they came free.


    Yeah. He set us up, Matt. Sae seethed. She wasnt a natural actor, but what shecked in nuance she made up for in intensity. Been hunting him ever since I got out of the trial. Wasnt sure I could take him, so Ive just been following him around. Followed him here and figured he wasing after you, and I couldnt wait anymore.


    I grunted in pain as Foster removed the two arrows from my shoulder and back. He looked preupied, but I could tell he was listening. Asshole spun some serious bullshit, said you guys were ambushed when you came out of the trial. That some randoms killed Jinny, took Nick, and that you retreated into the trial before it copsed.


    Oh, <em>that all happened.</em> Sae scowled. But Myrddin was with them. Tried to hand us off like a horse trade.


    If you were in the trial before it copsed, that where you got the dog? And the uh


    Hideous makeover? Yep. System loves twisting the knife.


    Not to interrupt this reunion, but Foster looked between us. Anyone know who that second User was? Myrddin ever mention a partner?


    We both shook our heads. Sae redid her ponytail and gave me a meaningful look. First Ive seen of him, but Ive been keeping my distance. Matt?


    He was always tight-lipped. Far as I knew, he was always flying solo.


    There was a groan as Cook sat up. An angry red-line from the garrote ran the span of his neck. His eyes focused, and he looked between all of us, then finally to Foster. What the fuck happened? Whose mutt is that?


    The hair on Talias neck stood up. Foster spoke before I could. Myrddin got the drop on you. I was contemting leaving your ass, but Matt created a diversion for me to pull you out. Then it all went to shit. I kept my silence as Foster caught him up to speed, ying my injuries up more than I would have otherwise. Cook kept looking at me suspiciously, as if he couldnt quite believe what he was hearing.


    Once Foster finished, Cook breathed out. Ill be damned. Miles got it wrong. Or right, depending on how you want to look at it. He nced at Sae. Thanks for the assist, bug girl.


    Sae bristled. Who the fuck are these people, Matt?


    Before I could respond, the elevator doors opened. Waller and Hawkins were standing side by side prepared to fire, Waller with a glowing orange spell locked and loaded, Hawkins with a sighted Glock.


    Foster? Waller asked, his toneden with stress.


    Theyre not a threat.


    Waller let the spell go, staring at me as Sae looped my arm around her shoulder and walked out. We need to get him help.


    Foster nodded grimly. Gut shot wont kill him quickly, but the longer it goes untreated, the bigger the problem bes.


    Waller stalked towards Foster and took him aside. It was Myrddin. Yourepletely positive?


    Myrddin and one more. Foster confirmed. Ranged-melee hybrid. Wheres Miles?


    Securing our exit. Hawkins said. She looked at me warily, but some of the sympathy shed shown during the inquisition had reappeared.


    In truth, I was barely paying attention to the proceedings. My mind was on Ellison. How had he known when to act? Kinsley and I had been exceedingly careful ever since the Taskforce had formed. Our nning session had taken ce entirely within her domain, which was airtight. No one could enter or leave unless she allowed it. Either we had a mole or


    <em>But you dont think its weird? That the crying got worse the week before the meteor?</em>


    If Ellison knew in advance about the dome, it was possible that wasnt the extent of his knowledge. If his ss gave him some sort of future-sight, it was a reasonable assumption that it reached farther than a week ahead. That would go a long way to exining why he hadnt bothered to help fortify our region. If he already knew it would be fortified. It also exined why hed distanced himself, just before I got the ability to spy on anyone I touched. There was a chance he knew everything.


    So, why was he trying to kill me?


    <em>The special ss disappeared.</em> Azures panicked voice zed through my mind.


    <em>Where are you?</em>


    <em>On my way up the fire escape. He was right behind me, then he just disappeared. Are you sure you dont want me to stop? </em>


    I grit my teeth, trying to make a decision. <em>Keep going.</em>


    <em>Wait. I see him. He scaled the wall and just carved through one of the windows of the penthouse floor</em>


    Azures warning came just in time.


    I slipped from beneath Saes arm, just before one of the vacant penthouse doors exploded in a mess of wooden shrapnel.

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164


    Its impossible to ount for every variable. No matter how methodical your nning, well-thought your reasoning, youll always leave something out. The best ns always ount for something to go wrong, expect proceedings to go off-course, and leave ample windows to adjust on the fly. Or at least, that was what I thought.


    How the hell was I supposed to ount for this?


    Chrome-mask was more force of nature than solebatant. He flew through the wrecked door, so quickly it looked as if he might smash into the adjacent wall, only tond on it, feet first. With a graceless swipe, he hurled three glinting shes of metal directly towards my face.


    Waller stepped in front of me protectively. He raised a protective arm toote. A cry of pain followedone small des lodging in his arm, the other twonding in his cheek and just beneath his eye. They dug in less than a half-inch, but given the location it must have hurt like hell.


    Waller! Hawkins cried out, bringing her service weapon up to her eye. Before she even lined up a shot, Chrome-mask was moving again.


    Time slowed down as Chrome-mask dove off the wall in a trajectory that was almost a straight-line, directly at us. Hawkins fired a shot that missed Chrome-mask and shattered the window at the end of the hallway, while Foster finally stirred from his momentary paralysis and swiped out with the butt of his pistol.


    Chrome-mask twisted in the air to avoid the blow, and something glinted in his hand.


    Immediately, I realized what he was trying to do.


    I wasnt certain how his power worked yet, exactly, but seemed to take some setup. A certain number of those thin, needle-like des in the target before he could use his crimson magic to obliterate the center-point, as he had the Users in the cathedral.


    With milliseconds to spare, I dead-legged Waller with a swift kick at the back of his knee, trying to stop Chrome-mask frompleting the circuit.


    No longer blocked by Waller, Chrome-mask crashed into me with both feet. He was smaller than me and weighed significantly less, but the drop-kick still sent me skidding a small distance down the hallway. I watched helplessly as Chrome-mask scrambled towards the fallen agent, nting the final knife into Wallers forehead.


    Thenalmost casuallypunched through his face, bathing the surrounding hallway in red.


    No! Foster screamed.


    But Sae was faster. Maybe faster than all of us. She grabbed Chrome-masks head in one wed hand and picked him up, mming him repeatedly into a metal doorframe. The top left section of his mask came off, revealing a section of brown hair and a vicious green eye.


    Ellison.


    My heart sank. On some level, Id known since the transposition. But Id hoped more than anything that I had missed something. That Id been wrong.


    The brother that Id loved since the day he was born snarled in a voice I couldnt recognize as he grabbed Saes wrist with both hands. He peeled her chitin thumb back, slipping out of the vice grip and pretzeling one leg around her arm for leverage, kicking at her face with the other.


    There was a gunshot, and Ellisons head snapped back. He plummeted to the ground andnded motionless. Hawkins and Foster advanced on him.


    Talia stood over Ellison, growling.


    I moved quickly, straddling Ellisons torso and wrapping my hands around the lightweight material that covered his neck lightly. The bullet from Hawkins handgun was ttened in the top portion of his mask.


    <em>What are you doing? </em> I whispered, furious.


    From the corner of my eye, I saw Azure climb through the shattered window at the end of the hall.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    We got this, Matt. Foster said, and I felt an arm pulling me free as Hawkins nked from the side. My expression hardened as I let him pull me off Ellison.


    <strong></strong>


    Not to mention that hed killed Waller. This n was contingent on the feds making it throughby the skin of their teeth, but alive. The death of my biggest detractor reflected badly on me, no matter how you looked at it.


    <strong></strong>


    In the past, Ellison always delivered bad news with a simr mix of callousness and apathy. There was a strong possibility he wasnt lying, here. A coldness settled over me.


    <strong></strong>


    Ellison grunted as Foster and Hawkins hauled him to his feet. His visible eye pierced me, a dark anger emitting from it.


    The feeling of wrongness grew thick. This wasnt just about letting him go. If he really wanted my help, all he had to do was threaten to reveal my identity to the public atrge. Even if my public face bought me a certain degree of goodwill, someone would eventually make good on the threat. But if he went that route, the bridge between us would be burned to ash. Id never trust him again.


    Instead, hed brought Iris into it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Promises were cheap. But Ellison revered our father in a way Id never understood. It was, perhaps, the one thing he could have said to convince me hed follow through. In the distance, the sound of a helicopter grew closer.


    I closed my eyes and signaled Azure.


    Hawkins and Foster stopped in their tracks as foul smelling smoke poured through the hallway. Multiple fire rms went off one after another, each adding to the dissonant keen, wailing like a demented choir. Audreys vine shot through the smoke andshed Hawkins wrist, knocking the gun. Another grabbed Ellison by the ankle and yanked him from their grasp.


    Suddenly unburdened, Foster and Hawkins unloaded down the hallway, firing through the smoke. A bolt struck me in the ribcage, scraping against bone. Sae pulled me out of the way as a hail of shing knives cut through the air.


    Talia charged into the smoke, snarling and growling.


    Before I knew what was happening, Miles was standing above me, firing arrow after arrow into the smoke, his face twisted in a rictus of anger. He pointed to a nearby door. Inside!


    We retreated into the open suite. Foster dragged Cook inside, while Talia, freshly bloodied, slipped in just before the doors closed.


    A small family huddled together, staring with wide-eyes as our bedraggled group staggered in, mming the door shut behind us. The sound of whirling helicopter des grew deafening. A ropedder banging against the railing on the outside lounge. That must have been how Miles got in. A small assortment of police officers and SWAT unloaded from the helicopter and pushed forward, taking a position beside Miles.


    Waller? Miles kept his bow trained on the door and nced at Hawkins.


    Hawkins shook her head.


    Miles mouth turned downward. God fucking dammit. Were leaving. Now. Get in the helicopter. All of you.


    Hawkins, Foster, and Sae made their way out onto the balcony overhang. Sae hoisted Cook up thedder and then dropped back down. When she extended a hand to Hawkins, Hawkins ignored it and pulled herself up. She froze and pointed out towards the distance, her voice barely audible over the noise. Bogeyis thatMyrddins backup is running!


    Sure enough, I saw a paragliding silhouette approximately the size of my brother making solid time towards the moonlit horizon


    My blood dripped freely, staining the plush carpet. I stared at the small family huddled in the corner, a resolute tranquility came over me.


    I cant go.


    Miles grabbed me roughly by my hoodie. The hell you cant. Youre bleeding out. He slipped through all your security and literally attacked you where you live. Let the professionals look after your family. Its not safe here.


    I red at Miles. And whose fault is that?


    Miles released me as if hed stuck his hands into a fire.


    Nowhere is safe. I pushed. Everyone in this region is relying on me. If I leave, Myrddin will find a way to make us pay for it. I paid in blood to save them. I cant abandon them now.


    I nearly cringed at how painfully valiant it sounded. If it were just us, I would have pushed back with my familys safety instead. But the civilians'' presence gave me a unique opportunity to entrench myself in the region further. Solidify that what happened at the end of the event wasnt just a fluke.


    Miles studied me through cold blue eyes. Myrddin fought half a guild and walked out unscathed. Not to mention, he has backup. Fighting him alone only ends one way.


    If he was at the top of his game, sure, but hes injured. Sae took a ce next to me. Talia at her side. And I want a piece of that fucker as much as Matt does.


    Who are you? Miles shook his head. Never-mind. More importantly, how do you know that?


    Sae nced at Talia. Spirit Guardian told me.


    Irritation flooded Miles expression. Of course. There are Spirit Guardians now.


    Foster crossed his arms. Shes solid, Miles. And Hawkins is out of the game, but Im not. Way I see it, if we end this here, it saves a helluva lot of trouble in the long run.


    Miles didnt look convinced. I gave it onest try. Ive been spamming messages to Kinsley, trying to get through. Squelch dropped long enough for me to get a message off. Kinsleys people are on their way. Some patrolling mercs probably heard the gunfire and are already down in the lobby floor. All we need to do is push him towards the lobby.


    With a sigh, Miles steadied himself. He pointed to the arrow emerging from my ribcage. Foster?


    Foster studied the arrows cement, then drew a serrated de, giving me a questioning look. When I nodded and grit my teeth, he began to saw the shaft, muttering apologies as every vibration sent a new wave of pain from my body. Eventually, I was left with an inch of bloodstained bolt emerging from my hoody.


    Kid should be alright, assuming nothing tears that out. Thats the most serious injury. An inch difference and that could have been your heart. Everything else is non-vital. You got lucky. Foster locked eyes with me and inclined his head in tacit approval.


    Whats the n, Matt? Sae asked.


    I considered that for a moment, grunting at a wave of pain. My guess? Myrddins is leaning on his notoriety from the broadcast. He came here expecting us to run. Engage cautiously, if we engage at all. But no ones that agile without a drawback. He has to be a ss canon.


    Miles breathed in sharply. You want to blitz him.


    My expression hardened. Hes been pushing his agenda uncontested from the start. That stops here.

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165


    This was the homestretch.


    Id expected to cover the retreat, and was fully prepared to take a few more parting blows from Azure to sell the theater.


    What I hadnt expected was the Regions reaction. Id assumed they would cower in their apartments, waiting for the incessantly repetitive emergency message to fade.


    I was wrong.


    It seemed that many had not taken the events of transposition lightly. Nearly dying due to their cowardice had not faded from their memories.


    Upon exiting the suite, we were greeted with the image of Azure in the midst of a throng of civilians, arms up defensively as they rained down blows on his head and body. Several mages stood on the outskirts with an assortment of glowing wands and staves, awkwardly holding their fire as the civilians shouted obscenities and beat the ever-living hell out of Azure with whatever blunt objects they could get their hands on. Few of them were Users, and fewer still had any realbat experience, so they were doing minimal damage. Still, it had to be umting


    <em>Thought you were going to stand outside my family''s door and look menacing."</em>


    <em>I tried! They came out of nowhere!</em> Azures mental voice sounded oddly affronted, as if he couldnt understand <em>why</em> an entire building had taken issue with him.


    Miles collection of DCPD officers in tactical gear started shouting for people to get down on the ground. Only a few headed the warning. Improvising, I reached out and stoked the anger of those still standing, subtly manipting them into blocking any potential shots from the assault rifles.


    One of the cops upfront grew antsy and broke what had to be at least a dozen department regtions, firing his automatic rifle into the ceiling, then screamed again for everyone to get down.


    This time everyone listened,ying down and revealing nothing.


    Everyone waited in tense silence, searching the cluster of civilians for Myrddins form. There was a distinct sound of a doortching shut cut through the quiet.


    One of the region mages, now prone, was pointing towards the stairway.


    Hes running! Miles took off, sprinting towards the emergency stairs.


    I chased after Miles, outpacing the small stampede of officers easily despite my injuries, throwing open the door to the emergency stairs and chasing after him as he glided down them. Either his Agility was significantly higher than mine, or his pre-system training and conditioning pushed him further.


    A few steps behind us, Sae vaulted over the railing, straight through the open space of the stairwell like a chitin rocket, plummeting all the way down until she hit the granite floor, stone fracturing beneath her like a spiderweb. You sold us out, motherfucker! The scream was filled with so much hatred that it sent a chill down my spine. She was clearly using this as an opportunity to work some shit out.


    Miles and I rounded thest flight of stairs just in time to see Sae hurl Azure through the open doorway.


    Azure bounced back quickly and fled into a mix of civilians, Adventurers Guild, andw enforcement. I amped up both the the mages and officers fear of firing in such a crowded area, but there was little I could do to quell the civilian''s rage.


    Sae stayed on Azure. I noticed that she wasnt using her ws much, and the heavy strikes that could have floored me were absent.


    Azure managed to duck under a wild punch. He grabbed a middle-aged woman and held his crossbow to her head. Everyone stopped.


    Slowly, Azure backed towards the door.


    I noticed a police rifleman standing on the reception desk, looking far toofortable with the weapon and situation to be an amateur.


    <em>Keep your head down.</em>


    Azure ducked his head behind the womans shoulder. His eyesgray now, though theyd been cycling through various colorsconveyed utter hate. Nice makeover. Should have killed you in the trial. Would have been a mercy, considering the end result.


    I winced, jockeying for position on the left. Theyd rehearsed this, but Sae still had to bear the emotional brunt of the words. Miles nked across from me, staggering his movements, so we didnt hit each other with any potential crossfire.


    Sae stalked towards him, advancing at the same rate he retreated, her movements smooth, chitin feet clicking on marble. Let her go.


    <em>I have minutes. Maybe less.</em> Azure warned.


    That would have to be enough. Across from me, Miles face was a mask of focus, bowstring pulled to his chin, looking for a shot. Azure angled the woman towards him slightly.


    You deserve whatsing. You and the rest of these useless fucks. Azure sneered at me. I frowned. He was missing the mark somewhat,ing off as a little too viinous. Still, the crowd murmured angrily, pushing in tighter. He extended the crossbow out towards them. Stay back.


    <strong></strong> washed over my bow. I breathed out. And loosed.


    The arrow lodged itself in Azures crossbow, knocking it to the floor. It ttered to the ground. Azure kicked the woman squarely in the back. Audreys vines threw open the door behind him and yanked him through.


    There was a wave of thundering gunfire outside. Everyone inside hit the deck. I waited, my heart racing in my chest.


    In pursuit. Suspect is fleeing east across the rooftops. The message was sted over several radios.


    A slow cheer went up among the civilians, growing to a thunder. I nced over at them, surprised. Id thought theyd be disappointed, maybe even angry. Slowly, the reality dawned. They didnt care about killing the Ordinator. These people had been through hell ande up wanting. And ever since, theyd been seeking an opportunity to prove themselves. Together, theyd driven off a threat and protected me. Just like Id protected them.


    Thank you, I said, projecting the words so they carried.


    Another round of cheers went up. I wobbled on my feet and shook more hands than I could count, blindsided by this oue. Id expected this to lose me credibility, not earn it.


    <em>This region is a means to an end. Look at them. Thest gasp of the wealthy elite. Before you saved their lives, none of these people would have so much as spit on you if you were on fire. They are tools, nothing more.</em><strong></strong> hissed in my mind.


    I struggled against that sentiment. It aligned closely with simr thoughts that had crossed my mind. But that was before all this. Even if my title was right about who they were, they deserved some degree of loyalty for who they chose to be.


    Even if none of this was real.


    Sae shifted in the center of the lobby awkwardly. There was an unnatural space around her, and while no one was openly staring, they were pointedly avoiding looking at her or growing too close. I hugged her, careful of the arrow in my ribcage. Im d youre alive.


    Getting a weird sense of deja vu. Sae snorted.


    After we parted, the spell of istion was broken. People approached Sae and thanked her for her help. Asked her questions about Myrddin, her history. I half-listened as she navigated the story wed agreed on, my attention divided. Because across the foyer, half-shrouded in shadow, Miles watched.


    His gaze wasnt hostile, exactly. More like he was looking at a puzzle with a missing piece, trying to imagine how it all fit together. He gave me a half-hearted smile that didnt reach his eyes.


    All at once, the adrenaline faded, the pain from my wounds grew overwhelming. Dr. Answari arrived on site, and I stumbled over to one of the plush white cushion chairs and sat down as she pushed through the crowd and began to open her bag, lips pursed in irritation.


    I am sensing this is going to be a recurring theme, Mr. Matthias.


    Youre probably right.


    The words from Ellisons message echoed in my mind.


    <em>Everything hinges on Iris. Everything.</em>

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166


    <em>THRUM</em>


    Bright. Brighter than the birth of the universe.


    The crinkling fabric shredded through my ears like a sudden gale of wind. A metal saucer bearing, massive, far toorge to be the utensil it resembled, forced its way in my mouth, cracking against my teeth. An overwhelming taste of vani radiated through my tastebuds and sinuses, so strong and overwhelming I nearly vomited. The metal withdrew, banging against a mr hard enough that my root nerves screamed.


    I watched helplessly as a gigantic fist of flesh manipted the metal, driving it down into an endless sea of white that split easily as the saucer scooped out its insides.


    I


    I


    IIIII


    The clock on the TransAms console read 5:00am. Miles took another bite of ice-cream. It tasted like ash in his mouth. He held the pint up and rotated it, gazing at the green and bluebel. The brand name was Ben and Harrys, in the same cutesy, copyright-infringing font.


    To be fair, it wasnt the system knock-offs fault he couldnt taste it. It wasnt quite the same as the original, but from his previous visits to this particr 7-11, it was a damn good imitation. Right down to the vani extract and the shitty little ck bits that were supposed to look like ground up bean. As far as he was concerned, you had to take time to enjoy the simple things in life. The simple things kept you grounded. Reminded you that no matter how dark you delved, there was something waiting for you on the surface.


    Of course, that was easier if you could taste it.


    Miles scowled at the spoon, and proceeded to eat it anyway.


    Youre going to get diabetes before you hit forty. Hawkinsmented from the passenger seat. She had one knee against the console, an unopened pint of Rocky Road bnced on her knee. The green and red neon lights of the sign illuminated her haggard face, unkept hair, and sizable dark bags under her eyes, foundation and other makeup banished with the cosmetic equivalent of a brilopad. Hed never voice it, but Miles secretly preferred her this way. Not that the makeup was bad. Hawkins was an artist with it, and art should be appreciated. But hed seen her like this enough to know that something about her sleepless, messy presentation appealed to him.


    Assuming I live to forty. On that note, your hairs going to thin if you dont find a way to manage stress.


    Big talk, for a man whose forehead seems to be growing by the year.


    Miles toyed with his side swept hair, pushing it up and inspecting his hairline.


    So were dropping Matt. As a suspect. Hawkins asked.


    We are looking in other directions. Miles confirmed.


    Then youre cutting him loose from the Taskforce? Hawkins asked.


    No.


    So were not dropping him as a suspect. The pint of ice-cream nearly toppled, and Hawkins caught it with a fingertip before it could fall.


    Miles fought down an upsurge of annoyance. The problem with working with associates that knew you so well was precisely what it said on the tin. He wasnt sure what he thought. How he felt. About Myrddin, about Matt. About the unknown third party.


    His thoughts went to Waller, and his chest hurt. Still, taking emotion out of it, the mans death stuck out like a sore thumb. The garrote Miles gave him was an excellent tool for covertly taking down a threat, but Myrddin had every opportunity to kill Cook after he used it. Only, he hadnt. Considering how quickly things had devolved into chaos, the fact that the bodycount only epassed a single person was a miracle.


    And there was no such thing as miracles.


    There was little reason to kill Waller from a rational standpoint. If Myrddin was his own person, unaffiliated from Matt, killing Waller first made a small amount of sense. Hede up with the profile, which was insulting to Myrddin in too many ways to count. However, it required a degree of pettiness that Miles considered Myrddin to be above. If this was some sort of shadow-y to throw Miles off, killing Waller made no sense at all. If he was smart enough to pull that off, he was smart enough to know that killing the obvious antagonist in the room was stupid as hell.


    And Myrddin hadnt even killed Waller. The third party had.


    Neither possibility fit.


    This whole thing is a Gordian Knot we dont have time for. Miles dug his spoon into the ice cream, and when it slid off the frozen substance, set it aside. We have at least three operating necromancers that we know of. One of which is apparently well-organized with a solid operation, if Matt was telling the truth. Hundreds of Users migrating to region five like its some sort of Ma, more concerning that the region is actively encouraging it, and whatever the hell is happening in region thirteen.


    Roderick, still livingrge in region two, Hawkins added grimly. And the cops will never admit it, but theyre still struggling to contain the gory, shambling mess that is


    Miles stiffened.


    Sorry. Hawkins sat back in her seat, cing a hand on her forehead. Its been a long night.


    Dont worry about it. Miles said quietly. <em>Just dont say it.</em>


    Okay, Im gonna say it. Hawkins mmed her hand down on the console. You know it region six wasnt your fault, right? By all ounts, it happened before you even meet Myrddin.


    Yeah.


    And Waller wasnt your fault, either.


    Maybe not directly, Miles said. His left knee began to bounce. But I was too slow tonight. It took longer than I expected to pull everyone together. I should have just gone with what I had, but I was sure there was more time.


    You think he knew it was a trap? Hawkins asked. Moved preemptively?


    Its Myrddin. Of course he did. Miles said grimly. And despite being fully aware of who I was dealing with, I underestimated him.


    Miles rolled down the window and threw his half-eaten pint in the adjacent garbage can next to the gas station doorway. A solid ten feet. Then he put the car in reverse and pulled out, turning on cruise control as soon as he hit the thoroughfare.


    Where are we going? Hawkins asked ndly, as if she didnt care to hear the answer.


    Dropping you off. I think, after all the sideways talk from the Merchants Initiative, you could use some rest. Thanks for taking the lead with them.


    Not a problem. I mean, we confirmed Kinsley was there most of the night. That theyd scheduled the meeting days ago. Thats not nothing.


    It wasnt nothing. But it was close.


    Miles felt Hawkins eyes on him. You did the thing.


    What thing? Miles watched the road, stepping on the breaks just as a group of Users in robes with torches j-walked across the highway, chanting something vaguely cultish sounding


    Where you railroad the conversation in another direction and dont answer my question. About leaving the kid in the Taskforce.


    Hes well connected, and hes the Adventurers Guilds golden boy. He also has some sort of connection with Myrddin we dont fully understand. Miles turned the wheel fully to the right, driving around the trailing crowd of torch-bearers. One of them flipped him off. Another grabbed his junk. We cut him out, its possible he never talks to us again. And considering how thoroughly Waller scrambled his eggs, Im not sure we could me him.


    The legendary user core. Hawkins mused.


    May be a misdirect. Might not be. But Myrddin doesnt run his mouth unnecessarily. Shot in the dark, but Im starting to get the feeling that payback doesnt really motivate him. Not the type. If they have something he wants, though? Hes going to keeping.


    We sure the Adventurers Guild has the apartment locked down? Hawkins looked worried.


    Yeah. Tyler was pissed. Hes not taking any chances. And the little girl came storming in with more contractors than I saw over three years in Afghanistan.


    Hawkins snorted. There were <em>a lot.</em>


    Hes safe. As far as the Ordinator is concerned, we stick to homicide rules.


    A lot of interviews, a lot of sittting on our hands and wait for Myrddin to make a mistake. Hawkins filled in. Even if were dropping him as a suspect


    Which we are


    I get the feeling <em>you</em> arent. Hawkins held her silence after that, letting the words sink in.


    Ten minutester, Miles pulled in to a small suburban house on the outskirts of the city. If you walked fifty feet further down this road, you could reach out and touch the dome. Theyd done that together, at the beginning of all this.


    Hawkins got out, then bent down and knocked on the window. Miles rolled it down.


    She smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Wantpany?


    Miles grinned. Pretty sure that twenty-four hour chapel in downtown is still open. Want to be my fourth wife?


    Hawkins sighed. If you drive around brooding until the sunes up, youll hate yourself for it.


    Okay mom.


    Im getting mixed signals. Do you want me to be your mom or your wife?


    Miles made a finger-gun and pointed it at her. Yes.


    Gross. Hawkins rolled her eyes and turned, waving behind her. See you in the AM.


    Once Hawkins was safely inside, Miles pulled out. He drove almost automatically, until he reached the tall blue tarps that lined the outskirts of region six. Several people in white hazmat suits had removed their helmets and were smoking at a nearby pic table. A man in a reflective vest next to a concrete barricade waved a shlight, indicating for him to go around.


    He followed the direction, the numbness returning, as he caught glimpses of the flesh covered buildings behind the barricade.


    The core of anger hed suppressed so well began to bubble in his gut. Wallers face shed in his mind. Followed by Myrddins shifting, ever-changing visage. For some reason, the scene of the interrogation, where Myrddin had pretended to waterboard the goon in the necromancers operation shed in his mind.


    It was so easy for things to turn nasty when the stakes were high. If Myrddin had actually intended to waterboard the man with gasoline, Miles might have let him. Instead, hed been impressed with the mans restraint. The reliance on trickery, rather than brute forcing a situation that could have turned ugly all-too-quickly.


    Hed been impressed. With Myrddins <em>restraint</em>.


    Miles stepped on the gas, blowing through a stop sign. The white arches of the Mcdermott bridge came into view, peeking over the near abandoned highway.


    The engine roared as Miles barreled towards the bridge, barely arriving stopping on the median that marked the domes edge where he stumbled out and onto the sidewalk, gripping waist high wall tightly, gazing down into the dark water below as a tingling anxiety ran rampant down his neck, his spine, pressure building until it felt as if his head might explode.


    He breathed in and out, waiting for the panic attack to pass.


    Whoever you are, Miles whispered raggedly, searching for his elusive reflection in the water, seeing nothing but darkness. Ill find you.

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167


    I soared through the sky. Even after ten minutes, the feeling of weightlessness was jarring and alien. In normal circumstances, whatever passed for normal these days, I would have enjoyed this. I was gliding hundreds of feet in the air, getting the sort of million dor view only essible from a helicopter.


    Problem was, Id over-tapped myselfst night. Using my vocation ability to spy on Miles was a risk, but the result had paid off in spades. The peace of mind that came with knowing my gambit had mostly seeded was worth any short-term difort I could think of. If Id just limited my nights activities to that, Id probably be fine.


    But, Id overextended. Sent Azure out to shore up loose ends.


    The problem was Sae. Id made a mistake, introducing her to my family early. Put her emotional well-being ahead of the all-important rule ofpartmentalization. I didnt like the idea of screwing with the minds of people close to me. But I wasnt willing to wager that Ellison was bullshitting me about Iris life, hanging in the bnce. And if I was taking that on principal?


    The rules could go fuck themselves.


    I sent Azure out to modify memories, and ignored his warning that itd be difficult. Hed need to make multiple trips and draw heavily from my mana to carry it out. If we didnt live in the same building, it wouldnt be possible. The rules for my summons were frustratingly inconsistent. Talia was self-sustaining and could trawl the entire city without me. Azure needed me close by.


    It was the only point of weakness left. Thest avenue Miles could use to get at me. If he confirmed that Sae was in the building prior tost night? Hed have me.


    ording to Azure, it was easy enough to edit both my mothers and Estradas memories. They both had only met Sae a handful of times. I had to thank my friends shut-in tendencies for that. From their perspective, she simply hadnt been there, and any memory of conversation they had with her in it was edited out cleanly, while leaving core scene intact, not unlike editing a character out of a TV show.


    Steinbeck was significantly harder. Sae had made more of an impact on him, as hed met her in stressful circumstances, and apanied us as we smuggled her into the apartment through Kinsleys door. Azure spent most of the evening editing Sae out of the broadcast memory and giving him a false memory of the previous evening.


    Iris, unfortunately, simply wasnt possible.


    On top of the work shed put in to the faux armor that made Sae appear more human, shed kept Saepany far more often than Id realized. Azure told me she cared for Sae deeply, and excising something so meaningful out of my sisters memories could cause mental scarring at best, irreparable damage at worst.


    When Azure proceeded to use that exnation to tell me more about what the people in my life were thinking, I stopped him.


    What Id done was already a gross invasion of privacy. There wasnt any need to delve deeper.


    My sister might be the one person I fully trusted to keep a secret. And given what had just happened, I didnt think Miles would seek her out any time soon.


    All that to say, I was trying to enjoy the flying. Be in the moment. But the biblical headache, and the way the sun seemed to creep through my eyes and punch every neuron was seriously cutting into the enjoyment factor.


    Someone <em>bumped </em> me. I screamed, and any remaining effort to hold onto my lunch was violently ejected onto the ground below.


    <em>Hope that doesnt hit someone.</em>


    Daron was interesting, for a region leader. The man was wearing a cheap purple vest pushed out so far out from his expansive stomach, that in side-profile it nearly formed a cock-eyed J. A pair of white, clearly-DIY angel wings ruffled on his back. He flew alongside me, smiling apologetically. Are you enjoying your tour, Mr. Matthias? His Southern European ent was thick, and with the wind, his words were barely audible.


    Yes. I wiped my chin.


    Yes he says. Daron bellyughed and rotated onto his back, making a show of an unnecessarily mboyant backstroke. Yes. The air is so clear up here, so clean! How could one not enjoy these beautiful skies?


    <em>Salesman, before. Or a magician? No. Definitely a salesman.</em>


    There were a few other people on the tour. All VIPs. But they were some distance behind us. Daron hadtched onto me, for obvious reasons. And now my head was spinning, my only point of reference an over-indulgent, dor-store angel.


    The others caught up with us. I took some smallfort in the fact that they all looked simrly queasy.


    My stomach turned upside down as I was ovee with the juddering feeling of losing altitude. I looked at Daron in rm, while one of the other two loudly lost their lunch.


    Darons eyebrows shot up dramatically. Come my friends, our time is short.


    Oh my god, were falling. The man clung to the woman, his face white and grim. The woman panicked and shoved him off.


    Were not falling. Were making our glorious descent with valorous rapidity! Daron eximed.


    That sounds like falling with too many adjectives. I said, having lost any semnce of filter the third time Id vomited. Now that we were descending steadily, it felt less like we were plummeting, more like the world itself was rocketing towards us. The pointed tower of a skyscraper passed like a thrusting spear.


    Daron pulled the tail end of a rope with knotted increments from his inventory. Take hold! I shall guide us to the celestial ne.


    <em>Shall?</em>


    I wished I knew Daron was off his gourd <em>before</em> Id let him levitate me hundreds of feet in the air. Lacking any better option, I grabbed the knotted portion of the rope. The man and woman grasped the sections behind me. I closed my eyes, only peeking intermittitently to confirm that we were indeed heading towards Region 7, and not some secondary location.


    The man behind me was still shrieking, the sounds he made elevated from terror into something that resembled disturbingly carnal bliss.


    When Daron announced we were making a final descent, I forced my eyes open. And immediately wished I hadnt. The rock covered ground of a rooftop was rushing towards us at a velocity that couldnt have been anything other than terminal.


    For a moment, my thoughts, my fears, everything blinked out. Just as it had the moment the meteor hit.


    Then Daron did something. He angled his body t, and a pulse radiated from the charm around his neck.


    We crashed into a cushion of air. There had to be some magic fuckery involved, because no matter how soft thending, that sudden suspension of movement should have been enough to shred our organs.


    The cushion remained until all three of us crawled off, then the faint translucent shimmer dissipated. I released the rope, my legs pure rubber as Daron led us towards the door. The others still clung to it tightly, and I couldnt me them.


    Apparently ustomed to this, Daron smiled reassuringly. Come, friends. Come,e. Your ce of respite is nigh.


    This was Region 7s im to fame. The flight charm. It was more limited than Id hoped, but it still had an insane number of applications and utility.


    I doubled over, heaving buting up dry. Needed to catch my breath. Recenter.


    Daron ushered the other two in. I didnt miss the way his hand lingered on the womans waist, or the way he positioned himself so she had to brush against him as she passed. Two attendants inside the doorboth wearing vests, both donning the terrible DIY angel wingsled them down one at a time.


    The actions matched his reputation. Now that I thought about it, his refusal to talk to Kinsley directly might be an act of providence.


    For him, anyway.


    It takes some time for the charm to recharge. Daron said absentmindedly. It almost didnt sound like a warning. Almost.


    You didnt teach us how tond, either. I frowned. Its insane that no ones died.


    No ones died, no ones stolen a charm. Thats winning, as far as Im concerned. He gave me a wide-smile that amped up my nausea.


    Good for you.


    What?


    I forced myself to stand upright. Thats good to hear.


    Indeed. I look forward to talking business.


    Soon as my head stops spinning.


    This way my friend, this way. He ushered me in. There was no attendant for me, just Daron himself. We descended a flight of stairs and exited out into something that resembled a spa. Women in string bikinis with dead eyes were giving the previously screeching man a massage. Adonis-like men d in white towels wrapped around their waiststowels far closer to hand than bath, in terms of dimensionattended the woman.


    Both of my fellow tourists looked profoundly ufortable.


    What is this? Exactly? I had to ask.


    The celestial ne, of course. Where all angels must rest before they take to the skies once more.


    I paused. Theres not actually a second round, is there?


    Its a metaphor.


    Right.


    This branding <em>really</em> needed some work.


    Daron exploded in a bellyugh that startled everyone in the room, including the strippersmasseuses. Whatever. He walked backward, extending his palms t up to either side of the room. Now, my young friend, pick your paradise.


    I shook my head. Thanks. But Id rather get to the point.


    He stuck a finger at me. All business. I like that, I respect that.


    He held open the door for me and I followed him down the stairway. There wasnt anything to mark the floors, but Id been keeping count.


    Three floors down, I staggered, cing my hand against the door.


    <em>Stick your chin out more and drop your jaw. Like youve got marbles in your mouth, but not too many.</em> Azure said.


    <em>Clears. And stop giving me notes, dammit.</em> I growled back. Aloud, I called after Daron. Actually, Im not feeling so well. Mind if I just sit on the stairs for a minute?


    Of course. Daron smiled. But Id never force such an esteemed guest to rest in such an environment. Through the door with you young sir, through the door.


    I followed his direction and entered a floor that looked very much like a corporate office had disemboweled a Precious Moments Etsy shop. Angel wings, angel memorabilia, and motherfucking porcin angel figurines lined the walls and disy shelves. Small cubicles took up the center floor, where people in business casualmostly men, were seated at desks, talking directly into them.


    Despite the plethora of conversation, no one was actually talking to each other. I slowly realized they were all on voice calls.


    I see you resurrected the call-center.


    Daron pointed me to a plush couch near the stairway door. Why reinvent, when you can reinvigorate?


    I followed his instruction and sat down, still scanning the faces.


    Eventually I found what I was looking for.


    Id missed him because he was hunched over the sink, filling up a neoprene water-bottle. Buzzcut turned away from me, his expression bored, neutral. Someone raised a fist towards him as he passed and he bumped it, shooting the man a smile that looked anything but natural on his face.


    The flight-charm was mostly cover. This was the real reason Ide.


    Now the question was, what was Buzzcut doing here?

 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168


    As if something whispered in the back of his mind, Buzzcut suddenly whipped around. He scanned the room, pausing on me.


    I held my breath.


    Buzzcuts eyes finally slid off me. He pumped sanitizer into his palm from a bottle on his desk and proceeded to wash his hands intently, working the sanitizer in with practiced ease, paying extra attention to the backs of his hands, going all the way up to his wrists and arms.


    Id found a new functionality, experimenting with the <strong></strong> this morning. It wasnt an upgrade exactlyand on the constetion of settings, it was nestled far on the left side. It strengthened the anonymity and memory effect for a single target. Everyone elseSae, for this mornings experimentwould see me without the mask, while the target would see a person of little importance, who theyd immediately forget after the fact.


    Buzzcut was already dialing. Or voice calling, whatever. He looked bored, eyes continually tracking to the bottle on his desk. As he continued whatever rote conversation he was having, he stood and pumped an entire glop of sanitizer into his palm, going through the washing process once more.


    <em>He forgot he washed them already. Weird fixation on hygiene.</em>


    A few feet away, I saw a faint blue shimmer as Azure navigated the shadows, swimming in the dark ces beneath desks and dark lines cast by the wide window divider at the far side of the room.


    While Azure did his thing, I made a show of looking nauseous and multitasked. Several quests came in shortly after the showdown at the apartment.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest Name: Spotlight</strong>


    <strong>Quest Chain Description: Rescue your lostpanion</strong>


    <strong>Current Primary Objective  Assassinate Cameron and gain entry into the enigmatic organization.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Find an alternative method to gain entry.</strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (L)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (L)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Week.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest Name: Blue Skies</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Secure a flight charm through legitimate means</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Open negotiations with Region 7 to obtain arge number of charms for your associated guilds.</strong>


    <strong>Personal Objective  Remain unidentified by other Users. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: (S)</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (S)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: N/A</strong>


    <strong>Reward: A Flight Charm</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    Kinsley assigned the second quest, when I told her I needed an excuse toe here for recon. Figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone.


    The first quest was system assigned, and the timing Id received it in was interesting. It came in this morninglong after the conversation with Gray-hairwhile I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes and utterly at the mercy of the migraine.


    It was like the system didnt see the point of assigning me a long-term quest despite the obvious hook until Id dealt with Miles. Further evidence that Miles was a threat I needed to take seriously, even if he was putting Myrddin on the back burner for now.


    More interestingly, it pointed out a potential w. The system hadnt bothered to assign anyone a quest during the Transposition event. For the most part, the quest system had entirely disappeared. Id taken that as nothing more than part of the invisible, unknowable rule set navigating our own personal ship to hell, but given the timing of the situation with Miles and thete assignment, maybe it wasnt that simple.


    If it was a question of efficiency? If the system didnt bother assigning quests to someone who was likely to die in the short term to skimp on processing, or something along those lines?


    That was hugely exploitable as an early warning.


    Of course, there were holes. Counter-arguments. <strong></strong> Chief among them. My mind drifted to that afternoon in the tunnel, and my mouth turned downward. The system had doled out that quest to help Jinny moments before she died. And Buzzcut had been there, standing among them, as Jinny bled out into the gravel.


    Azure slipped back into my shadow.


    <em>I know where the suits are.</em> he whispered excitedly.


    <em>Where?</em> I asked, genuinely surprised, as I hadnt expected to get much from him. We shared the same weakness. Given enough time, ess, and information, Azure was a force to be reckoned with. Short-term improvisation was where hecked.


    <em>Underground! </em> Azure eximed.


    I groaned inwardly.


    Azure hurriedly continued. <em>Before you totally disregard that, I saw glimpses of theirplex. Its a big operation. Big enough that its not something they could have manifested themselves in months, let alone weeks. </em>


    Huh. <em>So its arge underground space that existed before the system. Maybe we can narrow it down. Anything else?</em>


    <em>Camerons anxious about going down there. Partly because hes stressing over not getting enough sunlight, partly because hes losing faith in Aaron. Couldnt suss out why, but things are strained.</em>


    My eyebrow shot up. That was as close as Ide to definitive confirmation that Aaron was with the suits.


    <em>And I havent even told you the best part. The reason Camerons worried he backed the wrong horse. Aaron almost died in the transposition. That wasnt cover, that was real. Hes a civilian. They had operatives in route to deliver the necessary lux to Region 14 who suddenly went missing, along with the lux. It was a coup attempt. Now Aarons too exposed and people are questioning his authority. Its only a matter of time before Sunny takes over.</em>


    The way Azure emphasized Sunny could only mean one thing. Still, I was dumbfounded. <em>Grays real name is Sunny?</em>


    <em>Sunny Grounds.</em> Azure cackled in my mind.


    <em>Bullshit.</em>


    <em>I know. But it seems too obvious to be a pseudonym.</em>


    <em>Hes got to be a meteorologist.</em> With a name that unique it wouldnt be difficult to track him down if he had any significant online presence at all. The library was working on getting an archived version of Wikipedia up on the publicputers. Once it was up, Id have a wealth of information about my would-be employer.


    /////


    I chanced sending Azure out one more time before I was forced to pack it in. He didnt get much more information from Buzzcuts mind about the suits, but he got plenty about Daron and the situation in Region 7. A little too much.


    Having gotten wind of our intentions from Kinsley, Tyler had asked me to handle this with care. The Adventurers Guild Leader was as interested in getting our collective hands on the flight charm as anyone. But ording to him, Daron spooked easily. This was the first time the man had been willing to sit down and talk to anyone from either guild.


    But after what Azure told me, the situation had changed.


    Darons office was on the bottom floor. It was, perhaps, the one ce in the building that wasnt decked out in angel theme. If anything, it looked like an artifact from the early nies. A yellowed pinup poster of a woman clutching her throat who was, apparently, very cold, overlooked an oversized mahogany desk. The desk was executive style and massive. I had no idea how theyd managed to get it through the door.


    Through the blinds, a long line of people waited in line outside the front door, while others filled out paperwork at the desks.


    Daron closed the door behind him. He absentmindedly reached up and grabbed a string, sliding the blinds closed as he navigated to the other side of the desk and sat down, motioning for me to sit across from him.


    I eased into one of the chairs, my injuries from the previous night still giving me no small difort.


    Daron steepled his fingers and smirked at me. Im not giving you our charms.


    That was about what Id expected. Though I hadnt considered the possibility hed juste out and say it.


    It begged an obvious question.


    So why the hell are you wasting my time? I asked, dropping the faux friendliness from my voice.


    Daron smiled wider. You misunderstand me. I have no interest in selling them on the open market. Their value is in their exclusivity. As a region, we dont have much to set us apart and draw in new residents. A few dungeons, and a handful of mid-size organizations, but nothingpared to the Adventurers or Merchants guild. As a courtesy, however, one region leader to another, I might be willing to extend you the opportunity to buy one.


    It took an exorbitant amount of self-control not to facepalm. I hated people like this. People whod skimmed through Art of the Deal, or Way of the Werewolf, Or How to Win Friends and Influence People, and subsequently acted like theyd uncovered the keys to the universe.


    And where, exactly, is this sudden outpouring of generositying from? I asked dryly.


    Daron forced himself to hold eye-contact, though from the blinking he was having trouble. Im always looking to make friends. Specifically, friends in high ces. With a flourish, he withdrew a magical contract, ced it down on his desk, and slid it over, rotating the document, so it faced me.


    I scanned it briefly, snorting when I came to the figure. 75,000 Selve. Quite the sticker shock for a mobility power with such limited utility, considering the short duration and cooldown. It could get you across the city in a fraction of the time, but youd be walking back.


    Talia must have sensed my mood. <em>Control your temper. As much as I dislike this creature, Tyler wanted us to be diplomatic. And well have a charm for Kinsley to study. Just ept his offer and renegotiate in the future.</em>


    Despite what Azure told me, I almost considered it. ying nice for the moment and finding a solution for the Region 7 problemter. But with the way my responsibilities kept stacking up, I couldnt shake the feeling that if I didnt deal with this now, Id never deal with it at all.


    It was Daron himself who gave me the final push.


    He leaned over the desk, conspiratorially. Forgive the intrusion, but I consider myself an observant man.


    Im sure you do.


    Sex sells. This is the way of things. He tapped a finger on the table, studying me. Yet I couldnt help but notice how little interest you showed in the attendants upstairs. All those celestial bodies on disy, and you gave them little more than a nce.


    I smiled thinly. Never had much interest in strip-clubs. Or strip-clubs disguised as massage parlors, for that matter.


    Daron waggled his eyebrows. There are many benefits to being my friend, Matthias.


    Youre not really my type, Daron. I emphasized his name the same way hed emphasized mine.


    His smile dampened. Still, he tried. This is a new world. If youre looking for something more, the fantasy of flight is not the only fantasy I offer.


    <em>Matt.</em> Talia warned.


    I busied myself with the contract, folding one corner perpendicr to the page. Then another corner. Once Id fully repurposed the contract as a paper ne, I gave it a gentle toss.


    Daron finally broke eye-contact, smile dissolving into a scowl as he watched the ne strike the wall behind his calendar and spiral to the floor.


    I waited until I had his attention once more. Lets try again. And maybe, just maybe, we can find a way this doesnt end badly for you.

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169


    I didnt have the time or the patience to y this nice. In seconds, I was out of my chair and on his side of the room. He flinched, as if I was about to strike him. Instead, I pushed a number of papers and trinkets out of the way and took a seat on the desk, nting one foot on the seat of his chair.


    Needed to reset the stakes. Make him think this wasnt really about the charms.


    You know, I spoke idly, I tend toe off as an asshole. Or so Ive been told. As such, Ive been making a not-insignificant effort to turn over a new leaf. Sort of an evergreen new-years resolution to be nicer. If that makes any sense.


    Uh Daron started.


    But I find myself constantly ced in situations where being nice just doesnt cut it. I ran a hand through my hair. Which makes thatmitmentplicated in situations like this.


    Ive been nothing but hospitable. Daron blustered.


    With that? I pointed to the contract-turned-paper ne. That was an insult at best.


    How?


    Because youve been selling flight charms outside your district to the highest bidder. I red down at him furiously. That affects the market, Daron. Even if you refuse to take part in it. Hell, especially if you refuse to take part in it.


    A bead of perspiration dripped down Darons forehead, as he squinted, deep in thought. Your vehicle sales


    Not just any vehicles. I glowered. The moneymakers. The not-Audis, the not-Lambos, the not-motherfucking-Ferraris. Nobody wants to impulse buy a luxury car when their bougie-ass friends are <em>flying.</em>


    Daron grew quiet, focused. His eyes flicked to the side, probably trying to pull his social UI and message for help.


    I snapped my fingers in front of his face. Hey. In case you didnt notice? I left a small army of mercenaries outside. Currently, this is a negotiation. You call your guys, and this esctes? It stops being a negotiation. Turns into something a lot less pleasant. That what you want?


    I could almost see him carefully closing the screen and turning back to me. Sorry. Im I apologize. We had no intention of stepping on the Merchant Guilds toes.


    Apologies are cheap. Reparations arent.


    Darons mouth firmed. Regardless of what you threaten me with, I cannot sell the flight charm on the open market. That is non-negotiable.


    He stared at me, unflinching, long enough for me to realize he was resolute. Which was fine. Daron was right that the exclusivity of the charm was where it drew most of its value. If he let Kinsley sell it, everyone who could afford the charm would buy itat first. Then the downsides and limitation would trickle into the market discourse, and it would slowly fall out of interest.


    I crossed my arms. Then were at an impasse. Only, the ce youre in looks a lot more tenuous than where Im standing.


    Daron chuckled nervously. Were both region leaders. In terms of power and authority, we are the same.


    Its like everyones already forgotten the transposition. I said. Eight and Nine are average regions at best. Not particrly wealthy. Im guessing in your rush to lock down Powerful Friends you havent given them the time of day, despite the fact that theyre your bordering neighbors. And of course, theres region six at your back. A convenient chasm for anyrge-scale attack to push you into. If the next event is even remotely simr, how do you think its going to y out?


    Darons mouth worked in a silent stammer, before he finally found a voice. Perhaps, theres an alternate course.


    Im listening.


    As I said, its not feasible for me to sell the charms on the market. But what if we were to sell a predetermined number of flight charms to both your affiliated guilds, in return for an assurance of support during the next event. Provided, of course, at a significant discount


    I shook my head and stuck my thumb up, slightly.


    Daron frowned. A small discount


    I repeated the motion.


    At a slight up-charge? Daron asked, cautiously hopeful.


    I nodded slowly. That would be a step in the right direction.


    As much as I didnt like Daron, screwing an entire region out of profit from their only export was unnecessary.


    Darons wide smile started to resurface. I produced a second magical contract, tailored to the terms we discussed, then pushed it over to him. After scanning the terms and finding that everything was as wed discussed, Daron signed it on behalf of Region 7. Once hed signed, the rotund man was uncharacteristically quiet.


    Something wrong? I asked.


    You never wanted to sell the charms on the open market, did you? Daron asked, disquiet in his voice as the realization dawned on him.


    I scooped the contract out from in front of him, signing the corresponding field. Does it matter? Were both getting plenty out of this deal as it is.


    I guess not. Daron shrugged, shooting me one more suspicious nce before he finally rxed in his chair.


    This was partially why Id encouraged him to increase his bulk price. He wasnt the brightest bulb in the hardware store, but he wasnt stupid. Even if he realized Id effectively forced the negotiation towards the oue Id intended from the beginning, hed have thefort of the money to fall back on.


    Now. About the clip-on angels upstairs.


    /////


    A long line of cars was deadlocked down the street. The waiting motorcade blocked a singlene of traffic, but it seemed as if rubbernecking was the one thing that hadnt changed much. Someone honked and waved at me. I awkwardly waved back, feeling oddly exposed at the attention.


    One of the waiting mercenaries popped the door open for me.


    Productive meeting, sir? Ire asked. The several mercenaries Kinsley assigned me all went by callsigns. He had a head and a half on me and was all muscle and tough, sunbaked skin. Overall, the man looked hard as nails, save for the pink chewing gum bubble he incessantly inted. It never seemed to popthe bubble. Just slowly deted and receded into his goateed mouth.


    Just Matt, please.


    You got it, Just Matt. Ire grinned.


    I settled in the back seat, feeling entirely out of my element, as Ire popped the door and leapt into the passenger side.


    Being chauffeured around felt strange and unnecessary. Even if it was for my protection.


    Where to? My driver asked. He was a humorless looking man, who looked like hed have difficulty eating, considering the mustache.


    With a minor adjustment, I looped my seatbelt over my shoulder andid down. Dunno. Need to report to the adventurers guild in thete afternoon. Other than that, we have time to kill. You guys gotta be hungry by now, right?


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the men exchange a nce in the front seat.


    Weve got calories to spare. Gritthe driversaid. Ire harrumphed and gave him a long-suffering stare. Grit ignored him. Miss Kinsley was explicit that you were to get as much quality rest as possible.


    You call her Miss Kinsley?


    Never to her face. Ire snorted.


    The irreverence didnt fool me. Kinsley had to be paying a fuckton for this level of loyalty from guys this seasoned.


    Im resting. Imfortable. I stered over my eyes, blocking out any extraneous light, and indicated towards myself with the other hand.


    Dont look veryfortable. Grit observed.


    I shifted in my seat, annoyed at the persistent twinging pain in my ribs. I got shotst night. As far asfort goes, this is as good as it gets. Seriously, I spent enough time in the apartment while I was wheelchair bound. If you want to stop somewhere, just stop somewhere.


    Pete. Ire said.


    No. Grit replied.


    Dude.


    No.


    Its literally ten minutes from here.


    In potentially hostile territory.


    Someone want to fill me in? I finally said, if only to stop the back-and-forth. They werent doing a good job keeping their voices low.


    Grits a grumpy asshole. Ire said.


    Cautious asshole<em>asshole</em>.


    I knew that already. I said. Grit took a corner at an angle that was probably sharper than necessary, and I grimaced as my head bumped into the side panel. And generally, I prefer caution to the alternative. But what are we talking about?


    Someone sighed. Most likely Grit.


    Smokey Jons. First barbecue ce to reopen in downtown. With the most glistening, sulent, hard-on inducing ribs you ever did see. System meats all the same, but the ze and cooking process? Thats where the magic happens. Ire told me.


    Grit spoke up. What Ires leaving out, is that its in region five. Filled to the brim with countless suspicious motherfuckers that wont stop talking about their fucking tower. Bad ce to bring a VIP.


    I considered it. Ribs really that good?


    On my life. Ire promised.


    I weighed the potential risk. I dont think theyll try anything. Theyre going for a tourist vibe. So long as we stay clear of the dungeon, we should be safe. And Ive wanted to get some reconnaissance in for a while anyway. Get a feel for the ce.


    Nothing good. Thats the feel. All kinds of wrong. Grit insisted.


    You heard the man. Ire grinned.


    Grit came to a stop and pulled a U-turn.


    Wake me when we get there. I pulled the neck of my hoodie over my face.


    Roger.


    I felt the tendrils of sleep slowly begin to encroach.


    There was a chime in my ear. Tylers name and image appeared on my interface, indicating a voice call.


    This is Matt. I said, not trying to hide the irritation in my voice. Someone chuckled up front.


    Matt. Tyler said tly, in a voice that didnt sound pleased. I understand you just met with Daron?


    Yes. Weve got the flight charms. Its all copacetic.


    It was supposed to be initial talks. Kinsley said she was mostly sending you for recreation. Tyler said. Again, I didnt understand why he sounded so irritated.


    There was an opportunity and I took it. Whats the problem?


    I just got off a call with Daron. The man was weeping. He said you strong-armed him. If he reports this to the region council, theres going to be an issue. There was a clear usation in Tylers voice. Couldnt afford to brush this off.


    Did he also tell you about the underage girls in swimsuits, acting as post-flight massage attendants? I shot back.


    There was a long pause. No, he did not.


    For what its worth, he imed he didnt know and promised to clean it up.


    You believe him? Tyler asked.


    I rolled my eyes and turned into the seat, shielding myself from the sun. Do I believe Daron didnt bother asking for ID, and hell probably zip up his image after this? Sure. He doesnt strike me as an always-does-his-homework type of guy. But Tyler


    Where theres smoke, theres fire. Tyler said. He still sounded angry, but not at me.


    Im not the morality police. Nor am I looking to fuck with anyones hustle. Just like before the dome, probably more now, theres plenty of desperate, of age people who need to make ends meet and arecking resources. They need to do that by turning to alternate means? Not my business. Or anyone elses


    They shouldnt have to. Tyler growled. We should all be helping each other.


    Maybe. But whens that ever actually happened?


    Tyler hesitated. Im tempted to cancel the contract altogether. Give him back his charms and wash our hands of it.


    We hit a bump, and I grunted. Your call. Want my opinion?


    Shoot.


    My brow furrowed. The question is management. Theres a world of difference between someone employing independent contractors and old-school pimping. If Darons just enabling and taking a nominal fee, or hell, even a house-cut, thats to be expected. But if its more predatoryif hes actively backing at-risk people into a corner and turning them out? Thats a whole other ball game.


    A female voice on the other side said something indecipherable, and I waited as Tyler uttered a hushed reply.


    After a moment, he spoke. Were going to have to look into this. No way around it. And its unfortunate that were already beholden to them.


    The seat my face was buried in smelled vaguely of smoke. Were covered. Daron was so rattled from the negotiation, he barely read over the contract. I snuck in a morality use.


    Thought you werent the morality police.


    Only when it suits me. In short, we can sever our connection with region seven at any time for conduct unbing.


    And keep the charms?


    We paid for them. Of course, itd be bad optics to renege on a technicality, unless theres a very public scandal, but that can always be arranged.


    Tyler sighed. Sometimes, Matt, our strategy discussions make me feel like Im talking to the devil.


    Tell me how you really feel.


    I was mainly calling to ask you to take it easy. It sounded like you were a little on edge. But giving the context, I cantin. Well done.


    Thats what youre paying me for.


    Tyler chuckled. I dont pay you.


    Damn.


    Look. In my opinion, you should be in bed recuperating. From what Miles said, even letting you outside is a risk right now. But since I know you wont listen do you want in on this? You brought it to my attention. I can set up a quest. Actually get you paid if you want to look into it yourself.


    I thought about it. The image of the dead-eyed sixteen-year-old up in the post-flight lounge, the way shed looked at me. The ever burgeoning list of responsibilities and time constraints I already had.


    No. I finally said. Call an audible if you need me. But theres too much on my te already.


    Understood. Have a few people in mind, good at what they do. Ill keep you in the loop.


    Thanks.


    There was a beep as Tyler ended the call. It felt as if Id barely closed my eyes before the SUV came to a stop.


    Wee to region five. Ire announced with glee, Home of the best damn barbecue this side of the yeehaw state.

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170


    I had to stop drawing attention to myself as Matt. People were already asking too many questions.


    Which was why, as I pushed myself out of the SUV and squinted through the tinted lenses of a pair of dusty Oakleys Ire offered me, Imitted myself to doing nothing but enjoying a heaping serving of barbecue.


    With that in mind, I swapped from <strong></strong> to <strong></strong> If time-used factored into integration, I wanted to avoid integrating the personality quirks that came with <strong></strong> until it was absolutely necessary.


    I reminded myself that this wasnt my region. Wasnt my problem. I was just here for the food.


    God <em>damn</em>. Ire mmed his door shut for emphasis. That smells good.


    Yes, this ce serves mana rained down from heaven, we get it. Grit sighed.


    To Ires credit, the sweet, slightly sour scent of barbecue was making my mouth water. I couldnt remember thest time I ate. If the milkshake from Miles counted, it was probably yesterday.


    Recalling how close everything that followed had been, my appetite wavered.


    Ire pped me on the back. Youre not going to regret this, trust me. The G36 rattled against his camo jacket as he walked towards a section of strip mall with red lettering overhead that read Smokey Jons, in a curvy font.


    Is he always like this? I asked Grit.


    Until shit gets real. Grit affirmed, scanning the parking lot. The shit-gets-real-parts worth tolerating the rest. Mostly.


    Ill take your word for it.


    Three people in business casual were strolling down the sidewalk and stopped to wave, all smiles. The one in front appeared to consider approaching us, but nced at Grit and thought better of it, continuing on his way.


    Weird. Grit said, giving voice to my thoughts.


    Very Truman Show. The whole region isnt like this, right?


    Just the ones we need to worry about. Grit said.


    Next to the barbecue ce, there was a closed-down dominoes and a defunct donut shop. My mind wandered back to my time at Dunkins and my old boss. I wondered how he was doing. Itd been weeks now, since everything went to hell. Was he still alive?


    Ire reached the door first, then turned around to call something back. The childlike excitement in his face died. He swung his rifle out and whistled, pointing two gloved fingers to our right.


    Grit was moving to intercept before I even turned my head to look. He pushed a kida boy with brown hair, barely older than Ellisonup against a minivan that looked like it hadnt moved in months.


    What the hell? I called over.


    Little bastard was beelining straight towards you. Grit responded, checking the kids inventory as he struggled.


    Hes just a kid I stopped myself. <em>Ellison</em> was just a kid. He was also dangerous as hell. Instead of immediately intervening, I took a moment to study the boy carefully. <strong></strong> didnt g him as a threat.


    Its okay. Seriously. Let him go.


    Grit released the boy. The boy scowled at the mercenary and approached me. His shirt was tattered, covered in dirt, and his jeans were lined with holes.


    <em>Self-made holes.</em>


    Sir, I dont know what to do. My moms sick, and we cant afford any medicine.


    Uhuh. I said.


    My dad went into the Gilded Tower a few days ago. The boy continued. Theres supposed to be a lot of treasure in there. Hed turned to point to a giant structure in the background. It looked more like the remnants of a castle tower than a dungeon, though I knew from experience the inside probably looked nothing like the exterior. But he hasnte out since. Im getting worried.


    <strong></strong>


    The boy took one look at my growing smirk, then turned and walked away.


    Thats it? Youre just giving up? I called after him.


    He thrust a middle finger up in the air.


    Come on, give me the pitch at least.


    Fuck you. He called over his shoulder.


    The approach had been terrible, but that might have been due to the interference. He was fast on the uptake. Realized the mark wasnt buying it and bailed out early before he got in too deep. While his dirty appearance was mostly self-inflicted, the loose-fit of the clothes and gauntness of his cheekbones werent.


    Are you hungry? I called after him.


    He turned and gave me a wary look. You a pedo?


    No.


    The kid pointed an usatory finger at Grit. Call of Duty cosy over there was feeling me up. He a pedo?


    I nced at Grit, amused at the way my bodyguards face was flushing red. Cant say, just met him this morning.


    No ones a fucking pedo. Grit red at the kid.


    Just doing his job, making sure youre not a threat. I stepped in front of Grit. The kid didnt look sure, and I couldnt me him. He was still green. The worst hed probably gotten was yelled at, maybe roughed up a little. Getting shoved up against a car and frisked had to be a reality check.


    What do you want, exactly? He called over, still a safe distance away.


    Look, theres no such thing as a free lunch. But plenty are cheap. I just want to hear about the grift. Its a public restaurant. You eat, you talk, you leave. Simple as that.


    Fine. The kid said, giving Grit a wary look. But I dont want him sitting next to me.


    Done.


    /////


    Ire hadnt oversold the joint.


    My middling hunger had skyrocketed the moment a rack was ced in front of me. Even the potato sd was phenomenal, and as a rule, potato sd was almost <em>always</em> trash.


    After I cleared my te, I let the kid continue to eat, teasing answers out of him piecemeal.


    From what Id gathered, it was safe to say it wasnt a weird mind control thing, or even cult-ish. The people of Region 7 were being directly incentivized by the region leader to bring Users to the dungeon, and they werepensated for every referral in selve, scaling depending on the Users level and whether they came with a group.


    Civilians were able to give out quests centered around the dungeon, much as the kid had tried to do to me. And despite the obvious initial suspicion, he insisted that there was a steady outflow of people.


    When I asked him how hed picked me out as a user, he imed everyone in Region 7 was capable of differentiating Users from civilians within a certain range.


    Once wed finished, the waitress brought the bill with a color printed pamphlet disying a picture of the tower, full of bold, italicized text.


    <em>Hone your adventuring prowess! </em>


    <em>Untold mystery and treasure within! </em>


    <em>Raise your level and acquire rare resources! </em>


    It raised more red gs than a bullfighting arena.


    I noted that the tower looked smaller in the picture, and the kid confirmed it. Originally, it had been around the size of a three-story building. Now it wasI didnt know. Triple, quadruple that size?


    Odd that no one noticed. Hell, Id been flying above the city and I hadnt noticed.


    Ire waited until we were in the car to speak. Well. We know theyre not feeding people to it.


    <em>Probably</em> Grit amended.


    Grits right. We dont really know that. Imented.


    Ire twisted back in his seat to look at me. How so?


    Assuming everything that kid said was true? The scaling rewards. Theyre incentivized to refer higher level Users.


    Ire considered that. Rack up plenty of sessful lower level visits as cover to create a consistent track record, a few high-level deaths would seem like a drop in the bucket.


    This is all conjecture. I said. But its possible.


    I needed to decide how to proceed with Buzzcut soon. Preferably tonight. But getting a handle on what was happening in the city was part of my duties as region leader. And it was only a matter of time before adventurers from Region 14 started heading to Region 7 for free dungeon ess.


    Decision made, I spoke. Mind if we swing by on the way back?


    Im game, Ire said.


    Grit groaned. Kinsley is not going to be happy.


    I snorted. Its just a drive by. And if she gives you too much shit, feel free to me me.


    Wed do that anyway, Ire said cheerfully.

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171


    Kinsley and I were going to need to have a conversation about making the orders she gave her men more flexible.


    Not far into region five, traffic backed up to an excessive degree, forcing us to go on foot. Emphasis on <em>us</em>. Ditching Grit and Ire was impossible. When theyd stubbornly refused to let me forge out on my own, Id convinced them that escorting me around region five in full paramilitary gear was asking for trouble, and theyd ditched the ker and helmets, left their rifles in the car in lieu of the handguns they open-carried on their hips.


    They still wore gray and white camo pants, but those blended well enough with the general popce. Ever since the transposition, there was a lot of McMilitary wear going around, even if the typical woondposite didnt do shit in an urban environment.


    I caught sight of them in a reflection of a rear view, doing a not-particrly subtle job of tailing me through the packed area.


    If youve ever been to Das, you know the citys aesthetic is fairly drab. A menagerie of whites, grays, dark greens, and chrome. Downtown was always the exception, specifically around Deep Ellum at night, where the grays and greens give way to a far wider selection of colorful buildings embellished with neon lights. Its not Vegas, but at the same time, its not Das either. But only at night.


    Region five, which now fully epassed that neighborhood, brought the colorful nature of the city into the light of day for the first time.


    There were banners and streamers everywhere, multi-colored confetti scattered across the ground. Gray, multiposite storefronts spray-painted in a coge of primary colors that grew more vivid the closer you got to the tower. Peopleaverage peoplecelebrated around grills, air filled with the scent of spiced meat. A bare-chested man in a chrome mask and oddly floral skirt handed me a flyer that read: Destiny.


    The Midsommar vibes were off the charts.


    If it wasnt for thebination of Born Nihilist and Jaded Eye, I might have fled. Nothing that looked this good ever was, and the celebratory feel in the face of the recent cataclysm set my teeth on edge.


    I climbed the stairs of an elevated walkway that crossed over the backed-up highway and paused at its center, studying the surroundings of the now in view tower for the first time.


    The massive construction was colossal, most of its surface covered in a shimmeringyer of gold so reflective it was difficult to look at. But I didnt care how the tower looked. I needed to see how it functioned in the region''s context.


    And what I saw raised more questions than answers.


    There was a long queue, hundreds of people long. Brass stanchions lined with velvet ropes were arranged in a square maze, trailing a meandering path towards the towers golden gates. There was a squad of Users at the towers entrance in heavy gear, covered in a plethora of silver particles and blue, barely visible force field bubbles. By far the most heavily armed and well-equipped security Id ever seen.


    Next to the main queue was a much shorter line. Unlike the bedraggled Users moving at a snails pace in the square maze, this line moved freely. Users dressed in vivid colors that Id identified as a hallmark of region five apparel were ushered quickly through the shortcut.


    I frowned. Nothing about it felt right, but I was starting to think this wasnt the simple, sinister honey trap Id assumed it to be.


    Something sharp and metal pressed gently against my throat. My eyes widened at the feeling of the dagger. The attack itself wasnt particrly surprising, but the absoluteck of warning was. Grit and Ire had taken up positions on either end of the walkway and hadnt messaged. Even <strong></strong> hadnt given me a heads up.


    I kept still, but didnt bother raising my hands. You got me. I said, monotone.


    Looks like the security team could use some work, Miles said.


    I turned to face him, letting the de slide harmlessly across my neck. There a point to this?


    Miles bounced the tip of his dagger off my shoulder before he sheathed it in a smooth motion. If I get to you this easily, Myrddin sure as hell can.


    Judging from the circles under his eyes, Miles hadnt slept much, either.


    I smiled thinly. Wheres this sudden, uncharacteristic concern for my well-beinging from?


    Miles grimaced, as if someone had stuck a finger in a festering wound. You call me out here to gloat?


    I turned from him, leaning back over the walkway railing. Ellison haunted my thoughts as he had since the sh at the penthouse, leading me to the same inevitable conclusions. If held back from the conspiracy rabbit hole and took everything that happened at face value, epting that Ellison had extensive knowledge of the future and believingbased on hisments on Iristhat he was acting in a benevolent capacity, the implications presented serious problems.


    First, hed withheld everything from us, despite knowing what wasing. Shouting it to the rooftops would have been his first course. Even if me and the rest of the family hadnt fully believed him, he could have convinced us to leave the outskirts of the city for a short time before the dome went up.


    Only, he hadnt. Which meant that leaving either dyed the inevitable, or somehow put us in a distinctly worse situation. Given the meteors and multiple dome situation the Ordinator implied, that was believable enough.


    Ellison was smart. He learned from his mistakes, and he didnt break easily. There was no doubt in my mind that he was actively nning a solution, tweaking it with every iteration. If he was repeating this same situation over and over, it was almost a given.


    Which led to the problem. The rift hed created between us. Hed gone everything short of nuclear to simultaneously hurt me and back me into a very specific corner, where I had little option other than to leave him alone. If he hadnt interfered at the penthouse, Id likely still be camped in that corner, spread too thin to fullymit to watching a family member whod made it irrevocably clear he wanted nothing to do with me.


    That meant, whatever his solution, he couldnt deal me in, because something undesirable happened if he did. Best-case scenario, it changed the future in a way that undercut his ability to make predictions. Worst case, I ended up working in opposition to him and created more problems than the help I could offer was worth.


    Maybe I couldnt stomach whatever it was he was nning.


    Maybe it was worse than that.


    Either way, it was hard to imagine and difficult to dwell on.


    And if the initial premise was truethat Ellison needed me to remain outside the loopthis repeat was more or less botched. His actions at the penthouse threw that out the window. It didnt matter how many times hed done this, the way his identity was revealeda near headshot that shattered an eye in his maskwas too risky to be repeatable. Even with <strong></strong> a power designed to make the unlikely and borderline impossible possible, Im not sure I would have risked it.


    So where did we go from here?


    Do you believe in fate? I asked Miles.


    Miles snorted. Thats what you called me here out of the blue to talk about. Fate.


    Just answer the question.


    There were near silent footsteps as Miles took a ce next to me. Hed sheathed the short de but kept a hand on it. If predestination exists, Id have a lot of questions about the way things are. Way they were, even. Long before the dome. Exactly what sort of ends justifies the means.


    So no, then.


    He shook his head. Nah. I think Im morefortable believing were all just grains of sand in the face of the universe. The alternative is too cruel to fathom.


    That was my thought, as well.


    <em>Beforest night.</em>


    Was? Miles asked.


    I crooked my head sideways to look at him. Miles nced away. Good. He was still feeling guilty. I might not believe in fate, but I believe in patterns.


    What sort of patterns?


    That in times of great strife, there are two groups of people. Bystanders, and movers and shakers.


    Putting yourself in that group, Im betting. Miles said. He didnt roll his eyes, but I could hear it in his voice. He probably thought I was about to tell him off for putting my family in danger, maybe even threaten him.


    Not just me. Were both entrenched in this. Even if I brought everything to Tyler and did everything in my power to ruin you, I doubt it would take. Your people are too useful and well-connected to waste, despite the misfire.


    And as the man who saved an entire region, and is the only living person we know of who fought Myrddin and won, youre mostly untouchable. Miles mused.


    That being said, I have a proposal. With fine print.


    This felt like cheating. I already knew Miles had no short-term ns to pursue me. Hed said as much to Hawkins, in the small snippet of his life Id spied on. But there was a serious advantage in being the first to offer an olive branch.


    Im listening, Miles prompted.


    Dont get me wrong. Im fucking angry. You and your people dredged up shit thats haunted me for years. Put my family in danger. Showed upte enough to the party that it almost killed me. I let the words hang. Miles shoved his hands in his pockets. I waited until it looked like he was ready to walk away. But we live in uncertain times. So why dont we skip the over the part where Im angry with you? Where I freeze you out for weeks over the stunt you pulled and create obstructions between you and the Adventurers and Merchants Guilds


    And deny our market ess? Miles poked. Good, hed already noticed that Kinsley had locked him and the rest of the feds out of the market sincest night.


    I ignored the jab and forged on. We also skip the part where we posture and snipe at each other, feeling out weaknesses before the dawn of arger threat inevitably forces us to work together.


    Just skip straight to cooperation. Miles said tly, as if he couldnt quite believe what he was hearing.


    Yup.


    Miles looked down, then suddenly barked augh. Youre unpredictable, Ill give you that. Though given the context, suspending market ess feels suspiciously like posturing.


    That wasst night.


    What changed? Miles asked. He gave me that piercing stare again, the one that felt like it could see straight through me.


    I ate breakfast.


    Miles snorted. Okay. Fine. I assume you didnt choose this location for the ambience?


    I studied the queue in front of the Region Five tower. There was a churro vendor walking the perimeter of the line, exchanging the sugared pastries for selve.


    Spent much time here?


    None. Miles admitted. Though Ive heard things through the grapevine.


    Then were on the same page. I came here expecting a simple honeypotRegion five draws in outsiders to die in their dungeon, gain power, or experience, or items in exchange.


    Our first thought as well. It could still be that. Miles looked out over the crowded za, his mouth tightening. But from everything Ive heard, that doesnt track. There are level rmendations for floors. Multiple safeguards in ce to keep people from wandering into areas theyre not ready for. The few casualties were cases of bullheaded Users tantly ignoring those warnings and getting themselves killed. From the reports, youre far more likely to die wandering into a random dungeon than you are entering the tower.


    My eyes wandered to the sign above the entry to the main queue.


    TWENTY FIVE SELVE ENTRY-FEE. NO EXCEPTIONS. NON-REFUNDABLE.


    Which begs the question, why are they charging so little? A safe-ish ce to level and gear up? That fee is a pittance. Miles noted.


    They want Users. As many as they can get. But they also want them alive. Were missing something. I noted a couple entering the priority queue. A man in civilian clothes, with a woman in a sundress in tow, holding a basket between them.


    Miles followed my gaze. Safe enough for a recreational jaunt. The lower floors, at least.


    There was a suddenmotion at the exit. The group of battle-ready Users moved swiftly, rotating from the entrance towards the source of the noise, a man in gaudy looking te that looked straight out of a high-fantasy novel. Hed bowled over an attendant at the exit line, and was now frozen in ce, his armor outlined in white.


    What the hell? Miles muttered.


    The armored guard from the front ced a sword against his neck, while a mage readied a massive looking spell behind him. Though otherwise frozen, the frozen User was loud enough that I could make out snippets of his ranting.


    Fucking crooks Everything I found paid fee.


    From the way his shoulders were moving, the wizard was responding, albeit in a much more controlled voice.


    Behind them, a tent-like tarp covered the exit line. A woman exited and withdrew items out of the mans inventory, cing them into a ck and gold box that held far more than it appeared capable of. She pulled a sword from his inventory, along with a series of glowing rocks and a handful of gems, then ran a wand across the mans body. She reached in the pocket of his belt and withdrew an amulet that housed a massive diamond, cing it in the box, then brought the box back into the tented queue.


    The man blustered for a while, yelling obscenities, until the woman returned, dumping the box onto the concrete in clear-view of the main line. The man gathered his findings, eyebrows furrowed, clearly looking to see if anything was missing and finding, with some puzzlement, that it was all ounted for, including the expensive looking amulet. He gave the mage and armored guard the finger as he walked away.


    Remind you of anything? Miles asked quietly.


    TSA. I said immediately. The rout motions, the way theyd scanned him with the wand, resembled security at the airport.


    Miles put his back to the retaining wall. What if weve got it backward?


    Thest piece clicked into ce.


    Theyre cataloguing everything thates out but not taking anything. The point isnt luring <em>Users </em> into the dungeon. I realized. The Users are a means to an end.


    From the look of it, the tower is huge. Too big for one region to do all the groundwork. Miles agreed. And unless that amulet was very convincing costume jewelry, theyre not skimming just anything off the top.


    No. I shook my head. People hate being ripped off more than almost anything else. Word would spread quickly.


    Miles expression lit up. Which means


    Theyre looking for something specific. Something they havent found yet. I finished. Something potentially powerful enough to justify charging next to nothing for entry in order to crowd-fund the search.


    Another wave of people pushed through the exit p, revealing a row of identical ck-and-gold boxes on metal tables before the canvas material covered the exit once more.


    Should we get a closer look? Miles asked. Going into the dungeon was a logical next step, but there was something off about the question. It felt loaded, somehow.


    Miles was testing me.


    Go together to a second location in neutral territory, away from prying eyes. Just you and me? I crossed my arms and stared at him.


    With a long sigh, Miles shook his head. Even if were skipping the stupid part. Its going to take a while to build trust.


    An idea struck me. Id intended to spend my evening this way, regardless. Onest moment of levity before everything with the suits kicked into full gear. Adding Miles into the mix didnt really cost me anything. Putting the tower aside for the moment. Why dont we start with a team building exercise?


    Milesughed, cutting the mirth off early when he realized I wasnt joking. Like a trust fall?


    I reached in my inventory and withdrew a flight charm, dangling the thin chain with a cherub wing in front of him. Of a sort.

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172


    Theres something to be said for southern hospitality. Id never seen the point of it before, but inviting neighbors, friends, and enemies to mingle in a closed setting was a hell of a way to create a sense of unity where none existed before.


    Even if that sense of unity was counterfeit.


    The location was the old golf course, around twenty minutes east of the city center. With Kinsleys help and a courtesy call to the region 18 leader, it was easy enough to secure the area as a small venue, with speakers, tables and chairs quickly unloaded by Kinsleys ever expanding roster of mercenaries and employees. Grit and Ire arrived shortly after with the catering.


    Ire was right. Smokey Jons was too good not to share.


    Sae and Sara chatted over styrofoam tes nearby. Sae seemed to pick up on Saras visible difort with her appearance and, instead of avoiding her, appeared to be doubling down and chatting Saras ear off.


    A line of SUVs drove onto the green and came to a stop. Shortly after, the rear SUVs passenger door popped open and Iris jumped out. She spotted me and sprinted over, nearly slipping on the grass as she made her final approach, hitting my chair full force and rattling me.


    Are we really going to fly? Iris asked, her eyes wide.


    After everyone eats and has some time to digest. I answered. Iris looked around, inspecting the various tes present.


    We cant just go now?


    Patience, kiddo. I ruffled her hair. Then jerked my thumb to Miles, sitting ufortably in thewn chair next to me. You know who this is?


    No? Iris cocked her head.


    He helped save our asses yesterday.


    My sister reacted immediately and tackled Miles in a hug. Miles patted her awkwardly, shooting me a dubious look. Just doing my job.


    I gestured towards my ear, then my sister. Miles nodded in oh-right acknowledgement and waited to repeat himself until he could see her. Before he could, Iris quickly pulled away. Have you eaten yet? She asked in excitement.


    Uh. No, Miles said.


    I watched in amusement as Iris took Miles'' hand and dragged him away. Come on, the sooner we eat, the sooner we can fly!


    Miles looked back helplessly at me, then followed along as my sister led him to the small line of mercenaries queued up next to the silver serving trays. Hed shown up shortly after Tyler, and never seemed to drop his guard until now.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Before I could respond, I felt a presence beside me. Mom was there, one-hand on mywn chair, staring after Iris and Miles. That man. Ive met him before.


    Have you? I asked, mping down on the immediate burst of irritation.


    Hes the one you mentioned, isnt he? Miles? Part of the Taskforce? Mom asked, visibly working through confusion.


    Thats him.


    What a coincidence. We ran into each other at a restaurant, chatted for a while. Mom covered augh with her hand as she watched Iris railroad Miles through the serving line. Her wrinkles looked more pronounced than they had weeks ago. As annoyed as I was that shed unknowingly leaked vital information, it was easy to forget that shed been working tirelessly in the background this entire time.


    That is a coincidence. Was he nice? I asked carefully.


    Mom sighed. A perfect gentleman. And look how good he is with your sister.


    <em>Hardly. Iris could charm an inanimate object.</em>


    There was no mistaking the sigh in my mothers voice. My immediate reaction was to stomp the brakes. Even if Miles <em>wasnt</em> a borderline enemy, on the frontline of several dangerous situations liable to get him killed, further entanglement with him was dangerous. Then again, Id created this situation for exactly that purpose. My mother getting involved with Miles was unlikely to end in anything other than tragedy.


    Hes been married before, I hedged.


    So have I. Mom shot me an eyebrow.


    And he has kids.


    Exins why hes so good with them.


    I palmed my forehead. Isnt he a little young for you?


    <em>Matthias.</em> Mom snapped.


    An ufortable silence passed between us.


    Youre right Mom gazed down at the green, crestfallen. Ellison ran away


    He <em>didnt</em> run away, he just needs some time. I interrupted, reiterating what Id already told her.


    I shouldnt be pining, like some nave, star-struck child. Your brother should be my focus right now. Mom finished. There was enough self-loathing in the statement that I hesitated. For the first time in what felt like years, I felt genuine guilt towards her. No matter how spotty our upbringing was, what was happening with Ellison now wasnt my mothers fault.


    Hows the system foruming along? I asked, attempting to redirect the conversation somewhere more positive.


    The pain in her expression lightened somewhat. Almost have all the kinks ironed out. Should be ready to go live in a few days.


    I hesitated. We lost a lot of people in the transposition. Makes it hard to keep track of whos alive and who isnt. Miles suggested creating a forum subcategory to gather that information.


    My mothers eyes tracked towards the serving line. Thats a wonderful idea.


    Why dont you go talk to him about it? Saying the words was like chewing ss.


    Mom smiled, for the first time in a long time, and waggled an eyebrow. Is that your way of giving me your blessing?


    He <em>is</em> a cop. I couldnt stop myself from adding it as one final, pointless protest.


    Ill be careful. Mom nodded, over serious, giving me a small wave as she walked lightly towards the serving line, a skip in her step. I scowled as she left, more than a little unhappy with the unexpected turn.


    A short figure walked across the green. Kinsley sat on the far end of the row of chairs, as far away from me and everyone else, while a small cluster of mercenaries milled around her.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Her styrofoam te was piled high withrge enough serving of premium, five-cheese macaroni from Smokeys to feed a small family. Kinsley continued the dead-eyed stare and slowly raised a fist, middle-finger extended.


    Fair enough.


    /////


    Iris shrieked as she flew through the air. I caught her beneath her arms and sent her flying back towards Mom as we floated together. Mom caught her,ughing as the momentum pushed them both back, spinning Iris around in a gravity defying dance.


    On the return trip, Iris flew directly at me, shifting direction right at thest moment, curving around me and flying out the opposite way like a slingshot.


    Be careful! I called after her.


    Something clipped my feet, nearly sending me spinning before I corrected my trajectory.


    I red at Miles. Really?


    Fancy a dogfight? Miles came to a stop with a graceful barrel roll.


    No. I said, moments before Ished out with a leg and caught his ankle.


    Miles spiraled, the green of the golf course, hundreds of feet below us. Bastard! He called back.


    Dont pretend like you werent asking for it.


    When he regained control, he gave me a serious look. Thanks.


    It was already happening. I shrugged. Adding a plus one was simple enough.


    Not just that. Miles surveyed the fliers.


    As a whole, the group was dealing with the nausea far better than I had. Tyler was the only one to lose his dinner. Kinsley was struggling not to follow in his footsteps. She floated motionless in the air, supine. Its fine. No big deal. Just like floating in a pool. Im a cloud. And clouds dont She suddenly writhed in the air and turned to the side with an audible <em>hurk,</em> making the near-fatal mistake of ncing down, pping both hands over her mouth and closing her eyes tightly.


    Sure you dont want to turn on your stomach? I asked.


    Kinsley opened one eye and red at me. Go away. Let me be a cloud.


    I scanned the sky for Miles. Hed joined my mother and Tyler, and wasughing loudly at something Sara had said. Iris swooped around them, and Miles snatched her out of the air,unching her higher. Iris whooped, giggling with a freedom and lightness I hadnt heard in years.


    It was so easy to forget how young she really was.


    You okay? Kinsley asked, one-eye open again.


    Its just I dont know. I cant remember thest time I saw Iris this happy. The words came tumbling out. Mom too. All I want is this. But the good days are harder and harder toe by.


    Its okay to enjoy them. You get that, right?


    I swallowed. Its not that simple. Im underwater. Small chance in hell its getting any easier. Lucks the only reason Im still alive. I can reduce risk, take strides to mitigate probability, but in the end, its down to luck. And eventually, luck runs out. I have to make sure theyre safe when it does.


    Jesus. Family outings always make you this bleak?


    Did you find our makeshift prison? I asked. I hadnt decided on how to deal with Buzzcut yet, but I needed somewhere to take him if it ended up being less final.


    Yeah. Abandoned building, north end of the region. Basement is solid and securable. Had a few mages reinforce the door and whip up a fancy lock. Added the modifications you asked for. Everything else should be fine as is, unless he can tunnel through concrete. Kinsley avoided eye-contact throughout the report.


    Ok. Great. Gonna tell me why crankys been your default statetely?


    Kinsley looked down at where mom and Iris had gathered. My sisters braids flew back and up, at an unnatural angle, and mom cradled her, slowing her downward momentum.


    Its not rational. Kinsley said.


    Doesnt have to be. I shrugged.


    Its not fair to you.


    Things rarely are.


    I miss my dad. Kinsley exploded. And I know its unreasonable, and maybe makes me a total bitch, but every time I see you with your familywhich is often, us being neighborsI cant help but think about how my dad is stuck, in hell, made to do god knows what. And contrast that to what you have. She tugged at the back of her head. And yes, I know exactly how shitty that makes me sound.


    Kinsley. You know wed get Vernon out now, if we could.


    In the middle of biting her nails, Kinsley said something indecipherable.


    What? I asked, reaching out towards her back.


    Leave it. Kinsley spat the words, and I pulled my hand away.


    Her lip firmed. Lets just get through the next few weeks. Ill do everything I can to cover on my end. But my dad needs to get out, Matt. As soon as theres an opportunity.


    I frowned. That was always the n.


    Right. Her confirmation came with a side-eye. So long as it stays that way.


    There was a sh of motion as a pair of dark chitin feet mmed into Kinsleys backside and shoved, sending her spinning, swearing incessantly, towards the opposite end of the of the golf course.


    That seemed like way too serious a conversation for a party. Sae rotated to face me, smoothly shifting herself in a diagonal roll.


    Is everybody better at flying than me?


    No idea. When are we moving on Cameron?


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Thats a lighter topic?


    Dont get lost in the weeds. Sae prodded me in the ribs. You said you only have a couple days left.


    We recon this evening. Act tomorrow.


    Really want to push this to thest minute? Saes mouth turned downward.


    From the dossier and character sheet, we dont want to go into this half-cocked. Especially if theres an advantage to be had. I smiled widely.


    Sae looked slightly perturbed. Oh?


    All we have to do is get within range. Azure will do the rest.

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173


    Rain poured, flooding the sidewalk and forming small rivers that followed runoffs to the storm drain. Thered been no warning of the iing storm, save a few dark clouds on the horizon that overtook the sky in little more than an hour.


    Weather is vtile in Texas. Anyone whos lived here for longer than a week can tell you that. But it was different now. There were no more emergency push notifications, no more rain in x minutes heads ups from satellites we no longer had ess to. Lightning spider-webbed the sky, striking somewhere on the far end of the city. In the fading luminescence I caught my reflection from a puddle as I stepped over, jagged lines of the <strong></strong> lending my hooded visage a sinister air.


    Up ahead, arge framed man stared anxiously up at the sky from beneath the coverage of an oversized, navy-blue golf umbre. He held the umbre in one gloved hand, and a calico-colored cat in the other. I barely picked out his words through the storm. This enough air for you, Shiva?


    The cat wiggled free of his grip. Just a hair too slow, Buzzcut fumbled the catch. The cat plunged straight down andnded with a slosh in a soaked section of grass that lined the sidewalk. It stared up at its master in abject betrayal.


    Oh no, the consequences of your own actions. Buzzcut muttered and moved to cover the cat with his umbre.


    Meow.


    Going to be reasonable if we go inside now? Stop bouncing off the fucking walls?


    Meow.


    Buzzcut crouched, likely intending to scoop up the cat. I reached out with <strong></strong> directing the cats attention to the hooded stranger walking in their direction. To its simple mind, I suddenly smelled like tuna and catnip, and looked incredibly friendly. It broke from Buzzcut and bounded towards me.


    Dammit. Grab that little shit! Buzzcut called.


    I crouched down, and the soaked cat all but leapt into my arms. Buzzcut jogged over to me, half-grunting thanks. Never calms down unless he gets time outside.


    My dogs the same way.


    Talia growled in the recesses of my mind.


    Count yourself lucky youre a dog guy. System litters all y based. Buzzcut held his hands out. I awkwardly held the cat out toward him. When he took it, I identally reached past his glove and contacted bare skin.


    y litter is bad? I asked. It felt strange, holding a conversation with the man who had hounded me pretty much since the beginning. But saying nothing would be more suspicious.


    Oh yeah. On ount of the silica. Numbnuts here breathes in too much silica dust, its a one-way trip to cancer town. Buzzcut scowled at the cat, who swatted at his nose yfully. Taking a dip in dirty rainwater after a drought cant be much better.


    Have a good night. I walked away.


    Hey! Buzzcut called after me.


    I stopped, keeping my expression strictly calm as turned back, even as my heart raced in my neck. Even though Id kept the masks single target setting, I didnt know when the diminishing returns would kick in, or how quickly. What?


    Buzzcut pressed a button on the umbres grip, and it snapped shut. Rain pelted his thinly shorn head. No telling where hed have run off to if you didnt grab him. Take it.


    I nearly blew him off before I noted the serious expression. This was important to him, somehow. Tentatively, I reached out for the umbre. Really?


    Yeah. Buzzcut smiled. Hoodie aint doing shit for this weather, and I got others.


    Thanks.


    Stay safe.


    You too.


    I watched from beneath the coverage of the umbre as Buzzcut carried his cat inside. If that was the only exchange wed ever had, I might have liked the man. But it was hardly our first exchange.


    Buzzcut was a ranking member of the suits. Hed had every intention of killing me in that alley the night of the bounty. While Jinny died, he stood by, watching, just like the rest of them. And hed taken Nick.


    Whatever I did to him was justified.


    Once I was certain Buzzcut wasnt watching, I doubled back, darting into the neighboring house with a for-sale sign in the front yard.


    /////


    I-I-I-I-I-I


    <strong>Cameron </strong>toweled Shiva off within the confines of the tub. The part of his mind that never shut up reminded him that this was her third bath this week. She hated it, and if he wasnt careful, even the premium oatmeal pet shampoo he stocked up on would eventually dry out her skin.


    But with everything being so goddamn dirty, there wasnt really an alternative. Hed need to be more careful with her.


    As soon as Cameron loosened his grip on the towel, Shiva leapt over the ceramic wall of the tub and paused in the doorway to yowl at him.


    Cameron rolled his eyes. Right. Youve got it <em>so</em> hard. You get to fuck off and gnaw on a sofa leg while Im stuck cleaning up your mess.


    Meow. Shiva flicked her tail and stalked away.


    Whatever.


    With a sigh, Cameron set to work. First, he removed the mesh covering that prevented fur from clogging the drain, dumping the contents into a waiting stic bag and tying it off, tossing it into the bathroom trashcan. He pulled ontex gloves and scrubbed the still-wet surface with a mix of Clorox, water, and vinegar hed found to be most effective, making even, counter-clockwise circles down the right side to the center, where hed stop, lifting the rag to the opposite edge and clean the left in the same manner, drawing all the filth and grime towards the center. Once it was all drawn together, Cameron wet a new rag and pulled it down the center, feeling aplishment as the partictes of dirt and dust umted at the reflective metal ring before plummeting down the drain.


    He repeated the process twice more before he finally felt satisfied.


    Standing, he wiped a sheen of sweat off his forehead and washed his hands. When he looked up at the mirror, he froze.


    The letters I K N stood out in the fogged section of the mirror.


    <em>What the fuck?</em>


    Cameron closed the door, then turned the sinks faucet all the way to the left, increasing the temperature of the water. He did the same with the bathtub and walk-in shower, creating more steam.


    Only after the mirror fully fogged did the message reveal itself.


    I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.


    An icy chill traveled the full length of Camerons spine. What the fuck was this horror movie bullshit? It wasnt anyone from the guild. If someone from the guild wasing for him, it would be direct, extreme, decisive. And they sure as hell wouldnt warn him they wereing.


    What would it even mean, anyway? They already knew who he was. Unless


    Cameron shut his eyes. Panicking wouldnt help. Aaron hade straight to him once the dome settled, used Camerons influence to help organize the jailbreak. If the guild knew who he really was, hed be dead already.


    The most usible exnation was sleepwalking. He did weird shit in his sleep. It was part of the reason he refused to stay onsite. The quarters segment of the undergroundpound wasnt much different from gen pop, with the exception of better toilets. Full to the brim with of hungry motherfuckers that would pounce at the slightest sign of weakness, all capable of curb-stomping their own mothers if it meant getting a leg up.


    But his subconscious mind was crafty. Before hed switched medications, hed often woken up and found himself in ces he shouldnt be, in the middle of making food. Hed even found sticky notes scrawled in his handwriting, left in the damndest ces.


    Looking for evidence that supported his theory, Cameron opened the small metal trashcan at the base of the toilet. Beneath the bag, he found a discarded bottle of rubbing alcoholstill half-fund a handful of cotton balls at the bottom.


    Somehow, discovering the means hed left the message with gave him some smallfort. Small being the keyword.


    There was a dirty smear on the bathtub. Cameron cleaned it one more time. When he exited the bathroom, he pulled the door shut behind him, absentmindedly turning the knob three times.


    Click. Thetch stuck on the third twist.


    God damn it! He roared, opening the door and mming it shut. Thetch clicked. Compulsively, he turned the knob thrice more. Once again, it stuck on the third turn.


    Cameron stomped down the hallway, throwing open the door that led into the garage, and flicked on the light. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the light flickered on. He stared at the bulb.


    <em>Is it just going out? Or is it faulty wiring?</em>


    One thing at a time. It was already after midnight, but it wouldnt take long to swap the bulb after hed finished with the bathroom door. Of course, if the wiring was shot, that was going to take a lot longer to fix, but it was better to cross that bridge when he came to it.


    Cameron grabbed the gray toolbox from its ce, careful not to upend the meticulously organized contents within, and pulled the door shut behind him. As always, he turned the handle three times, ensuring ittched.


    Thetch caught on the third pull.


    /////

 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174


    God, that sucks. Streaking violet and blue swimmers covered my left eye. I sat up slowly and leaned forward, cradling my head. The nylon sleeping bags crinkling was absurdly loud.


    It took a moment to make out Sae in the darkness. Sae nestled in the nook beside the window, where she pointed towards the house across from us. No matter how bad youre feeling, I guarantee our friend over there is doing worse.


    I stumbled to my feet and leaned against the opposite side of the window, in time to see Buzzcut hauling an entire door into his over-furnished living room. The living room itself was a wreck, covered in man batting Shiva emancipated from several now-desated couch cushions.


    JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!


    The words were muffled, but clearly audible from a house over.


    Not gonna lie, when you floated this idea, it felt very lifetime special. Sae chuckled, watching Buzzcut struggle with what minor crisis to prioritize. Her face grew somber. But hes seriously tilted.


    I closed my eyes, trying to gain my bearings. Everyone loves to self-diagnose as OCD these days. Doesnt change the fact that the real things no joke.


    Especially if your next-door neighbors are <em>literally</em> gaslighting you. Howd you know about the OCD? Sae asked. It wasnt in the file.


    Negative space.


    Pretend I cant follow your pseudo-intellectual non-sequiturs.


    I sighed. His psych workup. He reads like real type A. Extroverted, observant, thoughtful, and judging. Not the kind to get depressed for extended periods. But the meds told a different story. Hes been on Zoloft for thest three years, Paxil and other SSRIs the previous two. Not in I-swallowed-a-bottle-of-aspirin-and-got-admitted-to-the-hospital-for-attention quantities, either. Elephant doses.


    So? Sae shrugged. Maybe he was ashamed of it, or something.


    Its 2024. Everyones depressed. Regardless, like you said, I got a sense from the paperwork that he was hiding something. And if he was hiding from the suits, it had to be a weakness or disqualifier. Few distinct possibilities, no way of narrowing them down from a distance. So, I dropped by region seven and watched him for a while.


    Sae whistled low. One in the morning, and hes bathing those hinges in WD-40.


    Yeah. Azure made them squeak. No idea how. Buzzcut put the stic down first? I asked.


    Yep.


    How much you want to bet, when hes done, hes goes straight for the air freshener?


    Sae rolled her eyes. Thats a suckers bet. First stops gonna be a bottle of Febreeze.


    We watched in silent interest as Buzzcut stomped across the living room to the kitchen, pulling a spray bottle from the overhead cab. He shook it up thoroughly and squeezed the trigger. A barely perceptible stream of aerosol emitted from the nozzle, then sputtered and died.


    Buzzcut shook the bottle and pulled again, drawing nothing.


    I felt a sense of stoic satisfaction. Saes head slowly turned toward me. You emptied the mans air freshener?


    <em>I</em> didnt.


    Azure again?


    Yep.


    Youre an actual monster.


    Its a bnce. I crossed my arms. Right now, hes just having a terrible night. Obsessivepulsives are ustomed to this sort of spiraling. They can handle one thing going wrong, maybe even two, but theyre fully aware that it gets harder and harder to return to a neutral ce the farther down the spiral. As long as were subtle, hell stay focused on putting out the fires rather than wondering why theyre happening.


    Still Sae trailed off, watching Buzzcut move his cat from the couch to the bedroomsurprisingly gentle, considering the turmoil the animal had put him through. I feel kind of bad.


    I frowned. You realize this isnt going to get any easier, right? These arent faceless monsters were hunting. Theyre not always going to look like bad guys. Theyre just people.


    People who have iting. Sae said angrily, more to herself than to me. After a moment of silence, she spoke, her eyes still glued to Buzzcut. Well? We killing him?


    Talia? I asked, letting <strong></strong> fall to the ground. A cloud of dust emerged and faded as my summon took physical form.


    From the glimpse we shared into his mind, its clear hes hiding something from his betters. Talia said thoughtfully. Im just not sure if thats enough to matter. Anything useful gleaned from questioning him could just as likely be gathered once we gain admittance. Capturing our prey puts us at further risk. If it were discovered, or if he escaped, it wouldpromise you on multiple levels. And as fond as you are of such difficult undertakings. Talia eyed me. I cannot help but wonder if, in this case, the simplest solution is best.


    Maybe.


    Talia had made several good points. Sunny didnt strike me as the type to fuck around. If he got the slightest inkling Id betrayed him, itd be catastrophic.


    But I wasnt sure she was right, downying Buzzcuts usefulness. Hed been with them since the beginning. Hed have insights into how they worked, how they thought. I still hadnt decided if the stunt Id pulled to clear my name had been an overextension. It was necessary in the moment, but the repercussions had yet to be seen. Plenty of people had been there, overheard the conflict between Myrddin and Sae.


    After some time, Sae whispered. Hes giving up.


    Sure enough, Buzzcut was stomping up the living room stairs to the loft, headed towards his bedroom.


    <em>Azure?</em> I reached out to my summon.


    <em>This is too much fun.</em> Azure giggled.


    <em>Any issues?</em>


    <em>No. Still blissfully unaware. And so thoroughly, delightfully, angry.</em>


    <em>Good. I need to sleep. Youll keep him conscious?</em>


    <em>Not exactly.</em> Azures giggles grew into a guffaw that sounded decidedly evil.


    <em>Azure.</em>


    <em>What?!</em> He sounded affronted. Like he expected me to curtail whatever he was nning.


    <em>Im not just gonna fuck off and sleep after you get all maniacal like that. Spill.</em>


    <em>Boo. And here I was, trying to surprise you. Heres the y-by-y. Im going to let him sleep. Shallowly. Every time he approaches a REM cycle, Ill shove the psychic equivalent of a sliver into his mind. Make sure he stays semi-conscious. And in the meantime, Ill pump him full of anxiety and slowly introduce mental images of minor incidents around the house that didnt actually happen. The stove he left on. The fridge he cracked. </em>


    I blinked. My intention was as simple as keeping Buzzcut sleep deprived and unsettled, giving us an edge in the impending confrontation. But if Azure wanted to go the extra mile?


    <em>Just dont tip our hand.</em> I relented.


    <em>Roger! Um.</em>


    <em>What?</em>


    Azure spoke carefully. <em>Just hypothetically, it wouldnt be difficult for me to do something with the cat.</em>


    <em>JesusNo. Leave the fucking cat alone.</em>


    <em>Fine.</em>


    Our part here was more or less done, though I needed to stay within a certain distance to ensure Azure could siphon mana from me and keep Buzzcut on pins and needles.


    Cmon, let''s call it. I gestured to Sae. Big day tomorrow.


    Sae looked out the window one final time, then unrolled her blue sleeping bag, cing it a few feet away, parallel to mine. She opened the zipper and settled in. This is heavy.


    We can trade bags. I joked.


    You know what I mean.


    I did.


    Its not toote to back out.


    Fuckinthe next time you say that to me, Helpline, Im gonna punch you in the face.


    Got it. I said.


    Good. Sae snapped. After a few moments, she spoke in a much quieter tone. I understood what I was getting into. In theory.


    What do you mean?


    Im not stupid. I knew we were going to get blood on her hands, but. It just sucks. When we first got here, you almost had to tie me down. But after watching him from a distance? Seeing him at home, acting normal? It feels heavier somehow.


    I said nothing.


    Nothings changed. Jinny and Nick, everything that happened to me, it was all their fault. Their fucking fault. And I want them to pay for it. Sae said, the pain in her voice raw.


    Again, a response didnte. It felt like she was struggling against herself, and I was nothing more than a spectator.


    Instead of saying something, I reached out from the sleeping bag and took her hand. Sae jumped, then with a hesitance I could almost feel, tightened her hand around mine. Her chitin fingers were icy to the touch.


    The tendrils of sleep pulled at me.


    You never said. Saes voice floated through the haze.


    Hm?


    Our aim. Catch? Or kill?


    Havent decided yet. I murmured, Theres someone I need to talk to first.


    Id been circling this for some time. Searching for any avenue that would allow me to avoid it. Confronting the man whod opened his home to me. The father of my once best friend, a constant in my life until he threw my mother overboard to drown. And as far as I knew, the tenuous leader of the Suits.


    Aaron.

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175


    I stared up at the metal beams stretching the length of Aarons house, supporting the wide open balcony on the second floor, an adage swirled up in my mind.


    The bigger they are, the harder they fall.


    As sayings go, its horseshit. And thats not even getting into the terminal velocity pedantry. The saying should be: the higher you climb, the grander the parachute. Aaron was proof of that. If he was a normal person, the racketeering trial would have easily ruined him with legal fees alone. Not to mention the damage to reputation, loss of his vocation, and inherent trauma such a drawn out battlees with.


    Itd taken Mom years to recover from the strain of the trial. Shed only just recently pulled herself out of the bottle, and even now, it was impossible to know whether it was going to stick. Still. If the dome hadnte down? Shed have no real prospects. Even if its rtively small, even if you can exin it as a reasonable mistake, a felony is a felony. A steel anvil tethered to any resume, sending it plunging straight into the trash.


    If her recovery had legs, she would have spent the rest of her life working for minimum or borderline minimum wage. If mom got lucky, shed only have to do so until one of us could support her. And if she didnt get luckya much more likely scenarioshed work until the day she couldnt anymore, or got sick.


    With nothing but a guest room as her retirement home.


    In terms of contrast, Aaron was doing just fine. He probably made a little less as awyer than he had as a hedge fund manager. The house was smaller. Not the massive estate on a hundred acre plot it once was, but not the smallest residence in the gatedmunity, either. When the architect asked him what he wanted, Im guessing he said something like, Chic, minimalist, boxy, and post-modern. With a fuckton of ss.


    More curiously, he appeared to have almost no security. Slipping past the rent-a-cops at the checkpoint was childs y. Once I was in, Azure confirmed that only one of them was a User, and not a particrly good one at that. There were a few security cameras hidden in various bushes and utility poles, but that was it.


    So what was it? Was he so confident in whatever he and the rest of the suits were running that he considered himself too big to fail? Or was there some other security angle I wasnt seeing, like the camouged Users at the park?


    It was Aaron. Safest to assume both. Take nothing for granted.


    I saw him through a corner window. Aarons sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, and he held a napkin loosely in his grip. It was one of the few times Id seen him without a tie. He was leaning half-way over, eyebrow raised as if hed just told a real gut buster. His audience of onea woman who must have had an absolute prodigy for a stic surgeonguffawed, her joyfulughter creating a strangely macabre image without the apanying sound. She bounced a baby that couldnt be a day over six months on her knee. Not impressed or not listening, Daphne stared down at her food and poked at it with a fork tentatively.


    Aaron pped her on the shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. Even as she fought it, Daphne cracked a small smile.


    Even with the world on its head, some things had barely changed at all.


    They looked happy. Whole. The family looked almost picturesque. Untouched by the dome, and everything that came before it. And theyd always looked that way. It was probably what attracted me to them.


    I bore down on the swelling heat in my gut. A cool head was the only way through this.


    Azure. Can you get anything from Aaron? I asked, not getting my hopes up.


    No Azure sounded puzzled. But its different, somehow. With Sunny and Miles, it was a perceptible blur. Like something was working to shield themspending significant energy to muddy their thoughts. Meaning, in theory, I could have broken through eventually.


    Thats not the case here?


    Its like theres nothing there. Nothing. No wall to break down, nothing for me to tap into behind it. Id almost assume he was an empty vessel puppeted by some outside entity, but theres no trace of the astronomical mana required to pull that off.


    I shrugged. Hes the leader of a powerful organization. Not surprising, that hes taken steps to shield himself.


    This is different. Azure sulked.


    You sure the shield isnting from him?


    I had to be sure.


    From everything I can tell, hes just a civilian. Judging from how unconcerned she is, hes keeping his wife out of the loop, but Daphne knows. And shes worried. Wasnt even trying to read her mindshe pretty much screamed it.


    She should I bit the rest off. Aaron locked eyes with me through the ss from his seat at the table.


    <em>Shit.</em>


    For a split-second, his face was nk, smooth. Processing. Then he smiled widely and gestured towards the front of the house. I awkwardly stepped through the perfectly manicuredwn, circling around to the front to meet him.


    <em>Matthias.</em> Aaron said, warm voice loud enough to announce my presence to the entire house. So d you took me up on the offer.


    Daphne leaned back to look out into the atrium. Matt?


    I gave her a small wave, and she waved back, grinning. Then the grin died. It wasnt hard to guess what she was thinking about, because I was thinking about the same thing. Thest time wed seen each other.


    The tunnel.


    Have to say, your timings impable. Aaron gestured for me to follow him, and I did, my footsteps echoing across the tile. Council takes up most of my timetely. Too much. Which is why I told them to shove it and took a mental health day. Extra spaghetti on the counter, so help yourself.


    I felt physical revulsion at the idea of eating anything that Aaron had cooked. My eyes were drawn to a massive crystal chandelier on the ceiling. Looks like you allnded okay. After everything.


    We did. Aaron shot me a pained smile. It was an adjustment, but we pulled through.


    d to hear it. I said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.


    Standing next to the fridge, Aarons wife had shifted the baby to her hip and waited expectantly. Whos this?


    Joyce, this is MattMatt, my lovely Joyce, and this adorable bundle of joy Aaron kissed his wifes cheek and took the baby from her gently. Is Olivia.


    Nice to meet you. I said.


    Theres parmesan cheese on the counter. Freshly grated. Your favorite. Daphne pointed out, her demeanor still muted.


    My hand clenched into a fist. Aaron was ying the perfect doting father, but as he held the baby out towards me, all I could see was him using another innocent as a shield.


    We have business.


    Not at the table you dont, Joyce said, mockingly stern. She gave her husband a knowing look. No negotiations


    At the family table. Aaron finished. I remember. So why dont we all


    The feeling snuck up on me. This tangible, undeniable drive to escape. Even the idea of staying here a minute longer than I had to was impossible to stomach, let alone the time it would take to eat a bowl of Aarons signature spaghetti.


    I would not sit here and y house with the motherfucker who burned mine to the ground.


    No.


    What? Aaron cocked his head.


    And with a total of one, Ill do you exactly one more favor than youve ever done me. If youre nning on staying in today, dont. Go out in public. Somewhere youll be noticed, with as many witnesses as possible.


    I watched, in some petty semnce of satisfaction, as Joyce slowly crooked her neck towards Aaron. Babe. Whats he talking about?


    Aaron chuckled. Its an inside joke.


    Was she going to buy that?


    Oh. Well, if youre going out to the deck to talk business, eat something. Youre too skinny. Joyce dumped a heaving serving of pasta onto an ornate te and handed it to me.


    Apparently she was. Or shed elevated the practice of looking the other way into an art form.


    Thanks. I smiled tightly. The steam from the fragrant sauce scalded my nostrils.


    Aaron waited for me at the back door and I followed him outside. Unsurprisingly, the back had more inmon with a botanical garden than a typical yard, with an artificial stream that cut down the center, framed by exotic looking trees.


    When are you going to ditch that chip on your shoulder? Aaron said. Now that we were out of earshot from his wife, hed dropped the overly cheerful disposition. More than anything, he looked disappointed.


    It shouldnt have mattered to me. Aarons approval. But somehow, it did.


    Which chip?


    The marx-addled rage that res up anytime youre reminded that theres people out there who are more fortunate than others. He eyed me.


    I bared my teeth. Youre right. I should be more sympathetic. Downgrading from three stories to two must be difficult. Not to mention the reduction in square-footage. Youre pretty much living on the street.


    How can you not see the hypocrisy? Aaron countered. The matter-of-fact nature of his voice when he was gearing up for an argument was all it took to hit me with a wave of nostalgia. You are the one percent. Bonafide Nouveau rich. You maneuvered yourself perfectly, yet youre still stuck in this poor mans mindset centered around the idea that everyone with more is an enemy.


    Save the political shit for someone who cares. I rolled my eyes. Aaron <em>knew</em> that wealth didnt even make the top ten list of issues I had with him, but he was pushing this conversation in that direction in order to win. Like this was a moderated debate with stakes, rather than a conversation. Listen, Aaron. I wasnt bullshitting, earlier. You need to be seen today.


    Aarons expression stilled. Feel free to expand on that. Say what you mean.


    Not yet. I settled down on a bench chair and felt the wound on my back scream in irritation. No one can hear what Im about to tell you. Your people or mine.


    I guessedknowing how private he wasthat Aarons house was shielded somehow. Nevertheless, I pulled up my passive skill menu and activated <strong></strong>


    You realize, if you try to kill me herewhether or not you seed, there will be repercussions. For just a second, the mask dropped. And what I saw in his eyes felt strangely familiar.


    <em>Its not your time.</em>


    I shook my head. As much as Id love to rub your nose in it, the old shit between us is buried.


    Really. Just like that? Aarons expression turned calcted. Because it doesnt feel buried. Theres so many lies in cirction, Matthias. Hell, even the dreaded Ordinator cant seem to keep his story straight. Rumor has it he imed to be there that fateful night your friend died. More interesting than that, your friend apparently confirmed it. What was her name? Sae?

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176


    My hand twitched. Itd be so easy to end Aaron here. My Strength wasnt particrly high, but it was still a significant upgrade from a normal person. Itd take seconds to dig my fingers into his throat and squeeze


    Id love to get in touch with her. Have a little chat about what she remembers.


    <strong></strong> crossed the threshold of stress. I stepped back from myself, mentally. Looked back towards the house. Daphne had moved from the kitchen table to the sitting room. She was lounging on a chaise, pretending not to be looking our way. Joyce was tidying up dishes.


    Moving on Aaron hereeven if my chances of sess were goodwas worse than idiotic.


    It was impulsive.


    And no matter how good it would feel in the moment, it wasnt worth the fallout.


    Aaron sighed. Alright. Well do it your way. He angled away from me and unfastened the sp of his Rolex, pressing his thumb against a ck button hidden within the sp.


    My ears popped from a sudden shift in pressure. A thin, membrane like bubble shimmered around us.


    Were shielded. Aaron exined.


    Where the hell do you keep getting items that look futuristic? I had to ask.


    Aaron gave me a smug grin. Havent met a technomancer yet, I take it.


    No.


    Theyre infuriating. But incredibly useful. Not even the gods themselves could hear us if they were so inclined. Say what you need to say.


    I looked Aaron dead in the face. Cameron Reed.


    Aaron blinked, just a fraction toote. Who?


    I let out a slow hiss. Damn. And from what I hear, he thinks so highly of you. Anyway, his number is up.


    If youvee here to threaten the life of someone who may or may not work for me, I think the result may not be to your liking. Aaron didnt bother hiding the threat in his voice.


    On the contrary. Im here to ask how youd like us to proceed.


    Us? Aaron asked.


    Like clockwork, Azure hopped the fence. He was wearing my damaged Eldritch armor and carried the stench of death with him.


    Cant say I knew what to expect, but this is something else. Aaron murmured. His bodynguage was still strong, confident. No amount of posturing could hide the sudden paleness in his face.


    Got a vermin infestation on your hands. Azure said. I didnt like what he was doing to my voice. It sounded too gravelly, too pointlessly obfuscated.


    What kind of vermin? Aaron asked.


    Homegrown. Gray hair. Big smile. Feels like hed kill you at the slightest provocation. Unnaturally attached to his car?


    Sunny. Aaron said. He sounded less angry, more disappointed.


    Thats the one. I confirmed.


    He said they looked everywhere and couldnt find you. Aaron interrogated Azure directly.


    Technically true. I found him. Azure reached in his inventory and pulled out the dossier, handing it to Aaron Which was when he gave me a target.


    Aaron leafed through the file and put a hand to his mouth. Then slowly, his face hardened. Christ. Its hard to believe hed act so directly.


    Well, I shrugged. No point in denying it. If it wasnt Myrddin, hed have pawned this off to someone else. The question is, where do we take it from here?


    Aaron opened his mouth, then closed it. He pointed a finger at me. Dont do that shit to me. I taught you that.


    What shit?


    The act like youre already a part of a team you want to join shit. Aaron frowned. Which implies something I hadnt fully considered.


    Do you want my help or not?


    Why would you even- Aaron stopped himself. His expression grew firm. No. Not until I understand this, he drew an invisible line with his fingertip from Azure to me, and stuck the finger in my chest. And this.


    The merchants guild found some of Myrddins actions during the transposition unptable.


    Didnt even bother to hear me out. Azure groused.


    I shrugged. Personally, I dont really care. It takes a lot more for me to throw away someone so useful.


    Aarons brows knit together. So the chaos the other night...


    Feds have been up my ass. I rolled my eyes.


    They thought we were the same person. Nearly crucified Matt for it. Azure chuckled. I shot him a look. That was sharing far more information than necessary.


    We got a little creative. I finished.


    Then the rumor of Myrddin being there was what? A dogwhistle?


    I smiled. As much as I hated him, it was always nice how quick Aaron was on the uptake. Something like that. Figured youd be one of the few to realize things werent adding up, making the transition to this moment as smooth as possible.


    None of this exins why youd be remotely interested in helping me. Aaron said.


    I made a vague circle with my hand. The three of us have something inmon. Theres only one thing we really care about.


    Power. Azure said.


    And with said power, winning this stupid game. I said. As much as I hate you, Aaron? Youre the one person Id wager most likely to make it out of this unscathed. And whatever n you have to do that? I want in.


    Aaron crossed his arms and appraised me. Youre different. Not as angry as you used to be.


    <em>Just better at hiding it.</em>


    So what. Aaron turned and faced Azure. Youd enter my organization as his agent?


    Im no onesckey. Azure bristled.


    Myrddin owes me a few favors, but hes his own person. I confirmed. He needs a guild and hes obviously capable. You need to clean house, and have a necromancer whose research will benefit significantly from the cores he provides. Whats the downside?


    And in the process, youll have done me a favor, handed me a special ss, and ingratiated yourself as an alley. Aaron nodded slowly. Not bad. And Im not saying anything you dont already know. But the fact that the necromancer in question is Kinsleys father isnt a problem?


    I snorted. Please. Im sure youve recognized the simrities between the site and a certain project you worked on a long time ago?


    It looked like her handiwork, but it was impossible to be certain. Aaron hedged.


    I raised an eyebrow. Well, she didnt want to do it. Not until I twisted her arm. Latent trauma and h h h. If Im willing to do that to my own mother, you really think I give a shit about some kid I met less than a month ago?


    Aaron nced over to Azure.


    Azure shrugged. Kinsley cut me loose on a hair-trigger. Fuck her and her people.


    And the losses you suffered? Aaron asked, scrutinizing me closely.


    I kept my voice casual. The words tasted like bile. Like I told Sunny. Jinny didnt matter, I barely knew her for two days, and what happened was mostly her fault. Saes alive. And Nick, so long as hes alive and not being tortured


    Hes not. Aaron confirmed quietly. All things considered, hes being treated very well.


    Then hes finally out of my hair. I finished. And yes, the timing sucked, and I really could have used his help during the transposition, but I survived.


    Okay. Aaron said. He smiled. Lets do business.


    On one condition. I leveled a stare at him, and for the first time let my anger shine through. No matter how this ends, Sunny goes down. End of story.


    Were on the same wavelength. Aaron waved dismissively. Though Im curious why you are.


    You dont get to make the kind of threats he made and walk away. I remembered in a wave of anger how hed recited my personal information back to me, then talked in detail about what hed do if I didnt keep my mouth shut. He said hed make my mother bite the curb.


    Aaron closed his eyes.


    And that hed stomp her skull in, while my sister watched.


    Jesus. Aaron hissed.


    Guessing he left that out of the report.


    Good fucking guess. Aaron looked genuinely ufortable. I had no idea if Sunnys threats had actually disturbed him or if he was ying the reaction up for the sake of building rapport. He was just that good. Dont get me wrong, if you need someone to send a message, Sunnys your guy. I knew that. But there has to be lines. Obviously its fine with me.


    What do you want us to do with Cameron? Azure asked.


    It might be possible to stage something. Whisk him away to a safehouse, if youve got something along those lines. I suggested.


    No. Aaron squinted. Sunny already knows thats something Myrddin might pull, because of the necromancer. Hell be more alert to the possibility. He grimaced at Azure. And hell probably expect you to bring a trophy.


    He never mentioned it. I interjected, not really wanting things to head in that direction.


    Sunny doesnt always say exactly what he wants. Its been a reurring problem. Aaron pulled both hands down his face, giving us a detailed view of the redness beneath the whites of his eyes.


    I have something of a sense for people. And Cameron seems loyal to a fault. Azure said.


    It took me a moment to realize why. Azure had enough insight into my mind that he probably knew that killing someoneeven if it was someone with the enemyat the behest of a deranged asshole didnt sit well with me.


    That, or he was talking to the tape.


    Aaron leaned back against the tall fence, letting his head bang against it lightly. Mr. Reed is a good man. Professional, despite his neuroticism. Hes been an associate of mine long before the dome.


    But? I prompted.


    Aaron looked at the ground, sadly. Hes not steadfast. In what were trying to do. Hes with us because he owes me and trusts me, but hes notmitted to the cause. Its only a matter of time before he breaks.


    You realize we arent true believers, either. Partially on the basis of having no idea what youre actually doing. I pointed out.


    In truth, Im not worried about you, son. Aaron said. Once you see what Im buildingthe endgameyoull pick the right side. Its undeniable.


    It was rming. Aaron knew the score, knew what we were. What I was. At most, we were friends of convenience, poised to eat each other at any given moment. If I were him, I would have kept me away from whatever secret I was guarding for as long as humanly possible.


    The fact that he was still so confident in my longterm support made me uneasy. Aaron was a monster, but he was a patient one. What if he actually had something worthwhile?


    Youre advising me to kill him. Azure asked, tly. Your own man.


    Aaron mulled over the words carefully. What Im advising, is for you to follow the directive you were given. Theres no telling where Sunny is, and whether he or one of his many followers is watching Mr. Reeds domicile from a distance. Its the safest course.


    The fact that Aarons group was dealing with internal strife, in the grand scheme of things, wasnt particrly surprising. He talked a good game. Had a natural talent for making you think he was above it all, a man set apart. Elevated. But once the polish faded and he was in the shit? He was nothing more than another rat among thousands.


    Azure stepped into Aarons space. I almost directed him to back offbut decided at thest minute to let my summon handle it. Other than a few missteps, Azure had handled this more or less perfectly. I know what Im about to say is pointless. That no matter what I say here, people like you dont really get it in their head until their wings are clipped. But sometimes I cant help myself.


    I watched as Aaron tensed, ready to send a mental message at a moments notice.


    With a cold smile, Azure leaned in. I dont share Matts qualms about pulling innocents into the crossfire. Its natural order of things. If you ever get it in your head to slip a simrly shaped knife between my ribs, it wont go so smoothly. For you or the people you care about.


    So Ive gathered. Aaron gave Azure a nod of acknowledgement and peered at me. Not the sort of person Id expect you to throw in with. You always seemed too inflexible for that. Too fixated on some cosmic notion of fairness.


    I grew up.


    Maybe. Aaron said nonchntly. Then he spoke directly to Azure. Perhaps a show of good will is in order.


    I jumped in, keeping him off-bnce. Start with getting your foot off my peoples neck. This only works if I have usible deniability. All it takes is one weak link in your surveincework, and it alles tumbling down.


    Fair enough. Sunny was wrong, threatening you the way he did. Aaron mused. Done. Though well eventually need to figure out where you fit in the organization, thats a long-term issue. Ill find an excuse to lift surveince in your region.


    I had to actively fight myself not to ask the questions thatd haunted me. What Aaron intended. How hed managed to achieve this position of power as a civilian in such a short span of time. But the longer I spoke to Aaron, the more likely it was that Id give him an angle. Right now he was on the back foot, and he needed to stay that way.


    Those answers would reveal themselves eventually.


    Dad? Everything okay?


    All three heads whipped around to where Daphne was leaning outside the back door. Her face was a mask of worry and concern.


    Aaron gave her a strained smile and a polite wave. All good, sweetie.


    There was a gentle whoosh as the door clicked shut behind Daphne, and she disappeared within the depths of the house.


    So, Cameron dies. I confirmed.


    Mr. Reed was special. In a perfect world, I owed him a great deal. That doesnt change the reality that there was no ce for him in the grand scheme of things. Aaron said. To his small credit, he actually seemed to struggle with the decision. And his death will serve a greater purpose.


    Sure hell appreciate that.


    I stuffed my hands in my pockets and began to walk away. Myrddin fell in line behind me.


    Judge me all you want. Aaron called after me. But we live in a world of problems, Matthias. Im the only one offering a solution.


    And Im just following orders. I called back over my shoulder.

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177


    Buzzcut entered his home with all the grimness and gravitas of a man marching to his own execution. He struggled with the bag of cleaning supplies under one arm and closed the door behind him.


    With an audible sigh, he hung his keys on the steel hook beside the door, then stopped.


    For a moment, he didnt move. Stayed rooted to the spot behind the sterboard and cocked his head as if he was listening for something.


    Id told Azure to pay special attention to the entryway, make sure we unsettled nothing, avoided setting off any unknown triggers. And my summon had followed through. Absolutely everything was exactly the way Buzzcut had left it, down to every speck of dust, the angle of the doorknob, and the small pile of dust behind the door.


    Yet somehow, he knew.


    Buzzcut reached out slowly for the light switch. As soon as he flicked it, <strong></strong> activated as the leg of one of the hall shelves gave out, spilling out dozens of books as it fell sideways.


    Buzzcut dropped the cleaning supplies in his arms and jumped backward with a startled shout.


    I waited until theplex ck and silver sights of <strong></strong> perfectly aligned with my target. In the darkened house, the proceeding arrowhead glowed a dull green from Saes enchantment. It was subtle, only a faint shimmer in the shadow.


    At this range, it didnt matter that my skill with the bow wascking inparison. I needed the stopping power, and as long as the target was standing still and Id sessfully baited out <strong></strong>, I had him.


    I loosed the arrow.


    Buzzcuts head snapped to the side and he stumbled back against the door, back mming into it as he reached up in shock towards where the arrow had pierced his neck. He wasnt bleeding much. A shot through the throat was debilitating enough to make this a hell of a lot easier than it would have been otherwise.


    There were precious seconds before his abilities kicked in. Maybe less. I dropped therger, unwieldy bow and activated <strong></strong> The crossbow was in my hand in seconds, and I pulled the trigger, aiming for center mass.


    Buzzcut threw himself to the side, falling over. The bolt narrowly missed, lodging itself in the wall.


    I scowled. Perception was such a double-edged ability. Fantastic if you were the only one who had it, infuriating when everyone else did.


    Audrey dropped from her hiding ce on the roof and tangled herself around Buzzcuts upper body, using all her attack and mobility vines tosh his massive arms to his sides. Instead of reloading and risking another miss, I changed tack again, dashing the short distance from the far end of the room and mming my knee into Buzzcuts face.


    His nose ttened like it was made of construction paper, head bouncing back against the wall.


    When I tried to repeat the motion, Buzzcutshed out and kicked my foot out from underneath me. My entire leg felt like someone had hit it with a sledgehammer, and I was suddenly airborne, rotating at a speed more than fast enough to break my neck if Inded wrong. Instinctively, I twisted mid-air to alter my trajectory andnded jarringly on one knee.


    Buzzcut roared. Audrey bit him, sinking her many teeth into the nerve cluster on his shoulder. Instead of running or focusing on the nt tearing his flesh away, Buzzcut forced his way to his feet, bent at the waist, and charged, bowling me over.


    All the air went out of my lungs as hended on me, a few of Audreys thorns catching my armor and digging into flesh where the armor was torn.


    Buzzcut roared again, spittle flying into my face. This time, his voice was more raw, guttural. His shirt strained as his muscles swelled, the fabric growing tauter until it split across the seams, buttons popping free.


    I drove the meat of my palm into Buzzcuts ruined nose. He reeled back, sunsses flying off his head. His considerable weight shifted off me, and I snatched <strong></strong> from my inventory, stabbing it straight towards his chest.


    Instead of sinking in, there was an audible scrape, and I nearly lost my grip on the de as it recoiled across his body.


    <em>Shit. Toote.</em>


    I got a leg free and nted a foot against his chest, using all the strength I could muster to dislodge myself. Tile squeaked beneath me as I slid backwards. Using a mix of my abilities, Inded two more of Saes poisoned bolts in Buzzcuts legs.


    Whatever protection ability he was using, Id hoped it followed a logical order. Started around his chest and vitals, but initially left his extremities and lower body unprotected until it fully kicked in.


    One bolt bounced off his shin, leaving a deep gash. The other sunk directly into his knee.


    <em>Bingo</em>


    Buzzcut howled. His anger was tinged with pain and fear. But he wasnt folding. He bent forward and there was an audible creak from the vines. A series of explosive pops filled the air as Audreys vines frayed and snapped, Buzzcuts mass growing more pronounced.


    <em>Now.</em>


    A lithe form flew through the darkness. In her altered, feral form, Talia gripped Buzzcuts leg in her jaws, growling loudly. In the short time it took her to join the fray, the magical protection had spread down Buzzcuts body and Talias teeth barely sunk in.


    Finally freed from Audreys vines, Buzzcut grabbed Talia by the scruff of her neck and threw her across the room.


    You have no idea Buzzcut wheezed, his voice deep and altered.


    Banter was for children. I had no intention of letting him finish.


    I raised two fingers and Sae dropped on Buzzcut from the balcony. The same move shed pulled on me. In some ways, it felt like nostalgic. Only this time, Sae was ying for keeps.


    Sae mmed Buzzcut facedown into the ground, hard enough to send a series of spider webbing cracks across the tile. He pushed himself onto his hands and knees. I leapt over the counter,nding hard on his wounded leg, feeling the arrow snap from the pressure.


    When the des on her arms failed to do damage, Sae snarled, pinned his head to the ground for leverage and drove a fist into Buzzcuts ribs repeatedly. There was an odd, echoing feedback that sounded vaguely like a rock bouncing across ice in the middle of winter.


    Until the ice broke with an audible crunch. Sensing that the ability that shielded Buzzcut had weakened, Saes forearm de extended outward, and she cocked her arm, prepared to thrust the de between Buzzcuts ribs.


    In a sudden burst of motion, Buzzcut twisted beneath Sae, driving an elbow into her jaw. The strike caught her by surprise and she hit the ground hard. Even so, honebing frost spread down Buzzcuts waist as he struggled to his feet.


    At some point, he got his weapons out of his inventory. With his stance, I almost mistook them for boxing gloves. In a way, they were. Only meaner.


    The leather gloves were covered with studded metal, while a row of nasty looking spikes lined the knuckles. Though the spikes themselves were immactely clean, the leather beneath them was deeply stained. Hed used the hell out of them, and seeing how he was still alive, theyd served him well.


    Dont get hit. Sae was back on her feet, but only partially recovered. Her warning sounded obvious until I saw the ck jagged protrusion that stuck out from her jaw where a mandible once sat. Little green sparks kindled on the edges, slowly rebuilding the broken appendage.


    Carefully, I took stock. Talia slumped over in the corner on her side, a smudged red imprint on the wall behind her. Audrey dragged herself away from the fight slowly, her mobility vines a fraction of their original size.


    Yeah. Dont get hit, deserved some emphasis.


    Buzzcut was still expanding. The panic in his eyes had faded, but the fury remained.


    Move. We split, darting in opposite directions. If he fought defensively, aggressive nking was the only way to handle this.


    Only, Buzzcut wasnt interested in fighting defensively. If hed waited to go on the offensive, given us time to tire ourselves out, Im not sure thered be anything we could do. With my attack summons handled, all he had left to contend with was two Users. We were both strong in our own way, but Id spent most of my mana setting the stage, and the hit Sae took had visibly rattled her.


    In the end, Azure made all the difference. He made sure Buzzcut connected the dots between this ambush and the hellish night that preceded it.


    And Cameron was <em>pissed</em>.


    He didnt even look at Sae as we split, tracking me as I ran in the opposite direction of Sae into the kitchen, trying to put a counter between us to give myself time to reload.


    Buzzcut dropped into a crouch and hurled himself at me. The kitchen wasnt massive, and Buzzcut was so big now he had a good chance of tagging me, even if I timed the dodge perfectly.


    So instead of trying to evade him, I stopped still, mentally toggled the <strong></strong> and jumped straight up.


    My feet barely settled on the top of the massive fridge before he mmed into it full force, the entire stainless steel surface buckling inward, the ss within shattering.


    <strong></strong> activated, and my arms pinwheeled as the fridge toppled. Cameron caught it before it could crush him, ring daggers upwards before he ripped the fridge out from under me.


    I was already moving, lightly dashing across the countertops as Cameron raged, pots and pans flying everywhere. Tired of my bullshit, he grabbed the counter itself and ripped it from its wooden base with an ear-splitting crack.


    Sae walloped him from behind, striking the same spot shed weakened earlier. Buzzcut turned and chased her, tripping from the unwieldiness of his body and scrambling until he made it back onto his feet.


    Like theyd rehearsed it, Sae danced. She threaded the needle throughout the minefield that was now Buzzcuts living room floor, evading him until he reached one of the pre-set traps, raining down blows on him every time he took a misstep and broke through the floorboards.


    I watched him try to split the differencebeing wary of his footing and his opponentbut Sae was too fast for that, punishing him every time he hesitated or looked away.


    Either from the exertion or the poison, Buzzcut was slowing down. I readied my bow and waited for an opening.


    With an angry roar, Buzzcut picked up his ruined couch and hurled it at Sae.


    Sae slid beneath it, driving a fist into Buzzcuts ruined knee. It cracked, and he fell.


    I fired. The arrow sunk into the weak spot on Buzzcuts back.


    As if shed nned it, Sae leapt on Buzzcuts back as he toppled and threaded an arm around his neck, catching him in a blood choke.


    But Buzzcut wasnt an amateur. He moved quicklyquickly enough that I had a feeling his abilities didnt offer any protection from that sort of attackand reached up to grab at Saes hair. He ripped a handful out at the root and Sae screamed. Instead of knocking her loose, she redoubled her efforts, muscles rippling, her face a sneer.


    I reloaded my crossbow and moved closer.


    Feel that? The way your minds nking out, and your body wont quite respond to anything you ask it to do? <em>Thats</em> how it felt in the tunnel, you piece of shit. Sae snarled into Buzzcuts ear. He reached up again, trying for another clump of hair, reaching nothing. And you keep hoping for someone, anyone, toe along and <em>help</em> you. Because it cant end this way. Sae chuckled. But youre alone, Cameron. It <em>will</em> end this way. And no one ising to save you.


    Thest vestiges of lucidity left Buzzcuts expression. His arms, once struggling to either push Sae off of him or push himself off the floor, went limp.


    Slowly, his eyes closed.


    Still straddling Cameron, Sae released her hold and leaned back, gasping for air. Ho-lee shit.


    Good job. It sounded awkward, but I wasnt sure what else to say. Seeing Buzzcut defeated after all the buildup felt strange, somehow.


    For a second, Sae heaved between words, I thought we were gonna need the tank


    Buzzcuts eye shot open. It was glowing redthe whole eye, no visible sclera to be seenand he screamed. Sae tried to grab him, but he threw her off easily, standing to his full height. Between the eye and the dark veins that lined his face, he looked more demon than human now.


    <em>Fuck</em>


    Sae was further into the living room,ying smack in the center of the outline where the couch once sat. She was forcing her way to her feet, but her movements were stilted. Either she was stunned or shed injured something.


    Regardless, shed be slower than before.


    I needed to end this quickly. With a precious few seconds, I studied the kitchen furtively, looking for anything I could use. It was more or less a wreck. The fridge was overturned, and just beyond the fridge, the torn up marble countertop leaned against a pantry next to the stove like a stone tent. The pieces were all there, but I needed to put them together.


    Buzzcut took a menacing step towards Sae.


    Lacking a better alternative, I pulled an umbre out of my inventory and tossed it on the floor in front of him. Thanks for this, by the way.


    Slowly, Buzzcuts head tilted down, notprehending. Then his mouth widened in a rictus of anger, and he lost all interest in Sae.


    I didnt bother looking back. Instead, I sprinted into the kitchen and reached towards the back of the stovetop, in the guise of pushing against the wall for momentum. I turned the stove on and redirected myself in the same motion, hoping the ploy wasnt too obvious. I dove into the open space between the counter and the wall.


    Buzzcuts footsteps thundered behind me, picking up pace. From his perspective, hed cornered me.


    I covered my ears and shielded my head with my arms.


    <strong></strong> activated for thest time. The resulting explosion was deafening. I heard something that sounded more like it came from a bear than a human. Bits of marble and pulverized stone rained down on me as the sheet of counter fell to pieces.


    I emerged from my improvised shelter to find Buzzcuts once tidy house a derelict mess. The cupboards and counters were awash in a circle of me that radiated outward from the stove, where the jagged and ckened remnants of a propane tank sat in the stove''s base.


    Sae staggered towards me. You didnt die.


    It was a minor miracle I hadnt. Even with the considerable work Id put in reinforcing the stoves metal interior with probability cascade, redirecting the st forward, most of what Id done was theoretical. Something we could fall back on if everything went sideways.


    Still, Id had no intention of being this close to it when it went off. I reached up towards a wetness on my cheeks and my hand came away red. My ears were bleeding.


    Buzzcut was slumped over in a pile of rubble. Hed flown clear across the full span of his open-n home and was half buried in a now-crumbling wall. His face was a mask of blood, his body slowly returning to its original size.


    Once I was positive I could walk without falling over, I crossed over towards him, turning back to speak to Sae. We need to go. That wasnt exactly subtle.


    Buzzcuts chest was rising and falling. His breathing was shallow, but he was still alive.


    I stood over our target and pointed my crossbow at his head. It would be so easy to pull the trigger.


    Slowly, I lowered the crossbow and sighed. Big picture?


    Big picture. Sae confirmed. She didnt look any happier about than I was, but there was something else in her expression. Relief, maybe.


    Get the curtains.


    I pulled up my social UI and sent a message. <strong></strong>


    Kinsleys door appeared where the refrigerator used to be.


    You sure about this? Sae asked. She grabbed Camerons leg and unceremoniously dragged him towards the exit.


    I reached out towards my fallen summons, returning both Talia and Audrey to the void, then went to help her. More or less.


    Great. Exactly what I wanted to hear right now. Sae red at me.


    Whether or not he talks, Azure will pull something useful out of him. Eventually.


    It feels like an unnecessary risk. Sae grunted.


    Sunny put a price on his head. Aaron sold him out. I mused. He doesnt know it yet, but I might be thest friend he has in the world.

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178


    This looks more like a bachelors pad than a prison. Kinsleyined. She lugged a bag of freeze-dried food behind her, readjusting her grip. And seriously? Youre letting him keep his pet?


    I took it from her and ced it next to the litter box and a small basket of cat toys, ignoring shiva as she wed at the bag, then surveyed the room. There were a handful of chairs, along with a console connected to a small wide-screen tv, and a long twin bed in the corner. It ys better this way.


    Because he still has something to lose? Sae lugged Cameron in like a sack of vegetables, tossing his unconscious body onto the bed. He was blindfolded, and a pair of noise-cancelling earmuffs blocked out all sound. Unceremoniously, Sae shrugged him off her shoulder.


    Not exactly.


    Even though she hadnt explicitly stated it, I knew Sae was unhappy with my decision to let Cameron live. I wasnt happy with it either. Sparing him felt like unearned clemency. Still, I was about to enter a Trojan horse scenario where I couldnt trust anyone around me, and Id inevitably run into unknown variables. Having ess to someone with intimate knowledge of the organization would be incredibly valuable.


    Cameron probably wouldnt cooperate. The beauty of it was, he didnt have to. There was no need to resort to brute torture or intimidation tactics.


    I could just ask him questions and let Azure sieve out the answers from the surface of his mind.


    Hey. Kinsley backed away in rm. Hes stirring.


    Sure enough, Cameron let out an audible groan. He reached his bandaged hand up towards the blindfold on his eyes, but the morphine won out before he reached it, and his arm dropped.


    Sae turned to me, her mouth turned downward. If he wakes up and sees me, solid chance he goes for round two.


    Wouldnt want to undo the mercenary healers hard work. I fished the tape recorder out of my inventory, pausing briefly. With all the magic and technomancer stuff going around, Aaron hadnt even bothered to consider the far more grounded possibility Id wear an old school wire. Less wire thanpel mic taped to the cor of my hoodie. Itd taken a half hour to copy the original message to another device and scrub the original of anything I didnt want Cameron to know. The process was old schoolrecording over the parts I needed to abridge with dead-air. While the result wasnt exactly clean, and a mildly attentive listener would realize there were redactions, what I left painted an obvious truth in broad strokes.


    That Aaron had sold Cameron down the river without a second thought.


    I made sure the tape was rewound and left the device on the table in the center of the room.


    /////


    Kinsley doored me back to the old safe house. I scrolled past several questplete notifications and a few messages before finding what I was looking for.


    Time Limit: 1:59:21


    Location: 3271 Talmont Avenue.


    It was a mixed bag. Though I wasnt certain, the continuation of the quest chain likely meant my calling an audible and taking Cameron prisoner hadnt broken the quest chain, or was, at the very least, an eptable result. The address and the imminent time limit to progress the quest was more difficult to parse in terms of positive and negative.


    On one hand, it saved me the inconvenience of tracking Sunny down, or worse, waiting for him to drop in on me. On the other, that the time and ce of the meeting was delivered via the quest in a decidedly non-negotiable way was concerning.


    Still, I couldnt back out now. I wasmitted. Now it was a matter of making sure I was fully prepared.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 14 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 14 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 8</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 20+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 17+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 21</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 3</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw, Vindictive, Squelch, limation.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 5. Suggestion, LVL 21. One-handed, LVL 19. Negotiation, LVL 16. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 13, Bow Adept, LVL 5.</strong>


    <strong>Boons: Nychtas Veil, Eldritch Favor, Ordinators Implements,</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 5. Talia  Eidolon Wolf, Bond LVL 9. Azure  Abrogated Lithid, Bond LVL 20.</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 0. Feat points avable: 2.</strong>


    The point in Agility was obvious. Putting two points into Toughness, though? Well, it felt like the end of an era. Id taken too many dings, had too many close calls over thest month to justify the semi-purist approach Id taken before. I was going to get hit. It was an unfortunate byproduct of my tendency to be in the thick of harrowing situationsplicated enough that I couldnt control every variable with my abilities. There was no point in denying it, clinging to the theoretical ideal where I never took damage.


    I moved on from the stat allocations to the feats, narrowing my options down to two.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    After brief consideration, I took <strong></strong>


    So yes, if you wanted to be technical about it, it was yet another debuff skill. But it was still closer to a direct damage buff than almost anything else I had. Automatic shoo-in.


    But not a goddamn thing in the world could stop me from taking <strong></strong> next level.


    Enough was enough.


    It was time to put some actual cannon into the ss cannon.


    The ability had the potential tobine with <strong></strong> in a way I couldnt ignore. This was the advantage of forcing a multi-ss, especially when game system wasnt designed for itit was possible to string together unintended abilities that the creators didnt ount for. Some of which could be powerful, borderline brokenbinations together if you were willing to get creative.


    I locked in the changes and braced myself. It still hurtbut the pain faded much faster than before.


    An hour before the meeting time, I left the safe house and headed towards the address.


    /////


    Driving through the city on the cusp of evening felt strange. Given how I caught myself looking towards my UI for a timer that was no longer there, it wasnt hard to pinpoint why. Id barely touched my motorcycle since the transposition. My injury and sudden shift in position meant I was rarely driving myself.


    Fear gripped me tightly as I came to a stop down the street from the address. It was an old office park, illuminated by dozens of over-bright securitymps, although it waspletely empty.


    I scanned the surroundings. There was no hint of Sunny or his pampered car. Also, I was all-but-certain the underground facility Azure hinted at <em>couldnt</em> be here.


    I turned the corner and pulled the motorcycle into my inventory, then turned my mask to full power. With that done, I walked down the sidewalk across the street, watching for any discernible movement, taking great care to check the shrubs and greenery for the camouged Users from before, finding none.


    From what I could tell, there was nothing out of the ordinary. If anyone was watching me, there was a chance the effectiveness of the <strong></strong> had already worn off on them. Higher if it was Sunny. I sat at the bus stop on the corner and nned my next move.


    Where are you going? A monotone voice pierced the silence.


    I jumped, turning towards the edge of the bench. A small woman in a robe and hood, her dark hair done up in pigtails, was staring at me. At first I thought she was a child. And I was entirely sure she hadnt been there when I sat down. Im not sure.


    You dont know? The girl asked, saying the words slowly.


    Im looking for my friend.


    Whats his name?


    No idea.


    You dont know your friends name? She tilted her head, revealing the left side of her face. It was deeply scarred with criss-crossing red marks, and the milky eye was clearly sightless.


    I ignored the question, focusing on the woman. He asked me to meet him.


    So you know where youre going. The woman concluded with a dreamy smile. Her straightforwardness took me by surprise.


    I nodded. Maybe. I just have no idea how to get there.


    Curious. You do not look at us as the others look at us." The woman observed, then added. Do you know the words?


    No.


    Slowly, she reached out and pressed a hand to my chest. The mark is undeniable. Her blessing is upon you.


    I bore with it, ufortable with the contact. As out-of-it as she appeared, the timing of our meeting was too suspect.


    Any chance you can point me in the right direction? I asked.


    I will take you to what you truly seek. The woman said. Her sightless eyes glinted in the dark.


    I had no idea what the difference was, but didnt see any reason not to y along. That would be ideal. Though Im curious why youre willing to do so.


    I sense neither avoidance nor repulse in your gaze. You simply see us as we are. The woman held out a gloved hand. Her palm split as she pressed it toward me, an oval-pupil, cerulean eye blinked twice and when it focused on me, the pupil narrowed.


    Grasp the aether. Her hand reached up towards my forehead, taking up my entire view. The cerulean eye darted back and forth, as if it was desperately searching for an escape. Tears leaked from its edges, soaked up by the cloth of the womans gloves.


    Wait" Before I could stop her, the woman pressed her palm against my forehead with an audible squelch. I barely had enough time to register that the <strong></strong> had voluntarily allowed her hand to pass through before my body twisted and shrunk, my organs pressed together tightly until it was like I could feel them all individually, each about to burst.


    My perspective narrowed as my twisted body hurtled through a ck space at a speed I couldnt begin to quantify. Every so often, a glint of light would reflect off rounded walls, so darkly red they were almost brown, that led to openings that created what seemed like an infinite number of branching paths and highways.


    It looked more organic than constructed, and the way some paths were jagged and never asymmetrical felt reminiscent of a circtory system on arger scale.


    The darkness gave way to blinding light as I was more sprayed out than shot outI felt parts of myself that had no business being as far away as they were struggle to return to the whole.


    When I finally hit solid ground, I swooned on my feet, struggling to stay upright. My limbs and body appeared to be intact.


    Now, keep your guard up! A familiar voice called.


    Yes, Ceaseless Knight. Someone panted.


    Weve been over this, Enid. Drop the title. Its


    <em>Nick.</em>

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179


    I couldnt fullyprehend what was happening. Id fixated so purely on this moment, on every possible, painstaking step I might have to take to get to this point that having it happen so quickly and easily felt strange.


    And even though I thought Id considered every possibility, this wasnt one of them.


    I was standing in the center of what was once arge gymnasium, the kind you see in wealthy private schools or anywhere with a serious athletic team. It was kitted out to the nines,plete with climbing walls, and folded up basketball hoops on either side. The centerprised a series of massive mats. Two groups of Users d in full gear were recovering from some sort of strenuous exercise, possibly a mock battle.


    Nick was walking through them, inspecting each person. His ssic good looks hadnt suffered in his captivity. Neither had his physique. If anything, Nick appeared even more muscr than before.


    <em>Hes been leveling.</em>


    I didnt like that realization, or the many questions it incurred.


    <em>Mind control?</em>


    Somewhere in the distance, there was the echo of something massive and mechanical clicking into ce. The lights took on a red tinge, and Nick swiped at the air. His brow furrowed. We have a situation. Everyone form up on me.


    <em>Not only is he out and about unguarded, but he also holds some portion of authority.</em>


    One of the two groups of Users in ck athletic gear snapped to attention immediately, lining up behind Nick.


    A blonde manjudging from bodynguage, the leader of the other group called over to Nick. Whats with the alert?


    Intruder in the silo. Nick said. Somewhere in this wing. We need to gear up and get moving.


    <em>Fuck.</em> The woman at the bus stop screwed me. It wasnt supposed to happen this way. In her own words, shed teleported me directly to what I sought.


    Nick.


    And shed put me in an incrediblypromising position. Id bypassed whatever screening process Sunny intended and entered their facility directly. Even worse, I was out in the open with nowhere to hide. The only reason no one had seen me yet was abination of my mask, stealth feat, and that I hadnt moved. If I tried to take cover behind something, theyd spot me immediately.


    There! A voice said called from behind me. I knew, instinctively, it was directed at me.


    <em>Toote.</em>


    <strong></strong> screamed.


    I stepped to the side blindly, heeding the warning. A de whistled through the air, carving the space Id previously upied in half. It was impossibly long, with a slight curve. The woman wielding it cackled, spinning in ce,shing out artlessly. But the power behind her blows was nothing to sneeze at.


    The attacker rotated her de ny degrees and swung it in a savage arc towards my neck. I let myself fall backwards, barely dodging it, all the while racking my brain on how to handle this. Killing anyone now was a bad look, even if it was in self-defense at no fault of my own. If I surrendered, there was a non-zero chance theyd take me captive, but entirely possible that my mask woulde off in the process before Aaron or Sunny interceded.


    Then there was the problem of Nick. Unlike everyone else present, Nick knew exactly how I fought. What weapons I used. It was an oversight I hadnt considered, because I didnt think I had to. Id assumed that if Nick figured it out, hed stay silent. But as much as I wanted to have faith in Nick, faith had never served me well.


    I had to operate like he was with them until I received definitive confirmation otherwise.


    <em>What would Myrddin do?</em>


    What image did I want to present to the suits? Compassion and empathyhell, even humanitywouldnt help me here.


    These people were hyenas. Any hint of softness would sharpen the knife at my back.


    Myrddin was cold. He enjoyed hurting people, but was rational enough to understand that impulse could work against him. At this point in his life, he would have worked out exactly how far he could push the limit. What was eptable, and what wasnt.


    <em>He was everything I tried not to be.</em><em></em>


    <em>A living being seeks above all else to discharge its strength; Life itself is Will to Power.</em> Azure quoted.


    Unsurprisingly, my summon was fond of Nietzsche, alongside every other creative on the. But Azure had a point. Myrddin had done nothing wrong here and theyd attacked without warning. He wouldnt hold back, wouldnt flinch at his enemys pain. And if he was in a position where killing was off the table, hed make damn well sure that the lesson was etched in flesh.


    There could be no understanding for mistakes. No tolerance for weakness.


    The woman struck again, aiming for Myrddins head.


    <em>A living being seeks above all else to discharge its strength.</em>


    I casted <strong></strong> on my glove and caught the de between my fingers.


    The womans mouth dropped open in an expression of pure surprise. I pivoted quickly and grabbed her jaw, dragging her down to the ground even as I felt the pressure of her teeth on my armored gauntlet. I pinned her head beneath my knee, cocked a fist and struck downward.


    It was like punching concrete. There was a faint shimmer around her face from where the blownded, and from the muffled swearing and struggling she didnt appear stunned.


    <strong></strong> granted me vague insight into the ability. It was a shield, but not a strong one.


    Three more quick strikes and the shield shattered. The womans jaw snapped like a twig.


    Stay back I heard Nick yell out.


    To no avail.


    Two more charged me in quick session, others followed but kept their distance. A bruiser with a strong, ridiculously proportioned upper body that made his head look tiny, and a mage.


    They were a step up from thest encounter. Coordinated. The mage kept his distance, methodically tracking the bruisers movements, so he didnt catch therger man in his crossfire, attacking with thin beams of light from a wandthe magic covered little area, but it felt powerful, like the thin focus point had magnified the potential somehow.


    The two Users staggered their attacks expertly, to the point I didnt have time to do anything more than dodge.


    I smiled behind the mask. Early on, this would have been more than enough to take me out of the game permanently. But things had changed.


    <em> Hes going to hit you any second now hes going to hit you hes going to hit you.</em> I barraged the bruiser with <strong></strong> waiting for an opening. The mental bombardment took a toll, because suddenly, the bruiser was shooting nervous nces towards the mage.


    I faked a stumble.


    The bruiser raced forward out of turn, axe overhead, just as the mage was carefully aiming a shot. The thin ray of light <em>just</em> missed the Bruisers head, singing his eyebrow.


    The bruiser red daggers at the mage. Hey! Watch where youre


    I drove my thumb into his eye. In ordinary circumstances, you wouldnt catch me within ten feet of an opponent like this if I could help it. But as Id done nothing but avoid their attacks since theyd engaged with me, the bruisers guard was down.


    He dropped his heavy axe with a scream, stumbling backward, blood leaking from the hand that cupped his face. Motherfuck


    I sprinted past, the bruiser already forgotten. Mages were the real threat. The only reason this one hadnt already ttened me was that he was a team yer, unwilling to hit his ally with friendly fire. I needed to end this before he changed tact.


    The mage back-pedaled. Several Users behind him brought weapons to bear, but they were too slow to interfere before I reached the mage.


    Unfortunately, the mage reached the same conclusion. Instead of attacking, he drew the wand in a tight circle around himself.


    I knew what he was doing before emtion told me. Creating a barrier.


    That wasnt good. If he managed it before I got to him, that would be enough to hold me off until the others stepped in. I could draw a weapon and potentially break through the barrier, but giving away more of my repertoire might tip off Nick.


    <em>Damn it.</em>


    No. I could still do this. Judging from the faint outline, the mages shield was forming a bubble. That was smart, as it meant I couldnt simply attack him from the sides, but I knew from my experiences during the transposition that magical shielding took a small amount of time to kick in.


    Pitch ck particles danced across my glove as I fired off <strong></strong> Despite its description specifically detailing multiple application, one use of the ability was incredibly draining.


    It slowed the shields formation, but it was almost toote. There was still a hole, near the top that would close in seconds.


    I toggled the <strong></strong> and leapt. My enhanced agility guided me, as it had against Cameron, and I narrowly threaded the needle through the opening. Inded squarely within the mages bubble and knocked the wand from his hand, then grabbed him by the throat.


    The flesh around his neck turned white from the pressure as I squeezed, looking around curiously at the still maintained bubble. A dark chuckle escaped my lips. Cant dispel it without your wand, can you?


    His eyes grew wide, panicked, as he strained in vain to reach the wand at his feet. When that failed, he struck the arm that held him with wild ps and punches that carried little force. If I were to guess, hed probably not bothered putting any stats into Strength. As a fellow ss cannon, I felt for him. Though only a little.


    Unfortunately for the captive mage, Myrddin would see this as a prime opportunity to show he was not to be fucked with. But how?


    Despite their advanced capabilities, I wasnt sure even the suits could fix a serious neck injury. Hence, wheel-chairing this guy was probably a bad idea. Flesh-wounds were recoverable, unless you umted a <em>lot</em> of them, like I had during the transposition.


    Please. The mage begged.


    My eyesnded on his rapidly bobbing Adams apple. I wrapped both hands around his neck, and positioned my thumbs against it, and prepared to push.


    Wait. Nick said. Hed moved up next to the bubble, a sweat of perspiration dripping down his forehead. He held both hands palms out, though the non-threatening gesture didnt extend to the rest of his bodynguage.


    Now you want to talk? I snarled.


    Nick nodded. Youre right. He turned to the others. Hes right. Why I keep telling you grumpy fuckers to use your goddamn words before you throw yourselves headfirst into something half-cocked.


    He rounded on the mage. And why the hell did the both of you decide to engage a potential threat with nothing but your wand and a track suit?


    Hurk The mage said.


    Do you mind? Nick asked me.


    I loosened my grip slightly.


    The magepsed into a coughing fit and struggled to speak. I wanted to distinguish myself.


    So you rushed, and now youre about to distinguish yourself all over that bubble. Nick gave the mage a hard look.


    The mage wilted.


    Nick strained to smile. I appreciate your help, teaching these guys a lesson. A lot of them have some kind of experience, but they dont take the powers and abilities as seriously as they should. Sometimes, it takes a self-serving of humble pie to shake old habits loose.


    I inclined my head slowly.


    Nick rubbed his neck awkwardly. Thing is, the idiot in a tracksuit youre about to strangle was ced under my charge. And I take that seriously. His name is Keith. And he might be inexperienced, and an idiot, but Im responsible for him. The others will live. But if you strangle the life out of him, Im not sure I can let that go.


    Keith suddenly tried to break my grip, and I responded by winding back an arm and pping him across the face hard enough that my hand hurt.


    When Nick tensed, I shrugged. He was asking for it.


    This is your chance to reset. If you keep pushing, it wont go well for you. Nick warned.


    <em>How deep are you in?</em>


    What. Youre going to stop me? I challenged, trying to gauge his mental state. So far, he looked and sounded like the Nick I knew. <em>Exactly</em> like the Nick I knew.


    Nick blinked. I mean, Ill try. Cant say how much good itll do. You put a respectable scrapper out ofmission, then manhandled my best tank and mage, all without a weapon. You obviously know what youre doing. The problemes when you get out of the gym.


    Oh?


    Oh-indeed, buttercup. Because all of us, Nick pointed to the surrounding group. Were the Z team around these parts. Assuming you clear the roomwhich is a big assumption, because these guys have put in a lot of work and Im proud of themout there? He indicated the door on the far side of the gym. You wont make it twenty feet.


    A dark-skinned girl with gauges in her ears stepped forward beside Nick. Late teens, maybe older. She spoke with a thick middle eastern ent. There is a woman who can freeze you to stone with nothing more than a nce. A little girl capable of turning your insides to jelly. A man who can pulverize bone with a gentle touch.


    And a unicorn to round out the lot? I sneered.


    The woman frowned sternly. And as irritatingly modest as my friend here might be, hell offer far more resistance than you might expect. He is one of our best


    Nick shouldered passed her. He was still maintaining the sheepish affect, but there was real irritation in his eyes. <em>Thank you</em>, Halima. One of these days were going to have a little talk about the importance of <em>under-promising</em> and <em>over-delivering.</em>


    Halima didnt look like she got it, but she stepped back just the same.


    They respect you. I realized, saying it aloud before I could stop myself.


    And now that the pre-starting gun jitters are out, theyll stand down if I ask them to. Lets just start over from the beginning. Nick pointed a finger gun at me and grinned. So, tell me what you want, and well see if I can help you out.


    So upfront and honest.


    Nick wasnt being controlled. If I wasnt already sure, Azure confirmed it. He was under the geas and nothing else. Also, there was no tell, no obvious giveaway that he was doing any of this under duress. If it was simple ckmail, leveraging a random User core and iming it was Jinnys, I doubted hed be able to maintain this facade under stress. If it was anyone else, Id have believed theyd sumbed to whatever temptation Aaron offered.


    But Nick <em>wasnt</em> anyone else. Id watched him go through physical therapy so rigorous and draining it was essentially torture in the guise of recovery. Id watched him struggle as he readjusted to school life. Saw him lose a promising sports career and countless so-called friends.


    You cant trust someone youve only seen at their best. Only after youve seen them endure hardships, can you glean an inkling of who they really are.


    I was there the night Nick hit rock bottom. Saw the truth for myself.


    It was why I hated him. Why I cherished him. Because no matter how many times he got knocked down, how many hardships he endured, Nick served as an eternal rebuttal to my core belief, that people were only as upright as their circumstances allowed.


    Nick was earnest, and genuine, and good.


    There had to be an angle he was working. It was just a question of finding it.


    <em>What the hell are you up to?</em>

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180


    In yet another quirk of inconsistency, the <strong></strong> stayed stubbornly impermeable to the blindfold tied around the back of my head. This resulted in a thin strap of cloth fastened around the mask itself, hiding whatever was directly in front of me and little elsethe view both above and below the blindfold was expansive.


    Seeing how Nick had applied the blindfold himself, and his squad didnt seem to notice, I had to assume the mask was projecting a suitably convincing image.


    Nick led me through a series of winding concrete corridors. There were several connecting doors that looked as if they could have once been offices.


    At the mouth of the hallway, Nick suddenly halted. ying the part, I ran directly into him, letting out an annoyed grunt.


    Stop. Nick whispered, then he turned back to face me, his back to therger room, blocking me from view as two civilians with rifles passed by, escorting a tall man idly twirling a double-ded staff who looked vaguely European. His beak-like nose was pronounced, and the way it framed his narrow eyes gave him a decidedly predatory look. Laugh like I just said something funny.


    I forced augh.


    Nicks mouth quirked as he gave me a gentle push. As soon as the three were out of earshot, he whispered. I was thinking more of a light guffaw rather than a maniacal cackle, but sure, that works.


    Not getting why youre helping me. I pointed out.


    His brow furrowed. Im not. And dont tell anyone I did.


    I held my silence, searching for any clue that might illuminate our location. What I saw was almost enough to trip me up entirely. Thepound was a series of vertical cylinders, each miles across, with a hole in the center. It was reminiscent of pictures Id seen of a missile siloand the more I considered that, the more likely it actually was oneonly instead of austere, government furniture, themon areas looked like someone had given an interior designer with a low-key leather fetish an unlimited budget and instructions to, go wild.


    Another group approached, and Nick pushed me into a doorway, waiting until the group passed to take my arm again.


    Thats it. Tell me whats happening or I take the blindfold off. I reached up for the cloth. Nick batted my hand away, then looked furtively back and forth to make sure no one noticed.


    Fine! Fine. Just leave it on. Nick said quietly, maneuvering me through an abandoned section of thepound. Theres a lot of tension around here. Not everyone agrees on how to move forward, and some people are angry. Some of those people would be happy to take their aggression out on a neer who breached our security, regardless of why. If that happened, some <em>other</em> people would be very upset.


    Youre trying to keep the peace, I said, trying to wrap my mind around why Nick would give two shits if this ce devolved into chaos.


    Something like that.


    Are you withwhat did you say his name was? Sunny?


    Nick snorted. No. You may or may not know this, seeing as how you werent on a first name basis, but hes kind of asshole. His eyes widened. Not that Im an insurrectionist or plotting anything, of course.


    Of course. I smiled. Nick was talking to the geas. My friend was still in there. Hed just gotten craftier, better at ying the cards he was dealt.


    Or at least that was what I thought, before Nick dropped a bomb I was entirely unprepared for. Honestly, Im with the other guy.


    <em>Aaron?</em>


    I nearly stumbled mid-step. But youre helping me?


    Nick checked around the corner, reaching back to stop me. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated. Look. I saw you fight.


    My pulse raced. Was I alreadypromised?


    And?


    Youre good. Technique is a little He made a side-to-side gesture with his hand. But youre either seasoned and experienced with the system, or aplete natural. You could have shredded zero-team if you wanted to, but you didnt.


    Would have been a dumb-fucking move. I said bluntly. And I wasnt throwing softballs.


    Nick shrugged dismissively. Broken jaw, bruised vocal cords, gouged eye. Nothing our healers cant fix in short order. He gave me a knowing look. Could have been a helluva lot worse if you got vindictive and pulled a weapon or used magic that would have escted things.


    Didnt get the chance.


    Bullshit. As soon as Katarina got her ass handed to her, you had an opening asrge as the Grand Canyon. Regardless, I appreciate it. Were not supposed to get attached to the people in our strike teams, but thats just not in my DNA. A teams a team, you know?


    Whats zero-team. And for that matter, who is we? I asked.


    Hm?


    You said <em>were</em> not supposed to get attached. What differentiates you from them?


    Nick raised an eyebrow. Sunny hasnt filled you in on that yet, huh? Guess thats a line even he wont cross. Short version, zero-team is something I volunteered for. As for the rest, well talk after youre sworn in.


    We approached an elevator next to an industrial-looking keypad. Two guards armed with semi-automatic shotguns stared us down as Nick entered the code. <ol start="19426"><li></li></ol>


    Whats with the blindfold? The guard sounded like hed started smoking a carton a day in kindergarten.


    Sunnys waiting on someone, right? Nick said, not giving the guard his full attention.


    The guard said nothing.


    Nick finished entering the code, and the number pad emitted a low-pitched beep, rejecting thebination. What the fuck?


    Never gets old. One of the guards snickered.


    Nick crossed his arms and stepped directly in front of the guard whoughed. Gonna exin yourselves? Or do I have to take this up the chain?


    Sunnys unavable. The guard said, mimicking Nicks standoffish posture. There was an incident. Hell be in lockdown until further notice.


    Whats your name? Nick asked me, never averting his eyes from the guard.


    Myrddin, I said. Both guards visibly reacted, disying varying degrees of surprise for a split-second before they returned to their earlier stoicism.


    Nick casually extended a hand towards me. Myrddin here needs to report to Sunny. Im not sure what Sunnys doing with an outsidernot my business, but as far as I can tell, hes not sworn in. And instead of being routed to the Sieve, he <em>somehow</em> got redirected to the facility proper.


    Both guards exchanged a meaningful look. One shrugged his shotgun onto his shoulder and punched a quickbination into the keypad. I caught the first few digits before he hunched over the pad, covering it.


    <em>Starts with One-Nine. Five numbers in total. Could be random if hes smart, but thestbination also started with neen. One-nine-four-two-six. 1942, June. D-Day? Didnt take him for a history buff, but it could track if hes fond of melodrama. Assuming Im not tin foil hatting myself, the newbination could be another year-monthbination, with thest number indicating the month.</em>


    <strong></strong> was sounding more and more like the type of conspiracy theorist Id walk across the street to avoid, but at least it was a ce to start.


    The elevator opened, bright overhead light reflecting on the tile. Nick guided me inside, then stepped in after me.


    A guard caught the elevator before it closed. You brought him here. Now piss off.


    Nick shook his head. And catch a stray for leaving an outsider to his own devices? Not on your life. Ill mind my business after I hand him off to Sunny.


    The guard looked ready to argue, but must have seen something in Nicks expression that made him think better of it.


    The doors slid shut.


    There was no telling when Id see Nick again. My title detected no cameras or listening devices in the elevator. And as far as I could tell, there was no magic or enchantments active in the elevator. No one to overhear us.


    I needed to understand what Nick was doingbut even if I was reasonably confident we werent being watched, I couldnt speak freely. No mistakes. No moments of weakness. I needed to be perfect.


    How the fuck is someone like you even here? I asked.


    What do you mean? Nick said.


    Whatever this ce is, I know from experience they dont exactly y nice. I said, adopting the affect of someone who was weary, but curious. Thats fine with me. In fact, I prefer it. But then youe inand youve locked down some authority, but you clearly dont belong here.


    Anyone else would have taken it personally. But Nick embraced dissent wholeheartedly.


    Because Im helping a stranger? Nick raised an eyebrow. Or because I didnt stter you all over the training facility as payback?


    Both. Either.


    Nick nodded. The forward momentum that carried him to the elevator seemed to drain out of him, and he rxed. Youre right that Im not their usual type. Not that its a high bar to aspire to, exactlymost of these bastards would rather kill you than look at you. Sunnys no exception, so be careful. Iuh. They brought me here through a series of events that wasnt exactly voluntary.


    You were a prisoner.


    I didnt say that. Nick gave me a meaningful look that I took to mean he <em>couldnt</em> say that. The first few days were rough. They had me isted. For good reason. I was angry.


    Angry enough to do something about it? I baited.


    Nick sighed. Oh yeah. If Id gotten the opportunity, I would have. But they were too buttoned up. My meals were delivered through a slot. Every day, someone came to talk to me. He was just a normal guy. No cackling or mustache twirling. The first day, he apologized for the ordeal that brought me here. Said he made no promises but was working on a fix to at least right some of the wrongs.


    <em>Aaron and the necromancer grift.</em>


    That still didnt exin why Nick was walking around free.


    Thats it?


    Nick chuckled. Hardly. The guy was shockingly upfront with me. Told me exactly what they were looking to achieve, and how I could help. Even gave me the chance to decline if I agreed to have my memory wiped.


    Other than my own, it was the first time Id heard of a power capable of altering memory to that degree.


    Must have been one hell of an offer, if you were willing to bury the bad blood.


    Nicks expression grew thoughtful, probably piecing together how to say whatever he wanted to express without breaking the geas. Think about the direction this is going. There are dozens of domes now, maybe even hundreds. Imagine ifhypotheticallyI told you a there was a way to end this whole dog and pony show early. Peacefully. Maybe even before the second event.


    I scoffed. Id tell you to shove the snake-oil up your ass.


    Nickughed loud enough that I couldnt help but jump. Sorry. God, you remind me of someone. Anyway, youre right. Thats pretty much what I said. I told him I hated him, and that even if the snake-oil was real, there was no way in hell I was helping his people get a hold of it.


    What changed?


    I uh talked to the snake-oil. Jeez this metaphor really isnt holding up.


    Hold on. Tell me what you mean.


    Sunny and the other guy? It might seem like theyre in charge here, but that couldnt be farther from the truth. Someone else is pulling the strings. Nicks smile faded. And they assured me that once everything was in its proper ce, there would be reparations.


    <em>Deity. Has to be. No way Aaron got this much of a head start, otherwise.</em>


    And you just believed them?


    There was no way he was falling for such a simple ruse.


    They were very convincing. Nick said, his expression esoteric. So I had a choice. Go along with it and grease the wheels, use my position to guide things in a less vtile direction until the third-partyes into power, or sit there isted and alone, feeling sorry for myself.


    It took a monumental amount of self-control not to out myself right there. I wanted to scream at him for so being so gullible, falling for whatever Wizard-of-Oz horseshit these assholes were pulling.


    Sounds like you have it all figured out. I said, not bothering to keep the coldness out of my voice.


    Its not just for me. Nicks voice was so quiet I could barely hear it.


    I rolled my eyes.


    Nick smiled a sad smile. When I first got here, after I was uh


    Not taken prisoner. I filled in, tired of the vagueness of the conversation.


    He inclined his head. All there was to do was wait and sleep. I paced at first, wore a hole in the linoleum. But when I finally ran out of steam and sat down, I realized how <em>tired</em> I was. It wasnt the physical exertionthat, Im pretty used to. But surviving, fighting for your life, it takes a toll.


    The quiet moments are the hardest. The words escaped me before I could stop them.


    I have this friend. Might be thest real friend I have in the world, now. He kind of has a monopoly on bad luck. Dad passed away, mom with substance abuse issues who cant hold down a job, two siblings that he basically raised himself.


    Sounds like a real sad sack.


    Nicks eyes flicked back and forth. He isnt. I mean, sure, hes surly, and has zero tolerance for bullshitnever really stops moving, which always drove me nuts. But when the dome came down, it was like he wasnt even phased. Like it was just another crisis he had to adjust to. And I realized that was exactly what it was to him. As tired as I was from surviving for days? Hes carried that weight his whole life.


    My throat felt scratchy. I needed to say something, anything, before Nick noticed thepse. Where is he now?


    Mad as hell, looking for me.


    How do you


    I know, Nick said, sounding infinitely more confident than I felt. That fuckers too stubborn to give up. Always has been.


    Putting that much faith in any one person usually ends in disappointment. I couldnt help but try to temper his expectations.


    Maybe Im just a better judge of character than you are. Nick shot back.


    Maybe.


    Nick smiled thoughtfully. Its stupid. But imagining him out there, looking for me? Thats exactly why I couldnt just crawl into a hole and wallow in my misery. I want to change the world into a ce where no one has to suffer. Where life is more than worrying about making ends meet, fighting like hell just to maintain the status quo. And the next time I see my friend, I want to be able to tell him its over. We won. He can finally rest.


    The promation echoed in the small bounds of the elevator, so earnest it was almost embarrassing. Nicks cheeks flushed as he likely realized hed gushed to an unaffiliated stranger. I found myself grateful for the masks anonymity, yet again. I rarely cared what people thought of me, but somehow, Nick was the exception.


    Whatever path this took me down, whatever measures I took to extract Nick and derail the suits, I didnt want the ugliness of my actions to tarnish his image of me.


    Even if I didnt deserve it.


    I blew air between my lips. <em>Christ,</em> this elevator is taking forever.


    Theyre made for efficiency, not speed. Nick said.


    Clearly.


    Sorry for talking your ear off.


    It was a good distraction. From this snail of a fucking elevator. And to be fair, it wasnt entirely his fault. Wed fallen back into a familiar cadence of argument and discussion that was uniquely ours. Nick had picked up on it subconsciously, though he hadnt connected the dots. It was a reminder that I needed to be careful. Sunny had no idea we were affiliated, but Aaron did, and the lie Id fed himthat I was d to be rid of Nickwouldnt hold up a day if Nick suddenly got friendly with Myrddin.


    It was safer for both of us if I distanced myself from Nick as much as possible.


    The elevator dinged. Hold on, always wanted to say this. Nick cleared his throat. I can only show you the door. Youre the one who has to walk through it.


    I made a disgusted noise. But Id missed him, down to his stupid barrage of dated pop-culture references. Nick didnt let Jinnys death break him, as Id feared. He was misguided. Gullible. But still standing.


    I could work with that.


    The elevator doors opened to reveal a study. Sunny was standing in the center of the room. He held a bloody paring knife in one hand, muttering something unintelligible. His rolled-up sleeves were soaked in crimson. Behind him were several Users, sitting on a couch next to a bookshelf in varying states of exhaustion.


    Boss. One of them said, eyeing the elevator.


    Sunny stared into the painted sunset that hung above his desk, twirling the knife idly in his hand. Prepare for the delve. Come back with nothing to show for your efforts and there will be consequences. Now get out.


    The Users jumped to attention immediately, filing past us into the elevator. There was something in Sunnys posture that conveyed danger in a way I hadnt felt before. Hede unraveled since ourst meeting.


    Without looking, he pointed the paring knife at me. Stay. We have business to discuss.


    Reluctantly, I stepped out of the elevator. The doors mmed shut behind me.

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181


    Several strategies came to mind, each quickly abandoned. Id never dealt with someone as explosively unstable as Sunny before. Judging from the unkempt hair, the blood-soaked state of his shirt, and the way he was looking at me, I was seriously reconsidering if ingratiating myself to Sunny was even worth it. And I couldnt lean on Azure herefrom the hints my summon dropped, he needed as much mana as possible for the geas.


    Youve looked better, I said.


    Okay. Sunny sniffed, hiked up his pants, and approached me casually. But something was off. Something in his expression. I reached for my inventory a split-second before he hauled me off the ground. My entire world exploded in pain as he mmed me head first into the desk. What fucking game are you ying? He yanked the back of my head up, his face inches from mine.


    The hell? The pain and shock radiated through me. My mind raced, trying to parse what he could possibly know that had pissed him off this much. Of course, my first thought was that he somehow knew everything, and Id just walked myself in here like amb to the ughter. I have no idea what the fuck youre talking aboutfuck!


    Sunny pushed my arm behind my back painfully, pinning me to the desk as he went through my inventory. He pulled out my weapons, a man envelope, along with the bag of User cores I brought, per our agreement. You just show up in the primary facility as a flex? Trying to make me look bad? Ipetent?


    Fuck this.


    I spun, dislocating the shoulder he still held and driving my elbow into his face.


    Sunnys head whipped back, and he smiled through bloody teeth.


    Go fuck yourself. I cradled my arm, tense. There wasnt a directory. I followed the instructions you gave me to the goddamn letter. Which led me nowhere until somedy at a bus stop spouted cryptic nonsense and teleported me into the facility proper. Calm the fuck down.


    Sunny pointed the knife at me and took a step forward. You expect me to believe its all a fucking coincidence? He rotated the tip of the knife in a circle. I give you a little errand to do, then, over the three days that follow, a fucking car-bomb nearly wipes me off the face of the, and Aarons suddenly gung-ho about moving up the timeline. But its all a coincidence, right?


    Aaron wasnt being subtle. And of course Sunny would me the neer. I needed to be careful how I handled this, or Id end up crushed in the middle.


    I snapped back at him. me it on the guy who''s been here less than an hour that you cant keep your fucking house in order. Solid leadership, there.


    My heart hammered as Sunny opened up the envelope and withdrew Camerons finger, an inscribed picture of a Chinese dragon on the ring. I didnt want to escte this. But there wasnt a person in the world that would put up with this treatment when Id effectively done the man a favor for nothing.


    You know what? Fuck this. I dont need this shit. Send me back to the bus stop. Ill take my chances on my own.


    Or what? Sunnys voice grew dangerous, as if he was daring me to threaten him.


    Or nothing. I did the job and reported back to you. And yeah, I was <em>hoping </em>this ce would be a good fit, but youve clearly got too much on your hands and I dont feel like sticking around long enough to bite a bullet Ive got nothing to do with.


    Sunny ced a damp hand on my throat, but didnt squeeze. Instead, he let it slide off my neck, bloodying my armor. Nothing to do with it? We''re passed that. You killed Cameron. Do you have any idea what Aaron would do to you if he found out?


    You gonna tell him? I scoffed.


    Were in this together now. Sunny drew a rag from his pocket and wiped the streak of blood from my armor.


    A muffled moan sounded from the room attached to his study. We both nced over, then looked at each other.


    Unfinished business? I asked.


    Hold on. Justfuckingstay there. Sunny stalked to the door and opened it partway, slipping inside. There was a terrified scream, then silence. Sunny absentmindedly emerged, fresh blood spatter on his face. I glimpsed stic spread across the floor and a vacant chair in the center of the room before he closed the door again. Now its finished.


    Great.


    You really want to leave? Sunny asked me, cleaning fresh blood off his knife with a rag.


    <em>Not in a body bag.</em>


    No. But Ill tell you right now, Im not sticking around if you keep waving that thing in my face. I breathed. Now, Im missing a lot of context. But its obvious theres some internal beef, and youre floundering. This guy youre up against, he smart?


    Thinks hes Einstein. Hes not. Sunny evaded. But yeah.


    And did you say or do anything that could have tipped him off? I asked. It was a blind stab in the dark, but if Sunny was as paranoid as I thought, hede up with something.


    Im too careful for that. Its not as if Like clockwork, realization clouded his expression. Shit.


    As tempted as I was to ask <em>what</em>, exactly, Sunny had realized, I wanted him to move on from it as quickly as possible, before he poked holes. Is it recoverable? In an angry motion, Sunny threw the knife. It wasnt directed at me, but I was still startled by the sudden movement. The knife stuck in the wall beside the door and quivered.


    Im so tired of this fucker being one step ahead.


    Then improvise. Come up with something he couldnt have possibly ounted for. I urged him. If Sunny folded and ran, my primary avenue of sowing chaos within the group went with him. I needed him here, weakening things from the inside.


    Sunny focused, eyes shifting back and forth wildly. The kid who brought you up here. He say anything to you?


    He was helpful. I shrugged. Seemed to like me, for whatever reason.


    Sunnys attention snapped to me. Waitreally? Could you work him, if you needed to?


    I was missing too much information to piece together where he was going. Part of me wanted Nick as far away from this as possible, but that would only make it more difficult to protect him.


    Given the opportunity, it wouldnt be hard.


    Okay. Okay, I can work with that. Sunny straightened my armor. Suddenly buddy buddy in a way he hadnt been since he gave me the assignment. We dont have a lot of time. Lets get your introduction over and done with.


    Sunny was much better at blocking the elevator password than the henchman before, but I could still get a general idea of the number of inputs. It was between ten and twelve.


    <em>Different password than before.</em>


    It could have been my imagination, but the elevator seemed to move much more quickly thanst time.


    The door slid open, revealing an underground area that looked to have been abandoned in the middle of excavation.


    Sunny put a hand on my back and shoved me forward, out of the elevator. Hit the inte when youre done. And dont doddle.


    Before I could ask a questionsomething like What the hell am I supposed to do here? the elevator slid shut.


    The underground space was half cave, half smoothed stone, with stgmites pushing up from the unprocessed areas. Severalrge, yellow construction vehicles were strewn about the area, covered in ayer of dust and dirt.


    More striking was the light blue glow that illuminated the cavern, light came from iridescent moss that covered the ceiling. As far as I could tell, it was the only lighting the cavern had.


    Id thought, after region six, nothing could phase me. But the otherworldly light got under my skin in a way few things could.


    Somehow sensing it was the correct direction to go, I followed the lichen on the ceiling, the unsettling feeling growing stronger the deeper I journeyed into the cave.


    Another source of light caught my eye. A woman in robesone who looked remarkably simr to the woman at the bus stop, beckoned me forward. She stood in the center of a mass of lichen that covered the area. The scarring on her face Id mistaken as the result of burns was luminescent, glowing the same light blue.


    And so, the time hase. She said. She sounded sad somehow, as if my arrival was both a tragedy and a foregone conclusion.


    You brought me here. I pointed out.


    That is not entirely true. I can take no more responsibility for your presence than a grain of sand may im the coastline it resides upon.


    But it was your responsibility."


    The woman smiled, and for just a moment, I spotted a dull glow of blue in the back of her throat. Youve always been here. Just as Ive always waited. The result differs, but this meeting has happened more times than either of us can count.


    The lichen had piled on top of itself unevenly, creating a static ocean of green and blue. As I drew closer, the outline of arge stone embedded in the back wall grew more pronounced. It was too covered in fungus to make out anything more than an outline


    Before her were two kneeling pillows and a single teacup.


    Can we get this over with? I asked. Id be lying if I imed our surroundings, and the woman herself hadnt unsettled me.


    Are you prepared for the oath?


    Yes.


    The woman knelt and indicated the pillow across from her. Let us begin.

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182<ol><li>Keep the affairs of the Order of Parcae shielded and secret from outsiders.</li><li>Answer official queries from Order authority figures truthfully andpletely. </li><li>Limit equipment purchases to the Orders vendors and tradesmen. </li><li>Report all active system-assigned quests to a member of the Court or equivalent authority within twelve hours.</li><li>Disclose any outside extracurricr activities involving one or more members of the Order for pre-approval.</li><li>ce the Advent and associated quests above all. </li><li>Do not sabotage or bring harm to your guild-mates, directly or indirectly, unless doing so directly conflicts with the previous ts. </li></ol>


    Each rule emzoned itself in the stone between us as the woman recited them. She had an odd, ethereal way of speaking, giving me time to reach one notable conclusion. Either Sunny and Aaron found a way to circumvent the geas, or they were both abusing the hell out of thest two rules. Sunny ordered a hit on Cameron and Aaron let it happen, despite ample warning beforehand. It was possible that their positions granted them a little leeway but considering how Cameron had effectively nothing to incur it, I couldnt imagine it gave them that much.


    No wonder Nick was so damn vague.


    The rules were thorough, granting very little wiggle room to y with. All that was missing was some Orwellian edict to report suspicions or witnessed malfeasance from other guild-matesand with the way they set it up, that was almost entirely unnecessary.


    Are you prepared to proceed with the oath? The womanSeer, as Id begun to think of herasked. On her face, the luminescent blue scarring seemed to pulse in rhythm with my racing heart.


    Not quite. So far, youve only told me what you require. Whats in it for me?


    Seer studied me. Just like before, at the bus stop, it was like she was seeing through me entirely, evaluating my every action, past, future, and present. A chance to start over.


    Isnt that what this is already? The world is unrecognizablepared to what it was only a few months ago. The inte and all the information on it is goneprobably for good, unless some unkempt mongrel in a basement somewhere backed it all up offline. No more background checks, no more credit karma. Its all gone.


    She smiled, amused. And thats what youve found? Just like that, the sins of yesterday have vanished, never to haunt us again?


    Miles and the tribunal came to mind, and I looked away.


    Seer continued. Forgive me for making light. Perhaps I spoke in error. A new start calls to mind the image of a man at the exit gates of a prison yard, or a transient who arrives in an unfamiliar city. Their environment, their future prospects and possibilities forever altered. But the person themselvestheir actions, their tainted history, their very soulremain static.


    Youre offering to alter my soul?


    She shook her head. No. Rather, to elevate it. And make you the person you were always meant to be.


    I wasnt buying it. But I could see how someone like Nick, or one of the suits, many of whom seemed too adept at organized crime to not have some sort of background in it, would fixate on the opportunity. Nick had taken to self-improvement during his recovery, immersing himself in pontificating audio books and seminars on YouTube. And Id tried to tell him. That listening to some faux-enlightened, over-educated gurupletely out of touch with the modern world wax poetic on the simrities between humans and crustaceans and how the importance of a clean room was a waste of time. At which point he politely told me to get back to my practice LSAT and fuck off.


    Seer made an odd noise in the back of her throat. A hm, that sounded like the cross between an observational tick or the beginning of augh. Then she just waited. I knew this tactic wellmaintaining an awkward silence, forcing the other party to show their handand being on the other side of it, for once, was irritating.


    So, what happens now? Say a few words, swear my allegiance, and you magically fix all my problems? I asked.


    Seer tilted her head quizzically. People take flight through the sky overhead, illuminate dark streets with magical lights that draw from no earthly source. And our understanding of magic is nascent. Is that so hard to believe?


    I have a lot of problems.


    Her suddenugh startled me. It was a light sound, as if the idea of earthly difficulty was foreign to her. It might surprise you. Compared to many who take shelter here, your troubles, your desires, are diminutive. But of course, it is not so simple. We must sow before we reap.


    <em>Youve certainly sowed.</em>


    Instating the court as a power center. I said, presenting the guess as a foregone conclusion.


    Again, she made that odd sound in her throat. You see authority as your enemy. Be it a governing body of mortals, or the gods themselves. And why shouldnt you? Over and over, theyve promised change for the better. Justice. Peace. False promises that die stillborn once theyve achieved their personal goals.


    But not you. Youre different.


    I am but a vessel.


    For who?


    The retainer in violet. Hastur." There was a sudden stirring as she spoke the name, like a breeze rippling through the lichen that surrounded us, though the air itself was dead. The subtle glow pervading the room grew darker, more oppressive.


    I licked my lips, suddenly nervous. Id guessed that the suits had a patron. A deity. It was the only conceivable way of exining exactly how theyd gotten this far ahead. Thebination of <strong></strong> along with <strong></strong> and the <strong></strong> supposedly granted me some protection from deities. But as Id seen, that instion was hardly perfect. And I hadnt expected toe this close to the source so quickly.


    The court will pass nows, convene no judgements. They exist purely to guide the whole as they each follow their own path and illuminate the way before them. And if necessary, protect them from those with malice in their hearts.


    And the bubblegum and rainbows kepting. But my feelings on the topic didnt matter. I wasnt here in good faith. If she told me their patron wanted to turn everyone into tiny elves who sat in trees and marketed cookies, I would have epted that. Because my gut was rarely wrong. And my gut told me that Aarons n, and the rosy picture this woman was painting, were mutually exclusive.


    No matter how lofty the organizations vision appeared to be, the only person Aaron cared about was himself. It wasnt a question of whether he had an angle. It was only a matter of finding it.


    Are you ready to continue? Seer asked.


    I stalled half-assedly, asking for a moment to review the rules. When she nodded, I made a show of tracing the text on the ground with my fingertip, silently reciting it to myself.


    <em>Azure?</em> I prompted my summon. Hed been uncharacteristically silent ever since the bus stop.


    <em>Youre going to hate me.</em> Azure whispered.


    <em>What? Why?</em>


    <em>For the same reason you dont like alcohol, and have smoked nothing more potent than a cigarette. I knew you wouldnt agree unless you were up against a wall. But I also knew how important this was. And how deeply youd regret it if you let the opportunity pass. As underhanded as it seems, I did it this way for you. I really did.</em> Azures distress rang clear.


    <em>If you wanted to talk about it, we should have done that earlier. Were out of time. Now what do you have. </em>


    <em>Do you trust me?</em>


    Did I trust Azure?


    It was impossible to banish the events of the Adaptive Dungeon from my mind. Azure had opened old wounds and yed me to my core, exploiting every potential weakness in a manner that was as effective as it was cruel. I understood he didnt see it that way. That his inhuman mind viewed his actions as an artists depiction of truth, and that there was some element of growth through suffering in his work. He wanted to watch me ovee the obstacles he created, and when I did, hed clung to me out of a mix of madness and co-dependence at having that desire finally realized.


    Because Id created him.


    Knowing how dangerous Azure could be, I kept him at arms length until Miles forced my hand. But after the threat had receded, Id never really reinstated the distance. Hed handled the trial run masterfully and respected the boundaries Id cedeven if he poked at them from time to timeand he was too useful to keep in reserve.


    On some level, Id been prepared for this. Azure was borderline gleeful whenever he had an idea, no matter how sinister. He didnt have a moralpass, or if he did, it was entirely alien. And considering the lofty pedestal he ced me on, his reticence was derived entirely from my approval, orck of.


    All things considered, I trusted Azure as much as I trusted anyone.


    <em>Any means necessary. Do whatever you have to do.</em> Imanded.


    As I continued to trace the text, my finger twitched. It felt too strong to be a muscle spasm.


    <em>Youre fighting me.</em> Azure said.


    My finger twitched again. <em>If I am, its subconscious.</em>


    <em>Just rx your mind.</em>


    I did my best to follow his instructions, focusing on my breathing, doing my best to ce myself in a meditative state, despite the circumstances.


    Im ready. I said. Only, I didnt say it. The words, and the way my hand folded over myp were all involuntary. I tried to make a fist, and it was like the signal died in my mind before it made its way to my body.


    Azure had taken over. However necessary it was, losing control made me profoundly ufortable. The only thing keeping me from outright panic was knowing it was Azure in the drivers seat.


    The woman dipped her fingers into the small bowl at her side and drew an unfamiliar symbol on my forehead. Do you ept these mandates as irond and agree to be bound by them?


    I do. Azure spoke through me. A strange buzzing reached my ears.


    Will you submit yourself to the authority of the order and the geas that safeguards it?


    I will. Azure said. The buzzing grew louder.


    Repeat after me.


    Azure repeated the words back carefully. I, Myrddin, pledge my fealty to the Court of Parcae. To uphold their ideals and protect the weak, to ept the guidance of those above me and foster those beneath me. To follow the guidance of Hastur and reform the city, and eventually the world itself, as a perfect, bnced, utopia.


    All around us, lichen rippled violently. The blue luminescence grew vibrant, losing color, blue fading to an all-epassing brightness that burned like white phosphorous. A vaguely humanoid figure covered in coarse lichen struggled to rise. Every inch of his skin was covered in organic green and glowing blue. Gaping holes in the ce of his eyes and mouth radiated white.


    Suddenly, I was fully in control of my body, scrambling backward. I mentally reached out to Azure and received no answer.


    The woman suddenly straightened, still kneeling, her body ramrod straight as she stared at me with astonishment. The blessed retainer graces you.


    <em>Not again.</em>

 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183


    The roar of traffic beneath the overpass overtook everything else. I blinked several times, the ferocity of the summer sun oddly intense. Beside me, the super-heated asphalt of the recently repaved road let off the slightly sour stench of tar. The straps of my always-too-heavy backpack dug into my shoulders.


    <em>What was I doing?</em>


    Right. I was walking home from the school library. Id stayed behind for a few hours to get some studying in after ss and given up after Id read the same paragraph five times until I finally realized my retention was failing and I needed a break.


    Up ahead, a boy with a scruffy blonde mop of hair, wearing headphones was sitting on the overpass, flicking pebbles at the cars passing below, smirking at the audible impacts. I didnt know his name, but I recognized him.


    For a while, Id suspected my brother was being bullied. Ellison refused to talk about it. Told me he was fine, that hed handle, it. But I saw the way his grades were slipping. The asional F  Did Not Complete, on assignments I knew hed finished.


    And when I showed up early, rather than the usual pickup time, Id watched from a distance as the boy on the overpass tripped Ellison, pushed his face in the dirt and SnapBack a selfie with my brother as an unwilling participant before he cackled and moved on.


    I knew that interceding then and there would do more harm than good. But it hurt to watch.


    I drew closer, some part of me waiting for the boy to notice me. He didnt. Beside the line of pebbles at his side, I noticed the rectangr surface of a phone. The chrome around its rounded edges reflected brightly in the sunthe pro version of whatever Apple put out this year.


    Maybe I couldnt directly intercede when Ellison was at school. But that didnt mean I couldnt do anything.


    The boy was so fixated on tossing the pebbles, and with the headphones on he was oblivious to the world around him. If someone were to take the phone and toss it onto the road behind him, he probably wouldnt notice until the audio cut out, and by then, a dozen tires would have pulverized it.


    Was it petty and childish?


    Absolutely.


    Was I seriously considering it?


    Without a doubt.


    I drew near him, the fantasy bing closer to reality with every step.


    Seconds away from carrying out the half-assed n, I hesitated as the boy suddenly grimaced. He reached up to rub his shoulder and pulled up his shirt sleeve, revealing the dark red line of a recently scabbed over cut. Both above and below it were distended white lines of flesh of simr length. Other cuts that had scarred over.


    My half-baked intentions faded from my mind as I passed him, mired in a mix of sadness and concern.


    Self-harm wasmon in kids. Sometimes it was just an outlet, an unhealthy way to vent when a person had no one to talk to. But it was also often indicative of deeper troubles and traumas. I rarely involved myself in other peoples business, but this sort of thing could escte quickly. It would probably be best to get the kids name from Ellison and report it to the school councillor


    A feeling of dj vu washed over me so strongly I stopped in my tracks, followed by a wave of wrongness that started in my chest and spread throughout my body.


    <em>What</em>


    /////


    Betty Botter<em>hhblehblehblech</em>.


    I nced up from my emails on the chunkyptop screen to where Iris sat cross-legged next to the osciting fan. She pursed her mouth in mild disgust, as if shed just swallowed a bug, and her forehead glistened as she red down at the printout. The sweating was probably more because of the typical July heatwave than effort alone, but shed been at it for hours.


    Probably too long.


    Idly, I returned to my emails, and waved widely to get Iriss attention.


    This one keeps tripping me up. Sheined aloud.


    Well, yeah. The Bs have always been a pain point. Take a break. I drew out the consonants automatically for her benefit.


    I can keep going.


    That was true. She had the tenacity and perseverance umon in a person twice her age. But there was a difference between productive and unproductive work, and after hours of running into a metaphorical wall, she was sliding towards thetter.


    I raised an eyebrow, and she raised one right back, though her lips turned up and betrayed the stoic expression.


    The fan rotated towards her, blowing her hair back for a moment. I squinted, then pointed to the corner of the room. Try saying it into the fan.


    What? Iris stared at me nkly.


    Speak into the fan like its a microphone.


    My sister peered at me suspiciously, and I sighed. Its a trick that helped me control my stutter. Youll be too distracted by the interference to overthink. Plus, the fighting the air makes your mouth and jaw rely on muscle memory.


    Iris approached the fan, still shooting uncertain nces my way. It wasnt adjustable and the fixed height was too tall for her to speak into directly, so she grabbed it by the bar and leaned it back, like the worlds most unenthusiastic rockstar.


    Betty Botter bought some butter. But she said the butters bitter if I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter. But a bit of better butter will make my batter better.


    I closed theptop screen slowly. Even though the sound was distorted through the fan, it was clear as day.


    Her eyes were wide. Did I


    You did it! I punched the air.


    My sister did a celebratory dance and capped it off by tackling me with a hug, nearly crushing theptop. That tip was magic! Why didnt you mention it sooner!


    I flicked her nose. Because it was bull.


    Iris pulled away. Huh?


    The fan thing isnt a thing. Or at least, not one I knew about. You were in a rut, getting frustrated. All I did was distract you from it. The rest was all you, kiddo.


    That was mean.


    Makes sense, Im a mean person.


    Iris leaned her head against my chest. The worst.


    In what felt like seconds, she was asleep. I brushed a bang out of her face. Shed worked so hard for this. Id told her countless times that her speaking voice was fine, but it didnt matter. Once my sister put her mind to something, she always followed through. A sense of pride welled up in my chest, followed by happiness.


    No.


    It was more than happiness.


    Unlike the first memory, this was more or less exactly how it happened. And when Iris achieved her victory, Id been happy for her. But this was different. It was like a feeling of warmth and excitement and elevation, so strong and raw and real it felt as if I might burst. It was jarring, because I was certain Id never felt it before.


    /////


    Stained ss. ck and white attire. A cheap suit that fit me like a bup sack. More cops in attendance than a fire sale at Cabes.


    My fathers funeral.


    Mom wept unconsbly at the far end of a pew a few rows back, which meant it was my job to stand next to the casket, shell-shocked, listening to the never ending titudes of person, after person, after person, as I shook their hand.


    A woman older than god whos name I didnt know or care to learn towered over me, her stretch-marked bosom on disy to a degree that felt mildly inappropriate. Her wide brimmed ck hat threatened to poke me in the forehead.


    Its okay to cry, dear. He was your father.


    Leave the boy alone, Beth. Her husband, a man with a badb-over, rolled his eyes and stepped away.


    It was a strain to smile, as if Id forgotten how. All cried out, I guess.


    Beth pressed her lips together, pity radiating off her like an aura. She reached out towards me, hand stalling when I instinctively moved away. I know you must feel all this pressure to be strong. Youre the man of the house now. But you can be strong tomorrow. No one here will judge you if you cry.


    I formed a fist slowly. Beth was rude, but they were all thinking it. Watching my stoic expression. Whispering. Judging. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to scream. To not tell this woman she had no idea what the fuck she was talking about. That Id spent most of the funeral trying to cry. Hating myself because all I could feel was anger. Angry at my father for taking the call. Angry at the asshole who killed him.


    Angry at myself, for being broken.


    <em>Can you move on, please? Youre holding up the line.</em>


    The words died in my throat, as hot tears streaked down my face. I would never see him again. Wed never talk long into the evening about his day. He wouldnt be at my high school graduation, or give me long-winded career advice.


    That world was gone.


    My chest clenched, as unadulterated sorrow unrooted me to my very core. It felt like being plunged into a pit, a ce so dark and cold and painful that it was hard to focus on anything other than the ache.


    I bowed my head.


    Finally, Beth seemed satisfied and moved on, a final Sorry for your loss, her parting shot.


    A pair of brown loafers stepped into sight, obscuring my view of the carpet. I slowly looked up. The neer wore ck, pinstripe pants and a dark purple vest. His hands rested casually in his pockets. His hair was white, and his long well-kempt beard and short-cut hairbined with the rest of the ensemble called to mind a post-hippie aesthetic.


    When he spoke his voice was low, charming. Quite the turnout. Your father was clearly loved.


    Was there a reason we had to start with this mindfuck? Those words were all I could manage. Because the pain had given way to anger once more. Hastur."


    Hastur grinned. Its a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Ordinator.


    I was fucked.

 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184


    Around us, the funeral ground to a halt. My mothers cries stopped. The line of never-ending people froze in ce, along with everyone else.


    Hastur repositioned himself, taking a ce beside me. Ive been doing some research recently. You can learn a lot about a culture from their fables, and knowing the full picture is kind of my thing.


    Uhuh.


    I reached out for Azure, Talia. When that failed, Audrey.


    None of them responded. I was on my own.


    Hastur made a vague, circling motion around his head. One of them stuck. A carpenter


    Jesus. I rolled my eyes.


    Wrong carpenter. Hasturs colorless eyes twinkled. Anyway, our childless friend builds a puppet to fill the void he feels in his life. Prays to a fairy. Fairy takes pity on him and grants the puppet the most precious gift of all. Hastur made sarcastic spirit fingers. Life. Next day, the puppet wakes up, suddenly aware and sapient. In a perfect world, that should have been the end. The lonely man has a son, and the self-aware puppet has a father. Hes got no strings, to hold him down, to make him fret, or make him frown.


    <em>If he wanted me dead, Id be dead. Need to draw this out. Keep him talking. Everyone has a weakness. Just need to find his.</em>


    It wouldnt be a story without conflict. I pointed out.


    True. Though I dislike conflict for the sake of conflict. Hastur stared through me, then continued his recitation. The puppetcks a conscience. But hes not evil. Not at all. His desires are simple. He wants to be human.


    There really are better ways to make an introduction.


    Hastur looked oddly apologetic. Im sorry. For putting you through this. As much as you hate those words, they need to be said. I couldnt think of a better way to show you.


    Show me what?


    That what you wantwhat you really want, hidden beneath a mountain of denialis attainable.


    It hit me like a truck. Why Hastur put me through this. Id felt real empathy for the boy on the overpass. Joy at my sisters triumph. Despair and grief at my fathers funeral. He was showing what my life would have been like, if I was normal.


    <em>What is normal?</em>


    Youre wrong. I shook my head. Im better this way. If I wasnt like this I would have cracked a long time ago.


    Then let me pose a question. Hastur smiled. In a perfect world, one where you were free to pursue your interests, unencumbered by debt, or danger, or existential threats. Would you still want to be what you are?


    I dont live in a perfect world"


    But you <em>could.</em> Hastur rested his hands on my shoulders. In a perfect world, you say fuck MIT. You go to Rice. You major in philosophy and minor in psychology. Because thats where your passion lies. The human condition. What makes us think, feel, breathe. What drives us. The meaning of life. A high calling.


    N-no money in it. I stammered, only realizing after the fact how quickly Hastur had gotten under my skin. Rice and MIT were gone. If they still existed in any capacity, probably within their own dome, they were forever altered.


    Hastur shook me lightly. Fuck the money. Its a perfect world. You dont need money anymore. Everything is affordable. Intion, corruption, and poverty are gone, artifacts of an ancient past. You teach during your post-graduate, and discover, despite being utterly convinced that youll hate it, that its a natural fit. On ount of your controversilbeit brilliantdissertation on Kant


    Kant? I balked.


    I know, kind of mainstream. If it makes you feel better, you spend most of it ripping him a new asshole.


    Somehow, it did.


    Its quite the smack down. Hastur chuckled nostalgically, as if this wasnt fantasy. As if the dissertation not only existed, but hed actually read it. Then he grew quieter, more serious. Rice hires you before you even walk. They send you all over the world. You read things only a handful of people have ever read. You never stop learning, and using that knowledge. You write more papers that are received well. You find you love the travel, something youve never realized because youve always lived in the same ce. And in Italy, you meet the woman of your dreams.


    I exhaled. Id been holding my breath without realizing it. Hed been doing so well, only to flub it in thest half.


    Shes five years older than you. Aplished, smart. Smarter than you. She has no interest in a physical rtionship, which works out for reasons Im guessing you understand perfectly. You enjoy all the trappings of a romantic rtionship, thefort and closeness of sharing life with a like-minded person, with none of the expectations. Youre happy, satisfied, and fulfilled until the day you die.


    When? I asked. If nothing else, I was curious what hede up with.


    At the ripe old age of two-hundred-and-twenty-six. Medicine and life expectancy gets a lot better on ount of the magic. Hasturs hands dropped off my shoulders, his face suddenly haggard and worn. The funeral attendees, still frozen in ce, blinked out one at a time, until only the two of us remained. Hastur sat down on the front row pew, his eyelids drooping.


    A wave of calm washed over me, the effect of whatever hed done to my mind slowly fading. We lost hundreds of thousands in the first event. You expect me to believe <em>any</em> of this is even possible?


    If the advent happens before the second event? Yes.


    And you said medicine improved because of magic, which implies that, in this perfect future, the system still exists.


    Hastur waved the point away. The system is only malevolent because the deities behind it have grown twisted and cruel. They subsist on the spectacle,pletely ignoring the purpose of the original design. In my hands, it wouldnt be used to drive conflict.


    So thats the n. Kill the pantheon, I said.


    You say that like its absurd. But once I regain my power, every potential future exists at my fingertips. I might be the only one capable of winning that fight, now that your patron is on his way out. Its why they keep me weak. They cant kill me without cause, but they can sure as hell stack the deck in their favor.


    Thestment resonated. It urred to me that the sudden wave of tiredness wasnt an act. It made little sense otherwise. This would be the perfect time for him to project strength. Bolster his image. Instead, he looked


    Exhausted.


    There was no point in beating around the bush. You know why Im here.


    I do. Hasturs lips split in a pained smile. Weve danced this dance countless times before, your predecessors and I.


    Then why am I still breathing?


    Hastur looked me up and down. For one, that veil of yours is no joke. I couldnt kill you here even if I wanted tonot without breaking enough rules to finally give them an excuse to pull the plug on me. I could massage the Order to do it, in time, but truthfully, I dont want to.


    Still waiting on the why.


    He pinched the bridge of his nose. Because youre right to be angry. Because I cant fully control the Order in my current state, and they seem more thanfortable using any means to justify the end.


    As reasonable and genuine as he sounded, it didnt change what happened. I saw Jinny, struggling to breathe, blood leaking from beneath her hands. My friend died because they didnt give a shit about coteral. Bled out in seconds.


    I know. Hastur looked nauseous.


    Because of their actions, another friend was changed in the cruelest way possible.


    Thats an exaggeration, but Im aware.


    I nearly punched him.


    They were luring Users into a region and killing them for cores.


    Hasturs mouth tightened. Aaron is ambitious. Overly so.


    I clenched my fists at my sides. That doesnt even begin to cover it.


    The pew squeaked as Hastur leaned forward. The necromancers research will bear fruit, though youll need to be patient and finesse him.


    So I didnt dare to hope.


    There will be a chance to bring Jinny back. What happened to Sae? That can be undone far more easily, though it will take some doing. The rest Ill find a way to make it right.


    I couldnt trust him. I had no reason to. But hearing him say it, rocked me.


    He rubbed his forehead and suddenly interjected. Want to guess how many times weve worked together?


    The previous Ordinators?


    Yes.


    Few.


    A grand total of zero. Hastur corrected, closing his eyes. The pause was long enough that I almost thought hed fallen asleep. Not that there were many of them I would have cooperated with to begin withthey tend to bepletely off the deep end. Youre not even close to that far gone. Not yet. Of the less difficult candidates, most of them died early.


    And the ones who survived?


    Lets just say the pantheon has a talent for turning them against me. Hastur opened one eye and looked me over. Returning to your list of sins. Youre correct. Theres no excuse. No apology I can offer to make things right. That being said, some concessions are in order, regardless. He opened his hand and a clear, crystal bottle appeared. The liquid, visible through the ornate transparent patterns that decorated the outside, waspletely colorless.


    I reached for it. It fit snugly in my palm, norger than a health potion. When Hastur pulled his hand away, someone had dropped a fifty-pound weight in my hand. I fell to one knee, nearly dropping it to the ground. Christ.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: A collection of tears painstakingly collected from an Asura over thousands of years. These powerful beings yed many gods over eons of terror before they were finally brought to heel. Few have seen such a marvel. Even fewer still know the extent of the mysteries within. Highly potent. May cause a major cataclysm if dropped. </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    After I skimmed the description, I slowly turned to Hastur and red.


    Probably should have mentioned it was heavy. Hastur said.


    You <em>think?</em>


    Definitely should have mentioned it was heavy.


    Carefully, I moved the potion towards my hip with both hands. It slipped into my inventory easily. The description was useless. What does it do?


    Youre going to want two. Ill give you the second after the advent. Hastur shook his head. As for what it does, its best to let you discover that for yourself. Youll want to have a decent alchemist look over it. He hesitated, then added. Preferably one sworn to silence. Under guard. Completely isted from the outside world. Did I mention under guard?


    You did.


    The skin beneath Hasturs fingernails was slowly turning ck, spreading into his nail bed and up his knuckles. He watched the spread with grim interest. Drew too deeply for the prediction.


    Our time was growing short. I couldnt help but draw the parallel between this and my first encounter with the Allfather. A conversation that left me with far more questions than answers. If it was anything like that encounter, this might be thest chance I had to talk to him.


    A dozen questions rotated through my mind, before I finally settled on one. Why me? Im not a god. And sure, the Ordinators power grows exponentially, but that''s still rtive. Im just a User with a special ss. Why are you willing to put so much on the line for a gamble?


    The darkness spread down Hasturs forearm, the ckened skin turning to dust, the top section of his arm disappearing before my eyes. From the way he grimaced, he wasnt impervious to the pain.


    I hate to gamble. But youre already aware of the turmoil growing within the order. Aaron made a mistake bringing Sunny into the fold. One of many. Now hes paying for it. For as long as they stay entrenched, sniping at each other, the division will spread. Only a fool... fights a two-front war. One of them has to go. It doesnt matter who, but for the future Ive forecasted toe to pass, the infighting needs to stop. Quickly.


    Another hand, looking to use me as a knife in the dark. My mind was clouded, filled to the brim with thoughts and theories I couldnt even begin to unpack.


    I understand. It felt undignified to stay and watch, so I turned and headed towards the church entrance, an unperceivable weight settling on my shoulders.


    And Matthias? Hastur called after me.


    I turned. The darkness elerated and spread quickly, eroding his mouth and jaw. He smiled like the Cheshire Cat, even as his face crumbled.


    You were right. Youre not a god. Not yet.

 Chapter 185

    Chapter 185


    I woke up on the floor. Something soft cushioned my head. Before I collected myself, a scathing pain shot down my forearm. I pulled back the gauntlet far enough to see the sourcea forking cascade of Lichtenberg figures on the underside of my wrist to my palm contoured by light distended flesh, red around the edges.


    Great. Fucker marked me.


    A gloved hand reached out, tracing the pattern. Seer cleared her throat, and when it didnt seem to work, cleared it again. You spoke to him.


    Hastur hadnt transported me anywhere. Our meeting took ce entirely in my head. And judging from theck of soreness and bruises, Seer must have caught me when I lost consciousness. I scrambled to my feet and took a half-step back, reaching a hand towards my face. The mask was still equipped. That didnt necessarily mean anything. She could have easily looked and reced it during thepse.


    What the fuck is this? I asked, pointing to the mark.


    Proof of your allegiance. Evidence of your potential.


    Skip the fucking riddles. I said. With the way my summons all chimed in at once, urging calm, I must have shouted.


    Seer leaned back, more surprised than fearful at the sudden outburst. If it is the mark itself that bothers you, it is invisible to those outside the Order. It speaks to a significance beyond the rank and file. Few are graced by Hastur directly. Those who are, receive a mark. The length of the mark and number of branches directly corrte with the supplicants potential impact. If


    Thats enough.


    You dont want to know


    Were done here. I cut in.


    Seer bowed her head. Your reaction is unfortunate, but not at all umon. Coming face to face with a deity can be an rming and humbling experience. Seek me out when the turmoil has faded. Return the way you came. The elevator will be open to you.


    Turmoil was a good word for it. I was spiraling. A profound feeling of uprootedness permeated deep in my mind, threatening to propagate and spread. I needed to reset, recenter, before I did or said something I couldnt exin.


    I walked away, fists clenching and unclenching almost entirely on their own. System text scrolled in front of my face as I hurried to the elevator.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Fractured Fate</strong>


    <strong>Quest Description: The Retainer in Violet has chosen you as an agent to use the transposition towards the creation of a utopia. This quest has no visible objectives. Your actions from this point onward will be evaluated on a sliding scale. As you actively contribute to or undermine The Retainers intent, your standing will adjust appropriately. </strong>


    <strong>System Warning: Pivotal Quests can be hugely rewarding, but are often catalysts for drastic change. Their vtile nature and tendency to affect the world around them can cause other, more mundane quests to be upletable or lost. Thepletion of a Pivotal Quest frequently results in serious consequences for the individual as well, such as gaining or transference of patronage and ess to exclusive gear, spells, and knowledge.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Difficulty: ???</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: ???</strong>


    <strong>Quest Reward: That which you desire most.</strong>


    I swiped it away. This time, the elevator doors slid open on their own and allowed me entry. Once they closed, I retreated within my mind, trying to manage the panic.


    Hastur was full of shit. Anyone with power who promised to make things better on the scale he was talking about almost always was. Selflessness, more often than not, is little more than pageantry. Altruism is rarely more than a bedazzled method of stroking your own ego.


    Hastur didnt give two fucks about anyone. His endgame, like so many others, was about control. But ifand only ifhe was capable of even a fraction of what he imed, his interpretation of control was


    Tantalizing.


    Before the dome, the average person was lucky to make it through life with no major disasters. The lucky ones found a job they didnt hate, a house they could afford. A family that loved them.


    Even if you were one of those lucky few, you were still only one bad day away from disaster. Sometimes you didnt even have to make a choice. Sickness, abandonment, and financial ruin were always waiting on the horizon, the three horsemen of the post-modern apocalypse. And if you had any self-awareness, that inevitable realization weighed heavily.


    But what if it didnt have to be that way? What if chaos, random chance, and all the other bullshit beyond our control no longer factored? What if someone could just tell you what you needed to do to seed and be happy?


    <em>They cant.</em>


    It would be easier to work through this if I was looking at it rationally, but Hastur had nailed me to the fucking wall. When he described my perfect future, Id felt an honest-to-god stir. A tug of desire I couldnt rationally exin.


    His predictions had been so ordinary. The system still existed in the future hed outlined for me, yet he hadnt even mentioned it.


    In Hasturs perfect future, Id effectively retired from User life, and it was obvious why.


    I held my gauntlets palm up and stared at them. They were battle-scarred and torn. Beneath the gauntlet, my arms held scars of their own, connected to a patchwork of close calls inscribed across the rest of my body that grew more numerous almost by the day. There was a twinge in my ribs that ached from sudden changes in temperature. And almost every time I sat down, it was harder to get up again.


    I couldnt do this forever.


    Too many times already, Id survived by the skin of my teeth, often on a technicality I hadnt even been aware of. As rational as I tried to be, there was just too much I didnt know. Countless potential threats I couldnt realistically prepare for. Id thrown myself into it, regardless. Fought like hell. Because the struggle was all I knew. And I thought Id epted how it all inevitably ended. That I could be at peace with dying, so long as my family was taken care of.


    Hastur hadmitted the greatest cruelty of all. Hed given me the possibility of hope. Like a bright halo of sun filtering through a curtain.


    Almost as bad, hed given me a taste of what Id been missing my entire life. How it felt like to be normal. The memories hed picked all had a powerful emotion attached to them. Empathy, Joy, Grief. That they werent all positive and ting only lent more credence to the demonstration. Hed let me sample it all. Even now, the agitation and confusion of emotion felt as if it was being filtered through a pinhole. I had nothing topare it to before. And now I knew, in painstaking detail, exactly what I was missing.


    Throughout my life, I viewed my coldness andck of empathy as a shield. It protected me from the worst of the storms. The fallout. Id known on some level that it wasnt free. That the steel blinders that protected me from the lows also robbed me of the highs. But Id never felt the starkness of the difference until now.


    If Hastur had offered to fix me and remove the blinders permanently on the spot, I would have passed. As he himself had said, I wasnt sure Id be capable of doing what I needed to do as a normal person. The fear alone would pose a nigh-insurmountable wall, and there was too high a likelihood of freezing in a key moment.


    But after? If the world hed described was at all possible?


    Could I really put the knife down?


    Live a normal existence, free of the shadows that gued me, unburdened by constant conflict?


    <em>Too good to be true.</em>


    Itched onto the thought like an anchor. Slowly, the false hope drowned beneath a wave of distrust. The gods had given me little reason to trust them farther than I could throw them. Hastur was no exception. His people had been out of pocket from the beginningand so far as I knew, hed done little to correct their supposed missteps beyond wagging his finger from a distance and giving me an artifact-level potion like it was a hallmark bereavement card.


    He didnt care that what theyd done, so long as they were effective. The only reason he was taking action now was to unify the order. Which implied a darker agenda. One that required the sort of people hed recruited to carry out. People like Aaron.


    It was impossible to strangle the hopepletely. Hastur was toopelling for that. I settled for suppressing it, forcing it down into something more manageable.


    Maybe Hastur could do everything he promised, and more. That didnt matter. Distant theoreticals were irrelevant. Power always came at a price. What mattered was discovering what the order was willing to pay. And how much, exactly, it would cost the rest of us.


    Azure.


    The lithid manifested in my mind''s eye, his head hung. Is it time?


    It took me a moment to realize what he meant. What he must have been waiting for, ever since he underwent the geas. You think Im going to release you.


    Azure rubbed his arms. Its the correct decision. My usefulness is limited. Im bound by the geas now.


    Hed answered the lingering question Id summoned him for, though not with the answer Id wanted. Once I realized what was happening, Id hoped the geas wouldnt affect him at all because of his nature. That wasnt the case, and this <em>was</em> going to be a lot harder with Azures hands tied behind his back, but Id never even considered dismissing him. Probably because hed just taken the magical equivalent of a bullet for me.


    Youre not going anywhere. I said firmly. Azure looked up at me in surprise.


    But


    Just, take a back seat for a while. Need to be careful until we know how strict the limitations are. My thoughts went to Nick. Hed given me quite a bit of information, enough that it surprised me hed gotten away with it without breaching the geas. The more I thought about it, the more certain I was that he probably had. But as far as I knew, it hadnt triggered. It was possible it had something to do with intent. Nick probably hadnt realized how much he was giving away, which, in theory, was why the geas hadnt gged him. If there was a weakness there, I needed to exploit it.


    It was just a matter of figuring out how.


    Azure looked like he was fighting the urge to hug me. Really thought I was a goner.


    Not getting out of your contract that easily.


    Thank you, Matt. Truly.


    As the elevator doors parted, the sound of raised voices came flooding in. Sunny and Aaron in the middle of what looked like an intense discussion. Sunny towered over Aaron, while the slimmer man stood his ground, unimpressed by the others intensity.


    I fell back into Myrddin.


    If I said I wasnt shaken by what Hastur offered, Id be lying. And if the evidence that supported his ims grew too significant to ignore, I would at least try to keep an open mind. But that was the best I could do. Because I didnte here to save the world.


    I came here to save my friend.


    And burn this ce to the ground.

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186


    Sunny loomed over Aaron by at least half a foot, doing the most urate demonstration of foaming at the mouth Id ever seen. Despite the intensity, Aaron seemed unaffected, almost nd, hands shoved in his pockets, even as Sunny bore down on him.


    Its too fucking soon to move on the tower. Sunny said.


    Im aware of your opinion on the matter. And if were bitching about expediency, care to exin the User you just railroaded through the process? The same User that apparently just broke protocol and appeared in the centralpound.


    Sunny stuck his finger in Aarons face. A long trail of Lichtenberg figures spanned from his third finger to his forearm. They hadnt been there earlier. Apparently, Seer was telling the truth: anyone outside the Order couldnt see the mark. I recruit whoever the fuck I want.


    Aaron nced at me, though Sunny hadnt realized Id returned yet. An allowance the retainer granted both of us. But I think its a little odd that the User you bring inst-minute assaults and seriously injures members of the team taking part in an operation you vocally opposed.


    Sunny grinned so widely it looked as if his face might split. They attacked him first. And if I wanted to put some of your people out ofmission, Aaron, I wouldnt send a recruit. And he sure as hell wouldnt be unarmed.


    Aarons brow furrowed as he pivoted toward me, directly acknowledging my presence for the first time. You did all that without a weapon?


    I shrugged. They were inexperienced. It didnt seem necessary.


    Right Like I hadnt even spoken. Aaron focused back in on Sunny. You see how this looks? And with the timing, theres no way I can know how much you coached him.


    Stop talking out of the side of your fucking mouth. If you want to use me of something, say it. We can have it all out in front of the court and Sibyl and be done with it. Again, Sunny stuck his finger in Aarons face, a hairs breadth from touching his forehead.


    There was enough tension in the room that it felt like either of them could snap at any moment. I was half-tempted to just leave. If I had the elevator code, I might have. Wash my hands of it, take the non-zero chance they might kill each other and save me the trouble. Instead, I unbuckled my gauntlet. When Azure yed Myrddin in Aarons backyard, hed done so with some cheek. I saw no reason to discontinue the trend.


    I held my bare forearm up to the light. There a trader with ointment? Shit itches like a motherfucker.


    Aarons eyebrows shot up in surprise, while Sunny appearedpletely unsettled. From their reactions, I filled in the nks. Neither expected Hastur to actually talk to me.


    I stand corrected. Aaron murmured.


    Right, uh Sunny attempted to regain his bnce, though his eyes kept flicking to the mark. See? Clearly legitimate.


    He who I think he is? Aaron asked.


    Uhuh. Sunny confirmed.


    Solid get. Though its unfortunate you were the one to bring him in.


    You Sunny bristled and took a step towards Aaron, the tension in the room rising. Aaron held up a hand and ced it on his chest.


    I understand why you skipped the background. That tracks. But youre not skipping containment and analysis. Hes not going anywhere for at least two weeks. And once he does, he needs to be observed.


    Sunnys eyes narrowed, and he shifted his body slightly. He slowly reached towards his inventory with his out of sight arm. Aaron caught the movement and openly smiled, all but daring Sunny to make a move.


    There was a part of me that wanted to let him. Watching Aaron be reduced to a bloody smear on the ground was a personal fantasy of mine. But something about the scene was wrong. Aaron was here, unescorted, yet seemed entirely too confident. He had something up his sleeve. Either way, what Aaron was proposing couldnt happen.


    I cleared my throat. Personally, I dont give a fuck, but Im surprised youre willing to put the research off indefinitely.


    The tension gged as they both stared at me.


    What research. Sunny growled.


    Id like to know as well. Aaron took several long strides towards me, putting himself in my space. I certainly hope you dont intend to vite your geas so soon after invoking the oath. The results of that would be categorically unpleasant.


    I cocked my head. That was a subtle warning for my benefit, disguised as a threat. So Aaron wasnt sandbagging trying to keep me tied to thepound. Is power-leveling the necromancer tied to the advent?


    Not directly. Aaron shrugged.


    Then Im not viting jack. I said. With all the posturing going on in this room, it was hard to keep my bodynguage neutral, not favoring either of them. Wasnt exactly keen on joining the illuminati without a few cards up my sleeve. I only have a handful of User cores on me. Your necromancer will run through them in less than a week. I stashed the rest somewhere safe. If you want more, well, Im not really down for twenty-four seven cult life. Hastur seems chill, but Ive got my own shit to handle.


    chill. Aaron twisted back to look at Sunny. Are we the illuminati?


    Sunny grunted nomittally. Secret society bound by oaths and magic, nascent god, fingers in almost everything?


    Guess we are. Aaron said.


    Severelycking in the triangle department. I pointed out. Whatever caused the rift, the rapport between them was still there. I needed to make sure they didnt resolve their differences.


    Aarons smile faded. As much as I apud your cleverness, were still at an impasse. I cant, in good conscience, let a railroaded recruit roam freely. Even if Hastur himself gave his approval.


    I breathed out slowly. As Id always suspected, Aaron was a fantastic liar. There was no trace of deception in his bodynguage or voice. Problem was, he was effectively hemming me in. Either he was doing it on purpose, or he couldnt find a way to let this go in a realistic manner that Sunny would safely buy.


    An idea formed. Im not sure what hes already told you about me, so Ill just say this. Theres only one thing I care about. Winning this fucking game and getting the hell out of Das. Short of that, acquiring as much power as possible to make the over-arching goal easier.


    Do you have an alternate endgame in mind? Aarons voice changed when he asked. More authoritative and demanding.


    I was already answering before I received the prompt from Azure. Is that an official query?


    Yes. Aaron said.


    Then no. My patron isnt exactly a bullet-point nner. I originally intended to win the events, carrying a single region to the end, getting to know their strengths and weaknesses intimately in case the final stages get unpleasant. If Hastur can follow through on his imend this before the second eventthat wont be necessary.


    Your patron being the Allfather of Chaos? Aaron asked.


    Yes. I admitted. There was no point in denying it, especially when the lie could be so easily conflicted with all the chatty gods going around.


    Did you get the feeling its going that way without Hasturs interference? Last man standing? Aaron asked. I felt genuine interest in the question. Realistically, hed only spoken to Hastur, who probably revealed little beyond hints and riddles.


    Count yourself lucky. I groused. The Allfather is infinitely more cryptic than the Retainer. He mentioned nothing to that effect.


    I didnt ask what the Allfather said. I asked what you felt. Aaron corrected.


    I considered it. If this was really about reformation, as the Overseer implied, I couldnt see it. The systemand for that matter, thest eventprioritized strength over all.


    Theyre burning through casualties at an unsustainable rate. At the very least, its methrower eugenics. Within our dome, I could see a few hundred people left at most. The real question is whether this is the semi-finals.


    And the survivors get pitted against each other after the domees down. Aaron said thoughtfully. Ive considered that possibility myself.


    I silently noted that he hadnt asked me if I was working with Sunny. Either using his authority to inquire directly about a member of the order with simr authority to his own was off-limits, or he knew it was pointless, meaning confirmation that Sunny had found a way to circumvent the geas.


    Putting the theoretical aside, for the moment, I fucked up one of your teams right before an op. That wasnt my intention, and if you want to shift the teams around and find a spot for me, I can more than make up for the three I dropped. Of course, on the condition you drop the istion requirement.


    What Sunnys face turned red.


    I think thats an excellent idea, Aaron said smoothly, all but leering at the taller man. Anything for the advent. Isnt that right, Sunny?


    Sunny paused. He seemed to realize why I was going this route. But he didnt look happy about it.


    What Aaron said next surprised the hell out of me. Our high-level teams are well-bnced. In both powers and personalities. There might be a space for you on one of them in the future, but I dont want to fuck with theirposition right before an op.


    Meaning I trailed off, bracing for it.


    Im putting you with Zero-team. Make preparations, swing by a vendor if you need to, then report to the Ceaseless Knight. You roll out at sunset.

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187


    Aaron showed me around and told me a little about the history. Apparently, the entirepound was a retired missile silo. After it was dmissioned, it was privately sold, and was in the middle of being converted into some tech bros apocalypse hideaway when the dome permanently halted construction.


    That was annoying. The government didnt make a habit of announcing the locations of missile silos, even dmissioned ones. Outside research wouldn''t help me. I needed to locate it another way.


    There was a simple vendor square in the center of thepound. Judging from the open n and alcoves with counters, it had once been a cafeteria. I removed my gauntlet before I perused their wears, and as I hoped, their enthusiasm to help me increased by magnitudes.


    Kicking it off with consumables, I cleaned out a thrilled mage of his status effect palliatives. I already had two of each offered on Kinsleys store, but figured having three wouldnt hurt, and there were a few cures for ailments I had yet to see. I paused in the weapon section, swiping through a tablet that all the vendors used. Unsurprisingly, they had an excellent selection, which presented something of an opportunity. Id been biding my time waiting for an upgrade, intending to fully refresh my collection.


    I had a slight advantage in that everyone and their grandmother seemed to migrate towards hand-crossbows. In a demographic where much of the poption fetishized firearms and venues that offered concealed carry courses were more numerous than coffee shops, it was the obvious fallback for a handgun. The downside, of course, was that everyone was buying them. Id been hunting for a while, but the good ones sold out on Kinsleys store in seconds. And one of my primary weaponsQuick Crossbow of The Frost Leechwas incredibly recognizable both in appearance and effect. Id primarily used it as Myrddin, making it a non-issue if Aaron had stuck me with anyone other than Nick, but now that he had, I was in the unfortunate position of having to improvise.


    What are you buyin?


    I nced up from the tablets screen, unsure if the out-of-ce reference was idental, or if the man across from me was invoking it intentionally. There was an apron tied around his waist, and beneath them, knee-high muck boots. He was dour and gristled and sounded like hed spent hisst break setting a carton of cigarettes on fire and breathing in the smoke. There was a silver tag pinned to one arm of the apron that read: Erik.


    Small de and a hand-crossbow. I said, then amended. A few hand-crossbows, actually.


    How many? The man rumbled.


    Uh. Eight? Actually, nine.


    He looked at me like I was the scum of the earth. You a reseller?


    No, I I stopped mid-sentence to reconsider. I hadnt really been able to talk to anyone about this outside of Kinsley, who didnt have the technical know-how to advise me. Barring some huge, unforeseen oue, Id be with the Order at least until things came to a head. And while Id do everything I could to shroud and mislead them on what the Ordinators core abilities were, theyd eventually learn the brick and mortar of how I fought. And if this was their weapons vendor, a man embedded with killers who knew their craft, he might have a solution for me.


    Briefly, without going into too much detail, I outlined my use-case.


    By the end, the vendor was stroking his beard thoughtfully. Got half a mind to tear you a new one for treating any of my creations as disposable, but I can grasp why yer goin that route.


    Huh. In my mind, vendors got most of their wares from the system. It made sense that some crafters sold their own work. Though from the look of the catalogue, Erik never stopped working.


    He gave me another suspicious look. Before my wheels spin too quick to stop, I should probably ask. Whats your budget? You blow it all at bargain bin potions over there?


    No. I mean, Im not looking at buying any artifacts, but its significant. Even now, it felt strange to say that out loud. Like I was lying, even though it was true.


    Kai! Erik barked suddenly, his voice carrying across the open space of the cafeteria.


    The floor next to Erik turned into a circle of magma, and a figure ascended from it, dressed in violet mages robes. Their face and features were effeminate, and there was a sheen of lip gloss that reflected the overhead light.


    Yes, Erik? They pitched their voice higher than average but read as male. They sounded annoyed.


    Erik pped the mages ass with a meaty <em>thwap,</em> startling us both. He continued, seemingly oblivious to the mages growing ire. Skip the theatrics. I found the market for that enchantment of yours.


    <em>Which</em> enchantment. Kai asked irritably.


    The uh, Erik made a vague gesture, Soul-glue, one.


    Kai threw back their head andughed harshly, then abruptly cut off. The binding?


    That one.


    Kai crossed their arms. The one you waited until <em>after</em> I was reduced to a puddle of post-coital bliss to tell me was asinine and unnecessary? That I was spending hours of painstaking effort on something no one sane would waste enchantment space on and that I should Kai cast an indignant nce at me, and I quote, grow up.


    That one. Erik said again, considerably less confident.


    I cane backter. I said.


    /////


    Erik apologized profusely. The big man was clearly embarrassed at having his drama dragged out in the open. We talked it over and he convinced me to wait on the draw-and-drop idea, suggesting argermission that would y to my strengths. imed he had a prototype in mind that would work perfectly for my unique situation.


    He didnt charge me up front. Said he was confident Id like the end product, and if I didnt, he was equally confident he could sell it to someone with a simr ability. Either because of his embarrassment or appreciation that Id weathered the Kai storm with him, the items he pointed me to in the interim were quality.


    He ced one on the table. For the fights you end quickly.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: ck as the heart of the one who wields it. Because of a confluence of enchantments, critical strikes with this weapon are often fatal, so long as the target loses half their health pool in the initial strike.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Rare</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: S42,000 </strong>


    My eyes all but bugged out of my head as I lifted it up and tested the feel. It was full-size, but so light it almost felt hollow.


    Erik reached behind the counter again and ced a smaller crossbow on the counter. They clearly made it to look intimidating, with jagged white trappings and an off-white body that closely resembled bone. For the white knuckle fights. Figure, when youre in close, doing the gunslinger thing, this could be your opener.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: Despite its ss, this weapon does little enhanced damage beyond the bolt it carries. Its true value lies in the enchantments. So long as the bolt remains embedded in the target, they will find themselves ovee with an agony soplete and exquisite it has the potential to drive the target to madness should the bolt remain in ce for too long.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Rare</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: S68,000</strong>


    Jesus Christ. They did the enchantments on it? I stuck my thumb at the corner where Kai busied themself with an assortment of shining gems at the desk in the corner.


    Kai twisted in their seat and snapped. Im a boy!


    Sorry.


    Erik caught my eye and gave a stoic nod, confirming that Kai was not a person I wanted to fuck with in any capacity. Its a little twisted, but it makes for a hell of a distraction. And as far as the other one goes, I know you said hand-crossbow, but figured youd reconsider once you held it. Cant help you with the daggers, unfortunately. Unless youd settle for a small sword.


    Kai let out an exasperated sigh and stalked towards the counter. He pulled his outer robe aside and drew one of several daggers on his hip. This one was ck with a single line of iid ivory, spanning the wide hilt to the narrow tip. Because you have that mark, and youremissioning something big, Ill give you a loaner.


    What is it? I asked.


    Its a knife.


    I felt the vein pop out on my forehead. What does it do?


    Read the system text, I aint your daddy. Kai walked back to his ce before I could make the mistake of biting back.


    When I read the description, though, my irritation faded.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: This tooth-like de can easily carve throughmon natural and metallic armor types, though it loses sharpness quickly. Once dull, its original sharpness can be regained through both traditional and magical sharpening techniques only a handful of times before it requires re-enchantment from the original source.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Epic</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: ???</strong>


    Hold on, <em>how</em> much is this worth? I asked.


    Dunno. Its a spare. Never had it appraiseddont lose it. Kai called over.


    It was a clever item to lend. While strong andI suspectedmassively valuable, it required maintenance from the original enchanter, meaning no one could run off with it without eventually ending up with a paperweight. But that old familiar feeling of uneasiness washed over me, the same feeling that haunted me every time a person did me an unrequited favor. I dealt and traded favors daily and knew, on an intimate level that there was always an associated cost.


    Perhaps sensing my hesitation, Erik leaned in and lowered his voice so only I could hear. Theres, uh. A lot of swinging dicks around here. Some are just pricks, others like to throw their weight around. Most of em have that tattoo on their wrist. Its not that bad, really. Worked in worse ces. But I guess you could say were looking to expand ourwork.


    Ah. There it was. Show your worth to the up ander, help him out early before he hits his stride and bank on the hope he remembers you when you need it. A simple y, but innocent enough.


    I think I understand. I reached out for Eriks hand. He shook it heartily with enough force that it rattled my teeth.


    Then I forked over the selve, trying not to pay attention to the deep dent in my bnce. Itd been too long since Id delved a dungeon. Bothering Kinsley for a softball quest was always an option if the coffers got low, but considering how much expanding she was doing, I wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. With any luck, this outing with Nick and the Order would be both lucrative and illuminating.


    Heh heh heh, thank you. Erik said.


    He had to be doing it on purpose.

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188


    In an odd reverse of roles, Nick white-boarded the op while I mostly sat and listened. Not that the n was perfect, exactly, but we had a familiar cadence when we brainstormed to solve a problem. So, barring any massive oversights, I held my silence while the others threw bristling res full of barely disguised hostility.


    I wasnt particrly worried. Zero-team lived up to their name. Other than Nick, most of them were a few levels shy of level ten, and nothing about their mix of inexperience and conflicting sense of entitlement impressed me. Keiththe mage whod nearly had his Adams apple relocatedcould barely look at me.


    Hed fold like an eight high when the chips were down. If he even made it that far.


    It was difficult to understand why the Order bothered with Users of this caliber. They obviously cared about strength and power more than anything else. Yet they assigned a member of the court to daycare duty. Power structures were always uneven. The exact reason hierarchies exist. No matter how good you are at something, someone is always better. But the dichotomy between these Users and Cameronwho theyd willingly thrown awaywas significant.


    The n itself was quiet. Discrete. Several teams were deploying at the tower in Region 5. The other, more experienced teams would start higher up. Wed be working our way up the lower levels, clearing the main path. But the real meat and potatoes were the ripples. Nick described them as tiny fractures within the dungeon, small undeveloped sections heavy with magic. They were hidden, but easy enough to identify if you knew how to look. And while they loosely followed the same basic logic as the tower itselfincreasing in difficulty the higher we climbedthe chances of an aberration, loot and monsters inappropriate to the levels increased.


    Our target within the ripples were nners. Tiny, near-transparent entities that shifted form, only identifiable by a pale white glow, apparently tasked with construction and maintenance on the chambers within the tower. Nick had a dimensional satchel that could store, in his words, a Fuck-ton of them.


    Considering that they repaired damage to the chambers and regenerating monsters, I had a strong suspicion about what Hastur wanted them for.


    For an Order of Parcae operation, it was oddly tame. They didnt schedule us to kill Users or rip-off someones inventory. There wasnt even a kidnapping to speak of. Perhaps because it was also Zero-teams first official mission.


    Hold up. Nick stared toward the doorway, then back to the small group, lounging on a series of stools and leather fold out chairs. Give me a second. Review your notesespecially if youre on the four-man. If youre notdont distract the people who are. The game starts here, people. He pointed to his head and walked towards the door.


    A small burble of hushed conversation began as Nick walked away, reminding me of countless ssrooms when the teacher was absent.


    I ignored them. There was a man of average height waiting by the door for Nick, but in Nicks presence, he lookedpletely diminutive. It wasnt just the contrast. He was almost cowering. His long auburn hair was glued to his face like hed just gotten out of the shower, and he made futile looking gestures. When he looked back towards me, his expression seemed to crack, desperation growing by the second.


    <em>Holy shit.</em>


    It was the guy with the crossbow in the tunnel. The guy who killed Jinny. And Nick was just there, talking to him. There was nothing in his bodynguage that reflected he knew who the fuck this guy was.


    Crossbow guy said something heated.


    Nick offered azy stretch.


    It was like they were having two different conversations. Only when he stretched behind his back, his hand mped down on his arm hard enough to imprint the flesh


    Someone tapped me. Keith had apparently taken the intermission as an opportunity to move closer. I dismissed him as a threat almost immediately. There were entire beads of sweat dripping down his forehead in a stream.


    Hey man. He said.


    <em>Hey man?</em>


    Can I help you?


    Look uh. Im bad with conflict. Terrible, actually. So this is really hard for me. Keith trailed off.


    I smiled at him. I can bring my dog out. If you need an emotional support animal.


    No no. No. Not trying to be rudewould love to meet your dog sometime. Keithughed and rubbed his neck. But uh, more of a cat person myself.


    Pity. I was tempted to take it further, but Keith already looked ready to jump out of his skin. Any more and he was likely to go screaming and running out the door. I let my attentionpse and returned to the diagram on the whiteboard. What do you want?


    I dont want anything, necessarily. Keith pushed his sses up his nose. But since were going to be on a team together and all, I just wanna check. I do anything to offend you?


    I cocked my head. Other than attacking me on sight?


    Yeah. <em>Awkward,</em> sorry about that. Keith struggled to continue, like he was wringing the words from stone. but, like, I wasnt the only one.


    Thats true.


    And uh, they got off kind of easy. Where I got the sense that we were a fewplex analogue inputs away from a Mortal Kombat finisher. His hand went subconsciously to his throat. Yeah. Keith said, in a voice that almost sounded disappointed with himself. I justI wanna know, are we cool? I didnt do something to you, or piss you off somehow more than the others during the fight? Because if I did, Im


    You always talk this much? I asked.


    He does. Halima said. She stared straight ahead at the corner of the room. Only her head was visible. The rest of her was submerged in a tub of ice on the floor, wedged between two stools. Id heard of athletes doing something simr. One hell of a pre-game ritual.


    In the short time wed spoken, Id already gleaned everything from Keith I needed. First, he was a punching bag. Had been for a long time, probably before the dome. He was scared of the team, scared of the man at the door, and unsurprisingly, scared of me. Nick might be the only person in the base he wasnt scared of. And like any well-worn punching bag, he already knew this sort of approach wouldnt workanyone dead set on fucking your shit up is unlikely to change their mind if you ask them nicely. But defusing the tension between us wasnt the point. He was testing the waters. Checking to see if I was holding a grudge, and if hed needed to watch out for me in the mission.


    I sighed. Offering Keith a little reassurance wouldnt hurt, if it meant he stayed focused on the mission. They were about to rush me. If our noble Ceaseless Knight hadnt interfered, they would have. I just needed to give them a reason to think twice.


    Keiths mouth quirked. So it wasnt personal?


    Yup.


    Thanks man. He said, oddly ted, then bumped my arm with his fist. Oh god. Why did I do that


    Get your head in the game. I snapped. Were deploying soon.


    Right. Keith focused on the whiteboard so intently, it looked as if his eyes might pop out.


    Myrddin has the right idea. Nick returned, pointing at me with the dry erase marker.


    What was that about? I asked, tilting my head towards the door. The bowman was gone.


    Nick waved me off. A family thing. Dont worry about it. Now that the rest of you have had time to ruminate. He uncapped the marker. Lets go over this one more time.

 Chapter 189

    Chapter 189


    Sybilthe woman I previously referred to as Seersaw us off. The exits were towards the top of the silo in arge cubic room that was littered with narrow stairways that led to various ovals lining the walls, framed by stone. The oval openings contained what looked like a whirlpool of glowing liquid, all draining towards the center from the edges.


    There were hundreds of them. Maybe a thousand.


    I hung back and studied the scene. Most of the oval portals were te blue, but severalin rows high above the floor with no ess point from the stairsshone in green, orange. And a single red portal, positioned at the top in the center.


    I asked the obvious question. What are they?


    Nick looked ready to answer, but Sybil beat him to it. Only her mouth moved, the rest of her body frozen in an almost statuesque poise. The indigo thresholds lead to various locations within the human domain. Only a portion are securedthough their number grows by the day.


    That exined a hell of a lot. It exined how the Order remained so elusive. Kinsleys door spell on a grand scale. Even the color reminded me of Kinsleys door. Which led to my next question.


    Did they stay active during the transposition? I asked.


    Nick tensed. Both Halima and Keith cast concerned nces my way. I couldnt tell if they were ufortable with the line of questioning, or that I was interrogating Sybil.


    Sybil herself seemed unbothered. Most of them, yes.


    <em>Another unfair advantage. And Most. What portals were restricted?</em>


    I cleared my throat. The rest of themthe ones that arent blue. Im guessing they lead to uros realms?


    Nick subtly drove an elbow into my side.


    <em>Shut up.</em> he whispered.


    So it wasnt <em>what</em> I asked that was making mypanions ufortable. It was the fact that I was questioning Sybil at all. Which was odd. She didnt seem all that intimidating from my initial impression, and so far, shed done little other than speak in riddles and act as Hasturs mouthpiece.


    Sybils dreamy expression remained fixed in ce. I cannot answer that question at this time. If you wish to know more, <em>Ordinator</em>,e find me on your own.


    <em>Fucking</em> Sybil. This marked the second time shed screwed me.


    Keith and Halima both stepped away from me. Keith looked visibly horrified, while Halima maintained a stoic expression, hand reaching towards her rayon-wrapped hilt.


    Nick snapped his fingers twice, rounding on Keith and Halima. Hey! Guys. Myrddin took the oath. Which means?


    Hes with us. Keith said.


    Thats right. Nick said. What he did? Whoever he was before? None of that matters. The big guy swore him in. If there was a problem, he never would have made it this far.


    Got it. Keith said unhappily.


    Halima didnt answer, but her hand dropped away from her hilt.


    I considered Nick. Once again, his charisma shined through. But he was too quick on the draw with the intercession. Like it was rehearsed. Someone already briefed him on who I wasprobably Aaron after our initial encounter, and hed prepared ordingly. I was starting to understand why everyone was so terrified of Sybil. The woman knew things, secrets, and she didnt hesitate to air them out regardless of who was listening. It didnt feel malicious exactly. More like she didnt see the value of keeping anything on the down low.


    No wonder they were cautious around her.


    Is that all, Ordinator? Sybil asked. The light trace of sarcasm in her voice was probably my imagination.


    Ill find youter. I said.


    Yes, you will.


    Nickughed nervously. Alrighty. Dont want to take up too much of your time, maam. Lets get this show on the road.


    Sybil held her arms out to either side. An indigo portal from one of the center bands levitated downward, settling on the ground with a low thrum that vibrated the stone beneath us. A series of atonal chimes followed, and a small portion of the flowing blue liquid within the portal leaked into a rut that encircled the entrance. The way is unsealed. You may proceed.


    Nick nodded. Halima, Keith, go ahead and secure the perimeter.


    Visibly relieved at the prompt, they both hurried ahead. There was a popping noise as they entered the portal, air rushing in to fill the space they vacated as they snapped out of existence.


    I waited for Nick to ask what he wanted to ask. He wasnt a lead from the rear sort of guy. If he sent the others ahead, it was for a reason.


    Something weighed down on me, like an invisible hand trying to press me into the ground. I grunted and went down to one knee, heart-rate spiking, fumbling under the pressure to draw my knife from my inventory. My fingers locked around the handle and I drew it out, keeping the de hidden behind my back.


    Nick stared down at me. A red light shone behind his eyes, his aw-shucks persona entirely gone. He looked cold, and numb, and angry. This is an official query, under the authority of the court.


    Youre an official prick.


    d youve held on to a sense of humor. Nick loomed over me. Region six.


    Thats not a question. I nced over at Sybil, checking if she intended to interfere. From the amused look on her face, she looked more likely to grab a bucket of popcorn and settle in for the show.


    Not funny, asshole. Nick seethed. Thousands of people died. All I want to know is if you pulled the plug yourself.


    I considered lying. But what was the point? Sybil probably already knew the answer. And if any fragment of Nicks traditionally staunch sense of right and wrong was intact, no matter how twisted, I was pretty certain how hede down on wholesale ughter.


    Maybe. The word popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.


    What the fuck does that mean? Nick growled.


    It means I dont <em>fucking know.</em> I shouted, then regained control of myself. Something already altered them before I got there. Blood, guts, organs spread out everywhere like some sick painting. There were clothes and cores littering the street. They should have all been dead, but they werent. They were still moving. Still alivereanimated, maybe in some fucked-up capacity. And they were trying to move lux and cores into their receptacle.


    Why? Nick asked, mystified.


    Thats the great part. I said bitterly. I stopped them, and still dont know. No clue what would have happened if they filled the receptacle. Maybe they would have been fine once it was full. Gathered around a bonfire and sang kumbaya. Or maybe what happened to them would have spread like a fucking wildfire.


    Sybil chuckled. It was quiet, almost imperceptible. But I hated her for it.


    Something in Nicks posture changed. The sickly red fire behind his eyes burned out. For a moment, he looked like nothing more than the lost kid I ran into in the rehab center. Scared, and confused, and tired. Not sure I could have made that call.


    Yeah, well, now you know. I stood to my feet


    You, uhyoure not what I thought.


    I strode toward the portal. The sooner we got into the tower, the better. I needed to punch something. Just do me a favor and keep the truth to yourself.


    Nick stirred from his reverie. What, why?


    Getting med for it, regardless. Might as well bank the infamy.


    You want people to think youre a cold-blooded murderer? He asked.


    Frustrated, I made a spastic gesture, indicating the grim portal room and the silo beyond. Where the <em>fuck</em> do you think we are?


    Nick absorbed this, and followed me towards the portal, deep in thought. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sybil gently catch his shoulder and lean in to whisper. Turns out, she did know how to be discreet. I lost most of what she said in the portal''s hum. It was a struggle to pick out thest few words.


    <em>Cast off the chains that bind you.</em>

 Chapter 190

    Chapter 190


    Kid Rocks muffled, highly processed voice screamed pseudo-rap into my ear. Which led me to the next inevitable question.


    What fucking year was it?


    With Kinsleys door, there was a sense of movement. Moving from one room to the next. It didnt matter that the rooms were far apart, because you still felt that transition, that forward momentum carrying you from point A to point B.


    Traveling through the portal on the other hand, was disorienting, verging on disturbing. There was no sense of passage. One moment, you were walking into the portal. The next, you were standing still, staring into the yellow-stained porcin abyss of a brokenmode. It felt like cking out. Losing time.


    My thoughts were jumbled, disorderly. I had a hard time remembering what I was doing and why I was here. I couldnt stop thinking about what would have happened if there was someone in the bathroom upying the same space I just appeared in.


    <em>Maybe thats why they sent you to the broken stall, genius.</em>


    Oh good. <strong></strong> was talking to me again. At least Nick didnt


    I scrambled out of the stall, nearly tripping over my own feet until the open arm of a yellowing, cracked baby changer saved me. I needed to get out of the way before Nick appeared in the same ce.


    Jesus, I really needed to ask someone if telefragging was a thing.


    Carefully, trying to mentally and physically reset, I threw the door open and walked out. The muffled bass grew sharper, but only just, and the scent of mildew, vomit, and liquor washed over me. There was a small bar housing only a dozen stools, with several booths along the left-hand side. At least five heavy-set men in a varying selection of baseball and cowboy hats turned my way. A sixth sat next to the jukebox, fiddling with a handful of quarters. Their suspicious gazes lingered on me for a moment too long, then turned away, settling on where Keith and Halima sat at the bar.


    They looked old enough to join the army, but a bit too young to drink. Keith was clutching his wand beneath the bar, his knee bouncing up and down. Halima looked etched from stone.


    Nick exited a momentter, nodded towards the door. Keith jumped off the stool immediately and followed him, Halima falling in behind them while I took up the rear.


    A notification prompt popped open.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Ancient Blueprint</strong>


    <strong>Initial Objective: Gain entrance to the Gilded Tower.</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective  Acquire at least twenty nners from ripples on the lower tower floors.</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective  Acquire as many nners as possible.</strong>


    <strong>Tertiary Objective  Avoid direct conflict in the tower and keep a low profile. </strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ??? </strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN (M)</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: One Day</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Selve, Hasturs Favor, Market Credit (Variable.)</strong>


    Fuck. What to do? We couldnt fail this mission. Without knowing exactly what Hastur wanted the nners for, it would look bad and draw attention I didnt want. At the very least, we needed the minimal amount. But I didnt like the way the secondary objective was worded. More problematic, there were other teams from the order in y. I didn''t know if they were looking for the same thing, or something more critical.


    I needed to create problems for the Order on arge scale that didnt immediately point to me, while seeding in my mission, without seeding <em>too</em> much.


    Sometimes, I missed the scantron days.


    We pushed open the doors out into the street. Miraculously, it was even louder outside the bar. Id thought, given the theme park aesthetic, that the partynd bustle of region five would die down some after dark.


    Not so much. They just doubled down on the torches.


    It had a sweatier, hammering feeling beneath the moon. More like a nightclub than a theme park. Masses of bodies, dancing to a drum-heavy beat. A woman in glowing neon body paint and peacock regaliaan outfit that narrowly dodged tant cultural appropriation, only by appropriating literally everything into an unrecognizable amalgampaused as she passed by us, offering a tray furnished with colorful asymmetrical bottlesplete with curly straws.


    <em>Spiked with 151. Casino tactics. Avoid.</em>


    I smacked Keiths hand away and smiled at the woman. Were fine.


    Youre in El Dorado, darlings. Live a little. She pulled an eight ball from her corset and wiggled it in front of my face. The substance within was powdery and y red. I waited for <strong></strong>mentary.


    <em>Not a damn clue.</em>


    I took the bag from herpartially because I was curious, partially because I wanted her to leave without drawing more attention to us. I must have looked confused, because, as a helping hint, she tapped her nostril and winked before she sashayed away.


    We took our ce in the long queue to the front of the tower. It seemed even taller now than it had the evening Id scouted the region with Miles, at least as tall as the Bank of America za had been before the meteor reduced it to a smoking ruin. The question was whether it was an optical illusion, or the tower was actually growing.


    I tapped my toe inside my boot, searching for an angle,ing up dry.


    Nick elbowed me. So, uh. You in the habit of taking illicit substances from strangers?


    Rx, boy scout. I scoffed and tossed him the eight ball. He caught it easily, squinting at the bag. You ever see anything this color?


    Saw some designer shit once that was bright green. But nothing quite like this. Nick said.


    It looks like strawberry pixie stick. Halimamented,pletely seriously. She was standing on her tiptoes, trying to get a better look at the bag.


    You dont snort those. Keith said. He was still pouting, probably because Id stopped him from taking the drink.


    Were you homeschooled? Halima asked Keith.


    Seems kind of small time to me. Some girl slipped you a dime bag at a rager. Big whoop. Nick said.


    She''s not some girl. She''s staff. And Ive seen them pass out at least thirty of those bags since. Considering how theyre spiking their drinks with rum running around seventy-five percent ABV, I''m curious what exactly theyre pairing it with. I said. Probably an upperany depressant inbination with the rum was likely to zonk out a person with average tolerancebut considering how <strong></strong> didnt trigger, I was guessing it was system rted.


    Nick raised an eyebrow. You got a pedigree to go with that bloodhound nose?


    Im a fucking sommelier. Whats it matter?


    Keith cleared his throat. I thought sommeliers were wine experts.


    I rolled my eyes. Maybe its nothing. Maybe its cocaine stepped on with cayenne. Either way, I want to know where theyre getting this shit and how they can afford to give so much of it away.


    Nick finally shrugged. Fair enough. Not sure I see the value, but Im kind of slow. Its important we stay ahead of the game. More than a few people back at HQ you could pass that off to. Some of em might even give you a straight answer. A few might even give it back. Nick passed the baggy back to me, and I stuck it in my inventory


    Keith looked puzzled. Is there a liquor version of a sommelier?


    Why do you always look at me when you have a vocabry question? Halima sighed.


    I was about to say something pithy about a bartender when a familiar face caught my eye. A man in a Hawaiian shirt was leaning on a pir next to an old school vendors cart, biting into a churro.


    Immediately, I turned my back to him, my heart pounding.


    <em>Cook. Shit.</em>


    I snuck another nce over my shoulder. The fed looked more or less recovered from our altercation, almost bored as he stared out into the crowd, nibbling on the churro with the slow, constant pace of a marathon runner.


    <em>Of course</em> Miles stationed a lookout here. We scouted out the tower recently, and I ran my fucking mouth about how they were looking for something. I told myself it was fine. That Cook was focused on the exit. Id need to be careful when we made our way out, but he hadnt been exposed to the mask for an extended period. As long as I was cautious, and there wasnt a shift change, Id be fine.


    <em>But what if I wasnt?</em>


    It all hit me at once. A thousand half-finished thoughts and ideas slid into ce, a n to stick the feds so far up the Orders ass they wouldnt know what hit them. Simultaneously, a way to create a future exit n for Nick.


    I had a narrow window, but it was there. Couldnt risk it in a public space, with so many people to notice.


    <strong></strong>


    Several dozen messages arrived, one after another, each berating me for not reaching out sooner or bringing me up to speed. Apparently, Cameron was awake and pissed. Hed tried to muscle his way out and had to be gassed. Kinsley wasnt taking any chances with the containment. Not long after, Miles came looking for me and shed fed him a line. ording to her, he probably bought it. Probably.


    Thetter brought up a pain point I still didnt know how to deal with yet.


    While the three-way altercation between the Ordinator, his unidentifiedpanion, and the feds had bought me time, Miles was going to get suspicious, eventually. If I could use Azure from a distancefind some sort of mana battery that would let him keep his form for an extended period separate from methat would more or less solve the problem.


    But Id ry thatter. I had something more incendiary in mind.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I made a mental note to get that story from herter. I couldn''t imagine someone getting that far into a vocation so early in the game, unless they had some sort of specialized background that tranted.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>:( ></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong> then. Im just gonna set up a nice, very well guardedb in another region.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I was banking a lot on faith. That Hastur would wait, hoping I woulde around despite the disruption. He seemed desperate. And it took far longer than usual for desperate people to cut and run. I could only hope it was the same for gods.


    In the meantime, I yed the role the Overseer created for me. I crafted the message as quickly as I could, checked it three times, then sent it off. It was like writing an essay. An utterly psychopathic, problematic essay, but when you broke them down to their parts, all essays are the same.


    Without missing a beat, I turned to Nick. Not trying to step on your toes here, but wouldnt it be better if we split up a bit?


    Nicks eyebrows narrowed. Never split the party


    Im just talking initially. We enter separately, meet back up in whatever this gilded erection has for a lobby, split back up on the exit.


    Nick considered that, then nodded. Smart. Better for optics. Never know who could be watching. Gonna go up front, keep the kids in the middle. You good to take up the rear?


    Done. I slid back through the line, ending up behind a couple of tough guys who sneered at me when I gged down a shirtless man in a kilt for one of the festive-looking drinks on his tray. It gave me an excuse to move backwards in the line, and to be honest, I kind of enjoyed the potential visual it created.


    Then I waited. If Miles was as smart as I thought, hed figure it out with time to spare.


    Twenty minutester, just as I reached the front of the line, Cooks head snapped up. He dropped the stub of his churro and took several steps forward, brow furrowed as he searched the sea faces with more intensity than before.


    Eventually, his gazended on me.


    I took a tiny suck from the looping straw, and flipped him the bird.

 Chapter 191

    Chapter 191


    <em>Dearest Kinsley,</em>


    <em>I go on to prepare a ce for you. Even now, I ascend to find that which you deserve. Along my ascent I found others like me, of which there are many. We are of one mind and soul. We toil and squall and fuck in the fetid mud, while the elites and gods cavort in the skies above, gorging on the fruits of ourbors.</em>


    <em>Have you enjoyed the clouds, Kinsley? I certainly hope you have, before your wings are clipped. </em>


    <em>Now that my anger has passed, I dont me you for what you did. It was always this way. Society wants to believe it can identify evil people, or bad or harmful people, but its not practical.</em>


    <em>But I cannot look past your hubris. For I am a man of passion. At the orphanage they put me in just before Bush Seniors first term, there were some older boys that caught a horse in a barren field, trapped against the cliff face of a steep mountain. They put kerosene on his tail and lit it and cut the rope. Away went the horse, bombing up the unscble mountain, stumbling, climbing ever higher to get away from the me. But the me went with him. That horse, thats me. The man of passion.</em>


    <em>And you set the fire. </em>


    <em>Ill continue to climb, kindling this eternal me you set. For I have found god and god has found me. Ill search the mountain for the cracks between ces, mine the hidden veins of precious metals that exist within the annals of etemenanki. And I will forge those metals into a sacrificial knife. Ill prepare an altar for you in the shape of an enneagram, with an empty shell arranged at each point. After all, a clown can get away with simple murder. I have something more sophisticated in mind.</em>


    <em>With love,</em>


    <em>Myrddin.</em>


    It was the best I could do on short notice. There were a few misdirects that led nowhere: Id picked an enneagram both because it was less cliche than a pentagram, and if Miles bit and swallowed, it would lead him to the enneagram personality types, and an assumption that each point of the enneagram represented the sort of person I intended to kill: The Achiever, the Challenger, and the Investigator would stand out like a sore thumb.


    I avoided using my own written voice as much as possible, just because Miles was exactly the sort of motherfucker willing to hunt down old essays and homework once he had a writing sample, so I was cribbing from abination of Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Fish, paraphrasing at points, referencing indirectly at others, with some conflicting socialist and fascist undertones thrown in to further muddle the message. Along with making the message sound suitably menacing, the references would serve as a dog whistle for Miles. Hed realize I was taunting himand with any luck, assume Id identally tipped my hand with all the references to verticality.


    It worked. Cook was shoving his way through the crowd, trying to get to me. He circumvented the line and several region affiliated Users stopped him. He pointed at me, then pulled out his badge and tried to shove past. There was still a mark on his throat from the garrote.


    A few of the region Users looked in my direction, but none of them saw me.


    I smiled widely, all teeth, and drew my thumb across my neck. Shortly after, someone escorted me through the massive gates.


    /////


    The scent caught me first. Funnel-cake, fatty meat, and popcorn hung in the air like olfactory ghosts of a dying past. Past the small assortment of vendors that could have been at home in any festival. At the front, there was a counter that looked a bit like a carnival ticket booth, only instead of small trinkets and stic prizes no one remembered more than a day, there was a series of swords, axes, and wands. They werent in the best shape. The top shelf merchandise was top shelf only in the sense that they were mostly free of nicks and dents. Otherwise, they were basic in their designs, and absent the sheen and rity of good metal.


    It was difficult to breathe. Visitors overran the tower, capacity nearly bursting. I spotted Nick. He was standing next to a facsimile of a small medieval vige,plete with astroturf speaking to a diminutive-looking man, nodding enthusiastically as the man took spoke with his hands to entirely new levels, while Keith and Halima stood off to the side, looking terribly bored.


    The peasant reached out to me with an overwrought gesture. Good ser, are you thest hero?


    Whoever he was, hed caught mepletely t-footed. Um what?


    Hes with us, Nick said.


    The peasant raised his hands upward, in one of the most hackneyed portrayals of supplication Id ever seen. Praise be to Elphion! The quartet of heroes has formed in the meteors passing and the ancient prophecy is fulfilled.


    Keith cringed, probably too polite to groan out loud. Nick seemed happy to let the whole thing y out. The massive turkey leg he idly nibbled on hemorrhaged grease from its inadequately swaddled backend, directly onto the astroturf.


    Maybe if none of us said anything, the peasant would cut to the chase.


    Do you have a quest Nick started.


    A prophecy foretold our arrival? Halima asked.


    I was briefly tempted to throttle her.


    Oh yes. The peasant nodded vigorously, clearly excited at the opportunity to delve into the lore and extend his performance. Many moons ago, a traveling tinker passed through. He foretold the rise of the tower, and the many treasuresid within. He also divined the rise of the four heroes that would climb the tower and unearth the mystery within.


    three heroes that would climb the tower and unearth the mystery within. Someone echoed. Another peasant, a few huts down, repeating the same lines to what looked to be a User couple that brought along a third wheel. Which meant our current peasant wasnt improvising. Someone wrote this god awful script.


    The mans arm looped through the womans. I recognized him as one of the pug-faced goons from Sunnys office. But what really caught me off-guard was the woman herself. I knew her immediately; her face permanently etched in my memory since the tunnel.


    She was the tail Id missed. The woman who unloaded the escde with a child in tow and showed up after the trial. Behind them, another, taller man stood. He was wearing a high ponytail wrapped in leather, his face a mask of snark.


    <em>Gotta be one of the high level teams.</em>


    I was still in the back of the group. The peasant was so focused on Halima I could probably move freely. I took a step backward, letting the bustling crowd sweep me towards the second group.


    I focused hard, <strong></strong> filtering the external chatter to a minimum, trying to zone into the conversation.


    The woman fiddled with her wallet, retrieving a small golden card with a dark vortex on the front. Her dark blue acrylic nails glittered in the mess of high spotlights.


    You already have the Praetors Assurance. Their peasant tried to whistle, but the sound he made was more like wind whipping through a cave.


    Wed like to fast-pass to the twenty-eighth floor. Acrylics said. She was the only one looking at the peasant. Pug-face and Ponytail were scanning the room in thatid-back, deceptively casual way that only came with experience.


    Their peasantughed nervously. And the Praetors Assurance allows you full entry to any floor under thirty. But fair warning, brave heroes. Past the twentieth floor, the tower grows exceedingly dangerous. He cupped his mouth and stage whispered. Floor twenty-eight is no exception. Theres talk of vampires afoot.


    Do we look concerned? Ponytail sneered.


    The peasant blinked. Fair enough. He pointed towards the center of the room, a mass of people crowded around them. Bright beams of light illuminated the lifts. Whether they were artificial or actual magic was impossible to say. Your writ of assurance provides you with two free snack items and a discount at the smithery, if youck silver weapons. Once youre prepared to embark, head that direction, a tracker will show you the way.


    They all turned at once, walking towards the lifts with purpose. I kept my head down. Once the high level team was clear, I scanned the crowd. I had a minute, maybe less, before mypanions noticed my absence.


    <em>Need to do this quickly.</em>


    I saw my mark. A man wobbling in adventurers leathers, double-fisting a pair of blended drinks. My goal was nestled between the index and second finger of his left handa golden and ck card, exactly the same as the one Acrylics used to cut the line. I weaved through the crowd, keeping my focus past the man, and toggled the Ordinators mask to full-coverage.


    I ran into him at a brisk walk.


    The moment we collided, I used the distraction of the impact to pluck the card out of hand, covering it by making a show of trying to stabilize his drinks.


    What the He started.


    My bad. Didnt see you. I slid the card up my sleeve and stepped away.


    No shi no shit you didn see me. The man stared at a wet section on his chest with the sort of clouded, confused contempt only a drunk person can manage. I beat a quick retreat towards my group at a brisk walk.


    A few secondster, long after Id safely disappeared into the crowd, I heard him exim. Wherewhere the helld my PayPal assurance go?


    I still wasnt done. I needed to make sure the card worked, and wasnt tied to the Users name. All the vendors had a long line except for one. A guy off to the side who was, strangely, one of the few employees in normal clothes.


    Pink or blue. The man asked, wiping his hands on his apron.


    I dont care.


    Twenty selve.


    Jesus. This really was a theme park. I shed him the card.


    He took the card and marked it with what looked like a piece of gray chalk, leaving a single check mark in the upper-left corner, then reached into the tree of multicolored poofs, handing me a bundle of pink cotton candy and returning the card. Enjoy your stay in the Gilded Tower.


    Good enough. I couldnt know definitively that they didnt have additional security measures in ce when you use the card to skip floors, but the interaction at least supported the possibility that they had nothing sophisticated in ce.


    I toggled the <strong></strong> back to the default setting


    The peasant was still talking when I slid back into ce beside Nick.  and so the third age came to pass


    Nick took one look at me, eyes trailing towards the pink cotton candy in my hand until he looked away, one hand pressed to his mouth, his shoulders shaking.


    What?


    He shook his head, steeling his face. Nothing at all.


    Perhapsfinallysensing he was losing us, the peasant finally directed us to the lifts. Wed be starting on the second floor. I watched the priority lifts out of the corner of my eye, watching to see how the card process worked. If anything, it was less stringent than the cotton-candy vendor had been. They didnt even bother marking the cards, just nced at them, and ushered the holders onto the priority lift.


    A violet message notification lit up in the corner of my vision. I focused on it until it expanded.


    <em>Miles.</em>

 Chapter 192

    Chapter 192


    <strong></strong>


    He was probably still outside, making his way through the line.


    <em>What now, indeed.</em>


    Until I spotted the other Parcae team, the only point of bringing him into this was to draw attention to the tower itself, make things difficult for Aaron, and by extension, Hastur. Hastur had said nothing about the tower, meaning cleaning house was more important to him than whatever the n was here. Spotting the high level team and learning their destination presented a rare opportunity.


    With pug-face on the roster, the team was probably Sunnys. Which sent something of a mixed message, but I still wasnt willing to let the opportunity slide.


    All I had to do was get Miles snooping around the twenty-eighth floor. Hed gotten here quickly, but there was no way he came unprepared. If it was anyone but Miles, I would have hesitated. I was about to lure him into a trap. The trap wasnt for him, exactly, but it could spring back on him just as easily. But Miles wasnt an idiot. And I got the feeling, seeing him work, that he learned from his mistakes. No matter how rushed he seemed, hed be fully prepared this time. Best part was, I could be certain neither side would tell the other fuck-all.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Miles didnt respond, which spoke for itself.


    <strong></strong>


    Again, Miles didnt respond. This time, it felt like a minor misy on my part. Guys like Miles were used to existential threats. They trained them to befortable with the big scary shit and kind of pressure that could paralyze the average person, so long as it was abstract. Needed to make it personal. Break hisposure, somehow.


    But did I really want to go there?


    <em>No choice.</em>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Nothing.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There it was. Hawkins really was the chink in his armor.


    <strong></strong>


    I closed the window, even as a cascade of messages came in, and the notification light rapidly blinked. No matter how much Id just pissed him off, Miles was just as maniptive as me, and I didnt trust myself to not get baited into a response.


    Miles was biblically pissed. That was both a good and bad thing. My method of provoking him was crass, and it wasnt subtle. But that was fine. I had no intention of meeting him on the upper floor. And if it pissed Miles off enoughwhich I suspected it hadthe Adventurers Guild, along with whoever else Miles could scrounge up would trawl around the tower en masse.


    Itd take him a while to get into the tower and buy a pass. Once he arrived at the twenty-eighth floor and found it cleared out and empty, hed backtrack. Reread the message I sent to Kinsley. Eventually hed figure it out. And there was absolutely no way hed be bringing any less than thergest group allowed. A full team of five.


    His people would catch the high level team with their hands in the cookie jar and either wipe them out, force a retreat, or capture them.


    In terms of the overall goal, it aplished little more than putting the order on Miles'' radar. But every avnche started small. As we moved towards the front of the line, I took several deep breaths, trying to steady myself and lower my heart rate.


    I caught Nick staring a hole into the back of Keiths head. I elbowed him. Zoning out?


    Nick jumped, a sh of guilt ying across his features before he settled back into an amiable smile, somehow less authentic than before. Just soaking in the ambience. You know what this ce reminds me of?


    <em>Wizard Quest</em>


    Medieval Times?


    Nah man. Nick looked around as the peasant droned on. Well, sort of. But no. Couple years ago I was chilling in the Midwest over the summer, hanging with this girl I met at an away game. The entire visitliteral weeksshe kept saying Weve got to go to Wizard Quest. And Im like, Do we have to leave the bedroom to get there? But shes insistent. Like its this Wisconsin Ma or something. Anyway, shes obviously excited about it, and I figure, even if itsme itll probably make for a good story.


    Was itme? I asked, knowing the answer.


    Nicks eyes unfocused, his smile slipping. Took like two hours to get there, so the drive kinda tapped me out, wasnt in the best mood. We uh, we checked into the hotel. I wanted to linger a bit, settle, but she pushed me out the door. Didnt help that they charged extra to rent tablets that looked like they came out of a Best Buy bargain bin, running a mobile game from 2010.


    So far it soundsme.


    But then I got inside. And it was a total maze. I found outter it was huge, like half the size of a football stadium. Way bigger than it looked on the outside. There were all these hidden doors, and secret passageways, and mysteries, in the middle of all this art and like, hand carved statues and miniatures. They had a shire, and like a unicorn sky thing


    Volcano biome? I prompted.


    Nick punched me in the shoulder. Hell yeah, he gets it. The volcano biome was sick. There was this small open-holed mountain there up on a tform, and Im just staring at it, like Is it going to erupt? Then this grandma in a Slytherin robe hops up on the tform, walks to the top of the mountain and drops in, like it''s nothing. Anyway, bullshit ck-light room that took all our lives aside, it really was the best. Made me feel like a kid again. And when our time was up, I didnt want to leave.


    It differed from the first time hed told me the story, back when he still needed two horizontal support poles to stay upright and struggled, sweating and crying, fighting for every inch of distance. A few details had changed, but more than anything else it felt mncholy. Almost painful. What was happening to him? Was he just tired and nostalgic? Or was there something else going on beneath the surface?


    I tried to encourage him. Domes not gonnast forever. Maybe when its gone, you can take a road trip. See it again.


    Nah.


    rm bells tripped in my head. Nick brought the ce up three times a year minimum, always intending to go back.


    Why? I asked.


    Nicks smile yed me. Even if it was miraculously still in one piece and up and running after these aliens, or whatever the hell, are done with us, I like the memories I have of it, you know? And I think, if I went back, it wouldnt be the same. I I think


    Next party of heroes, please step onto the lift. A man in a tunic gestured towards the spotlight. The lift was covered in spiraling circles of runes, each smalleryer moreplex than thest. I stepped forward, squinting as the overbright beam of white light poured down on us from above. It had the same effect as a shbang, minus the noise. Keith and Halima followed looking equally difited. Nick stepped onst, and no matter how hard I squinted, I couldnt see his face.


    Stay within the third ring and keep your arms to your side. The gilded tower is not responsible for any damages to your person or loss of possessions.


    I stepped back. As the elevator rose, my stomach plunged. From the grimace on Nicks face, he was thinking the same thing.


    <em>I hope this goes better than thest time I took a group into a dungeon.</em>

 Chapter 193

    Chapter 193


    The sense of dread hung over me like the vestiges of a bad dream. I knew, intellectually, that whatever we were about to get into wouldnt be as dangerous as the trial, or even the early floors of the adaptive dungeon. It probably wouldnte close. But I couldnt shake it. This deeply unsettling feeling that the system could scrub us at any time. That I was malware, cowering in the depth of the systems archives, and bringing attention to myself like this was all but asking for deletion.


    When I squinted directly up, through the intensity of the white beam, I could make out the rolling white artifacts of a sparsely clouded sky. Theres no ceiling.


    Get ready. Nick unsheathed his sword and brought his shield to bear, his expression grim. I drew my crossbow, spun the dagger in my hand a few times, making sure of the weight, ncing over Nicks new gear. Hed upgraded sincest time. His sword was ck and gray, both shorter and thicker than his previous, more heroic looking de. Keith drew a wand topped with a stylized golden sun, his face pale.


    Why are we freaking out that there isnt a ceiling? Halima looked between the three of us, puzzled.


    Dunno. Keith admitted.


    Why did the order bother with Users this green? I waited for Nick to exin. When he didnt, I shot Halima a look. No ceiling means good odds theres not a safe entry point. Theyre not putting us into a staging area, unless theres some kind of force-fieldwhich I doubt. Meaning something could jump us the second were up there.


    Halima absorbed this. Her bodynguage shifted, legs bent slightly. She flicked the guard of her sword with her thumb, exposing the de around an inch, and ced her other hand on the hilt in a stance that anyone who''s watched Saturday morning cartoons for longer than an hour would recognize.


    What? Halima asked. She didnt look at me, but she raised an eyebrow.


    <em>I just hope you have some practical experience, and it isnt all from watching Kurosawa films.</em>


    I drew <strong></strong> and dropped it at my side; it collided with the ground, and Talia appeared in her feral dog form. Asena. Get ready. I told her, using the alternate name wed agreed on. She heeled at my side, cuing several dubious nces from the others.


    Nick gave our distracted members some serious side-eye. Keith. We talked about this. You need to be welded to the tanks ass every time we enter a new area.


    Keith scurried, cing himself next to Nick.


    Nick moved on, And Hal, as much as I appreciate the level of focus youre putting out, arent you forgetting something?


    Halimas gaze rested on Talia, mouth quirked in irritation. She released the death-grip on the hilt of her sword and pped her hands together. A sphere of swirling, transparent wind appeared at the steeple of her fingertips. Momentster, a small, quadrupedal creature made of leaves appeared in front of her.


    So Halima was a fellow summoner.


    I could see why she was reticent to bring it out. It bobbed back and forth on four, fragile looking legs. Its eyes were ck and beady, mouth high on its face, naturally quirked up in a position that gave it a permanent dumb smile.


    It spotted Talia and waddled over, pouncing on therger summons paw. Talia raised her arm slightly off the ground and flicked it. The movement and amount of force applied was delicate, but still sent the leaf-creature flying across the tform, rolling several times.


    Patta. Halima hissed. Heel.


    Stunned but otherwise unperturbed, Patta ignored his master and waddled back over to Talia, rearing back and pouncing on her foot. Talia was obviously irritated, but otherwise let the summon be.


    Halimas summon looked useless, but then again, so did Audrey until she opened her mouth. Regardless of why Nick picked these two Users, it was better to disregard them until they proved themselves.


    I bumped Nick. Gonna draw aggro once were up there. Do some initial damage. Then lead them back to you.


    Nick nodded. He was trying to look calm, but the knuckles that gripped his sword were white, his posture tense. I can do cleanup. Just try not to pull too many.


    Done.


    What about us? Keith asked, gesturing between himself and Halima


    Support the tank. I answered, hoping that was enough to shut him up so I could hear. The bright white light was fading away, skying into clear focus. We had seconds, if that. I cast <strong></strong> on two bolts, sliding them into my newly purchased quiver.


    The sense of dread grew stronger as the tform pushed us up, closer and closer to the destination.


    A shadow flitted overhead, round and circr.


    I tensed. Id underestimated the situation. The tower wasnt even going to wait until the elevatornded to throw shit at us.


    Iing! I shouted. Nick reacted immediately, spotting the projectile and hefting his shield above his head. A dark orange glow overtook the shield, offering full coverage to Keith and Halima.


    New n. Nick growled. nk. Take out their ranged.


    Got it. I prepared for impact, hoping Nick could block whatever wasing. Otherwise, this would be like shooting fish in a barrel.


    Still obscured by the light, I watched as the object struck Nicks shieldand bounced off perfectly, reversing its trajectory and flying back out of the opening. The deflection method was new to mea sort of return-to-sender ability Id never seen him use before.


    I smiled. Whatever just tried to sucker-punch us had another thinging.


    The opening was close enough. I dropped low, gathering the strength in my legs, and leapt straight upward, grabbing the rim of the liftsnding point and yanking myself upward, mantling over the edge and rolling, crossbow in hand, ready to take a cheap shot at whatever was waiting.


    I brought the sights to bear. Only for a dozen barefoot people and in swimsuits to shriek and back away from me.


    It took a moment to disregard them as targets. None of them were armed or armored. And they all looked more scared of me than I was of them. There was a tropical vista behind them, full to the brim with people lounging on foldout chairs, many wearing sunsses, some reading as wavespped up on the sand.


    Instead of some system created hellhole, I suddenly found myself in the awkward position of being heavily armed and fully prepared to go to war in the middle of a beach party.<strong></strong>


    One of the few who didnt scatter, a shirtless man with a well-oiled twelve pack and skin so tan it was almost bronze stepped forward tentatively.


    I shifted the crossbow towards him, and he raised his hands immediately, offering me a serene smile. Wee to paradise, brah. He pointed towards the sandy ground beside me. Mind if we get that back?


    I feigned a nce, intending to bait him into attacking if this was all some weird distraction. When he didnt budge, I actually looked.


    There was a volleyball a few feet to my right, embedded in an imprint of sand. My mind ran through thest minute, re-contextualizing it and leaving me feeling slightly moronic. A few feet behind more-abs-than-god, a small group of simrly dressed users waited on either side of a cheap-looking. We werent under attack.


    Its clear, I called down the elevator.


    Nick, Halima, and Keith arrived on the tform momentster, looking thoroughly confused. I lowered the crossbow and stooped down, scooping up the ball and tossing it to Abs.


    Appreciate you. Abs caught the ball in one giant palm. Then he cocked his head and stuck a finger at me. First timers?


    Something like that. I said.


    Cool. You guys look savage. He looked us all up and down, pausing on Halima. You even brought a samurai. Or a shrine maiden, or whatever.


    A vein popped out on my forehead. It <em>is</em> a dungeon.


    Only if you want it to be. Abs winked. Monsters on the lower levels are pretty chill. The hardcore climbers rarely spend much time here. You get a HUD prompt?


    I noted the purple notification light in the corner of my vision and expanded it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Tower Assignment: y Mandrakes (0/10)</strong>


    <strong>Time: 58:11</strong>


    Yeah I trailed off, not particrly impressed with the tower so far. Jesus. Did I stumble into WoW ssic?


    Abs threw back his head and guffawed. Journey and destination my dude. The objectives personal, so everyone in your partys gotta do it, but if you got a healer or something, you can just let them get thest hit and itll count. Try not to kill more than you have to. Peopleing up the lift after you will need them to clear. Thats the journey part.


    What happens if we run out of time? I asked.


    If you take an L, you get sent to the back of the line and gotta pony up the entry-fee again.


    That was pretty lenient, by system standards.


    And after? I asked.


    <em>Boss fight, maybe? Please?</em>


    You go to the next floor. Or Abs grinned and struck a power pose, flexing a bicep. Stay here and party like the suns never gonna set. Cause it isnt!


    With that, he ran off, bounding back to his pickup game on the beach. Id taken everything he said with a grain of salt. But Nick looked like he hadnt been listening at all. Now that Id switched mental gears, this floor of the dungeon looked more or less conquered. There was even a series of tiki-style thatch huts that appeared freshly built, with multiple serving drinks and refreshments.


    Halima and Keith looked mostly delighted with the development. But Nick didnt fully rx until Abs was long gone, and even then, he made no effort to put his weapons away.


    Nick forced a smile. Beach episode?


    We have a job to do. I watched him carefully.


    Yep. Nick sighed and spun his sword. Ripples are supposed to start on this floor. Remember, we dont know what they look like, but we know that theyre here. Were looking for something wrong with the environment. Could be a section of t grass, or warped tree. Lets get moving.


    We moved in a standard formation as Nick proceeded carefully into the green. The original n was to stay together as we forged through the dungeon floor, away from the beach.


    That n didntst long.


    Halima found the first one. There was a cluster of small white flowers jutting out in all directions Id overlooked. She dropped to one kneeand for a moment, I thought she intended to smell them. Instead, Halima grabbed the cluster at its singr root and yanked.


    The root wasrge, bigger than the flowers and probablyrger than my headbut more than that, it had a faceplete with a gap-mouthed expression as it dangled above the ground and stared at all of us. It pped its stubby hands against its cheeks and <em>screamed.</em>


    Halima dropped it, her eyes narrowing, and grabbed her sword. The draw-attack was lightning fast, but inurate, severing the Mandrakes flowers from its head.


    The mandrake paused, blinking several times, reaching a stubby hand towards its head to feel for the flowers and grabbing stem instead.


    Realization dawned, and it screamed again, the scream crescendoing into a series of shrieks as it raced across the clearing. Its voice was barely decipherable. <em>No no no no no no. </em>


    Talia dashed around to cut off its escape. Instead of trying to go around her, or attacking, the mandrake pulled a 180 and dashed directly back towards us, still screaming bloody murder.


    Keith stepped forward and mouthed something, then flicked his wand. A purple bolt of energy exploded from his wand. It smashed into the mandrakes forehead, knocking it head over heels. I thought that was it, but the mandrake slowly staggered to its feet, drew in a giant breath, and screamed anew sprinting off to the side this time, only to be cut off once more and herded towards us.


    Nick held his shield limply at his side and watched the scene. This is just sad.


    I had to agree.

 Chapter 194

    Chapter 194


    At this range, I barely had to adjust for drop.


    A notification popped.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Tower Assignment: y Mandrakes (10/10)</strong>


    <strong>Time: 32:41</strong>


    I closed the window and turned to Keith. My prior estimation of him had dropped significantly. uracy was by far his best qualityit was actually kind of impressive, he could nail almost anything he was looking at, regardless of movement or range.


    The problem was Keiths kit was utterly devoid of stopping-power. And when I say devoid, Im not exaggerating. His performance when wed found the first mandrake wasnt a fluke. No matter the spell, a magic missile, a wave of fireit aplished nothing more than knocking the small monsters off their feet. The three hed killed had been aplished by using that knock back to his advantage, then dealing the killing blow with a small utility knife.


    And the mandrakes werent strong. When I snuck <strong></strong> hilt out of my inventory to check for weak points, both varieties of mandrakes lit up like a Christmas tree. Literally every part of them was susceptible to damage.


    Done with mine. I announced, spotting another cluster of flowers in the shade of a vine-ridden tree. Lets finish yours.


    Keith followed me, eyes fixed on the ground. The only reason this isnt a disaster is because these things are weak. We both know itd be better if we run my timer out.


    <em>Probably.</em>


    The order didnt recruit you out of charity. I said, dropping to one knee in the shade, gripping the flowers close to the root.


    Just good old nepotism. Keith sighed.


    <em>That</em> piqued my interest. It smelled like possible leverage and actually exined a lot. The worst monsters in the world had friends, family. People they cared about, even if sometimes their methods of caring were utterly twisted. It made sense that theyd want them on the ground floor of Hasturs utopia, and that theyd segregate them from therger threats. Maybe that was what Zero-team was. A bunch of golden-parachute recruits stuck together. But if it was true, that begged a bigger question. What the fuck was the Orders leadership doing, putting Nick in charge of them? They were practically handing him leverage. I didnt know what Hastur offered Nick, but it had to be huge, considering theyd effectively ced a colony of rabbits in the lions den.


    I shrugged. So youre rted to someone important. They wouldnt put you in the field if they didnt think you could hack it.


    Keith was staring down at the mandrake, his face drawn, waiting for me to pull it out. His wand trembled in his fingertips. Its easy to forget that youre new. Everyone contributes. Thats how it works here. You contribute, or you die.


    Look, were not ying league. Im not gonna prep each one for you and let you finish it. If you cant kill these lemmings, go back before shit hits the fan.


    I know. Keith stared at the ground.


    But Im gonna make you spend every second of thisst half-hour, proving to me you cant. I yanked the mandrake free, holding it out to my side and gesturing to it. There had to be a reason Nick brought Keith. It didnt matter what the expectations ced on him were, or what side he was really ying for. Nick wasnt the kind of person to sandbag his team.


    Keith pointed his wand at the mandrake, cringing, and mouthed a word. <em> Bolt.</em>


    The spellnded, shockwave passing over me as the mandrake spun in my grip like a loudlyining helicopter.


    Frustrated, I knelt and stuffed the mandrake back in its hole head first. Its diminutive legs bicycled helplessly through the air. Okay, no. I ran a hand through my hair. Ive seen someone use that spell before. Concentrated fire. Completely obliterated the target. Whats your level?


    Six. Keith admitted.


    Low, but not that low.


    How much INT do you have?


    Twelve, Keith said.


    Again, not low enough for the absoluteck of effectiveness we were seeing.


    Is it your equipment? I eyed the wand.


    Keith looked like he was about to explode. Its my stupid frigging title. He pulled up his UI in a series of angry swipes, and I received a notification.


    <strong></strong>


    In ssic system fashion, it mentioned nothing about spells spoken without conviction being borderline useless.


    I raised an eyebrow. Have you uh tried...


    Keiths face flushed. He looked away. Yes, I spent days screaming out my spells like a badly dubbed anime character. No, it didnt work.


    On some level, that was a relief, though it didnt fix the problem.


    You were better when we fought.


    When you back handed me like an afterthought? Keith asked.


    I shook my head. Still, those spells had more oomph behind them. What was different then?


    I dunno. Keith rubbed his arm. I was scared.


    And you wanted to prove yourself.


    Right. And for some reason my magic works better in User duels, anyway. Sparring, at least. The Ceaseless Knight thinks the vor text is mostly bullshit, and my magic abilities dont really kick in until Im in the shit.


    So this was a stress test, trying to draw Keiths abilities out. That seemed uncharacteristically risky for Nick, but I could see him doing it. Several other simpler possibilities crossed my mind that Nick must have been too preupied to catch. I settled on one.


    They bring in someone new, pit you against them. Do you ever win the first spar?


    Keith looked up, suddenly attentive. No.


    Lets try something. Whats the worst thing thats ever happened to you? I asked bluntly.


    My grandpa died of cancerst year. Keith shifted ufortably.


    Hospice or home-care? I asked.


    Hospice. It was terrible. Keith shuddered.


    Perfect. I nodded. Now I want you to put yourself in that moment. Sitting in the hospice room, smelling the antiseptic, looking at your grandpa.


    Keith seemed uncertain, but his eyes zed over and his expression grew somber as he recalled the memory.


    I continued. Now I want you to imagine a copes in. He sits down, all grim and resolved. Tells you its not cancer. Theres a coverup. That a bunch of these <em>motherfuckers</em> I pointed to the still struggling Mandrake broke in and scared the hell out of your grandpa. That he tried to run, but they caught him unbolting the deadbolt and screamed at him, bursting his eardrums and ruining his bnce. And once he was down, they swarmed him. Stomped him into hamburger with their stupid stubby feet


    Keiths mouth moved, trying to form words, taking several attempts to do so. He couldnt run. He was in a wheelchair.


    Then he rolled away, and the mandrakes tipped it over andughed at him.


    And who was trying to cover up grandpa being curb-stomped by mandrakes? Keith asked, but he was staring at the Mandrakes iling legs. His lip curled.


    I let my temper re. It doesnt matter. What matters is that they did it, Keith! They killed your fucking grandpa, and you know who picked the house? This pathetic screaming motherfucker right here. I yanked the mandrake out of the dirt, switching my grip to the stem and dangling it right in front of the mage. Are you gonna take that Keith? Are you just gonna let him get away with it? Or are you gonna <em>give him what he fucking deserves!</em>


    A shadow dropped over Keiths face and he set his jaw. I reached into his mind with <strong></strong> amping his emotional state. Keith pointed his wand at the mandrake, his hand steady, his expression cold.


    <em>Eradicate.</em>


    <strong></strong> shouted a warningst second. I dropped the mandrake and dove out of the way as a ck and orange beamrger in width than many of the surrounding trees overtook its body, reducing both the mandrake and the tree behind it to ash.


    Holy shit. Keith said. He turned to me, ck-jawed. How...?


    Ive seen this shit before. I stood, brushing bits of dirt and grass off my armor. Titles take precedence over everything. Once you narrow it down, its just a matter of ying Monkeys Paw with the wording, trying to figure out what, exactly, the system is using to screw you over.


    Keith nodded slowly. The result clearly shocked him. This was probably the peak of what hed aplished. He removed his sses and cleaned them, chuckling nervously. I uh. I feel like I should pay you, or something.


    I shook my head. Just a favor to a teammate. Nothing more.


    Excited to move on, Keith ran ahead, and I followed him, watching as he chewed through the remaining mandrakes in a matter of minutes. He never quite captured the power of that initial st again, but it was still overkill. Night and day from how hed been a half hour earlier.


    My concern grew.


    What Id left out from my exnation, was that Id been able to solve the problem so quickly because it wasnt thatplicated. Keith didnt strike me as an idiota little slow, maybe, but it was more that he was too close to the issue to see the solution. It just needed an outside perspective.


    Nick should have seen it.


    No. Not should have.


    He <em>saw</em> it. And instead of fixing it, fed Keith a line of bullshit.


    So, why?


    Considering the potential, I wasnt sure I would have helped him at all if I wasnt one-hundred percent confident I could shut him down if needed. <strong></strong> was Keiths kryptonite. It helped make him, and if necessary, could break him just as easily. Deaden his emotions. Fog his memories, make them difficult to ess. By aiding Keith, Id created a lowly ced but eventually powerful ally within the order. One that was easily controlled.


    But Nick didnt have my abilities.


    Was it that simple? He didnt want to create another powerful User within the Order?


    That felt too easy, somehow.


    Hey guys.


    I jumped at the sound of Nicks voice. He was holding back a canopy of vines, surveying the overturned trees and other damage around the clearing. Jesus. A rampaging elephante through here?


    I chucked a thumb at Keith, watching Nicks reaction carefully. His face might as well have been carved from stone.


    Keith ran over to us, breathing hard. He stopped in front of Nick. I broke through.


    Good job kid. Nick fist bumped him. With style, from the looks of it. Knew you could do it.


    Keith looked away. Cant take full credit. Or any, really. Myrddin figured it out.


    Thanks for the assist, new guy. Nick gave me the same strained smile, thinning by the second. Yall done with your screeching carrots?


    When we both confirmed that we were, Nick pointed back the way he came. Good. Because Im pretty sure we found our first ripple.

 Chapter 195

    Chapter 195


    Nick pushed greenery aside as he led us along a small stream that cut directly through the ind. It wasnt far removed from something we saw during one of my fathers many nature outingsmajor difference being, this stream didnt feel historic. There was no algae, no umtion of dirt or evidence of erosion. Just a smooth stone rut that cut through the center of the ind.


    Up ahead, Halima was kneeling near a section of the stream that dropped off into a stagnant creek. I stared at the ripple. I understood that something was wrong with it, but it took a moment for my mind to stop fixing the facy. The surface of the water was anomalous. There were no frothing bubbles or ripples from where the stream emptied into the creek.


    Its falling the wrong way. I said. Which made even less sense when you considered the stream was clearly heading this direction.


    Halima squinted at the anomaly. Its hurting my brain to look at.


    Then why are you staring at it? Keith asked.


    We dont know what the conditions are. If I look away, it might close Halima answered.


    <em>Jesus Christ. I already need a vacation.</em>


    I spotted a pebble washed up from the creek and picked it up, tossing it towards the small inverted waterfall. The pebble sunk through the transparent curtain and disappeared.


    Pretty sure its not going anywhere Halima. Nickmented.


    As they poked and prodded the ripple, a notification popped in my vision.


    <strong></strong>


    It shouldnt be possible for Kinsley to message me here. But now that I thought about it, there was nothing in the many handouts for the tower that warned about restrictedmunications. Either it wasmon knowledge or the sort of thing you didnt put in a brochure. Another sign that the Tower wasnt a typical Realm of uros.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Renting multiple floors was smart. Assuming Kinsley intended to keep our business on a single floor, it bought us time to organize if there was a raid.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Shit.</em>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong><strong><em>Tara</em></strong><strong>, you asshole. And what the fuckI like her, you cant just rece her because youre bad at time management. What kind of message does that send to me,ing from the only role model I have at the moment? What am I supposed to take away from this? Find a nice undependable boy who kes and uses you as cover from the fuzz?></strong>


    <strong></strong><strong><em>Im</em></strong><strong> your role model, you need to reevaluate some life decisions.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I rubbed at my forehead. Things were piling up again.


    Nick stood in front of us, tying a coil of rope around his waist. Once he finished he pped his hands twice. Okay. Was under strict orders not to pass these out until we found a ripple. Dont think I really need to say this, but do not, in any circumstances, sell what Im about to give you to anyone. Especially the open market. It wille back on you. I guarantee it. Nick pulled three stic cylinders from his inventory and passed them out.


    Everyone besides Nick inspected the cylinders. They were ss, with a small flip cap at one end, not unlike what youd see at the top of a thermos, and the inside was filled with a ck oily substance.


    Keith held his straight up and down and popped the cap, giving it a cautious sniff. The dark fluid lurched, strands of dark-oil clinging to the lid like tiny hands and evacuating the container, wrapping itself on the bare skin beneath Keiths sleeve in seconds.


    Keith yelped and attempted to dislodge the thing, struggling to dig his fingers beneath the rapidly ttening liquid.


    Instead ofing free, it absorbed into his skin, and a momentter a visible glowing UI appeared on Keiths wrist.


    Nick clucked his tongue. Great example of what not to do in the ripple. Dangers may not be as obvious as they are out here. As a ruleif you dont know what it is, dont touch it.


    Fine. Now what is this and why is it in meOh. Wait. Keith fiddled with the disy, breaking into a smile. This is sick.


    Halima leaned over his shoulder, jockeying for a look. An advanced interface?


    Nick nodded. As youve all probably noticed, the system doesnt give us a lot of information in terms of health and status effects, which can lead to some situations where people miss warning signs before everything snowballs. This is your diagnostic, portable doctor, and codex in one.


    Codex? Halima was still looking at the cylinder with revulsion, but the word had piqued her interest. I was still hung up on the portable doctorment. Did the Order have these the whole time? When they were back in the tunnel, even?


    Not really the star of the show here, but yeah. Nick confirmed. If you scan your kills, itll fill in more information about them. Weaknesses, possible drops, and so on.


    Are we centralizing these findings in a database? Halima asked.


    No. Nick hesitated. That was supposedly the n, but some of the higher-level Users and leadership had security concerns. For now everything is client-side. You can share info with other members of the Order, but both parties have to opt-in. Whats more important, is that this thing can and will save your ass. Hopefully, we wont need it as it only kicks in when things are grimbut if you take a critical hit, or get dosed or overloaded with status effects, itll synthesize whatevers needed to keep you alive.


    What are the limitations? I asked.


    It can only do so much. Nick shrugged. Take a big hit or get poisoned, youre okay. Take a big hit <em>and</em> get poisonedyou might be S-O-L. Yellow light at the top left indicates it still has charge. When its off, youre on your own.


    Does it record anything beyond the Users health?


    Nah. It cant ess your ss or title. Which also means it cant factor any passive buffs you have, so keep that in mind.


    With a disgusted sigh, Halima popped the cap on her cylinder. The oily entity crawled from the cylinder and absorbed into her skin.


    I wasnt sure that I believed it. Nick seemed like he was telling the truth, but that didnt mean theyd told him everything. But Hastur already knew too much about me as it wasincluding my ss and abilities. Not to mention, I was pretty sure that regardless of how the device was made, it was Eldritch. Which meant I had some power over it. It was a tough call, but so far, the pros outweighed the cons.


    Still. I wanted to hear Nick admit it.


    Have they had these for long? Tested them? I asked.


    Nick nodded. One founder is a bio-enchanter. Been making them pretty much since the beginning.


    Say Keith and I are on our own and he catches a stray arrow, activating his oh-shit button. It heals him enough to get him going, but he panics and tries to run, inadvertently drawing fire. Hes slower from the previous injuryso the shooter dials in, catching him in the neck. Im close by and I havent used my charge. There anything I can do?


    Nicks blue eyes went cold. Doesnt take long for someone to bleed out from a wound like that. But yes. Didnt cover it, yet, but these things are modr. You can transfer a charge. Assuming you were fast enough.


    Pretty sure Id be fast enough. I needled him.


    Getting ufortable with how realistic this example sounds, Keith muttered.


    Like I said, hopefully we wont need them. Nick crossed his arms.


    I held up a finger. One more hypothetical.


    There was something dark in Nicks expression, almost enough to dissuade me entirely. Go ahead.


    Great. I smiled. Lets say Keith <em>didnt</em> have the Register. He was a VIP, or a contact. Someone we actually gave a shit about keeping alive who got seriously hurt. Could the register make that happen, or is he just fucked?


    Nick stepped in close, looming over me.


    Stop pussyfooting around and say what you want to say. Nick growled.


    Halima raised a hand. Im not sure whats happening? But Id also like to know the answer to Myrddins question.


    Neither of us looked at her.


    You could. Nick finally answered, never taking his eyes from me. The register would transfer to the wounded party temporarily and return to you after it spent its charge.


    Just making sure were on the same page, I said.


    Nick turned away, casting a weary nce over his shoulder. Look. Im an open book. If youhell, any of youhear something about me and have questions, juste find me when were not on a mission. Are we done?


    Were done. I popped the cylinders cap and watched the creeping tendrils wrap around my gauntlet. Unlike Keith and Halima, who were both wearing robes, the semi-transparent UI appeared on my gauntlet, rather than the skin beneath.


    I circled through the readouts. The amount of information on disy was impressive, and the interface simple enough to navigate without getting bogged down in endless textit implemented visuals to create a map of the users body in threeyers. The overall body, underlying muscture, and organs. Most of my disy was white, with some light yellow. When I zoomed it to the secondyer, there were a handful of yellow splotches showing healing wounds, with information listed disying the origin and age, and a percentile chance of infections.


    Out of curiosity, I zoomed oneyer further.


    There was a sh of orange leading from my lungs towards my heart. It disappeared so quickly I almost missed it. I swappedyers several times, trying to recreate the effect to no sess.


    Nick pushed a coil of rope into my chest. He was all business now, the re of irritation more or less gone. Hold this. In case we cant hear each other once Im settled, two yanks means all-clear,e in. Three yanks means hurry the fuck up because things are hot. Four means Im stuck or cant move,e and get me. Five plus means Im panicking and were boned.


    And what are we supposed to do in that case? Keith asked.


    Nick shrugged. Try to tie the rope to something sturdy, so I can climb out if I get clear. Otherwise, cut your losses and report back to the order.


    I studied him, looking for any sign of despair, anything out of the ordinary. Nothing in the way hed presented himself gave the feel of recklessness, or a death wish. But such things were rarely obvious.


    Too often people presented themselves with tranquility and confidence, right before they were gone.


    Sure you dont want me to go first? I asked. Its in my skill set.


    Nick shook his head and gave me a yful shove. Stay in yourne, new guy. When that didnt mollify me, he dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned in. Look, all we know about the ripples is that theyre unbnced and unpredictable. And I feel like we both know how brutal the system can be under normal circumstances, let alone when were venturing into areas it doesnt want us to go.


    When he put it that way, this felt far riskier than Id considered.


    I could drop into a treasure trove. Nick continued. Or a meat grinder. Theres no way to know for sure. If it goes sideways, just get the kids out. He raised his voice. If I go MIA, do as Myrddin says.


    Halima and Keith were both standing far enough away that they probably hadnt heard us, but they seemed to pick up on the finality in Nicks voice. Neither argued, though Halima looked like she wanted to.


    Good luck. Keith said.


    Just a second. I walked the cord of rope back, looping around a nearby tree and forming a fulcrum. Now we at least stood a chance of catching him if he ended up falling into a chasm. I wrapped ayer of rope around my forearm and nodded at Nick.


    Nick made finger-guns, firing a shot at each of us before he blew away imaginary smoke and holstered them. He grinned. See you fuckers on the other side. He stuck his face in the ripple first, then jumped inside.


    <em>No matter what happens. Im not losing you again.</em>


    I dug my heels in and braced, waiting for the rope to go taut. Keithinexperienced, but quick on the draw, grabbed the rope with his bare hands and did the same.


    Halima stood some distance away with her arms crossed, staring at the ripple where Nick had disappeared. We have nothing to worry about.


    Doesnt hurt to be careful. Keith said.


    Have you ever sparred with The Ceaseless Knight? Halima countered. Really sparred, when hes not holding back?


    No but


    Then you cant possibly understand. Theres nothing in this tower that could put him down, permanently


    <em>Shut the fuck up.</em> I hissed. Halima and Keith fell silent. The ck rope was moving, meaning Nick was reaching the end of his lead.


    But he hadnt signaled yet. Something was wrong.


    <em>Come on, man.</em>


    The rope tugged once. Then again, a few secondster.


    See, hes fine Halima trailed off as the rope tugged a third time.


    <em>Hes sending the signal slowly. Trying not to draw attention to himself.</em>


    In a flurry of movement, the rope snapped a half-dozen more times and started iling erratically. There was immediate ck, which I took to mean that Nick was retreating.


    I looped the rope around my waist and continued reeling it in, passing the ck to Keith. Halima was standing stock still, her mouth open. I shouted at her. Get in here!


    She started, rushing to take ce behind Keith. Whatwhat do we do?


    When he went through, he dropped down. He may need help clearing the drop. Get ready to pull your ass off as soon as we hit resistance the rope slipped from my hands. I whipped around, back towards the ripple, trying to get a handle on what just happened.


    Keith held the end of the rope in shaking hands, ck strands fraying from where it was severed.


    Oh fuck. Keith said.

 Chapter 196

    Chapter 196


    <em>Before</em>


    The physical therapy room smelled like lemon pledge and sweat, with a subtle yet distinct undercurrent of feces. I didnt know if they were all like this, like it was some kind of PT signature, but every simr facility in the clinic Nick dragged me to smelled exactly the same.


    <em>Fuck.</em> Nick swore. He was holding onto the two parallel bars in the center of the room, triceps rippling from the effort, upying the same spot hed been in ten minutes ago. The only difference was that the back of his hospital gown came undone, flying open like a reverse cape.


    I penciled in an answer on the prep-book and turned the page.


    <em>The supernova event of 1987 is interesting in that there is still no evidence of the neutron star that current theory says should have remained after a supernova of that size. This is in spite of the fact that many of the most sensitive instruments ever developed have searched for the telltale pulse of radiation that neutron stars emit. Thus, current theory is wrong in iming that supernovas of a certain size always produce neutron stars.</em>


    <em>Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?</em><ol><li><em> Most supernova remnants that astronomers have detected have a neutron star nearby.</em></li><li><em> Sensitive astronomical instruments have detected neutron stars much farther away than the location of the 1987 supernova.</em></li><li><em> The supernova of 1987 was the first that scientists were able to observe in progress.</em></li><li><em> Several important features of the 1987 supernova are correctly predicted by the current theory.</em></li><li><em> Some neutron stars are known to havee into existence by a cause other than a supernova explosion.</em></li></ol>


    I stared at the question. Closed the textbook to check the cover and make sure I hadnt picked up an astronomy prep-book by mistake, then opened it again. The fuck?


    Fucking what? Nick asked. Rivulets of sweat poured down his face, and he squinted at me beneath ringlets of soaked hair. He was leaning further forward, looking like a wax mannequin dumped on the side of the road in Tucson.


    I uncrossed my legs and walked awkwardly towards him, my foot asleep from sitting in one position for too long, and shoved the book in his face. He blinked several times, struggling to make out the text. Motherfucker.


    I reread the question again, looking for the hook Id missed, finding none. Fucking bullshit.


    Pencil in F. Nick suggested, between gasps for air. For fuck off.


    I snorted. Fucking A. But that was too many words between fucks. You broke the chain.


    Still gripping the rails, he extended a finger towards me. Thewyer shit fits. Youre a goddamn shyster.


    Too bad Im not nning to be awyer. Law School was way out of budget. Even if I got a full-ride to both a good college and a solidw school afterwhich I doubtedthe textbooks might as well have been etched in gold. Whatever pittance they offered to cover them wouldnte close to the final tally. It was too much effort for too little payoff. I dog-eared the page forter research and closed the book. Can we say that, by the way?


    Lawyer? Nick snorted.


    Shyster.


    Whats wrong with Shyster?


    Dunno. I think it might be anti-semitic, or something.


    No its not. Nick scoffed. A shadow of doubt crossed his face. Is it?


    I flipped open my burner and pulled up the browser to look it up, only to be greeted by the perpetually spinning circle. Out of data.


    Nick inclined his head backwards towards where his phone sat, sting warring alt-rock over the tranquil spa music that yed through the speakers overhead. Use mine.


    I grabbed his phone. He gave me a sort of half-smirk, and I rolled my eyes and focused on the phone screen. The passcode was four digitsmeaning he was still using a simple passcode, which made this worlds easier than it could have been. I tried his birthday first.


    The phone vibrated, white dots going transparent.


    <em>No dice</em>


    Graduation year?


    <em>Nope.</em>


    Dont lock me out. Nick warned.


    Rx, Ive got three more tries. I studied the screen.


    Nick wasnt aplete asshole, so it wouldnt be a code I couldnt hope to guess. Or at the very least, he thought I could get it, based on what I knew about him previously or information Id gleaned in the hospital.


    I entered four numbers and groaned, internally, as the phone unlocked.


    <em>Really?</em>


    Nick hee-hawed himself into a coughing fit. He continued to snicker, red-eyed. A number so magical I had to use it twice.


    Your passcode literally onlyprises two numbers, repeated. Youre a bellend.


    Gettin a wee bit British in ere, are we? Nick said, in the worst imitation of a cockney ent Id ever heard.


    That supposed to be British? Sounds more like a piss-drunk Australian.


    Nick opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Before I make the obvious joke, we should probably make sure theres no current pending cancetions in my future. Because Im pretty sure I may have, possibly, used that word on Twitter.


    Twitter still exists? I asked.


    Nick nodded.


    I knew that all this was a distraction. That he was procrastinating. And cancetion a few years from now would be the least of Nicks problems once he was back in cirction. Theyd be decent enough until his ration of social pity expired. Maybe a month or two. After that, things would get ugly.


    But he was doing me the service of distracting me from my mother, who was probably still wailing her lungs out in the clinics sister facility.


    Least I could do was humor him.


    I pulled up Safari and did the research.


    So, youre <em>probably</em> in the clear. I finally said.


    Nick squinted. Whats probably? Why probably?


    Shyster ismonly mis-attributed to Shylock, the antagonist from Shakespeares Merchant of Venice. Pound-of-flesh guy was Jewishand there are still schrs arguing over whether Merchant of Venice was problematic as recently as a few years ago. But like I said, its a misattribution. The word itself predates MoV, and is really only derogatory towyers.


    So why am I only <em>probably</em> not cancelled? Nick asked.


    Dubious intent.


    What?


    Did you say it to a Jewish person?


    No. I dont think so.


    Then youre fine.


    Nick was still following through on his wax mannequin act. If he kept heading in this slow, southward direction, he was going to end up on the floor. Christ. You gotta be so careful about what you say these days, man.


    I dunno I hesitated. This was another bad habit Id developed over thest few weeks. Telling Nick my opinion, something I had, previously, fastidiously kept to myself. He had a talent for drawing it out of me.


    Say it. Nick hoisted himself upwards with a grunt, gained four inches, lost three.


    I shrugged. Dont get me wrong. I think theres a lot of problems with the way things are now, with


    <em>Society?</em> Nick drew the word out, making an overly wide, exaggerated clown smile.


    Fuck you.


    Sorry, had to. Go on.


    With the current climate, I said, taking as many mental side steps around the word Society as I could. I think we hyper-fixate on certain issues, while far bigger problems grow malignant and metastasize without ever even making a blip on the social radar. But words have power. Its always been that way. I dont think being mindful of our wordsand how they affect the people around usis that big of an ask.


    Well now I feel like an asshole. Nick grumbled.


    You told me to say it.


    Like. I know that youre right. I agree with everything you said, Im just


    Just what?


    Nick swiped a sweaty arm across his face and mmed his hand back down. I know Im behind on the recovery. And I know what happens if I stagnate. Like, I know. And Im tired of knowing that and only getting bullshitted in return. The fucking therapist calling it an improvement because I took three more steps than yesterday and managed not to shit myself. They keep telling me Im doing great. They keep <em>lying.</em> And Im fucking tired of it. The wooden bars vibrated in his grip. For once, I just want someone to take me to task. Hold me ountable. Like you said. Words have power.


    I mean, your PTs an effete dumbass who probably couldnt wring a genuine moment from Ginsbergs Howl


    I understood about sixty percent of that. Nick said.


    But positive reinforcement is always more effective than negative reinforcement. And thats not societal niceties, or woke posturing. Thats science.


    You remember that Junior ROTC program we had, freshman and sophomore year? Nick asked.


    I had to think about it. Yeah. The drill instructor got fired for putting a student through a car window. School withdrew from the program after that.


    Nickughed. Sergeant Ross. Not even sure if he was a Sergeant, but that was what he made us call him. Dude was such a prick. Plus, Im pretty sure he had a ndr problem. He had these tight pants and you could see hiswell <em>anyway.</em> I was like barely one-twenty, soaking wet.


    Bullshit. The size-difference alone was staggering.


    I was. Nick insisted. Total noodle. Never stepped in the gym for more than a couple days a week, and when I did, it was mostly cardio. Surprising no one, Sergeant Ross didnt like me much. One day, after drills, he stops me. Asks me why Im even bothering with JROTC. And being the nave freshman I was, I told him honestly. I wanted to bulk up for football.


    I groaned.


    He uh, he didnt like that. Nick chuckled. Not one bit. And that motherfucker would not forget it. Every fucking exercise, during drills,ps around the track, hed find me. Look everybody! It''s Talmonts future football star! Peyton Manning weighed two-hundred pounds of rock-hard muscle his freshman year. How much do you weigh, fish? Shit like that.


    Wow. He really was a prick. I said.


    That he was, Nick confirmed. But he made me aware of the gap. Between fantasizing and actualizing. And instead of discouraging me once I realized how much work I was going to have to put in, all he really did was piss me off. Want to prove him wrong. And it worked. I hit the gym five days a week on top of what I was doing with ROTC. By sophomore year, I made varsity.


    I smirked. Just in time to watch them load that dickhead into the back of a squad car.


    He was an asshole. But he told me a truth I needed to hear. And I Nick choked up. I know it doesnt work for everybody. But what I need is for someone to tell me the truth. Because as long as I keep thinking to myself, Its okay, you made it four steps instead of three, Im never going to get out of here. I Nick copsed onto the mat, umted sweat flying.


    I went to help him, then pulled back at thest moment.


    Is that really what you want? I asked.


    It bothered me how invested I was in his answer. I was getting attached. Another sign that this rtionship had run its course. If Nick said yes, it would be as simple as taking my filter off. But Id found, on more than one asion, that people who asked for the truth rarely wanted it.


    Its why we lie so often.


    If I told him the truth, I knew withplete certainty that this odd, cobbled-together friendship we had was over.


    Yes. Nick said.


    <em>Well. It had to end sometime.</em>


    I looked around the room. This would work better if I had a prop, something I could use to raise the stakes.


    Eventually, I found it, sting alt-rock in the palm of my hand.


    What was your goal for today? I asked, pressing two fingers to my neck. My pulse was higher than normal. Why the fuck did I care so much?


    I need I need to make it to the end. He pointed to the far side of the parallel bars.


    And youre healed enough for that? I checked.


    PT says my leg should be weight-bearing. It just hurts. But I think Im done, bro. Cant get over the mental hurdle.


    I took no joy in what I was about to do. But if this was thest time we spoke, myst opportunity to repay him for the distraction hed unknowingly provided, I needed to do it right.


    Hey, Nick? I said.


    W-what? Nick sobbed. At some point, hed started to cry.


    Im sorry.


    I snapped a picture of him, balled up, whimpering, in a puddle of his own sweat and tears. The phone camera made the shutter noise.


    What the fuck? Nick asked, propping himself up on one arm, expression disturbed.


    For the first time in recent memory, I took the mask off. Crouched in front of him. Stuck the phone in his face. Go on. Look at that pathetic, sniveling shit, mewling about how hard his life is. The one wasting everyones time. Take a good, long, look at yourself.


    Nick lunged for the phone. If he was uninjured, I wouldnt have stood a chance of keeping it from him. As it was, all I had to do was pull my arm back. Too slow. Just like at the game.


    Furious, he grabbed for the phone again. I kept it just out of his reach, and stood, holding the phone behind me so he could see it as I walked to the front-end of the parallel bars.


    Youre no Sergeant Ross, Matt. Its obvious what youre doing. He called after me.


    Youre right. Im not your ROTC Drill Sergeant. I reached the end of the parallel bars and stared at him, disgusted. Im the Ghost of Christmas Past, motherfucker. And that I pointed to the wheelchair. is your goddamn future.


    Im not doing this. Nick looked away.


    Fine with me. I made a show of scrolling through his contacts. Lets see. Alexandra, Bethany, Bridget, Bridgette with extra letters, CassieJesus, how many girls do you have in here?


    Cassies my momWhat the hell do you think youre doing? I saw him in my peripheral, watching me with growing rm.


    Composing a group text. Figured wed send everyone an update on your progress.


    Nicks jaw dropped. You wouldnt.


    Do I strike you as someone with a robust sense of humor? I asked dryly.


    Give me my phone back, bro. Nick snapped. His fear, his self-pity, was disappearing. Changing into something feral.


    I dropped it onto the mat at the end of the bars. Come and get it.


    He didnt move.


    I dont have to send the picture, Nick. Because pretty soon, thats the only version of you that exists. Everyone will see it for themselves, live and in-person. And Jesus, talking about never getting out of here? What a fucking joke. I dont care how loaded your parents are. PTs fucking expensive. Their insurance probably covers half at most, meaning theyre covering the other half out of pocket, meaningno matter how busy or absent they are, eventually theyre gonna be sitting in the therapists office, getting a status update on exactly how that money is being spent.


    Fuck. You. Nick grabbed the bar.


    <em>There you go. Use that anger. Channel it.</em>


    I continued, spittle flying out of my mouth. And sure, maybe the PT milks you for a couple more months. Why give up a cash-cow when its still producing?


    Nick screamed, pulling himself to his feet. His face was gaunt, pale, and he clung to the bars like a man holding onto a life preserver in a hurricane. But his eyes burned.


    Eventually, the therapist wille clean. He wont tell them the truth, exactly. That youre a self-pitying child who wont lift a finger to aid his own recovery. Hell find a nicer way to say it. Like, I think Nichs has made all the progress he can.


    Nick took a step forward, and another. Youre a twisted motherfucker


    I sneered. At least Im honest with myself. Can you say the same? When youre back in school, and all those people are watching you struggle to wheel yourself through the hallways, can you be honest with yourself, Nick? That the only reason youre in a wheelchair is not because you need itnot because the injury was so severe that there was no alternativebut because <em>you, fucking, quit.</em>


    I am gonna strangle your ass when I get there. Nick huffed.


    Sure. Ill schedule a time for Friday. Next week, I said. But I was losing the venom. He was over half-way now, moving at a decent clip. Any legitimate annoyance I felt was long gone. Instead, I felt mncholy. Almost sad.


    Strange.


    Nick stalled at the finish line, strands of drool dripping from his lips, his teeth. NofuckI cant do it. Thats it. I cant do it.


    I opened my mouth, fully prepared tounch one final, verbal assault. And found that I couldnt. Instead, I left him there and brought the wheelchair around.


    Yes you can, Nick.


    I <em>cant.</em> Nick shouted hoarsely, his vocal cords fried.


    Just look. I pointed behind him.


    Nick raised his head, slowly, groggily, and gawked at the distance. As Id suspected, hed lost track of the progress he made.


    I swallowed. All the way back therewhen it took you forever to take a single stepyou told me all you wanted was the truth. But if you can look how far youvee and tell me the person who crossed all that distance in such a short time cant close this tiny gap? Youre lying to yourself.


    I need a second. Nick rasped.


    Take ten.


    Nick closed his eyes and moved. His hand slipped off the end of the bar. I caught him under his armpits before he could fall and grunted. Got you, buddy. Ive got you.


    By some miracle I got him into the chair without dropping him or crumpling like a soda-can.


    Nicks head lulled back, eyes half-lidded My phone.


    Yup. I scooped it up off the mat and deleted the picture. Pics gone forever. Youre good.


    <em>Goodbye, Nick.</em>


    Still out of it, Nick tried to put the phone in his pocket, realized he had none, and left it between the chair and his thigh.


    His eyes focused on me. Youre kind of a prick.


    It stung, even though it shouldnt have. Yeah. Just gonna get you to your room, then Ill fuck off, okay?


    Nick held a wobbly finger straight up, like a child with an idea. When we do this tomorrow, maybe bring it down like a notch. Or like, four notches.


    I snorted. Then registered what he was saying. Are you serious?


    Yeah man, Nick swatted at me, annoyed. I mean forget Ross, you made Gunnery Sergeant Hartman look like Mrs. Doubtfire.


    I got about sixty percent of that. I hesitated. But I just want to make sure I understand. You actually want me toe back tomorrow?


    What? Nick smirked. Got a hot date you didnt tell me about?


    <em>Okay,</em> dont be a dick.


    As far as I could tell, he was serious. Id definitely hurt himthat was the problem with negative reinforcement, it always left a mark. But hed forgiven it so easily. We were in uncharted territory now, and I had no idea how to proceed.


    Nicks eyes closedpletely, and it looked like he was talking in his sleep. Can we get ice cream?


    Sure. I can pick up something from the gas station across the street.


    Marble b? Nick asked hopefully.


    I rolled my eyes. Wed need a van with a wheelchair lift again. Itste enough that no one will notice if we borrow one of the clinics. Shift change is in twenty minutes, could snag the keys from behind the front desk easily enough, but Im not gonna go through all of that if youre just going to pass out while Im gone.


    I heard your entire n, and I am awake andmitted, Nick said, forcing his eyes fully open.


    Fine. But youre paying.


    By the time I got the keys and returned, I could hear Nick snoring from outside the door.

 Chapter 197

    Chapter 197


    <em>Either he cut the rope on his own, or something cut it for him.</em>


    I was already moving before the realization fully registered. Even a half-second hesitation could be the difference between life and death. I needed to get in there. Now.


    Reading my intent, Halima ced herself between me and the ripple. Her face was drawn and pale but her mouth was set. Our orders were explicit.


    Get out of my way. I growled.


    Below her, her small bush-with-legs summon looked back and forth between us, coteral caught in the crossfire of a detonating team dynamic. Talia squared off with it, and the bush-thing cowered.


    Halima, dont Keith tried.


    The Ceaseless Knight She cutoff, hand gripping her hilt tighter as I ignored her and attempted to walk around, and she shuffled in front of me.


    <em>Move!</em> I reached out to shove Halima out of the way. Instead of engaging, she danced backward, taking a much more serious stance.


    Interesting. Not like Keith. Much more experienced, despite the social naivety. She was fully prepared for this toe to blows.


    Go back to the entrance. I tried again.


    Not without you.


    I threw back my head andughed, then fixed her with an icy stare. Okay. Fine. We can do this the hard way. But you better be ready to kill me.


    It doesnt have toe to that Halima started.


    Yes, it does. For your sake


    I took another step forward. Halima wasnt much shorter than me, but when you were standing within spitting distance of another person the inches really added up. She didnt budge, but the fire in her eyes grew uncertain.


    Because if your little obstruction here costs me the time I need to save Nick? I wont report it to Hastur. Or Sunny. Or Aaron. I wont report it at all. In retrospect, youll realize what a massive fucking blunder you made. And youll wonder why there were no consequences. In the meantime, everything around youyour every dream, desireanything you care about will fail. Everything you touch, turned to ruin.


    Youre posturing. Yes, you might be further along and have a special ss, but youre just another User. Halima said. It sounded like she was trying to convince herself.


    I leaned forward, looking straight ahead, and whispered just loud enough for her to hear. If you really believe that, why dont you head over to region six. Ask them if fucking with me was worth it.


    Halimas resolve disappeared. To her credit, she didnt move out of the way. But she also didnt move to stop me as I circled around her.


    What do we do? Keith called after me.


    Go back to the entrance. Or dont. Your call, I said.


    He might have said something else, but I didnt hear it. I sshed through the stream and used the rock alcove for support, lowering myself through the mirage.


    Almost immediately, I started falling.


    The operators belt was already on from earlier. I instinctively oriented myself so my feet faced the ground and bent my knees. My eyes took their time adjusting to the darkness, rendering me mostly blind.


    <strong></strong> red at thest second. Inded in a crouch. My bones jostled from the sudden impact, but somehow, I stayed on my feet, maintaining the low-to-the-ground position as I waited for my eyes to adjust.


    The chamber resembled a pit more than a cave. All dirt and mud There were long lengths of tree trunks spanning from the packed-dirt ceiling to the muddy floor, branches and dying greenery squished against the ground.


    A bead of moisture touched my cheek, then another. If the tree-situation wasnt disorienting enough, floating beads of water descending from the entrance in a chaotic spiral popted the cave, as if gravity lost hold on them once they entered the ripple.


    Other than the scattered <em>taps</em> of water beads colliding with each other, the cave was utterly silent.


    The silencemore than anything elsescared the hell out of me. Id expected to find Nick entrenched in a life or death battle. I knew from the way the rope had spasmed there was some sort of struggle close to the ripples entrance. Screams, shing swords, bestial growling and gnashing of teeth, I would have taken any or all of them over the silence.


    Because silence, more often than not, meant the struggle was over.


    It was soplete that I was startled when Talianded beside me in barely more than a whisper.


    Fighting my instinct to charge blindly into the dark, I activated <strong></strong> As the threads spread from my core, the surrounding ground lit up an endless sprawl of glowing red semi-circles, including one directly about two feet in front of me.


    <em>Mines?</em>


    Probably not, but from the spacing and size, thats what they looked like. I went down on one-knee and leaned forward for a better look, prepared to react at the slightest movement.


    When none came, I leaned closer.


    The color was strange. Off-white. And despite the perfectly rounded hole that ensconced it, the surface itself was bumpy. There was a slit between a pair of parallel protrusions, and to the side of that, a distended knot with two holes


    <em>Thats a face.</em>


    I breathed out.


    Dirt scattered as the face rotated forcefully, parallel protrusions of its mouth parting to reveal t, horse-like teeth. Still mostly covered in dirt, the mouth snapped several times, its teeth clicking together in a hollow snap.


    There was a chorus of snaps that followed from either side, as several surrounding faces replied in kind.


    Talia tensed beside me, but after the short echo of chattering, the faces fell dormant again.


    <em>Something odd about that response. Felt instinctual, like something an animal or insect would do.</em>


    I flicked a piece of moist dirt towards the mouth. Watched it bounce off the creatures cheek. The direct hit elicited no reaction. After a few seconds, a split tongue emerged from its mouth, cleaning the surface of its face in a practiced, clocklike motion, knocking the dirt free.


    I reyed the events in my head,ing to an inevitable conclusion. Whatever these things were, they triggered on sound.


    I stood slowly, panning the subterranean until I found what I was looking for. A cluster of holes, each big enough to house a small body. As Id noted earlier, Nick wasnt built for stealth. His armor would have given him away immediately if he was moving. Talia fell in line behind me as we tread carefully, following the trail of holes, noting scuffled footprints in the mud.


    We passed by a thick trunk of inverted oak and found the source of the trail.


    There were a dozen of them, maybe more. Now that I had a better look, their pale skin looked far closer to the mandrakes wed killed on the surface than a humans. Still-their anatomy wasnt far off, though it gave the feel of something prehistoric. They had giant hands and feet, and a vicious curve in their spines that gave them the look of something that was always hunched over. And like that first face in the dirt, they had no eyes or indents for them, everything from their forehead to their noses a smooth line of flesh.


    <em>Cavefiend.</em>


    Several held Nick down. Given the two dead cave fiends, bleeding ck blood into the dirt beside him, they werent taking any chances. Nick was on his back, each arm and leg pinned in ce by several cave-fiends, an endless number of pallid hands and fingers with too many knuckles keeping him t against the ground.


    One dug its fingers into his throat, keeping him from calling out. Another cave fiend,rger than the rest, stood over Nick. It was trying to pry his mouth open. I solved the mystery of <em>why</em> with a nce at the circle of rope hanging on the cavefiends filthy belt, and the small pieces of pink flesh that hung from that rope like macabre ornaments.


    Trophies that looked very much like tongues.


    I wasnt able to save Jinny. It was a failure I still carried with me. Her death happened too quickly, the wound too decisive. But this was different. These motherfuckers had made a critical error. Instead of killing their prey immediately, they intended to toy with it instead.


    The feeling of helplessness disappeared, consumed by something raw, something visceral.


    Something feral.


    I snapped.

 Chapter 198

    Chapter 198


    Time stopped.


    My pulse drove a heavy rhythm, and the red strands from <strong></strong> pulsed alongside it, elerating. I read the cave like sheet music, every cavefiend a note, the path forward annotated as if clearly marked with a piece of paper. I tweaked the threads with <strong></strong>, adjusting them minutely until the pitch was perfectly in tune with the vision, pounding in my head.


    I was dimly aware, somewhere in the back of my mind that I couldnt fully aplish what I intended. I couldnt grasp it. The notes themselves were an unknown quantityI didnt know how the cavefiends danced. Which left a question of how to fill the gaps. I could go overboarpose alternate pieces based on how the notes reactedbut it felt like if I did, the threads would disappear before I could use them.


    See? A voice whispered. Almost reverent. The cave fiends were still frozen in ce, but I felt the same presence I felt during the transposition. A presence that washed over me like a wave of molten iron. All you had to do was call.


    Though I couldnt see her, I was certain. Nychta stood beside me.


    Had I called her? I couldnt remember.


    Its beautiful, but I dont I dont know how to fix it. I said without words, still obsessing over the trailing threads.


    Its not the grimelings that trouble you. While its true youre missing information, thats a trivial fix. Nychta answered.


    As she spoke, a vast quantity of information filtered into my mind. I understood the grimelings better now, was reasonably confident in how theyd react. They were constructs, the base from which many humanoid monsters formed. This batch was tainted by the only other beings presentthe mandrakes, and they were useless now as anything other than guard dogs, shoved within the depths of the ripple.


    More important than anything else? They were monstrously strong.


    The music reordered itself in my mind clearer than before, but as Nychta had warned me, it wasnt fully clear.


    You cant make sense of it because youve taught yourself that violence is a tool. A dull implement, used only when theres no better option. Nychta whispered. While the marauder within you wishes for one thing above all others.


    What? I asked.


    To be <em>free.</em>


    That felt wrong somehow. I felt a strong desire to argue, create a counterpoint. All I could manage was token paranoia.


    Is there a price for your help?


    Nychta balked. A price? No, child. I came only to attend the offering you prepared for me. And though your attempts are rudimentary, and the sacrifices you offer only one step above mindless monsters, I see the same potential I always have. The potential that once stayed my hand. Nudging that potential in the right direction to ensure our joint satisfaction is my duty as your patron, nothing more.


    What do I have to do? I asked. To see it clearly?


    Let go. Nychta whispered.


    Time resumed.


    I slumped the coil of rope off my shoulder and Audrey manifested, scampering silently across the dirt, avoiding the grimelings I mapped out for her, across from the group attacking Nick. She scaled an inverted tree, a handful of vines extending like thin, thorned fingers and smacking against the ground.


    Teeth clicked loudly, shattering the quiet. Hands jutted from the dirt as grimelings emerged. But they were vulnerable exiting the ground, and Audrey capitalized, looping her vines around their necks and lifting them into the air, where they struggled, andshed out, attempting to free themselvesbut their mouths stayed firmly shut.


    I pulled the <strong></strong> from my inventory and fired a bolt into the center grimeling. It mped both hands over its mouth, swinging back and forth by its neck from the impact of the bolt until it couldnt hold its silence anymore and screamed. The scream was guttural and terrifying, the sort of sound that haunted dreams and intensified nightmares


    The two grimelings hanging on either side of the target immediately seized, reacting as if the noise alone was torture, and grabbed at the center grimeling in a blind panic, trying to stop the noise. They attacked itpunching, kicking, eventually tearing, ripping skin from muscle.


    Across from the makeshift gallows, several grimelings among the group surrounding Nick were cringing, pressing their hands against the sides of their head. The big grimeling had stopped trying to get Nicks mouth open and turned around, staring back towards the chaos. It roared once, pping one of the smaller grimelings when it stepped forward and tried to cover therger grimelings mouth.


    I reached inside their minds. They had no fear to y with, just irritation and anger. I amped it up, tried to direct it at theirpanions.


    If I had more time, I probably would have turned them against each other.


    Unfortunately, that was the exact moment Nick tried to make his escape. He dislodged an arm, only for two of them to push it back down. The big grimelinghaving apparently cut his losseswheeled on Nick, intent on killing him before he could slip away in the pandemonium.


    I covered the distance in a dead sprint, instinctively avoiding the burrowed grimelings. Some were rising anywayteeth clicking, faces grimacing at the noisebut others were burrowing deeper.


    Talia got there first and sunk her teeth into the grimelings ankle, yanking violently until it toppled. Brutish and single-minded, the grimeling ignored Talia and dug its ws into the ground, crawling towards Nick.


    Even with everything else going on, I was drawing attentionmore attention than I wanted. There were two of them chasing meand while I was faster, they werent slow. I didnt have time to line up a shot.


    I spun mid-stride and fell, trusting <strong></strong> to guide the shot as I pulled the trigger. The arrow lodged itself in a grimelings shoulder, and this one didnt get its hands over its mouth in time. It screamed, and the others turned on it immediately. I inventoried <strong></strong> and drew <strong></strong> mid-roll, taking aim at the big grimeling who was still wiggling through the dirt towards Nick, waiting for it to pause.


    It swatted down towards Talia, who jumped away, giving me the window I needed.


    I pulled the trigger. The bolt flew true mostly thanks to <strong></strong> dropping vertically while maintaining momentum in a shot that probably wouldnt have passed muster if someone caught it on video. It sunk into the base of therge grimelings neck, killing it instantly.


    But of course, nothing is simple.


    With the big one out of the way, the smaller ones were unbound by hierarchy. And they were all hungry. Nicks dark orange aura red to life as he struggled, simultaneously attempting to regain his sword a few feet away and knock them off of him.


    An icy hand grabbed me by the back of the neck and lifted me up. Id drawn the attention of another grimeling.


    I grabbed its arm with one hand, drawing <strong></strong> from my inventory and driving it into the elbow joint. The de stabbed through bone effortlessly, and the grimeling dropped me.


    But it lunged forward, teeth snapping, and my leg went out from under me. I still had the knife. I could probably fend it off, but Nick was running out of time


    The tip of a sword plunged through the grimelings skull, and it went still. Halima stared down at me, looking uncertain. I pointed to the dead grimeling.


    <strong></strong>


    Halimas eyes furrowed. Behind her, Keith incinerated the group of grimelings gathered beneath Audrey in a massive fireball. She banged the t of her de off the trunk of a tree, facing off with another grimeling that charged towards her.


    <strong></strong>


    I was already running.

 Chapter 199

    Chapter 199


    I drove my knife through a grimelings jaw, de parting flesh and muscle as if it I was tearing through paper.


    The second the de was upied, two of themdistracted with <em>someone</em>immediately wheeled and charged me. I pirouetted, keeping the de in ce without driving it home, pushing the wounded grimeling in front of me like a demented puppeteer.


    Then I twisted the knife.


    The grimeling screamed, and its fellows iled, attacking the screaming grimeling instead. I freed my de just as they tackled it to the floor.


    I stared at them, flipping the knife and catching it easily. The weight differed from <strong></strong> but it felt right in my hand, like itd always been there. This was what strength felt like.


    <em>Think carefully, before you deny who you are. Hastur will make you weak. A submissive dog in his sprawling kennel. Hell smooth out the rough edges, removing everything that makes you unique, significant. Hell strangle the warrior within you until only the child remains.</em>


    Someone was calling my name. My real name.


    They were telling Myrddin to run, insisting that the grimelings were too strong. Someone grabbed at my arm.


    I pushed them away.


    Thenky grimeling with the loop of tongues advanced on me, tworgepanions nking him on either side. One had a scar across his mouth that made it look like he was always smiling, while the other had a slight limpa broken leg that never healed right.


    I cast <strong></strong> on all three of them with a simple wave of my hand, feeling the distant throb of a headache as my mana drained to dangerous levels.


    The repeated uses of my Ordinator abilities cost me. I was down to my weapons and physical prowess, a situation I was dimly aware would have terrified me in normal circumstances. But for maybe the first time in my life, I wasnt afraid.


    <strong></strong> worked best if your opponent made the first move. It was tacticalintended to create openings through careful advancement.


    Without so much as a second thought, I tossed it away.


    Instead, I relied on the pulsing drumbeat in my blood as I sprinted forward, directly at the leader. Lanks mouth twisted, and he opened his arms wide, bracing. I diverged at thest second, ducking low under his outstretched arms before he could catch me in a bear hug, and drove my dagger into the soft tissue behind Gimps knee-cap. Then pried outward.


    Gimp fell, gripping his leg. He had to be in an excruciating amount of pain, but unlike the others, I shed my dagger in controlled horizontal strikes up his arm, tearing veins open, lingering for just a second too long.


    Smiley ran in front of Lank and swiped at me with a backhand. I rolled away, but even the grazing impact across the back of my head and neck was enough to send me sprawling across the ground.


    A hard anger welled up within me.


    <em>Show them who you are.</em>


    I feigned weakness, staying on my hands and knees until Smiley drew close. Watched as he drew his leg high with every intention of stomping my lights out. I shifted at thest second, whirling to my feet and risking onest use of <strong></strong> to staple his foot to the dirt.


    Smiley roared, and I smashed the crossbows handle into his exposed teeth, feeling an unpleasant crunch as they shattered, and shoved him clear, his foot tearing free of the arrow.


    The whole thing had taken seconds. But Lank had no intention of politely waiting his turn.


    He gripped the hilt of his crude knife with both hands and drove it downward towards my chest. His movements were undisciplined, sloppy. But I was off-bnce from shoving Smiley. Dodging wasnt an option.


    I dropped both my weapons and caught his forearms. The impact nearly crushed me, mming me to my knees. Every bone in my body creaked and threatened to snap. He tried to rip the knife free at first, then focused his entire weight on pushing it down until the point of the de scraped against my sr plexus.


    If we stayed like this, hed break me in half.


    Instead, I let myself fall, back impacting the dirt. Lank fell on top of me, single-minded in his ruthlessness, and I felt the de point punch through my armor and an outeryer of skin. But hed moved too close to my face in the transition.


    I leaned forward, into the de, feeling it sink in another millimeter, tilted my head to the side for a better angle and bit down on the soft flesh of his nose.


    It tasted like fungus and bile. I bit down for all I was worth, and iron filtered into my mouth.


    Lank reacted immediately, yanking backwards. But all he aplished was tearing his own nose off his face. I turned and spat it onto the ground, shivering at the taste.


    Lank screamed, a bloody opening where his nose used to be.


    The reaction was instantaneous. The grimelings still fighting the people I came withwho were they, again?all stood at attention, utterly still.


    As one, the majority turned and retreated deeper into the cave.


    I cautiously stooped down and retrieved the de, never taking my eyes from the grimeling. The flesh around the ruins of his nose bubbled, the hole in his face growing smaller. He was regenerating.


    <em>Odd. None of the others did. </em>


    I charged forward, stopping dead to avoid a horizontal sh, pivoting in ce and catching the side of his head with my heel.


    Lank jumped backward, knife held in front of him in a forward grip. He was being more cautious now. It tempted me to push my advantage, but something held me back. The rest of these things couldnt see for shitbut Lank could, at the very least, sense me.


    I tested the theory, making no audible movement but leaning forward, shing out towards his face. Lank leaned back, avoiding the blow,


    I was right. He was more developed than the others.


    Which meant this was a knife fight.


    I shifted into an unknown stance on instinct, pping his knife hand away as he probed my defense, looking for an opening, andnded a ncing blow across his shoulder. The exchange felt rhythmic, and the drums in my mind grew louder.


    We repeated the movements again and more of the rhythm grew louder, easier to grasp. Another exchange of blows before we parted. Another ncing wound, closer to his vitals. There was obvious frustration in his sloppy movements, and he put more and more effort into his attacks, eroding his bnce. I pushed him back, slowly, feeling the drums grow louder as my enemy panicked.


    There was no time to breathe, to think. It was all moving so fast now that the slightest hesitation could kill me.


    Heshed out again, and I punished the move, ying a chunk of pale skin from his knife arm and missing his throat by a hair. He stabbed at me repeatedly, using an absurd amount of power. I danced backward, letting the strange music guide my steps. I knew I was bleeding from a dozen wounds, but it didnt matter.


    All that mattered was finishing the dance.


    <em>There.</em>


    I feigned, stabbing forward with the hilt of the dagger and dropping it into my waiting off hand, driving the de into Lanks guts, dragging a red line up his torso.


    He fell to his knees, gripping my arm with loose fingers. The loop of tongues swayed on the leather circle looped around his waist.


    <em>Finish it.</em>


    An image of Nick popped into my mind, tied up, helpless. What the Grimelings intended to do to him. I locked my fingers under Lanks jaw, prying his mouth open, bringing the dagger forward. His face twisted in realization, revulsion, and fear.


    <em>Finish the song, Myrddin.</em>


    Someone grabbed at me. I kept a grip on Lank and pressed the dagger against their throat, btedly turning to look.


    A girl stood there, lips parted in a surprised o.


    I strained to remember the girls name.


    Myrddin. The Ceaseless KniNichs is hurt. The girl said.


    Somewhere, a curtain fell, and the drums receded immediately.


    As if a fog had lifted, suddenly I could remember her name perfectly. I lowered the dagger. Halima?


    Yes. Halima swallowed, rubbing her throat. She pointed to where Keith stood over Nick, helping him stay upright in a sitting position. Blood matted the back of his hair. He protected us. Saw what you were dealing with and tried to help, but a grimeling struck him in the back of the head.


    Shit. I mmed the dagger behind the Grimelings ear and left in there, in case its regeneration was still in y.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I swiped the notifications away, hurrying towards Nick. The codex dose him already?


    Up ahead, Keith shook his head. Its saying its empty.


    Probably when they caught him earlier. Halima said.


    Yours? I asked


    Used it. Halimas hands balled into fists. I wasntthey were so strong


    Stay focused. I said, realizing with a re of anger that I was projecting. Divine interference asideId totally lost my head, fighting the grimelings. And Nick was in a bad way as a result. The Realms of uros fuck with you by design. Tear away your defenses, literally and metaphorically. Stay present. Dont think about what could have happened. I may need you.


    Halimas eyes widened, and after a moment, she nodded.


    Mfine, Nick said. Tried to push Keiths supporting arms away.


    I dropped to one knee and tilted his chin up. One pupil was pinprick small, the other blown to hell. No, youre not fucking fine. If he fell asleep like this, it was a one-way trip toa town.


    Nick tried to stand, and I forced him back down, swiped my codex against his.


    <strong></strong>


    I selected yes before the text could finish scrolling. The oily ck band on my wrist pulsed, then dimmed.


    I checked Nicks pupils again. The change wasnt huge, but it was there. After a few seconds he stopped swaying. His hand went to his mouth.


    They they were gonna cut my fucking tongue out, man His eyes watered. For a moment, I saw the old Nick, gripping the parallel physical rehab bars.


    I gripped his shoulders gently.


    Ive got you, buddy. I got you.

 Chapter 200

    Chapter 200


    We waited for the codexs hold to take effect. Nick shivered, eyes fixed to the ground, paradoxically looking worse the more he healed.


    I bnced on the precipice of doubt. As cold as it sounds, this failure was the evidence I needed. Proof that Nick was the same person, that his mind wasnt twisted and repurposed by Hastur, Aaron, or some other unknown party. He wasnt infallible, or perfect, or the model of wisecracking indifference. That was a mask. One Id witnessed him don for much of our friendship.


    And now that Nicks mask was gone, it was time to decide what to do with mine.


    If he wasnt at rock bottom, he was close. Hurt, humiliated, probably a little embarrassed. Completely alone in dark waters, haunted by sharks.


    Sure. Revealing my identity was a risk with the geas in ce. One I could barely stomach. But Nick needed an undeniable ally, and if I kept my cards too close out of paranoia or stinginess, I could lose him forever.


    The defensive wounds on his armsthe least threatening injuriespared to his concussionfinally closed.


    Feeling better? I asked.


    Sure thing. Nick lit up the room with a false smile that only stayed fixed for a second before it flickered out into a grimace. Just wish the goddamn ringing in my ears would stop.


    Tinnitus sucks, Keith said. Scratched under my ear protection at the gun range once for just a second, only for some guy at the far end to unload a AK. Itll get better when theres more background noise. Quiet in here.


    Nick leveled a disdainful look at Keith. I know how tinnitus works.


    Sorry. Keith cringed.


    You were supposed to leave me. Nick said, speaking more to Keith and Halima than he was to me. They both looked unnerved by the blunt statement. Halima took a step back.


    I Halima started.


    I cut her off. Yeah. And when I told you scouting was in my wheelhouse, you ignored me in favor of a meat grinder analogy. Guess we all need to work on our listening skills.


    Nick was obviously pissed and scared. Looking for someone to me. And while I didnt particrly care for Keith or Halima, I needed to stop him from punching down and destroying what little unity we had.


    He stood up, got in my face. Youve been bucking the chain ofmand since we met. Popping up in the training center, pushing back on orders, and now this.


    I didnt budge. Oh. My mistake. I didnt realize you were that guy. The leader who only cares about his subordinates following orders.


    Nicks mouth firmed, and I thought he might hit me. Then my words sunk in and the anger drained out of him.


    Guys. Look. Halima pointed towards the end of the cave, where the huge Grimeling had fallen. At first I thought it was moving, regenerating despite the knife I left in its skull. The reality was less horrible but far more disgusting. Distended bumps scurried beneath the Grimelings skin.


    A tiny translucent w emerged from the Grimelings mouth, and a small gtinous crab emerged. It cleaned its eye stalk and looked around, movements sluggish. The eye-stalk fixed on our group, and the crabs mouth gaped open.


    Is that what were looking for? Halima asked, sounding disturbed.


    The crab rotated on six legs, looking for an escape route before another crab emerged from the Grimelings mouth and knocked it off.


    Nick pressed the collection bag into my hands whichnow that I thought about itlooked suspiciously-like. Lets go fishing.


    Catching the crabs was a little like herding cats. Made infinitely easier because Talias pack hunter instincts pulled their weight, and she sessfully chased them away from the deeper recesses of the cave, back towards us. Nick helped for the first few catches, then took a breather he never came out of, face white as a sheet.


    Handling them up close confirmed my suspicions. They were identical to the crab Id found in the light pole outside Nicks house a lifetime ago, the night before we entered the trial. But unlike that crab, there was no system warning this time. I wasnt sure why, exactly, if it was because of Hasturs mandate and influence, or because we had a system mission that specifically mandated capturing them, but after what just happened, I appreciated theck of external interference, which was bing something of a rarity these days.


    Keith bounced back from the near-wipe quickly, and was even casting minor spells to slow the crabs and make capturing them easier, while Halima was walking around in a daze, grabbing the creatures when they came near but doing little else.


    It was nearly an hour before the notification popped.


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    We scrounged up a few more of the crab constructs before exiting the ripple. Outside, the paradise of the towers second floor livened. I was pretty sure I saw a User passing around jello shots, which I pointed out to Nick, who only shook his head.


    After a brief discussion, we took a break to recoup, as practically everyone besides the summons had a level-up pending. Nick sank down on an open beach chair and kicked off his boots, resting his head on the horizontal lined rubber straps that made up the body of the chair, with an arm over his face. When Keith asked what the n was after we leveled, Nick told him there wasnt a n and seemed to sink further into his stupor.


    I could understand how he felt, my mind going back to those desperate final minutes when I was alone in the tunnel. Hed gotten his ass-kicked twice now, and was probably drowning in self-doubt.


    It wasnt his fault, of course. Neither the trial nor the ripple were Standard Adventuring Faire. But he wouldnt see it that way.


    I skimmed the new ability screen first.


    <strong></strong>


    And that was it. Completely absent an in-depth exnation when I needed it most, in true system fashion. At the very least, it was good to have anotherbat skill, though it was troubling in more ways than one. The most immediate concern was the nature of the skill. While it packed more of a punch than <strong></strong> it affected my focus in problematic ways. Id tunnel-visioned hard on the Grimelings to the point my friend in danger almost became an afterthought.


    The second concern was farther reaching. When the Allfather of Chaos gave me his mask, it was through a loophole: The Shrine of Elevation. There were several coincidences that resulted in a high chance Id choose the maskthe fact it had to be amon item, how the gnolls weapons and equipment were unwieldy and poorly suited to me, and my own concerns about staying anonymous. But there <em>were</em> other options. Id chosen the mask, ced it on the Allfathers Shrine, and the Allfather coincidentally blessed it with something that was invaluable to me. So in the end, it was technically fair. The opposite of Nychtas gift.


    Nychta gave me what I needed, when I needed it, her interference much closer to a traditional deus ex machina than a cleverlyid out trail of breadcrumbs.


    If it wasnt breaking the rules entirely, it had to be damn close.


    Which, again, would be fantastic if I was the only one with a divine edge. There were hundreds of thousands of other Users out there, probably thousands with unique sses. And if gods were giving me freebiesdespite the heretical nature of my ssI certainly wasnt the only one.


    Deus ex machinas are a boon when youre the only one getting them. When everyone else is, its just an arms race.


    I pushed that concern away for the moment. The gods were a problem, but a distant one I couldnt do anything about, at least in the short-term. I might try to get in touch with Nychtater, see if I could tease more information from her. She had a problem with Hastur. Maybe I could use that.


    For now, I needed to do something about my more pressing issues.


    I pulled up my pending level and went to work.


    <strong>Level 15 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 15 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 8</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 20+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 17+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 8</strong>


    <strong>Will: 21</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 3</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Born Nihilist</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile I, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth I, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw, Vindictive, Squelch, limation, Hinder</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 9. Suggestion, LVL 23. One-handed, LVL 24. Negotiation, LVL 18. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 15, Bow Adept, LVL 5.</strong>


    <strong>Boons: Nychtas Veil, Eldritch Favor, Ordinators Implements,</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 5. Talia  Eidolon Wolf, Bond LVL 9. Azure  Abrogated Lithid, Bond LVL 20.</strong>


    <strong>Skill Points Avable: 3. Feat points avable: 5.</strong>


    The stat allocation was a struggle.


    Id mostly treated Perception as a dump stat up to this point, pumping Intelligence and Agility to exorbitantly high thresholds. The only time Id deviated from the course other than the initial tests was raising Willpower enough to ensure a solid hold on my summons, and putting a few points in Toughness and Strength when I was in a pinch. It was better to build towards a specific goal than spread points around and end up mediocre in every category. But my circumstances had changed. Putting myself in Nicks shoes, I wasnt sure how much better I would have done, especially if I hadnt noticed the burrowswhich had only happened because we were already at full alert. If I was going to take the scout role more seriously and also use my gifted skill, both in a team environment and solo, I needed to ept the reality that I couldnt do all that as a one-trick.


    I raised Perception by three points.


    Still. Acting in a scout capacity didnt mean I didnt need firepower. I bought <strong></strong> as originally nned, hoping the synergy of <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> would be as solid as expected.


    I nearly bought the upgraded version of squelch before I noticed a small asterisk at the end of the stat sheet.


    <strong></strong>


    My eyes narrowed. That changed things. It meant there was <em>something.</em> I skimmed through the feat list, ncing at Nick. His forearm was still draped over his face, only his nose and mouth visible.


    Hm. I said.


    What? Nick asked. He shifted his arm, peering at me beneath it.


    At a bit of a crossroads. I reached the bottom of the list and scrolled up to the top again. Good news is, I leveled. Got bonus talent points for finishing the Ancient Grimeling.


    Great. Nick said. He wasnt sarcastic, exactly, but utterly devoid of the usual enthusiasm.


    Theres nothing game changing in the feat list. Plus, the systems hinting that something might open up soon. And as much as I hate banking resources, a lot of my feats are fucking expensive.


    Theres an enormous boost at twenty for sure. Nick mused, emerging from the dark cloud that hung over him. Is there something at the current level that you want?


    Nothing Im not already taking.


    Then bank it. Nicks face darkened. Or dont. Its not like I have the slightest bit of authority to speak from. Ive spent most of my system time free falling from one disaster to another.


    <em>Same.</em>


    If were doing self-pity, Im pretty sure I have a huntress and or hedonist goddess stalking me.


    Nick snorted. Is she hot?


    Shes <em>stalking</em> me. I reiterated.


    Not answering my question.


    I blew air out of my lips. Really? JustI dont know. Shes like a hundred feet tall and Ive only seen her legs.


    He pointed a finger at me. But did you want those legs to step on you?


    What. No.


    Probably not hot, then.


    Countless stories of The Greek Gods cursing mortals with bad luck for offending their vanity cycled through my mind.


    I <em>didnt</em> say that. I am not entertaining or corroborating that. And I have no basis on which to make that judgment. I talked to the tape, in case Nychta was eavesdropping. Now stop trying to get me murdered, please.


    Nickughed. So. You get nervous. His eyes trailed to where Halima and Keith sat side by side. Halima was nursing a Pina Cda, casting worried nces our way as they talked in whispers among themselves. Sorry for being a dick, before.


    You werent being a dick. You were coping. I corrected quietly.


    And thanks for saving my ass. I know how bad that could have gotten. Even though I tried to shrug it off. Nick sighed, wearily staring up into the endless blue sky above. I really needed this to go well. The kids are losing faith in me. Hell, Im losing faith in myself.


    Theyre just worried. If anything, Halima has too much faith in you. She had me half-convinced we should follow orders and you could handle whatever was in there.


    He continued on as if I hadnt spoken. Have you ever had to choose between the high road and the low road? Like had to make a decision thatpromised the person you thought you were?


    Yes. I answered immediately. Though the more urate response would have been All the goddamn time.


    What did you do? Nick asked.


    I hesitated. This felt like it was important to him, but I couldnt responsibly give him an answer without knowing why he was asking, and the conclusions he might draw from it. Ive never given much consideration topromising myself, to be honest. A way forward is a way forward. Low-risk beats high-risk. Altruism inevitably ends up as self-serving. Cold rationality always wins.


    Nick raised an eyebrow. Fuck you, I got mine, huh?


    I nodded. At least, that was how I thought before. When I was powerless and surviving was the only aim. Before the dome, my best chance of affecting the lives of people around me was to be a politician, or a leader, which was one hell of a long shot I wasnt particrly interested in taking. But things have changed. To maintain that philosophy, now that I have power? It feels


    Wrong. Nick finished.


    Pretty much.


    It''s funny how weve gone through simr shit ande topletely different conclusions, He said in a tone that gave the impression he didnt find it funny at all.


    Oh? I prompted.


    You said you never really cared if your decisionspromised you. I envy that. He fiddled with the bandage on the back of his head. Being true to myself felt like the most important thing in the world. Someone my parents and friends could be proud of. Taking the high road, even if there was every advantage to be gained in diving to the depths.


    And now? I asked.


    His eyebrow furrowed. Now Im wondering if Ive been bullshitting myself from the beginning.


    There were a hundred things I wanted to say to that. But a notification popped, disying a message from Kinsley. My blood froze.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 201

    Chapter 201


    My heart raced. Fuck. <em>Fuck.</em> Id all but spelled out in shing neon that he was walking into a trap. Miles should have been able to handle it. Realistically, he should have gone in prepared with a strong team, equipped to the nines, fully aware of the potential danger.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    There was a pause between messages.


    <strong></strong>


    God dammit. Why didnt he pick his people more carefully?


    <em>Because you rushed him. Hes only human. As infallible as the rest of us.</em>


    I thought of the fast-pass, nestled safely in my inventory.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong><strong><em>really</em></strong><strong> not fucking around. Sounds more Thirty Days of Night than Twilight. Fast. Agile. Strong.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It took me a second to grasp what she was driving at. The point of contacting Miles and luring him to the tower was to drag the Order, kicking and screaming, out of the shadows. If they killed Miles, it would arguably shine <em>more</em> of a spotlight on them and still aplish that goal. Save us from the inevitable moment his suspicions shifted back to me. Turn him into a martyr.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I could decide what to do when I got there. For the moment, the question was, how the hell did I get clear of this without an alibi?


    Everything okay? Nick asked. He was watching me, and though Id tried to keep my face neutral, it was possible that something slipped through.


    Yeah. Zoned out. I stood and shuffled the umted sand off my armor.


    I can see that.


    Look, were going to talk about this more. I looked him in the eye, trying to impart how serious I was. But I realized we were so busy scouring the ripple for nners we didnt reallyb it over, after. Could be useful resources, items even. Rain Check for when Im back?


    Id tell you to watch yourself, but I dont think you need the warning. Nick pursed his lips, then drew the collection bag out of his inventory and handed it to me. Take it in case you find more crabby friends. Bring Halima if you want an extra pair of hands.


    Thanks.


    If what I had in mind was going to work, Id need to break the line of sight. I focused inward and spoke to Azure.


    <em>Question.</em>


    <em>Answer.</em> Azure chirped back.


    <em>You cant talk to a member of the Order without lying or act against its rules until we know the constraints of the geas.</em>


    <em>That sounded more like a statement.</em>


    <em>You were able to possess me with little issue.</em>


    <em>Still a statement.</em>


    <em>So my question is simple. Could we do the same in reverse, while youre manifested?</em>


    I could almost hear the gears in Azures mind turning. Youre talking about swapping ces.


    <em>Hm. Well, technically you can always assume direct control of your summons. Domination is the most basic form of summoning but it has serious drawbacks. You could make the nt eat a veggie burger, but youd eventually lose your grip, and she probably wouldnt like you much after.</em>


    <em>Would the actions a dominated being took while under direct control trigger the geas?</em>


    <em> No. </em>Azure sounded surprised. <em>If you ordered me to do something against the code and I did it, that would trigger it. But if I wasnt in my body, it would be like I wasnt viting the rules at all. Same as when I took the oath in your steadWhat kind of three-card monte shit are you cooking up?</em>


    <em>Last question. Can I dominate you?</em>


    I squinted after I said it, cringing at my wording, begging any god that happened to be listening that Azure wouldnt make it weird.


    <em>You can dominate me whenever you want.</em> Azure said, an impish lilt to his voice.


    Clearly, the gods werent listening.


    <em>Goddammit.</em> I rubbed my forehead. <em>Great. Thanks.</em>


    With the rules rified, I asked Nick if he wanted anything from the bar, reiterated that Id see be back soon, sidestepped a pair of bare-chested men in swim-trunks and headed towards the one ce that probably held the least amount of interest. The bar. There was a growing line filled with weekend warriors, the sort of people that said things like Work hard, y hard, and debated who in the office had a case of the Mondays. I bumped the internal workings of the mask up to maximum and manifested Azure when I was sure no one was looking.


    What do you think of twinning as a catchphrase? Azure elbowed me.


    Up ahead, some guy with a faux hawk straightened up, doing a vague impression of a meerkat. Twins?


    Over there, I stuck my thumb at a group of girls passing by with simr haircuts, and Faux Hawk pointed them out to his friends.


    Azure shot me an apologetic look.


    <em>Forget it, how do we do this?</em> I asked.


    We switched back to mentalmunication, and Azure walked me through the process. The steps I needed to take to dominate a summon werent all that different from things Id been doing before. Abination of the methods I used to get the most out of <strong></strong> and the out-of-body stuff. I had to imagine seeing the world through his eyes, while alsomanding him to yield.


    Azure stared straight ahead, helping the process while I fell into the summon bond. It felt like mming my psyche against a wall, and within seconds, I had a headache.


    I tried again, this time with more finesse and patience.


    There was a noticeable shift, and I realized Id been thinking about it the wrong way. It wasnt like breaking down a wall exactly, more like my mind was shifting to epass the wall, mimic it.


    Slowly, I felt my mind warp, and the throbbing headache kicked into overdrive.


    A feeling of discement roiled my stomach, like Id just teleported out of existence and back in.


    The beach itself hadnt changed, but it was awash in vibrant colors, moving shapes that I slowly identified as people. They were mostly blue, with some greens and yellows scattered throughout.


    It suddenly reminded me of the color code we used to refer to my Mothers mental state.


    This is how you see the world? I asked quietly.


    Yep. Or at least, your minds interpretation of how I see the world. Azure adjusted his hood, making sure hismyface was hidden before he removed the <strong></strong> and handed it to me. Azure himself was almost uniformly blue, the few strands of yellow and green slowly turning to indigo.


    I snuck a nce towards where my party was sitting.


    Keith glowed with a vibrant yellow aura, bordering on green. Halima was a light orange.


    And Nick was entirely red.


    If that meant what I thought it meant, I needed to fucking hurry. Every second I wasted here was a second Miles couldnt get back, and every second away was a chance for Nick to slip deeper into whatever struggle he was hinting at.


    Time to bounce? Azure prompted.


    Yeah. Get lost. Trail us but dont stick too close. Be ready to swap back after I sell Halima the line.


    Roger. Azure said.


    The quicker I locked in the alibi, the better.

 Chapter 202

    Chapter 202


    Youre sure you dont want me toe in with you? Halima asked for what was probably the third time.


    We back-tracked to the creek, just outside of the ripple. The frayed end of the rope was still hanging, abandoned, from the tree, a persisting reminder of how close wede. Id waved Halima over, and was doing my best not to squint at the bright orange aura that surrounded her.


    An idea struck me. Look, lets just be real for a minute. Your fixation on Nick is only partly professional. Theres a personal aspect, right?


    Halima froze in her tracks like a deer caught in the headlights.  no.


    <em>Naturally.</em>


    Theres no shame in it. Hes a likable guy.


    Everyone liked Nick, Sae herself the only one in recent memory who deviated from that norm.


    Halima shook her head, much more vehement this time. No. I appreciate his leadership style and his strength. Anything else would be untoward.


    Okay, well, if you felt that way, Id probably rest easier.


    What? Why?


    How do you think hes doing right now? I asked.


    This was partly a test to see how perceptive Halima was. I knew he wasnt greatno one would be, after what hed gone throughbut I didnt realize how badly off he was until I took Azures form and viewed Nick through his shade sight. Halima considered the question for a while, which was a good sign. There was no knee-jerk response filtered through rose-tinted sses. The muscles in her forearm flexed as she gripped something in her pocket tightly.


    Fucking awful. She finally said, wordsing out in a stream. And whats worse, hes hiding it. Normally if hes discouraged, or worried, he tells us. Lets us know whats happening in his head. But hes trying to y it off like hes finewhich hes clearly not. Which makes this the first time Ive had to worry he might do something stupid.


    <em>Spot fucking on.</em>


    You have good instincts. I watched, curious, as some of the orange tinting that surrounded her shaded closer to yellow. Was she doubting herself that much? Which is why I need you out here. I like Keith. Think he has a lot of potential. But youre more tuned into Nick.


    Halimas mouth firmed. What do you need me to do?


    I pointed to a wide patch of shrubbery next to the stream and ripple. If I find anything decent in there, Ill leave it here so it doesnt overload my inventory. Its a two-minute trek from here to the beach. Check it from time to time. Thats our excuse for me bringing you out here and sending you back. In reality, I need you to monitor Nick. Dont tip him off, or try to get a reaction out of him to gauge his state of mind. Just keep watch from a distance. Message me as soon as you feel like something might go wrong.


    Halima absorbed the words, then her eyes flicked towards me. Why do you care?


    How many decent people do you know in the Order?


    A few. But youre right that most of the high levels are unpleasant.


    And how many of those decent people are tanks? I asked.


    Ah. Halimas eyebrows furrowed. Just him.


    Exactly. Ill take a mid-level tank I can trust over a high-level I cant any day of the fucking week. I waited for her reaction, hoping shed buy the deflection onto roles. From the thoughtful expression, it looked like she bit.


    Okay. I can do that. Thank you, Myrddin.


    <em>Dont thank me yet.</em>


    I turned towards the ripple, putting my back to her and waved.


    What Sybil said Halima called after me.


    I stopped.


    I wont spread it around. She said, Youre not what I expected. Not at all.


    Not knowing how to respond to that, I nodded. Then entered the ripple.


    I waited for two minutes, pacing until Azure informed me she was gone. I took the mask off and tossed it up through the ripple.


    Then I snapped back into my body, caught the mask, and started running.


    /////


    My Agility put in work.


    I sprinted to the elevator without stopping, where a small group of Users were waiting to take it down, and took my ce in the middle of them. In the meantime, I dialed the masks power up to a hundred. Our n was simple. Azure would attempt to find somethinganything within the ripple, and collect more nners, while I rushed to floor 28 and looked for a way to pull Miles ass out of the fire.


    We might lose tether before that happenedthere hadnt been an opportunity to test how the tether reacted to vertical distance in the real world, and even then the information wouldnt have been all that useful.


    The realms of uros rarely worked the same way. It was possible that wed maintain connection the entire time, or be severed as soon as I took the elevator down. But Halima was so focused on Nick I doubted she would care if I left nothing at the drop spot for her, as long as I returned with something to show for it. It would just strengthen my alibi if Azure could pull it off.


    And with the entire tower being a realm of uros, I could re-summon Azure whenever I wanted without worrying about his rather explosive entrance.


    The real danger woulde from the lobby. By now, anyone who showed as backup would wait there, and many of the feds and members of the adventurers guild had already encountered me once. Which meant relying on the mask could be a lethal mistake.


    I took a breath, cataloged my resources.


    There were about twenty people on the elevator down. Most of them were riding bareback, armor with no helmet. There were exactly three exceptions.


    Big suited armor guy with anceNo go. And why the hell did he have ance?


    Short person with a sword and shieldpossible, but not ideal.


    Thest was a mid-height rogue with a leather hood up, wearing a leather tabard. She read as female, but only because I was standing this close, and I could vaguely catch a hint of strawberrying from her lip gloss.


    <em>Note to self. Increased Perception has the potential to vastly increase your creep factor.</em>


    I mapped out the lobby floor in my head and started working out a basic n. Once I had the bones, I reached out with <strong></strong>


    <em>Hey asshole. Why are you using ance?</em>


    Lance-guy stiffened and tilted to look at the ridiculously enormous weapon that pointed straight up, towering above the rest of the group. With the helmet on I couldnt analyze his facial reaction, but his bodynguage spoke volumes.


    Good. He wasnt a weird dual spec build with high Int and I was getting through, and he wasnt dumb enough to not doubt his weapon of choice.


    I focused on his mind and got a sh of something unexpected.


    Huh.


    I could work with that.


    <em>Monster Hunter. Bet you think youre a badass, using the least popr weapon in the game, but lets be honest, you waited until World, the most popr entry in the series, to jump in. And I bet you havent even touched Rise, let alone Sunbreak.</em>


    Total cold read, but a statistically probable one. Monster Hunter World was a breakout hit, selling more copies than most of the previous entriesbined.


    And from the way Lance-guy drooped, I nearly pumped my fist.


    <em>Let''s be real. You know its not working. This isnt a fucking game. Realnces are made for horseback use and are fucking fragile. The only reason it hasnt broken is because youve been using it to bully mandrakes in the dirt. But look at how worn the tip is, just from that. You keep this up and youre gonna get yourself killed.</em>


    Lance-guy didnt bother to look, because he already knew. Instead, he slowly ced thence back in his inventory, radiating shame.


    <em>So youre not a real gamer. What the fuck even is a real gamer, anyway. You y whats popr, and thats okay. The only people who would judge you for that are elitist pricks too caught up on glory days of the past that they forget how fucking janky things were back when actual dinosaurs roamed the earth. And sure, its a game, but theres nothing wrong with taking inspiration from the things you love. So why limit yourself to the poke-stick? </em>


    Lance-guy cocked his head.


    I caught a sh of aically long Katana.


    <em>Come on, man. Have some standards.</em>


    Another sh. This time a towering sword, thick and long.


    <em>Ah. Greatsword. With your physique, thats a solid choice. And you know who has swords like that? The shop at the front. Bet theyd let you hold them, see how they feel.</em>


    Lance-guy straightened, radiating determination, just as the elevator cleared the shaft, giving us a view of the lobby above. It was still packed, but the feeling was totally different. Instead of the rxed borderline-party atmosphere from before people were looking over their shoulders, whispering. I spotted several feds in the crowd, and a few familiar Users I ced in the Adventurers Guild.


    Many were spread out, but there were several standing off to the sides of the elevator.


    <em>Perfect.</em>


    Shielding most of my body from view behind Lance-guy, I reached out to the Users from the Adventurers guild below and emzoned an image in their minds. Not all of them were susceptible to Suggestion. They didnt need to be.


    The stage was set.

 Chapter 203

    Chapter 203


    <em>They know what you did, during the transposition.</em>


    <em>You thought no one saw. That youd just get away with it.</em>


    <em>But now its over.</em>


    <em>You think theyll take you prisoner? No. Maybe in the old days, but we dont live in the old days anymore.</em>


    <em>And nowthe fuck?</em>


    With the elevator still suspended twenty feet above the ground, the rogue hauled ass, vaulting the guard railing andnding hard. She took less than a second to recover before she set off running at an absurdly fast clip despite the limp, arms pumping, pushing people out of her way, moving like hell itself was chasing her.


    I stared after her, gobsmacked along with the rest of the elevators poption.


    Id clocked her gear and presence, guessed she was a rogue type and that her gear looked too expensive to be a new Users, and made the connection from personal experience that most sneaky-rogue types probably hadnt gotten out of the event clean. She also had some Int, which made reading her harder.


    So mostly, I was throwing darts blindfolded.


    The rogue bowled over Hawkins, flipping over her and dead legging her on the way down. Every present member of the Adventurers Guild converged, far more than I realized. While their armor and robes were still wildly varied depending on ss, there were small colored patches on their shoulders that varied. Probably indicating squad and rank.


    Smart.


    Theyd figured out that something screwy was going on during our previous encounter and nned ordingly. Organized better. Having this intel helped. I needed to keep in mind I wouldnt be able to run circles around them likest time.


    They quickly hemmed the rogue in. She drew twin pearlescent daggers, but as soon as she stopped moving, there was an explosion of sound and a entrapped her from the knees up, sending her tumbling to the ground. Id meant to make her nervous in hopes shed crack and act more suspicious. Not <em>this.</em>


    What the hell <em>had</em> she done during the transposition?


    Many Users and Tower employees alike gathered around the disy at a distant circumference, rubber-necking. That was a mixed bag. It meant more visual interference closer to the chaos, but also left the path from here to the fast-pass elevator as bare and open as a wholesale store after a fire sale.


    Lance-guy gave the pandemonium a quick scan, apparently deciding that getting a closer look was less important than hise-to-greatsword moment, and took long lumbering steps towards the store, clinking as he walked.


    <em>No, wait</em>


    I met immediate, mind-numbing resistance. He was <em>dead-set</em> on visiting the store. So much so that I wasnt sure I could have talked him out of it with hours to do so.


    Swearing under my breath, I kept pace behind him, angling myself so he blocked me from view, slowly increasing the distance between us. My heart pounded in my throat. The further I grew from him, the less coverage he provided. All it would take was one savvy person at the far edges to turn around and spot me, and things would get a lot moreplicated.


    After what felt like an eternity, I reached the fast-pass elevator. The attendant was up on his toes, trying to get a look at what was happening between the gawking crowd.


    I grabbed his arm and forced the card into his hand. He jumped and looked at me with a foggy expression anyone whos worked a twelve-hour shift would recognize. Sorry. Um, floor?


    Twenty-eight.


    A conflicted look came over him, his attention split between me and the chaos. Oh, uh, be careful, fair hero, vampires


    I drink vampire blood for breakfast, let me pass, I snarled.


    Kay. The attendant swiped the card and stepped aside, his warning and my presence as good as forgotten. Jesus, whats with the vampire craze all of a sudden?


    I was so fixated on getting onto the elevator clear of the lobby that thest muttering didnt sink in until the elevator was already moving. Wait. How many people are on the twenty-eighth floor?


    Good luck vanquishing the Dark Lord, hero. He gave me a wave without looking back.


    How many people? I hissed, trying to keep my voice down even as the elevator rose higher.


    We await your victorious return.


    You <em>fucker!</em>


    But unless I started screaming at the top of my lungs, he was already out of earshot.


    /////


    I knelt in the center of the elevator. My heart was still racing, for an entirely different reason. I had every intention of entering a ripple on 28. One of the highest the Gilded tower would allow you to jump to. There was a reason I hadnt dared push farther into the Adaptive Dungeon. The more difficult system content didnt screw around. Id nearly died fighting Azure in his corrupted form.


    There were unknown variables in the ripple. The high-level team and Miles group, along with the Adventurers Guilds rescue team made three, but the attendant made it sound like there were more. If the Adventurers Guild sent in a second rescue group, that made four, but I wasnt sure if they would when, ording to Kinsley, the first was trounced so soundly.


    And unlike the Adaptive Dungeon, there was no guarantee of a possibility of clutching this out.


    Talia paced back and forth. Even Audrey, shifting back and forth ufortably on her vines looked profoundly ufortable.


    <em>Azure. You still around?</em> I tried.


    <em>Yes. Not only is our alibi irond, I found some useful stuff. Valuable stuff, anyway. Did you know these Grimelings have gems deep in their ear canals? Like oysters or something. I know theyre supposed to be screwups, or spares, or whatever, but what exactly is the purpose of that</em>


    <em>I want to hear this, Azure, I really do, but Im about to walk into a floor filled with vampires, and a ripple filled with meaner vampires or worse. You already told me how to deal with basic vampires, but we didnt have time to talk about what I might deal with in the ripple. </em>


    <em>It could also be easier?</em> Azure said. But he didnt sound convinced.


    <em>Assume its not.</em>


    Okay. Okay, let me think. If were taking the Grimeling Mandrake situation literally, while different, they had aspects that were the reverse of each other. The mandrakes screamed, and the Grimelings hated sound. So, could be a minor Kuei? Theyre little frog demons that inject blood, rather than drink it. You should be able to handle them, though you might pick up a few diseases. Nure-Onnas another possibility, though they stick closer to shrines.


    At this rate, we were going to run out of time. Give me the absolute worst case.


    Nosferatu. Azure said instantly. Theyll look like a normal vampire, but paler. You can really only tell by the expanded ability set. If you see them shape-shift into something functional or literally disappear into shadows, dont even try to fight them. Just get Miles and run. And if theyre redlike have red spider webbing throughout their bodiesforget about Miles, turn around and get out.


    That bad? I asked. Azure was a lot of things, but he rarely exaggerated.


    Matt. Azure said, concerned. A single Crimson Nosferatu could level this city if something transported it here before the dome.


    And now?


    A High-Level User would take it down, eventually. But he hesitated. They could take out a region easily, if one say, escaped at night.


    Great. Keep in touch.


    Stay safe, Azure said.


    That wasnt the type of power I could fight, in any circumstances. It didnt matter how much backup I had, that was the sort of overwhelming power that won. Period.


    I swallowed, trying to still the shaking in my hands. Pulled up the store page and paid fifteen thousand and change for amon silver daggerall that was currently avableand two dozen silver tipped arrows.


    I flipped it in my hand, and frowned, finding the weightpletely off. We really needed to do something about Kinsleys stock issues.


    This is absurd. Talia growled. Miles made his den when he made you his enemy. What is the point of cing him in harms way if youe to his rescue, regardless.


    I thought he could handle it. He <em>should</em> have been able to handle it, if his team didnt maroon him like Kinsley suspected. Ran afoul of the Order and gotten out if there was too much of a power differential.


    Then cut your losses and abandon this foolishness. Talia rounded on me, her muzzle inches from my face.


    Big meat. Audrey said.


    You wanted to be partners. I said. If youre regretting it, take the elevator back down.


    Im <em>worried</em> about you! Talia shook her head. About <em>us</em>. That youre about to throw everything away to put a sword in your enemys hand


    Big meat. Audrey said again, more insistently. She reached out with her vines and snagged Talias tail.


    Release me, you simpleton!


    But Audrey didnt let go, just hung on stubbornly maintaining her grip as the other summon spun in a circle, trying to throw her off.


    <em>Big meat.</em>


    Shes right. I realized.


    Talia slowed, looking at me like Id lost my mind.


    Miles hunts necromancers. And by doing so, probably saves hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives those necromancers would take when theye to power. But its not just that. Its easy to forget with all the noise that Miles isnt the enemy. Or the Adventurers Guild, or the Order, or anyone else. The enemy gave me a ss that made me public enemy number one. Created a situation tailor made to turn everyone in fucking Das against each other. Killed a hundred thousand during the transposition event.


    Revenge is a distraction, Talia said slowly. It was bing our mantra.


    Yes.


    Her hackles were still raised, but eventually she backed down with a huff. Its getting increasingly harder to keep sight of the whole.


    Youre not alone in that. I admitted. Im struggling. Which is why I need to deal Nick in, consequences be damned.


    And if he sells you out? Or getspromised?


    We run. I said. Use Kinsleys abilities to get the innocents out andy low. Its not ideal. I wanted to wait until we had a definitive solution for the geas, so the chances of him gettingpromised were smaller, but I dont think hes gonnast if I do.


    He was an admirable member of our pack, but Ill admit, I dont understand why youre willing to go so far for him. The path youve taken to get here was not an easy one. Talia said. She cocked her head. Why is that?


    I answered honestly. I dont know.


    Talia circled around and plopped down next to me. So. We gamble.


    I mean, we might not even have to. I chuckled. If we stumble across a Crimson Nosferatu on our way to Miles, its probably all over.


    Talias lips pulled back, revealing her teeth. If we find such an enemy, I have no intention of slipping quietly into the aether.


    Same. I held a fist out towards her. No guarantee it will, but if ites to that? Well put on one hell of a show.


    Instead of pawing my fist, as she had before, Talia ced her head underneath it and left it there. As I stroked her coarse fur, a wave of calm washed over me, all the fears and unknowns slipping away.


    For some reason, I thought of Jinnys title.


    <em>Half as long.</em>


    <em>Twice as bright. </em>

 Chapter 204

    Chapter 204


    I stepped off the elevator. Compared to the beach-party atmosphere of the second floor, the atmosphere here was night and day. It was cold, and instead of vibrant tropical faire, I was treated to a wastnd of gray brick and gothic architecture with a tall ceiling, scattered with bright sshes of red.


    A catb. How quaint.


    Whatever battle took ce here dyed the image, spattering its cliche-but-reserved creepiness with grindhouse red, bodies and trails of blood soaking into the ground. Judging from the bodies, the only time Id seen this many monsters in one ce was during the transposition.


    Looks like we missed the fun. Talia heeled at my side. While her tone was calm, her hackles were raised, the beginning of a growl in her throat.


    Fan out. Look for casualties. I murmured.


    Audrey got vertical, moving cautiously at first, scaling the wall effortlessly with her vines until she hung from the ceiling, traversing it with spider-like grace. Talia went the opposite direction, moving at a silent jog. I almost told her to slow down until I saw her pause at a corner, carefully peek around it and move on.


    I bent down, staring at the multitude of footprints at the entrance, stupidly hoping Kings Ranger came with some sort of innate tracking ability. It didnt. I tried to count them, but there were so many going both directions it was impossible to get a solid headcount. Someone whod lived in a rural area might glean more. Even with my enhanced Perception, the most I could nail down was that the footprints were probably human. Or at least, humanoid.


    I left a little room for doubt as they drastically ranged in size. There were footprints big enough for me put both feet together and stand in the center of them, and some small enough


    Wait.


    I leaned far down, putting out a hand to catch myself. There was a small set of footprints in the mud, heading deeper into the catbs. Too small.


    <em>Human Adolescent. Between nine and fourteen.</em><strong></strong> filled in the nks.


    I frowned. Highly specific deductions were par for the course with the title, even early on. It could divine a sidearm a civilian was carrying from the bulge in their waistband or outline in their clothes. Shame it couldnt do the same with a Users inventory, but the point was, it probably wasnt wrong.


    Which begged the question. Who the hell brought a kid in here?


    Tyler and the Adventurers Guild werent the type to use child soldiers. The Order was capable of it, but there wasnt a kid in the three-man squad that came up here. The woman with them had a kidunless shed pulled an American Sniper and carried around a fake baby as a propbut unless shed been feeding it something nasty, admittedly a real possibility with all the dodgy magic in y, the kid wasnt with them.


    Which meant either some ballsy kid made it up to the towers 28th floor, or there was a third party in y.


    I grimaced. I needed to pay more attention to peoples shoes.


    There was a looping shadow on the ceiling, and I nearly reached for my dagger before I sensed Audrey, sending me feelings of calm and serenity.


    Audrey dropped from the ceiling andnded with a wet plop, wiggling gleefully in the mud, stopping only when she noticed my expression. Problem?


    Im guessing from your reaction, the floor is empty? I said, attempting to tamp down my irritation at the ruined tracks.


    Many dead biters. Audrey confirmed.


    Anything taste good? I asked idly, watching Talia slink her way back. From her expression she didnt share the nt summons cheer.


    Biters always taste worse than foragers. Audrey said it like it wasmon knowledge.


    Talia gave the nt a pointed look. Feasting on the fallen is best reserved for after we know were safe. I nearly tore you open.


    You tear open. Audrey stuck a vine at me. He bring back. My turn to tear you open.


    I looked between them, confused. You guys ran into each other?


    Talia stopped snarling at Audrey long enough to look at me. As dungeons go, its rather small. All vampire corpses except the body of a human I didnt recognize that looked like it was here for a while.


    Was it a kid?


    No, he was man sized. Talia cocked her head.


    Any sign of the ripple?


    Few possibilities, none I wished to risk sticking my head into, considering the situation we just escaped from. Why did you ask about a child? I cant imagine a child surviving in here.


    Tracks at the door. And I feel the same way, but why do you? I was curious to hear her reasoning. I didnt have the most generous view of humanity but Talias view was more brutal than mine.


    Because what this floorcks in size, it makes up for in cruelty. Considering the number of bodies Id wager a guess the vampires were all hiding in the crypts lining the wall. More nefarious, the circryout creates a perpetual nk. Itd be next to impossible for a small group to get through without being surrounded. A child wouldst minutes, if that, before they were picked off.


    A chill went through me. The Orders Group were likely the first to go through. Meaning they dealt with an upper-level ambush and came out unscathed.


    Talia approached the tracks, circling them once before she bent down over a singr small track Audrey missed, nostrils ring in a precautionary sniff. Not satisfied, she bent down further until her muzzle was nearly pressed to the mud. Then huffed.


    Something you dont recognize?


    Talia slowly shook her head, eyes still fixed on the tracks. More like it was never here at all. No scent at all.


    Could be too old.


    Track hasnt been walked over. Its at least somewhat fresh.


    What doesck of scent mean?


    The wolf summon gave me a grave look. Either a being highly versed in stealthwhich begs the question of why they were sloppy enough to leave tracksor someone particrly powerful.


    An ufortable idea proliferated in the depths of my mind. As it hardened into suspicion, I pulled up my direct messages and fired off a query to Kinsley.


    <strong></strong>


    Well, that confirmed whymunications had been such a clusterfuck. I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to center myself.


    What is it? Talia asked.


    No point in holding it back.


    Theres a chance my brother is in there, I finally said.


    Talia took a long time to respond. Thats bad.


    If anything, that was an understatement. Not that he was in danger. If Ellison was being truthful during our cryptic conversation, he probably knew exactly what he was walking into, which put him one over on the rest of us. The problem was I didnt know what he wanted or what he was after. But I could guess. Hed killed Waller without hesitation, taken a shot at me in the apartment lobby. Id spent a decent time in denial on thetter point. Just because he was running his own game didnt make him hostile, maybe he was helping me sell it, making it look good for the cameras.


    But the longer I mulled it over, the less likely it seemed.


    His power was lethal. Waller and the massacre at the cathedral was proof of that. And maybe he knew I had <strong></strong> and expected me to dodge, but that was a gigantic risk for a small payoff. The opposite of how Ellison preferred to operate.


    There was a reason he was being so cagey with information. I couldnt imagine working against him, especially with Iriss safety in the bnce as he alleged, but if something about Ellisons n was too horrible to stomach, I had to admit it <em>was</em> possible. My best guess was that he tried for a batman gambit. The lobby and feds on my ass presented an opportunity for a free shot. Either he killed me or helped sell it. If I survived, his usible deniability was intact.


    Either oue worked for his purposes.


    Squeeze that fist any harder and youll break it. Talia warned.


    I hadnt even realized I was doing it. Slowly, I uncurled my fingers and let my hand hang loose at my side.


    If our paths cross, should we consider him hostile? Talia asked gently.


    I shook my head. Then shook it again.


    No. My voice was raw.


    Very well, Talia said. She knew me well enough by now that she was aware how sensitive this was. She didnt push as she had in the elevator, but she also didnt move. Just waited expectantly.


    If Ellisons here, theres a good chance whatevers happening inside the ripple is crucial. Thats the rub with other people knowing you have future knowledge. Downside, he probably knows wereing. And if our paths cross, I repeated her wording numbly. Theres a good chance hell approach us. Hell probably seem friendly. May even want to cooperate.


    Talia bared a smile. Which of course, well reject.


    No. I muttered. Ive been thinking about it a lot, and the only reason he hasnte at me again is because it hasnt been convenient. Ellisons about the long game. Always has been, even to a fault. Blinds him on the here and now. Right now were not worth dealing with and it needs to stay that way. The more oblivious he thinks we are, the better this will go. We y along. For now. Which is why I need you both to be eyes in the back of my head. Dont make it obvious, but I need at least one pair of eyes on him at all times.


    A heavy silence hung between us. Talia spoke the words I didnt want to consider.


    And if his entire reason for being there is because this ripple presents another opportunity to Deal with us? Talia asked. What then?


    I ignored the question. Not because she was wrong to ask, but because I couldnt bring myself to answer. Instead, I walked around her, treading deeper into the catbs, stepping over vampire bodies strewn all over the circr path. The carnage was the definition of overkill. Some corpses had gaping holesrge enough to see through, while others were literally ripped apart.


    Something ate one vampire from the head down, leaving only a torso with a bouquet of severed entrails. I looked closer and found thousands of tiny bite marks.


    Audrey insisted it wasnt her handiwork. Which meant we had something new to worry about.


    The ripple was in the bed of an empty sarcophagusrge enough to be a giantsst resting ce. It looked around a foot deeper on the inside than it was on the outside, and when I lowered a loop of rope into it, the rope fell straight through.


    I fixed the rope to an iron loop on the wall that looked like it secured a prisoners manacles. Keeping in mind that this was apparently a resting ce for vampires, I tried not to think too far into it. It was probably just window dressing.


    With anticipation and nausea warring in my stomach, I lowered myself down into the sarcophagus.


    As soon as my head cleared the ripple, there was a chorus of malignant screams. A long scroll of text popped up before I could so much as look down.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 205

    Chapter 205


    Hell looked a lot like California.


    The towering basalt formations below were like pictures Id seen of the Devils Postpile monument, only warped by nightmares and blown up to a hundred times the scale. A sprawling wastnd of hexagonal red beams bigger than redwood trees formed treacherous, uneven paths that frequently plunged downward, someing to abrupt dead ends that plunged into ck chasms.


    Battle sounds


    I paused, the mental equivalent of my finger on the button to ess the Ordinator interface. What stopped me was the local message that promised an artifact,bined with the personal message that promised increased XP. The system had tried to incentivize killing Users before, during the trial, an option Id easily turned down.


    If push came to shove Id use it, but it was better to wait until I had a better grasp of the situation.


    It was tempting to head directly down the main path. Miles had called for help some time ago, and in a fight for your life every second counts. But I needed to scout first. Get a measure of the situation.


    I looked upwards, searching for a vantage. Around a hundred feet up, there was a thin pathway only three or four posts wide that hung over the stone tforms. I stared at it for a little too long, looking for movement, anything to betray that the pathway wasnt as empty as it looked, or for <strong></strong> to warn me.


    Audrey, I whispered, and held my arms out.


    Audrey hopped up onto my back, fixing her vines around my waist and beneath my arms in an impromptu harness.


    I nced at Talia. Gonna get up there. You want to scout on your own or hitch a ride?


    Talia peeked over the edge and balked. Ill stay here. Multiple perspectives could help.


    Her reaction struck me as off. You realize if I fall to my death, you die too?


    She gave me a dirty look. Yes. But Ill die peacefully, rather than screaming into the void.


    Fair enough.


    Stay low, stay smart.


    Always do.


    Talia took off down the descending tforms, timing her run perfectly to avoid tripping on the uneven terrain. As she ran, her fur rustled, taking on a muddy red hue that blended in with the environment not unlike a chameleons natural camouge.


    Given the daunting verticality of my destination, I almost envied her. Id used Audrey to maneuver during the transposition to great effect as there were a wealth of crags and ledges she could easily hold on to.


    This would be harder.


    Any ideas? I asked.


    Audrey bobbed, considering the gap and our impending climb. Then she turned towards the ground and stabbed the tform below our feet. Her hardened vine tip pierced several inches into the tform. She tugged at it, and it didnt budge. Which meant we had a way forward. Just one that left a queasy feeling in my stomach.


    Sure your vine wont snap?


    The nt summon leveraged the tips of three vines toward me. They should be enough. Yes. But, belt. Just in case.


    Taking heed, I toggled the <strong></strong> Then walked to the edge of the tform, gauging the distance. Every part of me wanted to use the flight charm instead and skip the high-wire act entirely. But theres nowhere to hide when youre flying around in the air, and I was counting on it for an emergency escape if I ran into anything I couldnt handle that could outrun me.


    Or saving me if I fell into an endless abyss.


    I backed up to the far edge of the tform until my heel was almost hanging off the edge, then got down into a runners position.


    Onward, steed! Audreymanded, shattering my concentration. She turned away innocently, when I looked at her.


    Dammit. I was stalling. I looped the flight charm around my arm as a final precaution and focused on my goal. Clearing this gap.


    It was nothing. Just a little jump. Angle was important, because hitting it straight on with all the momentum from the jump was a quick ticket to concussion town assuming I didnt break my arms. But if I jumped too wide, Audrey might not punch through at all.


    I pushed off, sprinting towards the ledge, arms pumping, gaining as much speed as possible before I leapt. Air rushed past my face, ruffling the fabric of my armor as I reached the apex of the jump and plunged.


    <em>Shink!</em>


    Audreys vines took purchase, makeshift harness jarring me as they halted the downward momentum and I swung upward, bouncing against the segmented posts hard enough to rattle my teeth. Two more vines shot upward, anchoring into the formation and lifting me higher. Audrey pulled her three anchoring vines free and repeated the maneuver until I could reach out and touch the ledge.


    I grabbed it and hauled myself up, breathing hard. The ordeal took years off my life, but it was worth it. The winding paths were far easier to discern from above.


    Audrey snacked on a strip of raw sirloin Id pulled from my inventory as I moved on, staying crouchedgiving nothing to anyone who was looking up. Thest thing I wanted was a vampires attention, let alone one of Sunnys people.


    <em>Any sign of Miles?</em> I reached out to Talia.


    <em>No. But I found the Adventurers Guild. And Tyler is here.</em> Something in Talias tone sounded exceptionally worried.


    There was a clustered column blocking my view of the direction shed gone. I hauled ass down the path until I had a vantage. And what I saw made my heart drop.


    The Adventurers Guild had assembled in mass. There were at least twenty of them, maybe more. Theyd either abused the hell out of the four-man team, splitting up in quads and reassembling once they ascended, or the Gilded Towers leadership made an exception. The group was bothrge and cohesive, full of high-level Users, Tyler at their front.


    And they were still getting shit on.


    Vampires railed against a small assembly of heavily armorer Users, all snarls and guttural screams, literally throwing themselves against shields and swords, pushing the tanks back. That wouldnt have been a problem if they had an effective back-linebut small red creatures wreathed in me nked their casters. A few spell-swords and hybrids had pivoted to fight the impsSara among them, but they werent tanks. Any second now theyd break, crushed beneath between the two.


    <em>Fuck it.</em>


    I opened my UI and tabbed into the Ordinator Interface, hoping for a quick solution.


    Instead, I found a staggering list.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Not every option was active. Dungeon level, rewards, traps, monster cement and win Condition were all grayed out and unresponsive. Monster directives, however, had a dropdown longer than the fucking bible. I scanned it, looking for keywords. Inactive, catatonic, cowardly, and terminally suicidal were all frustratingly absent from the list. Lacking a better option, I picked <strong>Assign,</strong> hoping to find Users in the dropdown list.


    Again, it was extensive.


    <strong>Assign to Boss</strong>


    <strong>Assign to Entrance</strong>


    <strong>Assign to Territory</strong>


    <strong>Assign to Ordinator</strong>


    Oh.


    Not what I had in mind, but there was no way in hell I was turning it down.


    <strong></strong>


    I ground my teeth and opted for not dying, narrowing the selection. Vampires werent present on the list, but Nosferatu was. Selection called up a percentage slider which I lowered by increments of ten percent, heart dropping as the percentage grew lower and lower. When it hit twenty percent, the selection finally went through. A mind-splitting headache hit me like a hurricane and I fell to my hands and knees. The world seemed grayer, drained of color, the once-dark red basalt below me a muted wine.


    With considerable effort, I raised my head.


    At first nce nothing changed. The Adventurers Guild was still beset on both sides, struggling against an endless tide of monsters. Imps on one side, vampires on the other. But a small portion of vampires, scattered throughout the seething mass, werepletely motionless. They stood still, arms limp at their sides. Like they were waiting for something.


    And they were staring directly at me.


    I reached out, as I did with Talia and Audrey, directing my thoughts to them.


    <em>Fall to the back of the group, discreetly.</em>


    The vampires didnt give any sort of confirmation theyd heard. Instead, they carefully waded backwards through the melee, until they stood at the rear of the battle.


    <em>Now. Kill your friends.</em>

 Chapter 206

    Chapter 206


    One of the controlled vampires rammed a pointed hand into the back of a smaller vampire in front of him, ripping out a red chunk. It was impossible to see at this distance, but given the location it was probably a heart.


    A few others carried out the order a split secondter, felling twice their number.


    The Nosferatus ruthless efficiency chilled me. Azure was right. If even only a few of them cornered me, or drew me into an ambush the way the Grimelings had, it would be over in seconds. And not because I won.


    Iid t and withdrew my full-sized crossbow, loading the silver-tipped bolts. As I prepared, Talia leapt from her hiding ce, all teeth and ws as she attacked the imps from the opposite side. At my direction, she aimed to disable, ripping out tendons from the back of legs, inner thighs. An imp leapt on top of her, only to be sted by a wave of divine energy. It looked odd,ing from her doberman-like form, and probably wasnt as effective as it would have been on something Eldritch, but it still ttened the Imp long enough for Talia to tear its burning throat out.


    Meanwhile, the members of the adventurers guild moved with every intention of capitalizing on their sudden luck, though they were still confused and recovering. Tyler charged in, swinging his massive sword at the vampires. The de caught one of the distracted creatures in the mid-section, bisecting it. He yelled something over his shoulder, and several of his tanks rotated backward, facing the imps instead.


    Good. Tylers truth-sight ability might bepromised, but losing an eye hadnt slowed him down. If anything, his situational awareness was better than it was during the transposition.


    But now that the jig was up, my assigned vampires were in trouble. Ones head was ripped from his shoulders, another was dogpiled by the unaffected vampires, they pinned his arms and bit him repeatedly until tackling him to the ground.


    <em>Shit.</em>


    It was only natural that mine were getting picked off. Id assigned twenty percent to myself. Discounting the adventurers guild, they outnumbered my forces five to oneslightly less in this battle, after the sneak attack, but slim odds just the same.


    <em>Fall back. Hit and run when their attention is on the humans.</em>


    I repeated myself several times before they listened, their hesitation costing me a couple more casualties. One of them struck out at an AG member that was disced in the chaos whothankfullydodged just in time.


    <em>No.</em>


    The vampire turned, straight up stopped in the middle of battle and hissed at me.


    <em>Obey.</em>


    Another hiss.


    <em>Jump off a cliff, then.</em>


    The vampire scowled and spun around, digging his fingers into an unassigned Nosferatus chest, leaving a crater. I realized hed reverted the previousmand.


    Okay, so my control over them wasnt perfect. It made sense; they werent summons, didnt have a bond or attachment to me. I held some sort of authority, but any monster I directed was disinclined to go against their base instincts. It was a little like <strong></strong> Far broader and more powerful, but situational and harder to control.


    <em>The imps are replenishing!</em>


    I nced at Talias side of the battlefield in time to watch a User with a war hammer knock a fiery humanoid into orbit. It pinwheeled into the chasm, emitting a distant shriek. A dozen more of them scrambled on top of each other to get to the User, scratching at his armor and facete. And he wasnt the only one. Even with the rotated tanks in y, that side of the battle was going far worse than before.


    <em>Regenerating?</em>


    <em> No. Every time one falls, another takes its ce.</em> Talia hesitated. <em>Comes around the corner back behind the outcropping. And they dont feel demonic. They feel artificial, somehow. Not unlike that useless creature that follows Halima around.</em>


    <em>Theyre not native to the ripple.</em>


    The informationpletely reframed the conflict. If Talia was right, it meant another summoner was in y. An opportunistic User, who saw the Adventurers Guild engage with the vampires and hung back, using their summons as proxy to attack from afar.


    Sunnys group aiming for the artifact. Had to be.


    Below, the unassigned vampires broke ranks and ran. Thest few tanks and melee Users rotated towards the back, engaging the imps. But as Talia said, the imps were growing in number, keeping the Adventurers Guild from retreating. It didnt leave me with much of a choice.


    Either abandon them and potentially lose allies, or take out the summoner.


    A few more vampires arrived from farther out,ing around the corner and looking directly at me. With a simple thought, they rushed up beside Talia and engaged the imps fearlessly, despite a clear weakness to fire that left their wounds ck and angry.


    I jumped down to a lower tform,nding lightly and breaking into a run.


    I got them into this. Id get them out.


    /////


    I spotted the summoners hiding ce immediately. There was a wide circr tform defended by palisades that looked built on the spot, cobbled together from materials that looked identical to the red stone that made up the posts. It was at the far end of a long, winding trail.


    Problem was, the trickle of imps never stopped. I couldnt help but wonder where, exactly, the summoner was getting so much mana. The imps were solid fighters and capable of speech, which put them at least on the same level as Audrey. They were obviously far higher level than me, and Intelligence increased mana capacity, but Intelligence was my second highest stat. Even if my intelligence was doubled, I doubted I could summon Audrey more than a dozen times consecutively.


    Maybe there was a distinction between a traditional summoner manifesting generic mobseven discounting that some of them were resummons, I couldn''t imagine shed found a monster core for each oneand my bonded summons. Dodging the imps on the open path was hard. Even with my stealth skill, they had caught me in the open more than once, and as far as I could see, there was only one route to the tform. Probably why the summoner chose it.


    I still couldnt justify using the flight charm, so Audrey and I took the low route. The imps were ferocious, but not observant. We gained ground at a snails pace, using Audreys vines to hang from the side of the posts every time a patrol came near.


    We finally neared the barricaded dead-end. Audrey dropped us off the side and we made our way around the back.


    In the middle of the final ascent, the rhythmic beating of leathery wings passed directly behind my head, startling me.


    I drew my crossbow in a hurry. Three bats settled on a small outcropping I was about to use as a foothold. Their behavior was off. Theydnded this close. And their heads were all turned to the side, the ck beady eyes behind their pig-like snouts boring holes into me.


    <em>Waiting for orders.</em>


    I told them to stay, wait.


    Instead of acquiescence, I was hit with a wave of ravenous hunger. It came from the center bat, who was shimmying back and forth. In more than one way, it reminded me of Audrey.


    <em>Feed soon.</em> I promised, hoping Id be out of the dungeon before they could hold me to it.


    Another wave of hunger sted me, but it felt more like a reminder, rather than a demand.


    Audrey hauled me as high up as we could reasonably go without someone hearing her movements, then hurled me up to the top. I caught the ledge with both hands and carefully pulled myself up.


    If it was Sunnys people, Id pass myself off as backup. If it was a monster summoning the imps, Id keep it busy long enough for the Adventurers Guild to get clear.


    I thought I was prepared for whatever I found up there.


    I was wrong.

 Chapter 207

    Chapter 207


    Blood everywhere. Bodies strewn across the ground, limbs and arms ovepping. Armor reduced to chunks of metal and gaping flesh. A twin de forged of dark iron and silver edges was cast aside, familiar.


    She knelt at the center, both hands poised topress the big adventurers chest. His head lolled off to the side, his eyes lifeless. But the woman didnt move. Almost like she was petrified. Her dark hair was wild, eyes wide, seeing everything but seeing nothing.


    <em>Thud</em>


    <em>Thud</em>


    <em>Thud</em>


    It felt familiar in a way I didnt like. A way that invoked a tunnel and another lone survivor, their world shattered, grasping at the threads to keep going anding up short. Her hands glowed blue, and an imp manifested outside the palisades, blind rushing down winding the path Id just taken without looking back.


    Come one one on fucking die already just fucking die- Barely audible words came out in a ceaseless ramble that never fully stopped.


    The adventurer the woman tended was on his back, while the other two were on their stomachs, heads angled away from her, nothing before them but a sheer cliff. Ones arm extended upward, hand and fingers curved, as if hed tried to crawl away.


    With all the powers, and flight charms, and fancy apartments, it was so easy to forget. That the odds were against us and more often than not, this was how it ended.


    Obliteration.


    I hated the Order for what theyd done. To Jinny. Sae. And this woman was there. I saw her, loading her kid out of the Escde, andter, when she did nothing. The next step should have been as simple as checking a box. Crossing a t.


    Maybe it was a holdover from whatever Hastur had done to my mind, but I couldnt bring myself to do what Ide here to do.


    An alternative solution presented itself.


    <em> The Adventurers Guild still holding at the bridge?</em> I asked Talia.


    <em>Yes.</em>


    <em>Status?</em>


    <em>Without the vampire pincer theyre stable, but not making progress. None dead. Some wounded. Probably why theyre not pushing forward. Hoping whatevers manifesting the imps will run out of juice.</em>


    <em>Yeah. Im dealing with that.</em>


    <em>Then deal with it quickly. Theyve noticed my presence, and are letting me be for now, but that could change at any moment.</em>


    <em>Noted. y it safe.</em>


    Good. That meant this could work. But I needed a n B. I sent a brief mental prompt to the vampires below and received an answer. One I needed but didnt want.


    Another imp manifested beyond the barricade.


    I uced my gauntlet, revealing Hasturs mark, and ced it in front of the womans face. She took a full second to look at it, then screeched, falling t on her ass and scampering backward towards the barricade. Magic flowed down her arms and she prepared to cast.


    One hand went to my inventory, with the other I extended my palm out towards her, taking a few careful steps. Im your backup-


    W-who the hell are you? She said.


    Your backup. I repeated evenly, making sure she could see Hasturs mark on my arm. We need to make tracks. Imps are pushing the other users back, so we have a window to the exit.


    Stay the fuck away from me! She screamed. The magic in her hands pulsed.


    I stopped in my tracks. Fought through her mental resistance and soothed a portion of the ck, raging anxiety in her mind with <strong></strong> The current still ravaged her. I tried again.


    Whats your name? I asked.


    Maria. Her voice was small.


    For the first time, recognition flitted through her eyes. Sunny sent you? My messages got through?


    Yes, I lied. If the Adventurers Guild picked her up at the chokepoint, it wouldnt matter. They wouldnt be letting her go until she spilled, and she literally couldnt spill.


    Shit. <em>Shit.</em> Maria released her spells and pulled at her hair until several frazzled strands came loose. She pped the ground, tried to stand and failed, chest heaving, lungs pumping overtime. If I didnt calm her shed hyperventte.


    I crouched in front of her. Snapped my fingers and pointed to my eye Look here.


    She looked.


    Deep breaths. I breathed in deeply, held it, then breathed out.


    She breathed. Short panicked gulps slowly subsided, and rity bubbled up to the surface.


    Youre here. Im here. I took on a zen cadence. You went through something traumatic. Thats normal. But backup arrived in time. You have an exit. Everything will be okay. But I need you toe with me.


    For a moment, hope filtered into her face, and I thought I had her. But her mouth set.


    No. Maria shook her head, matted hair trailing behind the motion in a zigzag. She pushed herself back up on her knees and crawled to the downed adventurer, cing her hands on his chest. A few secondster, he seized, and another imp manifested beyond the palisades. I monitored it, but like all the others, it scampered down the path without looking back. Then I scanned the grounded adventurer. Was he still alive? Was she draining him of mana, somehow?


    Had she done the same thing to the other two?


    Need to stay, Maria said.


    Why?


    She reached into her inventory and tossed me a mesh bag. I opened it and found several near-translucent crabs in the bottom. But somehow less than wed found in the grimeling cave.


    Didnt finish the quest. She was still rambling, but it was easier to make out the words now. Not even close. Little bastards kept dying or running away to where we couldnt reach them. Then that fucker showed up.


    <em>Miles?</em>


    This User? He was alone?


    Maria shuddered. The rest were trash. We would have shredded them in seconds if it was just them. <em>Him</em>, though? He was a goddamn nightmare. Took hit and run to another level. She pointed to one of the downed adventurers with long hair, the smarmy one carrying around twin des. Not so smarmy, now. Just fucking look.


    I walked over to him and lifted the bandage on his lower back. There was a jagged wound big as a pool ball in diameter. Bastard didnt need a bandage, he needed a new kidney and a staple gun. No wonder he bled out.


    Maria spoke through grit teeth. Whatever his ss? Whatever gear he was using? Arrows hit like a goddamn fifty cal. And he was fast, too. Impossible to pin down.


    <em>Definitely Miles.</em>


    Still alive, then. He going to cause us problems?


    She scoffed. With any luck, he died screaming. Vamp food. There was a wave of them that got between us. Fucked up both sides. We got pushed to the fringes, he and his got pushed further in.


    Good chance Miles was still alive then. But none of this exined why she wasnt leaving. If I kept harping on that point, shed sense the agenda behind it. I switched tact, tried for rapport.


    You a vet?


    Maria just looked at me, startled.


    Small number of people know what a wound from a fifty cal looks like. And it sounded like you were speaking from experience. I exined.


    Marines. Semper-fuckin-fi. Did a few tours. Dont bother thanking me for my service. Her eyes gained a far off quality. You know they screw you on VA benefits if you bag a DD? You can be a perfect little stone cold soldier for years, but break down at the wrong moment and do one little thing at the end they dont like? Forget ounting for PTSD, or the mental toll. Youre done. Fuck your health insurance, fuck your kids health insurance, fuck <em>you</em>. And now Im fucking here. Bitterness gave way to mncholy and despair.


    Lot about the old world made little sense. I said, mainly to keep her talking.


    Were you in? She asked, giving me a curious side-eye.


    No.


    Fine. Dont tell me.


    I pushed past it, trying to get through. If you sawbat, you know that retreating isnt cowardice. Its tactical repositioning.


    Not about that.


    Then what is it about? I ran a hand through my hair.


    She hesitated. Grimaced. Then gestured to the men on the ground. My title lets me absorb life-force and convert it to mana.


    Ah.


    So she had drained them.


    She spoke faster, trying to justify herself before I drew my own conclusions. They were all wounded. One was already unconscious, the other passed out the second he put him down. First one, I didnt know it would kill him. Never took it that far. Second one I guess I did.


    Maybe she hadnt known, definitively, but there was no way it hadnt crossed her mind.


    And now its big boys turn. I finished.


    Her face turned dark. Just go. Get out of here.


    Im trying to <em>help</em> you.


    Maria snapped back. If I go back to the Order, theyre not just going to pat my ass and give me a better-luck-next-time-champ. Sunnys gonna ask. And because of this geas bullshit, I cant massage the facts. Her eyes trailed to the bag in my hand. If Ie back with next to nothing and have to exin what happened here? Im fucked.


    In that case, arent you boned, anyway? For doing this to members of the order?


    She shook her head. All they care about is results.


    So whats the alternative?


    Her face was hard. This positions defensible. Hold out until everyone on this floor is gone or dead. Bag the artifact, grab as many nners as I can. Get out.


    Just that?


    I hammered her with <strong></strong> poking as many holes in her strategy as I could. I felt her mind harden, shoving away the doubt, until I couldnt influence her at all.


    With that, I watched n A crumble to ash.


    I stood. Youve been honest with me, so Ill level with you. Im the Ordinator.


    Her jaw dropped. I heard the rumors, but thought they were just people spinning bullshit. Sunny really brought you in?


    I continued before she could regain her wit. Look, I saw what youre up against. Whoever they are, theyre here in number. And theyre not just going to give up. But crowd controls my speciality. If you can keep them distracted, I can finish them. Then Ill see myself out, and you can im the artifact.


    Marias eyes narrowed. Youd do that.


    Of course, I looked to the side. For a few favors to be namedter.


    Im not blowing you.


    Not the sort of favor Im interested in.


    I watched her think. Consider her circumstances. Eventually, she nodded. Okay. You gonna do to them what you did to Region 6?


    On a smaller scale. But its still difficult. Takes time to set up, otherwise things get unpleasant.


    I can do that. Buy you time. Maria shivered. Her eyes flicked, navigating something unseen, and a few secondster I got a prompt.


    <strong></strong>


    I epted the prompt. As I navigated the team screen and searched for her level, I prayed. Prayed to no one in particr that she was the baby of her group, low-level enough that I could justify guiding her into the Adventurers Guild without putting them in danger.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Fuck.</em>

 Chapter 208

    Chapter 208


    Ordinator. No listed level. So you werent bullshitting. Bout time I had some luck, youre really saving my ass here, Maria looked up from her screen. She dusted herself off, and for the first time, she smiled.


    I help you, we both help Hastur, eventually we all end up in a better ce, I said. The words tasted like ash.


    She looked around at the carnage, and her mouth tightened. What about the bodies?


    I circled around, studying ponytail guys corpse. Cant take em with us. Should probably salvage what we can. Anything else would be wasteful. He have anything good on him?


    Uh, maybe Maria tripped as she walked towards me as the application of <strong></strong> Id set before revealing myself finally fired.


    I caught her. Careful.


    Sorry She trailed off, gazing down at the de in her chest like it was an alien object. Something that made no sense.


    Id intended to finish her quickly, before she even knew what happened, but judging from the location the de missed her heart by a quarter-inch.


    Her mouth worked. Quivered. I have a family.


    I know.


    I said it without animus or pity. Because there was nothing else to say.


    Die, She whispered. The ground beneath us trembled. Maria grew pale as a ring of blue light expanded outward. Her entire body glowed as power ripped through her.


    I leapt backward, the circle expanding, consuming more of the tform as it chased after me. It defied sense. She shouldnt have enough mana for this. A few minutes ago she was draining her team just to summon the imps.


    <em>Unless shes draining her own life-force.</em>


    This was what I was worried about, given her level. Mages were dangerous enough as it was. If I handed her off to the Adventurers Guild and she pulled this shit?


    Itd be a massacre.


    The feeling of power grew more oppressive, unbearable, and the ground cracked under my feet. Then suddenly, the circle stopped.


    Maria hadnt moved from where she stood, but her head was turned to the side, her eyes flitting back and forth. Slowly, as my eyes adjusted, I saw the vampire draining her. She struggled for a moment, and it shook her, not unlike how a wolf would shake another to show authority.


    After another moment of struggle and another shake, Maria stilled.


    She wont turn? I checked.


    <em>Not unless she bites us.</em> It chortled in a way that made me profoundly ufortable.


    And theres no pain. I said. I have your word?


    The vampire nodded confirmation. From the scrambling mental message hed sent me earlier, they incurred most of the violence capturing prey. Once captured, their bite had an anesthetic effect. Another bat flew up from the crevasse andtched onto her opposite shoulder. I looked inward, for just a moment, trying to gauge what I was feeling, finding only a void.


    I reached into Marias mind with <strong></strong> She waspletely susceptible now. So it was easy enough to create an image. The subject of the image was a struggle, because I didnt fully understand her.


    I created what I would have wanted to see.


    Maria wasnt in the ripple. In the dungeon, or the tower, or even the goddamn south. That was a long time ago, and shed won, taken her spoils and moved as far north as she could. A warm nket was wrapped around her waist, and the ceiling fan kept the temperature perfect. She was reading a book, a cozy mystery where the main character could stop getting herself in trouble, but always, eventually, got herself out of it.


    Was it a little boring?


    Sure.


    Did she want something more stressful?


    Hell no.


    Because shed survived. And at the end, shed found that after all the fighting, stress, and heartbreak, there was hope in the world, peace. She could feel it in the nket, in the cheery atmosphere of the house she bought, the rural surroundings outside. Shed fought like hell to get there, but shed finally found it.


    And she had every intention of reveling in it.


    Her eyes blurred, text growing less legible by the second. Shed stayed up toote watching TV the previous night. She frowned. What time was it? Her kid would be home from school soon, and shed need to throw something together.


    Eh, fuck it. There were leftovers in the fridge. She had time for a nap.


    Right?


    Probably.


    Slowly, Maria closed her eyes.


    And then, nothing.


    /////


    A level-up notification popped, as well as a few others I couldnt bring myself to look at.


    Id gathered whatever I could quickly grab and stuffed it into my inventory. Then left without looking back.


    Audrey kept us vertical, pushing farther into the spiraling maze of bridges, while Talia sprinted beneath us. Shed had to circle around a few clusters of vampires that were beyond my influence, but mostly, they didnt seem interested in chasing her. Maybe because Talia was a summon.


    Shed reported the Adventurers Guild had retreated to the elevator, and as much as I could have used the help, it was one hell of a relief.


    To say I was second guessing myself was an understatement.


    On one hand, this was the path before me. The path Id chosen. Id taken out an entire squad of Sunnys High Level Users without firing a bolt, outed the order in front of the Adventurers Guild, and assuming I found Miles alive, managed the oue so the casualties on my side were nonexistent.


    An eptable oue.


    So why didnt it feel that way?


    As much as I didnt want to admit it, the Maria situation gnawed at me. It wasnt like she didnt have iting. Theyd all stood around, watching Jinny die after their shooter jumped the gun, when all it would take to save her was a single one of them lending a codex, or their healer stepping in. But the look on her face


    <em>I tried to spare her. It didnt take. In the end, I just expedited the process and limited coteral.</em>


    I reiterated the thought over and over until the queasiness in my gut lost its edge.


    <em>Those bodies dead bitey ones?</em> Audreys mental voice interrupted.


    The observation startled me from my stupor and refocused me on the ground. Below us, there were dozens of ash piles strewn around the rocky ground. I checked with Talia to make sure the ground was clear, then descended.


    Once we were on the ground, I tried to clear the doubts from my mind and pay attention.


    Judging from therge swath of vampire bodies, arrows, and several sections of cratered ground, an enormous battle had happened here. One that resulted in monster casualties but from what I could tell, no Users. There was some bloodtrails of it leading back towards the outcropping where the Order Users made theirst stand, but none leading any other direction.


    I studied the ground, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. If this is the spot Maria was talking about, where they got ambushed and driven apart, Miles got out clean. I said quietly, studying the ground.


    Not quite. Talia said. She was at the far edge of the carnage, her nose was hovering above a dark red splotch.


    Thats him? Youre sure? I asked.


    Unless another human smells exactly like him? Yes.


    I crossed the clearing to Talia, stepping over bodies until I reached her. With some relief, I noted that the initial spatter was probably where he was wounded. The trail of blood lightened after that, leading up an incline. Hed kept pressure on the wound.


    And the blood had yet to dry.


    I reached out to both summons. <em>Okay. Goal is extraction. But this is Miles were dealing with. Hyper-vignce. Non verbalmunication only, assume everything that strikes you as odd is a trap. Dont ignore any detail. Were almost home free.</em>


    They both nodded.


    I steeled myself as Talia followed the trail.


    Whatever state Miles was in, somehow, I doubted hed be happy to see me.

 Chapter 209

    Chapter 209


    The trail of blood led to a small alcove beneath a rock formation reminiscent of an overpass. There it stopped, a small puddle forming on the ground but no Miles.


    <em>Stopped here to rest? Patch himself up?</em> I mused.


    <em>Or something picked him off.</em> Talia said. Like she was hoping it had.


    Either way, it looked like a dead end. Miles retreated, dragged himself to cover, and judging from the streak of blood on the rock wall, slid down it to rest. But there was no trail of blood leading away. If a monster attacked him, there would have been more blood in the proximity.


    Talia walked a short distance away, nose to the ground. Then doubled back and did the same thing again in another direction, and another.


    <em>His scent is everywhere.</em> Sheined. <em>Like he couldnt decide where to go.</em>


    It painted a grim picture. And not one that helped us.


    <em>Jaded Eye</em> ground out a warning. Unlike practically every other time the Title helped me, this warning was vague and unspecific. It sensed that something was wrong, but couldnt tell what.


    I absorbed it without reaction, careful to keep my face neutral giving nothing away, and gave the surroundings another once over. It was around two hundred yards of t ground. Very little cover, beyond a craggy perimeter. Now that I was looking carefully, what bothered me was how exposed the position was. It wasnt the sort of ce Miles was likely to choose unless his hand was forced, or


    <em>Shit. </em>


    Heart racing, I went through the tactics Maria described. Miles used his squad to draw fire and floated, taking opportunistic shots and nking while still protecting his group. If he thought Id brought Marias group in, it had absolutely urred to him I could do the same thing. Hanging back. Hunting.


    If I was him and misled my target? Made them think I was more wounded than I actually was? This was the exact y Id make.


    I stayed perfectly still, staring at the bloodstain.


    <em>Talia, keep sniffing the ground and stay as far from me as you usibly can. Audrey. Scale the wall. Act like youre looking for something. </em>


    The nt summon did as I asked, picking up on the urgency in the message.


    Everything in me screamed to move as I crouched down, feigning interest in the trail.


    Then leapt straight up. Audreys vines yanked me upwards, onto the cliff as the stone below devolved into a magmatic pool of fire, hot enough that I felt my skin burning within my armor. There was an explosion above and Audreys vines snapped, her presence vanishing from my mind.


    Seconds away from plunging to my death, I kicked off the wall and twisted,nding on my feet, barely clearing the pool. <strong></strong> screamed, and I dodged the blur that passed inches from my face and exploded against the wall. Off-bnce but predicting the double-tap, I straightened, every nth of focus within me directed towards the series of craggy formations and cast <strong></strong> on myself.


    The blur came blisteringly fast, rocketing towards my chest.


    <em>Cant dodge.</em>


    My intent wavered, and in apse of sanity, all focus went to my gauntlet.


    I caught it.


    The arrowcked a point. Instead of a tip, it had a dark thead with a round bodyrge enough to carry a payload. It was tempting to send it back as a warning shot, but this being Miles?


    I pulled back my arm and threw it as far as I could.


    The arrow exploded before it hit the ground in a sphere of blue fire.


    My heart beat like a drum in my ears. I scanned the rocks for him. You got it wrong. I came to rescue you


    A half-dozen arrows answered, one after another. The first few went wide, thest shots directed at me withser precision. They exploded almost randomly as I weaved between them, catching the far edge of more than one shockwave.


    I advanced as randomly as I could, zigzagging across the open space. It was far more dangerous than if I was up against an enemy I could seeI couldnt affect his uracy. Upside was, he couldnt exactly reposition without giving himself away.


    Every time <strong></strong> was off cooldown, I focused on the craggy rocks, trying to pick him out. Finally, I saw it. A small, unnatural looking thin rock, pointed at an angle.


    Not unlike the shaft of a bow.


    <em>There you are.</em>


    I beamed the location to Talia and dodged to the right, leaping over her as she hauled ass directly towards Miles hiding ce. I pulled a hairpin turn and sprinted directly towards him. Maybe twenty feet behind Talia, but she was faster than me, and the spacing between us was widening.


    Jaded Eyes warning came just in time, I skidded to a stop just as the rock floor before me bubbled, dissipating to nothing, and threw myself to the side as another arrow whistled by my ear.


    Talia fumbled through the air, plunging straight downward. I reached out, bnced on the edge, and Talia returned to implement form, <strong></strong> zipping back towards me out of the void. Just before I caught the knife, Miles fired another arrow. This time at my feet, and an explosion shook the rock, sending <strong></strong> spinning off course, off into the void. I had to move. It would keep trying to return to me, but without a good angle on the opening itand Taliawere trapped beneath.


    Asshole, I hissed.


    Prick. Miles called back. Knew something was up with that fucking knife.


    He wanted to talk. Probably stall, while he cooked up another contingency. Fine.


    I drained what little Mana I had, casting <strong></strong> on the conspicuously body shaped rock until my vision swam.


    If possible, I needed to distract him without making his view of me worse than it already was.


    How much selve did you burn on this? I called over. Between the traps and the arrows, couldnt have been cheap.


    There was a long pause before the answer came. A lot.


    Save yourself some cash and talk to me.


    He snorted. Yeah, never heard that one before.


    Maybe you have. But I havent returned fire. Im unarmed.


    Really. You came in here without a single weapon on you?


    I paused a beat. Well. No. But Im not holding one.


    Okay smart guy. You want to talk? Miles threw out his bow first, then emerged from behind a rock. He looked much as I remembered him from the transposition, but hed upgraded. His leather armor was reinforced with metal, painted matte ck.


    And there was pure, unbridled fury in his eyes.


    Something held me back, some wariness in the back of my mind. He was being too cooperative, considering the absolute lethality hed pursued me with just moments before.


    I kept my answer short. Yes.


    What exactly do we have left to talk about?


    <em>Clink.</em>


    <strong></strong> bounced against the lip of the chasm and dropped back down again. It was getting closer to where I needed it to be.


    His arm twitched, and when I reflexively went for my inventory, he smiled a false smile. Uh-huh. If you wanted to talk so badly, why didnt youe and find me after the transposition?


    After the Overseer sted me all over the city? Just waltz into your domain with all that fucking heat? Come on, Miles. We both know how that would have gone down.


    sted. Like you didnt fucking do it. Miles paced, but his hand never went far from his side.


    It doesnt matter what I say. You wont listen. Something urred to me. I cocked my head. Was your team retreating a gambit to lure me in?


    Got it in one. Miles chuckled. Took a minute to realize you were winding me up, sending amateurs to do your dirty work, but unfortunately for you Ive seen it before.


    Listen. I started.


    Did you massacre Region Six? Miles asked, point nk.


    <em>Clink.</em>


    My fist tightened. No. It was already fucked before I got there. Everything else was the Overseer pulling strings, throwing me under the bus. He seem like the truthful sort to you?


    And the attack on the apartments? When that short-stack of yours that iced <em>my fucking friend.</em> He struck his chest, emphasizing thest three words.


    No one was supposed to die. All I wanted was the Legendary User Core. The guy who backed me up was an unknown quantity, someone with future knowledge. And frankly, Im pretty sure he has it in for me too.


    Miles rolled his eyes. Putting that massive convenience aside for the moment. You had no intention of killing Matthias to silence him. Really.


    I snorted. Matts the type of motherfucker who memorizes the A section of a dictionary and calls himself a genius after. Not even close to as smart as he thinks he is. Whatever he knows, it cant hurt me, and I dont give a shit about anything he could spill. I just wanted the core. And it was going to get a lot harder to get it once you all locked him down.


    Miles made an ahah gesture. Of course. The legendary User Core, along with most of the cores of people in region six. All for that necromancer you saved.


    I hesitated. He had me there. Any denial would read as false. Yes.


    <em>Clink.</em> I saw it fall this time. Id have it soon.


    To what purposeno, dont tell me. See, this is our key problem. He scratched the back of his neck. You say all that, and despite all evidence to the contrary, Im inclined to believe you. Like I believed you during the transposition. Youre the best goddamn liar Ive ever seen, and trust me when I say thats a high fucking bar. Im sure if I give you a room to spin something, youll have my head spinning like a top, chasing after all manner of bullshit. Whichll eventually leave me with ck jawed, dick in my hand, when the next grand tragedy hits.


    He paused, stared at me curiously over the gap. You like westerns, Myrddin?


    The sudden change of topic threw me. Never dabbled.


    Miles inclined his head. Right, I forget how young you are. There are some modern ones that are decent. Hostiles, Hell or High Water, 3:10 to Yuma. But the old ones have a certain rity, ahow do I say ita purity of focus. White hat, ck hat. The shing of ideals. Good versus evil. And more often than not, it alles down to a draw.


    His hand stirred by his side.


    I stiffened, ready to activate my Page skill at a moments notice.


    What the hell was he thinking? Hed seen me fight. He was more technically proficient and better trained, but with getting a weapon out of my inventory the only User who could match my speed was probably another page.


    Dont do it. I snapped.


    He gave me a look that was almost sad. The most fucked up part, kid? I really did like you.


    Dont


    Miles drew.

 Chapter 210

    Chapter 210


    The movement was zingly fast and perfectly controlled. Only Miles wrist and forearm moved, his shoulder motionless, as he pulled something ck and carbon from his inventory and pointed it at me.


    Time slowed down.


    Muzzle re shed three times.


    It was likely only due to <strong></strong> that the first few shots missed. Something too fast to perceive struck my shoulder armor and knocked me off bnce.


    Simultaneously, there was a metal blur as, <strong></strong> freed itself from the pit and shot towards me.


    I activated <strong></strong> mid-fall. My hand-crossbow leapt into my grip and I aimed for the meat of Miles thigh. Then squeezed the trigger.


    He screamed and fell. We hit the ground moments apart, but the hand crossbows pain effect didnt stop him from leveling the shaking muzzle of a stockless submachine-gun directly at my head.


    ckness overtook me. Smothered me.


    And for a moment, I thought it was over.


    But the gunfire continued, and the ckness that covered me emitted a harsh growl, radiating pain and anger. Rage overtook me as my mind caught up with my body. Miles brought a fucking machine gun to a crossbow fight. Hed be penalized if he killed me with it, same as I almost was at the beginning. And now Talia was paying for my shorings, shielding me with her own body.


    <em>No!</em>


    Stay. Talia rasped. Her body shuddered as she took another bullet.


    An unbearable rage welled up from my core.


    <em>Im going to kill him</em>


    I felt the breath of her muzzle as she nipped my ear. Dont get distracted pup.


    The meaning of her words hit like a bucket of ice water, bringing everything back into focus.


    Okay. Ill bring you back as soon as I can. I said, my voice hoarse.


    <em>Click. Click. Click.</em>


    Across the gap, Miles swore, and there was a loud tter. From the grunts of pain, hed run out of ammo. Was trying to get the bolt out of his leg and failing. I forced myself up on an elbow and peeked over Talia.


    Sprawled out on his ass, Miles leveled a Glock at my head and I ducked back behind the wolf just before he fired. Staggered, panicked footsteps trailed away from us. Talias body dissipated, leaving me with a clear line on Miles, hauling ass deeper into the ripple. A series of notifications popped.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Rogue Bounty at The Gilded Tower, Floor 28 and 1/2</strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: High</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: Until a condition is met. </strong>


    <strong>Conditions: Neutralize or Terminate.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: EXP (L), S100,000 - 200 Rare User Cores </strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>God fucking dammit, Miles. </em>


    Hed tried to kill me with a cklisted weapon. Put it all on the line. Instead, hed harmed me and killed Talia, which was apparently enough for the system to g him. The bounty was no joke. Now, if I left him injured and running scared, I might as well be signing his death warrant.


    If I said it didnt tempt me, Id be lying.


    But looking at everything from a purely rational perspective. Nothing had changed. The trap hedid had failed, and he was in more trouble now than when he was pretending to be.


    <em>Dont get distracted.</em>


    I set after him, running at a slow jog. The injury would slow him down. Now it was just a question of how many bullets he had left.


    /////


    The answer was many.


    Many bullets.


    I followed from a distance, exposing as little of myself as possible. He tried another ambush, but the pain from the bolt had unsettled him. Mostly he just ran, limping painfully with every step.


    Id picked up a few vampires in the interim, used one to keep watch, and the others to pull away the attention we were drawing. So far, it was just vampires on vampires.


    I took cover behind a cluster of beams and called out. Getting tired yet?


    A bullet answered. It went far wide ncing off the stony ground and ricocheting off, meters away.


    Guess thats a no.


    I staggered as a soul-rending screech, loud and unbearable chilled me to my core. A massive shadow flitted overhead, and I instinctively ducked. Secondster, an impactrge enough to be a bomb shook the entire dungeon, sending bits of detritus skidding past where Iy prone, my entire body shaking.


    Every vampire in my awareness blinked out.


    Once rife with the noises of monsters and squalling, the ripple fell silent.


    Fear coursed through me, fear more raw and real than any Id felt before. Fear that made me feel like I was a child who just discovered how terrifying the world really was.


    I forced my eyes open.


    Nearby, one of the overhanging bridges copsed, crumbling into the abyss. Itd been shredded in half. Hole running clear through it.


    And far off, in the direction Miles was running, there was an angled crater. Miles was a bloodied mess, facedown, motionless. And above him, a lone figure stood,pletely still. Its skin was crimson, its body sleek and thin, with arms that ended in ws.


    A voice that slithered and pervaded everything,ing from everywhere all at once, filled the ripple.


    <em>You want him? Come take him.</em>


    The Crimson Nosferatu matched Azures description perfectly. My body trembled. And somehow, with monumental effort, I pushed myself up to my knees. It hadnt moved an inch, and didnt seem to be in any hurry.


    I reached out to Miles with <strong></strong> and felt significant pushback.


    It was confirmation he was still alive, still conscious. Didnt solve the problem. The Nosferatu felt absurdly powerful, but that didnt mean it was intelligent. Maybe I could influence it. I reached out with <strong></strong>


    The connection snapped, and my vision dimmed to almost nothing. When it returned, I felt shell shocked, hollow.


    Numbly, I tried to mentally review the resources I had, cing them on the ground in front of me.


    Themon silver knife and the arrowheads.


    My crossbows, bow, and potions.


    My mana was dry.


    <em>GET OUT</em>


    No. I coulde up with something. I just needed a n. Some way to distract it long enough to grab Miles and get out.


    <em>How. Its faster than you. Smarter than you. If youre lucky as hell, maybe itll even let you go.</em>


    The Crimson Nosferatus voice silenced my inner thoughts. How long do you intend to make me <em>wait?</em>


    Helplessness overtook me. The same helplessness Id felt in the tunnel. Maybe Kinsley was right. Maybe we were better off with Miles gone. Hede within seconds of killing me, and this thing had manhandled him like he was nothing.


    Another voice radiated in my mind. One I hadnt heard in a very long time.


    <em>You have to choose what you want to be. And you have to keep making that choice.</em>


    For, perhaps the first time, I listened to my fathers words. This didnt feel like a fight I could win. Everything in my rational mind was screaming at me to run. But if I ran, my actions spoke for themselves. I would have pulled Miles into a situation he couldnt handle and abandoned him when it got hard.


    And maybe it was Hasturs revtion of what my life could have been, or maybe Id changed. I didnt know.


    Regardless of why, I gathered my things and stood. Crossbow in one hand, dagger in the other.


    The Nosferatu cackled, and its aura pressed down on me. Finally. I hope your power exceeds your stature.


    That was an odd taunt. Power aside, it was half a head taller, if that.


    Someone cleared their throat.


    I started and turned, blinking several times, unable to believe what I was seeing.


    Ellison was standing next to me, his arms crossed. His stoic face held a hint of a smile. Sorry you had to find out this way, Matt. But its not <em>always</em> about you.

 Chapter 211

    Chapter 211


    Ellison looked


    I swallowed down the swell of emotion and tried to shake it off.


    Kids are small. Thats obvious. But you dont truly realize until you take responsibility for one, how slowly they grow. Maybe it wouldnt feel so painstaking if they grew up protected in a vacuum. But they dont. The world swirls around them, tearing at their unknowing hearts, shredding them with a debris of endless coteral they had nothing to do with. Hurting them for no goddamn reason, when they did nothing to deserve it. And you cant help feeling that eventually, the storms and gusts will tire of toying with them and rip them from your arms entirely, carrying them away.


    Because as much as wed like them to be, kids arent protected by somemonw of decency, or God, or trivial plot convenience. They get hungry and gaunt when there isnt enough food to go around, fall victim to outside influences and grow cynical, and in the end, die like anything else.


    So, as much as wed like to wish the opposite, we are so often left wishing for something many would consider cruel.


    <em>Grow up and grow up quickly. Please. Before the world throws more hurt your way than I can protect you from.</em>


    Ellisons physical characteristics had changed little. His arms were bigger, the vicle at his neck more pronounced, his shoulders broader. He still held his trademark, all-knowing smirk that was his default expression when he wasnt scowling.


    But his eyes had aged a thousand years.


    His metal armor reflected a warm blue, a fiery indigo bird etched into his chest piece, wreathed in blue me.


    Behind him, maybe twenty feet away from us, a man with long curly hair, wreathed in cloth bandages that flowed freely behind him despite the absence of wind in the cave stood. He was gazing at the Nosferatu in the crater, but seemed entirely too rxed considering the strength of the enemy at hand.


    Btedly, I realized Ellison was talking.  and now Im waiting for you to pay attention again.


    I blinked.


    There it is. Ellison said. What I was sayingbefore you drifted off to poignant nostalgiandwas that there were quite a few things I needed to grab to prepare for this. And I knew you could handle it. Nine times out of ten, you pull that victory out of your ass. Thats why I couldnt help more during the transposition. He trailed off, and his gaze grew distant. Still. I know the toll it took on you. What it cost. And Im sorry I couldnt help more.


    I <em>wanted</em> to talk to him. There was nothing I wanted more. But the Crimson Nosferatu didnt seem like the type of creature polite enough to let you pause for an aside.


    I inclined my head towards it. Is


    Hell wait. Ellison finished. Hes ornery, but his perception of time is different. Hell, hes older than most of the poption of Texasbined. Also, hes a pompous geriatric fuck who likes to let his preye to him.


    And Miles?


    Stable. The coteral looks bad, but the amount of control that thing has is absurd. It knows I want to get Miles out, and theres nothing more useless than a dead hostage.


    Something ticked in my mind. An inconsistency. The vampire. Did you mean he <em>thinks</em> hes older?


    From my mostly guesswork understanding, monsters generated in the realms of uros were synthesized at the behest of something greater. Probably by the nners. Their previous life memories were fabrications, the only life they truly lived was whatever they carved out for themselves in the dungeons.


    Ellison slowly shook his head. Not exactly. This really what you want to talk about?


    No. It wasnt.


    Your ability. The future knowledge. How does it work?


    A dark shadow flitted across Ellisons face. Time loop.


    Progressive or self-contained?


    Self-contained.


    Any carry over of abilities, items?


    Not a damn thing except this. Ellison pointed to his head and scowled. And even then I dont get the full package. My memories fade like anyone elses. Theyre more or less consistent, unless shit goes really bad early and post-traumatic stress gets out of control, then my memories from that loop are fucked.


    I slowly connected the dots. There was a problem with time loop fiction that always stuck out to me, in that the protagonists go through several life-times worth of trauma and mentally age dozens, if not hundreds of years. Realistically, any normal person who went through that would be reduced to a gibbering mess of insanity by the end, and the umted anxiety, depression, and angst that the constant futility would incur.


    They reset your fucking mental state. I hissed, barely able to believe it.


    You always have such a visceral reaction to that. Ellison mused. But yes. Hell, half the time I wake up at the beginning, as soon as I think about the shit Ive done in the previous loops it inevitably ends with me purging in the bathroom.


    I gritted my teeth. As far as the average person went, Id done a decent job taking things in stride. But going through something like this once had been hard enough. Losing all the progress Id made and despite that, knowing all the horrors in store? I couldn''t imagine.


    It was all I could do to stay calm, fists clenched at my side. If youd told me earlier, I


    Ellison quirked an eyebrow. You what? Would you even have believed all this shit at the beginning? The guy who watched someone with powers out of a marvel movie get eighty-sixed in an alley and went to work at Dunkins the next day?


    He knew about that. The way he was talking, hed been in the loop for a while. I had to assume he knew everything, keep deceit to an absolute minimum.


    Fair. But Im not that person anymore. Let me help you <em>now</em>. I argued. Deal me in. I wont undercut you, or muscle in, or try to steer things in a direction I want. Youre on point. So fucking delegate.


    To be fair, Ellison continued as if he hadnt heard me, his expression softening. You catch on pretty fast. Faster than most people. There were a few times, mostly earlier on, when I woke up and I just couldnt handle it. What happened before. Couldnt get out of bed. Couldnt eat. And when I broke it was like you knew exactly what to do. You scheduled a shrink appointment we couldnt afforddate always set after the dome came down, but it was the thought that countedtook off work, and let me cling to you like a stupid child. You even read to me. Though Ill be honest, the book you usually chose was, uh. Not the greatest, considering.


    There was a <em>lot </em>to unpack there, and in the meantime, my mind seized on thest thing he said.


    I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. Please tell me it wasnt Vonnegut.


    <em>ughterhouse 5,</em> baby. Ellison grinned, but the grin was hollow. All moments past, present, and future, always have existed, always will exist. When you first read that passage I burst into tearsconfused the hell out of you. The second time, though, it was actually kind offorting. That time is static. Realized. Every decision we will or wont make already etched in stone.


    Ellison had confirmed what Id suspected. Hed been resetting to a scant few days before shit hit the fan. Given that, there was no way he hadnt tried to leave. Either with us in tow or on his own.


    I take it the outside the dome isnt much better? I asked.


    Outside is different. Fewer monsters and powers, more supply issues, starvation, and garden variety people losing their minds in the face of the apocalypse. Sweeping everyone we give a shit about outside the dome is the same as prematurely breaking open a cocoon. It cripples us when it counts.


    And?


    Ellison gave me an even look. We die, Matt. Every one of us. So far that happens inside the dome too, but at least the system gives us a fighting chance.


    An icy chill went through me. Id never been overly positive about our prospects, where things within the dome were going. Having it confirmed felt different.


    What happens after the citywide game?


    I cant tell you that.


    Whats the purpose of the Ordinator ss?


    Cant tell you that either.


    Why is Iris so important?


    Ellison feigned confusion. Because shes our sister?


    In the greater scheme of things.


    Oh. Definitely cant tell you that.


    Well. Why the fuck not? I finally asked, barely filtering the hurt and hostility out of my voice. Addressed the elephant in the room thatd been present ever since I guessed his abilities. That up to a certain point, he knew everything that came to pass and made an informed choice to keep me out of it.


    Ellison paused for the first time. Before, his responses were like mine every time Nick regurgitated the Wizard Quest story. More or less on auto-pilot. Now, he was thinking about them. Why? Id almost certainly asked him this before. Was he considering giving me a different answer? Something real?


    He flexed his jaw, seeming to decide. I know what youre thinking. Probably how many things youd do differently, if you were in my shoes. Its not that easy. Time, the order of events, its all so much more finicky than it is in the stories. Theres no set track, no predestination. The smallest changes end up altering things for no goddamn reason, and sometimes things change regardless of what you do. Ghosts in the machine.


    The butterfly effect.


    More or less. I tried warning everyone. Telling them what I know. Tried it more than once. Want to guess what happened? Ellison asked.


    I thought of how the Ordinator had cranked up the difficulty of the transposition in response to an abnormal amount of User advancement. It changed everything too much. You werent able to make viable predictions anymore, and while maybe we cleared some of the initial hurdles with no issue, the eyes in the sky kept throwing curveballs and we eventually got blindsided.


    Yep. Ellison scoffed. God, I hate how quick you are on the uptake. It took a lot of blood, tears, and wasted time before I even considered that. Point is, Ive switched tactics. These days I help people that need to stay alive exactly when they need it, kill people who need killing, disappear, avoid exining anything. Problem is, theres still aundry list of giant variables I dont know how to control.


    I didnt want to ask. But I had to. Am I someone who needs to stay alive? Or


    For a moment, Ellison looked shaken. Doesnt matter. Im here for Miles, same as you.


    Then, a beatter he added. Guessing you caught on to what happened at the apartments.


    More or less, I said, trying very hard not to think about how casual my brother was on the topic.


    Truth is, I dont know what you are. Ellison struggled, searching for a way to say whatever he was thinking. Ever. Youre the biggest variable there is. Sometimes, youre the best resource I have. Sometimes, youre my worst fucking enemy. Ive tried dealing you in, obliquely pointing you in the right direction, abandoning you entirely, and a bunch of other shit not worth repeating. No matter what I do or how many times I try it, the oue ispletely unpredictable.


    The cold arithmetic of it chilled me, as the events of the apartment snapped into context. When I looked at it abstractly, Ellison was being honest, insofar as me not falling into either camp hed described. I wasnt a threat or an ally. Instead, I was a variable.


    And the best way to deal with a troublesome variable is to remove it entirely.


    Ellison waved an arm. That being said, this iteration of you is unique in a few ways that caught my eye. The uh,st breakfast we shared, I gave you a lot of shit for being a hypocritemainly as a vehicle for getting you to leave me the fuck alone.


    I remember, I said, only a little bitter.


    Well, it wasnt bullshit. You are a hypocrite.


    Thanks.


    But I dont think thats necessarily a bad thing.


    Really


    The Nosferatu hissed loud enough to fill the dungeon, startling both of us. Ellison fell silent, his smirk fading to stoic neutrality. The significance of the fact that it still unsettled him, despite running into it multiple times before wasnt lost on me.


    Apparently the conversation was over.


    Ellison cleared his throat. When he called across the crystal clearing to the Nosferatu, he almost sounded like aic book hero. Ill meet you inbat, crimson one. But if you wish for a genuine test, you must give me time to make preparations.


    Then make <em>haste.</em> The Nosferatu hissed.


    I processed what had happened, slowly. That actually <em>worked</em>?


    Uh-huh, Ellison said. The higher level monsters develop a lot of quirks. Some get nastier, more deviant, others gain certain preferences. Its all about drawing out their values, figuring a way to use it against them. But you already know a thing or two about that. Cant speak to where this motherfucker got the Dragon Ball Z fight logic from, but I will notin.


    He took a knee and drew various metal pieces and cylinders out of his inventory. One by one, he assembled them with practiced ease; the piecesing together to form a tripod. Slowly, the device took shape. Once I realized what it was, I couldnt help but snort.


    A ballista.


    I call it the anti-armor magic deterring cyber influenced magic implosion ballista. Or AAMDCIMIB.


    It was a terrible name with an equally terrible acronym, but somehow, knowing that despite everything my brother must have endured he still held on to some of his old quirks, was a minorfort.


    You are a fool, small one. No mortal weapon can wound me. The Nosferatu called over the clearing.


    Every time you mention my height is another five minutes youll suffer before I kill you. Ellison muttered.


    He pressed a tiny object, simr in size and shape to a roll of lipstick to the far end of the ballistas bow. As he pulled it back, a luminescent blue beam of light emerged, tethered to the bow. He held the object far from his body and stepped over the miniature ballistas body, attaching the beam to the other edge and stepped away, Ballistaplete with the requisite string. Then he fiddled with the gear-like mechanisms of the ballista, pressing his head against its body before returning to the adjustments, dialing in the range.


    To answer the question you didnt finishthe really, being a hypocrite isnt a bad thing, in an unnecessarily sarcastic voice. Ellison said quietly, Im not talking about flip-flopping, or punching down on someone for doing something you do regrly. Im talking about the big shit. How many wars do you think could have been averted if the drum beaters at the top were introspective enough to stop buying into their own propaganda?


    Youre not wrong, but Im not seeing how that applies here. I said.


    Ellison shook the ballista, then banged his forearm against it. There was a click of something falling into ce.


    Cold rationality and self-interest is an effective mix for survival. Theres a reason so many assholes make it to the end of the world. But theres a limit to how much that can help you before it does the opposite. And from my observations, you, in particr, can reach far greater heights of power, the more people youre trying to protectalmost out of pure necessity. Our family. The Adventurers Guild. Kinsley. Nick. Sae. Miles. Ellison paused, as if deciding whether to mention something. Jinny.


    Is


    I cant answer that. What I can say, is that excluding thest name, this is the first time theyve all been alive simultaneously. Mostly because you helped them. Other things I cant talk about are also going uncharacteristically well. Which is why I did what I did.


    It stung, but I understood. Tried to remove the variable before it skewed the results.


    Exactly. For just a second, Ellison looked ashamed. Ive obviously reconsidered, which is why were having this conversation. I cant fully deal you in, but I dont think this deviation from you is an act, and if I dont take advantage of it now, I might never have another chance.


    What do you need from me? I asked.


    First and foremost, I need space to work. If you follow me, try to figure out what Im doing, or use your vocation ability to spy on me, were done.


    Got it.


    Ellison loaded the Ballista bolt. Or at least, that was what I assumed it was. It was forged from pure shadow, and despite the decently lit environment, it almost convinced my mind there was nothing there.


    Secondly. I need you to do what I ask, when I ask. For the immediate future, thats grabbing Miles while Im keeping Mister BBEG over there busy. Dont back me up, dont even take a parting shot. Ellison scratched his nose with his third fingerthe signal to ignore what hed just said. With the timing, he wanted me to prioritize getting Miles out, but wouldnt turn down any help I could give him on the exit. Once youre in the elevator, I need you to pass on a message to Miles, from you, in this exact wording. For someone so concerned about the good of the people, you really ought to look into what Waller was doing in his free time.


    Whatyou cant tell me that. I finished, before he could speak.


    Now youre getting it. Ellison smiled. A genuine smile, not a smirk. It slowly faded. Ill let the fed fill you in after hes not jammed up with a bounty and investigates. Waller needed killing. It seemed like a solid opportunity but now that were working together, it could make your life a lot more difficult. You need Miles off your back. Trust me. The guy is relentless.


    Figured that one out, I muttered.


    Once the ball is live, you need to hurry. If you take too long with Miles, you may miss something else. Something important.


    <em>Nick? Or something else. Its all so goddamn vague.</em>


    Also, be careful with the Order of Parcae. Ellison continued. Im guessing that youve figured out that we need them in some capacity, but their management leaves a lot to be desired. Youve handled them well enough, and I think youre heading in a good directiondragging them out into the spotlight with this stunt, not shooting Aaron in the face the first time you saw him, keeping body count to a minimum before you know all the yers. Just again, be careful. Ive never seen this exact scenario, but as you know, theyre not fucking around. The Order turns nasty on a dime.


    Hastur? I asked.


    Ellison shook his head and pressed his lips together.


    How long has it been? I finally asked. Since the first loop?


    Ellisons voice was tired. At one point I kept track. Wrote the number down on my journal as soon as I woke up and stared at it until I was confident Idmitted it to memory. But now? I cant even remember the number I gave up on.


    The image of Ellison was trying to hold on tomy impression of him as a moody, clever kid who would hopefully brighten up after his teenage yearsfinally faded away, and I saw him for what he was. A soldier that had been at war for far too long.


    I opened my mouth.


    Yes, Ellison cut me off, and pulled a hand down his brow, contorting his face. Assuming I survive this, Ille to dinner. Might even stay and watch a movie.


    Great. In that moment, that was all I wanted.


    Lastly. Youve got a thirty-second window before this thing grows its head back. In one smooth motion, Ellison reached down and fired the ballista.

 Chapter 212

    Chapter 212


    There wasnt thumping release, or a twang, or even a blur of motion. The glowing blue string returning to its original position was the only sign the ballista fired, and even then it looked like it must have slipped the catch rather than ejected the bolt.


    <em>FWOOM</em>


    A shockwave knocked me to one knee, jarring my arms and wrists as I came dangerously close to face nting on the crystal cavern floor. I searched through the haze of the aftereffect just in time to see an outline of a human torso flying through the air. Slowly my mind connected the dots and I realized what had just happened.


    The Crimson Nosferatua creature Azure described as so powerful it could level citieswas cleaved in half by the shadow bolt.


    Holy fuck, I murmured, at a loss for words.


    Ellison didnt cheer or celebrate, his face a mask of barely contained panic as his armor extended from his neck, wrapping around his head and forming a helmet. God dammit, too low. Damocles! Get the head


    Before he even gave the order, the man sprinted forward almost too quickly to track, lugging a massive great sword behind him until he reached the Nosferatu and brought the sword down in a massive overhead strike, again and again, each impact ringing out like a sledgehammer on iron.


    Go, get Miles out <em>now.</em> Ellison shoved me forward. As I ran, he called after me. Make sure he leaves the ripple first!


    <em>Why?</em>


    There wasnt time to ask. Miles was up, staggering away from the crater. From his movements he was stunned, or injured, or both, but from prior experience it wouldnt be long before he was up and running, dragging us both into more bullshit.


    Off to the side, EllisonspanionDamocleswas still smashing the full weight of his sword across the creatures throat, over and over like a lumberjack splitting wood, while Ellison bound its legs and arms with a silver wire, swearing loudly and shouting instructions.


    I pulled my hand crossbow with <strong></strong> and fired a torment bolt, aiming for the creature''s exposed entrails, watching with grim satisfaction as it struck home and the Nosferatu writhed.


    Right on cue, Miles head lolled in my direction and his eyes fixated on me. He drunkenly turned and lurched away from me.


    I wheeled him around before he gained momentum, and pulling the blow at thest second, struck his nose with the meat of my palm. Cartge buckled under my palm but didnt break, and Miles head snapped back, his eyes hazy and confused.


    Use your goddamn brain. Im trying to save your life. We all are. I shouted, hoping Id finally gotten through, and chanced looping his arm around my neck for support. This was a vulnerable position. If he had a mana garrote on him, itd be childs y to slip it around my throat. His feet dragged, slowing us down. <em>Run</em> motherfucker.


    Jesus Christ, Miles muttered. He was staring at the Nosferatu, whodespite being bound, shot, bludgeoned, and losing enough blood to kill an elephanthad already regrown its legs and was slowly but consistently breaking free of its restraints. Finally, Miles seemed to conclude that even if this was some kind of con, getting out of the tower was the best course of action. His grip tightened around the back of my neck and his legs pumped, movements still clumsy and uncoordinated.


    Eventually our movements synced, and we made decent time as we raced across the clearing.


    Felt like Miles devolved into a series of coughs. Getting hit by a bus. Twice. Didnt even hear iting.


    Might be your ears, considering all the goddamn gunfire, I said.


    What is it?


    Bad fucking news<em>Shit!</em>


    Bad news got worse as <strong></strong> screamed, and I ducked, dragging Miles with me, barely clearing a crescent wave of red. The Nosferatus w-like hands pointed towards us, ignoring Ellison andpany entirely, as it shrieked in an alien tongue with a voice full of rage.


    Not good. If I had to guess, Ellisons joint attack broke its rules of engagement, and now it had every intention of taking the slight out on the hostage.


    We started running again at a slower pace, dodging the crescent des of magic as they came. With every passing second, the Nosferatu seemed closer to escaping, more binds snapping free as it recovered its power.


    As soon as it freed itself and had ess to even a fraction of its mobility, we were done.


    <em>Flight Charm?</em>


    Using the charm would be an automatic tell. Miles would have almost definitive confirmation that Myrddin was connected to the Adventurers Guild, and it would undo everything Id done to throw him off. Id use it if I had to, but.


    Maybe there was another option.


    That thing breaks free, were S-O-L. Anything in your back pocket that could help? Teleport spell, speed eleration, anything at all? I tried.


    Miles thought hard, then his expression grew conflicted. I dont think so.


    I held back a litany of expletives and let him reconsider.


    <em>Come on Miles. Think about it. It would have been so easy to let you burn, but here I am, dragging your ass out of the fire.</em>


    Another beat. Another nothing from Miles.


    <em>Fuck it.</em>


    I reached towards my inventory and prepared to grab the flight charm.


    Before I could, our feet left the ground, crimson crescent passing beneath us as we elevated into the air. We rose vertically, about ten yards in the air until we teaued and bobbed treacherously. Of course. They designed the flight charm for one person, not two.


    Careful to mask the movement, I reached into my inventory and activated my flight charm. The turbulence ceased, and we smoothly rose and rocketed towards the exit.


    Miles face was hard. But he didnt shake me off, or attempt to throw me into the fathomless depths around the tforms below. Instead, he spoke. Much as I hate to admit it, I was out of my depth.


    <em>Same.</em>


    It made a certain sort of sense, though I couldnt imagine doing the same in his shoes. I saved his life; he saved mine. That was the person Miles was. Unshakably fair. Even after everything he thought Id done, and the fucked up things that happened between us, and absent a single witness, he refused to change.


    Maybe that was the reason I couldnt stomach the idea of hanging him out to dry.


    I loosened my grip and slipped down a little as we approached the exit, maneuvering myself so I could follow Ellisons directive and exit the ripple a split second after Miles. We rocketed out of the ripple and back into the main floor, veering to avoid the opposite wall and crashing into the mud, sprawling awkwardly across the ground.


    A stream of notifications scrolled before me.


    Beyond the text, a small ember of golden light etched an ornate white ring that seated an amber stone into existence, almost like it was 3-D printed. Just as it finished forming, I snatched it before Milesstill shaking off shock and slowly rising from the mudcould notice.


    <strong></strong>


    In ordinary circumstances, the advancement would have thrilled me. But I couldnt tear my eyes away from the wording of the final notification.


    <strong></strong>


    Either Ellison was dead, or he wasnt a User at all.

 Amazon Announcement

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    Double-Blind Book 1 isunching on Kindle Unlimited and Audible on May 23rd! There were around a thousand edits, so it will be a much smoother, punchier reading experience if youd like to take it from the top, and Ramon De Ocampothe audiobook narratordid fantastic work with the material.


    Double-Blind Book 2 is finished and the final chapters will be uploaded to Patreonter this week.


    Unfortunately, with the rules of Kindle Unlimited I do have to take down most of the chapters from book 1, but all of the chapters from book 2 will remain up until its published, and of course, all future updates will be posted to Patreon and here first.


    Just wanted to take a second to thank everyone whos reviewed,mented, shouted out, and otherwise supported this story. It was an idea I wanted to try, but your support manifested it, and made it feasible for me to write long term. That means the world, and I hope you enjoy all the twists and turnsing down the line.


    Eligos

 Chapter 213

    Chapter 213


    <em>Before</em>


    Ellison was particr about schedules. Timing. Id left him at the library, and hed instructed me to pick him up at a quarter to seven. So I shifted my schedule around, made sure Russmy manager at theundromatknew Id be leaving exactly at 7:30, and arrived like clockwork.


    That was nearly an hour ago. Night filtered in through the broad library windows, and much of the overhead lighting around the outer edges of the library had already shut off, giving the main section of broad tables a spotlight feeling. Ellison was bent over a younger girls textbook, pointing at a section of text, his expression strained. Hed say something, and the girl would shake her head, and Ellison would cross his arms, lost in thought, before he spoke again. I recognized his bodynguage simr to instances where he was trying to figure out how to exin something to Iris.


    Finally, the girl nodded, and I felt an internal sigh of relief.


    She was thest of three simrly confounded middle-schoolers, all of whom Id watched Ellison help since arriving on schedule. Like the rest, she shut her book, shoved it in her backpack, gave Ellison a weapons-grade nuclear smile and left with a hop in her step, passing by me on her way to the exit without so much as a nce or a look back.


    Ellison, alternatively, looked rumpled and fatigued. He gathered his things in an uncharacteristically unhurried fashion and nearly ran into me.


    Study group? I asked.


    Ellison blinked several times before his bleary eyes fully focused on me. Oh, hey. What time is it?


    Nearly nine.


    From his aghast expression, I might as well have told him the sky was yellow.


    Well shit. Ellison finally said. Then, after he had a second to think about it. Didnt mess anything up for you, did I?


    No. I lied. I had a helpline gig lined up for after I took him home, but it paid little and wasnt time sensitive.


    How long were you waiting?


    I shrugged. Not too long. Got caught up at Maples.


    Ellison half-nodded, hooded eyes squinting at the clock on the wall as if he couldnt quite bring himself to believe it was really thatte. Sorry.


    No worries.


    We started towards the exit, earning several irritated looks from the few remaining evening staff who were probably hoping to leave early. I passed him a bottle of water and pulled a tiny container of Tylenol from my bag, shook it at him. Ellison took it quickly, unscrewed the cap and poured two into his hand, then downed them, draining almost half the bottle. Afterwards, he shot me a suspicious look.


    How the hell do you always know? He asked.


    Im your brother. Its my job to know things.


    Pretty sure most brothers arent psychic. Ellison grumbled.


    I shrugged. The good ones are.


    We walked in silence for a while. From the number of screwed up expressions Ellison was cycling through, I could tell he needed to talk about something. But trying to pry it out of him never worked. So I let him stew as we traveled through the library double-doors and approached the bike rack. I pulled my keyring from my jean pocket and undid the chain lock, grabbing the handlebars and hefting the front wheel of my bike free from the rack.


    I raised a questioning eyebrow. Ride? Or hoof it?


    Lets walk for now, Ellison said, at least until the Tylenol kicks in.


    Itd take us longer to get home on foot, but that was fine. I wheeled my bike alongside us and pulled my burner from my pocket, flipping it open and shooting a quick text to my helpline client, letting them know there was a blip and I needed to reschedule. A response came almost immediately, but I didnt look at it. The library was on the edge of a decent area of town, but the closer we grew to home, the more alert we needed to be.


    We passed a small group of homeless men lounging at the mouth of an alley, one of whom was familiar.


    Hey Greg. I waved.


    Hi Greg. Ellison parroted.


    Lo boys. Greg grinned a wide and gap-toothed smile. He was looking better now that summer was over and wed moved more deeply into the autumn months, and his tomato redplexion had faded to a warm scarlet. Hows the static this evening?


    <em>Trantion: Any cops around?</em>


    Pretty clear, I said. Then peered deeper into the alley and frowned. Theyd done a good job obscuring their various hodgepodge sleeping amodations, but Gregs eternally overfull cart was sticking out a little, along with a sleeping-bag housed within a cardboard box. May want to drag that dumpster over a bit.


    Greg turned to study the alley, immediately saw the issue. Golden, golden. Good lookin out. Preciate you both.


    Have a good night.


    Once we were out of earshot, Ellison finally boiled over.


    I know its stupid, he said.


    I yed dumb. Whats stupid?


    My brother sighed. The study group. Youve told me at least half a dozen times that the best way to study is by yourself.


    I made a show of considering that and tried toe up with the best way to respond. Things were so much easier between us when I could be direct with him, but those days were long since over. How many times a week are you meeting?


    Once.


    And how many people? I asked, though I didnt need to. Unless arge contingent had left before I arrived, there were five other kids.


    Six in total. Ellison confirmed.


    And they spent most of the time studying? Not chatting or goofing around?


    We didnt even have time to chat, Ellisons voice rose, and he ranted. Theyre all so fucking behind. All the teachers care about is getting us ready for the standardized shit, so that gets all the attention in ss, and they expect us to study for the other tests entirely on our own.


    I resisted the urge to get into a drawn out venting session about the public school system, because while he wasnt wrong, that also wasnt the core of his problem.


    Ah. I said.


    Ah what, head ass? Ellison gave me a small shove. Come on. I know you have an opinion, you always do. Why cant you just give it to me straight like you did to Greg?


    <em>Because Gregs happy to take all the help he can get.</em>


    I blew out air. Do I believe the best way to study is on your own? Yes. Do I also understand that solo-study can get monotonous as hell and an asional change of format can help you refresh, and that infrequently teaching someone else the material grants a differing insight that helps you understand it better? Also yes.


    Oh, Ellison said.


    I swatted him lightly across the top of his head, mussing his hair. My brother recoiled and toyed with his bangs, scowling until they fell back into their usual ce.


    Obviously, I get it. So curb the attitude and stop acting like Im out to get you. I nearly said more, but didnt want to push my luck. Instead, I took the indirect route. My opinion doesnt matter. What matters is that despite going to the efforts of organizing this on the down low and having a seemingly sessful session, <em>you</em> seem less than happy with the results.


    Because it sucked! Ellison shouted. He quickly brought his volume under control, but the irritation remained. I didnt mind teaching at first. Like you said, it reinforced things, helped me internalize them. But then I had to do it again, and again. And now my head hurts and I just feel drained.


    How many kids in the group are further ahead in their studies than you? I asked, careful to circumvent the word smart.


    Ellison stared down at the sidewalk as we walked, lost in thought. None of them, I guess. Dias pretty quick, but shes gifted and doesnt really spend that much time studyingCome to think of it, most of the smart kids wouldnt be the first to sign up for a study group.


    <em>There you go.</em>


    Mmm. I answered nomittally.


    And its not like I know everything. Itd be a pain to get them there, but even if I only snagged one or two, I wouldnt constantly be ying unpaid substitute and thered be someone to teach me for a change Ellisons eyes narrowed, and he red at me suspiciously. That was some Socratic, bamboozling bullshit.


    No idea what youre talking about.

 Chapter 214

    Chapter 214


    Loss, despair, and a tiny flicker of hope all tore at my mind, burning any semnce of cognizance to ash. Nothing mattered. Not the order, not whatever oveplicated bullshit I was trying to aplish here. None of it meant anything if Ellison was gone.


    Was he? He knew. Had to. Somehow concluded that once we were out, the system would reward an artifact and made sure it went to medid he know that because he was aware he and hispanions werent traditional Users and were therefore exempt from receiving the artifact? Or because missing the Nosferatus head was a critical mistake, and hed lose, and what kind of fucking time loop was it for fucks sake? If Ellison died did everything reset? Or were there quantum elements in y, and every time he died he moved to a new timeline?


    Too many fucking unknowns.


    <em>Crack</em>


    I put my fist through a stone coffin, barely feeling the impact. It fractured in a series of spider webbing cracks and copsed, spilling out desated bones and dust. It barely registered that the coffin was nearly an inch thick, and I shouldnt have been able to break through it.


    The panic blew the lid off, growing more sharp and pronounced, a tingling fraying ache that threatened to paralyze me. I put my fist through another coffin, and again, the stone obliterated as if Id struck it with a hammer. It hurt more, this time, and I felt a pulse of pain in my fist that granted a moment of rity before I plunged into a never-ending pool of anxiety.


    Myrddin.


    Someone was calling out to me. Someone I didnt care about.


    <em>Go back go back now you have to know for sure you have to see go now go now GO NOW!</em>


    <em>Myrddin.</em> Miles caught my shoulder before I could jump back in the ripple.


    I pivoted and swung a blind backhand that hit nothing, trying to get around the interference so I could


    Do what, exactly? Save him? If the worst had happened Ellison was already gone. Go anyway and bet on the astronomical odds hed dropped a core? The Nosferatu would pick me off as easily as breathing. And Id seen its power first hand. Payback was out of the question.


    At least for now.


    Slowly, I stopped moving. That old familiar feeling of helplessness overtook me, rooted my feet in ce.


    The tunnel vision faded, and I stared down the threaded barrel of a Glock, dimly realizing what happened. I fucked up. And in my briefpse of sanity, Miles had taken the initiative and now held the advantage. His right eye aligned with the sight, his expression emotionless and cold.


    When I spoke, my voice was so twisted and raw I barely recognized it. You got a memory loss issue, Miles?


    Stay. Back. Miles said.


    Because you had ample fucking opportunity to throw me into an abyss a few minutes ago, and let it slip through your fingers. I growled and took another step forward.


    Miles retreated, keeping a constant distance of around five feet between us. A less experienced shooter harboring the same level of anger might have pressed the gun against my head and made for an easy disarm but Miles never missed a beat. That was before you started punching through stone. And just because I overlooked half-pint backing you up again in the moment, doesnt mean I am now. Not without one hell of an exnation.


    I gritted my teeth, and tried to banish the image of Ellison that popped up in my mind. If you want answers, get the goddamn gun out of my face.


    A mental recoil sent a wave of pain through my neurons. It felt simr to when I tried to cast <strong></strong> on a target with elevated Intelligence. Only, I hadnt.


    Miles grimaced and lowered the gun. He didnt inventory it, just gripped it at his side, and when I tried to walk past him towards the elevator, he still retreated as before, staying between me and the elevator.


    That bounty notification probably went out to everyone at the tower. Its possible the Adventurers Guild is ying interference, but if some actual monsters down there in the line decide they want a shot at you, theres only so long the guild can hold them off. All of which means we have a tight window to get you out. I red at him. Make up your fucking mind.


    Every part of me wanted to abandon this course altogether and rush back into the ripple. Even before the dome and the transposition, I had trouble trusting Ellison, probably because of the many simrities we shared. What Id missed was how thatck of trust frayed our rtionship, slowly wore it down and fostered resentment. Maybe he had just been trying to get some space thatst breakfast at <em>Sams</em>, but the only reason his words cut so deeply was because they were steeped in truth.


    At some point, Id lost sight of who he was, and just saw the parts of him that reminded me of myself.


    If I wanted to make a changefor Ellison to trust me again, I needed to return the favor. There was no faking the tiredness in his voice. Hed been doing this for a long, long time. And hed specifically told me that if I took too long getting Miles clear, it would make things harder in the long run.


    For now, Id believe. It didnte naturally and directly conflicted with my tendency to think the worst. But Id believe just the same. Ellison wasnt dead. He just wasnt a User.


    Becauselets face itif I looked at all this in terms of game bnce, a time loop ability waspletely overpowered. And anotheryer of system fuckery was pretty much par for the course at this point.


    Having worked through his own inner conundrum, Miles inventoried his weapon. He stared at me, as if expecting a sudden attack at any moment. When none came, he finally seemed to rx.


    Now. You said something about answers. Miles raised an eyebrow.


    /////


    I multi-tasked, checking in with Azure and chatting with Kinsley as soon as we came back into range. The situation in the lobby wasnt great. The Adventurers Guild had acted quickly, leveraging their influence to protect Miles and suspend elevator entry as soon as the bounty notification went out, but things were deteriorating quickly. They werent able to stop anyone inside the tower from using the elevators, so I instructed Azure to disguise himself as a random adventurer, go down to the lobby, and report to Sara as me. After some convincing I let my summon handle exining why Id missed what must have been a never-ending mess of red-alerts and all-hands-on-deck. It was difficult to take a hands off approach for once, but Azures talent was crafting narrative.


    Getting Miles out was an outright pain in the ass,rgely because the tower was protected. I dropped a hint for him to coordinate with Kinsley and see if there was anywhere in the tower she could door to, while I coordinated with her from the other side. Once he was out, shed immediately spirit him away with her sanctuary ability, until we could figure out next steps.


    While the lower floors of the tower werent blocked frommunication, they had a hell of a lot more protections in ce to protect from unwanted entry and teleportation. Kinsley went through, painstakingly testing each floor and failing to find an entry point until shended on the fourth floor. She warned me it felt unstable, that the towers security seemed almost intelligent and she didnt think she could open a door inside the tower again.


    Which meant me, Nick, and the rest would be on our own.


    I just took that in stride, because I had my hands full just telling Miles the truth.


    Or at least, doing so without giving him enough rope to hang me with.


    It was a mostly undeveloped theory. One percting in the back of my mind for quite some time since the Allfather revealed himself as my patron, and was reinforced every time a god interfered.


    Theyre cheating. Miles said aloud, as if wrapping his mind around the idea.


    I nodded. Its the only thing that makes sense. The Overseer''s public statements imply theyve been doing this for some time. And while I cant exactly show hard evidence for this, the Allfathers, proctors, and Nychtasments all seem to imply these inquisitions have been going on for a staggeringly long time. My ss. <em>Your</em> ssunless Impletely wrongand the way they screwed with Tylers truth-sight ability right when it would have the most devastating oue. Now, granted, all of those prior cases have justification. Im guessing you answered questions within the void before your ss was assigned, just like mine?


    Miles nodded, his mouth tight.


    And divine-tainted monsters wounded Tyler, which is a little more borderline. But Hastur is running his own fucking guild, and more problematic, Nychta outright granted me something I needed at the perfect moment.


    Things are devolving. Miles finished.


    Right now theyre running a proxy war. Using third-parties to snipe at each other, jockeying for position, all while maintaining usible deniability. Remind you of anything? I asked.


    Miles looked troubled. Might as well be pulling directly out of the spook ybook. Fund the ragtag resistance against the regime you dont like, arm and back themat least until they either crumble, overthrow the regime, or do something you dont approve ofthen call it a day.


    Rarely ends well for the resistance. Even if they win.


    Thats a goddamn understatement. Miles said, rubbing his chin. Then he caught himself and reentered his focus on me. Though all this spitballing is feeling like a distraction.


    How so?


    None of it exins what happened in the tunnel. Or why you waltzed into a goddamn death camp and spared the necromancer running the show.


    I winced. Largely because he wasnt wrong. That was what Id done. And sure, it looked far worse from the outside, but there was only so much I could tell him without putting Kinsley in hot water. This was a critical pain point with Miles. I couldnt deflect or blow it off. Whatever he believed or disbelieved, this was what he needed to buy in more than anything else.


    We were in dangerous territory now, specifically regarding the tunnel. I was technically safe for as long as I was a member of the Order of Parcae and the geas remained effective, but when Miles found a way around it and also happened upon someone who could unequivocally confirm what actually happened that day, I was fucked.


    And he would, eventually, find a way.


    Which left me with two alternatives. Make myself so critical and valuable to both the feds and the Adventurers Guild that eliminating me wouldnt be workable when the news broke.


    Or eliminate every witness from the Order in attendance that night.


    Both felt flimsythe more contact I had with Miles, the more likely he was to connect the dots. And the second option


    <em>I have a family.</em>


    I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to banish the voice, then centered myself, piecing together the best version of what to tell Miles. When I opened them, he was still standing across from me on the elevator, his arms folded.


    The Order of Parcae approached me early.

 Chapter 215

    Chapter 215


    Miles eyes bore into me. It wasnt like during the panel with the feds, where he was already doubting himself and willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. If he caught a single inkling of deceit, there was no question. He was gone.


    I continued. Im not sure how they knew, but I suspect it has something to do with their patron.


    Hastur. Miles filled in.


    They didnt really pass the sniff test, even that early on. Watched them steamroll a bounty like it was nothing. My abilities were far more limited back then, and given the more understated, slow-burn nature of my ss, my first instinct was to avoidrge groups. At least until I got a better handle on where this was all going.


    And they really formed that fast? Miles prompted.


    I nodded. Within a day of the dome, maybe less. Id put money on it. Nobody mobilizes that quickly unless they have an outside lineagain, divine interference. So, they court me, Im unsure, they get a little more aggressive than Imfortable with which ends with me getting the hell out. For a little while, its radio silence. I fall in with Kinsley and the nascent Merchants Guild by chance. Matt tells me his friend has a lead on some special dungeon


    The trial. Miles said.


    And while I dont feelpletelyfortable with the idea, one of them caught my eye. Some girl that went to school with them. Jinny.


    Miles scoffed.


    I waved the scorn away. Not like it sounds. Not exactly. Might be the only thing you got right in the profile. She had a Title that granted her significantly more stat and feat points with every level. As a mage she was already strong then, but over time?


    Yeah. Miles nodded slowly. Would have been a monster by now.


    I grunted confirmation. Only the Order shows up, waiting for me outside the trial. From their perspective, it looks like Ive rejected them wholesale and formed my own groupand I already have enough experience with them to guess how theyll handle that.


    Not well.


    <em>Hes still working you.</em><strong></strong>mentary nearly threw me off. I grimaced. Even if I was editorializing somewhat, it was still difficult enough to recount the events without interference. But it didnt matter if Miles didnt fully believe me, all I needed to do was to create a wedge of doubt.


    Tried to y it off like Id been doing them a favor. Scouting. Figured if I could get the Order to spare them, that was a better alternative to catching them in my coteral, and eventually, I could get them out. Nick and Sae werent much to write home about, but Jinny was one hell of a sweetener. I I trailed off, swallowed. I betrayed her trust and revealed her Title. Figured that would clinch it.


    Only it didnt go that way, Miles said.


    Jinny didnt take it well. To be clear, it wasnt her faultif there was anyone to me, it was me. But she took a shot at me, then they took a shot at her. Their aim was better. She bled out in seconds and everything went to hell. Sae panicked and ran back into the ripple, they captured Nick


    Why? Miles asked pointedly. You just said he was nothing to write home about, why would they take on deadweight?


    The court. I answered reluctantly. Originally, Id meant to bring up the court and keep Nick out of the spotlight, but Miles was too sharp not to pick up on the inconsistency. Im still working on figuring out the details, but its one of the Orders side projects. There are Users with hierarchical sses simr to a historical monarchy. Barons, Kings, Queens, Knights, and they seem dead set on collecting them. Whatever the overarching purpose, Nicks a Court Knight. So they bagged him.


    Sounds like they <em>werent</em> just there for you. Miles observed. His usation was so subtle it almost flew under the radar.


    I gritted my teeth and pressed on. I didnt react well. To Jinnys death, or the way they put innocent people in the crosshairs to strong-arm me into joining them. It felt wrong to just give in. Like theyd have too much leverage, and Id be stuck doing their bidding. I used my abilities to disappear, which wasnt hard. The transposition started shortly after and as you know, all hell broke loose. Tried to help the Merchants Guild with their region and you already know how that went.


    Get to the necromancer. Miles growled. He felt like we were running out of time.


    There were two reasons I spared him. One personal, one broad. Ill start with the second. Id just gotten back from Region Six, and I was in shock. Not to mention angry as hell, only to find out that someone was picking off our people and they probably had an excess of lux. Made sense to kill two birds with one stone. I imagine you went for the same reason. But when we got there, I recognized it as an Order operation. Everything else was more or less on the levelI wasnt even sure what I was going to do until I found the necromancer.


    Miles groaned and pressed a hand to his forehead. Hed already guessed where this was going.


    I finished it anyway. He wasnt what I expected. Not at all. There was no maniacalughing or gleeful hand rubbing. He was just some guy, trying to level up his abilities and eventually bring his daughter back to life. The Order was effectively holding him hostagewhich sure, might have been bullshit, but I didnt get the sense he was lying, and for The Order, the hostage tactic waspletely on brand. Considering the sheer volume of cores I gathered from region six, everything fell in ce after that. Join the Order with the cores as coteral and simultaneously work to undercut them and prevent the wholesale ughter of Users. It all just sort of clicked into ce.


    And the second reason? Miles asked.


    I slowly reached back and withdrew Jinnys core, holding it out in the palm of my hand.


    Ah. Miles said. Then the look on his face grew so frigid I caught a chill. Must be nice. Getting the chance to bring a friend back.


    I swallowed. I talked to himthe kidbefore we saved you. And for someone so concerned about the good of the people, you really ought to look into what Waller was doing in his free time.


    A shadow of doubt crossed Miles expression, and I whispered a silent thanks to Ellison.


    The elevator arrived on the fourth floor. The floorprised a sprawling autumn forest, and leaves crunched under our feet as we walked towards the spot Kinsley mentioned. Miles was utterly silent as he absorbed what Id told him. Itd be a lot for someone who didnt have skin in the game, and Miles had more than most.


    Look. Miles finally said. Lets say I believe you. In that case, your goals are good. Noble, even. If its anything like the first, stopping the second transposition event could save countless lives, and any intel we can glean on a potential war between these asshat patrons of ours gives us options wed otherwiseck. And the judgment call to leave the Order intact while ousting their leadership cant have been easy, considering your history.


    It wasnt, I said darkly.


    Miles shook his head. Still. This game youre ying at? Ive yed it for real. Hell, I was a natural. Sometimes I even enjoyed it. And I still wouldnt go back for all the money in the world. Undercover work takes a different sort of toll. Its a meat grinder. A lot of good cops go in, and nearly half as many broken train-wreckse out. And thats discounting the casualties that die or start ying for the other side, which isnt a small number. Theyre all thoroughly informed on the risks. You wanna know why they still sign up?


    I nodded.


    Hubris. They all think theyre the exception. That they have what it takes to end up on the good side of the coin flip. In the end, a coin flips exactly that. Each and every one of them is trained to the nines, evaluated, has a handler, a support team, and enough backup to turnover the whole goddamn city if they go missing. All resources youck. And they werent dealing with gods, or powers, or some skin-and-bones asshole putting enough heat on their cover to melt tungsten. I dont mean to take away from what youve aplished. But youve already made a lot of mistakes.


    Like?


    He studied me. Sure. Ill give you one. What was your n, if you let mister-just-trying-to-resurrect-his-daughter-go, and the Order decided you werent worth the trouble?


    I


    Did you even create a contingency to take that necromancer off the board if the order told you and your cores to shove off?


    There wasnt time, I protested, despite myself.


    Too bad. Because if he <em>was</em> their only necromancer and your n fell through, you gave up an opportunity to take a mass-murderer out of y for <em>nothing.</em> And that little horror show they put on during the transposition would have repeated itself. Only the next time, theyd be smarter about it.


    I stopped in ce as Miles continued onward, heat crawling up my neck. But I wasnt angry because he was being unfair, or that hed said anything incorrect.


    I was angry because he was right.


    Miles called behind him. If even a fraction of this yarn youve spun checks out, youve earned a cease fire. But youre in this up to your neck, and the waters rising. Call it ande in with me before you drown.


    The situation with Vernon was moreplicated than Id let on. I couldnt end him in good conscience, considering his rtion to Kinsley. But he owed me his life. I probably <em>could</em> have coordinated a contingency to meet with Vernon if the worst happened. The Order was squelching hismunications, but if I was clever enough, it was possible to bait him out. And all Id need to do to neutralize his future body-count was engineer a situation where I could talk to him long enough to tell him the truth: His daughter was alive.


    But Id assumed sess, and ignored the gamble.


    A blue glow caught my eye. Kinsleys door appeared in the trunk of arge tree.


    Yes, Ive made mistakes. Yes, there are things I could have done better. But I cant just throw it all away.


    Your funeral. Miles reached for the knob and didnt bother looking back.


    I set my teeth. Anyone who kills me gets an all expenses paid ticket out of the dome. And while I cant say what goes into clearing that bounty on your head, Im guessing youll have your hands full for a while. You really think you can protect me from every goddamn User in Das and deal with that at the same time?


    Miles hesitated.


    So, teach me.


    Miles stopped. Turned and gave me an are-you-fucking-serious look.


    I crossed my arms You said it yourself. Youre a natural.


    No.


    Cards on the table. With you as my handler


    <em>No.</em>


    Id have the oversight Imcking, and everything I uncover goes to you first, in regr, organized reports.


    For fucks sake, how many times to I have to say it. Miles snapped. When I said nothing, he boiled over. Yourepletely untrained,pulsive, and whats more Im pretty sure you enjoy this shit, all of which makes you exactly the wrong sort of person for the job, not to mention I literally shot you less than two hours ago


    it didnt take


    And most important, <em>I dont fucking trust you.</em>


    Trust has to start somewhere, I said quietly.


    Then drop the goddamn magic and show me your real fucking face. He growled.


    A long silence stretched between us. Unfamiliar birds flitted from tree to tree, chirping out odd cadences. A cool chill ruffled our clothing. There was an uncanny feeling of an impasse, an insurmountable obstacle. Miles couldnt justify working with me until he had some sort of leverage. And I couldnt take the mask off until I knew, unequivocally, that we were on the same side. Too many people knew as it was, and even if that wasnt the case, Miles wasnt the sort of person I could gamble on.


    Need to get going and figure out how to deal with this bounty. Miles finally said.


    Yeah.


    Disappointment washed over me. For a moment, Id seen a different future. One where Miles and I were allies, not just enemies working towards the same goal.


    Guessing itll be a tremendous pain in the ass.


    Could have just shot me with an arrow.


    He rolled his eyes. We both know how that would have gone.


    I shrugged. Maybe.


    It was as good of a time as any for Miles to leave. But he didnt. Instead he seemed distracted, troubled. After that, Ill poke around. See if that Wallerment holds any weight.


    I held my breath.


    If it does Miles sighed. Well meet in Kinsleys sanctuary. Thats probably the closest were going to get to neutral ground.


    With that, he was gone.


    I took a minute to absorb the victory. It wasnt iron-d, and I wasnt willing to discount the possibility that Miles was acting his ass off and working an angle. But for maybe the first time, I didnt get that impression. His advice to me, and his warning had both felt genuine.


    Only time would tell.


    For now, I needed to level, look over the artifact Ellison apparently wanted me to have. And finally, square things with Nick.

 Chapter 216

    Chapter 216


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Something from the ripple activated the parameters. </em>


    I nearly focused on it before realizing that thest time Id done sofor the conjuration branchit resulted in a sprawling multiple choice that took a considerable amount of time to sift through. With no immediate conflicts and the rest of my team lounging beachside, it was tempting. I put it off, not wanting to rush advancement while I was still off bnce. Instead, I fished around in my inventory for the artifact.


    And found nothing.


    I summoned a health potion to ensure my inventory hadnt failed, then tried to withdraw the ring again.


    <em>Nothing.</em>


    Panicked, I checked my pockets, the small mostly unused pouches on the <strong></strong> anywhere I could have identally stuffed it in the heat of the moment and found nothing. I was double-checking everything, a hairs breadth from dumping out the entirety of my inventory onto the elevator when I felt a slight pressure on one of my fingers. Something unfamiliar.


    I removed my gauntlet. And swallowed.


    There, crowning my third finger, was a simple band of silver metal. There was only one exnation. A ring I was utterly sure Id ced in my inventory, had somehow equipped itself.


    Despite that, it pulled free easily. Cradled in the center of my palm, its weight was so light it felt like I wasnt holding anything at all.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Insidious.</em>


    Over every other adjective rolling through my headunbnced, broken, overpowered, game-changerthe word <em>insidious</em> screamed inside my mind like a signal re.


    The concept of a bound item was rming enough. Id heard enough horror stories about cursed weapons and items in fiction to balk at the idea of an item that bound to my person. At best, it would forever take up a potential item slot and be literally irreceable. At worst


    Well, that wasnt a small list.


    I stepped off the elevator with barely enough foresight to check that no one from my Order team was nearby. There was an abnormally high number of people in line for the elevator, all of whom were in considerably lower spirits than earliernews of the chaos in the lobby had probably reached this floor by now, so they either nned to gawk or get clear of the tower in fear the elevators might shut down.


    After giving the crowd onest scan to ensure none of my team was present, I retreated into the floor, away from the elevator and towards the ripple.


    My scattered thoughts returned to the ring. Specifically, its name. <em>The Devils Share.</em> Its apanying system text imed it required two additional uses to bind. At first that seemed like an error, or perhaps, a holdover from a previous user. If someone had it before me, maybe theyd used it a handful of times before throwing it away.


    That felt wrong.


    I worked my way backward, reviewing every event that followed the system awarding me the artifact. Shortly after I received it, Id thought Ellison had died. Rationally, that made little senseeven less so now that I had some distance from it. He sounded like hed been doing this for a long time, and therefore it stood to reason that a person in his position was capable of affectingrge-scale change. Whatever impact saving both Miles and myself might have, we wouldnt cast a shadow to the sort of paradigm shifts Ellison could achieve over a loop. Throwing all that potential away to save two Users was more than sloppy; it was downright stupid. Stupid in a mewling sentimental way that was entirely out of character for my brother even before the dome.


    Still, I wasnt thinking rationally. Emotion took over, and Id obliterated two stone coffins with nothing more than my fist.


    How?


    I pulled off my other gauntlet and flexed my fingers out, inspecting my knuckles for damage. They were pristine.


    Did I cast <strong></strong> without even realizing it? I looked inward and found that my stores were regenerating at their normal pace, bordering on half. Thest fringes of a headache still plied at my temples. When I broke the coffins my mana was low, bordering on depleted. A normal cast could have easily cked me out.


    If I had cast reflexively, theparative drain was almost nothing.


    But it was the ease with which Id used it that chilled me. I reviewed the moment again and again, trying to find some element I was missing. Some mental prompt or ideation that the ring tranted as a desire to use the ability. The closest I found was that I hadnt tried to strike the surface of the coffin. Id tried to strike <em>through</em> it.


    The same thing happened with Miles. I hadnt even considered using <strong></strong> to persuade him, because as opposed as we were, that was thoroughly outside the rules Id set for myself, but the mental pushback mmed against me as if I had.


    Was that all it took? <em>Desire?</em>


    I fought the urge to throw the artifact as far as I could.


    If my theory was right, the mere existence of intrusive thoughts made the ring a do-not-fuck-with proposition of the highest order. Sure, in a general sense it let you punch far above your weight ss and chuck significantly more fireballs before you needed to rest. But what aboutter, when there was no threat, and some entitled asshole cut the dinner line in front of you?


    Like duct-taping a loaded firearm with a hair-trigger to the hands of someone with no concept of gun safety.


    And if a normal mage lost control, started attacking neutral parties and allies, that specific situation would inevitably equalize itself. The guy obviously raining down magic indiscriminately eventually gets clipped. Natural order. But if an <em>Ordinator</em> lost control?


    No. I <em>needed</em> to get rid of it.


    But


    The Crimson Nosferatus harrowing visage appeared in my mind, along with the heart-stopping power it radiated. Id managed getting Miles clear, and evennded a parting shot, but I hadnt been able to do anything to help with the heavy lifting. Not really.


    Considering that Ellison had gone through this so many times hed lost count? The casual manner with which hed made preparations, all-the-while bringing me up to speed? The Nosferatu probably didnt even rank all that high on his list of priorities. Things were going to get worse. Like the events that led to the Allfathers mask, it all came down to the same sobering equation. The prisoners dilemma. Any power I left on the table was power someone else would take. Either directlyfinding the ring, putting it onor indirectly, by gaining a simrly powerful artifact while I surrendered mine. And Ellison made sure it had ended up with me, instead of Miles.


    I wavered.


    There was no point in using it if it crippled me, but there was only one way to get definitive confirmation that it would.


    My breath grew shallow as I pulled up the rings description, magnified the text so that <strong></strong> oveyed arge swath of my vision, fully prepared to rip it off the second the number decreased.


    Nothing happened.


    More testing was in order. I went a little deeper into the forest, parallel to the line for the elevator. Not so far that I couldnt make them out, but far enough that theyd have a difficult time spotting me, and dialed the mask up to full power. This test was hardly scientific. Hell, I couldnt even repeat it. If uses remaining decreased, Id look for the closest thing to Mordor. But if it didnt? If I could keep the intrusive thoughts in line through discipline and self-control, and be reasonably sure I could use the ring safely?


    The possibilities were limitless.

 Chapter 217

    Chapter 217


    I searched the faces of the crowd, trying to find an appropriate target. Someone cruel or angry, someone who would test me through nothing more than existing. Leaving them be, without identally using <strong></strong> or <strong></strong> or even <strong></strong> would serve as a test of my self-control with the ring equipped.


    And yes, I know how that sounds. Ive always seen other people as the enemy, the other, thepetition. If they couldnt trade favors, influence, or be useful, they were nothing but the potential to hinderand I was better off stepping on them than over.


    It should have been easy to find a target. Someone. Anyone.


    But I couldnt. As I scanned the tired, worried faces, I couldnt single anyone out. Which should have been impossible with this crowd. The best of them are people who gained User status post transposition. Everyone else was a cker, a nothing, an idiot waste of space frittering away precious hours before the next event hit. And when it did, theyd be worse than deadweight.


    So why didnt I hate them?


    Maybe because their once smug and carefree faces wereden with worry, but it didnt feel that simple. It felt systemic. As if something within me had shifted. It wasnt Hastur. His influence on my mind had long since faded. It was something else. The people in line were just that. People. They got scared, and didnt manage their time properly, and fell back on vices and emptyforts when they had nothing else.


    <em>When did I change?</em>


    I shoved the troubling line of thought down, sidelining it forter when I had time to consider it properly, and disappeared further into the forest.


    /////


    After a few minutes of walking, I found it. An oval clearing in the trees, still partially covered by canopy above. At least a half-dozen abnormally long sprouts of green stuck up out of the ground, scattered around the fringes. Mandrakes.


    The Mandrakes themselves werent particrly threatening. Even in arger group, I doubted theyd do little more than scream and run away. But wed dealt with them one at a time for a reason. The few times wed gotten hasty, their screams had grated together,bining into a stomach churning screech with an effect that was more exponential than additive. And seeing as how I only had a single chance to get this right, I needed as much sensory overload as possible.


    <strong></strong>


    Nothing yet. Good. Now the actual test.


    I braced myself. Then leaned down to grab the leafy sprout at the root and yanked it out of the ground.


    The mandrake squealed immediately. Its grubby fingerstched onto my gauntlet and tried to free itself. I briefly considered using <strong></strong> to silence it, then checked the Uses Remaining and found them unchanged. I repeated the process again, uprooting another mandrake with my free hand and feeling my gut tighten as their shrieks ground together.


    It was worse than I remembered. The pitch and cadence varied, mixed in with words, but they were always discordant to each other, and the discordance swelled in volume until I could barely hear my own grunts of difort. This would probably damage my hearing, but considering the sheer amount of deafening chaos during the transposition and my hearings currently undamaged state, it was a given that a health potion would mitigate damage, as long as I took it immediately after.


    I ced the second mandrake alongside its neighbor, taking small satisfaction from watching them smack together as the sprouts on their head formed a strange, flowerless bouquet and pulled the third.


    Again the volume grew exponentially. But despite the pounding in my head and the growing pain in my ears, the increase wasnt nearly as bad as Id expected. It urred to me that there might be a safety cap on how much impairment the mandrakes could cause. This was the first floor of the towerand while I could hardly ssify the system as lenient, the early tower floors seemed like a significant step down from anything Id faced in the adaptive dungeon.


    With that disarming notion in mind, I yanked at thergest of the remaining roots. It took several attempts. Eventually, arge clump of earth came free, yielding a plump mandrake, nearly double the size of the rest. It stretched in an exaggerated yawn, and its beady eyes blinked open, looking around inzy bewilderment until its gaze finally settled on me.


    It opened its mouth.


    Pure white agony shot through my mind. Id been through a lot since the dome came down, experienced more than my share of injuries and pain, topping out with the divine damage Id taken forcing my way through the barrier around region 14.


    If Ipared the two, the divine damage was still worse. But it wasnt <em>constant.</em> Not like this. The mandrake quartet screamed in coordinated discordance, sending the profoundly excruciating jolts that apany a broken bone through my ears and mind and throughout my entire body. My presence of mind and sense of self shattered.


    All I wanted was for it to stop. But my hand wouldnt open, paralyzed in ce. I opened my eyes to slits, searching for the fourth mandrake in the bundle. If I could shatter its focus with <strong></strong>


    My vision was gray.


    I searched for the ovey in a panic.


    Then there was a sickening pop as my eardrums blew simultaneously.


    The world upended itself, and I lost my bnce, stumbling face first into the grass. I fought an endless wave of vertigo as I watched the three normal mandrakes beat a hasty retreat in opposite directions,pletely uncoordinated in their mad scramble out of the clearing.


    Alone now, therge mandrake nted its hands on its hips and screamed once more, though I could barely hear it. Realizing it wasnt having as much of an effect, the mandrake pulled its leg back and kicked my gauntletmaking no more impact than a thrown pebblethen jogged away at a rxed clip.


    Fuck you too. I mumbled after it. Then searched again for the ovey.


    <strong></strong>


    Relief washed over me, despite the pain. My mana was low, but I <em>hadnt</em> casted. And despite wanting, no, <em>needing</em> them to stop, now that I was aware of what the Artifact did, I managed not to use it. The mandrakes scream must have had a mana draining effect. When we were dealing with them one at a time, it must have been minuscule, but like the screams, the effect was exponential when there were more of them.


    I swallowed two health potions. Eventually, the pain faded, and the hazy underwater quality of my hearing sharpened, fully restored. As shaky as I felt, the memory of the pain still lingering at the forefront of my mind, I had to remember that this was a win.


    It wouldnt break me, or render me dangerous or out of control. The ring was usable. There was a part of me that still wasnt sure if it was worth the risk, but I was leaning more towards equipping it than casting it away.


    There was only onest piece of housekeeping left.


    I pulled up my ss information, fully prepared to face a gauntlet of vague multiple-choice questions.


    None came.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    That was a lot. More than I could even process. The notification centered on increasing my shielding from the divine concerned me. Because the system wasnt exactly big on handouts. If it was giving me increased protection, it was out of necessity. And from prior experience, it wouldnte close to adequate. I drew up my ability list, checking the default ability first.


    <strong></strong>


    I read the description once. Then again. And again. A coldnce of fear pierced me, chilling me to the bone.


    Slowly, I pulled <strong></strong> free from my finger and secured it in my pocket, testing to make sure I could feel it through my gauntlets padding. Its circr outline stood out clearly. Id need to check it constantly until I could properly secure it.


    Especially now.


    From the beginning it was difficult to understand why the Ordinator ss was so singled out. If anything, it felt underpowered and had a highly specific use-case, sacrificing almost all offensive potential for the promise of eventual power creep. The details were spotty, vague. And while everyone alive in the dome saw the same footage of Ordinators wreaking havoc, my predecessors had clearly reached their endgame. And it stood to reason that there were more than a few other carry ssessuch as necromancersthat didnt fullye into their own until endgame.


    Why were gods themselves seem so keen to take me off the board? Id wanted an exnation more than almost anything.


    And now, I had one.

 Chapter 218

    Chapter 218


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    This was so far beyond the pale I couldnt even remember what it looked like when I passed it. Laughter exploded out of me, harsh and strained. It all made so much sense now. Putting the ethical and moral concerns asideof which there were a fucktonno wonder they wanted me dead. No wonder Ellison couldnt trust me. The ability waspletely broken, and this was only the baseline of the puppet master augment.


    And offset the abilitys biggest downsidethe mana cost.


    It was beautiful. It was <em>fantastic.</em> And I wouldnt have trusted Gandhi with it, let alone myself.


    If I got this earlier, would I have even tried to convince Miles? Or would I have just waved my fucking hand after he shot me and made it happen? And if I really wanted to be a normal person like Hastur implied, a concept I was still wrapping my head around, was there even anying back from this?


    It was everything I ever wanted. All the control, all the power, all wrapped in a neat package of technicalities and faux-downsides that could probablyeventuallybe eroded away through upgrades. The more I leveled, the higher level Users I could affect.


    But.


    I could have made Tyler believe me. Or influenced enough people around him until he at least considered the possibility I was telling him the truth.


    I could have stopped the crossbowman.


    And killing Maria would have beenpletely unnecessary. If my level was high enough to bring her within the target range, I could have simply ordered her to surrender herself to the Adventurers Guild, and tell them everything they wanted to know.


    I knew what was happening. I could feel myself trying to justify it, even now. And making those justifications was only going to get easier, every time I used it.


    <strong></strong> was just training wheels for the real deal.


    <strong></strong> was the answer to everything. It was how I would win. It was my undoing. And it scared the goddamn hell out of me.


    Fuck. I couldnt trust myself here. I needed to talk to Nick. As soon as possible.


    It took far too long to notice the violet notification light of a new message.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The cheery ping of a voice call came secondster.


    What? I answered irritably


    If Halima picked up on my tone, shepletely ignored it. Youre out of the ripple?


    Yes.


    And you told me to trust my instincts, right?


    I paused. With Nick. Yeah, thats what I said. There was heavy breathing on the other side, and the sound of footsteps crunching through greenery. Are you running?


    I thinkI think I fucked up. Halimas voice was raw.


    Fucked up how? Are you in trouble?


    No. Not me, Keith. And maybe Nick, or because of Nick, I dont know. Whatever it was, it sounded bad.


    Youre not making sense. I said, trying to keep my voice calm.


    Theyre gone, need to find them. Her breaths grew more panicked, short, clipped.


    I stood, goosebumps rising on the backs of my arms. Halima, are you somewhere safe?


    Yeah but


    Great. Now <em>sit the fuck down.</em> I put every ounce of authority I had into themand.


    Silence. A rustling of grass. I gave her a full minute.


    Tell me what happened.


    Nick was fine. Everything was fine. I meanhe was still down, and scared looking, but he was fine. Her voice was moreposed, though the panic still rang clear.


    And then? I prompted.


    He just stood up, out of nowhere. Stared out into the ocean for a while. Scared me. I mean he doesnt seem like the type, but what if he just walked out into it


    but he didnt. I said, trying to redirect.


    There was a rustle on the other side of the line. No. He apologized. Said he was tired of brooding and wanted to explore around the ind, look for other ripples. I figured that was a good thing, you know? But he said it was better if we kept working in pairs, that hed bring Keith and told me to wait for you. Then he smiled at me. At both of us.


    What kind of smile? I asked.


    What do you mean


    Describe it.


    Uh. Tight, no teeth. Squinty. And itit didnt feel warm. Didnt feel like him. I think somethings wrong. Really, really wrong. Maybe thats stupid.


    Its not stupid, I said quietly.


    Something flickered in the back of my mind. A memory from a hospital room just after he got the worst news of his life.


    <em>Its alright. This was always a possibility. And you know what? Theyre gonna give me a cane. Wont y ball again, but Ill have all the swagger in the world.</em> Same smile. Same expression. Cold as the goddamn arctic.


    A choked sound echoed from the other side of the call. Maybe Im overreacting.


    She wasnt. Something was wrong. He wasnt the type to kill himself, but he was absolutely the sort to go out in a ze of glory. But no, that didnt fit. Why bring Keith? The mage was harmless, bordering on a civilian. Hed pack a lot more of a punch once he got a handle on his title.


    The obvious problem that Nick sandbagged him on.


    Why? <em>Think, goddammit</em>


    Hastur mind-fucked me in a big way. I had to assume he did the same to Nick. Offered him something that both profoundly unsettled him and was an offer he couldnt refuse. I could see Nick working with the Order, but not after what they did to Jinny. Not with how he felt about her, not with what he lost. The only way I could remotely see that happening was if Hastur offered him something big.


    What did Nick want? What the fuck did he want?


    Whatever he wanted, Hastur ced him as the leader of zero-team. Put him there for a reason. Zero-teamprised Users that were primarily


    <em>Oh fuck.</em>


    I spoke rapidly. Who got Keith into zero-team?


    Halima hesitated. I dont


    Dont bullshit me here, Halima. If you actually care about Nick, or Keith, you need to fucking level with me. The nepotism is obvious, I just need to know who.


    His brother. Darren, Halima whispered.


    The name meant nothing to me. Description.


    Sort of pasty. On the short-side of tall. Long red hair.


    Keiths brother was the fucking redhead with the ponytail. The one who pulled Nick aside moments before we left on the mission, and it looked like he was begging. The one who shot Jinny.


    Okay, good. I said, bringing my voice down, projecting a calmness I didnt feel. Any idea where they went?


    East along the beachside, but their footprints led into the forest, which is where I lost them. Im sorry


    Its okay. I pushed my fingers back through my hair. The cardinal direction narrowed it down, and Id made physical contact with Nick when I gave him my healing charge. I have a way to find them.

 Chapter 219

    Chapter 219


    I-I-I-I-I-I snapped back into my mind with a gasp, vision fish-eyed and scratchy. What was that? My seer sight worked fine every other time Id used itbut a single attempt on Nick left me feeling drained, ill.


    Fuck.


    In retrospect it made sense. Whoever Nicks patron was, he didnt seem like the spin-the-world-then-go-out-for-cigarettes-type. It was possible he had some sort of ongoing divine protection. Though that they apparently cared more about shielding Nicks thoughts from prying eyes rather than keeping his tongue in his head irked me to no end.


    Okay, fine. Keith then. Not what I wanted. Hedck any insight on what was happening in Nicks head or what he intended, but hed still have the most important detaillocation. Id try to glean the rest from context.


    /////


    Lumpy yellowing fingers the size of logs curled downward, countless knuckles interspersed in a tight focus that grew blurry around the circumference of the finger, craggy skin set deep with lines that wound creeks and fissures around a brownish core. My-my-my-my-my-my-my


    Keith plucked a cluster of fruit in the air, squinting at it. As odd and bizarrely shaped as it was, he was pretty sure this specimen was a non-system fruit. His parents used to buy them from themune by the pound, justifying their purchase by grinding them into a sour-bitter paste, which they then thered on everything.


    With a frown, he turned the fruit over. They were supposed to be looking for anything out of the ordinary.


    Leave for two seconds ande back find you grabbin nuts. Nicks sudden reappearance startled Keith, and the Tamarind pod flew from his shocked-open hand. The older boy bent down and picked up the pod, then cocked his head. Throwing together some trail-mix?


    <em>Theyre not native. Most of the fruit and greenery on this floor are pretty tropical, to the point it could almost pass for South America. But this is an entire continent removed. Could be a sign of a ripple.</em>


    The words entered his mind and nearly escaped before a gray miasma of doubt strangled.


    <em>What if Im wrong? What if this finally sets Nick off and he requests a transfer? What if he thinks Im wasting his time and hates me more than he already does?</em>


    Nick was better at hiding it than most people.


    There was something about Keith that put most people off. Hed never quite nailed down what. Maybe it was the slight nasal timbre of his voice, or his timid nature, or his asionally obsessive interests, but hed gone to great efforts to alter and hide all that, and while sometimes it took longer, the result was always the same.


    For a brief, cruel moment, Keith had thought that Nick would be the exception. The so-called Ceaseless Knight looked like the exact sort of person who frequently took issue with Keith, so hed prepared for the worst. But instead of the expected hazing or ostracization, Nick spent just as much time working with Keith as he did with the more promising members of zero-team. Hed even openly shared details of his personal life, confiding in Keith about how he could barely walk before the system. It felt like a non sequitur and Keith had beenying in his barracks bunk when it finally hit him why Nick told the story.


    The new team leader was reaching out to him. Empathizing. In a way almost no one ever had. For the first time in forever, it felt like someone actually cared.


    Keith woke up bright and early the next day, almost vibrating at the prospect of going to the training facility and sweating his ass off, and tried to suppress the tiny pinprick of hope growing in his chest. The possibility of a new start. This, of course, made it all the more devastating when right before training was about to start, he caught Nicks expression in a mirror as the team leader watched his warmups with the same disgusted apathy as anyone else.


    That hurt. More than Keith cared to admit. But it was also fair. He <em>was</em> worthless, as a person. Weak, and not really smart enough to do anything other than asionally talk over peoples heads. His parents ground that into him first, every time he got back a report card or injury, then his brother and their grandparents. That many people couldnt be wrong. If anything, Nick was gracious in being slower on the uptake than the rest of them. And even if Nick had now course-corrected and distanced himself, he was still willing to give Keith opportunities most wouldntpicking him for the mission, for example, despite there being plenty of other better candidates in zero-team.


    Which was why it was very important that Keith say and do nothing to make their rtionship worse.


    Theyre tamarinds. Keiths mouth went on auto-pilot. Closer to fruit than nut. Just thought it was kind of weird to see stuff from the outside world in a ce thats supposed to be a fantasy realm.


    Really? Nick peered at him, then back at the cluster. There were banana trees by the elevator, man. Unless they were a weird fantasy copyright infringement. Right color but kinda big.


    <em>ntains.</em>


    Sorry, Keith said.


    Dont worry about it. Nick rubbed the back of his neck. We rolled out of the elevator in a hurry. Just, like, try to mind your surroundings and shit.


    Ill be better. Keith promised himself as much as Nick.


    Nick rolled his eyes. Dont take everything so damn seriously. And stop apologizing like its your job.


    Sorry.


    The hell did I just say? Nick muttered.


    They walked in silence then, proceeding through the shadowed greenery of the forest towards the bluffs. Nick had spotted them from a distance, and extrapted it was worth checking for a ripple. Something about points of interest. Keith didnt really follow the logic, but he wasnt about to question it. Even if their search yielded nothing, the bluffs overlooked the vast ocean on a mostly unupied side of the ind. In more casual circumstances, Keith would happily make the hike for the view alone.


    The trees thinned, growing sparser and further apart until they disappeared entirely, a verdant green incline stretched out and upward before them.


    With the end in sight, Keith wanted to rush ahead and scramble up the hill, eager to take it all in.


    But Nick had stopped moving. He looked distracted, far away.


    Everything okay? Keith asked.


    Instead of answering, Nick reached in his inventory and withdrew something that resembled a knotted stick with a handle. A wand. Though its appearance didnt hold a candle to some of the more expensiveand frankly gaudywands Keith frequently saw around the Order. Nick held it gingerly, as if it was precious despite its appearance. Uh. Dont spread it around, but theyve given zero-team a line of credit at the vendor. When youre ready, Im supposed to help you guys upgrade. Thing is, most of the others are already kitted out.


    It made sense, Keith thought glumly. Most of the zero-team had higher level Users with plenty of resources looking out for them, while Keith suspected his brother viewed the assignment as little more than the teenage version of free childcare.


    Should be an upgrade from that rat-poker youve been waving around. Here. Nick stuck the wand out to him with zero fanfare. He looked away, grimacing slightly as he waited for the mage


    Keith sucked in a breath. The system text read <strong></strong> It was graded rare, which put it on a higher tier than pretty much anything he owned. But he hesitated, not wanting to appear too eager. Are you sure? Seems like it means something to you.


    Nicks jaw worked. Yeah. Its fine. It uh, it used to belong to a friend. Found it in the vendors stock and paid a pretty penny for it. Meant to hold it for her in case she needed it. You know, when she came back.


    And she doesnt need it anymore? Keith asked, trying to temper his own expectations. Even if the wand was a loaner, hed be fine with that. It meant more that hed been considered at all.


    Slowly, Nick shook his head. No. And even if she did, with the way I am now? Im pretty sure shed want nothing to do with me.


    Im sorry. Keith said. He was racking his mind, trying toe up with a reason someone would actively dislike the zero-team leader anding up dry.


    Me too. Nick wiped his face with his sleeve. His voice muffled through the fabric. Been putting this off a while, if Im honest. But holding off before I went into the ripple turned out to be a massive blunder. Just sentimentality welling up to bite me in the ass. As always. Again he pushed the wand towards Keith.


    This time, Keith took it. It was heavier than it looked. He held it the same way Nick hadas if it was made of ss. Given the soberness of the exchange, he tried his best to hide his excitement. Thanks. For trusting me with something so valuable. Ill take good care of it, and swear I wont let you down. Keith looked up from the wand. And its not like Im going anywhere. If you ever want it back, or just want to hold it or something, I totally get it.


    Nick suddenly looked away and coughed, his shoulders bunching in silent hacks. When he turned back, his eyes were red around the edges. Appreciate that, buddy. I really do. Tell you what. Well probably end up searching the entire area, but Im not really particr about where we start. Any ideas?


    How bout the top of the bluffs? Keith said, verbalizing his earlier thought, studying the path to the top. Inclines pretty steep. Well need to climb in a few ces, but there are plenty of handholds. And even if the ripples not up there well have a good vantage on the rest of the area.


    Nick nodded slowly. There was something in his grimness that felt resigned somehow. Sure. Not sure I trust my city-boy ass to navigate that, so why dont you take point?


    Really?


    Yeah. Lead the way.


    This wasnt a good day, exactly. There were too many close-calls for that. But with his earlier breakthrough thanks to Myrddin, and Nicks generosity, it was still shaping up to be one of the better in recent memory. Keith set his shoulders and prepared to march up the incline, the sound of waves beckoning him onward.


    Something nagged at the back of Keiths mind. A promise hed made. He pulled up his interface and tried to send a party message. When it failed for the second time, he looked over his shoulder at Nick. Been meaning to keep Halima updated on our location, but nothings going through.


    For just a second, Nick froze. Then shrugged whatever it was off just as quickly. Probably just the realms of uros being unpredictable. Could be some sort of interference. Let me give it a shot. After a few seconds, Nick nodded. Still working for me. Halima and Myrddin are on their way. From the sound of it, theyre gonna be a while.


    Should we wait?


    Nah. Theres a good chance its not up there. Might as well save them the climb.


    If its not, can Keith hesitated. Can we hang out while we catch our breath? Grab a bite to eat and talk?


    Nick nodded. Sure, kid. Whatever you want.


    /////


    I couldnt believe it. Refused to believe it.


    The ability faded, and when I opened my eyes, my vision was woozy and gray. I stood upright too quickly and nearly fell, stumbling forward and catching myself on the limb of a nearby tree. Maybe I was being my usual, cynical self. There was a chance I was wrong. That this wasnt what I thought it was.


    While I waited for the dizziness to fade, I called Halima.


    She picked up on the first chime. What happened?


    Heard anything since earlier? My voice was raw.


    No. Halima said. Nothing going through from me, either. Just errors every time I try to send them a message.


    Any possibility something came in while you werent looking? My heart pounded. The answer was written all over Nicks face. The cold, carefully restrained <em>intent</em> that Keith was too nave to recognize.


    Myrddin, Ive been glued to the goddamn UI since thest time we talked, waiting to hear something. Im looking at it right now. Theres nothing. Halima said.


    <em>God fucking dammit, Nick. This isnt you.</em>


    Now what? She asked, sounding scared again. What do we do?


    Stay put. Ill reach back out when I find them. With a few mental presses, I disconnected the voice chat before she could argue.


    And ran.

 Chapter 220

    Chapter 220


    Low-hanging branches snagged against my armor as I ran. Every upraised bramble, root, and vine threatened to trip me, send me stumbling off-course or into the unforgiving trunk of a tree as I split my attention between watching my footing and checking my progress against the coastline.


    <em>Is the tower itself trying to stop me?</em>


    It was a paranoid thought. A stupid one. The tower along with the surrounding region had bigger agendas of their own. And while I was certain the higher levels of the tower would be more in line with the malevolence I expected from dungeons, this was little more than a tourist floor.


    No. The actual source of turmoil was my rising panic. Even now, my mind warred with the reality of what Id seen. Created excuses. Sugar-coated. Like, maybe Id read Nick wrong, and there was nothing sinister happening at all. Maybe because I was soser-focused on him, I was mis-attributing trauma to malice. Maybe they really were just going for a fucking pic.


    The maybes were seductive, because the alternative meant a muchrger error in judgment. That Nick wasnt who I thought he was. And Im not sure Id ever gotten something this critical so utterly wrong.


    There had to be a reason. A justification. <em>Something</em> to exin why Nick was even considering this. People were running around, spewing fire from their hands and summoning fantasy creatures out of their bodies. It was possible there was mind control in y, or mental reprogramming, or hypnosis or NLP or a god damn shapeshifter.


    Because Nick wouldnt do this. He wouldnt.


    A mandrake screamed up ahead, and my lungs burned as I sprinted around a small group of three, smacking the small root creatures around with dull-looking weapons.


    Hey! One of them, a guy still sporting Oakleys, shouted after me. Could be he was just asking for directions, but we were deep in the forest. I couldnt take the risk that someone might take issue with my abrupt departure and follow me. Every second counted, and there were already too many variables. A slight miscalction and Id be toote, if I wasnt already.


    I chanced the side effects from a low-mana cast and barged into his mind with <strong></strong> sending him the mental equivalent of an amber alert, drawing attention to the blood on my armor and not-so-kindly amplifying the concept of minding his own fucking business. Oakley sputtered something in a higher pitch as the blues and browns that had returned to my vision retreated, leaving my view of the blurring trees and overgrowth almost entirely monochromatic.


    Which of course, made it almost impossible to differentiate the rock from the ground.


    <em>THUNK</em>


    The bones in my foot crunched as I went down hard, catching myself in a half-assed tumble that took me down a small slope. A sap-stained tree took up my entire vision, its rough bark mere inches away.


    I pulled myself to my feet, favoring my left leg until the pain faded enough to be confident there wasnt a break. My mana was lower than Id thought, judging from the easing headache and partial restoration of vision. <strong></strong> was an efficient skillpared to the rest, and it was probably better that Id found out this way rather than gone in ignorant.


    Still, Id lost time. And with most of my abilities inessible, I needed a summon.


    Without giving myself a chance to overthink and consider the reality that this was exactly how people in stories ended up stuck with cursed or bound items, I tore off my gauntlet and hesitated for just a second before I ced <strong></strong> on my finger.


    Now it was just a matter of deciding which.


    Azure had the most utility. He could distract Keith, dy Nick, and since we were in a Realm of uros, batter everyone present into daze-eyed submission if it came to that. But he was still carrying out orders in the lobby and using him in a manner that the geas considered hostile could cause it to trigger.


    Talia was the fastest of my summons by several orders of magnitude, and would probably at least agree to give me a ride if I asked. If she kept her original formthe hulking, raging arctic wolf that still haunted my dreamsit might have been an actual option. In her current form, however, she wasnt muchrger than her real-world counterparts, and there was a reason humans rode horses instead of dogs. Even if she was willing, there was no point in trying it if her back gave out at the wrong time andunched me as a byproduct.


    <em>So. Audrey, then.</em>


    As soon as I decided, I felt the beginnings of the usual cuticle-pulling sensation and braced myself. But instead of getting worse, it stopped, and Audrey popped into existence a few feet away. The cast took maybe a tenth of the time it usually did.


    <strong></strong>


    Ah! Was nowhere. Now somewhere. So quick and odd. Audrey looked around, bewildered.


    On me! I shouted behind me, not bothering to slow down.


    Audreyshed to my arm and reeled herself in, bounding awkwardly across the ground. Wherearewegoing?


    Forward. I double-checked the coastline through the trees on my right, then pointed straight ahead. Fast. Speed over everything. Doesnt matter if I get banged up a little. Use the trees to stabilize us and try to avoid hazards.


    Swing?


    If theres a clearing.


    Six tough looking navigation vines shot out from Audreys body, extending in all directions. Her grip around my shoulders tightened, and it felt as if I was hardly touching the ground, my weight reduced to almost nothing. It took her a moment to adjust to the new environment, then our speed picked up to the momentum of the sort of breakneck sprint that would have winded me in minutes. The trees blurred by so quickly they were almost indistinguishable.


    Youre afraid. Audreys voice was just audible over the wind whistling in my ears. Is it bad?


    Bad didnt cover it. Nick was my touchstone. He could be pragmatic, but he was also stalwart, and loyal, and kind, even though the world had done nothing but kick him in the teeth for it. That tenacity, that refusal to change made him a rare breed. Authentic. And despite our opposing views on almost everything his authenticity somehow ced him as the person I used to measure tough decisions I couldnt trust myself to make. The person whose opinion mattered most. I needed him now more than ever.


    And he was about to do something so heinous that even I couldnt imagine it.


    <em>You take someone I love. I take someone you love.</em>


    And I couldnt shake the feeling that if he followed through, my friend would be gone forever.


    The trees thinned, golden light emanating from up ahead. With fewer obstacles to contend with, Audrey positioned us low to the ground in a slow swing, my boot catching bits of dirt and detritus on the zenith, then warned me right before she let go. I kept the momentum and hit the ground running. My vision washed out by the eternal sunrise. As my eyes adjusted, I searched the towering bluff, hoping to see two lone figures, still climbing their way to the top.


    My heart sank as I spotted movement up at the top. It looked like the back of someones head. If Keith was still alive, it wouldnt stay that way for long. Nick would want to do it quickly. Before he lost his nerve.


    <em>Do I even make that?</em>


    I forced my legs to keep pushing forward, even as a curtain of despair descended.


    There was at least a hundred yards of clearing between me and the bluffs. Audrey could help with the climb once we got there, but there werent enough trees along the way for her to close the initial gap more than she already had. The flight charm was still offline for at least another day. I had two pending levels, and there was probably a feat in the Kings Ranger tree that could help, but I didnt have time to take five and read descriptions


    <em>The skill points.</em>


    There were eight avable. Id only gained two levels in the ripple so the number seemed wrong until I remembered the events multiplier wasnt limited to experience. It promised increased leveling rewards as well. In the chaos of the self-equipping artifact and the terrifying new Ordinator Ability, Id overlooked them.


    This was going to suck.


    Keep us moving. Drag me if you have to. I said.


    <em>Why?</em> Audrey asked, rmed. But her vines had already pierced the surrounding ground in response.


    I mmed all eight points into Agility and hit confirm. The muscle spasms started, and I ground my teeth together hard enough that I could feel them moving. A charlie horse from hell obliterated my calf muscle, and Audrey awkwardly hefted me upwards and forwards before I could fall to my knees, moving like a giant spider as I writhed in her grasp.


    After thirty seconds that felt like infinity, the pain subsided.


    The exhaustion that had seeped into every muscle was gone, reced with a strange glowing energy that radiated in my chest, begging to be set loose.


    Drop me, I said, staying focused on the ground.


    My summon lowered us to the ground, bits of dirt flying towards us as her anchored vines tore free. I realized, with no small wonder, that I could pick them out individually, see the trajectory of each tiny iing projectile, and know intuitively how I needed to move to avoid them.


    I crouched low and sprinted forward in an explosion of movement.


    Audrey shrieked into my ear as we shredded down the hill at breakneck speed, des of grass quivering as we shredded through them. And almost before I even realized what happened, my palms pped against the stone base of the bluffs.


    It was so easy to forget the difference stats made. They were incremental by nature, and after the initial distribution, when the number of points awarded dropped and those few points were often spread out among several attributes, it was easy to forget exactly how huge the cumtive sum was.


    I climbed, praying that the slipshod level-up had bought me enough time.


    And prepared for the absolute shitshow that would follow if it hadnt.

 Chapter 221

    Chapter 221


    Golden hour sunlight sliced across the top of the bluffs and obscured my vision as I pulled myself up and over the summit. Scaling it had given me time to think, toe to terms with the worst that could happen. What was likely to happen.


    I was always toote. Despite every effort to the contrary, every painstaking effort to get ahead of things before they happened, and a lifetime of chronic overthinking, thats how it felt. I could manage a small or mid-sized crisis, but the big ones had a way of sneaking up on you in a manner too rapid and devastating to ount for, and then suddenly, instead of acting, youre reacting, dumping smoldering ashes into a cinerary urn. Pivoting and moving on be default states of being, simply because it feels better than dwelling, and reveling, and assigning fault.


    I guess, in the most literal sense, surviving is coping.


    Which is why, as my eyes adjusted to the light, that sense of eptance disappeared. Because for once, I wasnt toote.


    Keith stood at the edge of the bluffs looking out over the ocean. Shivers radiated through his shoulders, his legs, and his core.


    Someone who resembled Nick stood behind him. I say resembled, because considering that Id known him for years, he was almost unrecognizable. A blood-red aurareminiscent of the golden aura Id seen him use frequentlyluded him in a red fog you had to squint to see through. His shield was still on his back, and the double-ded sword in his hands pointed downward, sharpened tip grazing carelessly across the rocky ground.


    Its like you dont care. Nick said to Keith. His voice was monotone, utterly devoid of fluctuation.


    Keith shook his head, refusing to look back. Nick couldnt see Keiths expression. From my angle, beneath the terror and the confusion, he had the practiced tiredness of someone who was used to being routinely disheartened.


    Your life''s on the line! Nick shouted, emotion filtering in. But you wont fucking fight. Wont lift a goddamn finger. And you dont even want to know <em>why?</em>


    There was a sheer physicality to Nick that gave me pause. He dwarfed Keith byparison, but at six-and-a-half feet he was taller than most of the poption. It was more than that. Before, with the grimelings, there was a timidity to him. A built-in flinch that stopped him from being the absolute wrecking ball I knew he could be.


    That was all but gone now.


    If it came to blows, I wasnt sure I could take him.


    <em>Need to work quickly.</em>


    I circled around them counter-clockwise, putting my back to the drop and cing myself out of reach and firmly in Nicks peripheral.


    Maybe hes not answering you because hes scared shitless. My voice was scathing. But Id love to know what led to this look-at-the-flowers moment. Wanna break it down for me, Nick?


    Nick didnt start, a testament to how deep in this he was. Instead, the eyes that slowly panned to me were cold, calcting. He was sizing me up in a way he hadnt, before. Thought you were supposed to be in the ripple.


    I blew air out through my mouth. And you left out summary execution on the docket today. Guess neither of us have been entirely forting.


    I have to do this. Nick said, ignoring the prod. It sounded familiar, like hed recited the words a thousand times before speaking them out loud.


    Really? This seems like the sort of thing you really dont have to do. I yed up the abrasiveness of my voice, trying to shock him out of whatever state he was in. And Im not seeing how this factors into your goal. Was the line you fed me about wanting a better world a lie? Or are you just partially full of shit?


    He shook his head slowly. Aaron mentioned you might be a problem. And that I could deal with you, if necessary.


    Sure. I nodded in mock understanding. So, first you kill the kidwho despite his inexperiencerushed into an unbnced pocket realm to save your goddamn life. Then you kill the witness who, not to toot my horn, actually saved your life. Then maybe Halima puts two and two together. You gonna kill her too?


    I


    Admit it. Whatever this is, youre <em>not</em> cut out for this shit. And youre only considering it because someone put a metaphorical gun to your head. I was trying to pull him back from whatever hypothetical Hastur had floated him, bring him back down to earth and ground him in reality.


    But from the way Nicks expression hardened, and he wheeled on me, it was exactly the wrong thing to say. This is none of your fucking business. Turn around, climb back down the bluffs, and keep your mouth shut about what you saw here.


    I made a show of contemting that ndly, as my mind raced, looking for a way to stall. Hm. No.


    Thats a direct order. Nick tried again.


    Oh, is it? Didnt realize. Unfortunately, still a no.


    His brow furrowed. Ive seen your mark. Youre bound by the geas, same as me. You cant refuse a direct order.


    I shrugged, ignoring the insight. Its easy to imagine how youre feeling. Trapped. Hemmed in. The cards are on the table and now that everyones seen them, youve let yourself believe that the only way out is through. But youre wrong. Theres another option. All of this can go away.


    Nick rolled his eyes, but hesitated. His hand tightened on the hilt of the sword. That so?


    <em>ying along. Notpletely closed off. I have a chance here.</em>


    I held out a hand, palm up. Ill exin the rest in private. Just put the sword down and walk away.


    I-I-I wont tell anyone. Keith mumbled, terror in his voice.


    Nick studied the ground at his feet, his expression obscured in shadow and aura. When he looked up again, the tight smile on his lips set off a chorus of rm bells. Despite the smile, Nick gripped his sword tightly, point rising slightly off the ground. Okay.


    It took every ounce of self-control I had to not shift into abat stance. His reaction registered as inauthentic immediately. And for good reason. It was the same damn tactic I used. Giving the appearance ofing to agreement or alliance, only to immediatelyand violentlysnap back on it, gaining an element of surprise.


    The sunset behind Nick grew increasingly golden by the second and the red of his aura was more vibrant, less washed out than before. I had mana. Not a lot, but enough to do something. Especially if I used the artifact.


    <em>I couldmand him to stand down.</em>


    This was <strong> purpose</strong>. He was lower level than me, or at the very least, within the target range. Hell, Nick himself wouldnt even realize what happened. It would intrinsically nt the decision to spare Keith in his mind, assimted as if that was a decision hed made for himself. Using it was the most reasonable option. Anything else would lead to a fight I wasnt sure I could win, and a fallout I wasnt sure I could survive. And as a result, it would preserve the person I knew. The touch stone I needed.


    <em>Would it really, If you made the choice for him? Would you even be able to trust him? Or would that just slowly eat away at any concept of a rekindled friendship?</em>


    Just as I predicted, Nick suddenly spun, raising his sword, fully prepared to bring the de down on Keiths neck.

 Chapter 222

    Chapter 222


    <em>What I need is for someone to tell me the truth.</em>


    I switched targets at thest second.


    My body boiled under the strain, most of the mana Id regenerated draining away.


    All at once, I understood Keith in a way Id never truly understood anyone. Fully grasped every neuron of his psyche, as I parsed through what made him tick, what drove him, the struggles hed gone through and the utter absence of self-confidence, all tied to a hundred different threads that were just waiting for someone toe along and pull them.


    <em>Dodge backward.</em>


    Keith did, in the process doing what Id pictured, rather than following themand to the letter. He leapt away from the edge and Nicks descending de, and stumbled a little. The movements were significantly smoother than standard-Keith, but it was clear his body couldnt quite keep up with his mind and I needed to ount for that.


    Frustrated by the unexpected resistance, Nick roared and charged at Keith, sword stabbing out towards his chest.


    <em>Redirect his momentum</em>


    Keith grabbed Nicks sword arm and pivoted, sending him stumbling awkwardly across the bluffs.


    Nick reeled back a few steps, then leaned and spit, his face dark. The surrounding aura swelled out like crimson wings. Id hoped that Keiths sudden shift would snap Nick out of the rage, or at the very least, confuse him enough to contravene his tunnel-vision, but it wasnt working. If anything, the sudden difficulty made him more motivated to follow through.


    As Keith didnt have the baked-in experience of Audrey or Talia, I micro-tasked, puppeting him through a series of short directmands and together, we evaded Nicks onught.


    But this was just dying the inevitable. Spinning a stalemate into a loss.


    I needed to separate them. The question was how.


    Ideas cycled through my mind until Inded on one. Something dangerous that Id never consider in less dire circumstances, but all I coulde up with on the fly.


    I directed Keith to run a wide circle across the bluffs. As Nick chased after him, I scrambled towards the ledge and looked down, mind running through several calctions. There was nothing but ocean below, most of the rocks on the far left side.


    With a fragment of a n, I sent Keith the silver bullet.


    Keith ran to the far end of the cliff, then threw his hands in the air and shouted a name.


    <em>JINNY.</em>


    Nick halted dead in his tracks.


    I false-started, stopping to watch. All Id done was send Keith a redacted image of Jinnys death, along with instructions to shout her name. But now, Keith was continuing on his own. That was her name, wasnt it? He asked breathlessly, withdrawing the wand from his inventory. And this was hers right?


    Nick hesitated, color gone from his face.


    And you gave it to me because you feel like tainting her memory is the only way to get through it. Because you <em>know</em> she wouldnt want you to do this. Youre a good guy, with a good heart. Thats why she loved you.


    I could have mmed a sledgehammer into Nicks gut to less devastating effect.


    His face scrunched up, his teeth clenching. I dont <em>want</em> to be the good guy. The guy who gets stepped on, fucked with, and fucked up because hes not mean enough. Im <em>tired </em>of being the good guy.


    Again, Keith shook his head, speaking entirely of his own volition. We cant help what we are. At our core. We can hide it. Disguise it. Push it so deep it might even take an entire lifetime for it to resurface. But you are what you are. Nature always wins over nurture, in the end.


    Nick shook his head several times, then set his teeth. He raised his sword arm.


    <em>Too slow.</em>


    I crouched low and took off like a rocket, supercharged Agility flinging me forward, eyes fixed on my targetNicks torso.


    He saw meing out of the corner of his eye and shifted suddenly, trying to alter his positioning to intercept me. But I was too quick. I snared his torso with both arms and let the rest of my weight m into him.


    Nick grunted, swearing up a storm as I pushed him back. Then the ground disappeared beneath us, and his eyes widened in realization.


    <em>Doing this for your own good, Nick.</em>


    Now in free fall, we plummeted towards the water. Audreys vines snagged on a few outcroppings and slowed the fall. My feet hit the water and Nick plummeted past me, leaving a trail of bubbles in his wake.


    Shit. His armor.


    I swam straight down, tearing through the water until I caught up. His eyes were open and urgent but he wasnt moving, arms spread out at his side. Probably still stunned from the impact. I tore off the Operators belt and pulled it tight around his waist. Immediately, his direction reversed, and with urging he shot upwards, and I kept a hold on the belt, riding the buoyancy up to the surface.


    We barely breached the surface before a heavy gauntlet struck me across the temple. I spun in a mess of bubbles and fury, struggling to right myself, ready to give as good as I got.


    When I burst through again, though, Id misread the aggression. He iled in a panic, the top section of his armor pulled down by gravity, constantly threatening to upend him as he pped at the water. Given what hed almost done, it tempted the spiteful part of me to let him il for a while.


    I spotted Keith.


    A dark shadow flitted beneath us. Something brushed my leg, too quick to make out.


    Given thatwhatever it waswas out here, on the outskirts of the dungeon floor proper, I wasnt overly worried, but I knew better than to tempt fate. I nced over my shoulder, and spotted a sandy bank a short distance away, hidden in the alcove of the bluffs.


    Near-decade old rescue and CPR lessons came back to me piecemeal, and I did my best to follow what I could remember, starting with not approaching a drowning person from the front. Instead, I treaded water until I was behind Nick, and grabbed him roughly under the arms.


    <em>Crack</em>


    The back of Nicks head smashed against my mask with enough force to stun me and nearly loosen my grip.


    Fucker! Stop! Theres something in the water


    <em>THUNK</em>


    This time, when Nick curled inward and threw his head back, I was ready for it. I tucked my chin, and the back of his head bounced painfully off the stable upper-section of my mask. He stopped struggling, and I tightened my hold, propelling us towards the sandbank with haphazard kicks.


    Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the shadow. It was bigger than Id originally thought.


    <em>Audrey. Can you swim?</em>


    <em>Nooooo.</em> My summons mental voice sounded utterly miserable, and I realized that from where she clung to my back, her head was probably well below the surface.


    <em>Can you at least breathe?</em> I asked, monitoring the circling shadow. Now that Nick seemed to be panicking lessmaybe hed finally realized I wasnt actively trying to drown himI reached back, kicking and treading with one arm. Faster, but not fast enough.


    Audrey sent back aplex reply, aposite of words and images. I gathered she didnt need to breathe regrly, though being underwater was unpleasant, and if we submerged her for too long, it would kill her.


    I felt bad for doing itbetween Miles, the Crimson Nosferatu, and the Grimelings, this outing had been stressful on my summonsbut I sent Audrey a picture of a, and an image of her zipping towards a generic shark and wrapping it up.


    Her response was reticent. <em>If I catch it</em>


    <em>Of course. Dig in. Assuming you can even eat that much, from the size its probably hundreds of pounds </em>


    The dark shadow made a second pass, and there was a tangible relief as the vines released from my shoulder. As the shadow retreated, a much smaller shadow followed it.


    Good, Audrey snagged it. Assuming she could distract whatever it was for even a few minutes, we were probably in the clear. Id need topensate herter, especially if whatever was out there inevitably got the better of her. Something fancy. Sushi, maybe.


    As soon as there was enough sand underneath us to stand on, Nick pushed me away. I let him go, crawling up onto the sandbar and heaving for breath.


    <strong></strong> shrieked. I rolled away, just as Nick buried a massive knife into my imprint in the sand. His aura returned full-force, spite radiating from it.


    Are you insane? I scrambled backward, trying to keep away from him as he advanced. Now that the crisis was over, a dark curtain of anger descended over me. But Nick wasnt listening. I wasnt even sure if he was hearing me. He stomped across the sandbar like a malevolent automaton, his eyes dead, nothing left of him but rage.


    Id been more or less in hiding since the transposition started. Maybe even before that, if I was being honest. Itd kept me alive. Kept my family safe. But I was tired of hiding.


    I took the mask off.

 Chapter 223

    Chapter 223


    Matt? Nicks jaw hung open, and he stared agape. Slowly, the dark red aura that was so reminiscent of the Crimson Nosferatus drained away, until he finally resembled Nick again.


    I didnt know what to say. Despite knowing this was a possibility, I hadnt nned this far, and at the moment, came up empty.


    What the fuck. Nick passed a hand through his hair, his face conflicted. No. No, no no. This is a trick. Hasturs testing me.


    We met in the rehab center. You were there for your leg, I was there for my mom.


    Nick shook his head vehemently. No


    I went down the list. The passcode on your phone is six-nine repeating. Your favorite game is Resident Evil 4the original, not the remake, seeing as how, in your opinion, they cut too much of the campiness. Youd pick Waffle House over IHOP any day.


    Shut up.


    You say your greatest fear is being alonebut Id argue its not actually that. I think given the excess of flings you try to keep on as friends, and how tightly youve clung to me, I think your greatest fear is being irrelevant, but more than that, being unloved. And until today, <em>if someone put a gun to my fucking head and asked me to pick out the one good fucking person in the fucking world, I would have pointed at you.</em> I realized, btedly, that I was shouting. And I didnt care. Past <em>fucking</em> tense.


    The punch came quicker than I expected, and the entire left side of my face went numb as Nicks fist mmed into my jaw. I spun like a top and went down. Nick stood over me, his fist trembling. Fuck <em>you,</em> Matt. You have no idea what it was like.


    Then tell me. I gestured at myself wildly. Because Im right goddamn here, and personally, Id love an exnation for <em>that.</em> Because that wasnt you. I pointed to the cliffs.


    This was it. Thest chance. If he was being manipted or controlled through profound means that even Azure could not detect, this was where hed offer a rational exnation. Something that was well-thought out and made sense. Some premeditated bullshit about a mental break, or a Macguffin, or some trumped up needs-of-the-many equivocations. Anything.


    Shame and anger warred on Nicks face. Where were you?


    <em>You did not just ask me that.</em>


    While I was neck-deep in the deepest, darkest hole imaginable, <em>where the fuck were you?</em> Nick shouted, spittle flying. Cause from where Im standing, it looks like all youve been working is spinning that ss I gave you into something better. d you could run around touring the uros realms ying swashbuckling rogue and advancing while Jinny and Sae rotted, and I fended for my fucking self.


    In ordinary circumstances, I might have understood. Hed lost someone he loved and was held prisoner by the people who took her from him, and hed been through a series of traumatic experiences one after another.


    I-I-I-I I mped down on the stutter, hating myself for it. No. Thats what you think of me. Okay. Great. d were clearing the air. A thousand biting rebuttals cycled through my mind, but in the end, I said nothing, just reached in my inventory and withdrew an object.


    Is that?


    Yeah. The User Core glinted violet in my gloved hand. Nick took a step backward. When I spoke, my voice was monotone. Snatched it off her while you were busy ruining any chance we had to de-escte. I tossed it underhanded, and Nick caught it. He stared at it, cradling it in his hands, his anger reced with sadness.


    I removed my dagger and crossbow first, stripping them from my belt and tossing them aside.


    His eyes narrowed as he watched me. What are you doing?


    Giving you what you asked for. I muttered, dark anger still coursing through my veins.


    The hell?


    Back at the house, you said you wanted to see what I could do in a straight fight. I finished unbuckling my gauntlet and tossed it into the sand. Then undid my other gauntlet and continued removing my armor piece by piece until I was down to my hoodie and jeans. And youre spoiling for one. So nows your chance.


    For a second, I thought Nick would argue. Instead, he stood, pocketing the orb, and followed suit, removing his sword from his belt and cing it onto the sand. No weapons, spells, or active abilities?


    Yep. I confirmed.


    Anything else?


    Ill do my best not to break anything.


    A dark cloud overtook his expressiononly to be immediately reced by confusion and pain as I threw a fistful of sand in his face. You <em>bastard</em>


    I weaved under his iling arms, venting all my frustration, anger, and fear, and drove my elbow into Nicks chin.


    He stumbled backward, trying to right himself.


    I advanced. You have no fucking idea what Ive been through, trying to get to you. And you know whats funny? I was about to tell you. Couldnt do it right away, as I wasnt sure if you were being influenced and still hadnt figured out a way around the geas, but if youd kept it together for just one more fucking day<em>Oof.</em>


    Nicks body blow hit hard enough to lift me off my feet and leave my stomach a writhing knot of pain and spasms. I ducked under the follow-up haymaker. He panted and sneered. Must be nice up there in that ivory tower you judge the rest of us from.


    I defended myself as well as I could, using <strong></strong> to turn away his heavy blows. Ive never judged you.


    No. You just never said it out loud. Nick jabbed at me twice, testing my reaction. Now that the element of surprise had faded, hed settled into something that resembled a boxing stance.


    The first few blows hadprised wild swings, fueled by anger and fear. But itd gone on long enough that we both fell back onto experience, and the fight settled into a rhythm. <strong></strong> thrived on capitalizing when your opponent overmitted, and Nickdespite his angerdid a devilishly good job maintaining an iron defense. Ordinarily Id change tact, go on the offensive, but I couldnt do that when every strike he threw packed enough individual power to put me down. By the same token, with my enhanced Agility, Nick couldntnd a solid hit.


    Unstoppable force met immovable object. Neither making any real headway as the wind rustled our clothes, sodden sand glittering beneath advancing and retreating feet beneath a sun that would never set, until we were both staggering and our movements grew sloppy in the unrelenting tide of push and pull.


    There was a sensation of mana discharging, draining color from my vision. I panicked for a moment, terrified I casted something identally, only realizing shortly after that the drain came from far to my right, beneath the oceans surface. Audrey had used an ability. My summon was still tangling with whatever was down there.


    But the split-secondpse was all it took to tip the bnce.


    Nick charged forward, lifting me up by my legs and mming onto my back, pinning my shoulder with one arm and cocking his fist back. I closed my eyes, bracing for the blow.


    It never came.


    Why did you have to stop me? Nick choked out. When I opened my eyes, there were tears streaming down his face. I know you. If the tables were turned, if Iris or Ellison died in that tunnelyou wouldnt have stopped at his brother. Youd make him radioactive. Shred through everyone he cared about until there was no one left.


    Nick deserved the truth. Not something I thought he needed to hear. So I let myself think about it. Really consider it. If someone killed my brother or sisteror hurt them to get to meId spend a very long time driving home how profound of a fuck-up that was, before I let it end.


    Nicks expression grew more confused.


    So, maybe youve got it right, I murmured. Maybe I would do that. But <em>you</em> wouldnt.


    Slowly, Nick pushed himself up and copsed on the sand beside me, expression defeated. He looked like hed aged ten years in an hour. Yeah. <em>Yeah.</em> He leaned his head back and stared at the sky. Would have regretted it, no matter what Hastur said. And of course I went and screwed it all up before I figured that out.


    Not necessarily. I hedged, feeling tangible relief at Nicks confirmation that Hastur had a hand in this unexpected turn.


    Nick peered at me. With the geas, he wont have any choice in the matter. Hell have to report it.


    Not if hes convinced he nodded off on the bluffs, and everything that happened after was a dream. That, and the directive to find Halima, were thest orders I gave Keith, and hed epted them with no issue. I neglected to mention that Nick being forced by Aaron or Sunny to make a report now that he knew my Ordinator role was just as much, if not more of an issue.


    As if. Nick scoffed. When I didntugh, he gaped openly. You can actually do that?


    Theres a lot I can do. I deflected. <strong></strong> was order of magnitudes more powerful than <strong></strong> but without testingwhich was problematic in its own rightI had to assume the same rules applied. The biggest limiter was immediacy. If Id waited hours after the altercation with Nick to give Keith the order, it was entirely possible themand would fail or Keith would reject it outright. There was no point in telling Nick anything if he wasnt stable and I might need to use <strong></strong> to wipe his memories to obscure my identity. As much as I hated it, that <em>was</em> the simpler option. If he kept his memories, wed need to either quickly find a solution to the geas, or abandon the Order entirely and bunker Nick down somewhere with constant squelch coverage so he couldnt receive orders or be forced to report.


    Before I decided anything, I needed the piece I was missing. Ill tell you everything. But first, I need to know what happened with Hastur to put you on the warpath. The whole truth, Nick. This is important.


    Nick suddenly looked very far away, Might as well. Got nowhere else to be.

 Chapter 224

    Chapter 224


    <em>Before</em>


    A puff of air stirred Nicks eyshes, and he grimaced, letting out a groan and pressing the side of his head deeper into the pillow. Hazy tendrils of exhaustion pulled him back towards the throes of unconsciousness as sleep prepared to take him once more.


    Another puff, lower. He wrinkled his nose and blindly seized a pillow, cing it over his head.


    A thread of merryughter banished the haziness in his mind. He blinked away the sleep, a pair of deep-blue eyes slowly shifting into focus. Jinny stretched forward, and soft lips kissed his forehead.


    Good morning, sweet prince.


    Nick blinked several times, memories of thest day slowlying back to him.  Hi.


    Jinny snorted. Hi, he says.


    The more the memories came into focus, the less sense they made. Sorry. Nick pushed himself up onto one elbow and looked around. They were at his Aunts house, which lined up with thest thing he remembered. But Uh. Im a little disoriented.


    Sure. Jinny said. Nick had always thought she was beautiful, but it was her presenceher wisdom, the way she talked to you like you were the only other person in the worldthat utterly enthralled him. And now that presence was close enough that it was making his head spin.


    Well, it was going to sound stupid no matter how he phrased it.


    Are you a wizard?


    Jinnyughed, and despite his confusion, Nick chuckled with her. Did we really go out for ice cream, wake up in some dingy maintenance tunnels and fight actual goblins with fantasy weapons,e back here and call everyone we knew only for them to call us insane, then passionately consummate our rtionship? Or did I get a serious concussion somewhere down the line?


    Wow. Jinny cushioned her face with a hand. I cant believe ice cream and passionate consummation ranks higher than the obvious. She pointed towards the foot of the bed.


    Obvious what? Nick asked. He peeked under the covers. Welp. Im definitely naked.


    Your <em>leg.</em>


    Oh. <em>Oh.</em> Nick shuffled off the covers in a hurry and gaped at what had once been a source of never-ending hardship. The muscles of his bad-leg were no longer atrophied and shriveled. The only remaining evidence was several patches of scar tissue, the badges of several surgeries. He took a deep breath.


    And stood.


    No pain. Notpletely convinced, he walked in a small circle. Again, it didnt hurt. He hopped in ce several times, waiting for the telltale ache.


    <em>Nothing.</em>


    Its real. It actually happened. Andwhat? He asked. Jinny had covered all but a single eye with one hand, her face and neck flushing increasingly red. Her one visible eye flicked down.


    Nick snatched the duvet from where it fell on the ground, quickly wrapping it around his waist. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Sorry.


    Its fine. Im fine. Jinny fell back into the mattress, staring at the ceiling. We had quite the day.


    Yes we did. Nick sat on the edge of the bed, his mind sputtering to take it all in. It was easier than the previous day, but there was still a part of him that wondered if he was going insane. He nced at Jinny, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. Did you, uh, hear from anyone?


    Jinny shook her head. No. Caught up on a few of my group chats this morning, but the meteors still all anyones talking about. Nothing about goblins or lizard people. And She wrinkled her nose.


    What? Nick asked.


    Its stupid.


    Its not stupid if its bothering you.


    Yes, youre very smooth. Jinny tilted her head and gave him the most sultry look hed ever seen in his life. Nick caught himself just shy of falling off the edge. But it feels petty to talk about in the wake of everything going on.


    Nick shrugged. Considering how batshit insane thest twenty-four hours have been, I feel like we could probably use some normalcy. Even if it is petty.


    Fine. Jinny sighed. We were spotted leaving school together, yesterday.


    Even aet doesnt stop the rumor mill, huh? Nick joked, but the joke fell short. He was worried. Jinny was one of his oldest friends and one of the few who remained. And theyd crossed the linest night in a big way. There were mitigating factors, of course. Neither of them were in a good state of mind by the time theyd worked through their contact lists, and after shed kissed him, everything that followed was frantic and primal, two people desperately trying to make sense of a world that had gonepletely off the rails.


    These things happened. But in Nicks experience, that excuse didnt prevent previously functional rtionships from being altered or sometimes damaged when sex was involved.


    Uh. He rubbed his shoulder, suddenly cold, searching for words beneath Jinnys insightful gaze. Everything got a little crazy. We were both freaking out. All things considered, I wouldn''t me you at all if youyou knowwanted to forget that this happened.


    Jinny blinked. I set a giant centipede on fire with my mind. Not sure theres any forgetting that.


    I meant the naked bits.


    Oh. Jinny said. An awkward silence swelled up between them until it was almost too much for Nick to bear. Im alright with it being a one time thing.


    Of course. Nick said automatically, doing everything he could to hide the disappointment that crashed over him.


    Ive always thought we were prettypatible. But you started dodging me after your injury, then I met someone


    Definitelypatible. Wait. What?


    And now theres meteors and magic out of nowhere


    when did I dodge you? Nick interjected, struggling to keep up.


    and if you look at everything altogether, it seems like a decent chance this is the start of something bighopefully not bad, but big, so its probably not a good time to start a rtionship. Jinny finished thoughtfully. Not to mention, my mom would kill me.


    Again, the awkward silence. But this time, Nick understood why. Hed done the same thing dozens of times. She was giving him an out. In case it really was a one time thing, or he got caught up in the moment and regretted it after.


    Only, he didnt regret it. Not even a little.


    Feeling slightly manic, Nickid back down beside her, taking care to make sure his nket-wrapped waist stayed covered. Counterpoint?


    Go ahead. Jinny hid a small smile.


    If we both think werepatible, and this <em>is</em> the start of something big wouldnt it be great if we started it together? Nick asked, floating the idea as casually as he could manage.


    For a moment, Jinny said nothing. As much as Id like that Ive got some baggage.


    Same.


    Her voice took on a serious air. I mean it, Nick. This might not end well.


    And won''t you tell me what it is? The baggage?


    Jinny shook her head.


    Thats fair. Nick thought about it. What sort of damage could it do? To us?


    Lets Jinny blew air out through her teeth. Lets just sayhypothetically


    Nick nodded.


    I had some sort of health condition. And I could be fine and live forever or be aplete dumpster fire and die tomorrow. Would you still want me? Even knowing what I might put you through? Jinny looked down, a curtain of hair obscuring her face.


    A surge of worry shot through Nick. She just looked so unsure and crestfallen. He wasnt worried for himself, of course. More concerned about her, mainly because whatever she was hinting at seemed serious, nothing like what he expected from these sorts of conversations. He remembered her visits to the rehab center, and to his aunts house after. Long nights of hanging out in the living room watching movies and beingfortable in her presence, no expectations, no self-consciousness, no anxiety.


    Girl. Nick sighed. Id swipe right on you if you were pushing a hundred and I had to break you out of the retirement home every go-round.


    Jinny choked augh. You cant mean that.


    Damn straight I can. Nick took her hand. Hell, even if we just had tomorrow thatd still be worth it. Every day I get after that, I might as well be winning the lottery.


    Nick wrapped his arms around her, as Jinny pressed her head into his neck and kissed him lightly on the corbone. Promise you wont regret it?


    He promised.


    /////


    Nick started awake, the pain in his chest seizing. He grimaced, grasping at his shirt, rocking back and forth until it receded. Theyd thrown him in here days ago. A bare stone room with a slot at the base of the door, where his food was delivered. Hed refused to eat and drank as little as possible, though despite the austere nature of the prison, the food itself smelled quite good. That worked for a while, because the pain in his stomach distracted him from the hole in his chest, the near-literal manifestation of loss.


    His surroundings shifted and blurred. When they came back into focus, his prison was cylindrical, rather than square, a circle of desated soil beneath him, decrepit crumbling bricks formed the rounded surface that rose all the way to the open top.


    He was in the well again. The same well he fell into as a child, when his parents had moved from Oregon to Das, shortly before their divorce. Hed found his way out on his own back in middle-school, only to fall back in after the doctors told him hed never walk unassisted again. The walls had been taller than the first time then, and they were even taller now.


    Well. A voice said from nowhere. Nick started, turning to take in a thin, well-dressed man with a ponytail. He was wearing dark dress-pants and a ck button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, ented by a light purple vest. His head tilted upward, and he studied the opening of the hole with detached interest. A little on the nose, but urate enough.


    Who are you? Nick licked his parched lips. They felt like sandpaper against his tongue.


    Have you ever tried just climbing out? The man mused, continuing on as if he hadnt heard. In your head, I mean. Wonder if that would work.


    No. Sometimes I get close. Sometimes I can hang on, close to the top, but I always fall, eventually.


    The man turned to Nick with a quizzical look, pointing upwards. You know theres medication for this.


    Nick shook his head. Everything hed tried either didnt work, worked for a little while and stopped working, or had side effects worse than the symptoms.


    The man inclined his head. Okay. Fine. Then whats the n, Stan? Youre too stubborn to kill yourself, but if you keep refusing food, thats gonna happen, anyway.


    Something about how casually the man was talking about this rubbed Nick the wrong way, though he couldnt exin why. And just as quickly, any irritation he felt ebbed away to nothing. It didnt matter. Nothing mattered here.


    Im tired. Nick said, hoping the man would take a hint and leave him alone.


    I know. The man looked at him with sympathy. Not pity. Sympathy.


    Who are you? Nick asked again.


    Youre not gonna like it. The man warned.


    Who <em>are you?</em>


    The retainer in violet. Or Hastur, if you prefer. The de facto patron of the Order of Parcae. You know them as the suits.


    Nick breathed in sharply. He hadnt minded the mans presence before, but now that he knew, a numb stab of anger grew within him like a sliver under a fingernail. Get out.


    See, <em>this</em> is why I didnt want to tell you.


    <em>GET OUT</em> Nick bellowed, the sudden harshness of his voice echoing, bouncing upwards towards the opening. Rather than move, or react, or argue, Hastur shoved his hands in his pockets and waited.


    Hours passed, dragging into what felt like days. Any anger Nick felt slowly drained away into numbness, and he felt the slightest tinge of spite.


    Do you enjoy this


    No. Hastur interjected


    Lording over some pathetic fuck, reveling in your own superiority?


    Think youve got me confused with <em>your</em> patron, but Ill let that go


    Fuck. <em>You.</em> Nick spat, a glob of saliva thatnded at Hasturs feet.


    What happened to your friend, shouldnt have happened, Hastur said. Wary, Nick searched his expression for any glibness or condescension, finding none. And if I could bring her back right now, I would.


    Coulda woulda shoulda. Nickughed. It was a harsh sound.


    Fair enough. Hastur extended his hands to his sides and let them drop. Good intentions mean little in the grand scheme. And I should know. After all, my intention was to derail the entire initiative before it got this far. Regret yed across his face.


    Before your people started murdering innocent people in tunnels? Nick snarled.


    Hastur blinked several times. Well, yes. But not what Im referring to. Right, we brought you in before the first event even started. The god snapped his fingers, and suddenly the well disappeared.


    The walls of the well were reced with a blood-red skyline. They were levitating hundreds of feet in the air, and below them was absolute chaos. Nick gawked, trying to parse it all. Below them, a dozen Users were fighting a giant with all the effectiveness of ants taking on an elephant, their blows and attacks just as effective. The giant stomped down, ttening four of them in an instant. Beyond them, other Users were scuffling with smaller monsters, a few of them fighting amongst themselves. There were so many bodies.


    What is this? Nick whispered, fearing the answer.


    Not a vision, or a potential future, if thats what youre thinking. Hastur shook his head. This is happening as we speak. Its barbaric. Sickening.


    If my friends still alive


    Who, Matt? Hastur nodded. Hes still out there. Doing his thing.


    Nick closed his mouth, trying not to give anything away.


    But he wontst much longer on his own. And no matter how bad this looks, its nothingpared to the second event. As hard as it might be to believe in your current state, the purpose of the Order is instate the courtand as a side effect, stop all this from happening.


    Nicks attention snapped to him. Youre right. I dont believe you.


    Hastur studied him briefly, then looked away. Would you like to know why the walls keep getting higher?


    What walls? Nick asked, confused by the sudden shift in conversation.


    Youre already aware of this on some level, but since humans are uniquely adept at ignoring things they know to be true, Ill do you the courtesy of spelling it out. Hastur mused, his calm voice radiating authority. Its a defect. Most beings are products of their environment. Their circumstances. You touch a hot stove, it burns you, you pull your hand back. Next time youll avoid touching the stove at all. Action, reaction, limation.


    He chuckled and rubbed at the scruff lining his jaw. You should have learned, very early on, that the world is not a kind ce. Or a fair one. Your father imparted that lesson well.


    Nick froze, a needle of fear worming its way into the base of his neck. Dont


    Rx. Hastur shifted his head back and forth. Point is, you should have learned then. Most people would have. But instead of epting that the wall was just a wall, a natural boundary that simply was, you kept throwing yourself against it. Slicing yourself open and bleeding love and kindness into a world that wouldnt give a rat-fuck if you disappeared tomorrow.


    So. I only have myself to me. Nickughed. If he was understanding this so-called god correctly, the sentiment was crueler than anything he could have imagined.


    Hastur shook his head. To reiterate. Its a defect. One that Im willing to address as part of yourpensation.


    A burgeoning silence grew between them. Hastur had to know he wanted to ask. And Nick had spent enough time around maniptors to know when he was being baited.


    It was Nick that broke first. Compensation?


    Hastur smiled and reached out to take Nicks arm. The pain in his chest ceased, like his emotions were sound waves strangled with an anechoic chamber. Nick pulled his arm free and stepped back. He was feeling panic, but it was more muted than usual, less sharp and distracting. What the hell did you do to me?


    The god put out a soothing hand, palm out. Alleviated your pain. And presented a modicum of what it would feel like, if you let the ungrounded optimism and idealism go.


    Nick tried to ignore it. The voice in his head that told him that this was the first time, possibly ever, hed felt grounded. Unppable. Even thinking about Jinny didnt hurt as much as it had. The pain was still there, but there was more anger than anything else. It felt


    Good.


    Youre still human, of course. Tragedy will still hurt you. The highs will be lower, but the lows will be higher. And youll never have to scale the walls again.


    As much as he hated himself for his own weakness, Nick wanted it. He was tired of being let down, disappointed, going through the agony of piecing himself back together for it to happen all over again.


    Whats the purpose of the Order? Nick asked.


    In the long term, to achieve a perfect future. Hastur answered easily. In the short term, to end the initiative before the second transposition event.


    Ending the initiative wasnt an issue in Nicks opinion, but the second part gave him pause. Perfect by what metric?


    Perfect to each individual human, for most of their lifetimes.


    Thats impossible. Nick shook his head.


    Its unlikely. Hastur agreed. Thats where Ie in. Along with the Order, until theyre superseded by the Court. In the meantime, Ill need to clean house. There are tensions within the order, which has led to aggressive, dangerous mandates. Thats part of what Id like your help with. Reforming the order into a kinder, more benevolent version of itself.


    Thought that was a bad thing. Nicks lip curled.


    Hastur shook his head. I dont think kindness and benevolence are aspects of weakness in the grand scheme, Nick. But theyre destroying you from the inside. They always have. And if you take advantage of my offer, some part of you would still keep them. They would just be tempered. Manageable.


    Nick thought for a long time. And if I told you to take your offer and shove it up your ass? That Im not interested in joining your little cult, and if youre doling outpensation, all I want is Jinny back and nothing else?


    Then I will respect your wishes, Hastur said. A momentter, the feeling of despair flooded back, full force, and Nick clutched at his chest, gasping at the pain. With a warning.


    What warning. Nick asked through grit teeth.


    I can see the threads of different worldsthough youd probably call them timelines. Your friend. Jinny? She had little time left even if she lived through the tragedy. Two months. Three at the most, assuming Metia spared her. And while the order will eventually have the means to bring her back, it wont be long before youre back here. In this ce. Hastur ran the tip of his finger across a crumbling bricking, brushing his fingers together and watching the dust as it faded away. And the walls will be ever higher.


    Youre lying.


    What reason do I have to lie? Hastur asked


    Nick tried desperately to hang onto the anger from before. Anything, to distract him from how he was feeling now. But what Hastur was implying lined up with what Jinny hinted at a little too well to be coincidence. Maybe youre right. Maybe Ive been an idiot this whole time. Maybe the world is shit, and youre the only way its ever going to get better. Fine. But I want the crossbowman gone. The one who killed Jinny. I want him fucking dead.


    Hasturs eyes lit up. Revenge? Certainly. Youll do that yourself, with my blessing. Hell see no protection from me. But first, I need to know that youremitted. That you want what Im offering.


    Nick hesitated. He wasnt expecting Hastur to agree so easily. It seemed too easy somehow, like there was a trap hed missed. Can I think about it?


    Certainly. But youll need to stay here until you decide. This isnt a half-in half-out situation, Im afraid.


    With that, Hastur left him.


    And he didnte back. As the walls grew taller and the pain metastasized, Nick mmed his head backwards into the brick wall. Eventually even the physical pain didnt help. He screamed for Hastur and received no answer.


    Finally, after what felt like eons, Hastur returned.


    I cant. Nick whimpered. I cant take it anymore.


    Tell me what you want. Hastur prompted. He was going to make Nick say it.


    Nicks stomach churned, and he blinked away tears. His mind turned once again towards Jinny, then to the images of the transposition. If I ept your gift. In this perfect future will it actually make a difference? Make me better at helping people? If I can just turn it all off and do what needs to be done?


    He jumped, as a hand settled on his head, cold andforting in equal measure. My dear boy. With my help you will save more lives than you can count. Ill hone the power within you and forge a de sharper than any sword. A heros de. And you will forge your own legend.


    What do I have to do? Nick asked. Hed do almost anything if he didnt have to feel this way anymore.


    Hasturs voice was soothing, almost hypnotic. First, you must harden your heart. Set fire to the bridge at your back and spare no thought to retreat.


    And how do I do that? Kill the crossbowman? Nick asked, feeling ufortable at the idea now that it was very real.


    Hastur shook his head. Killing the one who wronged you isnt enough. You must even the scales. Dirty your hands in a manner that symbolizes your transformation. Only then, will you be free.


    The god leaned down low and whispered into Nicks ear. The real threat is not your target, but his brother.


    Nick jerked in surprise and stared at Hastur. What?


    This initiative is far sloppier than previous iterations. That an Ordinator was assigned at all is evidence enough. But the crossbowman you loathe so dearly is kin to a User who represents far more egregious oversight.


    Youre saying his brother is a threat. Nick asked, already feelingpletely over his head.


    In his current form, he is harmless. Which I suspect, will pose more difficulty for you than if he was a monster in human form. But the way his title interacts with certain abilities he will receive, further down the line? He will be a threat to everyone. Even the gods. Hastur shook his head slowly.


    Whats his name? Nick swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.


    Hastur chuckled. You never asked the crossbowmans name. I wonder why that is. When Nick didnt respond, he gave a half-nod. His name is Keith. As ordinary as his appearance, Im afraid.


    And youre certain? Nick asked. That hes as big of a threat as you think?


    Hastur''s eyes were fathomless. The question is, whether you can be the man you wish to be. Capable of abandoning your childish idealism and cing the needs of the many over the needs of the few. Dirtying your hands, for the sake of the people you care about.


    There were a million reasons to say no. There had to be. But at that moment, Nick couldnt think of them. The pain in his chest throbbed, intensifying. And beyond Hasturs patient gaze, he saw the walls growing ever higher.


    If you need more time Hastur began.


    Nick answered before the words fully formed in his mind. Ill do it.

 Chapter 225

    Chapter 225


    This was the problem with nning in a vacuum. Hastur had struck me as more genuinely well-meaning than most of the gods Id encountered. He wasnt actively trying to kill me, didnt pass around any sses or abilities that immediately made me a target, and was rtively straightforward about what his goal was. It was a low bar, but Id still taken some small sce from it.


    Now, though? That sce was gone.


    Nicks ount changed things. Maybe I was wrong, and Keith was a genuine threat, but it felt too tidy. Too convenient. It reeked of maniption, gaslighting, with threads of psychological torture and brainwashing. Which was ironic, as now that Id thought about it, hed used simr tactics with me. I hadnt recognized them for what they were because hed been so damn positive in his delivery, almost edifying.


    Probably why hed gone that route.


    Despite having everything in the world to say about his experiences, my temper had red, and I didnt want to get it wrong. So, instead, I spent most of the next hour telling Nick everything. And I mean everything. It took longer than I expected, spanning from the story of my father and the man who killed him, then jumping ahead to the first encounter with the Allfather of Chaos, to what really happened those first few days, to my encounter with Hastur and my side of things in the towerincluding the artifact and ability Id gained.


    His reactions were mixed. I could tell it hurt that I hadnt shared my history, though he understood. When I admitted to withholding my User status in the early days, he tried to keep his face neutral but anger showed through. He was still angry when I told him about the events of the transposition, but it felt as if that anger was no longer targeted solely at me. As I went on, detailing the astronomical amount of trouble holding the Ordinator ss had put me in almost by default, his anger faded. When I told him what happened to Sae, tears welled up in his eyes. And by the time I finished outlining my abilities, including the new acquisition, he looked ufortable, maybe even a little scared.


    Nick whistled a low pitch. Well based on everything youve said about it, guess its a good thing it was you ended up as the Ordinator instead of some megalomaniacal asshole.


    I gave him a pointed look.


    I mean, youre only an asshole sometimes. Nick protested, and I couldnt help but snort. And youre <em>way</em> less of an asshole than you could be, all things considered.


    Thanks.


    Seriously. Nicks expression was grave. Think about what would have happened if the wrong person ended up with your ss. Someone like Sunny.


    Or Aaron.


    Nick shifted ufortably. Youve dropped bits and pieces about the trial over the years, but I didnt know he was <em>that</em> Aaron.


    Not really where I expected to find him either. I admitted, sieving a clump of sand between my fingertips. Bigger problem is theres a solid chance I <em>am</em> the wrong person. Or worse, the right one, if thats what the Allfathers going for. Nick seemed to take issue with that, and I pressed ahead before he could cut me off. Come on. I just told you my history.


    Far as Im concerned, the Givens asshole had iting. He killed your fucking dad. Nick snapped, oddly vehement. An incongruity struck me.


    I studied Nick carefully, filtering out any usation from my voice before I spoke. I never called him by name.


    Who?


    The shooter.


    Nick opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. You uh, mustve at some point


    No. I didnt, I said.


    Fuck, fine, just chill with the third degree. Nick massaged the bridge of his nose. You went super cold the first time I asked about your dad, and it made me wonder if there was something more there. I might have gotten curious and looked him up when I was in the hospital with too much time on my hands, which eventually led the discovery that not only was he deadthere was a puff piece in the telegram about a certain hero mom defending her children.


    I couldnt believe it. Not what he was saying, but the subtext. You already pieced it together.


    No. Nick shook his head, looking more than a little guilty. I mean, not at first, anyway. Not until I met your Mom and saw firsthand how timid she was while you were on the other side of the table, cold, calcted and withdrawn.


    And you still wanted to be friends. I asked, more than a little dumbfounded.


    Course I did. Nick shrugged. And while it was harrowing to hear you tell it, I still feel the same way. I guess its an extreme example of what Ive always admired about you. If you get it in your head that something unpleasant needs to be done, you dont wring your hands or obsess over what might happen, or feel sorry for yourself. You just get it done. God. I <em>wish</em> I could do that. I really do.


    Nick I started.


    Point is, so long as youre being careful, the Ordinator ss is in excellent hands. Nick said, matter-of-factly.


    I shook my head. As much as I try to be vignt and stick to my own rules, slipping is only a matter of time. With Suggestion, I originally meant to keep it on a short leash, only using it on monsters and explicit threats. That didnt evenst through the transposition.


    How so? Nick asked.


    Even with everything Id already told him, I was ashamed to tell the story. When I was heading home with the first haul of lux, Id just been jumped by those civilians in region nine. I was scared, paranoid, hyper focused on delivering the goods before someone took them from me. And there was this guymore balls than brains, acting pseudo-alpha as a way of coping with his own fearyou know the type.


    Nick nodded.


    He got in my way, and I just skewered him. I grimaced. Stripped his mental defenses and broke him down. No hesitation. It was almost instinctive. Didnt even realize what Id done until after.


    Nicks eyebrows knitted together. Which is why the suspiciously convenient pairing of the Devils Share and Subjugation scares the fuck out of you.


    I shivered. Itd be so easy to go off the deep-end if I got used to it. Start snapping off Orders to anyone in earshot, for any reason. Literally manifest what I want to happen.


    You can only use it on each person once, right? Youd run out eventually. Nick tried, but even he had to know how weak that sounded.


    Theres a million people still trapped in the dome. Itd take a while. I mumbled.


    As much as this idea sucks, you could just not use it?


    I squinted out over the water. Maybe.


    But I knew exactly how likely that was. Id had countless chances to walk away from power, questionably sourced and otherwise. I never had.


    Its what I would do. Nick shrugged. But thats my problem. When Im dealing with something difficult, I get so caught up in ethics and hypotheticals that more often than not I end up just passively hoping for the best. And then I have the gall to be shocked when it bites me in the ass. Like a fucking idiot. The self-loathing in his voice was so poignant it was almost painful.


    Fuck Hastur. I spoke before I fully realized what I was going to say.


    Nickughed nervously. Thought you, uh, didnt want to piss the gods off. And he trailed off, oddly small looking for his substantial frame. On some level, I thought youd agree with him.


    The words hit me like a p in the face.


    What the hell?


    I mean Nick spoke with his hands. Youve made it clear plenty of times you think Im immature and nave.


    I never said that.


    But youve implied it. He pointed a finger at me and raised an eyebrow. Wouldnt it be better, on some level, if we were just always aligned? If I didnt push back every time you considered doing something I was ufortable with?


    That was wrong. And it was obvious how much Nick needed to hear the answer. I searched for the best way to put it into words, taking my time with it.


    Believe it or not, I used to be a lot more cynical. I thought I was enlightened, that my circumstances gave me special insight into the way the world really worked. That I had it all figured out, and anyone who had hope  genuine hope, for things to be better or different was either lying to themselves or nave idiots spinning fairy tales. That the only reason they felt that way was because they hadnt looked behind the curtain and seen the world as what it truly was. And that if they had, theyd be every bit as miserable and bitter as me.


    Nick wedged his feet into the sand. What changed?


    I met you.


    Bullshit. He rolled his eyes, but didnt look at me.


    I ignored the denial and moved on. I watched you lose things I never even had. Watched you lose <em>everything.</em> But despite what you went through, all the bullshit you endured, you were always so quick to help others. Even when it drained you, or ended up being a massive pain in the ass, you did it anyway. Somehow, you never stopped caring about people, no matter how badly they disappointed you.


    Sounds idiotic. Nick mumbled.


    No. I shook my head. Its just your nature. Youre a good person, youve always been. And anyone who tries to smother that is a fool. We <em>need</em> people like you. Now more than ever.


    He stared down at the sand. Im not sure thats true anymore, Matt. Not after what I did.


    You didnt do shit.


    I was gonna


    You didnt do shit. I repeated. And maybe I forced your hand, and you picked wrong in a moment of panic, but you had all the time in the world to end him before I got there. So no, Nick. I didnt use Subjugation on you for a reason. Because I dont want to change who you are.


    Despite the somber nature of the discussion, Nick smiled. Sing my praises all you want, but you cant preach being true to myself if the same doesnt apply to you.


    I looked away. Its different.


    Its not. Nick punched me in the shoulder. If our roles were reversed  trust me, I would have tried like hell  but I dont think I would make it here. Christ. You made some hard fucking calls. Maybe I get a few of them right, but not without turning into a whimpering sack of trauma potatoes on the floor. You were making these calls, and spinning a dozen other tes, all while drop-kicking the wolves from the door.


    Too many metaphors. I grumbled.


    Point <em>is,</em> Nick let the word hang. I wouldnt change you either. A cloud darkened his bright expression. Though all this has me wondering where we go from here.


    There are a few possibilities. I sighed. At the very least, I need to get Kinsleys dad out. No clue <em>how.</em> Considering the extent everythings spiraled out of control were basically blown. But our best bet after that is probably to run. Keep squelch active 24-7 until we find a way to


    <em>Deal with the geas.</em>


    You know. I finished.


    Nick frowned. But its weird.


    What is? I asked, only half-listening as Id already started working how much of a pain in the ass getting out of the tower and dodging the Order was going to be.


    The Order is full of killers, people with pre-domebat experience. So it tracks that Hastur would want to harden up his less experienced members.


    Uhuh.


    Nick winced. Uh, I realize what Im about to say is probably pretty rude.


    Just say it. I said, drafting a message to Kinsley.


    Why the hell did he want you to change at all?


    Because I trailed off, simultaneously seeing what he was driving at and finding myselfpletely clueless.


    Huh. I hadnt thought of it until now, mostly just chalked it up to offering me an incentive I hadnt known I wanted, but Hastur had essentially tried to force a transformation with a result that would leave me and Nick in opposite spaces. A zero. That was strange. Implied the existence of an angle I had yet to consider.


    When I said as much, Nick jumped to his feet and nearly stumbled in the sand, eyes all but bugging out of his head. Holy shit.

 Chapter 226

    Chapter 226


    Nick had yet to give me an answer. Hed walked across the sandbar back towards the bluffs in a hurry, and was going over the stony wall with a fine-toothb, eyes furrowed as he ran his hands over any irregrity.


    What are we doing? I asked.


    Nick identally pulled a piece of craggy stone free and casually tossed it aside. You said itd be a-zero.


    If we both epted Hasturs deal? I hurried to keep pace with him as he shuffled along the stone base, wildly looking back and forth.


    Right. You be the man who feels too much, I be the rational unfeeling bastard. Nick nced at me. Sorry.


    I shrugged. Doesnt matter. Still not following you.


    Thing <em>is.</em> Nick pried another piece of rock free with a grunt and tossed it aside. Its not actually a-zero. Think about it. Even if I suddenly had your mindset, Idck your experience, your history. Itd be like giving someone a gun with no safety.


    It finally hit me. And Id be learning to manage a shitton of interference. Youre right. Its not-zero. Its suboptimal.


    Apparently not finding what he was looking for, Nick started knocking on the bluffs. Uh-huh. And youre the problem solver, so you tell me. Why would a being with god-tier foresightespecially one obsessed with creating a perfect futuremake a gambit with a suboptimal oue?


    Maybe he only needs one of us. I tried. Or this is his way of making sure were beholden to him.


    Nick shook his head. What do we know about Hastur?


    Hes an asshole.


    Okay, yes, but I meant what does he want?


    Supposedly? Peace. I frowned and went down the list. To end the transposition. And hes unhappy with the state of the order to the point hes willing to spill loyal bloodHoly shit. My jaw dropped. He should have foreseen the conflict between Sunny and Aaron. So hes not actually omniscient. Or at least, his ability to see the future is far morepromised than hes led us to believe.


    Were off to see the wizard, toto. Nick reached inside a crevice, then grunted and withdrew his hand, still frantically moving down the face of the bluffs. Hasturs throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. But its not all parlor tricks. He has power, actual power. Question is, how much?


    I remembered, in a moment of difort, exactly how appealing the future Hastur described to me had been. How there was a part of me that still longed for it. Then how quickly his power and lucidity had drained away. Hes insightful enough that it has to be significant. But its not perfect. More like he has an idea of what one persons future will be, and how to change it, but cant guarantee that any action he takes will bring about his ideal ends. He has to make a change, then look into the future and see how it all pans out.


    Wanna guess how many people he talks to? Nick nced at me, raising an eyebrow.


    Few. One in five? I guessed.


    Closer to one in twenty. Nick said. So its not just bullshit. He needs us for something. If I He stopped suddenly, some of his energy draining away, looking vaguely nauseous. Then seemed to gather his courage and started again. If you didnt get to me before I... went through with it. With Keith. How would that have affected you?


    Not well. I admitted. Bare minimum, Id put off revealing my identity. Thered be a lot of lost trust, and an upswing in self-doubt. Ive already been questioning whether I can y the Ordinator role without going off the deep end, and if I saw <em>you</em> go off the deep end Id be much more likely to take Hastur up on his offer.


    Exactly. Nick said.


    But thats only one potential future. The pieces fell into ce. He had to know that he was putting us on a collision course. And if so, then


    He knew damn well that this could happen, Nick finished. And Im betting, he ounted for it.


    The thought chilled me, and I shivered despite the tropical warmth of our surroundings. But it didnt seem to bother Nick. For fucks sake, what are you looking for?


    A ripple. Nick paused. Hed run out of wall and gone down on his knees, searching where the sandbar met the bluffs. Or a secret passage. There has to be something he wants us to find with this specific oue.


    Nick. I grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. My friend turned to look at me, a sheen of sweat on his brow. All youre doing is strengthening the argument for us to run. Look at what hes doing to Aaron and Sunny. The knives at their backs. If Hasturs aware it could y out this way and we might turn against him? <em>Then we are running out of time.</em>


    I dont want to turn against him. Nick mumbled. I processed that in silence, as small waves crashed onto the sandbar and receded into the ocean.


    What? It was all I could do to keep my voice neutral.


    Were important, in the grand scheme. That''s why he chose us. Nick insisted.


    After everything he did


    So when a gods the one who fucks with people and does morally questionable shit to try to achieve a better oue, then suddenly its not okay anymore. Nick snapped.


    I took a step back.


    You cant know what he really wants. No one does.


    Nick smiled, the expression so painful it hurt. When Hastur told me he didnt want me to suffer, I believed him. When he said he wanted a better world, a <em>kinder</em> world, I believed him.


    <em>That doesnt mean shit.</em>


    Even if Hasturs well-meaning Nick, hes still But I couldnt bring myself to say it. To point out that Nick was being nave, foolish. Not after what hed just gone through. That ground was shaky as it was.


    Calcted. Nick gave a quick, grim nod. Which is why I think there are two possibilities. Either hes fully prepared to squash us the second wee out of the toweror this exact possibility was ounted for. He pointed up to the bluffs. You confront me up top, defend Keith, blitz me into the water and we end up here.


    I let my more prominent pushback go for now, and instead focused on the obvious facy. Okay, sure. But why are you so fixated on this location? If some god coordinated all this, arent we just as likely to find something walking back, or meet someone important on another floor of the tower?


    Nick shook his head. <em>No.</em> This <em>has</em> to be it. I never felt more strongly about anything in my life.


    It felt more than desperate. Like hed already shot the dealer and was flipping cards, trying desperately toe up with an ace.


    But.


    His fixation wasnt entirely irrational. On the off-chance Id beaten him in a direct confrontation, or used subjugation to bring him into line, there were few alternative scenarios where we ended up down here, if any. And considering the surrounding geography, the sandbar was vaguely crescent shaped, pressed up against the bluffs in a hidden alcove, all but invisible from the summit and surrounding beaches. Anyone searching the area without going for a swim would probably miss it. Hell, Id missed it. We might find nothing, but if Aaron and Sunny intended to deal with us in the biblical manner, there was no reason to risk aggravating leadership in this region further by sending teams in after us when they could just wait outside. All that said, we needed to do this right.


    Okay. Both the ripple in the forest and the ripple on floor twenty-eight were in in sight. I called over my shoulder and crunched through sand, crossing to the opposite side of the sandbar and peering into the water. If there was something in the bluffsespecially something were supposed to find, you would have found it by now.


    Finally, Nick stopped futzing with the rock wall and stood at my side. He nced at me, then the water, and eventually back to me. Right but dont you hate swimming?


    Yep. Which is why Im delegating.


    I reached out a hand to summon Audreyand found to my surprise that I didnt need to summon her. Her consciousness was so weak I thought shed died, tussling with whatever was below the surface.


    Nick chuckled nervously. You about to part the Red Sea over there?


    Just give me a second.


    My eyebrows furrowed. Audreys mind felt more sluggish than usual. She wasnt dying, but I had probably submerged her for too long. When I asked if she wanted me to release and re-summon her, I got a dramatic response as scattered, shotgunned feelings that culminated in a vehement negative.


    <em>Okay, thene to the sandbar.</em>


    Audrey didnt answer. Twenty feet off-shore, there was an explosion of white bubbles.


    What Nick started. But before he could finish, dark gray flesh breached the surface, water cascading down it on both sides. the actual fuck.


    I reached for my crossbow even as a stream of mist sprayed up into the air. It took a second to register the familiarity of something Id only seen in YouTube videos and ocean documentaries.


    <em>Its a blowhole.</em>


    Nick unsheathed his sword just as a soaked, miserable looking nt broke the surface, her vines looped around the creature''s sides forming half-reins, half-saddle. I caught his arm, signaling for him to wait as I held the crossbow at my side.


    Audrey? You uh, catch something?


    My summon released her hold, and with nothing to keep her bnced, slid down the whales rubbery flesh and pped into the shallow water. I waited long enough to observe the creatures behavior. It seemed more or less passive, though no less imposing in terms of sheer mass. Once I was mostly sure Audreys impromptu mount would not turn around and eat me, I waded in and fished her out of the water, never taking my eyes from the creature as I carried her up to the shore.


    How the helld you pull that off? I muttered, more than a little impressed.


    Made new friend. Audrey coughedejecting a ridiculous amount of water back into the ocean as we waded back to Nick.


    Again. How? I reiterated.


    Simple mind Easy to subjugate. Audrey said.


    I was so shocked I nearly dropped her. When shed said shed made a new friend, she wasnt being coy. She was being literal. A unique aspect of my summoner ss was that my summons sometimes shared my abilities, and it seemed like Audrey had won the lottery in that regard. Before I could make ament, Audrey wrapped a vine around my back, using me as leverage to raise herself high enough to look over my shoulder. Stay close. Eat tiny fish. Be happy. She barked at the whale with a surprising amount of authority.


    A tail bigger than my entire body raised and pped down on the water in response, sending up a geyser.


    Despite myself, I chuckled. Always full of surprises.


    Nick was waiting for us at the edge of the sandbar, eyebrows raised high enough that it looked like they were trying to jump off his head. Uh. I keep cycling through one-liners but I think Im actually at a loss for words.


    I snorted. My nt summon mentally wrangled a mammal that outweighs her by a hundred tons or so and bent it to her will. Just business as usual.


    Uh-huh.


    No bending. Audrey protested. He was scared. I made him less scared.


    There were a thousand questions I wanted to ask her. But only one that really mattered.


    Once we reached the sandbar I praised her first, patting her head and pulling a raw cut of beef from the icebox in my inventory. She scarfed it down and looked somewhat restored.


    Now. I crouched in front of her, waiting until I had her full attention. What was the whale scared of?

 Chapter 227

    Chapter 227


    Of all the many possibilities Id ounted for before embarking into the tower, riding a whale wasnt one of them.


    This is some real Studio Ghibli shit. Nicks face was white as a sheet as he clung to the long coil of rope encircling the whale.


    You were the one all amped on following fate, I growled, not feeling much better. Just being in the open ocean put my nerves on edge. Wed waited an hour for my mana to regenerate, and a quick internal check put it at just over half, which was hopefully enough. Assuming we didnt drown, which was probably the worst that could happen.


    What if we get the bends? Nick whispered.


    The what? I asked.


    What do you mean, the what? He grinned. Oh my. Do I actually know something you dont?


    Shut up.


    Sourpuss. My Uncle told me about it when we went scuba-diving. Nick answered, reciting the information. You dive deep enough, atmospheric pressurepresses stuff in your body. But if youe up too quickly, it can get released in the wrong ce, like your bloodstream.


    Great. I felt the blood drain out of my face. Audrey was up front, closest to the whales head. Audrey? Any chance your thrall told you how deep were going?


    Audrey cocked her head. No. I ask. She leaned down and did something. I wasnt sure if she was using or if they had some other sort of connection because of . Either way, she seemed keyed into the whale in a simr way that Id keyed into Keith.


    From what shed said earlier, the whale was terrified. Not of a sea monster or something worse, but a fissure deep below the surface. There was a crack in the stone wall of the bluffs far beneath the surface exuding something Audrey tranted as gross, that made it difficult to see. More notably, the fissure was pulling in seawater indiscriminately, sucking in any ocean creature that drew near. It was impossible to say whether the anomaly was a ripple or something else, but it fit the bill if Nick was right, and there was something for us to find in these exact circumstances.


    After Audreys stunt, I was beginning to wonder if he was right.


    Deep. Audrey cocked her head as the whale let out a low, moaning rumble. Less deep than deep deep. I groaned, Nick echoing me a secondter. The system helped with trantion at certain points, but apparently not with specific metrics.


    Did he tell you how to avoid it? I asked Nick.


    Nick mulled that over. Exhale slowly as you rise and donte up too fast.


    Is it even an issue if youre free-diving? Not breathing from an oxygen tank?


    Dunno. Nick shrugged.


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose, suddenly exhausted. Id decided toat least in the short-termfollow Nicks lead and go with the flow. If there was even a slight chance he was right, it was worth looking into. Even if every fiber of my being was screaming to back out.


    Better to just get it over with.


    Okay. Audrey, if I tap you, it means Im at my limit and we need to go back to the surface. I said, wrapping my mind around what we were about to do.


    What if Im at my limit? Nick asked nervously.


    Then tap me, and Ill tap Audrey. For now, deep breath. I elbowed Nick, then gripped the rope with both hands. Audrey, tell her to take us down.


    The whale jerked into motion far more abruptly than expected, plunging us into warm water that quickly grew cold. My ears popped shortly after, the speed with which we were moving making impossible to see the dark blue of the surrounding ocean through more than a slit.


    The little I could see grew darker and darker still, as the depth and pressure increased. Above, the scattered reflection of the sun was still visible, though watching the glowing amber above grow more faint exacerbated my anxiety by the second.


    I counted down from sixty slowly, trying to keep track of the time even as my lungs burned.


    Darkness seeped into the surrounding water, dyeing the dark blue an inky ck. The feeling of current streaming past ceased as the whale stopped in ce. I reached out blindly, trying to by panic as my fingers brushed nothing but unyielding stone. Right when I was on the verge of signaling for Audrey to return to the surface, my handnded on something slimy, almost membrane-like. I pushed through up to my shoulder and felt the icy chill of open air on my fingertips on the other side.


    <em>Bingo.</em>


    I reached back and grabbed Nicks arm, cing his hand on the gap in the surface. Once he realized what he was feeling, he kicked off the whale and swam headfirst into the opening. I extended my arm through the fissure and waited, heart racing, lungs burning. Much longer and I wouldnt make it back up to the surface.


    Strong hands closed around my arm and unseated me, dragging me into the fissure. I had a moment of panic but didnt fight and allowed myself to be pulled.


    Inplete disorientation, I broke the surface with a gasp, taking long pulls of stale air as my vision adjusted to the darkness. Id gone through sideways and somehow came out right-side up, and it took a moment as my mind reconciled the conflict. Nick pulled at me, still tugging upward after I was well-clear of the gap.


    I twisted out of his grip Im through already.


    <em> Shh.</em> Nick hissed. The urgency in his voice banished the fogginess from my mind, and the surroundings slowly came into focus. I let him pull me to my feet, still ankle-deep in the stinking liquid.


    Ornate marble pirs loomed in the distance, cloaked in shadow. We were at the far end of a long rectangr fountain, though maybe fountain was the wrong word. It was a long square rectangle of dark water, little spouts bubbling up every few feet. Across a wide ream of plush red carpet, there was another matching rectangr water fixture framing the walkway. The carpet itself extended towards a set of stairs.


    And at the base of the stairs was a stoic knight in full te. His te glimmered in the low-light, and he held a broken bastard sword loosely in one hand. His head was tilted downward, as if he was staring down into the carpet itself.


    Motion caught my eye. Something flitting around in the shadows that surrounded the walkway. Multiple somethings. Whatever they were, they seemed to move in quick, sporadic bursts.


    That we were mostly on our own stuck firmly in my mind. I focused, and started to summon Talia.


    Then froze, as the disheveled knight straightened and raised his sword arm, extending the jagged point directly at me.

 Chapter 228

    Chapter 228


    Raw danger gged in my mind. The lone figure had an ancient, primal feeling, not unlike the Crimson Nosferatu from the higher floors, though that encounter was so oppressive it made it almost impossible to think. Still. Now that I had a better look, the grim T shape that bisected the knights helmet was unnaturally dark, as if the sourceless light radiated from apparently nowhere. I let the unfinished summon slip from my mind and instinctively took a step back. The broken point of the knights sword stayed trained on me. When I didnt use any of my abilities or summon Talia again, there was a creak of metal, and the broken pointed shifted to Nick.


    A voice resonated from within the helmet, metallic with a hint of mockery. Why are you here?


    Still soaked to the bone, Nick nced over at me, probably looking for guidance. For once, I didnt have any for him. Thisus being here, discovering this ceresulted from Nick, following his instincts. Unfortunately, that meant we were improvising.


    And even as he stepped forward, sword untouched in its sheathe, shield unstrapped from his back and held loosely in his off-hand, I could see how scared he was. Scared and uncertain. From his perspective, hed been daisy-chaining from one failure to another since the opening act of this shitshow.


    <em>Come on, Nick.</em>


    A reasonable question, good knight, Nick said. There was a trace of the LARP-speak hed used before the trial to talk to Talia, but it was more downyed, reserved. Almost Shakespearean. He smiled, mouth closed. I seem to have lost my way.


    Skittering feet echoed off the marble behind us and I spun, looking for the source, finding nothing. I was careful to not do <em>anything</em> that could be misinterpreted as aggression, but I angled myself with my back to a fountain, so I could both watch behind us and help Nick if things degenerated.


    The suit of armor creaked as the knight cocked his head. Perhaps it is best that you arrived here. At the simcrum, rather than the whole.


    And where is this? Nick asked. Or rather, what is it meant to be?


    The armor exhaled a tinny rasp and spoke, equal parts reverent and bitter. A pale imitation, failed and discarded. Avalon.


    Something about the name was unbearably familiar. But I couldnt ce it.


    As the knight threw back his head and cackled, the shadows around the edges of the room grew darker, pressed inward. The cruelty is immeasurable. We were found imperfect, and he threw us away. All his creations. Yet graced the likes of you with his boon?


    Nicks eyes flicked around, searching the shadows. Only gods and crazed old men speak in riddles, friend. Dere your meaning inly, so we may reachmon ground.


    The knights voice grew angrier the more he spoke, building to a crescendo. Are you truly so ignorant of the potential you squander? The favor you hold? You are unworthy of the legacy of <em>Pendragon.</em>


    With thatst word, it clicked. <em>Arthur</em> Pendragon. As in Arthur of the sword-in-the-stone variety. This knightand potentially the surrounding creatures, lurking in the shadowswere cribbed from Arthurian lore. But none of this seemed productive. The knight was clearly addled, a more refined version of the failed experiments we faced in the first ripple, but just as mad.


    Or at least, that was what I thought.


    Nicks face was stricken, pale. I never asked for any of this. For my title.


    <em>What the hell?</em>


    The knightughed that bitterugh once more. Your table is vacant, your queen reduced to a fragment that may never be whole again. And even here, in this godforsaken ce, you cant say his name.


    Nicks arms went ck, dangling limply at his side. Afach chose the wrong person.


    His anguish resonated deeply. Echoed simr thoughts Id had about my patron, time and time again. That the shoes he wanted me to fill were too inconceivably big, and giving me the Ordinator ss was an irreconcble blunder.


    Slowly, the knight lowered his sword to a ny-degree angle, pointing it to the ground at his feet. Then submit yourself to my judgment, so he may iterate once more. Capitalizing the finality of the statement, two more suits of armor stepped out from the shadows behind the knight, nking him on either side. They felt less ancient than the first, but looked powerful. The shadows pressed in, tightening the circle into a stranglehold. I could almost make out the creatures withinglimpses of long limbs, and teeth, and ws.


    Nick straightened his back, set his shoulders. If I do as you ask, will you let my friend go?


    After brief consideration, the knight nodded.


    What are you doing? I caught his shoulder.


    He gave me a half-hearted sigh. Look at them all. You were right. This was a dumb idea.


    I never said that.


    Seeing as how I keep pulling you into my shit, the least I can do is get you out of it.


    A god missed a box on his checklist and somehow you got the bag. Who gives a damn if youre the right person. I snapped. None of us asked for any of this. This clusterfuck of patrons, and powers and abilities and tragedy and mind games and knives in the fucking dark. Were survivors. Not the fucking devout and chosen. And <em>you.</em> I rounded on the knight. No wonder your god abandoned you.


    The sword switched targets again, the knights movement incredibly fast. Do not speak of matters you cannot possibly understand


    <em>Just like the Crimson Nosferatu. The ones that think theyre older are more personality driven. Theyll cream you in a fight, but have exploitable quirks. </em>


    I snarled. Keep whinging, you recyble motherfucker, but I have a damn excellent memory and nothing you say is going to change the facts. Honor itself is an ancient concept, but the Arthurian Knights of the round made it their own. Yet here you are, a coterie of half-baked failures attempting to pass judgment on the genuine article through ambush and trickery.


    All three of the knights stepped forward, their bodynguage brimming with anger.


    Uh. Matt. Nick tried to cut in.


    Im not fucking done. I pointed at the center knight, still advancing with the broken sword. Because if this colossal dipstick had an atom of his creators essence, gave two dog-squatting shits about what his patron wanted, he would have found an honorable way to prove you unworthy.


    <em>Take the bait, dammit.</em>


    I stood there impassively, giving nothing away even as the knights advanced and my heart hammered in my throat.


    Almost begrudgingly, the broken knight ground to a halt, the others pausing beside him. I felt something staring at me through the T of his visor, radiating hate. How mirthful, for one such as you to speak of honor.


    I showed my teeth. None of this has anything to do with me. Its all his show. Im just along for the ride.


    If that is what you believe, you have not been paying attention. With that cryptic statement, the knight returned his focus to Nick. He held his sword out to the retainer on his left, who held it point down while the knight held his arm up and unstrapped his gauntlet.


    Nick leaned over and whispered in my ear. What the hell is happening?


    That should be my line.


    <em>Matt.</em>


    I shook my head. Just listen. Hes strong. Dont know how big the gap is, safe to say its substantial. But you can do this. You dont have to win. Just stay on defense, drag it out long enough for me to find an angle. Ive got your back. Just buy me time.


    Before Nick could ask what was probably one of many pointed questions, the knight removed his gauntlet and cast it on the ground, where itnded and bounced with a resounding ng. The same dark shadow that formed the creatures swirling behind us made up his arm and wed hand. When he spoke, his voice echoed through the chamber, resonating power and authority. Usurper of Pendragon. I challenge you to a duel.

 Chapter 229

    Chapter 229


    As Nick observed the gauntlet on the ground and understanding dawned, his tired eyes returned to me, a wave of calm settling over him. The well-worn exhaustion in his face cleared. Ever since wed unexpectedly reunited within the suitspound hed felt unhinged, untethered, as if he was ovepensating for a piece of himself that eroded away.


    He patted my shoulder gently, then pushed me away. Nah.


    My eyebrow shot up. Nah? What I looked at the knight, his shadow arm still on full disy as he waited for Nicks answer. What in the ever-loving fuck do you mean, nah?


    The way you operate. Protecting the people you love no matter what you have to do to achieve that oue, I respect it. I really do. Nick shifted his head from side to side, stretched his arms, bent his leg and grabbed the ankle of his once-crippled leg, pulling it backward in a runner''s stretch. But you cant fight all my battles for me. And I cant be the person I want to be if I fold into the fetal position and let you dirty your hands every time it gets hard.


    What are we even talking about right now I trailed off, bewildered, as I turned to look at the knight, slowly putting the pieces together. Because of him? The only goddamn reason he stopped is because I turned his psychology against him. Theyre just monsters in armor, Nick. Monsters with rules.


    Is Audrey just a monster? Talia? Azure? Nick raised an eyebrow. From everything youve said, they seem pretty human to me.


    The flippantment caught me off-guard. And as much as I wanted to reject that on pure technicality, Talia and Audrey had both grieved their families and bore scars from the loss, in a manner that was uncannily simr to human grief. At some point, I had stopped thinking of all my summons as highly intelligent animals and started thinking of them as people. Over thest few months, theyd both performed far above their station and saved my ass more times than I cared to count. On top of all that, theyd questioned their own existence, and wanted answers for why they were created. That was as human as it got.


    Before I could rally, Nick continued. Im not the same fighter I was. Ive learned a lot. Trained. Gained new abilities Im restricted from even talking about. This guy has a legitimate grievance. He believes Ive stolen something I wasnt meant to have. He might be right. And even though you talked him into it, he stood down and chose fairness. Its only right that I give him a proper shot.


    Nick was going to die. After everything Id gone through to save him, he was going to fucking die.


    This isnt a game. Youre not getting paragon points for this shit. Dont be stupid. I snapped.


    Nicks smile faded. Yeah. Guess its a little much, expecting trust after the trail of fuck-ups that got me here.


    The words lined up like beaded sights.


    <em>If youd listened to me in the tunnel, instead of losing yourself in rage and self-righteousness, wed be in a helluva better ce then we are right fucking now.</em>


    I couldnt pull the trigger.


    Nick already knew hed made a mistake in the tunnel, hed all but copped to it. If I let the bolt fly, it would still end him, just in a different way. Still. Letting it go was like breathing ss.


    No. I trust you. More now than ever. I pushed him forward. Knock em dead.


    His eyes widened, the dimming light returned to his expression full force. He held out his fist, and I bumped it, numbly watching as he approached the center knight.


    For whatever reason Nick had decided this was a hill he was willing to die on, and I needed to respect it. At least for now. If push came to shove and things turned dire, I wasnt sure I could stop myself from intervening.


    But that didnt mean I had to make it easy for them.


    Nick drew his sword and hefted his shield. The central knight held his sword at the ready, and the tension in the room grew viscous, the shadows almost palpable.


    What the hell are you doing? I snapped, going for a mix of enraged, irritated, and condescending.


    Uh. Nick said, staring at me awkwardly.


    The central knight said nothing, but I felt his murderous gaze turn towards me once again.


    Him I get. I chucked a thumb at Nick. Lack of myth knowledge, probably a little CTE sprinkled on top


    Hey! Nick protested.


    but you? I stood directly in front of the central knight, cutting between them. You should know damn well how duels work.


    The murderous gaze turned downright fatal, and for a moment, I thought he might cut me down where I stood. Enough so that I got to the point, rather than waiting for him to ask. Theres always a second, theres always a brief period of negotiation where the seconds negotiate eptable terms.


    It is a duel to the death. That is non-negotiable. The knight said tly.


    If thats the only territory you think we have to cover, the ripple really has addled your brains. I shot back, listing on my fingers. Theres eptable weapon usage, eptable item and magic usage, whether thebat will be broken up by recovery periods or its a marathon to the finish, conditions to be followed if someones weapon breaks


    A pretender does not retain the right to a second. The central knight growled.


    My LSAT prep popped into my head as I recognized the facy. Thats the entire point of your duel, isnt it? To establish his legitimacy. Denying him a second by taking the result of a duel as a foregone conclusion seems clearly unchivalrous, if not outright malfeasant, dont you think?


    My attention derailed as one of the nking knights muttered something, only for the central knight to hold out a hand, swiftly silencing him.


    <em>Did he just say Fucking Merlin?</em>


    I ignored it and moved on. For the moment, the assumption must be that he is a knight. And as his page, I am his second by default. To deny me this role is to deny the basic ts upheld by the round table, that you and your like sacrificed lives to defend.


    Slowly, the central knight looked at Nick, and in a voice that sounded like hed aged a thousand years, asked. Do you wish to designate this one as your second, ser?


    With that hurdle cleared, I gave Nick a full-toothed smile, the one that generally made people profoundly ufortable.


    Yep. Nick blurted. Second. Sounds good.


    /////


    Id made several ridiculous initial demands, giving myself as much time as possible to engineer a solution with the highest chance of getting us out of this alive that wouldnt rain on Nicks hero moment. First, I requested that the surrounding circle of shadows receded, as they were a source of intimidation that would affect Nick far more than it affected the local knights. That took more effort than Id expected, as the shadows didnt seempliant, and it took a small army of shadow men in tabards to push them back, which provided valuable intelthough it showed this ripple was far more popted than Id hoped. The possibility of fighting our way out in the worst-case scenario grew more and more bleak.


    Next I asked for a table and two chairs as setting for the negotiation, and spent an absurd amount of time arranging them, then asked for the shadow servants to bring out racks of weapons for our champions to choose from, and spent an absurd amount of time arranging them.


    They didnt let me run ramshackle over them, drawing the line when I requested a small selection of food for the negotiations, but saving that, with their honor so tantly called into question they more or less bent over backward to achieve fairness and be generous to the challenged, so long as I could justify it. And while hed hovered over me at first, the central knight had eventually thrown up his hands and given up supervising me and taken a ce in the corner next to Nick.


    Nick, naturally, chatted him up, and thest time I checked on them they were examining each others weapons and seemed to be in the middle of a spirited conversation. Or argument. Either way, they were distracted, which was exactly what I wanted.


    By the time my n fully formed, every person in the room had distanced themselves from me for fear of another demand, and when I ced two sheets of paper on the table, no one was paying enough attention to notice.


    I withdrew a pen from my inventory and pressed it hard against the top page, then lifted the corner to confirm.


    With a deep breath, I leaned back in the seat and let myself rx. Then announced, Im ready.


    Oh? The central knight called over. Our hospitality finally meets your standards?


    I nodded, fiddling with the pen beneath the table, trying to force myself to rx.


    Then I will call my second.


    The withdrawn shadows had revealed a stairwell at the far end of the room, their destination still shrouded in darkness. Somewhere in the ck, there was a rhythmic nk as armored feet descended, revealing the long body of what was possibly the tallest man in armor Id ever seen.


    Like the rest of the knights, his helmet covered his face.


    Despite his long, almost awkward frame, he slid into the chair across from me with a sinewy grace I found disquieting, and towered over me in torso height alone. The lower section of his reflective breastte ground against the table. He reached down to move it, tantly over-correcting and shoving the edge of the table into my gut.


    So. This is the whelp that wants to negotiate terms? Doesnt look like much. The sneer I couldnt see carried in his voice.


    Despite myself, I smiled.


    <em>A bully. I can work with that.</em>

 Chapter 230

    Chapter 230


    I slowly looked back over at Sir Stonewall, as Ide to think of him. Stonewall was still conversing with Nick in the hall''s corner, hisckeysas they were mostly identical aside from a slight difference in circumference, Ill refer to as Pot and Kettleposted up against the wall at attention some distance away.


    The tall one sitting across from me I thought of as Dent, on ount of the baseball sized crater in the side of his helmet.


    I fought my initial impulse to swap Titles to <strong></strong> It would have been better for the negotiation, but if things went badly I needed <strong></strong> and if it all went to hell in a handbasket reserving the option to switch to <strong></strong> could be a literal lifesaver.


    Dent had crossed one leg over the other and was leaning to one side, seeming to relish in how his weight abused the wooden chair beneath him, intentionally forcing it to creak. Stonewall chose him for a reason. Id expected someone craftier, less direct, but in some ways this worked better for my intended result.


    Are there any rules to this negotiation? I asked.


    Arent you old enough to know that in the real world, there arent rules? Dents smarmy voice echoed from within his helmet? Maybe


    <em>Thanks for the green light.</em>


    <strong></strong> red from my outstretched fingertips beneath the table. A chunk of my mana drained away, but I estimated it was less than half, closer to a third. Dent stiffened, twitched once, then stilled. I sucked in a breath, surprised by the absence of bacsh. There was no reaction from the rest of the room. Itd been a calcted risk with caveats. If anyone had noticed or cried foul, Id simply point out that Dent had literally just told me there were no rules.


    I hit him with <strong></strong> before he could say anything to give us away.


    <em>Continue with this negotiation as you would have before. Anything I say out loud should be reacted to ording to your personality and previous predisposition, while anymands you receive in this manner should be consideredw.</em>


    Maybe what? I prompted.


    Dent resumed his snidementary. Maybe things are different where youe from, out there with the savages.


    Anyone who exists outside the realms of uros is a savage?


    Its moreone could sayan educated guess. Dent drummed his fingers on the table, feigning boredom. Then pointed at Nick. If he dies, you know what Id like?


    What? I asked,pletely fine with taking a passive role now that I held an advantage.


    Both of Dents hands mmed down on the table and he leaned forward in a snakelike motion. Id like to put my thumbs through your eyes. Nice and slow. Scramble them around a little until theres nothin left but jam.


    This was why he was chosen. He clearly wasnt the smartest of the bunch, or subjugation would have failed. Dent was the type that preferred strong-arming his way through a discussion, using shock tactics and nastiness to throw the other party off bnce.


    I leaned back, considered it. A life is not a small thing


    Oh, Id leave you alive.


    That was chilling.


    Fine. My sense of sight is not a small thing, in fact I value it quite highly. I leaned back and picked out some gunk between the outside knuckles of my gauntlet. As the challenging party, there would need to be equal concessions from your side.


    Like what?


    For starters, the duelists need to be using simr weapons.


    Swords, of course, Dent said, a little too carefree.


    The intended deceit was obvious. It didnt surprise me. As of now, the only order Id given Dent was to act how he normally would, and in this situation hed be acting in bad faith. I remembered the way Nick fought during the trial. How powerful Stonewall felt. If Nick didnt have his full defensive kit, that was a problem.


    Swords and shields. I corrected.


    Dent huffed. Makes no difference. Just a question of how long we draw it out. Minutes, rather than seconds. What else?


    The swords should be of simr make, rarity, and power.


    Should we have the craftsmen construct a bass for a mid duel nap while were at it? Dent guffawed.


    Do you have crafters? I asked, genuinely curious.


    Hisughter trailed off. Eh. No. They died.


    This is non-negotiable. I tapped my cheek. If you want my eyes.


    That shut him up. He shifted his head from side to side, considering. Mm. Fine. He nodded towards the racks of weapons in the center of the room. But hes gotta use one of ours. Not the other way around.


    Done. Final pre-requisite for your condition. Id like to summon my familiar.


    Dent lost some of his devil-may-care attitude, irritation ring. Dont think Im ignorant of what happens when your ilk gets left to their own devices. To what purpose?


    I sighed. Look around. We are the challenged party, yet were surrounded by your men, your servants, your I nced disdainfully at the swirling ring of shadows, further back than before but still ever-present.  Creatures. If anyone in your camp had a problem with the direction the duel was going, and others came to their aid, theres likely little I could do about it, with or without my familiar. Regardless, Id prefer the extra security.


    And what manner of monster is this familiar? Dent asked cautiously.


    A dog. Slightlyrger than average, unexceptional otherwise.


    Dent went through the mental calctions of what chance a dog had against heavy armor and apparently liked the result. Done. He said, with a smile in his voice. Such fun to be had. With you, me, and your overgrown mutt.


    I ignored him, and jotted down the three conditions wed established, pressing hard. I added a subsection for results, adding an entry for what would happen should each contestant win, and inscribed Dents demand lightly, letting the rolling tip of the pen do most of the work.


    Id barely finished when Dent leaned against the table, forcing the edge further into my gut. Therell be no magic. No spells of any kind.


    Huh. Unless things had changed, Nick didnt have any magic besides the defensive barrier spell, but there was no need to give that away for free.


    Why? I asked.


    Because I know better than to judge a man on his appearance. Dent growled. And even if hes just a sword, theres a chance youd cast somethin on him to tip the scales in your favor.


    I considered that. As the conditions went, it was severely double-edged. Itd deny Stonewall from using anything nasty he was holding in reserve, but would also severely restrict my ability to meddle in the duel itself. If Stonewall was drastically more powerful than Nick, there was only so much I could do from the sidelinepared to whatever bullshit ripple magic Stonewall could be hiding. If the power divide was too drastic, I couldnt be tant with <strong></strong> without Nick or the Knights noticing, neither of which would end well. Pushing back was an option, using my influence over Dent to force him to rescind the condition. But if the terms were too one-sided, the knights would have ample reason to suspect foul y.


    It was a gain at best, a zero at worst.


    I voiced my displeasure and argued, eventually letting Dent wear me down and conceding, pressing firmly as I jotted the condition down.


    What do we do in the event of a breach? I asked.


    A what? With his ent, the what sounded like wot.


    If either side interferes with the duel. I restated.


    Well. He rested his chin on his fist. If you interfereand by interfere I mean squeeze out even the tiniest spurt of magicwe kill you. After I put your eyes out, of course.


    Of course. And if your side interferes? Youll all honorably put each other to the sword?


    Dent snorted. Never going to happen. Come up with something else.


    Sounds fair to me, considering that if I so much as spurt, magic onto the ground, my life is forfeit.


    He crossed his arms. Your life isnt worth a single knight of the round, let alone the lives of every being in our domain. <em>Come up with something else.</em>


    I mirrored his posture, stalemating us for a time and buying myself time to think. I looked towards the swirling shadows, circling like a tornado from hell. When Stonewall had removed his gauntlet to challenge Nick to a duel, his armprised the same shadow.


    <em>Argue, but eventuallyply with my next request.</em>


    I sighed dramatically. Weve already established that if your camp goes back on their word, we stand little chance. Compensation, then. Any man that interferes will be punished by forfeiting his armor and arms, which will be relinquished to me.


    The armor alone would be far too heavy for your scrawny form.


    Doesnt matter. Id sell it even if it fit.


    Again, Dent audibly choked, trying not tough. Madness. Your friend is about to die, and youre here, divining a method to make a profit when he does.


    Those are my terms. I said coldly.


    You know what? Dent chuckled. Sure. You can have the arms and armor of any knight who breaches the rules of engagement.


    Any <em>being</em> who breaches the rules of engagement. I rified.


    Aye. Dent slowly nodded. Any being.


    The rest of the negotiations went smoothly. Dent seemed pleased with the apparent oue. As pleased as I was with the actual oue. I signed my name, and once I exined the custom, he signed his where Id underlined.


    <em>Sir Kay.</em>


    Here. Your copy. I handed him the top sheet and removed the sheet at the bottom, cing it in my inventory before he looked at it too closely.


    He watched me in confusion. Magic?


    Just triplicate. I said, but he was still staring at the page. Carbonless paper that passes the ink down to the bottom copy. Saves me the annoyance of writing everything out twice.


    Watch yourself, wizard. He didnt seem pleased, but I suspected the displeasure was out of suspicion of magic itself, rather than anything more specific. He stared at me, then seemed to disregard it as foolishness and walked with loud, nking footsteps across the hall towards Stonewall.


    With the negotiations settled, I let out a breath of relief, trying to ignore the feeling that Id dropped the ball. Id done everything I could to safeguard us while still technically abiding by Nicks wishes. If Knights so-called code was pure aesthetics and they made a move, wed have a shot.


    But aside from doing whatever I could to establish a fairpetition, Id done precious little to tip the scales of the duel itself in our favor. Everything else was up to Nick.

 Chapter 231

    Chapter 231


    Im gonna crap my pants. Nick said.


    Somehow, I didnt strangle him.


    After the terms were finalized, a handful of shadow people escorted us to the square open area at the end of the hall, pushing and prodding if we moved too slowly. The wide ream of royal red carpet bisected the square, which I eyeballed at about twenty-five square feet. There was ample t terrain, more than enough for a simple duel.


    And <em>why</em> are you crapping your pants?


    I thought the Knights of the Round Table were a myth. Nick ground his teeth, leaning forward a bit to sneak a nce at Stonewall, who was conversing with Dent. But that guy has seen some shit. Like Battle of the Bastards level shit.


    No, he <em>thinks</em> hes seen some shit.


    <em>I</em> think hes seen some shit. Nick pointed at his own chest for emphasis, on the verge of panic. He fought the Romans and won, Matt. As in the Roman Empire? As in the dudes went to war in skirts and despite that, still somehow <em>conquered almost everything?</em>


    My mind ticked. Okay, one, the Knights of the Round Table are fictional. The Roman Empire wasnt. They never actually fought, and if that guyes from a version of Arthurian lore where they fought the Romans, it was probably some sort of weird 12th century British propaganda.


    How does that help me when fictional-propaganda-man is standing <em>right there?</em> Nick hissed.


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Just, chill. Give me a second.


    Hes so casual about it. Cool. Like hes the real deal. Nick said, genuine admiration in his voice.


    I peered at Nick. Do you want to fight him or marry him?


    Nick extended his arms, Wheres the none of the above option?


    Thats the one where you dont tell me, confidently, that you want a fair duel only to crumble like a house of cards shortly after, I snapped.


    Fuck. Nick said, loud enough that the heads of several nearby shadow people turned our way. <em>Fuck.</em>


    <em>Need to head him off before he spirals.</em>


    Listen. I took him by the shoulders and forced eye-contact. Putting aside the fact that hes a fictional character, there are plenty of reasons this could go in your favor. One, his memories are artificial, same as Audreys and Talias. I left out Azure, for obvious reasons. Remembering battles and war campaigns might make him self-assured, but theres no guarantee his memories will directly correspond to ability and skill. They probably wont.


    Sure youre not just blowing smoke up my ass?


    <em>Certain.</em> Because hes not even the final product. Said it himself. His god threw him away. He was a failed experiment, just like the Grimelings. Meaning that even if there is a version of him out there in the tower that can back up the Roman-spanking, this one probably cant.


    Nick squinted at Stonewall again and seemed to ept that as a possibility. Okay, yeah. Youre right. Just got intimidated by the stories.


    Never happened.


    Right, he just thinks it happened. Nick paused, taking several deep breaths. Slowly, his prior confidence returned. Just on the off-chance he ends up nuking me from orbit, look after this, okay? He ced Jinnys User core in the palm of my hand. And if you manage to bring her back, tell her Im sorry, and stuff.


    I nced next to Stonewall at Dent, who despite his helmet, did an excellent job of giving the impression of leering. He made a gesture that resembled a man forcing his thumbs into two overripe tomatoes. Yeah. Probably gonna need to train Talia to see for me and go cane-shopping while Im at it, but after I get my bearings, I will.


    What? He gave me an odd look. The hell are you talking about?


    Dont worry about it.


    The concern in Nicks expression grew. What did you do?


    Crawl out of my ass, I did what I had to. Thats the way this works, right? When the answer didnt satisfy him, I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. The negotiator had a specific request. A condition to be satisfied if you lose. I was able to spin it into better terms for us.


    What request? Nicks voice was stone cold.


    I sighed. If you lose, Arthurian Psycho over there gets real up close and personal with my eye-sockets.


    Golden aura red around Nicks shoulders, reflecting off his metal armor. He stared daggers at the tall knight, hefted the de hed selected and spun it at the wrist. And if I win? Do you get up close and personal with <em>his</em> eye-sockets?


    No.


    Then Im fighting him next. And with that Nick walked away, towards the center of the square.


    Wait, I called after him, We need to strategize


    He didnt even bother to look back and didnt stop until he reached the center of the square.


    I rubbed my mouth and hid a smile behind my hand. The truth was, Nick didnt need a tactics session. He needed motivation. And sure, I could have mentioned the fact that Id taken Dent as a contingency, which made the ocr threat approximately as dangerous as a safety cone, but why deny Nick the fuel? I hadnt forgotten how he sprung into overdrive when Id been captured by the spider during the trial. Hed gone from capable but inexperienced fighter to absolute wrecking ball.


    Talias eyes bored into me from where she heeled at my feet. Id ask if anyones ever called you a bastard, but the answer is clear.


    Uh-huh. I nced at her. Was I right?


    Talia looked away, towards where Nick stood at the center. Not entirely. She switched to nonverbalmunication, voice echoing in my mind. <em>They are only Eldritch in part. The mana in these ripples is aberrant to begin with. That,bined with their abandonment and subsequent bitterness tainted their souls,pounding until they drew too deeply on the wrong sort of mana.</em>


    <em>Is there enough Eldritch in the mix that you could do serious damage?</em> I asked.


    <em>Perhaps. But I do not know if my purification abilities alone will be enough to turn the tide.</em>


    That was fine. If Nick could deliver the goods and everything stayed above board, it might not even be an issue. I settled in at the edge of the circle, across from Dent. He was doing something with his thumbs again, trying to get in my head. I ignored him and took in the situation. There were knights on both sides of the circle. Some were obviously keeping tabs on me, but most were on Stonewalls side of the arena, murmuring amongst themselves. From the bodynguage, they werent exactly worried, but they werent thrilled, either. And unless I was reading it wrong, several of them seemed to be overtly ring in Dents direction.


    <em>Not happy with the terms of the duel. Something in there hurts him. Good.</em>


    Stonewall didnt share their concerns. Hed crossed his arms and conversed with Nick at the center, though Nick seemed a lot less interested in conversation than mean-mugging Dent. His mouth was a straight line, his eyes cold, and for a moment, I could guess why Hastur wanted Nick emotionless and free of guilt.


    Because if he ever looked at me that way?


    Id start running.


    Having grown tired of all the preamble, Stonewall took a few loose steps back and stopped, lifting his sword in simple salute. Knights and shadows alike fell silent.


    Nick returned a deep nod that was almost a bow. Then brought his weapons to bear.

 Chapter 232

    Chapter 232


    The chamber was dead silent, the shuffling of thebatants'' heavy boots underpinned by running water. Now that the duel had started, every observereven Dent, who Id half-expected to resort to crass jeeringstood motionless and quiet, the asional grind of metal and shifting of weight the only indicator that they were alive.


    Stonewall gave off the feel of a rattlesnake. He had half-a-head of height on Nick and extended reach to match. As Nick circled, he positioned himself at the outer limits of the tanks range, simple, practiced footwork keeping him there.


    It felt rote. Methodical. Like the motions of a chess master who had yed this opening thousands of times and performed the routine with otherworldly patience.


    It worried me enough that I wondered if Id made a mistake, not negotiating for a duel by proxy and attempting to take Nicks ce. While my friends abilities were better suited for this in theory and he had a respectable number of monsters under his belt, hed sat out the transpositionOther than the brief, violent encounter at the end of the Trial, hecked the exposure to User on Userbat, which in my experience, was a different animal entirely.


    A bead of sweat dripped down Nicks forehead. His mouth turned downward. In a sh of motion, he rushed forward, catching the edge of Stonewalls shield on his own and flinging it to the side, driving the point of his glowing de at the armpit gap in Stonewalls breastte.


    There was a split second of metal grinding on metal echoing across the grounds. Maybe it was wishful thinking, or the ferocity of the blow, but for a moment I thought Nick had ended it in one strike. Then Stonewall pivoted. Shield still out of position, he flicked his sword under and up, knocking Nicks de away with a dextrous maneuver more appropriate to an Olympic fencer than a Knight.


    Even off-bnce, the counter delivered enough force that Nick stumbled backward, barely holding onto his de until he found his footing and brought his shield up. His eyebrows furrowed.


    Stonewalls echoing voice was unbothered, detached. If you survive this, a word to the wise. Informing your opponent that you are self-taught cedes an unnecessary advantage.


    Nick smirked, though his eyes were still cold. That would have bought mewhatthirty seconds of caution before you figured it out? Plus, I guess I wanted to get to know you better.


    <em>Does he think hes a fucking shounen character?</em>


    That seemed to catch Stonewalls attention. The knights helmet tilted to the side. To what purpose?


    I had no idea what theyd talked about, but against all odds, Nick had managed to get inside Stonewalls head. Now all he had to do was leave the question unanswered, let it needle at his opponent. Against someone as disciplined as Stonewall appeared to be, it probably wouldnt add up to much, but it was still something.


    Dunno. Nick said, and I fought the urge to facepalm. You seem like an interesting guy. If that was gonna be our only chance to talk, guess I wanted to pick your brain a little.


    Stonewall nodded. There is value in knowing ones opponent. But familiarity is nothing in the face of true power.


    He raised his leg and kicked Nicks shield.


    Nick saw iting and braced.


    It didnt matter. That simple motion resounded like a hammer on steel, imparting enough force to send Nick flying backpedaling across the ring, where he mmed into several knights, bouncing off andnding painfully on his side with a mighty ng. The ring of shadows that surrounded us appeared to bend inward, tendrils of oily smoke reaching towards Nicks armor. Kettlethe first knight to reach himbent down, apparently intending to grab him beneath the arms and hoist him up, but seemed to struggle as the tendrils drew closer.


    <em>Not trying to keep the action moving. Sandbagging. Intentionally exposing him to whatever that shit is on the perimeter.</em>


    Careful not to make visible motion, I broke through Kettles mind, amplifying already present feelings of disgust and self-loathing.


    Kettle pulled back as if hed been burned. Two knights took his ce, lifting Nick to his feet and shoving him forcefully back to the center.


    Pot and Kettle were part of Stonewalls retinue. Of course they had more of a personal stake in his victory. It didnt bode well, but it wasnt dire. A few feet to my left, Pot was obviously monitoring me, which meant I only really needed to watch Kettle. The shadow cyclone was more of a problem. As Nick shakily rose to his feet, I reached inside my inventory and gripped <strong></strong> handle tightly. Hundreds of tiny red weak-points glowed from within the indecipherable mass. Which meant, at the very least, we could kill them.


    Meanwhile, Nick turned his head to the side and spit. That all you got?


    I fought another urge to facepalm. Why was he making this harder for himself?


    Naturally, Stonewall took this as a signal to go on the offensive. He pressed forward, never fully lowering his guard, systematically battering Nicks shield with powerful strikes that reverberated through the shield and my friends body. Instead of retreating, or changing tact, Nick barely moved, electing to block every blow, even those he could have easily sidestepped.


    Doubt clouded my mind. Unless I was missing something, Nick was performing <em>worse</em> than he had before. In the trial, his versatility and improvisation was enough to make me revisit my decision to go it alone. Now, this was the first time hed held a shield. Reactive, panicky, and entirely on the defensive. Where was the warrior who bulldozed through a swamp full of monsters?


    Had I read it wrong? Had everything that happened broken him, traumatized him to the point that hed entirely regressed?


    Stonewall mmed a vicious overhead, aiming for the shield itself. A terrible metallic pop resounded. Nick screamed, falling backward, a straight-line dent bisecting his shield, centered exactly on where his arm was strapped in on the other side.


    Enough.


    I brushed Dents mind, preparing to give the man an order that would break the rules of engagement. It was possible it wouldnt trigger the magical contract in my inventory, if I was the one telling him to do so, or even register that Id been the one to break it. But when Id written out most of the consequences for our side on the triplicate, Id pressed lightly. Meaning the ink hadnt carried through to the contract paper and wed face no repercussions whatsoever beyond what the ripple itself could dole out.


    <em>Matt. This thing with Jinny.</em>


    <em>I shook my head. It''s gonna get out one way or another.</em>


    <em>Sure. He bit his lip. But if it doesn''t, promise you''re not going to help it along?</em>


    I gritted my teeth, withdrawing from Dent. Throughout our entire friendship, Id never been fully honest with Nick. Not until today. And when Id told him it was important that we were different, that we held different beliefs and different rules, I meant it.


    Idealists are frustrating. Infuriating as they are inflexible. They hold impossibly nave positions, and equivocate, and split hairs, and get lost in pointless hypotheticalsoften as the world burns down around them. And much as theyd like to believe otherwise, theyre anything but perfect. If anything, theyre more susceptible to despair and discouragement than the rest of us.


    Its that detachment from reality that makes people like me necessary in a crisis. The pragmatists, the mathematical monsters, the coldhearted bastards who believe good ends justify almost any means. The necessary evils. But if you take that as a license to smother the people who resist, who dare to hope, who wholeheartedly uphold the conviction that we dont have to be monsters to destroy monsters, and genuinely, perhaps even stupidly, believe that things can be better?


    When the crisis is over and the smoke fades, evil is all youre left with.


    Necessary and otherwise.


    And if I interfered now and denied his wishes, the bond of trust wed started to build would be null and forfeit. Even if he never knew it. Id just be using him as another tool to meet my own ends.


    Stonewall, tired of the drawn out duel, attempted to end it. He drew his arm back and swung the de at Nicks neck, perfectly on target. Nick raised his shield toote, and the force of the coup de grcended entirely on the top of his shield, driving it into his forehead.


    Nick somehow managed to roll away from the follow-up, awkwardly shoving himself up to his feet and teetering backward, barely regaining his bnce. It was almost convincing.


    Until his eyes flicked to the shadows at his side.


    My jaw dropped.


    <em>ying into Stonewalls expectations of an untrained fighter. Faking it. But only to an extent. He still took one hell of a beating. Why?</em>


    All at once, it clicked. Hed done something simr before when we were fighting the swarms during the trial,


    Enough, Stonewall said. He pointed his sword at Nick, still swaying on his feet. The oue is obvious. Yield, and submit to judgment.


    No point in surrendering a duel to the death. Nick huffed, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.


    Stonewall studied him silently. You are no knight of the round. Let alone worthy of Afachs inheritance.


    So you keep telling me.


    That being said. You fought against a superior opponent with bravery, honor, and integrity. And while you might not be one of us, you shareat the very least, a piece of our essence. It would bring no pleasure to y you. Stonewall looked up, observing the hall. The terms are simple. One of us must die. But this ce will notst forever. He indicated the swirling shadows. It is alreadying undone, though it will be some time before we greet our final rest. Remain here with us and greet the void. That is the only courtesy I can grant you.


    Sure. I get a nice quiet end, while Andre the Giant over there gets to finger-paint with my friends aqueous fluid. Nick red at Dent with open contempt.


    Stonewall did a long-suffering slow turn, holding a long look with his second that implied this was the first hed heard of it, then announced, Fulfilling such a brutish and dishonorable agreement wont be necessary in any circumstance. Will it, Sir Kay?


    Dent looked down and away in an odd, sheepish manner that shed with his considerable height. Just having some fun Gawain. Didnt mean nothin by it.


    Im sure. Stonewall turned back to Nick. And there you have it. Now. What is your answer?


    Nick seemed to recognize he was being offered genuine kindness. He nodded and took a moment to regain his breath. Then spoke. Thanks. But this is the first time in a long time Ive felt like myself again. Even if it hurts, and its hard. Im only here because people put their trust in me. Believed in the person they thought I was, He nced at me. Fought like hell to save me from myself. His eyes grew distant. Loved me. Despite my ws.


    Jinnys shadow, the darkness that had clung to him ever since wed reunited, ebbed away. A tear traced down his cheek.


    I dont know if theyre right. Or hell, if I even deserve a fraction of it. He looked up at Gawain. But I owe it to them to try.


    You wish to continue the duel? Gawain asked, as if he couldnt quite believe what he was hearing.


    The golden aura receded, coalescing into his shield, concentrating into a single white orb that was so bright it lit the entire room. I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. As always, Id underestimated him. Hed worked within the rules of the duel and pushed a passive ability to the absolute limit. Every impact hed weathered, hit hed blocked, and lick hed taken had been absorbed by the same ability hed used in the trialto tank the axe hit from the giant swarm and redirect the force back on the wielder. It was different now, an evolution or significantly advanced form of the original ability, and considering how it spread over his entire armor, it probably wasnt limited to one blow.


    Nick wiped the trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.


    I didnt hear no bell.

 Chapter 233

    Chapter 233


    The friend Id once watched struggle to walk, flew.


    His feet barely touched the ground as he closed the gap to Gawain. At thest second, he flicked his shield arm out, loosened straps sliding easily from his arm as the shield skidded off to the side. He gripped the sword with both hands, swinging it more like a baseball bat than any martial weapon. Metal shed with metal, resonating a deep hum as Gawain recoiled, shield going wide, leaving him open.


    Nick spun around, his once clumsy movements fluid and graceful as he guided the blisteringly fast follow-up strike into the gap at Gawains thigh.


    <em>Mmf.</em>


    Gawain staggered back, off-bnce for less than a second before he corrected his form. Shadow hissed freely from the fractured metal armor in a steady stream that formed small clouds, advected by the swirling gale of air between the twobatants. Tendrils of smoke from the swirling shadows that surrounded us snaked towards the clouds formed by Gawains wound, absorbing them quickly.


    The exchange grew fierce, as Gawain tried to meet Nicks sudden flurry of aggression in kind, but Nick didnt give him an opening, every brutal two-handed strike flowing smoothly into the next.


    It felt like I was witnessing the birth of something monumental. Something that only happened once in a lifetime.


    Which made it all the harder to stop watching.


    Because while Gawain himself seemed honorable enough, given his refusal of Sir Kays proclivities, one of his Knights had attempted to sandbag Nick while he was <em>losing.</em> It stood to reason now that he was turning the tide, things were going to escte.


    Most of the Knights were still viewing the bout impassively. There were plenty of clenched fists, and angry mutterings, but no sudden movements or hands reaching for swords. But Kettlethe knight that had tried to sabotage Nickwas nowhere to be seen.


    I looked around in a panic and realized Pot was also gone moments before a sharp point pressed into my back and an armored forearm looped around my throat.


    Dont. Pot whispered.


    Talia growled and bent low, ready to pounce.


    <em>Whyshit. The contract hadn''t been activated because he hadnt hurt me yet. Same with Kettle. </em>


    I held out a hand to still her.


    <em>Not yet. Need to time this right.</em>


    Wow, I carefully turned my head, ensuring he could hear me while still monitoring the duel. You guys really are the defects.


    Keep your voice low. Pot growled, and the point pressed harder into my side.


    Have you ever <em>not</em> been a follower, Pot? Dont answer that. Its rhetorical. I ran my mouth, still buying time. Not to mention obvious. Thats all you are. Worse, youre not even a good follower. A dressed up, trumped up sycophant who will do anything for the person they follow, even if doing so directly conflicts with their wishes. Because, apparently, a stupid motherfucker like you knows whats best for them.


    On second thought. Shut. Up.


    Must be a real burden to Sir Gawain, with a snake like you coiled in his satchel.


    Saxon <em>filth</em>


    Nicks battle-cry cut him off. Gawain was half-stooped over. My friend bellowed at the top of his lungs, bringing the de down directly on Gawains head. His helmet split open, and shadow spilled from the wound, spreading out, bing fog. Thest of the retaliatory power faded, and Nick took a half-step backward. He was drenched in sweat, heaving.


    Kettle reappeared from the crowd and raced into the circle approaching Nick from behind, brandishing a nasty-looking war hammer in both hands.


    <em>Now.</em>


    I sucked in a breath and shouted Nick! Behind!


    Everything happened at once.


    Nick whirled, exhaustion forgotten, then watched dumbfounded as the previously viinous Sir Kay leapt forward to defend him.


    Pain enveloped me as the de at my back dug in a quarter inchthen disappeared. The arm around my neck loosened as the armor itself disappeared.


    <em>Credit to Kinsley. The contract paper worked. </em>


    Subconsciously using <strong></strong>I pulled my hand crossbow and aimed it backwards, over my shoulder, The shadow that was once housed in a suit of armor reeled backward, bolt stuck where its face should be, struggling to maintain its form. Ished out with my heel. The strikended at chest level and the shadow stumbled backward.


    Tendrils, thick and hungry, extended out from the swirling circle, dragging Pot into it even as he screamed and struggled to escape.


    <strong></strong> warned me just in time, and I ducked beneath the long horizontal sweep of a longsword. The knight that attacked me was advancing, one of several. Theyd witnessed the end of what just happened, but not necessarily the why.


    Traitors! Sir Kay bellowed, suddenly heroic andpletely out of character delivering the lines Id fed him. He fought side by side with Nick as they both worked together to push back Kettle, Sir Gawain motionless behind them. Traitors to the round!


    Some knights turned, but it was deafeningly loud, and several appeared to not notice.


    <em>Not enough. Need to stall until they get a read on the situation. If they attack me under the impression theyre defending themselves, the contract may not trigger. Me on t terrain against multiple guys in heavy armor would not go well.</em>


    I sent Talia an image and a question.


    After responding with an affirmative, she raced away from the dueling square towards the swirling shadow perimeter, returning to her wolf form, white fur overtaking brown and ck as her muzzle extended. She opened her mouth and howled, purification magic extending out in a small crystalline radius that covered both of us. The shadows shrieked as twisted, barely perceptible forms frantically crawled over each other, trying desperately to get away. They didnt seem capable ofplex thought, and were torn between maintaining the barrier and staying the hell away from Talias purification magic, forming a gaprge enough for both of us to escape into.


    As we advanced, the shadows slid back into ce, muffling the sound of the melee. All light faded, and fear turned to rage and hunger as tendrils sparked, recoiling as they shed with Talias magic.


    How long can you hold it? I asked her.


    My summons expression was hard to read at the best of times, harder now that I had to pick it out between shes of repelled tendrils. If I had to guess, she looked strained.


    Not... long. Will need to recover after a minute. Talia growled. A feathery knife of darkness shed, bouncing away from my neck. Did you have this nned the entire time and not tell me?


    I shook my head. Then, realized that she probably couldnt see it. Kind of making it up as I go.


    Nick was a bad influence.


    So what now? Talia grunted.


    Now? I looked around. Despite the hostility of the environment, I felt oddlyfortable. The unformed shadows posed as much of a threat to the knights as they did to me. So long as I had Sir Kay defending Nick and could buy Talia enough time to recover, it provided the perfect environment for me to do what I did best.


    Hit and run.


    I grabbed <strong></strong> hilt, and couldnt help but chuckle low in my throat, as dozens of sshes of yellow and red appeared beyond the barrier of the dark. Now, we hunt.

 Chapter 234

    Chapter 234


    I emerged from the shadows, thrusting my dagger forearm deep into the gaping hole of an errant knight''s armor, feeling resistance as the de slowed, then release as something severed. I should have been terrified, scared shitless, but there was no fear, no hesitation.


    Gawain radiated rage. He seemed to understand what had happenedthe betrayal of his menbut despite their poor judgment, Gawain himself walked the talk. As soon he realized they were targeting Nick, he dropped the duel to defend my friend, mowing down all who interfered. Judging from the carnage, the shorn through armor that freely leaked smoke from fallen knights, limiting magic usage for the duel might have saved Nicks life.


    A knight wound up to swing his war hammer, more behind him turning by the moment.


    I tried to influence him directly and nearly died for it, hammer smashing into the ground inches from my feet.


    <em>Intelligence is too high. Need to unbnce him.</em>


    Talia bit at the knights boot, momentarily stopping his advance. Sir Kay broke from Gawain and Nick, bowing forward at the waist like a bull. He bowled into the war hammer knight, knocking him a few steps forward. Probability Cascade fired, sending the knight careening across the ground, the floor itself unnaturally slick.


    If there was more breathing room, I might have taken a second to appreciate what just happened. <strong></strong> had responded to my subconscious intentions, casting <strong></strong> on the marble ground the moment the thought had entered my mind. Id need to watch the mana usageeven with the reduction, itd be incredibly easy to tap myself out that waybut other than that, it was a hell of an upgrade.


    I pirouetted out of the way of an errant de, quick-drawing my crossbow and letting my abilities take over. I pulled the trigger and the pain-bolt rocketed forward, threading the needle of the stumbling knights visor slit.


    It wouldnt do much beyond pissing him off and obscuring his vision, but that was fine. As far as I could tell, the knights only had two weaknesses. One was in the upper left quadrant of their chests, the same location as a human heart. The second was the armor itself. When Pot and Kettle intentionally broke the contract, it had whisked their armor into my inventory, and the smoke that had filled the armor was violently pulled into the circling ck ring that still enveloped us.


    So far at least, they hadnt reformed.


    Unfortunately, arge contingent of the knights didnt seem to be in on it. Rather, theyd witnessed the duel turn into a melee, two of their own die, and taken it all rather personally. It was an unstated rule of the contract Id been unaware of. As long as the terms werent being knowingly vited, the knights armor remained their own.


    Which meant I needed to get creative.


    The war hammer knight roared, bolt shaft and fletching still sticking out from his visor. He charged, pulling the hammer back, his run a half-stagger. I wedged the toe of my boot beneath a fallen spear and lobbed it towards him. He paid it no mind until thest second, when the spear-tip continued its rotation, lining up perfectly with his throat. He flinched and ducked his head.


    The spear-tip bounced harmlessly off his helmet, spinning off to the side. By the time he looked up, Id already repositioned. He swung the hammer at me, fullymitting even as his footing betrayed him.


    The hammer itself was on target. He was <em>fast.</em> Even a few days ago it might have been enough to hit me. Bruisers were supposed to be slow, manageable so long as you didnt get hit. But thered been a line of exceptions to that rule. Thankfully, I had the experience of fighting Buzzcut to fall back on, and because the situation had forced my hand, my Agility was reaching absurd levels.


    I sidestepped, touching the hammer and correcting its course, watching with no small satisfaction as the war hammer knight mmed into a cluster of his fellows, toppling several and obliterating one with a wild swing.


    Drop! Nick roared over the chaos. Hed abandoned his ce in the center and was racing towards me, slowing only momentarily to retrieve his shield from the ground. <strong></strong> red. I dropped to one knee immediately, bending low. Nick soared over my head, full te and all, and I twisted to watch as he brandished his shield, absorbing a handful of nging blows before he turned it sideways. It shone golden light as he swung it like a ive, cutting several knights off at the knees.


    Others pressed in on him from the side, threatening to surround us. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, firing a few more bolts,nding enough that they hesitated to pursue.


    Why the fuck are they still attacking? Nick yelled over his shoulder at Gawain.


    Gawain shook his head. His right arm was reduced to a smoking stump, and he was now managing almost entirely with his left. That he was still fighting so well regardless of the handicap was a testament of his skill. When I said this ce wasing unraveled, I wasnt just talking about the ripple itself. Look at them. He stared out at the knights, swarming in the chaos, and cut one down who dared to press him. Some retain their faculties, but many are further gone than I realized. Theres something else at work.


    Well. That fucking sucks. Nick groused.


    Stay your des, men of the circle! Gawain shouted.


    There was a hesitation, a lull, that felt entirely too temporary.


    I reloaded my crossbow as quickly as I could, pushing bolts into the auto-loader one at a time, trying to stay on top of things despite how outnumbered we were. A single mistake here could be fatal. Gawain, I get that youre pumped to make a fatalistic stand here and all, but the rest of us need a n. If this turns into a slugfest, we lose. Honor besmirched. Only a matter of time.


    He kept his de trained on the advancing knights, and hesitated, visor turning towards the ring of shadow. Find the wizard. I sense his hand in this. Hes stoking their anger, suppressing their reason.


    Theres a fucking wizard?


    Where? I asked.


    Gawain indicated the wreathe of shadows with his de, grimly. In the depths. Finish him with dignity, if you can. He was not always this way.


    Shit. The ring itself didnt cover that much surface area, but it was entirely opaque. If I only had myself to worry about, I could probably find the target fairly easily. But it would take time and focus, meaning Id be leaving Gawain and Nick entirely open, with only a handful of loyal knights and Sir Kay to cover them.


    I looked down at Talia. Recovered yet?


    When she nodded she had, I checked my mana stores, swore, then asked Sir Kay a silent question. Id gotten lucky that he was within the level-range for subjugation, but if I kept relying on luck, Id end up drained and vulnerable with nothing to show for it, if not worse. I needed knights who were talented but inexperiencedif the ripple followed any logical order, they would be low-level enough that this would work.


    Sir Kay pointed to two separate knights. One wielded a halberd, and seemed to champ at the bit, ready to charge us. The other was stiff, almost robotic, wielding a mace and shield.


    I subjugated them one after another, nearly swooning as the mana drained away, leaving me with a fifth, if that.


    Both Knights stiffened.


    As with Sir Kay, prying into their minds after subjugating them was almost too easy.


    <em>You serve the round.</em>


    There was resistance. Gray tendrils that grasped their minds and pushed back. But it felt toozy to be an organized defense. If the source of the resistance was the Wizard Gawain mentioned, managing every knight on the battlefield had spread him too thin.


    I slipped through the cracks, maneuvering until I reached the minds within.


    <em>Report to Sir Gawain, defend your guest. Do your duty.</em>


    My invisible enemy made a mistake. He seemed to find mymand amusing, and I felt himughing, somewhere behind us. When the time came, I had a ce to look.


    With a shudder, the knights obeyed, pushing through the crowd and taking a defensive position next to Nick and Gawain. I was ready for Gawain toment, but he said nothing, just shifted to the side, giving the neers space to position.


    Nick gave me a worried nce, but said nothing. Probably thinking about what we talked about earlier. Instead, he offered caution. Remember. Tap me in if you need me. No hero shit.


    I smirked. Despite the gravity of the situation, Nick of all people warning me not to be a hero was too much. The hero shits your job.


    Whatever time Gawain had bought us dwindled, and the knights charged. Gawain readied himself with his men, Sir Kay, and Nick doing the same a momentter. With Talia sprinting ahead of me, purification magic emitting from her in a translucent sphere, I plunged back into the wreathe.


    Not long after the shadows closed in behind us, a snarling voice emanated from the gloom.


    <em>So the Ordinator himself seeks an audience.</em>


    Ance of gray energy cut through Talias shield and curved away from her directly towards my eye, too quick to track as anything other than a blur. <strong></strong> sounded a warning that was entirely toote.

 Chapter 235

    Chapter 235


    I twisted frantically, dodging thence of gray energy by only a hairs width. It disappeared behind me with a speed that made me shudder. That was entirely too close.


    Talias shield fended off the worst of the shadow gale protecting us from the lethal, face-melting effect the eldritch magic might have had. But it did nothing for the windstorm of pressure that swirled around us, continuing to build.


    My summon pressed forward, head low, teeth bared as she struggled to advance. It was all I could do to keep a hand on her and manage my footing without being uprooted and swept away.


    How much longer? I asked, stealing a nce to the side. With <strong></strong> in hand, I could still see the vitals of Nick, Gawain, and Sir Kay still holding the same formation. For now, at least, they were still standing. We needed to hurry.


    Hard to say. Talia grunted. Her nails scraped on the marble ground as the wind blew her back a few inches, and I went down on one knee to brace and steady her. A light blue eye acknowledged me. Thank you. Her attention returned to the gale. When we first entered the circle, it was more focused. Unyielding. It seems far more scattered now.


    Any guesses why?


    Unsure.


    I squinted, trying to make out anything in the darkness. There was nothing but swirling shapes, lines that almost formed discernible characteristics only to vanish into malevolent mist. The only constant was


    <em>Tendrils?</em>


    They were almost tangible. Not in the shadow itself, but the negative spaces. There were dozens of them. They reminded me of the threads, the connective tissue for everything when <strong></strong> was active.


    Suddenly paranoid, I checked my abilities to confirm. was still in deep cooldown from when Id used it in the first ripple against the grimelings. Thered been no idental cast.


    Can you see them? I murmured to Talia.


    She searched in the direction I was looking, then turned back to me with a worried expression. See what? Theres nothing but darkness.


    Intrigued, I picked one out and traced it to its exit point. It swirled and wound a path of nothingness, all the way to the edge of the mist. They all did, each lining up with the glowing vitals of the knights beyond.


    <em>My true-sight ability is on cooldown. Talia cant see them. So why can I?</em>


    There was one just outside the shield. Nearly in arms reach. The rest seemed to be intentionally avoiding it, moving quickly, barely discernible spaces that moved with an unnerving serpentine grace.


    I withdrew <strong></strong> from my inventory. The daggers sharpness was fleeting, but it could punch through steel. If I was attempting to cut through something almost intangible, it was the best tool for the job.


    With a deep breath, I swung the de outside the barrier, directly towards one of the translucent tendrils, aiming for its center. The dagger passed through it with no resistancebut the tendril snapped away, severed portion emitting an audible squeal.


    <em>Bingo.</em>


    But the reprisal was swift and furious. A dozen smaller tendrils wrapped around my wrist before I could withdraw it into the shield, too fast for any warning, coiled tightly enough to cut off my cirction almost immediately. Tal


    I cut off mid-sentence as it yanked me out of the shield, into the ck.


    Darkness washed over me, frigid andplete.


    <em>Something</em> pressed in on my mind, building pressure in my skull. I got an arm free, only to have it snagged by another tendril secondster, grip significantly stronger than before. Whatever it was, it wasnt trying to kill me yet. But <strong></strong> whispered that itd be more than happy to break me if I kept struggling.


    <strong>Be still.</strong> A voicemanded, abrasive and sibnt.


    I went limp, ying at surrender. When I acted, it needed to be decisive. The tendrils grew thicker, closer together. The pressure in my mind grew, degrading Talias panicked attempts to reach me into nothing more but noise.


    <em>Getting closer to the source.</em>


    The pressure intensified. <strong>You will serve me.</strong>


    I will serve. I answered.


    <strong>During your tenure in my service, you will obey mymands, and destroy all enemies of the round.</strong>


    I will obey. I could almost see him now. He struck an unimpressive silhouette in the gloom, almost half-skeletal. There was a void where his nose should have been, the flesh that surrounded it withered and ck. He smiled widely, gums receded, teeth discolored and long. His chest was caved in, and a dozen tendrils emitted from his sternum.


    <strong>Once your tenure isplete, you will host my soul, and deliver me from this godforsaken ce.</strong>


    I maintained a nk expression. Between Gawains assertion that the wizard was the one driving the knights to violence, and the nature of themands he was giving me, it was obvious. He had powers simr to mine. They werent working, but he had to think they were. Probably the only reason I was still alive.


    He brought me closer, making a show of inspecting me, leering. Out of every candidate in the cosmos, the Allfather chose you? Some honorless whelp?


    I am unworthy. I said, cating him.


    Ill enjoy wearing your skin, boy. Correcting every w, erasing the weakness. Destroying any potential attachment that could lead you astray. Creating the perfect vessel.


    I suppressed the rage. Bottled it. Id use it soon, but not until the perfect moment. I could feel Talia, struggling to close the distance, getting closer.


    He drew me inches from his face. Oh, the fun well have. Suddenly, his gleeful expression faltered. What


    <em>Now.</em>


    The effect of Talias purification shield was immediate, and the wizard screamed, his leathery skin bubbling. The tendrils loosened as I fell with him, twisting in the air so my knee aligned with his chin, my full weight crushing his jaw against the floor. I wielded the vorpal de like a scythe, shing through the tendrils at his mid-section, hacking through the ghostly apparitions, trying to sever as many as I could before he could rally.


    Even through the roar of the storm, I heard seemingly endless nging as multiple knights copsed to the ground. Once the tendrils were gone, I put the de to his throat.


    Heughed a wet, blood-filled cough, uncaring as his throat bobbed against the de, drawing beads of red. Thought I smelled it on you. The lithids touch.


    What about it? I growled.


    He raised an eyebrow, grinning through broken teeth. If youve already met one, youre more damned than I realized.


    Btedly, I realized it was Eldritch favor that saved my ass, preventing the wizard from enving me. If we got out of this, I needed to shore up my mental defenses. Talias shield flickered. She warned me silently that she couldnt hold it for much longer.


    <em>If the shield goes, were probably back where we started.</em>


    There was no time. Still pinning the old man down, I drove my dagger into the nerve cluster in his shoulder, bracing him as he screamed. Only chance. Tell me something useful, and Ill make it quick. Why do you have powers simr to mine? Are you an Ordinator?


    He giggled, halfway between delirium and agony. You have no idea


    I twisted the knife, backhanding him to shorten the resulting howl. What about only chance dont you understand?


    He panted, his breaths small moans. Eldritch favor was keeping me alive, but I could see the holes and tears in my armor slowly and steadily being eaten away, consumed by the shadow despite multipleyers of protection. As with any pure magic User, it was only a matter of time before he got to me.


    Did you think you were the only one? So childish. So impossibly nave. He coughed twice, then fixed me with a nk stare. The slow plunge into dark waters, unknowing and uncaring of what lies beneath. Who are you doing this for?


    Still fixated on the first thing he said, I could feel the blood draining from my face. There are other Ordinators?


    Sickly daughter. Lover in dire straits. The family he smirked. There it is. Yes, I think so. The <em>family</em>.


    I growled subconsciously, deep in my throat. Think Ive never seen a cold read before, asshole? This isnt getting under my skin. All youre doing is making this harder on yourself. Tell me about the others!


    Youre jaded. The old man nodded. Thats good. Hold on to that. Youll need it.


    Last. Chance. I reiterated, putting more weight on the knife.


    Then... The man grunted. Ill tell you a secret. How strong you are? The power and influence you hold? None of it matters.


    Myrddin. Talia was calling my name. But the faraway look in the old mans eyes transfixed me. So unfathomably vast, filled with bittersweet regret.


    He spoke slowly, as if every word aged him. Even if you bring the world itself to its ancient knees, it wont matter. Because no matter how careful you are, the core w remains the same. The people youre discarding your humanity for? Theyre as damned as the day they were born. You cant save them. Because you cant protect them from yourself.


    An icy chill went through me. I refused to show any reaction, make any movement to give away the distress that rampaged through my psyche, but hed gotten to me in a way so few people could.


    Matt! Talia roared.


    Somehow, I came back to myself just in time. The old mans eyes caught fire, violet me transforming them into a charred ruin as he opened his mouth, violet illuminating his throat.


    <em>Suicide attack.</em>


    I gripped his head tightly with both hands and snapped his neck. Gouts of me escaped his mouth, singing my fingers, and I leapt off him as the fire consumed him from within. In a matter of seconds, his tattered robe and the flesh beneath was consumed, leaving nothing but a ckened corpse.


    Well. Almost nothing.


    There was a glittering at the center of his chest, refracting the light of thest few embers of his body that had yet to burn out. At first I thought it was a monster core. But the shape and color were both wrong. It was a trilliant cut gem, the color of an amber so dark it was almost ck.


    I reached down tentatively, ash crumbling around my fingertips as I gripped it and pulled. It was hot to the touch, even through the thick material of my gauntlet. As soon as the gem came free, the swirling shadows thinned and dissipated, revealing the chamber beyond.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 236

    Chapter 236


    The essence Id received was even lighter on detail than usual. It was like some higher power had created the drop, but hadnt bothered filling in the description field. It was a crafting material, but I had no way of knowing what it did or how good it was from description alone.


    I wasnt happy about it, but it tracked, considering the nature of this ce.


    <em>Unfinished.</em>


    As the shadows that drove them dispersed to nothing, the corrupted knights of the round fell.


    Some slid to their knees, propping themselves up by their des with breath like shudders until they stilled, while others seemed to pass on instantly, their armor nging to the ground like puppets with cut strings, pieces scattering across the ground.


    Nick stood at the center of the chaos, bemused. He spotted me and nodded, stoically. Tension flooded out of me. Nick was safe. Wed made it. We were both still alive.


    Gawain and his contingent were still standing, though there were only a half-dozen, far less than before, and judging from their sluggish movements and difficulty standing, it wouldnt be long until they followed the others.


    With the threat handled, my eyes traveled downward, pouring over the charred corpse at my feet. It really was a shame I had to kill him. The simrities of our power sets was undeniable. There was little question in my mind that Merlin was an Ordinatoror at the very least, a failed copy of one. And from what hed said, he wasnt the only one. If hed been more agreeable, less hell bent on using me as a vessel, we probably could have helped each other.


    There was a sluggish nking as a lithe suit of armor took its ce at my side.


    You cook em like that? Sir Kay asked, more curious than anything else.


    I shook my head. Cooked himself. I just got out of the way.


    He leaned over the corpse, bent at the waist, and spit. A small wad of dark liquidnded on Merlins charred cheek. Good riddance.


    Not a fan, I take it.


    Always thought he was better than us. Too good for the round table, yet ordered us around like he was Arthur himself. At the mention of Arthur, Sir Kay nced over to where Nick and Gawain were conversing quietly. Him though? Hes the real thing. One of us. No matter what Sir Stick-up-his-arse says.


    Nick? I asked.


    Yeh. Saved my bacon more than once, despite me being a right shite to you at the beginning. Sir Kay shook his head. Dont understand people like them.


    <em>Same.</em>


    Suddenly, he grabbed my shoulder and pressed down. My de was in my hand before I could react on a conscious level, and I nearlyshed out. Then I realized what was actually happening.


    Sir Kay was fading. The shadows still visible from gaps in his armor were graying out, and gravity itself turned on him. His legs trembled, and as he sank to his knees, I caught him under his armpit to steady him. Even his voice sounded static, less clearly defined. Dont think, Im gonna be useful for much longer.


    I didnt know what to say. If it wasnt for <strong>,</strong> hed likely have fought for the other side. But hed given it his all. And even if he was an asshole, hed fought like hell. Protected Nick. Given me time to find Merlin.


    This was all so surreal.


    You did everything I asked of you and more. I searched his visor, trying to approximate eye contact. Conducted yourself with honor.


    His barkedugh sounded like a distant hiss. Honor my arse. We both know I only did it cause you made me. But I did my best. And his voice grew far away. It felt good. To crack heads alongside Gawain again.


    Is there anything you want? I asked. The way he sounded, he didnt have long. Anything I can do for you?


    Sir Kays helmet rotated towards Merlin. Well. His eyes are already gone. Wed his face for me?


    I cocked my head. You mean


    Do it myself, but it donte out right no more.


    I snuck a nce back over at Nick and Sir Gawain. They appeared to be having a much less coarse conversation. Gawain offered Nick his sword. From the tears streaking down Nicks face, and the way Gawain was trembling, he was on his way out as well.


    Uh. Sure. Might wait a while, if thats alright.


    Sir Kay nodded. Fewer witnesses. I understand.


    Anything else?


    Felt nice having a purpose again. All strength went out of him, and I leaned him back, straining a little to keep his head from hitting the floor. His visor turned towards Nick. He important to you?


    Yeah.


    Like a brother?


    In everything but blood.


    A choking noise emerged from Sir Kays helmet. Had a brother once. Self-righteous, arrogant, always had all the answers. Hated the prick.


    Constantly in your business, looking over your shoulder


    Sir Kay nodded weakly. Aye. You know it well. We mended things for a while. Even tried his way of doing things. Worked for a while. But eventually, it all fell apart again. Distance grew. And when he needed me most, I wasnt there. Only realized how much he mattered to me after he was gone. He reached up and braced a hand on my neck. Dont make the same mistake I did.


    I nodded slowly.


    Sir Kays heavy gauntlet slid off my neck and ttered to the floor.


    He was gone.


    I stood slowly. All the knights were gone now, reduced to human-shaped piles of armor on the floor. Every ache and pain Id been ignoring red, new wounds and scars alike making themselves known. For the first time in my life, I felt old.


    <em>Cant keep this up forever.</em>


    Nick rubbed furiously at his face as I approached, trying to erase the evidence of emotion from his conversation with the fallen knight, failing. He sheathed his sword and scowled at me. Go ahead. Say it.


    Say what? I asked.


    Dude wanted to kill you and youre crying over him, or See, we should have done it my way, or Stop being a giant piss baby.


    I said nothing. Waited.


    Slowly, Nick let the conflicting emotions go and seemed to center himself. Thanks. For waiting to step in until they made the first move. I know you prefer to be proactive, and my nattering forced you to be reactive. He reached out to Talia. The wolf summon sniffed his gauntlet, then pressed her head into it. And thank you for helping him.


    We are a pack. It is my role and my duty. My summon said, staring up at Nick with kind eyes. I worried for you.


    Id hoped Nick had something to show for the bond hed forged with Gawain. But he seemed cagey, aloof. We checked the rest of the chamber, looking for any doors or hidden passages that might lead deeper into the ripple, finding nothing. As we scavenged the remains of the battlefield, gathering as many intact sets of armor and weapons as we could carry, the glow of victory faded.


    Nothing had changed. We were still in danger from the order. We had a lot to sell, more than enough to potentially cover our escape and a life on the run, but other than that, our circumstances were still dire. Better to grab more than we needed thene up short.


    At the top of the throne room, nestled between two thrones, there was an empty pedestal. The brass que beneath it read Guardian of the people, servant to the needy. Nick sat in therger thronepresumably the Kings, while I pried decorative gemstones out of the golden backing of the thrones themselves. <strong></strong> increasingly blunted tip was still more than thin enough to fit between most of therger gems and the base.


    An eye-catching ruby, slightly smaller than a fist, was giving me more trouble than the rest.


    I paused, short of breath from the effort, and looked at him. Gonna say anything or just stew over it? Also, if you wanna help with this, feel free.


    Any jars need to be opened while Im at it? Nick asked.


    Fuck you. I tossed the dagger to him hilt first, watching with small satisfaction as he fat-fingered it repeatedly and it bounced off his grip twice before he finally caught it and red.


    Nick went to work on the ruby, mouth set in a thin line. If we walked out of here right now with nothing to show for it, how fucked would we be?


    There was something he wasnt telling me. I thought through it.


    Even if we left now and somehow got clear of the tower, me and everyone else in my sphere were on the wrong side of the hourss. Hastur might have more important things on his te, but I doubted Aaron and Sunny had any intention of letting desertion slide. Hell, Aaron had ordered the death of someone whod been more or less loyal to him, because it served his purposes and he didnt seem to think Buzzcut could hack it in the end. Wed use Kinsleys store to offload as much of our loot as we could, pump and dump, then close shop before The Order made the connection and came after her. But there were only so many ces in a city to run. Eventually, our luck would run out.


    And if Merlin wasnt just screwing with me, and there were other Ordinators out there, everything was about to get a lot worse.


    Probably a solid four on the fucked scale. Only thing downgrading it from a five is that we have the initiative.


    Nick nodded. Hed already known the answer. He just wanted to hear it out loud. Myrddin. Why that name?


    Of all the questions Id expected, it wasnt this. Uh. I needed something to go by during the transposition. Figured you knowwizard, pulled strings from the shadows, yed the long game. Popped into my head and I went with it. Seemed  propos.


    So Merlin was a little too on the nose, and the rest was coincidental. You could have just as easily picked Elminster, or Severus, or whatever. There was a whinge of metal as Nick got the ruby free.


    Something like that. I said. But as I spoke, I knew it was too easy. There were too many odd coincidences with this ripple, lining up with Nicks theory that Hastur wanted us to find this ce. But wed hit a dead end.


    He tossed me the ruby. I caught it and stuffed it in my inventory. When I looked up, his arms were crossed, and he looked uncharacteristically irritated. Im just a guy.


    And Im a socially awkward asshole. Why are we stating the obvious?


    Youre not hearing me. Nick started, and I sensed the beginning of a rant. Everyone thinks Im something Im not. Its always been that way. All these expectations get put on me and I just smile and nod, even though secretly Ive got no clue what theyre smoking. Up to this point, Ive just sort of epted it as an opportunity to fake it until I make it.


    But this is different. I filled in.


    Theres so manyyers that Im not sure what to believe. Nick rubbed the back of his neck, then pulled out a statuette of a red dragon. Its body was snakelike and armless, its roaring mouth filled with endless rows of teeth. Given the context, the knights of the round, its meaning was immediately apparent.


    The Pendragon. My eyes slid from the statuette to my friend, shifting ufortably as he waited. Gawain gave you that?


    He started muttering in old English and before I knew it, this just popped into existence.


    There were a lot of implications to unpack there. But the statuettes base was perfectly circr, and when I checked the pedestal, it looked to be a perfect fit.


    It doesnt have to mean anything. I muttered, talking to myself as much as Nick.


    Uhuh. Nick said.


    And even if it means something, theres a high possibility were being manipted. The tower can generate anything, and it seems to want to be climbed.


    Right. Dungeons are dicks, no matter how tall they are.


    This one in particr. I emphasized. We have no idea what its agenda is, other than that it seems to <em>want</em> to be ransacked, which in and of itself is suspect.


    <em>But we have to look.</em>


    I took a deep breath and ced the statuette on the center of the pedestal. There was a deep rumbling that reverberated through the chamber, as the ground itself seemed to vibrate. The wall behind the thrones shook, kicking up a cloud of dust as it receded into the ground. A wave of fresh, humid air washed in.


    The dust settled to reveal a moonlitke, vibrant blue waters reflecting a starry sky. Beneath the waters surface were dozens, if not hundreds of nners. And in the center of theke was a stone outcropping. The stone itself was crested by a dark silhouette in the shape of a t, that cast its cross-like shadow over theke.


    Is that? Nick asked.


    It had to be. The weapon behind the myth.


    <em>Excalibur.</em>

 Chapter 237

    Chapter 237


    We cleared the surroundings methodically. Nick and I searched opposite sides, while Talia moved much quicker, looping around the entireke, nose to the ground. There wasnt much to it beyond the glowingke and a starry sky above. The beginning of a rocky embankment and tree trunks were harshly cut off, nothing but void beyond them.


    Like a game world that was only half finished.


    I was tempted to reach off the edgehow often do you get to interact with an utter <em>absence</em> of matterbut <strong></strong> screamed at me the moment the thought popped into my mind.


    <em>So much for that.</em>


    Talia returned to me, her gait slower than normal, exhaustion clear in her face and posture. Nothing of note. She hesitated, ncing back in the direction shede. Unless a portal activates and spews monsters everywhere.


    I raised an eyebrow. That seems highly specific.


    Talia inclined her head, and I followed as she padded towards the section that might have once led to a forest. There was a tree unnaturally bent in the shape of an upside down U, oddly free of bark and branches. The scent of magic is almost overwhelming here. She gave me a queer look. You really cant smell that?


    I shook my head. Smells like a tree. I took in a deep breath and wrinkled my nose. And fish.


    Talia looked over past where Nick was approaching, to the body of water at the center of the clearing. I suspect that is theke.


    Arent they constructs? Why would they keep the smell?


    Why would any of this be happening? Talia gave me a cautious look. This feels too convenient. Manufactured.


    I know. My mouth tightened.


    Theke full of nners was likely more than enough to buy us back in to Hasturs good graces. But if hed known it was here, why hadnt he told us himself? Where was the catch?


    You guys find anything? Nick called over. Hed rxed somewhat, but still looked more than ready to raise the shield at his side at the first sign of trouble.


    Magical tree. I chucked a thumb back at the deformity.


    Oh good. Matches the magical sword. Nick said.


    Nothing on your end?


    Nick shook his head. There was a circle in the grass. Looked a little like a half-built elevator simr to the one we rode to the second floor, but definitely wasnt functional. He paused, stopping directly before the upside down U. Then stepped through it before either Talia or I could grab him.


    Fool. Talia hissed.


    You are literally the asshole who reads out of the creepy book at the beginning of a horror movie and gets all his friends killed. I snapped.


    Worked out in Army of Darkness. Nick chuckled from the other side, then winced. Sort of. Eventually. Gotta say though, the tree doesnt seem very magical. He frowned.


    Talia turned her nose up. Things of this nature are rarely as they appear.


    Nick nodded thoughtfully, then looked at me. Youre the closest thing to a mage we got. Sense anything?


    I grimaced. He knew damn well I wasnt a mage. Lately, however, Id been able to see hints of the threads that tied the realms of uros together. It wasnt consistent and the only reason I even recognized them was due to <strong></strong> which of course, was still on cooldown.


    Feeling foolish, I stood in front of the bent tree and closed my eyes, holding out a hand towards it.


    What is he doing? I heard Talia whisper to Nick.


    Shh. Nick hushed her, Hes beginning to believe.


    Reference quota. Youve damn well reached it. I snapped, keeping my eyes shut.


    Aw.


    This wasnt getting us anywhere.


    But before I gave up, I noticed a heat from within my gauntlet. <strong></strong> was unnaturally warm. When I moved my hand away, it quickly cooled. When I did the opposite, reaching in further, it grew hot again.


    Uh. Matt? Nick called out nervously.


    I ignored him. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead. Just as the heat grew almost unbearable, a bright scarlet threadnced across the inside of my eyelid. And another. And another. They all led to a center point, bright enough to leave an afterimage. I grabbed it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>.</strong>


    Almost immediately, I hit Y. If I was understanding correctly, this was a potential backdoor into the tower. Wed been told the ripples didntst forever, but if the bit about fortifying its surroundings was urate, maybe this ripple wouldst longer.


    Either way, there wasnt a chance in hell I was going to wager that the system would interpret No, as No forever.


    I studied the lump of magmatic rock in my hand. It was spider-webbed with orange, and despite looking hot enough to incinerate everything below my wrist to ashes, was only slightly warm.


    <strong></strong>


    Off to the side, Nick and Talia were still watching, though they appeared to have taken several steps back.


    What? I asked.


    You just summoned ava rock and grabbed it like it was nothing. Nick said slowly. Maybe its the edgy outfit, but that was some dark lord shit.


    It was mildly distressing. Talia agreed.


    I rolled my eyes and exined what the system text had revealed. Nicks face lit up halfway through my exnation.


    The Orders Portal room. Thats gotta be a central hub, right? He asked.


    Pretty sure. I confirmed.


    Then were back in. Nick grinned. With all the bargaining power in the world. Aaron and Sunny cant do shit if wee back with a boatload of nners and a backdoor into the tower to show for it.


    This is feeling more and more like a trap. Talia repeated, sounding more frustrated than before. Nickwho probably wanted to take our stroke of luck at face valueturned to argue with her. I pped once, cutting them both off before it escted.


    Talias right, I said. The timing is suspect. We dont know what this is, or why its being handed to us. That goes double for the nners in theke. And the sword, I shifted my gaze, to where the de still glittered atop the boulder, glinting with starlight. The system is infinitely more likely to fuck us over than help us. Even if a ripple has different rules, we need to be on guard.


    Nicks mouth turned downward. Probably wasnt happy about it, but I could tell he took the warning seriously. He knew all too well how quickly victory could turn to ash.


    With the perimeter secured, there was only one thing left to do. I stepped into theke gingerly, the facade of water only about ankle deep. Despite natural fears to the contrary, the nners remained pacifistic, scurrying out of the way and doing little else beyond keeping their distance.


    Seems alright so far. I said over my shoulder.


    There was a ssh as Nick followed me, trudging through the water.


    Im not sure what I expected to feel as we approached the stone. Anxiety. Dread, maybe. But for the first time, a feeling of curiosity struck me. Of discovery. If Talia was right, wed been directed to this ce for a reason. Something was guiding us here, maybe Hastur, or something else.


    Id spent so long afraid of whatever came next, that having that fear overshadowed by curiosity felt strangely freeing. It was like a glimpse into what could have been. Me, and Nick, and Jinny, and Sae, adventuring into the unknown, leveling, exploring the Realms of uros and bringing the bounty home. If the transposition hadnt been so damn bloody. If I wasnt the Ordinator.


    If Jinny hadnt died.


    We pushed forward slowly, cautiously. There were so many nners that we couldnt see the uneven floor beneath the surface. It could have dropped off at any moment, but it didnt.


    After a matter of minutes, we reached the rock outcropping at the center. I scaled it easily, hefting myself up and reaching back down to help Nick, groaning as he nearly ripped my arm out of its socket pulling himself up.


    The item embedded at the center was indeed a sword. Its innate silver hilt had a swirling wavy pattern reminiscent of Damascus steel.


    Nick panted from the effort, transfixed on the sword as he spoke. You know, I keep thinking about what happened in the throne room.


    Yeah? So had I. What about it?


    Nick smiled. If wed gone in the way I wanted, assumed the knights would hold up their end of the bargainMerlin and the corrupted knights would have killed us. And if you rat fucked them out of the gate, I dont get Gawains respect, and he doesnt give me the key to this ce.


    It made sense. The only reason wed gotten this far was because Id let him y it out. Taken precautions, been ready for it to go sideways.


    We got lucky. I said, after a moments hesitation.


    Nick caught my arm. Thats not it, man. It wasnt luck. The shit you were saying earlier, on the sandbar? About how you always go to the nuclear option? And how its not nave to want things to be better? You trusted me to bring it home. And I trusted you to have my back with a giant fucking stick.


    He must have read the skepticism on my face, because he crossed his arms. Yeah. Im not stupid. You only stall like that when youre machinating. I just hoped whatever you were doing was insurance. And it was. Thats what Im saying. It works. We just have to trust each other.


    I sighed. Therell be friction. Times where we disagree. I may do things you dont like, things you may hate me for.


    Nick shook his head. Dislike? Sure. Question? Absolutely. But hate? Never going to happen.


    I wanted to believe him. Wanted it more than he could know. Unfortunately, there was no telling where this rabbit hole led. How bad things were going to get. What he was saying felt childish, but like Nick himself had said, I was inclined to think that way.


    Now, to the elephant in the room. I reached down and flicked the hilt of the sword, resulting in a resonant thunk. Well, Pendragon? You gonna pull this thing out or we just going to stand up here and chatter?


    Nick red at me. Dont call me that. Then he eyed the sword. Looks pretty stuck in there. Come on man, you did the work to get us here. Sure you dont want to give it a shot?


    I briefly considered the possibility. Then disregarded it. Nah. Too cliche for me. Swords are your bag. Not to mention, non-zero chance that itd crumble to ash, or get corrupted by my dark lord shit.


    Ha-ha. Nick smirked, then did a cautious double-take. Youd uh, tell me if your ss had some nefarious long term goal right? Give a dude a heads up?


    Of <em>course</em> I would.


    Great. His eyes narrowed. Wait. Thats exactly what youd say if you had some nefarious long term goal.


    No. I mean yes, but Id be less sarcastic about it.


    Dick.


    Brainlet.


    Seeming to summon his courage, Nick grabbed the hilt of the de.


    And pulled.

 Chapter 238: (End of Book 2)

    Chapter 238: (End of Book 2)


    A loud crack echoed out across the water, followed by the vibrating hum of metal. Nick stared at the sword in his hand with an utterly inscrutable expression. Then raised his head and bellowed to the heavens. Come the fuck on!


    Before I knew what was happening,ughter poured out of me in a crescendoing wave, growing to a guffaw. Most fictional depictions of the sword in the stoneprised the sword sliding out freely, as if itd been sheathed there. This result was likely far more realistic, if not entirely anti-climactic. As Nick slowly turned toward me, utterly furious, I tried to mp down on theughter, snickering instead. Let me guess, this has never happened to you before?


    Yuk it up, edgelord. Nick brandished the ruined de at me threateningly. It had snapped clean in half at a jagged angle and rose to an uneven taper at the end, giving the supposedly mythic de a toothpick-like appearance.


    I raised my arms in exaggerated surrender. Please ser. Dont prick me to death.


    Show you a prick. Nick muttered, holding the de horizontally and studying it in disbelief. What the actual fuck, Gawain? I thought he actually <em>liked</em> me.


    Something Gawain said came to mind. The way he talked, it sounded like this ce was originally meant to be a tower floor, but it was abandoned and left unfinished. If thats true, it kind of makes sense.


    FuuuUUuUUUUUuuUUuUck! Nick reeled back as if to throw the de clean across the chamber, thought better of it at thest moment and swung it downward instead, swiping impotently at the air. The end caught an uplifted section of rock and shattered, taking another few inches off the sword as the fragments ricocheted and bounced, skittering across the stone and into the water with a series of plops.


    I mped a hand over my mouth. Nick was silent as a funeral. Slowly, he attempted to rece the sword into the gap in the stone. For a moment it stood upright.


    Then fell over. The gemstone in the hilt shattered.


    Im done! Nick threw up his hands.


    Somehow, I managed not tough. I bent down and picked up the sword. It didnt even register as an item. No feeling of magic either, but the heft and weight felt fine, about average for a sword its size. Okay. Obviously, there are some ws with the metal.


    You <em>think?!</em> Nick raved.


    Might be a structural issue. Thatd be on theme, wed and unfinished like the ripple itself. I shifted my head from side to side. But the metal itself might be valuable. If we find someone to melt it down, might be enough material left to reforge a spearhead, or a dagger.


    Right! Great! Lets melt down Excalibur! Nick rambled. Actually, why even make it a weapon? We could just gussy up a couple of grails while were at it. Get into the grail trading business.


    Probably not enough metal for that. If you factor in circumference, thickness, the base, and the rounded edges, there isnt enough for a single grail, let alone I trailed off, as Nick looked about ready to have a heart attack. Uh. There might be enough for a small grail?


    He squished his face with both hands, entuating his reddening cheeks. Just. Gonna take five.


    Yeah. Catch your breath.


    <em>Maybe the real Excalibur was the friends we made along the way.</em>


    I snorted, wisely keeping the joke to myself as I inventoried the sword, gathering the smaller metal fragments scattered around the rock as well. It probably wouldnt add up to anything, but Id consult Erik and Kai first. If they couldnt do anything with it, Id dispose of it quietly. The less said about it after today, the better.


    On my stomach, I could see a glint of metal from deeper in the hole. Maybe if I loosened the rocks around the edges and came back with the proper tools, I could get the rest of it out.


    Matt. Nick called, the beginnings of rm in his voice.


    I stood and brushed myself off, walking to where he stood at the edge of the outcropping, looking down into the water.


    The nners were moving like ants in an overturned anthill. They were scrambling over the top of each other, water above them boiling as they moved in circr patterns, going everywhere and nowhere at once.


    Did taking the sword out piss them off? Nick asked.


    Hard to say. It was a ssic setupgrab an item in a suspiciously safe area, only for the innocent creatures that surrounded it to take issuebut that didnt feel right. They werent trying to climb towards us or even pushing up against the rock. Rather, they seemed ignorant of us as they went about their business.


    A clearing formed off to the left-hand side, the nner crabs spreading out and illuminating the dark floor beneath. There were many vertical rectangles scratched into the dirt, spaced out in an oddly familiar setup I couldnt ce until I spotted the tail of a clearet above them.


    Thats the skyline. Nick said immediately, his brow furrowed.


    Another clearing formed. Then another. And another.


    The second was a clear representation of the tunnel. And while the hieroglyphic figurescked detail, it was easy enough to tell who was who. Sae, retreating into the gate. Jinny immobile on the ground. Nick, depicted with a ck wound on his heart, crouching over her, a crown-like aura radiating around his head. Me, my face hidden within a cowl, standing off to the side.


    They took us through every subsequent major event that centered on Nick: His suffering in captivity. His temptation. Then to the current moment, where he held a broken sword aloft atop an outcropping in the center of theke. Judging from the glinting metal in the otherwise dirt scrawling, it was a safe guess that theyd used the swords metal that had fallen into theke.


    What are they Nick started.


    Shh. I held a finger to my lips.


    Like clockwork more clearings opened, continuing to create a circle around the rock. These were less familiar. More abstract. Meant to represent the future rather than the past. While the meaning was more shrouded, they seemed to depict Nick, climbing to the top of the tower with me at his side.


    The second tost pictograph was like the one that depicted the current day. Only this time, the sword in Nicks hand was whole. And with the luminescence from the nners, it seemed to glow with an almost radiant light.


    And thest picture portrayed Nick, sitting on a throne. I stood off to the side, a silent guardian as he reigned over several individuals too detailed to be generic subjects.


    Thats the court, I think. Nick said.


    Suddenly, everything clicked. I nearly reeled at the scale of it, the unbelievable vision. Hasturs reason for sending us here. The nature of the order. How he intended to pull one over on the pantheon, all of whom seemed to be interested in little beyond reveling in blood.


    Every con starts with a story. A fiction tailored to your mark, presented so confidently that they want to buy in. If you do it right, theyll want to believe you, no matter how unlikely the story is. I had more inmon with Hastur than I realized. Because unless I waspletely off base, he was in the nning stages of a con on the grandest scale imaginable.


    With Nick in the starring role.


    Meanwhile, Nick was still fixated on the final drawing. The figure sitting on the throne beside him. Id missed her entirely, too focused on other parts of the mural to notice. With the basic drawing style, she had no definable characteristics. But she looked exactly like the representation of Jinny from the pictograph of the tunnel.


    He turned to me, face downcast, shimmering eyes reflecting the light of the crabs below. Its all bullshit, right?


    I dont know. I answered honestly.


    Come on, He wiped at his face, his mouth tight with anger. A <em>prophecy?</em> Really? And not only that, a prophecy that cribs its mythos from your pseudonym, and just so happens to center around climbing the tower. A tower weve already established wants to be climbed.


    I still didnt have an answer for that. The transposition was too high stress, nonstop, and as much as I tried to remember the exact thought process that led to the name, details escaped me. All I recalled was the name popping into my head and sticking there.


    Is it bullshit? I chewed on that for a moment. Probably. But not for us. Were not the marks here.


    Then who is? Nick asked.


    There was only one answer. The pantheon.


    Nick scoffed, but I pressed on, the theory bing more concrete the longer I spoke. Think about it. The gods are bored. Its impossible to say for sure, but I think theyve been doing this a very long time. To different worlds, or realms, or whatever. Maybe making people eat each other and releasing the survivors only to move on to the next world was exciting once, but after doing that countless times, its rote. Which makes any deviation noteworthy and interesting, instead of a threat.


    Im not following. Nick said. But he was paying attention.


    Hasturs not cribbing from Arthurian legend. Hes taking parts of it, but what hes really stealing is its structure. The monomyth. Which lends itself to some of the best stories every told. I pointed to the first pictograph that disyed theet. Domees down. You wake up in the underground, and suddenly there are goblins everywhere. Thats step one, the Call to Adventure.


    Okay. Nick said slowly. But I wasnt exactly keen on it, at first. Until we werepletely backed into a wall, we were basically just running away.


    I smiled. Step two is Refusal of the Call.


    Bullshit. Nicks eyes widened.


    Read The Heros Journey and tell me Im wrong. But thats step two. Wanna guess what step three is?


    Go back to your aunts house and destress in a biblical fashion? Nick guessed.


    WhatNo. Gross. I wrinkled my nose. Its Supernatural Aid. The hero receives help from a guide or spiritual being.


    Which never happened. Nick said confidently.


    Really? What did Talia call herself, when you met?


    His confidence gged as he turned to look at my wolf summon, still resting at the edge of ake. A spirit guide. Holy fuck. He nced over his shoulder at me. You make her call herself that?


    I shook my head. Shede up with it on her own. Next, the hero crosses the threshold, leaving their known world behind as they enter a new and dangerous realm.


    The trial.


    Immediately followed by the belly of the whale. Where the hero undergoes a transformative experience, usually a brush with death. I softened my voice. It still hit him like a brick wall, and I waited for him to recover before I continued. Not saying it was meant to happen. Or that it was anything more than a tragedy. Ive never believed in predestination, and I dont intend to start. Hes using it as framing. Hastur likely has multiple paths to his perfect future, potentially including one where you killed Keith and went entirely off the deep end.


    Then whats the point of going along? Nick asked. Shame shed across his face at the mention of Keith. If its all bullshit?


    Because Hastur is using us to tell the sort of story that doesnt happen in reality. Something that will give the gods pause, make them curious to how it will all y out. If he sends one of his more powerful Users into the ripple to get the nners and scram, its less interesting than if he ys it this way. Its a misdirectfor what, I dont know. But whats important is that hes conning them, not us. And youre his protagonist.


    Nick looked unsteady as he sat down, legs hanging over the rocks edge. What if I cant? Im fucked up, man. Have been for a while.


    I wanted to encourage him. The Nick that had risen to Gawains challenge and nearly beaten him wasnt a man trying to be a hero. He simply was one. But it had to be his choice. Then we run, and Hastur can go fuck himself.


    Youd do that? Nick raised an eyebrow. Just throw all this away, knowing what we know?


    I hesitated. The monomyth structure doesnt lend itself to afy story, Nick. Depending on how closely Hastur sticks to it, youd go through a lot of shit. Youd win eventually, but youd suffer. Worse, it can be cyclical. So you might get through all of it only to start it over again. Your friends and family would be in an elevated amount of danger, just looking at the mostmon examples. And every victory woulde with a cost. Your choice, whether you want any part of it.


    He looked down at the roving crabs below. What step are we at now, if you had to guess?


    This is probably the Meeting With the Goddess. I said. Then snorted as Nick balefully panned the area. Its not always literal. It just refers to a moment of sudden inspiration tied to either the divine or the hero''s higher self.


    So Hasturs the goddess. Nick looked disappointed.


    Kind of a letdown.


    No shit. He was quiet for a long time before he spoke again. I get it. Having a god in our pocket would give us a lot more backing than we have right now. Wed need to figure out what his endgame is, but if hemits to me as his leading man, my survival is in his best interest. Itd give us time.


    Leverage, I agreed.


    Jinnys gone, Saes disfigured, youre public enemy number one, and as far as everyone else goes, and tenth of the citys poption died in the first transposition. Everyone I care about is dead or already in danger. Stopping the second transposition event is the best chance I have to protect everyone, even if it puts them in more danger in the short term.


    I nodded. And its not like wed be sitting on our hands. Well take steps to protect any potential targets. Get ahead of the game. Split our time between handling things in the city and climbing the tower. I surveyed theke, and the opening to the throne room beyond. And Im betting the authentic version of this floor is towards the top, if not the highest. They want people to find it, but no ones made it yet. Guessing thats why they check everyones gearing out of the tower. Everyone wants the mythical sword.


    He looked up. Youll be there? To help?


    I nodded slowly, thinking back to what hed said earlier. Every step of the way. I go low, you go high. We y it smart.


    Slowly, the resolve from the duel filtered back into his face. Okay. Were doing this.


    It felt monumental. A moment we would look back on. I held out a fist and Nick bumped it, then pushed off the rock, sshing back into the water below and headed towards the throne room.


    Inded behind him a few momentster, water sttering my clothes. I took off my mask and wiped it. Up ahead, directly in my path a section of nners cleared, revealing another pictograph below. I nearly called out to Nick before I realized what it was depicting.


    A chill radiated through me as I stared downward. It was the throne room from before, but the figures meant to represent Nick and Jinny were gone, along with the rest of the court.. In their ce, the cowled figure that represented me stood alone at the apex of the stairs, hundreds of figures at the base of the throne forming a faceless army.


    Coming? Nick called back to me. Theres too many to fit in the bag. They can gather up the nners once we open the portal.


    Yeah. Youre probably right. I scraped my foot along, erasing the mural with more force than was strictly necessary.


    It wouldnt end that way. Id make sure of it.


    /////


    Getting out took some effort. Basicpared to what wed gone through in the tower itself, but it wasnt nothing. Nick wore my mask, renewing its effect on the many members of the adventurers guild milling about, waiting for Myrddin, to emerge. I donned a horrifically heavy suit of armor including a helmet, borrowed from one of the fallen knights. Azure reced an attendant and escorted me behind a curtain, and I made a show of taking the armor off and putting it back on, making it appear as if hed done his due diligence.


    From there, I sold the Waystone to Kinsley for a single selve, and Nick and I took the long walk to the bus stop where wed first met Sybil. As Id hoped, sheor one of her facades, I wasnt entirely sure how her power workedwas waiting.


    Greetings, Ordinator. She said, directly to me.


    Can you take us straight to Hastur? I asked, keeping my tone clipped. Theoretically, <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> would notify me of any danger or potential traps, but theck of visibility through the helmet slit was bothering me.


    Something wrong with the front door? It sounded like a joke, but considering the predicament she put me inst time, it got my hackles up, regardless. I nearly snapped at her before Nick stepped in.


    We have something. Nick leaned in to whisper in her ear. For Hastur. Its sensitive.


    For the first time since Id known her, Sybil tensed up. Is it really so urgent? He is indisposed.


    Pretty sure hell be more angry if you make him wait. Nick pressed.


    Very well. Sybil waved her hand, and the rollercoaster feeling from before roiled through me as I snapped back into consciousness in the expanse of the underground excavation area, and an overwhelming force bore down on my shoulders. It was all I could do not to fall to my knees. Nick, beside me, didnt seem to have any such problem.


    Hastur was in the middle of something. His desated body was submerged in the water of a porcin bath, the tentacle-like mycelium that covered his body extending out from the tub, giving him the appearance of an overgrown potted nt. He hadnt bothered opening his eyes and appeared serene, despite the pressure on my body.


    Nick looked between me and Hastur, worriedly. Is there a problem?


    The problem Hasturs natural voice was guttural, harsh. Is I told this one to clean house. Which he seems to have misinterpreted as a directive to douse it in gasoline and light a match. The casualties were expected, but short of brute forcing things, it will be nigh impossible to ess the tower now.


    This was always going to be the hard part. Justifying why Id made it harder for the Order to ess the tower. Id intended to ce me on the feds, use them as a scapegoat. It wasnt my fault theyd tracked me down, after all. But with our new bargaining chits, I didnt have to.


    And despite the overwhelming pressure, I couldnt help but smile. We were right. Hastur didnt know everything.


    <strong>Let him go."</strong> The booming voice was so powerful, so authoritative, for a moment I thought someone else had entered the room. Nick took a menacing step forward, hand resting on the pommel of his sword.


    Hastur opened a single eye, looking over him with interest. Someone found their courage.


    All at once, the pressure that weighed me down released.


    A less charitable deity might find your directness rude. Or worse, a threat. Hastur said, both eyes open now,pletely focused on Nick.


    Nick didnt falter. Not a demand. A request. The first of several.


    Fascinating. Hastur stroked his chin. You barge into my chambers unannounced on the tailcoat of failure with requests. Or perhaps your failure wasnt such a failure after all.


    Nick didnt take the bait, his expression easygoing now that Hastur wasnt trying to grind me into the concrete. It was like somewhere between here and the tower hed flipped a switch. All things considered, he was doing exceptionally well.


    Dormammu, Ivee to bargain. Nick announced.


    I facepalmed. Jesus Christ.


    Not your best. Hastur frowned. But borate on this bargain, and why I should be interested.


    Nick counted off on his fingers, undeterred. Youll remove my geas. If you want Matt to clean house, I cant be beholden to the current leaders. Theres a good chance theyll try to use me against him, once they figure out were working together, and potentiallypromise his identity. Well also need resources, people who arent amateurs assigned to us. A permanent position in the court.


    And why would I do that? Hastur countered.


    Because you want a backdoor into the tower. A discrete way for the Order of Parcaes Users toe and go. I said.


    A metric fuck-ton of nners. Nick added.


    And, just spitballing here, but Im guessing you might want the legendary sword at the top of the tower that the people who run it are looking for. And a hero to wield it. I smirked.


    That it took Hastur a moment to connect the dots was disquieting. Highlighted the reality that the way forward that Nick and I had found, was truly one of many. When he finally got it, however, his smile was full.


    I see. This is the path youve chosen. If you were aware of how astronomically unlikely this oue was, youd understand my reticence, Hastur said. I could almost see the calction in his expression as he focused on Nick. You were so angry, so lost. While Im d to see you back from the brink, I cant help but wonder. Will you regret it?


    There was an audible scrape as Nick ground his teeth together. I put my hand on his back, and it stopped.


    Maybe. Nick finally admitted. But looking at it from both sides, Id regret the alternative more. No matter whats fair, or just, or whatever. Keiths brother was the one who pulled the trigger. And if I start taking everyone who wrongs me to task, itll be impossible to focus on the big picture.


    Inspiring. Hastur nodded thoughtfully. Surprising, but inspiring. Im not terribly fond of moral victories, but it would have been a travesty to lose a disciple with so much potential.


    Then why offer him up like amb to ughter? Nick growled. It would have never crossed my mind if you didnt put it there.


    Yes. It would have. Hastur retorted, imparting a certainty to his words that was undeniable. Nick looked away as he continued. Eventually. To answer your question, it was a matter of triage. The order is on the verge of fracture, to say nothing of the court. Losing him cost me less than losing you. And while this might sound monstrous, I have lived too long to allow naivety to blunt the de of reality. An uneven trade is always preferable to an outright loss.


    His frigid eyes snapped to me, and I felt a fraction of the weight from before. And you. You are certain you wish to remain as you are?


    I shifted under the weight, keeping my expression stoic. Yes.


    He pointed at my gauntlet. That recent acquisition of yours will prove a challenge. A boon, to be certain, but a challenge. And whileas youve both guessedmy current state limits the extent of my gaze, and the tower itself is well protected, I witnessed your encounter with a certain caster. One in Mr. Fields Camp.


    <em>Maria.</em>


    Her surprised expression popped into my mind, as she looked down at the knife in her chest.


    From a technical standpoint, it was brilliantly handled. Outmatched, worn down, and you still emerged victorious. But in the aftermath, your soul trembled. Youve killed before, but not like that. And if you remain on this path, serving as the Ceaseless Knights dark vanguard, she will not be thest. Hasturs voice was forlorn, almost sympathetic. He doesnt know what hes asking of you. But I do.


    Did I want to be normal? To walk into a room without immediately looking for an exit route, meet someone without the automatic mental calction of what they could do for me and how I could best use them, and the most efficient way to kill them if they turned on me?


    Of course I did.


    But


    Nick grabbed my shoulder. There was nothing but concern and understanding in his expression, a silent question in his eyes. Hed support me no matter what I decided. And somehow, knowing that made it easier.


    Our world was about as far from normal as you could get.


    Maybe it always has been.


    The things that made me different also kept the people I cared about healthy and alive.


    It was time to stop fighting that. No more hand wringing. If we made it through, thered be time to work through my issues. Maybe go back to therapy. Find a kinder way to live. But the best chance of that happeningreturning to a semi-normal, semi-functional worldwas ending this before the next transposition event wiped out another massive swath of the poption. I needed to keep in check. Everything else was fair game.


    Im sure youll find a more lucrative way topensate me. I finally said.


    Hastur blinked, thenughed. Opportunistic as always. How fitting. Make no mistake my young friend. When I reach my zenith, you and yours will want for nothing. I will respect your decision. He smirked. But if you ever wish to know the truth of your nature, you need only ask.


    It was clear bait, ced before me with no effort to disguise it. He was still working an angle. The question was why.


    Before I could think on that further, Nick stepped forward. So?


    Hastur raised his arm and drew azy circle with his finger. Nick grunted. When he unfastened his gauntlet, the Orders mark was gone, and presumably, the geas with it.


    The desated god closed his eyes and rxed, sinking deeper into the bath until his shriveled face was the only visible part of him. The Ordinator and the Pendragon. Old and new, joined as one. Yes. Itll be different this time. Mark my words, and mark them well. Were going to do great things together.

 Monarch 3 Announcement

    Monarch 3 Announcement


    Monarch Book 3: Whitefall, is avable to buy on Kindle Unlimited.


    It took a long time to get my stride with Monarch back, but Im delighted to announce the release of Book 3 on Amazon. Its probably the best edited of any book Ive written, thanks to thebined efforts of the editor I work with personally and the in-house editor with Aethon, so the kindle edition should be a significantly sanded down and smooth read. I hope you all enjoy it. If youre an audiobook fan, the audible release will be avable in a few months. This was an interesting book to write, as inparison to the first two books it was rtively low on tension, high on payoff. Which sounds like it should be easy, but was definitely different from what Im used to. Thank you for all the follows, support, and kind reviews over the years. Its meant more to me than you know.


    As mentioned in the previous chapters, I took a short break before starting the new arc, so new chapters will be hitting Royal Road as soon as I rebuild the backlog. Good news though, If my current schedule ns carry through, youll be seeing regr chapters at more frequent intervals once we start again, preferably 3-4 a week.


    The new arc is tentatively titled: Fracture.


    Eligos

 Chapter 239

    Chapter 239


    They called it The Summit.


    Despite being lofty, the name fit. A meeting of the minds of opposing factions that Nick and I had been working towards uniting for nearly a month. Spreading rumors of the court, utilizing Nicks charisma by having him go out of his way to aid the Adventurers Guild in their newly established interest in climbing the Gilded tower for resources while I vouched and fought alongside him as Matt, all-the-while whittling away at Sunnys loyalists as Myrddin, poaching or otherwise eroding his confidants and trusted underlings until the power he held in the Order of Parcae was a shadow of its former self, all bark and little bite.


    He still had holdouts, of course. Enough that we needed to take the threat he posed seriously. With his native gravitas and willingness tomit to decisive action, Sunny was a captivating leader, the sort people naturally flocked to. But he was too vtile, and as such, made more enemies than he could realistically track.


    Id effectively negotiated myself out of the room. Serving as a heel to Aaron, harassing, undercutting, and otherwise toxically edging him out until Tylerwho, ording to <strong>,</strong> wasnt nning on giving the other guild leader much of a chance to begin withapologetically told me to take a walk.


    As the kind of empathetic person who gave more of an ear to someone who was being shouted down, Tyler would be more open-minded towards whatever Aaron had to say now, while Aaron trumpeted the Orders prime objective of instating the court and stopping the transposition while subtly pinning every underhanded action the order had ever taken on Sunny.


    Wed yed our cards perfectly, and an alliance was almost guaranteed.


    It would be temporary and likely to fall outthe Order and the Adventurers Guild were simply too different because of the caution of thetter and the dubious morality of the former, but with me and Nick smoothing the edges on either side, we had a real shot at making progress now.


    The month had flown by, every day a gaussian blur of negotiations,bat in the tower, and extracurricrs with my newly formed strike team. It was both more and less work than before. I was doing less of the nitty-gritty myself, taking a back seat and letting Nick take the spotlight. As he should. ording to a recently uncovered prophecy, Nick, my oldest friend was the avatar of legend after allstrongly implied if not directly stated to be a manifestation of Arthur. <em>The</em> Arthur, namesake of Arthurian legend and lore.


    If youre rolling your eyes at the word prophecy, congrattions, youre adequate on the uptake. This was all a sham, of course. With this system, nothing was free, nothing was idental, and the only handouts given were bestowed with the expectation that something equal or greater in value would eventually be returned.


    The interest always came due, eventually.


    In our case, the primary cost of Nicks sudden uptick in status was a simple one. With the so-called prophecy centering on the ssic setup of retrieving a powerful sword from its upper reaches, the tower wanted to be climbed. There was undoubtedly something sinister or questionable driving that desire. But, at least in the short term, it gave us a greater goal that served as an excuse to shore up our forces and get organized.


    Nick and I had pushed into the mid-thirties of the tower on our own at first, intending to limit theplexity of adding outside yers, before we realized the unfortunate reality. The Gilded Tower simply wasnt the Adaptive Dungeon. And while its early floors had been almost trivially easy, the poption of Users plummeted past the twenties, while the number of monsters, hazards, and traps only grew.


    The increasingly dangerous ventures culminated with the two of us walking out of the absolute death-trap that was floor thirty-four, covered in the blood and viscera of countless monsters, nursing multiple wounds and nearly overdosed on health potions before wed epted the grim reality of the situation. If the dungeon kept up this exponential ramp, it simply wasnt something we could feasibly handle on our own. Even arge-scale organization like the Adventurers Guild or the Order would likely struggle, eventually.


    Realistically, we needed two of them. Twopetent, well-organized groups of Users capable of pushing through some of the most difficult scenarios and encounters the system had on offer outside of the transposition itself.


    Which brought us here.


    <em>Whats taking them so long?</em>


    As I stared up at the distant building where the summit was still taking ce on one of the upper floors, I could feel my confidence fraying at the edges. Id coached both Aaron and Nick to the best of my ability on Tylers inconsistent truth-sight. But it was still possible hed caught them out and things were getting heated. Id left Azure in the room, and hed alert me if things went terribly wrong.


    But the time they were taking made me nervous, regardless.


    Maaaaaaatt. Iris droned out from behind me. Shed put her hands on her hips and was ring in my direction.


    Yeeeeees. I drew out, mocking her.


    Her knitted together brows grew tighter. I thought you wanted to spend time with me.


    I do.


    And that there was nothing more you could do about the meeting.


    Theres not.


    Then stop dragging your feet ande on.


    My sister took my hand and led me through the orchard of gray blue trees with golden blossoms sprouting up from the asphalt. Ever since Iris had awakened to her system abilities, shed been more assertive. In my opinion it was a well-earned improvement. She was a support role with a strong architectural focus, and shed put her abilities to use almost without rest around the region, building everything from barricades to repairing buildings.


    We passed through the section of my region where the trees that came with our bonus were heaviest, giving way to more mundane urbanity beyond.


    Only there was a recent addition, recognizable not only from its sprawling shape and scale, but the simple blue-cross that crowned it beside oversized letters in a clear font.


    <em>Region 14 Hospital</em>


    That wasnt there before. I said slowly.


    Iris shifted ufortably, a lock of curly hair falling in front of her face. People are always getting hurt around here. And I know, the Adventurers Guild has their own infirmary, but we have more than a few doctors in the region with nowhere to work after the big one in thirteen went dark with the rest of the region and I thought it was a good idea.


    Is it just the bones? I asked, still staring at the building. I had spent little time in my own regiontely, but it felt like Irisstest creation had gone up almost overnight.


    Theres some guts. Notpletely filled out, but theres a lot. Its converted from some abandoned ts, so its still wired to the same endless source of electricity powering the rest of the dome with backup sr-powered generators, and theres a bunch of medical equipment. We even have a top of the line MRI machine.


    I nced at her and she flushed and looked away.


    No, I didnt make it. Even if I had the materials, anything thatplex is still a little too difficult for me. It was donated. Iris said.


    Kinsley? I asked.


    Iris nodded. Shes been very supportive of this venture. Other than reserving a basement addition for her peoples research andb work. Probably because of you know.


    I didnt. But I could guess. Id been gravely wounded on the tail of the first transposition event, and while both old and new allies had interceded and taken care of me, their intervention didnt change the fact that theyd had nowhere to put me. The nearest hospital was in Region 13, a region that was nowpletely off the map and covered in dark clouds, which no one had wanted to venture into for obvious reasons. With her considerable resources, Kinsley had managed to throw together ast-minute home care set up in a mostly sterile environment. From the ounts Id heard, given the severity of my condition, it was still a close thing.


    It was obvious what happened here. Not only had Iris seen and considered that problem, shede up with a solution that solved it for everyone in our region, and potentially neighboring regions beyond.


    That was just the sort of person she was.


    Iris shifted ufortably from how long Id been silent. Sorry. I know you dont like hospitals.


    No. Just wrapping my mind around the fact that this was all you. I smiled and mussed her hair. From the looks of it, you did exceptionally well.


    She perked up at that. Oh. Really?


    Really.


    Do you want a tour?


    To the far right of the more pedestrian grays and whites of the hospital, there was a ssh of color outside what I guessed was the pediatrics wing. A sprawling Ma of wood and multi-colored stics. I pointed to it, and Iris flushed. Lets start there.


    After a short walk, we arrived. Fresh peat shifted under my shoes as I stepped within the wooden beams that encased it. One of the tall, considerable trees that were native to our region had been nted in the center, providing shade. The carefully crafted area wasplete with climbing ropes, a tall swing-set, and railed wooden fort-like structures. The sprawling, maze-like fort led out to a mix of spiraling and straight tubes. It felt like the sort of yground that didnt really exist anymore, blown up to a grand scale by the mind of a child.


    Which was likely exactly what it was.


    Sensing the architect put a little extra attention here. I signed, taking it all in.


    Started as a way of giving kids cooped up in hospital rooms with nothingmunicable something to do. Iris shifted from side to side, looking down shyly. But it got away from me a little. Is it too wasteful?


    There was a pang of guilt when I realized her aplishment <em>embarrassed</em> her. I could rte, slightly. I felt simrly every time I spent arge amount of selve on an expensive item at a crafter or the store. Wede up with nothing, and though our prospects and resources had risen astronomically, the trauma of scraping by with almost nothing for over a decade had left its mark.


    Dunno. I said ndly, walking to the base of one of the taller structures and grabbing a handful of rope before I looked back at her. Gotta stress test it to be sure.


    Iriss face brightened, and she chased after me, grabbing onto the rope and taking the lead as we climbed to the summit. She took me through the wooden palisades not with the enthusiasm of a child, but the eye of a designer, pointing out how even though it looked like a winding maze, everything flowed easily to one outlet or another, demonstrating the stability of a rope bridge as we passed over it.


    I finally lost patience when she sat on the base of a slide and began regaling the temperature resistance of this particr blend of sticposite. While she talked, I reached down, grabbed her shoulders, and shoved her down it.


    An affronted cry turned to muffled giggles echoing up through the stic as my sister slid down her creation.


    I waited long enough for her to clear it then followed suit. Despite being a little too tall, I slid down easily, the plunge smooth and frictionless.


    She was waiting for me at the base, trying to look stern.


    That was rude. Iris signed.


    I smirked. Considering all the thought you put into it, I just figured you should experience it for yourself.


    Its not for me. Its for kids in the hospital and the region. Iris insisted, staring at her knees.


    <em>Why cant it be both?</em>


    I lounged on the base of the slide, reclining somewhat, as I considered what could be happening in my sisters head. With the Ordinator clusterfuck, infiltrations, and the long string of disasters that followed the systems appearance and subsequent dome that locked us all in, I hadnt been able to spend much time with her. But this change in hera sort of knee-jerk refusal to partake in leisure activitieshad started before the dome itself.


    At least part of that was my fault. After a breaking point, Id been honest with both of my siblings about our previous financial situation, purely because I couldnt handle it all myself. Theyd both risen to the challenge in their own way, and as a result, our family had survived.


    But the abridged childhood that resulted had taken a toll on both of them in different ways.


    I spoke slowly, signing the words to ensure that she caught them. You know, even though it might not seem like it, our situation is far better than it used to be.


    How can you say that when there are monsters now?


    There were always monsters. They looked and acted like humans, but they were there, lurking beneath the surface, sowing chaos.


    And events where a bunch of people die.


    Before, there were hurricanes, earthquakes, and natural disasters. Was it really that different?


    Iris squinted at me irritably. Yes.


    I ran a hand through my hair. Okay. Fine. Im being a little reductive I ignored Iris, as she signed A little? Just take a second and look at the good. Were not an eviction notice away from disaster. Mom hasnt had a drink in months. And for the first time we have real allies, people willing to go to bat for us. And sure, maybe the world we live in has changed, and theres a lot thats scary and new. But its not all on me, you, and Ellison anymore.


    Even if thats true, I have responsibilities now. Iris signed, visibly grappling with what I was saying.


    Of course you do. And Im not trying to diminish your aplishments, or take those responsibilities away. Given what youve already managed, that would be both short-sighted and cruel. I thought about everything shed been through, the bullying, the close calls, and I pulled her to me, hugging her gently. When we parted, I annunciated carefully, making sure she could read the words. What Im saying is after a job well done, like this. I pointed to the yground and the hospital beyond. Its okay to let yourself be a kid again. Even if its just for a moment. Its okay to want things for yourself and enjoy life. Youre a selfless person, and I think at some point you connected that selflessness to depriving yourself of simple joys. You never ask for things, or do anything that might inconvenience others.


    I dont want to be a burden. Iris whispered.


    Theres a difference between being a burden and taking time to let yourself be happy. I jerked a thumb towards the yground. Now get back up there. You gotta make sure its safe, right?


    Iris opened her mouth, undoubtedly about to insist that her creation was in fact, safe, when she seemed to connect my advice with the suggestion. She smiled and scampered off. Not long after, I heard herughter ring out again and again.


    The relief it gave me was a fading balm. ording to my brother, one of the few Users inside the dome with future knowledge, Iris was important. Hed been cagey on the details. Ellison generally was, even before hed lived multiple iterations of the same timeline.


    And in my experience, important was a double-edged sword.


    If she was as important as he thought, I wanted Iris to have as many carefree days as she could before her life took a more difficult turn. Maybe my fears were in vain, and Hasturs intended oue of stopping the transposition altogether would seed swimmingly.


    But I had to do what I always did.


    Prepare for the worst.


    A violet notification light appeared in the corner of my vision. I focused in on it, expanding the semi-transparent messaging user interface.


    <strong></strong>


    It was a text code we used in the old days. The closest analogue our family had to a Code Red.


    <em>Fucked beyond reason.</em>


    My pulse, rtively calm moments before, picked up speed. I started to type out a longer message, asking him what was happening. Then I realized the significance of the acronym. Ellison had used code in a direct system message. Which meant one of two things. Either ourmunications werepromised, or he was in a situation where he needed to be as brief as possible.


    I matched his brevity, starting with the most pressing question first.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The next message came in before I could respond, chilling me to the bone.


    <strong></strong>


    I didnt even want to know what my brother considered nasty. It was also like him to understate his injuries. Ellison had lived through this timeline more than once, the loop starting from a few days before the dome came down, and as a byproduct hed seen the worst the system had to offer. He wasnt able to share much without risking the butterfly effect, but what he had shared had been chilling.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The chill slowly manifested into fear. Ellison had been waging a mostly solitary war, using his knowledge from prior loops to protect us from therger threats and putting a stop to catastrophes before they came to bear. If this version of the present had somehow diverted from his prior experiences, hed be hamstrung in his ability to act in that capacity.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    One final message came in, distracting me. Id been scanning the yground, trying to find Iris. She was still giggling and happy.


    <strong></strong>


    The feeling of impending peril grew stronger.


    I banged on the side of the wood paneling lining the yground hard enough that Iris would feel the vibration ande down. The tube-slides were slightly transparent in the direct sunlight, and I watched a dark shape slide down the spiraling tube until Iris popped out head first, a half-smile on her face.


    What? She said, hesitating when she saw my expression.


    There was a creaking noise above her. It seemed toe from the yground itself, towards the top of the slide. A loud thud followed as another dark shape leapt into the tube Iris was still supine at the base of and descended directly towards her.


    I ran.

 Chapter 240

    Chapter 240


    Time stretched thin.


    There was a blur of darkness behind her, something almost imperceptible to the eye. The sound of a low moaning growlbined with the smooth swish echoing down the stic slide was profoundly unsettling. If my sister had all her senses, she would have heard it too. But while she was astoundingly perceptive in countless other ways, no amount of wishful thinking could change the fact that my sister was deaf.


    The button at my pocket popped open with the flick of a thumb and I drew <strong></strong> flipping the tip of the de between my fingers and preparing to throw it. The weapon housed one of my summons, and if I could thread the needle between my sisters upper torso and the exterior wall of the slide behind her, it would ce a giant pissed off wolf between her and whatever the hell it was hurtling down the slide.


    <em>What if you miss?</em>


    An intrusive voice whispered, forcing me to hesitate for a fraction of a second. Iris had no context for what was happening. From her perspective, Id gone from lounging, to running straight for her. We had a lot of trust but she was still a kid. I was experienced enough to know I could hit my markId spent plenty of time with the de and made more difficult throws in the past from greater rangesbut that wasnt ounting for human error.


    If she flinched? It was over.


    I wouldnt make it in time. Whatever it was had reached the bottom and I could see nothing more than a maw filled with countless teeth homing in on her, glistening with saliva.


    There were options. Not many, but a few. All of them involved breaking my own rules.


    I did it without hesitation.


    <strong></strong> a new Ordinator ability, extended from my fingertips in a nearly imperceptible spear of blue light. It met temporary resistance from Iriss mind, like she was poking at it, unsure of what it was but epting just the same.


    <em>Roll over the right side NOW.</em>


    My sister responded immediately, awkward scrambling off the side just as a twisted, nightmarish amalgam of teeth and flesh snapped viciously at the bottom of the slide. It was an asymmetrical abomination, and what little I could see of it was impossible to make sense of. Devoid of an obvious target, I plunged <strong></strong> in the sickly yellow flesh above its mouth.


    It squealed, shrieking as Talia took form and ripped into it in a mess of growls and guttural tearing. A yelp followed.


    <em>It''s strong.</em> my summon warned, pained voice speaking directly into my mind.


    <em>How strong?</em>


    <em>I may only buy you a small window. Run!</em>


    I was already scooping up Iris, leaving a small, child-sized imprint in the peat as I held her to my chest and ran.


    There was more movement at the corner of my vision, monstrous and hulking.


    Whatever they were, there were more of them. I reached in my inventory and grasped the flight charm, intending to fly directly back to the adventurers guild meeting hall.


    A shadow loomed overhead, shattering my focus. A macabre raven with five eyes stared down at me, pumping its wings above. Several others circled at a higher altitude.


    <em>Shit. They look agile, and the charm takes a while to wear off. Cant risk flight. </em>


    Iris said something but I couldnt hear her, my mind too full, trying to simultaneously send out an emergency message to everyone I knew, and get a grip on what was happening and why.


    Outside of dungeons or other realms of uros, native monster attacks were rare. Which implied that this thing was either someones creations or under their direct influence. They were targeting either Iris or me. I had a hard time believing the formerIris was too valuable of an asset to kill, at most an antagonistic third party would want to kidnap or take her hostage. But thetter made little sense either. If I was out and about as Myrddin, there was no shortage of people whod want to swing at me given the price on my head. But here in my home region, I was acting as Matt.


    Matt, who held the status of Leader of a region that traded mostly on the value of its enchantable lumber and was heavily connected with both the Merchants and Adventurers Guild? He was supposed to be almost untouchable.


    Apparently not.


    I finished the emergency message and fired it off slipshod to every friend or acquaintance who owed me a favor in my contact list, embedding a location pin, praying that wed have backup before it was toote. Andslide of messages returned, all of which I ignored as I ran, pressing into the more heavily wooded area for cover and making as much ground as I could.


    In my arms, Iris squirmed, face contorted in panic as she whisper-cried and began to hyperventte. I swore internally and swerved, ducking beneath a branch and nting my back to arge tree. I looked down at her and mouthed. Deep breaths, kiddo, demonstrating by taking a few exaggerated inhales and exhales myself.


    She was still ghostly pale, and scared, but she caught on quickly, breaths spreading out and normalizing. Head hurts. Whats happening? she whispered.


    The headache was an unfortunate side-effect of <strong></strong> Unlike most of my abilities, it wasnt subtle. The target would feel the influence as coercion, and a sessful cast meant they were forced to carry out what Imanded in a painfully-short-term window. And if the actions went against character, theyde back to themselves, clearly understanding what had transpired.


    Figuring that out. Watch my back?


    Truth be told, I wasnt really expecting her to. Iris had been shielded from most of this since the beginning, outside of some of the early event and riot, and as an unfortunate byproduct, this was her first real brush with mortal danger. Shed be doing well if she didnt freeze uppletely.


    It was more about giving her something to do, blunting the trauma of helplessness.


    Still, Iris nodded, her lips tight and quivering.


    I took a half second to scroll through my messages until I spotted Grit and Ire, the hired mercenaries who escorted me whenever I left the Region as Matt.


    Grits messages were mostly expletives, but Ire was mostly coherent. ording to him they were en route, and Ire also sent the coordinates for a nearby block corner where theyd stop.


    Less than a hundred yards away.


    I oriented myself eastward and ran, huffing as the greenery blew by, trying to run straight and keeping my head on a swivel for threats that might have been lurking behind therge trunks of nearby trees. Heavy footsteps crunched through the asphalt behind me, gaining ground as I catapulted through the urban forest, eyes set on the white glow of the tree-line until I broke through, tripping and awkwardly stumbling, trying to find my bnce without dropping my sister.


    My eyes slowly panned up to the intersection.


    This wasrger scale than Id realized. The monsters looked less like monsters in the clear light of day. There werent many of them, but the warped human faces mounted on monstrous bodies, and the sheer deadliness of those bodies ensured no one would take them lightly. A few fights had already broken out.


    And the pavement, where Grit and Ire were meant to arrive, was empty.


    Someone throw me a fucking bone here, I snarled, summoning my system-Prius and loading Iris into it. My sister scrambled into the passenger seat, leaning back, her eyes wild. Its going to be okay. I told her, only to be cut off by an overhead screech.


    The ravens from before had found us.


    A giant bird ahead of the pack was diving straight down at me on a collision course, its talons outstretched.


    <strong></strong>shot my hand-crossbows butt into my palm and I focused on the ravens middle eye, my wrist automatically adjusting to correct the shot.


    The twang of a bow matched my trigger-pull.


    The raven spiraled from the twin impacts, one of them exploding, plummeting off-course and spiraling downward, caving in the roof of a nearby car with considerable force.


    A few bs of sidewalk away from me an archer stood from a kneeling position. The recent addition of a floating cowl that flowed behind him beside the thickly weaved body armor, green eyes, and tightly coiffed blonde hair made his visage almost nauseatingly picturesque.


    Fed turned Prince Charming.


    Nice shot, kid. Miles said, nocking another arrow.

 Chapter 241

    Chapter 241


    Miles picked off two more of the massive ravens withfortable ease, scattering the remnants of the flock.


    With some negotiation, Miles had spent thest few weeks paying off his bounty in service of Nychta, eliminating what she considered to be Minor Pests from her realm. Thatd been a revtion to both of us at the time, that the deities that interfered with day-to-day life within the dome had realms of their own. Pocket dimensions that reflected their preferred environment. As a result, hed been out of y for most of the month. And as the one who got him into that mess to begin with, I aided him as Myrddin to the best of my ability.


    Thought you punched out. I said, maybe a little too casually.


    Sorry to disappoint. Miles squinted, and fired off another arrow into the forest. There was a resulting squeal and thump of something heavy hitting the ground. But reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.


    Any idea what were dealing with? I asked.


    Necromancy. What else?


    Id noticed the simrities, and hoped I was wrong. One-hundred percent?


    Theyre dropping human cores, so yeah. But this is a cut above the usual shit. Miles squinted. For one, theyre less single-minded than Im used to seeing. Capable of retreating and rethinking their approach. He pulled back his bowstring and fired. I felt the wind from the arrow as it mmed into the heart of a pieced together bear wearing a womans face, knocking it t. And I could be imagining it, but Im pretty sure theyre feeling out sight lines. We need to split. Now.


    That was all the prompting I needed. I hopped into the drivers seat as Miles popped the trunk, hopping into the back as I started the car and stepped on the gas. He left the trunk open, giving himself wide clearance to fire from.


    What tipped you off? Miles asked. In the rearview, I saw him reach up to grab a rear seat to steady himself as I spun the wheel, careening around a turn.


    Huh?


    Got your message seconds before the fighting started.


    That presented a grim timeline, taken altogether. I thought quickly, trying toe up with something hed ept. Before I could answer, something in my face gave it away.


    Miles expression darkened. It wasnt a coincidence. Theyre here for you. Came at you first, blew things up when it didnt stick.


    Not me. Her. I angled myself so Iris couldnt read the words. First monster we encountered beelined for Iris and wasnt exactly pulling its punches.


    Miles blinked. Youre joking.


    Do I strike you as someone with a sense of humor?


    No. A puzzlement grew in Miles expression. That doesnt make any sense.


    It was difficult to overstate the value of what my sister brought to the table. Shed helped numerous other regions with rebuilding efforts since shed awakened to her ability. Some of that was diplomacy, other times it was simply spontaneous, out of the kindness of her heart. While healers and crafters existed, they were in the severe minority, with most User abilities centering on destruction in some form or another.


    Piss anyone offtely? Miles asked, letting the question hang.


    <em>More people than you realize, but no one who knows me as Matt.</em>


    No. I said aloud, before I realized what he was implying. My hands tightened on the steering wheel. You think someones targeting her to get to me?


    Could be trying to make some sort of example of you or piss you off as a distraction.


    Why?!


    Dunno. Regardless, theyre idiots. Because theres no unringing that bell. A tiredness permeated his expression.


    Esction. I said, coldly.


    Miles shook his head. Again, I really hope Im wrong. Theres enough dark shit going around without people carteling the loved ones of region leadersAhead, twelve oclock!


    The Priuspreviously pushing forty on the crowded city roadcame to a shrieking halt. I mmed against the wheel, pain radiating through my body as the horn sounded a keening wail.


    Painstakingly, I pushed myself back, and the honking ceased. A trickle of blood dripped down my forehead. The hood came loose in the impact and was bent straight up, blocking any visual of what Id hit. Despite keeping an eye on the road, I hadnt seen it. I nced back at Iris. You okay?


    My sister was wincing in the rear seat, an abrasion and the beginning of a bruise starting where the seat belt had bit into her shoulder. She nodded.


    Behind her, Miles was already gone.


    <em>Where the hell</em>


    My question was answered with the sound of whining metal, increasing in volume. A bloody hand gripped the hood, fingertips denting the metal as it was torn free.


    <em>Not bloody. Skinned.</em>


    The creature before me looked like Frankenstein''s yed minotaur, stitched together from countless bodies, human and animal. Its sharp teeth and open-cavity nose were lopsided, and it drew breath in rasping gasps, fogging the windshield. It left red smears wherever it touched.


    Found you. It said, voice a low rumble.


    Iris screamed.


    I mmed on the gas with every intention of running it over. It clung on instead, face twisted into a rictus of anger as I swung the wheel to the right, taking it clear off the road and through an alley, pumping the gas. There wasnt an outlet to the other side, just a sheer brick wall that we smashed into, pinning it against the wall with the vibration of crumbling brick. The minotaur grunted. Slowly it reached down and grabbed the bottom of the car, arms bulging as the front wheels lost purchase. It smiled wide, its half-melted face the stuff of nightmares.


    Seemingly from nowhere, a ck hand gripped its shoulder, the person it belonged to dancing away as ice raced up the minotaurs body, freezing it in ce. It roared and writhed, trying to break the ice as it umted despite its limited mobility. For a moment, it looked like it might seed.


    Then an arrow took it in the side of the head. Its unfrozen parts slumped, leaving it half-rag dolled, half-standing as the ice encased it.


    Sae was only half in disguise after she got the call. Shed managed the sunsses, and the augmenting armor that smoothed her curves made her upper half look rtively normal, but merging into her torso were legs with too many joints that bent the wrong way. ck chitin covered her from legs to jaw.


    She bent down next to the drivers side window, staring at us through dark round sunsses. You good, Iris? Helpline?


    Yeah. I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and wincing from the impact. Before, this much would have probably been enough to put me under. But a couple weeks ago Id finally buckled and raised my Toughness stat.


    Thanks for the assist. Needed to hit it with something big, but couldnt risk missing. Miles jogged over.


    Beside the car, Sae twisted around to stare at him, her expression standoffish. Lucky I was nearby. Or maybe not, since I live here. Got to wonder, what were you doing in the area, Miles?


    The usual. Heard something big was going down and found myself loitering nearby. Wasnt what I expected. Miles said, stopping a few paces from her. If her appearance put him off, he didnt show it. Now can we get him to safety or do you want to stand around sticking fingers in each other''s faces?


    Sae ignored him and lowered her voice so only I could hear. Geminis on their way. Nothing from Numbers but its early.


    Its the middle of the day.


    For him thats early. Probably sleeping off a hangover. Orders?


    I immediately understood. Gemini referred to the system-titled Gemini mages, Astrid and Astria. Numbers was Max, an Estranged Officer ss capable of estimating probability of an endeavor within a certain range that Id poached from Rodericks Lodge. Numbers, Gemini, and Sae formed the entirety of my strike team. <em>Myrddins</em> strike team.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Sae epted that, though her expression seemed to indicate that she thought my continued caginess with the strike team was unwise. At the beginning, Id started out intending to hide my Ordinator persona from everyone. That had proved next to impossible rather quickly, and Id looped in Sae and a handful of others, which had helped. Sae would probably prefer it if I brought all the members of the strike team into a room and took my mask off. But there were already too many people in the know.


    I skimmed my messages. Grit and Ire had gotten held up due to a massive outbreak of fighting on one of the center throughways.


    Roads are in a bad way so vehicles are out. I called over to Miles, who took that as his cue to finallye closer. Any ideas?


    Miles rubbed his chin. Id normally suggest taking this vertical with the flight charms, but


    The ravens. I said.


    Yeah. Conspicuously absent overhead since we culled the herd. Still tempted to try it. Probably would, if we werent transporting a potential target.


    Then were SOL and on foot.


    Its what, eight blocks from here? Thats azy Sunday morning walk. Miles smiled, radiating confidence that read as false. He was trying to keep morale up, but something about this situation had unsettled him.


    There was a resonant crack of breaking ice.

 Chapter 242

    Chapter 242


    Despite being pinned between a brick wall and a ton of vehicle, the arrow still nted firmly in its half-destroyed head and frost covering its entire body, the Minotaur was <em>moving.</em>


    What the fuck!


    I drew my hand-crossbow at the waist and fired through the windshield. The boltnded lower than Id intended, surprise throwing off my aim, bolt stabbing through the creatures neck instead of its head. ck ichor spewed from the wound, the rainbow dark of oil covering the windshield and dripping through the spider webbing puncture.


    Without hesitating, Sae mmed a studded, enchanted metal stick into its forehead like the bases were loaded, and there was a pair of wet thumps as its head recoiled from the impact, bouncing against the brick and mming down into the engine block.


    Miles fired an arrow into its incapacitated head, then another. When he lowered the bow, his satisfied smirk from before was nowhere to be seen.


    I thought you killed it? Sae snapped. She stepped backward shakily.


    <em>Should</em> be dead. Necromancer creation or not. Miles frowned. Ability packs the impact of a 50 cal. Even if it didnt do enough immediate damage to the brain to put it out ofmission, the connecting vertebrae should be toast.


    There was motion in the rear-view. Iris had curled up into a ball, her knees flush to her chest, breathsing in quick gasps again, hands on her head, shielding her view.


    Before I knew what I was doing, I stepped out of the car and withdrew a new acquisition from my inventory, a rare quality serrated de Id picked up mainly for gathering and harvesting valuable ingredients. <strong></strong> warned me I was on the outer fringes of socially eptable actions, and my current course might tip my hand to Miles.


    But when I looked at Iris again, traumatized and terrified in the backseat, I found thatat least at that momentI didnt care.


    Keep an eye on the road? I asked Miles, my voice cold.


    Yeah. Miles said slowly, sensing what I intended from the de in my hand, walking backwards a few steps before he turned to keep watch. Dont take too long.


    Take Iris? I said to Sae.


    Sae nodded grimly, pulling the passenger seat open and fishing my sister out, angling her head from the downed minotaur.


    I gripped <strong></strong> looking for weak-points. At first I thought it wasnt working, as nothing in the creature lit up at all, until I saw Saes nearby vitals light up like a Christmas tree.


    <em>Is it actually dead? </em>


    Not trusting the info, I fired off <strong></strong> next. It was the most subtle of my mind-influencing abilities and served as a litmus test for whether the stronger abilities would work. And if this second death stuck, Id get no feedback whatsoever.


    There was a spark of awareness still burning within the darkness of the creatures mind. It was still alive. When I exerted influence and attempted to lull it back into unconsciousness, my connection was violently severed.


    For a moment I reeled from the snapback, weathering the psychic storm. Then stared down at its motionless form, grimacing in distaste.


    Okay.


    Hard way, then.


    I decapitated it first, carving through the muscr neck and dense spine. Id used the rare-ssification de to great effect on tough-to-carve-through materials, but it still took longer than I expected and I was thoroughly winded by the time the de finally cleaved through. If the neck was any indication,pletely dismembering the thing would take all day, so next I settled for severing as many tendons as I could, carving into sections of muscle that would most hamper its mobility.


    From the outside, it might seem a little macabre, maybe even like a waste of time. But in theory, the worst thing you could do with a regenerator was leave it be after you spent the effort and resources to bring it down.


    There were really only two viable options. <ol><li> Figure out its critical weakness. </li></ol>


    Or B. Inflict catastrophic damage that will take too long to repair. <ol><li> Would be ideal, but I didnt have time. So I settled for B. </li></ol>


    All throughout, I could feel Sae watching the process, her stare unflinching. Shed taken her system transformation harda penalty for being in a trial after it closedand shede out the other side a harder, colder person. We had a lot of history, but were on shaky ground ofte due to the temporary alliance with the Suits. Theyd yed a role in what happened to her, and I suspected the only thing stopping her from attempting to march straight into the summit and spill Aarons brains all over the table was that most of the strike-teams activities involved hunting, capturing, or otherwise eliminating members of Sunnys faction.


    Sae still wasnt happy about cooperating with the group in any capacity, but seeing how Sunny was the one who botched Nicks recruitment which led to the series of events that trapped her in the trial and led to her transformation, I hoped eventually serving her his head on a tter would function as a stopgap.


    No, not literally.


    Miles whistled low from the mouth of an alley, catching our attention. He spoke in a low voice. Thats the bell. Scalpels down, kids, biology ss is over.


    Chimeras? Sae asked.


    Listening while they conversed, I picked up the pace. Grabbed a canvas bag from the Priuss trunk and unceremoniously shoved the minotaurs head until it was mostly inside, save one curved horn sticking out from beneath the tie off. His body had been rtively motionless, and I hadnt felt another spark from his mind yet, but I wasnt taking any chances.


    I also wasnt done.


    From what little we understood, the inventory the system gave everyone inside the dome was essentially a small pocket dimension. In theory, it could store anything from the leaf of a nt to a mid-sized vehicle. Any ingredients ced insideno matter their shelf-lifewouldnt spoil until they were withdrawn, their biological timers essentially paused.


    It was unfortunately inconsistent. System vehicles, for example, could be stored easily, while non-system vehicles could not. And despite the obvious potential utility for live capture of small monsters and other specimens, it didnt work that way. Any creature had to be unconscious to be stored, and came out tlined.


    Thetter was what I was banking on.


    There was almost a tangible relief when I sessfully inventoried the skinned creatures head.


    Miles peeked around the corner and turned back. Four of them now, heading this way, moving with purpose. Not as fuck-you big as nightmare-fuel over there, but big enough to be a problem.


    They see you? Sae asked, rubbing Iriss back with one-hand.


    No. But smart money says they know where we are. Could be using the ravens to scout.


    Sae chucked her thumb towards the dead-end back of the alley. No outlet. Need to make a break for it before they close the distance.


    Even if one of us stays behind to stall them, too high of a chance theyll ignore us and rush straight for him.


    I looked up at a series of spiralingdders, extending upward in ascending rectangles. Fire escape? Buildings are close together. Not great with the birds, but maybe we go up and climb down to the next street over.


    Miles nodded. Thatll work. Ill take the car and run interference. Might buy us time if they think youre still in it. Just try not to be up there for too long.


    While Miles busied himself with the car, I climbed on top of a dumpster, then leapt up to the bottom tform of the fire escape, seizing thedder in both fists and hoisting myself up. Sae followed in the same path and lifted Iris above her head.


    Miles. I called out.


    Yep?


    Thank you.


    Miles nodded, slipped into the drivers side and started the car.


    Before long, we were running across the rooftops, my damaged Prius chugging the opposite way on the road below, directly towards our pursuers.

 Double-Blind Book 2 Announcement

    Double-Blind Book 2 Announcement


    Hi all!


    Double-Blind 2 is now avable on Kindle Unlimited. This release kind of snuck up on me. Its been heavily edited and polished, (I think the first edit alone had something like a thousand adjustments from the RR rough draft), so if youre interested in reading the definitive version, nows the time. This was a fun book to write. There was a lot of positive growth from Matt, and a chance to finally solve some of the mysteries Im constantly creating.


    I had to take down the chapters for book 2, but just like always, all future updates will go to patreon first, then royal road. Thank you for all the kind words and support, and I hope you enjoy the final draft.


    -Eligos

 Chapter 243

    Chapter 243


    The gaps between the first few buildings were close enough that most Users even partially sped into Agility could have covered the gaps easily. Thisst one however, was significantly longer. Id had Audreymy flowerfang summonfashion a makeshift harness for Iris, using her mostly thornless mobility vines. My sister had fallen silent since the Minotaur Chimeras interception, and despite a reasonable fear of heights, hadnt reacted to any of it.


    I pinwheeled on the loose gravel of a rooftop, bnce returning to me. Then turned, ready to catch Sae as she leapt across.


    Sae cleared the gap easily. Shed put too much energy into the jump if anything, and I grunted as she clung onto my forearm to steady herself, feet sliding across the gravel roofing. Her eyebrows shot up, her mouth set as she saw something behind me. Bird!


    I spun. The raven shot upward, attempting to hover out of reach. Its wings and oversized body werent built for that, so the result was an awkward climb. Still, that climb ced it out of the effective area for my hand-crossbow.


    There was a chance I could still draw my bow and make the shot, but if Miles was right that they weremunicating, any second now it would broadcast our location to the rest, and wed be overrun.


    <em>No choice. </em>


    I didnt have time to feel it out or test the waters for its reaction to my influence. And as much as I didnt enjoy using the ability as an answer for everything, nothing else was fast enough.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>As of now, I am your favorite human. Do everything you can to help me and mine.</em>


    A wave of exhaustion tugged at my eyelids as nearly half my mana drained away. But none of the mental pain from a failed attempt. Itde down to a wager on whether all the necromancers creations had psychic protections, and Id guessed correctly that the birds would be more simple than their human counterparts.


    The bird swooped down andnded.


    It hopped frantically on the gravel and cawed at us angrily, pping its wings and kicking up dust. For a moment I thought it had shrugged off the effects of the spell, or that it had some sort of resistance that kicked in, before I realized it was pushing us towards the roof ess structure.


    Matt? Is it about to peck our eyes out or do you have it? Sae yelled.


    Got it. Get inside! I shouted, twisting the push down handle and throwing my shoulder into the door. It swung open, and we both made it in, a second before a handful of massive shadows flitted over the rooftops.


    The raven Id subjugated was too big to enter, but it pressed itself against the open door, shielding us from view. After the danger passed, it stuck its considerable head through the door and stared at us with all five eyes. Then tapped its beak on the concrete with a considerable click.


    When no one reacted, it tapped its beak again. Then spoke aloud, its voice hoarse and raspy. Treat.


    <em>What?</em>


    It tapped its beak again, and I could have sworn I detected a trace of sass. Good bird. <em>Treat.</em>


    Interesting. Itd been trained with traditional positive reinforcement, either before or after it was super-sized and sprouted extra eyeballs. That added to the likelihood its necromancer master was User, rather than system created.


    Technically, I didnt have to give it anything. The Raven was caught in the thrall of subjugation, so it would listen and implement anything I said and take it as gospel. Even if I told the monster it no longer desired treats, or to forget how to fly. Under the effect of <strong></strong> any creature or person would follow mymands to the letter for the next day, with all the capacity for potential misuse that implied.


    Whether it was a monster or a human, I didnt want to go that route.


    Instead, I pulled one of the many filets I kept on hand in my inventory out, and tossed it to the creature. And another. Then one for Audrey, when she started whining about the Stupid bird eating her meat.


    The raven snatched the steak from the ground and turned its head upward, gobbling it down and chortling with pleasure, clearly enjoying the meal.


    Mindful of my younger sister strapped to my back, I reached out to the Raven with <strong></strong> more tomunicate than influence. It had a sharp mind for an animal, and as Id suspected, it wasnt enved. It was trained.


    <em>In exactly a day, the influence I hold over you will fade. You will regain your faculties and your will. And naturally, youll be angry. However, I want you to remember this moment. You attacked me first. Yet I saved you from the consequences of that. Rewarded you for your help, despite your transgressions. And if you enjoy the deliciousness of the reward as much as you appear to be, perhaps you should contrast your experience here with what would have happened if your master was in my ce. And know, that if you choose to serve me, there are many rewards yet toe.</em>


    Id used a version of this on a handful of human and monster test cases and received positive results. The additional prompting I was doing had to be more subtle on a human, but I found more directnguage helped. <strong></strong> would trante my words into an amalgam of thoughts and ideas the target was more likely to understand, but it couldnt guarantee that understanding.


    It stopped mid-chew of the second filet, swallowing. Its intelligent eyes seemed troubled. Then, the moment passed, and it tapped its beak again.


    I tossed it a third b of meat, then withdrew a fourth, much to Audreys dismay. I withheld the final b, tearing raw pieces off as I went.


    How many are there?


    The raven leaned backward doing something unseen then cing a pile of gravel. It usedrge pieces as markers, counting to nine until it shoved a pile of gravel in from the roof.


    <em>A lot.</em>


    Any chance you can speak your masters name?


    The raven huffed.


    <em>Thats a no.</em>


    I ran through a few more questions with mixed results until I came to the final query.


    We have some ground to cover. This is a lot to ask, but now that weve bonded, any chance you can provide oversight? Help protect us from threats on the ground and steer the other flocks away before they see us.


    A hesitation.


    More treats? It turned its head to either side, listening carefully for an answer.


    Oh, yes.


    A confident squawk gave me my answer.

 Chapter 244

    Chapter 244


    The tide was already turning.


    I caught nces of it in the vertical windows that lined the buildings stairway. Groups of armored and armed Users, strategically picking apart Chimeras.


    Whoever the necromancer was, they didnt have much of a n B. Theyd doubled down on n A, hiding a few dozen powerfnd undoubtedly expensive to producechimeras in our region to sow chaos and cover the assassination attempt. The remaining chimeras had more or less aplished that initial objective. Problem was, even on an ordinary day, Region 14 belonged to the cross-categorization of well-defended and not to be fucked with. And assuming that the members of the Order fighting alongside Adventurers Guild mainstays meant the deal had gone through, that listing had just been bolded and under-lined.


    I took time to re-summon Talia before Astrid and Astria met us at the base of the stairs.


    As they shared the same half-shaved light hair and ensemble down to the golden-wood wands and dark mages robes, it was almost impossible to tell them apart at a nce. Astrid stood with her back-straight and was acerbic, the clear leader, while Astria lurked in the background, meek and lilting. But they both looked and acted more alike than they once hadAstrid losing some of her innate confidence, and Astria finding some to speak of.


    Sorry. Lot of stuff to wade through out there. Astria said, her voice low and shy.


    Dont apologize to them! Were the ones out here risking our butts for some spoiled asshole. Astrids eyes locked on mine as she barred the door.


    Sae snorted and elbowed me. Second part anyone would agree with, but spoiled? Girls gotta recalibrate her people senses.


    It was amusing, seeing this side of them.


    Youd never know it, witnessing the headless-chicken-hustle to secure the perimeter, but the girls were stone-cold hitters. Some of the best Id worked with.


    Id found them for the second time in the sewers. Nick and I were chasing down a leadour resident deity directed us there hoping to lock down The Queen, one of the five remaining members of the Orders Court, a key piece in Hasturs win condition. Why wed find royalty mixed in with sewage and shit he never answered. Never found her, either.


    What we had found, huddled together inside a makeshift lean-to cobbled together in one of the many maintenance runoffs, were the twins.


    The two of them had been lying low ever since the events of the transposition, unsure of whom to trustunderstandable, given the confusing detonation at the endand had been operating mostly on their own, exploring the sprawling subterranean sections of the city and delving into dungeons that appeared there. Which apparently, were not infrequent.


    Nick encountered them first, and theyd almost immediately run him off, sporting a battered ego.


    When I followed up as Myrddinter, Id received a much warmer greeting. Astrid had apparently connected with me over the events of the transposition. From her ount, what had happened to me was apparently an influence in their ongoing refusal to sign with anyrge guild. I got the feeling they wouldnt have, anyway. Aligning with anyrge group went against a core tenant of the transient code.


    <em>Trust individuals. Never institutions.</em>


    I owed them both. And even if I hadnt, they were too powerful to leave on their own. My solution to Astrids problem was the Strike-team. It was, functionally, a small group of Users with varying alliances and backgrounds that took on contract work I was mostly self-funding. Myrddin provided ess to the Merchants Guild site at the Allied Guild discount, sniffed out jobs, and the strike team carried them out.


    Astria nced at Sae. Do you want to say the thing, or


    Right. Sae cleared her throat. Report.


    Not fucking good. Astrid said. She grunted as she finished the barricading, stumbling back as something mmed against the door hard enough to leave an imprint.


    Bunch of lizard people chased us here. We thought about diverting to lead them away


    and that wed go at least another decade without muttering about lizard people, but with the way you were hollering, Exo, figured we should just push through. Astrid finished.


    Sae bristled at the tag, doing her best to ignore it and nodding. It was an unfortunate nickname, mercifully limited to the strike team, more unfortunate that it was urate enough to stick. Whatever she said went when Myrddin wasnt present, and well


    She had an exoskeleton.


    Thought it was clearing up out there. Sae said, perturbed.


    It was. Astria said. She hesitated. The ones wing at the door were being pushed back by arger group, then they spotted us and peeled off. Just dropped what they were doing.


    That doesnt make sense. Saes brow furrowed. Were you the only mages in the area?


    Not even close. Astrid groused. There was several levitating in the group they abandoned.


    Icy fingers tightened around my spine as I realized why the twins had been targeted. They were both female, and despite their power, diminutive. Closer in size to a child than an adult. Just around Iriss height.


    The necromancer hadnt bothered with a detailed description for his rank-and-file. Judging from Saes grimace, shed reached the same conclusion.


    <em>Whoever you are? Congrattions. Youve cemented yourself at the top of my to-do list.</em>


    Sae nced at my back, where my sister was still silent and restless, then back to the twin mages. For now, just assume that these things are going to act like idiot mas and n ordingly.


    Astria angled her head toward Astrid. Is she just calling names as usual or giving genuine advice?


    Yes, Astrid said.


    So, what now? Sae elbowed me. Back up to the second-floor so we can recon and kick out a window?


    Maybe Id recognized the civilians most likely to be targeted if we bypassed these things. Maybe I was just pissed. Either way, I didnt feel like taking a detour.


    Mages pack a punch?


    Sae chewed her lip, probably annoyed at me for asking questions I already knew the answer to. When they need to, yes.


    Why bother finding a way around, when theyre all grouped up and vulnerable? I said. All heads slowly turned to look at me.


    iming this region must have fucked up yourow. Astrid cut-off mid-sentence as Astria smacked her upside the head.


    Instead of squabbling with her sister, Astria waited, watching Sae attentively. Orders?


    Sae thought about it. Depends. Got anything heavy and directable thatll st through but wont bring the building down around us?


    Boreas embrace? Astria looked over to Astrid.


    Astrid raised an eyebrow. High profile but itll work. Manas about equal between us. Prep or incantation?


    Prep. Youre the better shot.


    Yeah. Thats why. Nothing to do with being nervous youll miss.


    Hush.


    Though Id seen it before, and was too distracted to properly appreciate the moment, it was great to see how far theyde as a duo. When Id met them, between Astrids hovering and her own social anxiety, Astria had barely strung together sentences. Shed hidden in her sisters shadow to the point she almost faded into the background entirely. Some of that still lingered, but for the most part, she was far better at taking initiative.


    We moved towards the rear of the stairwell, as far back as we could go without pressing our backs against it. Sae took the stairs two at a time, checking windows on the second floor and confirmed it was clear of anything beyond monsters.


    Astria knelt, reaching down with glowing hands and pressing against the concrete. Two curving lines extended from beneath her gloves, forming a perfect circle so bright it was difficult to look at. The longer she maintained it, the moreplicated it became, a mess of undecipherable runes scrawled within smaller circles. Two imprints formed in the center, one slightly in front of the other, oblong and asymmetricalpared to the rest of the circle until Astrid stepped directly onto them, obscuring them from view.


    I shifted Iris to my front.


    Astrid raised her wand, pointing it at the door. It had dented inward enough that we could hear the scrabbling of the chimeras on the other side who were picking up the pace now that they were making progress, scaled fingers and flicking tongues pushing inward, trying to widen the gap.


    <em>Shatter</em>


    Astrid mouthed the word, and all the considerable mana from the circle drained into her, leaving only dull etchings and the imprint of a circle on the ground. She floated upwards around a foot, braced her wand with both hands, and loosed.

 Chapter 245

    Chapter 245


    The skull-shattering explosion mimicked the echo of a Howitzer cannon. I lost presence for a moment and stumbled to the side, trembling hand reaching up towards a wetness on my cheek. My left ear, closest to the explosion, was bleeding. I grimaced and quaffed a health potion, making my way towards the twins alongside Sae.


    Got ''em? Sae was leaning on Astrid, squinting through the gaping hole that yawned open where the door used to be, beyond masked by enough dust to pass as a sandstorm.


    As the dust receded, scaly corpses came into view, chunks of their bodies missing, cleanly cut through by theser. Think so. Astrid huffed, breathing hard but otherwise undeterred. Considering the scale of what shed just managed, theck of tiredness was off-putting.


    And a little disturbing.


    The twins were strong, to be sure, but they hardly dominated thepetition.


    It was a reminder that every User still alive had been continually getting stronger, driven towards progression by the impending threat of another transposition event. Magic stood out because it was shy and could cause catastrophic damage from a distance, but many melee Users were advancing far beyond the realm of human potential in both defensive and offensive capacities.


    I was at a higher level than most. Thebination of the Allfathers backing, stumbling upon the adaptive dungeon, and early ess to Kinsleys store had allowed me to get an early head start, one Id capitalized on to the best of my ability. Subsequently, the string of misfortunes and contentious paths that led me here helped widen the gap. Between pushing higher up the tower and shing with problem members of the order, Id tried to continue that trend.


    But there was an uncanny sense,tely, that the gap was closing.


    If I needed to deal with a User like Astridpowerful, but lower level than methe methodology was simple. Create enough of an opening to force <strong></strong> through and either direct them to turn their wand or weapon on themselves, or use them against their allies.


    But if the User was equal to my level or higher?


    That was a problem. In an ideal environment with plenty of space and ces to hide, I could punch far above my weight ss. But this was the real world. You didnt always get to pick your battles. If the wrong Users ambushed me at the wrong time, I was in a world of trouble.


    <em>Especially with family in the mix.</em>


    My eyes trailed to my sister, still ashen in Saes arms. We need to get going.


    We darted across the street in loose formation, keeping me and Iris in the center to shield us from view as we circumvented the small groups of Users pushing back monsters, slowly making our way through back allies and side roads until our destination loomed in the distance, less than a half mile away.


    Sae nearly took a step before her eyes zed over, and she swiped a finger across her invisible UI. Max is onms and in range. Betterte than never, I guess.


    Max? I asked dumbly, giving Sae a pointed look.


    Minor mistakes could easily sum to disaster. Though the strike team didnt require my presence to function, I spearheaded things often enough that the five of us had a working chemistry. Saethe only person present who knew Myrddin and Matt were the same personhad to take special care.


    She startled and nced over at the twins. To their credit, they were too preupied with our surroundings to notice the slip. Ops guy. Can hold his own inbat but has advanced reconnaissance feats.


    Switching gears, I yed the role of an annoyed VIP whose life was in danger. There are no freaks in sight. Whatever the hell the attack was about, they obviously focused on the outskirts. Its right there. I pointed at the building. Quick jog and were home free.


    Confident enough to bet your sister on that? Sae challenged. When I scowled and didnt answer, she continued. Just sit tight for a second. Max will get back to me, and well


    Her eyes flicked to her UI, and Saes expression froze, the already light skin around her chitinous material paled ghostly white.


    The private message came a secondter.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Icy fingers gripped my spine. Maxs estimations were useful, but you couldnt always trust them. A positive rating15 being the maximumonly factored in elements that were currently present. A 15 could easily change to a three if some sort of threat beyond its range entered the fray. But for him to give us a 1?


    There was something insidious in y. A massive ambush, or something just as devastating.


    <strong></strong>


    I considered our surroundings. The alley didnt have any defenses, anything we could barricade save tworge dumpsters with rusted wheels and a small mound of trash. The dumpsters could provide some cover in a pinch, though not muchespecially under any heavy sustained fire. My instinct was to move, get the hell out, and find a ce to hide. But if we moved before we knew where the danger wasing from, itd be all too easy to run into it.


    <strong></strong>


    Astria had noticed thepse, and tracked back to us. Something wrong?


    Sae nodded, her mouth tight. Serious threat. Waiting on Maxs cooldown for more info.


    A flit of shadows from above broke up the light, and there was a warning cry from the massive raven. It circled overhead, calling repeatedly each time it reached the left side of its circle, the call increasing in urgency.


    <em>GUUUUUUU BAAAAAAAAAAH</em>


    Something <em>roared.</em> Everyone present immediately covered their ears and winced. Beyond the deafening volume of the scream, it was strange. For one, it was guttural and raw, as if the creature who made it was malformed or injured. Second, it was broken up in the middle. In abstract, it almost sounded like two unintelligible words, the phics lost in pure, unbridled fury.


    An osciting <em>whoosh</em> followed, not unlike helicopter des. Secondster, a long pole with a bright yellow triangle on one end that was spinning almost too quickly to make out, smashed into the raven, sending it crashing onto the building below.


    In the wake of the impact, the decapitated minotaur staggered into view on the street beyond. It hadntpletely regenerated, and considering the damage to its ligaments and muscles, I had no idea how it was still standing. Headless and bleeding, it came to a standstill and pointed a gnarled finger at me.


    <em>Guuuh Baaaaaah.</em>


    <em>Give it back.</em>


    Well, fuck.


    Beyond cutting off the head and taking it with me, Id done an astronomical amount of damage to the creatures body after it was down for the count. Hard to imagine I was worried about overkill when this was the result. The fact that it was still standing at all bothered the shit out of me. Sure, it was probably the product of a necromancer and undead creatures tended to unt the rules bute on. It had a gaping hole where its neck should be. It was down three senses, and still managed to track me


    I stepped to the side, and its body shifted slightly, staying on target. That shouldnt be possible unless it was being directly controlled. And it was stillmunicating, still showing personality. Unless


    <em>Its following the head.</em>


    I began to back away. The minotaur advanced toward me with lumbering footsteps, paying no mind to the others. Astrid charged up a spell, Astria supporting from behind.


    Tell them to stop. I murmured.


    Saes head snapped back toward me. What?


    The mage twins. Stop them.


    Gemini, hold. Sae said, using their official callsign.


    What, so furless-furry-duhan can roll us over? Astrid snapped.


    It probably cant see you. And even if it can, its priorities have changed. I said, projecting as much confidence as I could considering the circumstances. Itd taken out the bird, but only because the raven was actively hindering it and I got the feeling these things could sense each other. Crack open the manhole and take the girls down into the sewer. Give me a minute to lead him away, then scorch concrete.


    She stared at me. I dont care how good you think you are. That thing will tear you to shreds.


    Its gotta catch me first.


    Matt


    Get Iris to the Adventurers Guild. Make sure Tyler knows whats happening. Send as many people my way as you can. Ill keep the pinsing.


    Max gave us a near-zero chance of making it to the tower together. If I wanted to get Iris clear, that meant improvising. I had the beginnings of a n. Hard to say if it was a good one, but it was better than nothing.


    Sae took Iris and helped her and the twins into the sewer, memory guided me as I flew through the UI, pulling up Kinsleys store and making a very specific purchase. I spammed through the invasive warnings and prompts letting me know my purchase had been logged and selecting construction, in the reason field. Considering that you had to be on the approved listgenerally a non-fledgling member of a respected guild or vouched for by o make purchases on this section of the site, the warnings were probably unnecessary. But better safe than sorry.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>Twenty minutes.</em>


    No small ask, when the battlefield had a way of turning minutes into eternity. I withdrew the bag from my inventory and fished out the contents. Considering how alive the body was, I half-expected the head to animate, maybe even speak to me. Butpared to the body, it wasnt looking so hot. The once red tissue was dull burgundy, the texture hypoxic and prune-like, eyes rolled up into the back of its head. With any luck, that meant most of its intelligence and higher reasoning were out ofmission.


    Ahead, the minotaur was still advancing slowly, hand out-held.


    Looking for this? I hefted the minotaurs head by the base of the skull. Then reached up with my free-hand, cocked my middle finger behind my thumb, and delivered a meaty flick to its nose.


    The reaction was immediate. The creature roared, warbled voice full of rage and hatred. And rushed forward.

 Chapter 246

    Chapter 246


    My pursuer was having trouble navigating. Pre-headless status, I would have ced him in the annoyingly crafty brute camp, high on the shortlist of foes I generally prioritized avoiding direct conflict with. Post-headless, he ran full tilt and barreled into and or over anything in his way. Considering his ample mass and speed potential he still wasnt a joke. If I panicked, or got stupid enough to run in a straight, unobstructed line long enough for him to get his massive hands on me, that would probably be the end of it.


    But my ability to panic was more or less a dead nerve. Itd been beaten out of me, time and time again, diminishing with every instance I was forced to take something ridiculous in stride.


    It still happenedtypically when someone I cared about was under threat. If Iris was still in danger, I wouldnt have been nearly as clear-headed.


    But I trusted Sae. And I was pretty sure Headless was the reason for Maxs disturbingly low evaluation. Now that he was fixated on me, Sae could take her time getting my sister to safety, using Maxs ability to make sure the way ahead was safe.


    <em>GUURAAAAAAAW</em>


    <em>Here hees.</em>


    I slowed and pressed my back to the passenger side of an over-sized gas-guzzling SUV, parked on the side of the street, facing down the overgrown monster speeding towards me. Despite the juddering gait and awkwardness of his ruined legs, he was still unbelievably fast.


    At thest second, with <em>perception</em> screaming for me to move, Audreys vines shot from my sleeve, anchoring on a distant light pole andunching me out of the way.


    Every pound of Headlesss considerable bulk mmed into the sedan, shattering windows and crumpling the frame, pushing it up on two wheels. The trunk and engine block were bent inward, leaving him thrashing and half-stuck.


    So close. I called behind me, feeling grim satisfaction when the mockery was met with an angry roar.


    I kept running, making as much distance as I could before Headless could free himself. The first five minutes had been deceptively easy, effectively ying matador with a blind bull. But slowlyalmost too gradually to noticemy pursuer had been growing more coordinated. He was either regenerating faster than I could hurt him, or getting better at wringing efficiency from his injured state.


    Neither was good for me.


    <em>At this rate hell run me down before we get to the reservoir. Need to keep him on the back foot.</em>


    Itd be easy to ditch him if I wanted to. I could toss the head, but that meant taking the risk hed revert to previous orders. Or, I could zigzag across the region until he lost me. But he could just follow the head and find me again. So it was a question of keeping his attention, maintaining enough distance that I could lead him to the reservoir, and buying time for my purchase to arrive.


    A small cluster of monsters raced towards me from the opposite side. Goblinoids with long ears and wings too short to function. Cutting them down would take too long, so I didnt bother. Instead, I cast <strong></strong> on the four front runners, stoking their ire and ensuring theyd arrive simultaneously. Then threaded the needle, sliding between two stinking bodies and past them. They smashed into each other and snarled,shing out with ws, biting, fervor reced with confusion when they realized they were fighting each other.


    The back line was hesitant, confused by why the leaders were fighting. I shot a crossbow-bolt through a goblins ankle, then grabbed the leader, a goblin about a foot taller than the rest, by the forehead and covered his eyes with my palm, using the second of surprise to knock his sword hand aside and slit his throat, spinning him in a mockery of a dance. The arterial blood spray of their once-leader covered them, and the warlike growls turned to craven shrieks.


    They ran.


    I reached out with <strong></strong> this time, guiding the forerunners to retreat directly into Headless. He battered them aside, sending their broken bodies careening over the pavement. From a nce, he was more annoyed than waid, but the sudden interference had slowed him down.


    <em>Theres more than I thought. </em>


    The influx of monsters wasnt slowing down. If anything, there were more of them now that I was farther from the center. Few casualties on our end, from what I could see, thanks mainly to their disorganized movement andck of coherence, serving as fodder while the real mission was carried out. No matter how I looked at it, the grancy with which resources were expended scared me more than anything else. <em>Everyone</em> was hoarding whateverselve, items, favorsin anticipation for what came next. I had more money than Id ever had, especially by pre-dome standards and, despite that, was hesitant to spend. Because there was no forecast for when the tornado was going to hit. When <em>this,</em> or the second transposition was going to happen, and people we cared about would be thrown into chaos. The reasonable-albeit-primal response was to hunker down, scan the tree-line for any potential threats, and stockpile until we had the misfortune of discovering exactly what disaster we were preparing for.


    Even if the Mystery Necromancer had more capital than god, this was an enormous waste. There were easier ways to get at me, far easier ways to get at my sister.


    More to that point, if this was a strike at me it was concerning. Matt had fewer potential enemies, less willing to escte the ongoing tensions between regions and guilds to targeting connected innocents. But if it was someone who knew I was Myrddin, almost anyone capable would take a shot at me. Considering what theyd thought Id done and the bounty on my head, there was plenty of motivation.


    If the neck-breather didnt rip me to shreds, I needed to get aggressive. Narrow down possibilities on Matts side as quickly as possible before I went nuclear.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I swore, jerking out of the way as the minotaurs thundering footsteps gained ground, btedly realizing Id zoned out on a straight-away. Curving misstep, I mantled over a car and behind a light pole, flinching at the ng and shudder of metal, tucking my shoulder and ending up on my back. Above, the battered light pole swayed precariously, whinging metal and cracking asphalt, teetering towards me.


    <em>No.</em>


    As <strong></strong>nded from my fingertips, the pole swung back the other way, teetering towards the road. The tortured bolts at the base tore free and the pole plunged down,nding directly on headless and pinning him t. He struggled, pushing against the concrete with both hands, trying to shove the pole off of him. It barely moved, but from the strength hed showed that could be shock. It wouldnt be long until he got it off.


    I staggered to my feet preparing to run again before I nced at the time. It was half-past-noon. Id barely run this thing for half of the cooldown and it was already nipping at my heels. It was tempting to cobble him somehow, turn the tables in my favor so I could time this properly, but if I went overboard, that would risk immobilizing him. And to make a serious impact, I needed to get up close, putting me in range of his bulging arms. Unless I got creative.


    I sted a piece of recently emancipated concrete about half the size of my fist with <strong>,</strong> wedged the toe of my boot beneath it, and sent it skittering towards where the minotaurs head would be, rock curving with perfect uracy.


    There was a hollow thunk, and instantaneously, the guttural growling and snarling ceased.


    The brief silence that followed was immediately shattered as the minotaur frantically wed at his throat in a desperate attempt to clear his airway.


    <em>Come find me once you handle that.</em>


    I moved at a brisk jog, putting a more reasonable distance between us now, giving myself room to maneuver. By the time he caught up to me at the reservoir, it was already toote.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 247

    Chapter 247


    There were dozens of them, milling around the upward slope that overlooked the reservoir. Odd, malformed chimeras with twisted limbs and human faces bumped into each other, as if whatevermanding presence that directed them until that point had suddenly severed the connection, leaving them stranded and agitated.


    It probably had.


    I cocked my head and listened. There was the minotaurs pounding footsteps growing closer, nearly loud enough to drown out everything beyond them. After a moment, <em>Perception</em> prevailed. Human shouts and war cries, drawing closer. Keening squeals followed by explosions marked casters in the mix. From the sound of it, it was a decent sized group making their way down the main road, and barring some significant obstacle theyd have eyes on me in under a minute. More than likely, the group that contained Aaron, Tyler, and Nick.


    Which meant I needed to work quickly.


    Matt had the misfortune of being perceived as a teenager. This worked to my purposes most of the time and allowed me to slip beneath the radar, an unfortunate byproduct was that doing anything exceptional would raise eyebrows. Id already shined a spotlight on Matt once in the wake of the first event, and while saving this region had afforded me certain advantages and a staggering amount of goodwill from the locals, it also meant Id effectively lost my anonymous status and be a conundrum.


    And when youre an enigma, people start watching. Questioning your every move, critiquing every loss, win, and stroke luck thates your way. It didnt matter that most of them were amateurs. With enough would-be detectives, conspiracy theorists, and meddlers in the cheap seats, eventually, someones going to get it right.


    I could deal with the Minotaur. Thendslide of battery, mockery, and frustration Id subjected him to practically guaranteed hed be both desperate and spitting madpossibly the best state of mind for an opponent to be in.


    But the decisive blow would be too ostentatious to hide. I needed to frame it in a way that made me look like I was on myst leg, disguise the coup de grce as a Hail Mary.


    <em>Go,</em>


    Relief from constriction Id barely even noticed washed over me as Audrey released the makeshift harness from beneath my hoodie and flung herself through the crowd of chimeras,shing out freely with her attack vines as her mobility vines worked overtime to keep the fragile nt summon out of their reach. Snarls and wed hands reached for her, but she was too nimble and crafty as she baited them in, letting them almost touch her before she danced away to another part of the crowd.


    Simultaneously, I made a break for the reservoir, curving around the crowd and pumping asphalt until I reached the railing. Fifty feet to the water, nothing but concrete on the way down. Once there, I withdrew the bag that held the minotaurs head, along with my most recent purchase. The object was smaller than I thought, a ck brick that felt solid and cold to the touch, the only hint to its significance a small line of three capacitors on the top left side.


    Just holding it made me nervous. I wiped a damp hand on my shirt and pressed my thumb to the base. A spiderweb of blue circuitry that looked half-magic, half-tech, lit up on the surface.


    Only then did I allow myself to look for the minotaur. He was stilling, his limp all but gone.


    <em>Exactly what I was worried about. Shrugged off that light pole like it was nothing. Outhealing the damage.</em>


    Audrey arrived with a panicked plop and scrambled to hang onto my leg. Angry. Very very angry.


    The chimeras loomed. Some of them started toward us, pausing only when they saw the headless minotaur stomping his way towards the summit.


    Either way, it looked like Id been cornered. Best I could do in so little time. If anyone perceptive stopped before entering the fray and evaluated the situation, they might surmise that something was off. I made a show of looking over the edge as if I was considering jumping, using the moment my back was turned to slip the device into the bag, then turned and faced the minotaur.


    I held the bag up, giving it a casual spin. He stopped mid-stride, maintaining a charge posture, the surrounding air tense and charged with violence.


    Guuuh Baaa.


    What, so you can tear my arms off after I hand it over? I gave the bag another practice swing. No deal.


    He took a threatening step forward.


    I held out a hand. Before I could speak, I noticed a sh of movement. Thebined rescue force had arrived. Mostly members of the Adventurers Guild, but I recognized more than a few faces from the Order of Parcae. As Id hoped, they were ying this smart, using the standoff and the fact that every chimera present was facing away from them to get into position. Their rogues and stealthy types were up front, creeping into striking distance, and several mages were already waiting on rooftops behind the tanks.


    I bought them time. It didnt have to be this way. Your masterwhoever he iscould have just pranced over the region line, sauntered into the Adventurers Guild and said hello. We could have talked, discussed terms. Maybe even consolidated power. But instead he pulled I made a dismissive gesture towards the gathering. Whatever the hell this shit is.


    For the first time, the minotaur didnt repeat the same two words hed been chanting like a mantra. Instead, a low, repetitive huff came from his neck. Almost like he was choking, or


    <em>Laughing.</em>


    My smile was all teeth. Oh. Youe into my house, fuck with <em>my people.</em> And you think its funny.


    The minotaur continued to chortle.


    I moved on, undeterred. Whoever your master is, its obvious he cares about you. From what Ive seen, most of these freaks have the survival instinct of a lemming, but you? The second I hacked your head off and stuffed it into a pocket dimension your goals changed. Shifted to self-preservation in a way that is almost human.


    Hisughter died as I put my arm into it and the bag spun faster. Guessing he let you keep that because youre not exactly cheap to engineer, and he wanted to protect his investment. Still, its something we have inmon. Wanting to live and whatnot. This is how we both get what we want. Theres a device in this bag thats about to open up a portal to a realm of uros. A random realm. The portal will stay open for exactly five seconds. Being at the center of this portal, this bag and naturally, your <em>head,</em> will be the first objects sucked in. Maybe Im underestimating your abilities and your awareness works across realms.


    The creature shivered. Whether it was out of fear or anger didnt matter. I was getting to him.


    My smile turned to a smirk. But Im willing to bet it doesnt. And if thats the case Id really, <em>really</em> try to catch this before itnds.


    Before he could react, I flung the bag off to the side and over the edge of the reservoir. And like a dog after a frisbee, the minotaur charged after it, powerful hooved legs propelling him up and over the railing that housed the overlook. He sailed through the air, almost perfectly on target and grabbed the bag with both arms before he lost forward momentum and plunged downward.


    I hit the deck and covered my head.


    Even fully shielded from the st, the teeth-rattling shockwave of the detonation rocked me to my core.

 Chapter 248

    Chapter 248


    I reeled in the aftermath of <strong></strong> Despite the whimsical name, the crafted explosive devices posting including a list of specifications as long as my arm. It was supposed to be a low-yield payload with a limited radius, using a mix of temporal reiteration, and straight-up st power to obliterate anything in a tight circumference. Its effective area was so contained and small that I doubted it would work as a car bombit could absolutely ruin the day of the people in either the front or back seats, or annihte an engine block, but youd need multiple to achieve all three simultaneously, which was both inefficient and something of a relief.


    History, as always, was prone to repeating itself. With independent crafters on the rise it was a growing area of argument and discourse among the regions atrge. Some wanted to restrict the production and sale of explosivespletely for obvious reasons, while the opposition argued that they ttened the ying field, and allowed both low-tier Users and civilians to defend themselves against the sort of high-level threats that weremonce during the transposition.


    My opinion was mixed. A capable mage like Astrid or Astria were more than capable of creatingrge-scale destruction that equaled or sometimes exceeded a run-of-the-mill explosive, so in some ways it felt like a moot point. Simultaneously, the idea of cing ess to explosives at the fingertips of every gun-toting propaganda-spouting fringe dweller in the domeof which there were manymade me uneasy.


    If Im being honest, I wanted that ess. Current circumstances served as a suitable example. Id found myself in a situation where I needed to do more damage than I was capable of. Id done my due diligence, identified an ideal staging ground, and hopefully, reduced my regenerating attacker to dust.


    I just wasnt sure I wanted to see what happened if everyone else had it.


    Even my use hadnt been perfect. I wasnt physically hurt and had taken no damage from the st, but just being on the edges of it had scrambled my senses. As I pushed myself up, I nearly slipped, fighting the misfiring neurons and ruined equilibrium that made me feel as if I was constantly growing closer to the ground.


    The sound of conflict reached my ears as my hearing returned. More than a few of the Chimeras Audrey had angered were still advancing on us, but most of them were turning to face the onught of their joint attackers. Mages hurled spells off of rooftops, while an aggressive and well-equipped forward line cut them down in droves. Their attention was split. Still, now that they were under attack, the creatures were putting up a more consolidated resistance, forcing back the adventurers who strayed too far forward with savage ambushes from the side. Id disregarded them as stupid, which in retrospect was a poor estimation. They werecking in general intelligence, but their instincts, the way they fought, gave the impression they were bred for war.


    And considering the tide of the battle, they probably would not make it in time.


    A snake-like chimera twice the size of the rest slithered towards me, ahead of the pack, forked tongue slipping out from human lips that were stretched too far back its arrowhead face to be called human anymore. I tried to pull my crossbow, watching helplessly as the targeting bead drifted over the snakes head.


    <em>Cant aim for shit with the shell shock.</em>


    Turned around as I was, a de wasnt going to be much better. I growled, knowing that the only option I had left would likely kill my poor summon, but extended my arm and gave a mentalmand. Audrey sprung off my shoulder, vines biting into my sleeve as sheunched herself from it like a cannon-ball,nding on the base of the snake-chimeras neck and wrapping her vines around it, riding it as it iled and tried to throw her off.


    That would give me more than enough time to pop the flight charm and escape, but it would mean abandoning the narrative Id crafted. Not to mention, with the size differential, the snake would kill Audrey before she made a dent.


    On some level I knew that using my summons this way was logical. If I died, they would also cease to exist. If they died, I could resurrect them once I had the mana to spare. My continuance meant their continuance. Still, I didnt like it. Maybe I was anthropomorphizing them, conting loyalty with duty, but ever since Hastur messed with my head, it was harder and harder to not see them as people. Theyd all stuck their necks out for me, risen far above what was required. Expecting them to do that as a matter of course just seemed


    Shitty.


    Hold on, buddy! The shout was audible, even over the din of battle. I looked up, half-expecting to see Nick. Surprisingly, the man sailing over a half-dozen monsters directly towards the snake-chimera <em>wasnt</em> my friend. I was reasonably certain Id never seen him before. Short-cropped hair, styled to perfection despite the circumstances. He was wearing the same light-weight variety of armor as me, which looked more like kerposite and was prohibitively expensive. There was a saber on his hip, undrawn, leaving his hands free.


    Hended on the snakes head in an almost gymnastic-disy of dexterity, pressed his palms together, and pped them down over the serpents eyes. Audrey got clear just in time, releasing the snake and skittering across the pavement to me as fire raged beneath the neers palms.


    The snake bucked in its death throes,unching the man high in the air. He sailed backward, head plummeting towards the pavement before he tucked his knees,pleting the backflip and instinctually raising his arms in a salute for bnce, a dead giveaway that he probably <em>was</em> a gymnast.


    He snapped out of it just as quickly, sprinting back and forth between me and the oing chimeras, holding out his left hand and snapping his fingers, creating a copsing radius of orange diamonds that radiated brightly.


    A chimera that drew too close was immediately engulfed in mes, and the others drew back, staring at the minefield with cautious eyes.


    We always meet in the strangest ces. Saber guy grinned at me, far too happy considering the circumstances. Now that he was closer, something about him was familiar, but I couldnt ce it.


    I spared a nce to the side when another of the orange mines went off. They were testing the range, but not drawing any closer, then looked back to the neer. Who are you?


    Along the side of his neck, I spotted a tattoo of a human face, so faded and poorly penned it was almost indistinguishable. Oh, sorry. Rolled in with the Adventurers Guild to help out. He pointed to Audrey. But I was talking to my friend.

 Chapter 249

    Chapter 249


    Mme?! Audrey stuttered. I felt a wave of panic resonating from where the nt summon sat on my shoulder. Ironically, more than when shed kamikaze charged the snake. She was strange that way. Rarely, in niche situations, Id use my summons to speak for me. Either tomunicate over long distances or speak to people in situations where discretion was required.


    Your friend? I said slowly.


    Even as I said it, I finally ced the face with a name. Brett. Id found him in the early days, held hostage by a den of monsters on one of the early floors of the Adaptive Dungeon. As a naturally suspicious person with the only key to the dungeon in my possession, Id assumed he was a dungeon construct, same as the monsters, drummed up to create a sense of urgency. When that was proved wrong, it created something of a conundrum because I didnt have the mask back then, and my side objective to not reveal myself to other Users was already in effect. Instead of ying along and being forced into a scenario where I either had to aid Brett directly or let him die, Id gone an alternate route. Used Audrey tomunicate and aided from the shadows while she appeared to save Brett single-handedly.


    It was such a minor event amid so many cataclysms that Id nearly forgotten it. Clearly, he hadnt.


    She came to my aid while I was running for my life. Unexpected, but Im not the type to turn down help in a crisis. I take it you know each other, I said.


    ssic Audrey. Brett grinned. Back when everything kicked off, this petaleddy pulled my ass outta the fire. Even told me about the Adventurers guild. God knows where Id have ended up without her help. His smile faded. Do you not remember me?


    I shifted my shoulder slightly, jostling Audrey.


    <em>WHAT DO I SAY?</em> Audreys voice echoed loudly in my mind.


    <em>You remember him, right?</em> I asked.


    <em>YES.</em>


    <em> Then stop yelling and start there. Beyond that its up to you. Hes </em>your<em> friend.</em>


    Iuh. Yes. You um let me have all the meat. Very tasty once I learned to skin them and did not have to worry about the fur. Yum. Audrey said.


    I suppressed a groan as Brett rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.


    Theres an image I was trying to get out of my head. He shifted his head from side to side. But who cares. And if youre helping out this guy, Im guessing youre doing well mate. Good on ya.


    Thanks? Audrey said.


    Tell you what. Brett walked along the perimeter, refreshing the fire mines, simultaneously talking over his shoulder, Stick around after the battle. Ive gone back and forth on ways to pay you back if I ever saw you again, and I think youll like what I came up with. He grinned, then seemed to remember himself. If you can spare her.


    I shrugged nomittally, and Brett took that as a yes, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up before he waded back into the fray. My eyes narrowed at that. He was either beyond confident, or he knew something I didnt.


    Almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, tws of te armornded with considerable impact, scattering the surrounding chimeras in a shockwave.


    The first was Tyler, the massive leader of the Adventurers Guild. And the second was Nick. Tyler looked the same as he always had. A good-natured grin split his lips as he spotted me, intact and whole. Sorry for the dy.


    You good, Matt? Nick called over.


    With a single-handed sweep, his massive dereally more great sword than long sword, but he insisted on wielding it with one handcarved through three chimeras, bisecting them diagonally in a shower of gore. His golden aura burned most of it away before it hit the ground. Even under siege, surrounded by countless foes, he looked every bit the hero.


    I nodded. Caught the tail-end of an explosion but nothing permanent. Wheres


    IrisLipreader is at AG headquarters with Sae and your mom.


    Safe? Last Id seen her, shed been borderline catatonic.


    Shaken but yeah. And before you ask, Aarons over there. Nick finished, pointing over his shoulder.


    My jaw dropped before I could rip Nick a new one for abandoning him on the battlefield. An unarmed figure in five-hundred dor shoes, cks, and a button-up shirt was walking through the throng unimpeded, hands in his pocket. Other than the fact that he looked like he jumped straight off the cover of Forbes, there was little noteworthy from this distance. Until I noticed the barely transparent bubble, shielding him from harm.


    Thats new. I said numbly. Up to this point, Id believed Aaron was a civilian. That he held the helm of the Order through guile and nning alone. Since when was he a User?


    Not sure that he is. Nick lowered his voice, leaning dangerously close to a row of mines. Still reads as a civilian in the group screen. But if he was keeping his status on the down-low, I think its safe to say hes not hiding anymore.


    We both knew a persons status in a system screen was anything but iron-d. Which meant Nick was basing that assumption off of something else, something hed likely tell meter.


    No fuckery in the negotiations? I asked.


    Smooth as silk. Nick confirmed, bashing a bear-chimera in the head with his shield hard enough that its skull cracked and it fell to the ground. Twenty-six! He yelled at Tyler.


    Thirty! Tyler yelled back, smiling wide. He heaved his massive-berserk style de in a half-circle, obliterating a half-dozen chimeras. Gonna need a bigger sword if you want to keep up, kid.


    Size doesnt matter you bastard! Nick hollered back, redoubling his efforts.


    It was insane how quickly theyd found rapport.


    Tyler was a close ally, but hed always regarded me with a certain degree of caution. Between his now mostly defunct truth-sight ability and uncanny judgment of character, there were likely more red gs in the mix than he wasfortable with. He saw my value, and appreciated what Id done, but hed always held me at arms length. I suppressed a sh of jealousy at the ease with which Nick had slid into the Guild Leaders good graces and focused my irritation where it was actually due.


    Aaron continued through the throng, approaching the center, maintaining the same casual gait. The force field that surrounded him was unlike any Id ever seen. More offensive. Instead of simply passively repelling attacks, the chimeras that approached him were seized by invisible hands and uplifted, their limbs, necks, and even tails twisted mercilessly until the creature was broken and discarded, writhing on the asphalt.


    Since the dome came down, Id seen plenty of high-level magic. But nothing quite like that.


    Aaron came to a stop at the center of the melee. When he locked eyes with me, it felt like staring a shark in the face. Slowly, he nodded in appreciation.


    <em>He knows.</em>


    It was jarring, and more than a little rming. I was used to my machinations slipping by under the radar. Making ys that no one would notice, tweaking things in the background so they came to an ideal oue while everyone else was none the wiser.


    But Aaron saw the y. And I had a strong feeling he was about to make himself the star of the show.


    When he spoke, his voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere, booming, unyielding.


    <strong>This region is now under the joint protection of the Adventurers Guild and the Order of Parcae. Hasturs will be done. </strong><strong><em>Begone.</em></strong>


    As his voice rumbled, the chimeras alone trembled, as if the earth beneath them was shuddering. And copsed into piles of gore.

 Chapter 250

    Chapter 250


    <em>Power.</em>


    The thought pervaded above all else as the chimeras gory remains spattered to the ground in a collective squelch that echoed across buildings. It was too loud, too pronounced. Either hed use some sort of magic to amplify the aftermath, or the effect extended over the entire region. Probably thetter, considering the absence of any sign of battle. There was still yelling in the distance, some more rmed than others, butcking the roars, persistent nging of metal and shrieking of high tier spell casts.


    Showoff. Nick muttered, just loud enough that I could hear.


    I had to agree.


    Almost awkwardly, the hundreds of Users shifted their attention from fallen foes reduced to fleshy puddles on the ground to the man still pushing his way through them, making a beeline toward me.


    I couldnt help but raise an eyebrow as he approached. Aaron had irreversibly outed himself. It started this morning, when hed resigned from his position on the relief council and revealed his role as a Guild Leader for the Order. But this was on a different level. <em>Everyone</em> would look at him differently after word of what happened here spread, both within the Order and beyond it. Hed have a lot more attention focused on him now, which I knew from personal experience could be more curse than blessing.


    Tyler recovered first, sheathing the massive de on his back and stepping forward, all smiles and diplomacy. He reached out a hand and Aaron shook it warmly. Our alliance is already bearing fruit. Sorry to pull you and yours off the bench so quickly.


    Its nothing. Aaron smiled. Still game for dartster?


    Cant see why not. Tyler grinned.


    Though that does raise the question of where. Aaron nced at me as he spoke. Well need to decide the venue. Ordinarily, Id suggest somewhere nearby, but I wouldnt want to infringe.


    This was the y. Id harangued him in the meeting, going so far as to air out some of our pre-dome dirtyundry and serving as a heel. I hadnt gone overboard or made myself appear irrational, but what I had said made it clear our working rtionship wouldnt exactly be cordial.


    I looked around at the aftermath, stone-faced. Quite the disy for a civilian.


    Aaron followed my gaze. Perhaps. This wasnt something I wanted to be public knowledge, but the circumstances forced my hand.


    So you <em>are</em> a User. I pressed, dialing back the hostility of the usation.


    Not as you know them. Aaron waved a hand, his expression thoughtful. I cant engage with the system as you and the others do. But Im not altogethercking in the power that stems from it. Itd be more urate to call me a divine conduit.


    <em>Great.</em>


    Hasturs prophet. I tranted.


    Of sorts. He stared at me with that nk, alien stare. It was probably the same look he used to bully clients and employees into submission at the hedge fund my mother worked at, before the firms extracurricrs got her indicted. I hope with this, Ive demonstrated our value as allies. A value that is perhaps worth the unpleasant ask of letting bygones be bygones. There was a tinge of distortion to his voice, indicating that he was amplifying his voice loud enough that everyone nearby could hear it, most without realizing magic was involved.


    I had to suppress a smile at the ease with which he was coordinating the stage, moving everyone in it into a clearly defined role. Aaron knew I didnt oppose the alliance, just like he knew that Id used the chaos to create a scenario in which I needed the order to save me. None of this was pre-nned, yet he took it in stride, ying off my efforts to further his agenda.


    Terrifying as always.


    There was a moment of tense silence as Aaron reached out a hand. Out of the corner of my eye, Tyler actually held his breath.


    I smirked inwardly. After all the buildup, itd be amusing to deny Aaron here. Create some trumped up subtext to p his olive branch away. But that was little more than an intrusive thought. In reality, doing so would be as pointlessly obstructionist as it was short-sighted. Eventuallyalmost inevitablywed probably find ourselves on opposing sides again. And when that happened, I needed him to not see iting.


    Begrudgingly, I shook his hand. Tyler breathed a sigh of relief, and before I realized what was happening, Aaron swept me into a hug. My ears popped as the outside sound dulled, muffling sound from the city and isting us.


    Rein in your dog. Aaron whispered, voice low and furious.


    For a bizarre moment, I thought he was talking about Talia, before I realized what he really meant.


    Myrddin? I asked, smiling thinly. Youre the one who let him off the leash.


    I cannot run a guild if its members are constantly terrified and jumping at shadows. And there will not <em>be</em> a guild left to run if he continues at his current pace.


    Aaron was mostly exaggerating. It was true that Id been heavy-handed with Sunnys people, but they were generally loyalists that wouldnt have crossed the aisle to Aarons side anyway. The few that hadnt been staunchly aligned were problems in other ways. As slick and enigmatic as it appeared from the outside, the Order of Parcae was mostly ex-cons, dishonorable discharges, and other undesirables. In a way, I could understand it, even respect it. Even with the world turned upside down, second chances were scarce. Id be a massive hypocrite if I judged them all based on background alone.


    But there were some things even I couldnt look past.


    Still, the fact he wasing to me with this instead of approaching Myrddin directly was interesting. It wasnt as if Myrddin never showed face at the Orders headquarters. He was there fairly often. If Aaron didnt want to approach him publicly, he could have used a third party to summon him to his private quarters. Instead he was here, burning a chit of leverage to negotiate with me.


    Was he perceptive, or afraid?


    Might be overestimating the sort of pull I have with our friendly neighborhood Ordinator, I hedged. He doesnt exactlye to me for approval before he does something.


    Dont be stupid. Aaron snapped.


    <em>Fear, then. </em>


    He recovered from thepse almost immediately, tempering the anger. We both know youd never surrender an asset you couldnt control. Especially to me.


    Maybe Im losing my edge.


    Aaron snorted.


    After deciding Id put up enough token resistance, I rolled my eyes. If I can spare the time, Ill talk with him.


    Aarons grip on me tightened. Oh? Some other more <em>pressing</em> priority?


    Yeah. Finding the necromancer who just took a swing at my sister. I growled.


    All at once, Aarons grip loosened, and he rxed as he realized what, exactly, I was negotiating for. Necromancers are a problem for all of us. A destructive blight on an otherwise fresh new dawn. One capable of this level of incursion is an even bigger threat. Youll have as much support as you need.


    Good. Considering that, Ill talk to Myrddin as soon as I can.


    Just before we parted, I forced a series of images to mind and amplified the emotion that apanied them.


    <em>Dead dog. First pet, a corgi with bowel problems and a worse back.</em>


    <em>Dead summons.</em>


    <em>Dead sister.</em>


    <em>Dead dad.</em>


    My vision watered, and a single tear rolled down my cheek as Aaron stepped away. He stared at me, slightly taken aback as I shook his hand again in front of everyone.


    <em>Thank you</em>, Aaron. For everything. I said, voice warbling with genuine emotion.


    Aaron bowed his head. This was nothing. I look forward to the fruits of our future endeavors.


    Tyler nodded, discreetly giving me a thumbs up, while off to the side, Nick couldnt help but shake his head in distaste. Aaron nodded, shooting me a coy smirk as he turned to address the collective group of Users, amping up his energy and voice. Victory is ours!


    <em>Go ahead, y to the cheap seats.</em>


    A raucous cheer went up, only subsiding as he held his hands out to calm them so Tyler could address the group, his voice authoritative and proud. Alright folks. See a healer if youre injured and help others to safety if youre not. The rest of you, spread out and secure the region. Good job people. This could have been a helluva lot worse.


    There was a bustle of motion as the Users broke away, following orders. Only Nick didnt move, his arm was up, hovering frozen in mid-motion. His face was pale.


    What is it? I asked, dreading the answer. Among the departing Users, more than a few had stopped in ce, their faces drawn. Someone moaned, the sound guttural and raw.


    Pull up your UI. Nick answered quietly.


    I snapped it open. And stared at the recent addition.


    <strong></strong>


    Shit.

 Chapter 251

    Chapter 251


    The bustle of motion that followed the chimeras defeat was chaotic at best. Ellison still wasnt responding to messages. That could be a bad sign but it could also be nothing. Communication wasnt his forte these days. Iris was fine. Fine, of course, being rtive. Shed apparently fallen asleep, and considering how bad things were going to get in theing days, I wanted her to get all the rest she could.


    Shortly after the timer appeared, Aaron and Tyler had paired off, probably to discuss how to best manage the inevitable panic.


    <strong></strong>


    <em>The second transposition event. We always knew it wasing. Guess now we knew when. </em>


    I forced myself to close the UI, and stood on the far edge of the reservoir, watching as a mix of civilians and Kinsleys mercenaries recovered the minotaurs remains. The bomb had done its job, and other than a fewrge chunks, the rest of him was more or less well-dispersed oatmeal. <em>Sticky</em> oatmeal. One particrly gruff looking man in dark fatigues was bncing on his tactical knee-pads on the off-white concrete, reflective light from an honest-to-god spat bouncing as he scraped a particrly tough sample off the ground and ced it into a vial.


    You sure this is the best use of our time? Kinsley said. Shede down to check on me because she was worried, and after seeing the bloodied state of my clothes, was standing a few extra feet away. I get that he was regenerating but he looks very dead. Super, extra dead.


    I sympathized. The store was probably getting traffic from everyone who noticed the timer, yet she had people out here on cleanup detail. Still, this was important.


    I decapitated him, Kins.


    She blinked. Before you blew him up?


    More sawed. But yeah. I peered at her. Then, despite the fact that would dissuade most things from existing, he chased me down to lodge aint.


    Kinsley absorbed that stoically. After a moment, she called out to her people. Make sure youre keeping the samples separated.


    Steinbeck, a gruff man with a cheery disposition, took a break from whatever he was scraping up and knelt upright, broadcasting to the rest. You heard the boss. Handle with care. Wouldnt want to get thrown out a window.


    A dark chuckle rippled through the mercenaries and civilians. At first, I took it as a generic joke coloring Kinsley as some power-hungry mob boss, but she shifted from side to side, lips pulling down in a scowl.


    DidDid you actually throw someone out a window?


    <em>No.</em> Kinsleys mouth set in irritation. He jumped.


    I waited a beat. Like actually jumped or was assisted


    Yes! <em>Actually</em> jumped. She sighed. Ive been meaning to tell you that the satellite science team finished up their research, but its been something of a busy morning.


    That was the truth. The series of close-calls still rattled me, so much so that with the sudden change of subject it took a second to ce what exactly she was talking about.


    Hasturs potion. I realized. The reward hed offered me as incentive. Either out of coyness or a twisted personality, hed refused to say what it did, alleging I wouldnt believe him.


    As much as I hate to admit it, you were right. Keeping the research team under guard felt wrong, but it probably saved our asses. On that topic, I highly, <em>highly</em> rmend you dont hold on to it and use it as soon as possible.


    Slowly, I connected the dots. Its that valuable?


    Kinsleys expression was dead serious. I mean <em>Jesus Christ</em> Matt, youre the best friend I have in the world and <em>Im</em> tempted to steal it just to auction it off.


    You have more money than god. I reminded her dryly.


    Yep. Kinsley nodded. And with upkeep, new acquisitions, paying these idiots decent wages, Im breaking even until the dust settles. If I auctioned that potion, Id have more money than the whole chicken-fucking pantheon.


    Suddenly, I put it together. Kinsley wasnt being coy or dramatic by withholding what the potion did. More urately, it legitimately spooked her enough that she didnt want to say whatever it did out loud.


    <em>What the hell is it?</em>


    So the guy you threw out the window was a researcher


    I told you he jumped. And he wasnt just any researcher. Kinsley said glumly. <em>Head</em> researcher. Rare vocation, sharp as hell, and had a jar of Dum-Dum pops in his office. Gave me one every time I came by. Very wellpensated. But despite that he got greedy, inventoried the potion, and when the guard team cut him off at the stairwell Kinsley pped her hands with a loud snap. Dove through a window and ended up like a strawberry on the pavement. Five story fall. No idea how the moron thought he could survive that.


    I absorbed that and waited. Send me the description.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <em>What?</em>


    Barely processing what I was reading, I focused in on the highlighted square that covered <strong>Asuras Gift.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Jesus fucking christ. I slowly turned to look at Kinsley. Her typical devil-may-care expression was nowhere to be seen, overtaken by an overcast glumness. If this gets out


    Yeah. Ive already taken precautions. Kinsley said. She hesitated. To be honest, Im not sure if theyre enough.


    I understoodpletely. This wasnt just a cure-all. It was effectively a potion of immortality. Perhaps that was less valuable here in the dome, where any given day could potentially dish out more trouble than the average person could survive, but even so, there was the XP modifier, ss utility, and amped up resistance.


    It wasnt just valuable. It was <em>priceless.</em>


    The only way to guarantee something like this stayed secret would be executing the research team almost immediately after the potions value was revealed.


    Kinsley watched me, her expression grim. Other than the head researcher, the rest of my team has done nothing wrong. Theyre quiet, freaked out, but generally loyal. Maybe to the paycheck, but still. Plenty of people turned up their noses when they saw how young I was, regardless of what I was paying. Id rather not make ones who didnt regret it.


    Of course.


    I mean it, Matt.


    I stared at her. Im not going to go after your people just because they have knowledge Id prefer they didnt. Even if I was willing to do that, word spreads. Its probably already toote.


    She looked away. Okay.


    I read through the description, making sure I hadnt missed any fine-print or serious downside. The system didnt always provide an itemized list of potential downfalls, but it often hinted. Yet, there was no hint as far as I could see. If the description was urate, the tears were as powerful as they appeared to be.


    Wait, I said, suddenly. When he gave it to me, Hastur imed that once I figured out what it did Id realize I needed more than one. And that hed give me the secondter once Id helped him.


    Kinsley said nothing, just waited. She didnt seem surprised.


    The first had an obvious use case. Saes insectile transformation weighed heavily on her. While it provided incredible speed and strength, the more monstrous aspects of her appearance were a constant drain on her psyche and severely restricted her ability to move freely in the open. All of which were near-direct consequences of my mistakes. Id been too full of myself to see how sloppy I was being in the early days, and while the role Id yed in what happened was indirect, Sae had still suffered for it.


    If I was reading it correctly, this potion could undo those effects.


    Giving it to her was only fair.


    Cures all injuries or defects regardless of age. Kinsley echoed.


    Oh. Oh shit.


    Iris.


    I resented the term defect. And wanted to push back against the idea that my sister had some issue in need of correcting. If this was the old world, I might have done exactly that. Mom wasnt supposed to y favorites, of course, but Ellison had taken to saying that Iris was the best of us long before the dome came down. And for the most part, I believed he was right. My sister had an essential kindness in her that almost everyone around hercked. She was always the first to lend a helping hand, to put herself out to aid someone else even to her own disadvantage. There just wasnt that many people like that left in the world. Part of me thought shed eventually grow out of it. The rest of me hoped she didnt.


    There was <em>nothing</em> wrong with her. In any reasonable, civilized setting she was more than capable of working around her own physical disadvantages and excelling.


    An image of a dark shape sliding down the slide behind her reyed in my mind, and I closed my eyes.


    With danger everywhere and the possibility of a second event looming in the distance, I had to be purely rational about this. And as much as I hated it, the conclusion was obvious. No matter how protected she was, or how many safeguards I put into y, people who could hear the thundering had a higher chance of living through the oing storms than people who couldnt. The potion had plenty of secondary effects that further empowered that equationdamage and status effect resistance alone factored astronomically.


    Of course, ignoring the minor downside that if Iris lived through the dome, shed outlive everyone she loved.


    <em>Fucking Darwin. </em>


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Is it stored somewhere safe?


    Safe as it can be. Kinsley said, not looking confident. But Ill still feel better when its nothing more than an empty bottle.


    Kinsley was smart enough not to say it out loud, but I could guess. Shed probably stashed the potion in her sanctuary. Even if she was under duress, she couldnt retrieve the potion without entering her sanctuary first. Once inside, shed be able to forcibly eject anyone who apanied her, and would have multiple points within a several mile radius to escape from back into the city.


    Still, we were living in a time of unlimited possibilities. There was probably a way to get the potion out of her sanctuary we simply didnt know about. Which meant I needed to decide. And soon.


    Ill need to talk to Sae.


    Look, giving it to Iris makes sense. Kinsley said. From the way she was looking at me, I could tell shed already guessed how this would go. Sae may even see it that way. What happened to her is horrible, but theres no question her issue makes her more capable than if shed remained an ordinary User. But as soon as you tell her, it <em>will</em> give Hastur leverage over you. Hell be able to string you along until he gives you the second potion.


    I know.


    Then why tell her at all? Kinsley asked. She crossed her arms. We both know its only a matter of time before the Order turns on us. Pretty sure youd never agree to work with Aaron if you truly believed he was nning to make good on his terms. God knows I wouldnt, considering what those fuckers did to me. What theyre <em>still</em> doing to my dad.


    I struggled to answer. Because at the beginning of all this, I probably would have agreed.


    Too many people know what the potion does. If Iris miraculously regains her hearing, it might be possible to exin it away as some ss affect or ability. But if Sae hears about the potion after the fact and connects the dots itd put us in vice.


    Of course, that was just the rational exnation, the one Kinsley would ept. The truth was moreplicated. While everything Id said was urate, what was really sticking in my gut was that I didnt want to lie to Sae. Not about something like this. After all the shit wed been through together, she deserved to know the truth. Even if it sucked. Even if it made her hate me.


    Still, the small quirk at the side of her mouth told me Kinsley wasnt buying it. Youre probably right. And even if you werent, it kind of makes me feel better.


    Why? I nced at her curiously.


    Nothing. Just a reminder that youre still you. Part of my role is collecting information. Kinsley hedged, working her jaw. And Ive been hearing a lot about our mutual friend over thest few weeks thats worrying.


    Mutual friend being Myrddin.


    Like?


    Nothing specific you need to worry about. Kinsley continued without answering, giving me a lingering side-eye. But people fear him. And not just existentially, like they were before.


    I rolled my eyes. Courtesy of the Overseer, our mutual friend is both bogeyman and scapegoat. Someone trips and falls down the stairs, theyd probably find a way to me him for it.


    Kinsley inclined her head. Maybe. But we both know most rumors carry a grain of truth.


    I stuck my hands in my hoodie pockets and started to disengage. You got it from here?


    Uh, yeah I guess. Kinsley grimaced, watching as one of her people picked up a long viscous strand of meat from the pavement with a pair of tongs and stuffed it into arge ss jar. Her people were working slow, only partially because they were being thorough. From the way they kept sneaking peeks to the side, seemingly at nothing, it was obvious they were checking the timer on their UI. Headed to the tower?


    I considered it, then shook my head. As much as I wanted to attempt to bullshit my way and rush through the remaining floors so Nick could im Excalibur, wed already tried that, and it failed. What was required to make it through the upper floors was a coordinated group effort, and thered already been too much chaos today. There were plenty of injuries, and with the reveal of the timer, everyone was scared. I suspected the impulse to rush was at least partially why wed received such an advanced warning. The previous game had been divided by regions. There was at least a baseline assumption that the system established the regions for a reason, and whatever the event pertained to would probably include them.


    But there was no guarantee it would shake out that way.


    And most of us knew it.


    So inevitably people would panic, and wear themselves out so much getting ready for whatever was about to happen that when and if it did, the popce as a whole would be on edge, primed to make plenty of mistakes, ying right into the systems hands.


    As much as the necromancer attack and sudden reveal of the timer made me want to run around in a panic, I needed to resist that urge. Matt, specifically, needed to project calm. Like it or not, with the way things had gone down after thest event, the people in my region looked up to me. And the calmer my region was, the easier it would be to get things done in the long-run, and the better wed do in the second event if Nick and I failed to stop it.


    Not today, but soon. I pointed at her. Make sure you keep that potion secure. And send some dummy quests when you can? Stuff that should be easily achievable in the tower. Not exactly low on Selve at the moment, but with the way things are going Ill probably need more.


    Easy enough. Kinsley nodded, watching me curiously. But now youve got me wondering. What <em>are</em> you doing today?


    Need to check on Iris. Lock in a level. Show face with the wounded. Then, after the dust settles, then make sure everyone whos watching knows Im not particrly worried about the second event or what happened today. I squinted, passing out of the shadow of the reservoir and into the sunlight.


    How? Kinsley called after me.


    How else? I shrugged. By finally going on that date.


    Somehow I managed to ignore the excited squawking that followed, echoing after me as I reached thedder that led to the upper tform and beyond.

 Chapter 252

    Chapter 252


    It was a relief to find that my previous evaluation of the attack was correct. Wed taken light casualties, nothing particrly unexpected. There were perhaps twenty or so people injured, and only three people had died.


    I spent the afternoon visiting the families and loved ones of the fallen, making sure they were cared for, offering words offort that felt alien on my lips but seemed epted and appreciated. The first two were more or less taken care of, with close ties to the Adventurers guild or other friends or family members positioned to look after them. Only one family had lost their primary Usera father with a defender ss, and I spent perhaps more time than I should have ensuring they were settled and connected with other parties who could help them.


    Now, I was situated in Iriss dark room adjacent to my mothers t, running my hands through her hair as I reviewed my character sheet. Iris herself was non responsive,ying on her side and facing the wall, either asleep or pretending to be. Id been tempted to tell her about the potion, but given what shed just been through she wasnt remotely ready for that discussion.


    And to be honest, neither was I.


    Instead, I tried to takefort in the silence. Let my mind wander as I reviewed my character screen.


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 24 Ordinator</strong>


    <strong>Identity: Myrddin, Level 24 ???</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 12</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 33+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 20+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 14</strong>


    <strong>Will: 21</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 3</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinators Guile II, Ordinators Emtion, Stealth II, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Pages Quickdraw, Squelch, limation, Hinder, Escting Fire, Assassin II, Mind Spike, Decisive Action.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 18. Suggestion, LVL 27. Command, LVL 15. One-handed, LVL 30. Negotiation, LVL 25. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 19. Bow Adept, LVL 12. Twilights Nocturne, LVL 15. Subjugation, LVL 30. Riposte, LVL 10.</strong>


    <strong>Boons: Nychtas Veil, Eldritch Favor, Ordinators Implements, Retainers Guiding Hand</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey  Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 10. Talia  Eidolon Wolf, Bond LVL 12. Azure  Abrogated Lithid, Bond LVL 20.</strong>


    Thest month had been nothing but grind, and despite running myself ragged, I couldnt help but feel that I had precious little to show for it. That wasnt necessarily true. Reality was, leveling slowed down exponentially for everyone in the twenties. Compared to the average high-level User, I was practically sprinting through advancement, probably closing the gap with the top outliers.


    But it still didnt feel like enough.


    I pinched the ability section and widened my fingers, zooming in.


    My primary stats were still Intelligence and Agility, though somewhat ironically, I was starting to doubt the practicality of the former. Early on, every point I assigned had a clear and definitive impact. I could recall memories long since forgotten, going all the way back to childhood. It wasmon knowledge that after a certain point dumping points into stats led to diminishing returns, but the fact that I could no longer directly feel the difference was frustrating.


    Still needed to raise it, of course. <strong></strong> worked far better when my Intelligence dwarfed my targets, as well as a handful of other Ordinator abilities. But level mattered far more. Probably would have raised Intelligence higher if Nick hadnt kept harping on me for my low Toughness after a near one-shot in the tower.


    And unlike Intelligence, every point put into Perception gave an obvious advantage, amplifying Jaded Eyes natural trap-detection and ambush awareness.


    Id made significantly more progress in terms of feats. Like the Adaptive Dungeon, the Gilded Tower handed out feat points like candy, especially if you were among the first to clear a floor. The second tier of <strong></strong> not only reduced the draw of the ss exclusive mana-hungry abilities and extended the effective range of my summons, but also increased the rate of my mana regeneration in general.


    <strong></strong>bined with my sky-high agility made it all too easy to be invisible when I needed to be. Paired with both levels of <strong></strong>which functioned like de of Woe on overdrive specifically on human enemies, providing a constant stream of information about their weak points and vulnerabilities I could exploitmade dropping rogue Users far easier than it used to be.


    Though I wanted to avoid that whenever possible.


    Nevertheless, in terms of stealth-build I was almost set. All I was reallycking for my use case was a practical way to disappear when stealth failed me, which I was using a mix of items topensate for.


    In terms of directbat eh. That was a little more meager. I could scrap moderately well, and thebined psychological warfare I could reign down and bullshit I could throw out with my Ordinator abilities made me hell to deal with in a one-on-one fight with no interference, but that was in ideal circumstances. If I was outnumbered and surrounded, things were likely to get dire.


    There was an ongoing attempt to rectify that weakness. <strong></strong> was a Page Feat that gave me several basicbat skills Id be desperatelycking, starting with <strong></strong> which was effectively a counter. Counter-attacks were already a priority for me before Id received the skill, now they just hit harder. And once the skill hit 25, <strong></strong> would bestow another. Id continued to train <strong></strong> the fighting-style Nychta gifted me, whenever I could. It wasnt shy, but it was efficient and brutal. The problem was, it required me to be in some degree of flow-state. If pressed or surprised, I still had a recurring habit of falling back on <strong></strong> That was still working for now. The style was exotic and rtively unknown, but eventually I was going to need to branch out more. It just wasnt hitting the same way it used to, especially against monsters and Users with high defense.


    Last time I was caught skulking around a hostile region by a tough-as-nails bruiser with umonly high perception, Id spent nearly half-an-hour trying to bring him down before I caved and used my most recent acquisition, <strong></strong> He politely did as I asked and jumped off the roof, only the fall hadnt killed him, and considering the racket he was making at the bottom his buddies had gotten to him before I could.


    Yeah. I needed something else. Sooner, rather thanter.


    Though <strong></strong> was endlessly useful, it was definitely situational. Id picked the ability at level twenty, assuming that after I had it, <strong></strong> would take a back seat as a method of mentalmunication and subtle nudging. At first, second, and third nce, they seemed more or less linked. Suggestion allowed me to put thoughts in the minds of others, hopefully resulting in action. Command skipped the hope and forced that action.


    There were quite a few differences in practice.


    To use an extreme example, if I painstakingly convinced someone they could fly with <strong></strong> the thought would probably persist. Theyd keep thinking they could fly even after they were proven wrong. Depending on personality and frankly, how stupid they were, they might even climb to the top of something high and try again. <strong></strong> didnt persist the same way. Nor did it fill in the nks and try to justify the action to the target like <strong></strong> The target simply felt apulsion to do as asked, and after they carried themand out, thepulsion faded.


    Which meant Perceptive Bruiser spent the next few days screaming about how the mystery intruder forced him to jump before I could get to him and edit his memories with <strong></strong> My only saving grace was that they hadnt connected me to Myrddin. In his mind, I was just a random stranger.


    The longer I could keep people from realizing that Myrddin had powers ofpulsion, the better.


    And of course, the only recent addition to my boons was <strong></strong> I knew precious little about it, beyond that it was a gift from Hastur. It had no dropdown text, which made me think it fell in the unregted, system category.


    Beyond my existing build, I didnt really have a n for twenty-five. I think, on some level, I was hoping thered be a skill evolution, something to help me even the ying field. But if there wasnt, I needed toe up with an alternative.


    After a few hours spent scrolling through feats and noting up with anything definitive, I received a message that filled me with dread.


    <strong></strong>

 Chapter 253

    Chapter 253


    It should have been easy. After all, Id spent plenty of time people watching, and it took only a cursory familiarity with modern day media to get the general gist of what you were <em>supposed</em> to do. It helped that the basics werent entirely alien to me.


    Have a n.


    Be consistent.


    Make conversation, but dont talk too much. Show the capacity to be a good listener, but make sure to add something to the conversation.


    Be amicable. Friendliness and banter goes a long way to deescting tension.


    And of course, dont be creepy.


    Sae hammered the importance of thest point home. She seemed to enjoy her self-appointed role as my rtionship coach a little too much, ever since Id made the mistake of consulting her on a series of texts. The downside of that being the fact that her idea of teaching was repetition, and she seemed to fully expect this to blow up in my face. Which made me nervous.


    <strong></strong><strong><em>way</em></strong><strong> down.></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I swiped my messages away in annoyance, then checked myself in the mirror. A simple suit jacket over the top of my hoodie, white button-up underneath. Jeans, brown loafers. Couldnt do anything about the dark bags under my eyes, but for the most part, I was satisfied with the ensemble. It was moreyers than Id consider wearing in the dead of winter, but I could put up with it for a few hours. Despite my earliermitment to not rush, in the back of my mind, I couldnt escape the feeling that this was a waste of time. That all I was doing was spinning my wheels when I needed to be doing something else, anything else. The feeling of problems piling up, a never ending collection of spinning tes, was only exacerbated by the timer. Too much to do and too little time.


    Another message came in, and I nearly ignored it before pulling up my UI


    <strong></strong>


    I stopped mid-step.


    <strong></strong>


    Sunnythe more violent, less predictable co-leader of the suitshad been in the wind for weeks now. With his loyalists consistently disappearing or meeting with unfortunate idents hed put two and two together and split. Das was a big city, but it was still only one city. There were only so many ces for him to hide with User powers in y. With that in mind, Id cheated. Sent Max to scout likely hiding ces, narrowing the search by factoring in Sunnys known associates from Miles fed intel. When that didnt work, I had Max more or less searching a grid, using his evaluation ability to ascertain the likelihood of finding Sunny within potential hiding ces.


    I hadnt really expected it to work. If we could get to Sunny, thatd go a long way to removing one of the more problematic tes from my collection, one thatd been bothering me for some time.


    Itd be one thing if I thought his hiatus would stick. That it was a full-blown retreat, rather than a tactical one. Sure, hed threatened me, threatened my family, but I could be practical. If my problems were willing to eliminate themselves, I was more than happy to let that happen.


    But I had a feeling Sunny wasnt hiding. He was biding his time, lying in wait. And in istion, hed have all the time in the world to review who his enemies were, and narrow down the undoubtedly long list of who could possibly want him gone. He was one of the few people living that could connect me to Myrddin. In a way, he was even more likely to do that


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    It wasnt great. The once grand Galleria, a massive three-story mall, first ravaged by the rise of Amazon and other online retailers, was practically derelict before everything kicked off. The few shops that remained were looted in short order after the dome appeared. Now it was a honebed husk of closed down retail stores and broken ss, popted by nothing but ghosts and the homeless.


    To furtherplicate matters, the Galleria straddled the border of region 19 and region 20, slightly more on the neen side. If the rest of us were living in some weird System dystopia, suffice it to say that 19 and 20 were living in Mad Max. Significantly more guns, unhinged Users, and pissed off civilians than practically anywhere else. The only thing thatd stopped them from bing more of a collective problem was that ever since the first transposition event they seemed to hate each other more than the rest of their neighbors and were perpetually at war with them. Said neighbors stopped engaging with them once they started driving around in system vehicles augmented with very much non-system firearms.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I hesitated, not entirely sure of the answer.


    <strong></strong>


    More than a few. Practically every week since Id rescued Nick. It wasnt like I was avoiding her intentionally. There was just always somethinging up, something critical I couldnt ignore. Realistically, given the clear scheduling issues, I wasnt sure why she was still interested.


    Come to think of it, that really was strange.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I closed the message with a dismissive wave and headed out the door.


    /////


    Had to hand it to the cleaning staff, the lobby was as sparkling as ever. The marble floors were reflective enough to be mirrors, and you had to look close to notice a few deep gouges in the wooden panels and impact craters no amount of polishing could hide. Beyond those, and a few short Corinthian columns absent busts, there was little evidence that the violence that urred in the city atrge had spilled over here.


    I walked past a woman in a golden dress, probably a half-inch taller than me, looking for Tara, finding the lobby mostly unupied other than a man at the front desk and a few people moving in and out of the front-facing restaurant Tara worked as a waitress at.


    I nearly moved that way, guessing she may have gone over to check-in before a voice called out from behind me.


    Matt?


    As it turned out, the woman in the golden dress <em>was</em> Tara. Id only ever seen her in her work clothes, but what had really thrown me off was the makeup. Either she didnt usually wear it, or her makeup for work was of the lighter, more natural, variety. Not to call her current make up heavy, but with careful contouring on her cheeks and <em>something</em> shed done to her eyebrows to make them darker, in contrast with her curly blonde hair, gave her a distinctively fresh look. It must have taken hours. Paired with the designer heels and light pink clutch, she was dressed to the nines. She offered me a small smile, smokey makeup crinkling around her brown eyes.


    <em>Oh, no.</em> Jaded eye murmured


    <em>Oh, no.</em> I agreed.


    Oh no? She repeated, confused.


    <em>God dammit. Of course I said that out loud.</em>


    Uh, sorry. Underdressed. Just gotta go back upstairs and change. I muttered, overwhelmed with a sudden desire to run away.


    No, you dont. She grabbed my left arm in both of hers, wheeling me back around towards the door. Rx, you look cute. Then, lower, almost whispered. And if I let you get on that elevator Im guessing I may never see you again.


    I forced an awkward chuckle and escorted her outside.


    The drive to the restaurant, while still somewhat awkward, was less harrowing than it could have been. Tara was skilled at filling silence, regaling me with personal details and stories about her life. It wasnt the inane chatter of a narcissist, or someone with a hyper-inted self-image. There were plenty of pauses, for me to either confirm Id heard what she said, or offer ament of my own. She was unexpectedly upfront, and in being so gave me a much better idea of who I was dealing with before we even reached our destination.


    A&M, public rtions major until she put that on hold on ount of her brother Ethan. Details got a little cagey there, but I gathered that their home life was far from the best, seeing how Ethan emancipated. Regardless of why, he wanted to live with her, and for the state to recognize her as a conservator she had to hold a full-time job.


    So Tara dropped out of college and made it happen.


    They had an Uncle in Austin they were friendly with, but they didnt see him much. Mainly on holidays or whenever Tara could get weekend consecutive days off work.


    By the time we reached the restaurant, I was mildly disappointed. But not for any of the reasons Id expected. Ever since Hastur screwed with my head, itd been harder to be cold, more difficult to do the more unpleasant things I needed to do. Most of the time I just did them anyway. This was supposed to be a farce. A fake, superficial rtionship drummed up to conflict with Miless rmingly urate profile. Tara was perfect for it. She lived in my building, shed pursued me first to save me the time, and she didnt quit easy. She was also stunning and would easily draw attention away from me.


    I just wasnt sure I could follow through.


    There were enough markers, enough simrities, that I could recognize the trappings of a young adult that forced to act as a parent because the people who were supposed to fill that role, failed.


    I knew that life. Id lived it. And it was hard enough without some schmucking around and wasting your time.


    So, as the hostess escorted us to our table next to the window, I resigned myself to calling it. If dinner went well, and I didnt get the sense that she was ying a part, Id do what I could to help her, connect her either to Kinsley or people in the Adventurers Guild who could offer her a better position. If I was right, shed work her ass off. And it was the least I could do for wasting her time.


    We sat across from each other, easing into our chairs as the waiter poured our water and lit the candle in the center, leaving while we perused our orders.


    Throat dry, I picked up my cup and tilted it to my lips.


    So, Tara ran her fingertip across the rim of her ss, crystal emitting a pitched hum. How long have you been living a secret life?

 Chapter 254

    Chapter 254


    Slowly, I swallowed and ced the ss back onto the table.


    Aw, no spit-take? Tara pouted. Thought Id timed that perfectly.


    At a quick mental prompt, Azure took form in my shadow, creeping down and crawling beneath the tablecloth.


    <em>Find out what she knows.</em>


    <em>Your wish is mymand!</em> Azure replied cheerily.


    He wouldnt be as strong here, in the city. If we were in a realm of uros, like a dungeon or trial, given enough time he could have told me almost everything about Tara, from what shed had for breakfast to her deepest, darkest secret. In the real world, hed be limited to surface-level thoughts, which shouldnt be a problem, seeing as how she broached the topic herself.


    I smiled, baring my teeth. Interesting ice-breaker.


    Tara nodded. I get told Im interesting a lot. Mainly by men, though. So Ive never really been able to piece together if Im actually interesting or if interesting is just code for nice C-cup.


    By some small miracle, I ignored the bait and kept my gaze at eye-level, using <em>Awareness</em> to scan the room without appearing to do so. No one else looked out of ce. Nothing in the parking lot had set off <strong></strong>


    If this was an ambush, she was the only one springing it.


    Depends. Where are they looking? I asked.


    Usually at my chest.


    Then its a mystery, I suppose.


    Tara squinted at me. Huh. Youre catty, I didnt figure you for catty.


    We all make mistakes. I said ndly, doing my best to buy time for Azure. The conversation lulled as the waiter brought out bread and butter, and Azure returned with good news and bad. The good news was that she had nothing concrete. She was irritated at how long Id made her wait, but more curious about what shed seen. The bad news was that she was observant, savvy, and had an eye-for detail, and shed been snooping around more than Id realized. Tempering that slightly, Azure was fairly sure she hadnt talked to anyone about her observations.


    You always start out first dates with an usation? I asked, smoothing the napkin over myp once the waiter was clear.


    Nope. Really wildin out right now. Tara rested her chin on her palm. First date is usually buttoned up, conservative, calm. She made finger-quotes. Non-offensive. The nosy, meddling side of me rarelyes out until date three.


    So youve expedited the process.


    More like you Byzantined the process. She stared at me like I was slow. First, I see you around the building. Not usually my type, but my type tends to be fluid, so I try not to draw that conclusion too early. Eventually, I put together from context that youre the guy who got hibachid to keep this ce from going full-on hunger games that me and my brother would have inevitably been ughtered in, and hey, suddenly, youre one-hundred percent my type. I keep my fingers-crossed and my eyes open. And nownow Im probably talking too much. She stopped at that, her expression glum.


    No, keep going, Im enjoying this. As soon as I said it, it shocked me to realize that I was. Though my guard was still up, with all the cloak and dagger in my life as ofte, it was refreshing to hear someone be so straightforward.


    She carried on as if shed never stopped. So Im there, working the seven-to-three, fingers-crossed and eyes open, when you finallye in. Unfortunately, youre not alone. <em>Fortunately,</em> you have a kid brother. One whos clearly too-cool-for-school that you seem to be earnestly trying to connect with. Score. Suddenly we havemon ground, something we can connect on.


    I grimaced, knowing what wasing.


    Only, its not going so hot. Tara shook her head, her expression sympathetic. God, I wasnt even trying to listen and I could tell that kid was ripping you a new asshole. Just tearing you to shreds.


    Trying for a blowout. I agreed quietly, without even realizing I was talking. There was no harm in confirming that much. Shed seen it. Easier to keep someone out of your business if they want nothing to do with you.


    But you didnt give it to him. The blowout. Though from what little I heard, that would have been more than justified. He gave you a royal beat down, and you just sat there and let him vent. Like how do you even do that? She sat back hard, cocking her head at me.


    Tension at home? I guessed


    Tara rolled her eyes, then nodded. Yeah. Yeah. Ethan and I we were always copacetic, you know? Like there isnt that much to fight over when youre just trying to keep the lights on and everyone understands that. But She extended a hand toward the roof. After the first event, he was one of the civilians elevated to User status and I stayed a waitress.


    Started getting ideas about who needed to take care of who.


    Oh, did he. Tara chuckled. No worries sis, Ill just throw myself into danger so we can have more money. Like thats not thest thing I would ever want for him.


    Like youre just supposed to forget how young he is. All the mistakes you had to cover for. Because fucking up in the old world, thats recoverable. Hard, sometimes, but part of growing up. I filled in the nks easily, with thoughts Id had countless times myself.


    But now, if you fuck up out there She slid a finger across her throat. Several types of dead. Easily. In a second. Suddenly, her expression went from aloof to stern. Stop being so understanding and making me like you more. Im trying to set the scene here.


    I held my hands up in mock surrender, mildly amused. Are you always this radically honest?


    Definitely not. She cringed a little, offering a half-smile. Considering how I almost diedst time, I guess the timer and whole second-event-on-the-horizon-thing is driving me to be a little bolder. Which is probably stupid, because in my experience guys hate that.


    Im not like the other boys. I said,yering the statement in as much irony as I could muster.


    Gross. Tara rolled her eyes again. Anyway. I see this pick-me


    Hey


    get absolutely obliterated by his brother. My first instinct is to shut it all down. Hes having a bad day, probably not the best time to talk to him. But then Tara tapped her cheek. I get an idea. A way to my g my interest and maybe make his day a bit better. So I write my full name down


    With a heart over Strd.


    She pointed at me again. She pointed a lot. Exactly. Hoping hell get the message. Then, after a lot of wondering if he just wadded up the receipt and threw it into the trashcan


    I winced preemptively.


    He finally hits me up. Only itste at night. Hes smart enough not to go straight for the kill, starts out by asking about getting coffee, but Im getting serious booty-call vibes. Her smile faded a little. Tested the waters, and he went for it. Little disappointing, but I figure, thats fine. Hes cute, probably saved my life, and since he lives in the same building and will inevitably want a repeat performance, this might be a convenient way to blow off steam.


    And then the fucker immediately kes on you.


    <em>Exactly.</em> She drew the word out in disbelief. So, Im curious, and more than a little annoyed. Still, maybe its legitimate, maybe he has a good reason. Im half-expecting a hungover apology in the morning, but that never happens. Naturally, I assume he has a girlfriend, had a moment of weakness and gave into temptation. Shitty, but it happens. I keep an eye out, for my own voyeuristic satisfaction if nothing else. No girlfriend. A few nightster, I spot him leaving, alone. But I never see hime back. What I do see is him,ing into the restaurant in the mornings, dark bags under his eyes, absolutely beat to shit, nursing injuries. He hides them well, but I see it in the way he cringes when he moves wrong. Off doing User things, has to be. I catch him leaving a few more times, but again, I never see him until the mornings. So I have to wonder, where the hell is he going, and if hes taking that much of a beating every night, why does a region leader never bring anyone with him?


    Azure was right. She didnt have anything. Nothing more than a series of coincidences. But if she mentioned those coincidences to the wrong person, it could make my life considerably more difficult. And if she was as perceptive as Azure thought she was, it was better to avoid a direct lie. Stay as close to the truth as possible.


    I smoothed the tablecloth. Its how I started. Working alone. I imagine the same way as a lot of other people, in the early days. Like you, Im used to being the only person my siblings can rely on. Thats all a little different, ever since the first event. I looked out the window for emphasis. They have a vige now.


    Your life has changed. Tara nodded along.


    For the better. But, theres a part of me that misses being self-reliant. Theres a certain sce in it, when your life is the only one youre responsible for. And thats a far cry from then way things are now. I said, not having to fake the wistfulness in my voice. Sure, I could probably tap a few people from the Adventurers or Merchants guilds to tagalong. That would probably be safer. But if Im being honest, going out there, exploring, looking for realms of uros


    Its your way to recharge. Youre an introvert, and its the only time of the day you arent around people or responsible for something. She bought it, hook, line, and sinker.


    Exactly, I smiled, then let the smile ebb. Maybe its reckless. Its not meant to be, its just


    Tara shook her head. You dont have to exin yourself to me. I get it.


    We both jumped as the waiter appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Aplimentary bottle for the table. He ced a bucket of ice on the table, removing a green bottle and filling a ss. I nearly opted out, before Tara stopped me with a quick shake of her head. Begrudgingly, I sat back and waited as he finished and left the bottle to the side. What will we be having this evening?


    Christ, I hadnt even nced at my menu. Didnt help that every dish was written in Italian, and other than spaghetti, the rest was Greek to me.


    Tara carried on, nonplussed. I think Ill have the osso bucois that garnished with gremta? When the waiter confirmed that it was, she nodded. Perfect. And hell have the spaghetti a chitarra con polpette di vitello.


    I rxed, giving her a look, to which she stuck out the tip of her tongue.


    Before the waiter left, he pped me on the shoulder and leaned down with a wide-smile. We deeply appreciate everything youve done. Then disappeared just as quickly.


    I waited a few seconds, then asked. What the hell did you just order me?


    Spaghetti and veal. She blinked. You said earlier you wanted spaghetti and I know you like veal from the restaurant.


    She wasnt wrong.


    What did you get?


    Veal.


    Then why are none of the words the same? I wondered.


    Dunno. I speak fine dining, not Italian. She peered at my bubbling ss. Are you straight-edge?


    Complicated.


    Obviously, but I was referring to the champagne.


    Again, I felt a strangepulsion to be honest with her. I carefully took stock, mentally reciting memorized information, making sure there wasnt some sort of spell or skill-affect screwing with me. Nothing. Neither <strong></strong> or <strong></strong> picked up on anything being cast.


    If anything, all my inner-voices were quieter around her.


    And I didnt know what to think about that.


    Theres an alcoholic in the family. I admitted. When Tara immediately paled, I waved a hand. It doesnt bother me on a fundamental level. Dont mind being around other people drinking either.


    Cost benefit analysis.


    Hm?


    The decision to not drink. Tara said, taking a long pull of champagne, staring at me over the rim. Whatever short-term jollies you get from a trip to vodkano, wait, not enough self-loathingwell-whiskeynd isnt worth risking the chance you have the gene.


    Azures read was perfectly on the mark. She <em>was</em> dangerous.


    Partial credit. Had to give her that.


    Her eyebrow shot up. Got it wrong?


    Not entirely. A small voice stopped me. This wasnt the sort of thing I usually shared. Yet, despite that, I shared it anyway. The alcoholic gene factors, but its not that I wont, or that I dont want to. Its that I cant.


    Very vague. Enigmatic. If thats what youre going for


    Theres no headroom. No ounting for errors. If I fuck-up, things go bad in a second. Its always been that way. Sometimes it doesnt matter, and things go to hell beyond my control. And when that happens, I need to be ready. So naturally, Im constantly expecting the worst and preparing for it. Given that, most of the time I clutch it out. I thought about the tunnel. But sometimes I dont. And its hard enough to deal with the fallout of failure when I didnt voluntarily do anything to impair my judgment.


    Well, that was a mood-killer and a half. From my understanding of how these things went, this was probably the point where shed go quiet, wed finish our awkward dinner in silence, and never talk to each other again.


    Only she wasnt looking away. Her expression was coy, almost yful. How would you change my outfit, given the chance?


    What? What?


    Answer the question. Come on, I want your opinion.


    I looked her over, keeping my expression neutral, careful not to linger. From the golden dress, to the matching earrings and perfectly coiffed hair, I had no notes. She clearly had a far better grasp of fashion than I did.


    Do you have boots or sneakers in your inventory?


    She half-shrugged, smoothly swapping our sses so it appeared like Id partaken of the champagne. ts, in my bag.


    Then nothing.


    No way she was running in those heels if everything went to hell, but of course, she had a backup n. I wasnt attracted to her. But that was hardly her fault. Itd be fair to say Id never really been attracted to anyone. But I could appreciate the presentation, the effort shed put in, and the attributes that inevitably made her attractive to others. Museum rules. I enjoyed looking, even if I had no desire to touch. In some ways she felt like a kindred spirit, simr to me, yet entirely different.


    Okay, fine, Ill bite. Why the fashion consult? I asked.


    Guess I was curious. Tara took another long-pull, evening out our sses. If youre a controlling asshole with unreasonably high expectations of everyone around you, or really just that hard on yourself. She nced out the window thoughtfully. Come to think of it, if youre that disciplined, Im guessing youre not even here for me. Centrally located restaurant, window seats. Thats all intentional, isnt it? Youre showing me off. Or at the very least, making a public demonstration that youre not worried about the timer.


    Feeling slightly guilty, I channeled Nick. What sane person wouldnt want to show you off?


    Her eyes went dark, glittering with challenge. Fair warning. Dont give me the hot-cold treatment unless you want me to drag you to the bathroom, right fucking now.


    I stopped channeling Nick and shut the fuck up. Then spent an inordinate amount of time mentally reviewing the restaurants possible escape routes.


    Suddenly, Taraughed until she was tearing up.


    I bristled. <em>Great</em> joke.


    No, no. Trust me. That wasnt a joke. She wiped a tear from her eye. Imughing at how quick on the draw you are with the poker face. One second youreyou knowvibing, quietly enjoying yourself. She raised a t hand and drew it downward, expression transitioning to deadly serious as her hand passed. Her voice took on an rmingly urate depiction of my deadpan. Then youre about to make me an offer I cant refuse.


    I took a deep breath, allowing myself to rx. Considering how reserved you are at workpared to now, something something pot and kettle.


    Finally. Tara leaned forward. Come on. Hit me.


    What makes you think I have anything to say?


    Other than that infuriating smirk on your lips and the fact that weve already established that youre catty? Tara folded her hands and rested her chin on them. Ive been poking at you for thest half hour. Its only fair y.


    Youre not going to like it. I warned her.


    Dont tell me what I will and wont like.


    Whatever this was, whatever she thought she felt towards me, the only justifiable reason was that she didnt know me. And I had a feeling, based on our encounter so far, that if I didnt give her a genuine answer, she was just going to keep pushing. Maybe it was better this way. I wouldnt give her everything, not enough to send her running, simply enough to ensure any reasonable person would lose interest.


    Fine. I drained my water ss, cing it on the table with a clink, then leaned forward and studied her. You dropped out for Ethan, but hes not why you didnt finish your degree.


    Taras smile vanished.


    I kept going. You didnt ditch PR. Youre too passionate about it. It wasnt a loss of motivation or being overworked. With night sses or online courses you could have easily finished it with the time you had, probably tacked on a masters while you were at it. Not to say you were stagnant. Anything but. Im guessing you kept up your studies independently, read what you could when you could, and at some point realized finishing your degree academically was pointless. You found a mark, some under-tapped market that the archaic monoliths of corporate PR werent reaching. And in that vacuum, you found opportunity. Smart money says you wereworking, trying to form the connections to get that particr effort off the ground.


    Taras mouth opened slightly, as if to say something, but no words came out.


    Not at any fault of your own. Dome surprised everyone, fucked up more ns than god. You kept your head down, kept working at the same ce. Youre a hard worker. Not exactly a deep insight, anyone who sets foot in the restaurant can see that, but I still think it deserves mentionbecause you perfectly suppress your true personality, and the professional mask is so good I didnt catch a hint of it. Which is saying something. But it takes a toll. Youre I stopped, noticing the ssiness in her eyes.


    Keep going. Tara whispered. Im enjoying this.


    <em>Okay.</em>


    Youre I swallowed. Sexual. Possibly hyper-sexual, not that its anyones business other than yours, but you asked. Im guessing having to stay so straitced at work aggravates that, but theres something else. A note of thrill-seeking to it. You were willing to hook-up with a guy you knew practically nothing about and had never held a conversation with, and Im not egotistical enough to believe there-was-just-something-about-me. Youve done this before.


    So Im a whore. Her expression was cold.


    I shook my head. No. Semantics aside, it may not even be about the sex. Unless Impletely wrong, Im guessing risk-taking is part of your coping mechanism. The way you deal. Not knowing what youre walking into amps up the risk-factor, and therefore, the enjoyment. Same reason you confronted me so openly about my secret life. Willingly exposing yourself to risk and chaos helps make the stringent control you have to enact more bearable.


    There was a long, tense silence. Tense enough that when the waiter arrived with our steaming tes and ced them on the table, he delivered them wordlessly and retreated. I was almost entirely certain Id said too much.


    <em>This is where she tells me to fuck off.</em>


    Tara shifted, the strap of her dress slipping down one shoulder. Her warm breath washed over me as she whispered. Im wet.


    I swallowed.


    Im ace.


    The spell was broken. Almost immediately Tara leaned as far back in the chair as she could, her eyes wide. What.


    My words came out in a rush. I mean I probably am, I dont know, its never really been relevant until now


    Stop. She pinched the bridge of her nose. So, the bootycall


    Was entirely idental. I admitted.


    And this isnt a I always thought I was asexual until I met you, Tara, situation?


    Pretty sure it doesnt work that way.


    She blinked several times, holding a hand out to one side in confusion. Was I imagining it? Do we not have chemistry? Because Ive been on a lot of first dates and this is the first time its felt like were in danger of setting the ce on fire.


    I snorted. More of that trademark honesty, even in the face of rejection. You werent imagining it.


    So you felt it too.


    Yes.


    Just not in a way that involves taking me back to your penthouse and tearing my clothes off. She confirmed.


    Yeah. I sighed.


    Fuuuuuuuuuuuck.


    This has been a waste of your time.


    Tara scoffed. Hardly. Ignoring the possibility you get all weird and start avoiding me because of the awkwardness of me thirsting over you at dinner, Im pretty sure I made a friend. She eyed me. And you got a chance to confirm something pretty crucial about yourself. Thats hardly a waste of time, even if were all monster food two weeks from now.


    I drummed my fingers on the table. She was being magnanimous, but the scales still didnt feel even. About Ethan.


    Uh-huh.


    This isnt exactlymon knowledge. I know you can keep a secret


    And how do you know that? Tara asked, amused. If anything, Ive probably given the impression Im a bbermouth.


    I fought the instinct to nce away, remembering what Azure had told me. Shed seen more than enough to gossip, yet shed kept her mouth shut. And that was before she even knew me. Maybe I was giving her too much credit because I liked her. That concept was almost entirely new to me. But it felt right, and this was more of an open secret than anything else. Call it a hunch. Tylers been working on a program for kids and teens with User status.


    Tara raised an eyebrow. Tyler, as in leader of the Adventurers Guild Tyler.


    Got it in one. Anyway, your situation isnt unique, even within this region. Theres no small number of kids withbat sses who are either orphaned or suddenly have a newly strained rtionship with their civilian parents. More whose parents are too busy or too scared to teach them. Plenty of them ranging out into dungeons on their own, and we both know how many people died during thest event, children included. Tyler thinks the best course is to get the kids used to their sses and powers, as well asbat, in a semi-safe setting.


    Semi-safe. Tara repeated, unsure.


    Right. My eyes slid to the side. No ones died. Most of it is giving them easy quests on the surface and sparring with each other. But nothing can really prepare you for livebat but livebat, so there is asionally some danger involved. Every couple weeks, the adults scout a low-level dungeon, either confirm that there are no problematic monsters or clear those monsters out, then supervise as the kids go through it. Theyrepensated for any work they do and they keep the loot they find. Theyre also, for all intents and purposes, considered full-fledged members of the Adventurers Guild.


    Given that, how would they be deployed? Tara asked cautiously.


    Theyre considered reserves. Tyler has a bigger soft spot for kids than I do. In all likelihood, the only reason theyd be deployed would be in dire straits, if there was a good chance the entire regions getting wiped out. And theyd be augmenting the adult squads, not deployed on their own. Anyway, its not perfect, but its something. I shrugged.


    Safe to say, Im very fucking interested. Ethan would go for that in a second. Tara brushed her chin with her thumb. A light flicked on behind her eyes. The reason this isntmon knowledge is that the Adventurers Guild doesnt want the other regions to think theyre training child soldiers.


    I nodded. She caught on quick. Tylers still working on how to spin it.


    In truth, I wasnt sure there was a good way to spin it. Regardless of what our intentions were, it was effectively what we were doing.


    Taras eyes flicked back as she chewed on her bottom lip. What about the other regions?


    Hm?


    You said my situation wasnt unique.


    Its not.


    Then were not the only regions dealing with it. Tara mused. If Tyler was willing to open up this program to children in the same situation in other regions, it would dissuade suspicions, especially if you were willing to take on teachers from those regions.


    Unaffiliated with the Adventurers Guild.


    Exactly. Beyond the obvious advantages of helping kids who need it, itd be a chance to bridge the divide, encourage unity across the regions. She continued, growing more animated.


    <em>And open us up to spiesrge and small. Nave.</em>


    Taras expression turned sinister. Imagine the pipelines that would open. Not to mention a mountain of good will. Theyd have to limit the outsiders exposure to our region, of course, no reason to give away information for free. And kids talk, so itd probably be better to keep the outsiders in a separate group from the local kids. But think about it. If you have the option of attacking the region thats been helping keep your kid alive or turning on the other guy, how exactly do you think thats going to go?


    It was insidious, beautiful, and just a little bit evil, all wrapped in the package of doing something that was legitimately good. Something Tyler would one-hundred percent go for. It wasnt something Id broach to him until after the second event was over or avoidedinviting the children of other regions over just before the transposition was <em>guaranteed</em> to be a bad lookbut after? It had a hell of a lot of merit.


    The gears in my mind turned. Id been shirking my duties as Region Leader. In no small part because I worked better from the outside. As support, rather than the star of the show. At first, Id believed it to be little more than a title that asionally made a decision. But the longer I stayed here, the clearer it was that these people, regardless of their history, looked up to me for saving them.


    And the only thing more surprising than that, was that I didnt want to let them down.


    Id been thinking too long, evidenced by the crestfallen look on Taras face. Thats probably a little stupid and hical


    Do you want a job? I asked suddenly.


    /////


    We spent the next hour ironing out the details. Tara would work for me and Kinsley, effectively doing what shed always wanted to do. Running PR. Coming up with ways I could help my region and helping me work on my image. Id all but discarded the idea of using her as a beard beforeto my utter shockshe brought it up herself, on the basis that shed go a long way to softening the almost-literal-chip-on-my-shoulder and staving off unwanted attention. Wed meet once a week as a date in somewhere public. I tested the water, asking if shed be willing to undergo something like a geas, and she was surprisingly fine with the idea, citing that it wasnt all that different from an NDA, something public rtions types typically signed as a basic matter of course.


    Yet, I couldnt shake the shadow of a doubt that I was missing something. It wasnt something Tara herself had done, it was something else, something in the negative spaces I couldnt quite define. I was used to fighting tooth and nail to get what I wanted, tapping into every reserve I had to cinch out an ideal oue. Yet with Tara, things had gone smoother than I could have possibly dreamed.


    <em>It doesnt have to be a bad thing. Maybe your lucks finally changing.</em> Azure said.


    I ignored him and walked Tara to the curb. Evening was fast approaching, and Sunnys number was finally up. But I found, to my abject surprise, that the anticipation and bloodlust that would typically apany that thought simply wasnt there.


    Tara bnced on the curb and looked back at me in a daze, her once-perfect hair askew in the breeze. This has been a lot.


    More than I bargained for as well. I nced down the road. The white shuttles served as public transport around the region, now that the diesel-chuffing buses of old were more or less out ofmission. Sure you dont want me to drive you?


    No. She brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear and shivered. Ive taken up enough of your time. And you sort of just changed my whole life, so, I kinda want to be alone and process.


    As the shuttle approached, Tara opened her bag and swapped her heels for ts, bncing easily on the curb as she did so. Then winked. Just in case something happens and I need to run.


    Your wisdom knows no bounds.


    She climbed the steps, paused to wave, and then she was gone, shuttle headed back towards ourplex. Her absence left me with a strange feeling, and a lingering unease I couldnt put my fingers on.


    Absentmindedly, I pulled up my UI and scrolled through my messages.


    <strong></strong>


    Next.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Next.


    <strong></strong>


    Perfect. Only he was messaging me as Matt, which made this tricky. I hit him back, asking if hed be willing to help out a friend and confirmed payment, then passed along Saes contact details. Shed be the only connection to me, keeping Myrddin out of it.


    <strong></strong>


    I paused on Kinsleys message, wavering in indecision. In the distance I saw the brake lights of Taras shuttle as it stopped, picking up another few passengers before the brake lights faded and the shuttle took off again.


    Finally, I tapped the call button, and swiped the UI away, watching as the shuttle disappeared around a distant city-block corner.


    If it isnt my broodiest, least responsive employee. She chirped.


    Ha ha.


    Date didnt go well? She asked.


    I shook my head. The opposite.


    Youre shitting me.


    I rubbed the ever deepening lines of my forehead. I need a favor.

 Chapter 255

    Chapter 255


    The strike team operated out of the same abandoned warehouse Id plucked a merchant girl out of what felt like a lifetime ago. We had a few other meeting ces and fallbacks, but this hadonce againbe something of a second home over thest few months.


    When Kinsley was here, she hadnt spruced the ce up much. Something about the concussions and her fathers kidnapping put a real damper on her aesthetic preferences. The whole time the two of us worked out of this ce, it stayed spartan.


    It lookedpletely different now. Id told Astrid and Astria it was temporary, but that hadnt stopped them from decorating, putting up posters, bizarre and unconnected art pieces,mps, a dark-brown pullout couch and several reclining chairs. And of course, a high-learning sized white board, which was currently pushed to the corner of the room, half concealed beneath a curtain. I honestly should havee down on them harder for the constant ornamentingthe entire point of using this ce was that it <em>looked</em> abandonedbut the truth was I didnt have the heart.


    Especially considering how Astrid couldnt stop gushing about how nice it was to stay in one ce.


    Another reminder that I was getting soft.


    Then again, I had to remember that Gemini was the star of the show here. The twins brought more collective firepower to the team than Max, me, and even Sae could leverage collectively at any given time. Maybe letting them liven the ce up was a perk that came with the territory.


    Max was doing basic maintenance on his crossbows in the corner. I turned him towards them. Beyond his previous association with Roderick, his background was a mystery, but he was one of many frustrated Users who had extensive pre-dome experience with firearms and found themselves unable to leverage that skill. That frustration was doubled when you factored that Maxs Estranged Officer ss was almost purely informational. His evaluation power was invaluable, but he didnt have manybat skills. And as someone in almost the same exact situation, I knew crossbows would trante well. Took him a week to get a solid feel for them, after that hed been upgraded from pure scout to auxiliary ranged.


    Sae and Astrid were quietly discussing something in the corner and didnt appear to be arguing. That in and of itself was umon, as outside the field, their aggressive personalities tended to set each other off, and it took a measure of discipline not to send Azure to listen in. There was no reason to breach their privacy. If it was important enough, Sae would bring it to meter.


    Astria was talking my ear off per usual. She got nervous pre-mission, and unlike her sister, seemed to ce a lot of faith and trust in me, given our history.


    Taking dual-cast at level seventeen is the obvious choice. She continued in a stream-of-consciousness that barely required my input.


    Mhm. I said. Wed already talked about this.


    How is dual-cast different from what the two of you usually do? Taliacurrently manifested in her darker, shadow formlifted her head and asked.


    When we cast together, were magnifying the same spell. Dual-cast would allow us to do the same thing with either the same spell or two different spells, quadrupling the firepower. Astrias eyes twinkled. And thats not even getting into the reactions we could set off if we mixed different elements. Super-heated steam, maybe evenva if we do it right.


    Seems like a wise investment. Talia nodded approvingly.


    How close are you to leveling? I asked, trying to re-engage with the conversation and ignore Sae and Astrid.


    Close. We should both tip-over tonight if this ones worth as much XP as thest one. Astria said, then her enthusiasm waned. Wont matter though. Not if I cant talk Astrid into it.


    That was surprising. For as long as Id known them, the twins had been more or less of one mind. Besides the day wed met, this was the first hint at internal tension Id gotten from either of them. Astrid wants something different?


    Astria chuckled nervously, pointedly not looking at me and ying with her hair. Its no big deal. Shes just dragging her feet a little.


    I waited.


    Talia looked between us in confusion. I do not understand how this matter involves feet.


    Figure of speech, Tal. I murmured, keeping my focus on Astria. Means her sister isnt picking up what shes putting down.


    Shouldnt the person who put it down pick it back up? Talia blinked.


    She thinks were focusing too much on offense. Astria admitted, seeming disproportionally ufortable with the statement from the way she shifted and refused to make eye-contact.


    I shifted the mask on my face, feeling a degree of responsibility. If the counter-argument is she wants to boost your defensive spells, Astrid may be onto something. The way the strike-team fights is perfect for taking out isted, high-level targets


    Assassinations. Astria chirped.


    Or abductions. I said, cringing slightly at her wording. Anyway, ny percent of what we do is location and timing. The remaining ten percent is unloading as much focused power as we can in a short-time.


    Move quick, hit hard, get out. Astria repeated what had be the strike teams mantra.


    Its worked for us so far. I nodded. Even I was surprised at how sessful wed been without a tank, and itd been my decision to go without. But its a niche strategy. If you go up against numbers or end up in a prolonged, sustained conflictwhich will happen eventuallytheres a good chance of burning up your mana reserves before the fights over.


    Astria nodded. Maybe we can put dual-casting off for the next level, then.


    I wanted to inquire further. If Astrids hesitancy wasnt limited to theirbat bnce. Shed been letting Astria take the lead more, which on the surface, seemed like a good thing. Astria was far more useful now that she was taking a varying degree of initiative than when shed been following her sister around like a ghost. But what if there was more to it?


    Myrddin. Max had twisted at the waist and called across the room, still caught up with his equipment.


    Whats up?


    Got the special payloads mostly figured out, but with what we know about this guy Im struggling a bit. He held up two different bolts. One was dark-green and splotchy, the color of mud speckled jade, thick tip forming a variation of the ssic bodkin point shape. The second was bright silver with a hollow mechanical tip. On impact, the broadhead would expand, increasing the wound channel.


    It was a rtable problem, one Id been toying with in every hypothetical that involved Sunny. The only time Id seen him in the fieldthe night of the tunnelhed been wearing te. Given that, the armor piercing lowhil bolts should have been the natural choice. The issue was he moved <em>fast</em>, faster than a man in heavy armor should have been able to move, and I wasnt confident the AP bolts could punch through whatever expensive, probably magic-reinforced attire he was using. Id be morefortable walking into this if mymission from the Orders cksmith was ready, but they were still days away from that.


    I opened my mouth.


    Max interjected preemptively. Before you say it, Im already nning on bringing both. The question is, which do I load?


    I closed my mouth and considered that. Most basic system crossbows worked simrly to their real-world counterparts, sole difference being that the string would mechanically auto-draw. Only the lowest-level, garbage-tier crossbows required the foot-in-stirrup routine. Advanced, higher-level crossbows varied a great deal more. Single-fire, internal chambers, even a few cartridge variants. I knewbecause I picked it for himthat Maxs crossbow used a rotating internal chamber. It couldnt blow through ammo as quickly as a semi-automatic firearm, but it could get bolts down range faster and more urately than the average sightless bow.


    The downside, of course, was reloading. Bolts had to be seated into slots in the internal cylinder one at a time, not unlike a shotgun, and there was no fast way to switch projectile types. They had to be manually unloaded the same way they were loaded.


    Hows your uracying along? I asked, leaving Astria behind and crossing over the room to his workbench. Last outing I hadnt seen him miss much, but I wanted to know what he thought of it.


    Max shrugged. Still internalizing the lead and drop at different ranges, which makes hitting a moving target harder than it should be, but in general? Pretty damn on the dot, if I do say so myself.


    I picked up one of the heftier lowhil bolts and spun it on my thumb, extending the fletching side towards him. Load the armor piercing. Ill run broads out the gate, so well start with all our bases covered.


    Fair enough. Max loaded five bolts then set his crossbow on the bench, turning to massage the shoulders of the young man sitting in Kinsleys oldputer chair. And Im sure Renato here will warn us if weve got the wrong idea before shit hits the fan, now that hes finally decided to show up. Max jostled the younger man, as Renato glowered at him through dark eyes. Isnt that right, Renato?


    Renato was our eyes in the sky. Like Max, his ability was informational, though wed kept the nature of it vague. He was able to monitor events through magical means and give us moment to moment updates duringbat.


    Or at least that was how Id pitched him to the group.


    In reality, Renato was Azure, my shapeshifting summon. I wasnt keen on repeating past mistakes, and underutilizing my summons in order to hide connections between me and Myrddin had been a big one. Azure couldnt just take on any face. Hed gone to great pains to stabilize this human version of himself outside a realm of uros, and until I reached a higher level, couldnt change aspects of it easily. His current form was vaguely Hispanic, and like me he had dark hair and dark-eyes. None of his features were particrly striking, keeping him intentionally nondescript as possible.


    The downside was he insisted on keeping the worst aspects of my personality.


    Excuse me. Renato drug his eyes away from the screen, staring down Max with a withering stare. I had a thing I couldnt get away from and already pre-cleared it with Myrddin.


    The thing in question of course was taking over as Myrddin, showing face at the meeting between Aaron and Tyler, fielding Tylers, Kinsleys, and my many questions about what happened at the tail end of the event. I didnt have to use him as an alibi nearly as often now that enough people had seen us in different ces simultaneously, the earlier morning being a rare exception.


    Renato continued. At least I didnt party too hard and show up to a mission I was supposed to be atte, with a hangover.


    Whatever you say porcupine. Maxughed awkwardly, probably squeezing Renatos shoulders more than strictly necessary before he turned and retreated to his equipment.


    Gregs on his way. Sae announced suddenly, shuffling into the overcoat that hid her more insectile features. Were rolling out in two minutes.


    Thats the contact getting us into the Galleria? Astrid asked.


    Uhuh. Sae confirmed. Friend of a friend, so be friendly.


    Should I pull the van around? Renato spun around, and I spotted a barely there gleam in his eye. For whatever reason, Azure really liked to drive.


    Sae shook her head. Stay put. Astrid will teleport us to the subway stairwell. Well meet him on the road.


    I coughed. Gregs driving?


    Yep. Said they know his car.


    I didnt argue, but I wasnt sure what to think. It made sense Greg had a car. Rtively, it was probably a lot easier for him to make money in the dome than it had been in the world before. And even if he hadnt bought it, there was no end to the number of abandoned vehicles that littered the side of the road. It was more having witnessed the manic abandon with which he frequently bombed downhill on a shopping cart that was putting me ill-at-ease.


    There hadnt been a suitable moment to break the news to Sae. Not just that there was a cure for her condition, but that someone else needed it more, and it would likely be some time before weid hands on the second. Telling her now risked distracting her before the mission, a risk I wasnt willing to take. Still, I needed to tell her tonight if possible.


    Hey, Myrddin. Sae called out to me, ncing at the wall. Sidebar?


    I followed her out of earshot of the others.


    You ready to get this fucker? She asked, as I leaned against the wall beside her.


    Been a long timeing, I said.


    Are Sae hesitated, some of the sharpness in her expression blunting. Are we sure Nick shouldnt be here, for this?


    I shook my head.


    Sae lowered her voice further. Its just stuck in my head. We all lost something in that tunnel. But Nick loved her. Like, really loved her.


    So did you. I pointed out.


    In my own bitchy, cunty way, I guess. Sae huffed augh, and wiped her nose. Still, were the survivors, you know? The three of us. It feels weird to not have him here.


    She wasnt wrong. For the longest time, Id believed Sunnys involvement was limited to poor management. That hed simply failed to keep his people in line at a critical moment. But the more distance I put between myself and that event, the less likely it seemed. It wasnt that Id learned more about Sunny and how he operated, though that was also true. More that Id gained life-experience.


    I could say definitively, that the best way to break a group like ours had been was to create the same exact oue hed identally achieved. Swiftly and brutally killing an auxiliary member to your target when you had the numbers advantage was a perfectly efficient manner of breaking morale.


    It was something I nned to ask him about, if he surrendered before he stopped breathing.


    I get it, I reached out to brace her arm. Then again, its not gonna bother me. If all goes well tonight, Im gonna go home, and probably sleep better than I have in weeks. And considering I the barrage of colorful ideas I had to talk you out of if we had a chance to interrogate him, Im guessing its not gonna bother you either.


    Probably. Sae admitted.


    Nick isnt like that. We bring him along tonight, and that shit will haunt him. He deserves the chance to move on with his life. Leave Sunnys clusterfuck in the rear-view.


    Sae breathed out, then nodded. Cant be the wisecracking hero if youre buried in self-doubt. She looked passed me, to where Astria waspleting a runic circle that glowed blue. Teleport ready?


    Now it is. Astria stepped back, reviewing her handiwork before she grinned. All aboard!


    I stepped into the teleport circle first. And the world swirled away.

 Chapter 256

    Chapter 256


    We were in the field now. The van was deathly quiet, pumping AC and struggling engine drowning out most noise. None of the witty banter, or nervous tittering that pervaded my first team. Even Astria was mostly silent, humming an atonal repetitive melody that was barely audible even with enhanced hearing.


    I nced in the rear-view from my seat in the passenger side.


    Sae and Max sat in the two pilot seats in the center row. Maxs face was scrunched up, fingers tapping quietly on his knee while he stared at his UI, waiting for his evaluation ability toe off cooldown. Beside him, Sae sat cross-legged, her chitinous ankles hanging off either side of the worn fabric of the seat, her hands rxed and palms upward, eyes closed. Behind them, the twins sat on either size of a bench seat sized for three, if the person sitting in the center was a hobbit.


    The way they were sitting seemed off. Not their bodynguage or mannerisms exactly, but that there was a space between them at all. Theyd always been closely knit. Almost clingy. This was anything but. Astrias legs were angled towards the center of the isle, as if she wanted to close the gap. Astrids,paratively, were pressed against the door.


    The saying had been repeated so much that it was almost trite, but that didnt stop it from being true. A persons legs and feet generally pointed in the direction they wanted to go.


    Which, for Astrid, was out the fucking door.


    Again, I was tempted to ask Sae about it. And again, I resisted. Whether it was prayer, or meditation, or silently and maliciously manifesting harm upon the people who wronged her, Id seen her do this often enough to understand that it was her version of a high-performing athletes pre-game ritual.


    <em>She of all people would have told me if something was seriously wrong.</em>


    More realistically, Astrid was probably tired. The new dawn of recovery and health potions meant, barring a severe injury, we could be back on our feet the day after a mission, and ready to go by evening. But they did nothing for the mind.


    Fatigue was inevitable.


    For the moment, I dropped it, giving them onest look before I rested my head back against the seat. An unfamiliar sense of pride washed over me. They were a good team. Wed been through a hell of a lot of shit together in a rtively short period of time. Most of them had doubled their levels since they started, putting them miles ahead of the pack. They werent cheery or high-energythe nature and stress of the work didnt allow for thatbut they were effective. And there were no egos to get in the way, no irritating edge cases that would inevitably spin out of control.


    Which left me with conflicting emotions. Waging war on Sunnys sector of the Order was tireless, sometimes terrifying work. People in his orbit seemed to have a propensity for pulling the most hair-raising bullshit out of their ass. That was the part I was more than happy to finally put to bed. It meant I could stop ying nightmare batman and go back to fighting monsters for a change.


    Put all my efforts into helping Nick andpany climb the tower.


    It was possible that some or even all of them would stick around. Sae obviously would, but Gemini and Max I wasnt so sure of. If they did, I intended to give them smaller assignments adjacent to what Nick and I were doing in the Tower. Keep them active, and continue pushing leveling opportunities their way.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I closed the three-way chat before my summon and scout inevitably started sniping at each other.


    A bit of carpet caught the edge of my boot as I shifted in my seat, and as I looked down to smooth it, I noticed debris, the usual crumbs that adorned a minivan floor. It wouldnt have stood out to me at all if the middle wasnt immacte.


    <em>He vacuumed.</em>


    Nice ride, I said, keeping it casual.


    Greg jumped, stealing nces, probably looking for sarcasm. When he found none, he smiled widely for the first time since he picked us up. You think?


    Sure. Plenty of seats, plenty of space, mge that doesnt want to make you gouge your eyes out. Whats not to like?


    Aint had a car for a long time. Long, long time. With all the tooth and w going around, figured Id invest. Had options, you know. Plenty of em. People throwin around money like it grows on trees, System giving out money for pattin your own ass. With all the green, could have bought something fancier from mini-miss-bezos but, I dont know. Probably silliness.


    There was a lot of truth to that. The system would kill you in a second andugh about it, but it never stopped seeding opportunity. Even for civilians.


    Gregs car was a pre-system navy blue dodge minivan, at least ten years old.


    I weighed the wisdom of continuing this line of questioning, weighed the chances of me giving myself away, then decided it couldnt hurt. I wanted to know how hed been holding up. Greg was a regr presence in my old region, long before it had that designation. And more to the point he seemed nervous. I mean its practical. But whyd you pick this specifically?


    Silliness. Like I said. Gregs expression turned nostalgic. But if you really want to know, I was hoofing it in uptown. Moving quick, cause the fuzz around there gets real staticky if you make the economical choice of pushing your shit around in a basket. So Im looking out, head on a swivel. Valet line for Fyre is already around the block. Audi, three-hundy, Audi, Range Rover, Audi, <em>Lambo</em> you get it.


    Bunch of rich bastards queueing up to pay two-hundred bucks a te.


    Gregughed. Yeah, you get it. He paused. You local?


    Transnt. I lied.


    But you been here long enough to get a feel for the ce.


    I nodded.


    Anyway, at the front of the lineand despite me desperately needing to get up out of thereis this dusty minivan. Greg squinted, gesturing with one hand. And this bougie-ass, Americas-Next-Top-Model-ass, woman gets her and her Prada bag out the car. Hands her keys to the skinny valet, ignores the way hes wrinkling his nose, and struts inside. It stuck in my head a little.


    Because of the dichotomy. I filled in.


    Crazy. Weird thing was though, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It was old, but it wasnt a beater. Plenty of trunk space and seats for whatever she might need them for. But she could have parked that thing packed full of one-hundred-dor bills in the middle of stop-six and nobody woulda looked at it twice. Figure even though I finally got some value to my name, if I go too shy, someonell just find a way to take it away from me. This though? He smacked the dashboard. If it was good enough for her high-society tomfoolery, its good enough for me.


    It was a good story. But Id spent enough time talking to Greg without the mask to know he was leading up to something. I let him simmer, his eyes glued to the road.


    He spoke without looking at me. Yall a quiet group. Serious.


    Tired, more than anything. It was a busy day.


    Greg continued as if he hadnt heard me, exiting the freeway. The Galleria boys are alright. We go back a ways. Crashed with some of em for a few months, had a little spot under I-45. Nothing too big. Few scuffles in the night but we kept it down. And kept a thumb on the loud ones so they didnt call down hell.


    Sounds nice. Communal. A memory sparked, something I couldnt quite put my finger on.


    Greg shook his head. Yeah but hell has a way ofing, whether you call or not. City came in, hosed us down, took our shit and threw it away. Most of us rabbited before it got bad. Then the boys in blue beat the ever-loving piss out of the ones who didnt.


    I winced. The over-funded cleanup was what I was remembering. At least one person died.


    You think theyll see us as a threat? I asked.


    Are you a threat? Greg asked, his eyes flicking towards me.


    No. I repeated the previous line. Were here for a bounty, nothing more. Guys a sick bastard. And the Galleria settlement will be safer once hes gone.


    Gregs hands tightened on the steering wheel. If any of em catch a stray, theyll me me.


    That wont happen. Id make sure of it. If we did this right, Sunny wouldnt know what hit him.


    Gradually, the roads began to fracture, flecked with detritus and potholes. We drove slower, partially to give Azure more time to look for threats in the ruined streets and bombed-out buildings, partially because Greg didnt want to ruin his ride. Once it came into view, the Galleria was surrounded by a wall that looked to be made of every material in existence. An amalgam of metal, plywood, and dirt, topped with a chain iron-fence topped with spiraling barbwire that ran the length of the top. Despite the messy aesthetic, it must have been a massive undertaking.


    Greg came to a stop at an enormous sliding fence on what used to be the Gallerias southernmost exit. A spotter on a rickety looking tform hollered behind him, and after a few tense seconds, the gate slid open.


    Anyst words of advice? I asked Greg, suddenly feeling out of my depth.


    Dont go barefoot. Greg half-smiled. Then his expression grew serious. I guess, just remember, this is the most a lot of these folks have ever had. If you treat them well, theyll remember. But in our heads, were still waiting for the hoses. If you take from them? They wont ever forget it.


    Greg elerated, maneuvering the minivan inside slowly, as the gates slid shut behind us.

 Chapter 257

    Chapter 257


    We were ushered into a shipping warehouse attached to the east side of the Galleria at gunpoint. Sae, Astrid, Astria and Max wore simple white masks with cutouts that allowed them to see, leaving me as the only person appearing to show my face.


    More eyes followed us than Id prefer, both our escort and the myriad of people aroundideally, we would have snuck in without consulting with leadership at all, but the new reality of the Galleria didnt much allow for that. <em>Everyone</em> was heavily armed, with more automatic weaponry than Id seen in a single area that wasnt waving a certain g. There were less Users than expected, but they made up for it with heavily armed civilians. None of them were dressed poorly. For the most part, their clothes and gear were either new or in good shape. Their backgrounds were betrayed only by the plethora of worn visages and windburnedplexions


    Come to think of it, they were likely this well-armed because they had to be, considering their choice of settlementid between two aggressive, warring regions. The galleria straddled both, and therefore, represented an overwhelming tactical advantage to whichever side took it first.


    And the fact that it was still independent of both was a statement of its own.


    In the car on the way over, Greg confirmed some things Id only heard rumors of. A man referred to ubiquitously as The Steward led the settlement. Hed been something of a street legend before the dome. If you were homelessespecially newly homelessthe first piece of advice youd receive from the more experienced individuals who shared your situation was to find The Steward. ording to Greg, hed show you the ropes, teach you both how to survive and be invisible in an otherwise hostile environment. Hed also give you a crash course in what you could and couldnt scavenge, and differentiate between the gray-legal ventures that were lucrative, and the too-good-to-be-true sort that would rain hell down on your head.


    From the way it sounded, he was reasonable before the dome. But I knew all too well that just because a person was reasonable before the system didnt mean theyd stay that way.


    So, with caution in mind, I took a seat in a metal folding chair, across the from The Steward. The rest of my team hung back, and after Max confirmed that the chance of an ambush was low, tried to force myself to rx and take-in the man sitting across from me.


    For all the hype, he wasnt what I expected, but that was probably the point. In-line with what Greg told me, he had the sort of presence that could blend in almost anywhere. If I had to guess, from the male-pattern baldness and salt-and-pepper, I would have put him around advanced middle-age, though stress and exposure to the elements could make the homeless appear far older than they were. A trench coat with the arms cut off adorned his slight shoulders, and he was wearing a faded ck Sabbath T-shirt over what appeared to be considerable armor that covered his vitals. A twelve oclock shadow shrouded his jaw in bristles, and he appeared to be studying me just as intently as I was observing him.


    <em>Shall I take a peek in his head?</em> Azure asked.


    I considered it, before sending my summon a mental negative.


    <em>Hes a region leader in everything but name. There was no bullshitting, no posturing, no time wasting attempt to make us wait to reinforce the power dynamic. Whatevers in his back pocket, hes confident.</em>


    <em>Or he wants something.</em> Azure countered.


    Both were probably true. Either way, I didnt want to risk a potentially beneficial connection on the off-chance Azures surface level reading was detected.


    Still, the silence was killing me. I used silence as Myrddin far more than I ever had in negotiations as Matt, as the uncanniness of the mask tended to get under peoples skin after a while. But I got the feeling it wouldnt work on The Stewardwho I mentally dubbed Stuart, simply because the preceding The was bothersome.


    I was about to speak first before Stuart pulled an arm from beneath the table, presenting a deck of worn red-backed bicycle cards. Do you gamble?


    <em>Russian immigrant. Hes suppressing the ent but its there.</em>


    Not when I can help it, I answered.


    The crows feet around his eyes crinkled at that. A wise answer. He shuffled the deck, cards blurring in a cascade of clicks, then ruffling as he bridged them. Despite his gnarled fingers, the movement was practiced and easy. Which created the first note of warning in the back of my mind. Because, in my fathers words, a good shuffler was often the first sign of an experienced hustler. Do you know why it is wise?


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the vition.


    It had the sound of a hypothetical, so I shook my head.


    He continued to manipte the cards in varying types of shuffles, some Id never seen before. Gambling is ruinous by nature. It has been the undoing of many a man beneath my purview. Gamble long enough, and your undoing is all but guaranteed. He ced the deck to the side and steepled his fingers. But we cannot live without taking considerable risks. They can be mitigated, but are never truly gone. We are left with a paradox. We should not gamble. Yet, we must.


    I had to hand it to him. It took a special kind of person to project this much gravitas with almost no presentation. The leader of Rodericks Lodge had styled himself as a king, going so far as to secure a crown and castle, and he held perhaps a fraction of this mans regal aura. A man whoagainwas wearing a ck Sabbath T-shirt.


    I allowed a small smile. Like howdespite having never met us, you allowed me and my team to keep our weapons.


    Stuart scowled. That is a risk Ivee to realize cannot be mitigated.


    Oh?


    Inventories. Pocket dimensions. Bags that transform dangerous items into seemingly harmless utensils until they are drawn out again. The god damned market delivery. He waved a hand in frustration. It is an area where prevention is simply unsustainable. It is better to simply trust those who are proven. Isnt that right, Greg? Stuart cold gaze shifted toward where Greg stood, nervously in the corner.


    Y-y-yes, Steward. Greg stammered, stumbling over the words as his voice echoed over the concrete. Friend who asked for the connects a good one. Even let me hideout on his couch a few times when the asphalt was boiling or my shit got stolen. Wouldnt do us no harm.


    So youve said. Yet youve refused to give this mysterious third party a name.


    Greg visibly struggled. Hes a private person. Wouldnt like it if I was throwin his name out and about.


    <em>Damn. Gregs taking more of a risk with the referral than I realized.</em>


    It made sense. We knew each other in the way you can only know someone whos lived in the same sphere as you for years. Id done him a number of favors over the years, many of which hed returned, but this was by far the biggest. I had to be careful here. Make sure I didnt put Greg in more of a bind than Stuart already had him in.


    Normally, that would be enough. Stuart nodded regretfully. But ever since you crossed our threshold, the He hesitated, considered his next words carefully. let us say, angel, on my shoulder has been disproportionally concerned.


    Angel, I echoed, my mouth going dry.


    <em>Deity. Has to be.</em>


    There was always a risk that region leaderseven unofficial oneshad some sort of patron. After all, I was one of them. Thebined effects of <strong></strong> and the Ordinators mask were more than enough to shroud me from direct identification as the Ordinator by the wandering gaze of any deity. But if that deity were to look closer, I had to guess the absence of certain information would create a question of negative space.


    I paused long enough to check-in with Max and make sure nothing had changed. The likelihood of ambush or apprehension had increased by a single point, from two to three. It wasnt nothing, but it was still small enough to be a rounding error.


    By threshold, you mean I cocked my head.


    When your vehicle passed through our gates. Stuart answered.


    Then I guess, I have to wonder why Im sitting here. I leaned back, resting my hands on myp. There were multiple points after our arrival that this meeting could have been aborted. You could have turned the car away, used your numbers to detain us.


    Perhaps these things did not ur to me.


    I cracked a smile. <em>Please.</em> You dont hold the most tenuous position in the city by being ipetent. And Im guessing this I knocked lightly on the felt table. Isnt just here for the sake of a metaphor.


    Finally, the side of Stuarts mouth quirked upwards. Correct. On both counts. The angel on my shoulder is generous, but when ites to personal judgements, she can be a bit how-to-say hasty. Often, my instincts align with hers. When they do not, I find it better to resort to more primitive methods.


    Whats the game?


    To ascertain what kind of man you are.


    I meant, what are we ying?


    The game of your people, of course.


    Colonialism?


    Hold em.


    I nodded. In theory, Id have more control in something like five-card or ck Jack, but there was still plenty of opportunity there.


    And whats the buy-in? I asked.


    He pointed the deck at me and smiled. The second most important question. Im thinking, we throw in something tangible. You will either be paid up to ten-thousand selve to join our guild as a restricted member, or pay up to that same number depending on the way the chipsnd.


    That it was a ten-thousand selve bet arbitraged through the system was the obvious part. The part I was supposed to notice. What was less obvious was the fact that both oues ended with me joining his guild. A restricted guild member was often temporary, and could see little to nothing about the guild or members. Meanwhile, guild leaders could see almost everything about a restricted member.


    My feats covered my ass in that regard. If that was what he was gunning for, he was headed for disappointment.


    In addition, if you win, I will allow you entry into our home. If you lose He paused, examining me. then you will take off this mask my angel says you wear.


    Fuck.

 Chapter 258

    Chapter 258


    It wasnt going well. In the sense that it wasnt going quickly. The Steward was an extremely cautious yer who rarely bet on the first round. And while I did my best to affect the shuffles, there was a limit to how specific I could be. After the shuffle ended and the first three cards flopped, Id find mixed results in my favor, and be more or less confident in how the rest of the round would go. Even if he only bet the minimum, the results were inevitable.


    If it was just a question of winning, it was already in the bag.


    The problem was I was pretty sure it wasnt about who won. The Steward had hinted that gambling was a method of getting a gauge on a person. It made sense. You could gauge a far more authentic picture of what someone was like when they had money on the line. Caution, greed, ability to evaluate risk, performance under pressure. He was looking for something, and I wasnt sure what.


    That hed not-so-casually presented the information that he had a patronor at least something that functioned as a patronbegged more questions than it answered. Possibly a bluff, to dissuade his opponent from cheating or a distraction from something else. I decided early to not use Azure to cheatbetween Probability Cascade and the low-action happening early in the rounds, it was better not to risk it. Especially with a potential patron in y. Instead, he was lurking in the shadows of The Stewards surrounding men, making sure none of them were paying disproportionate attention to anything problematic.


    He wasnt running squelch, so there was a real possibility of cross-talk and outside interference.


    Of course, ams razor said he simply wasnt aware. Squelch was a feat that was more beneficial the less well known it was. Miles told me about it during the transposition, and Id told a handful of others. Considering how often I ran into it passing through other regions, it was safe to assume it was a known factor in most leadership circles around the city. But it was rarely discussed openly, and well-hidden in a proverbial mountain of perks. If these people were as isted as they seemed, it was entirely possible that no one had stumbled across it.


    Which meant theyd gotten to this pointholding a sizable chunk of territoryentirely without it. More than impressive. Even if it was hard to picture. And it presented an irresistible opportunity.


    He folded, and I collected the pot,ting a measly two-hundred selve. At this rate, Sunny could leisurely walk out of the settlement and be long gone by the time we finished.


    After the reset, I bent back the corner of my cards. Two-of-Diamonds, Five-of-Spades. No existing pair or possibility of a strait or flush.


    <em>Dogwater hand. </em>


    <em>Found the spotter.</em> Azuremunicated excitedly, voice unusually high. <em>Guys directly behind you, staying out of the others peripheral.</em>


    I tilted my head, trying to get a look at the guy without giving it away. Dreadlocks framed a craggy face masked in focus. His thumbs were hooked into his belt. And he was all but openly ogling my side of the table.


    I bet well over the minimum before the flop, testing Azures theory.


    And The Steward raised, all but confirming it.


    <em>How are theymunicating?</em> I asked my summon, keeping my expression neutral.


    <em>Hand signals.</em>


    Old school.


    That The Steward was cheating was disappointing, but not surprising. After all, we were both cheating. It made sense. Only a fool would wager giving a stranger ess to his region over a mere card game.


    However, this revtionplicated the way forward with his so-called judgment of character. With the spotter, he could see my cards even when he folded. Winning would take forever and out me as a cheater, the sort of hands I was regrly pulling with Probability Cascade being statistically unlikely, if not borderline impossible.


    I needed to incentivize keeping his word. And I had a good idea how.


    <em> Leave The Steward alone. Otherwise, gloves are off. Surface scans on everyone in the room. Go invasive if theres something worthwhile. Dont get detected.</em>


    <em>What am I looking for?</em>


    <em>Anything about their situation, their rtionship with regions neen and twenty, resources. Anything and everything theyre afraid of. Then summarize it. </em>


    <em>And the spotter?</em> Azure asked.


    I considered that. <em>Whats his int?</em>


    <em>Not an idiot, but nothing to write home about.</em>


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    <em>Leave him for now.</em>


    Needed to y the minimum for a while, give Azure time to work. I nced over my cards, sighed, and folded. The Steward wordlessly collected the chips and cards and shuffled.


    How am I holding up? I asked.


    Hm? Now that the game was underway, he seemed annoyed by any attempt at conversation.


    Guess Im curious if youve gleaned any insights, through the tao of Texas Hold em.


    Mock all you like. It does not matter. While I cannot yet make a definitive ruling, one thing is certain. Stuart almost chewed the words. I trust you less than when we started.


    <em>Because youre losing.</em> Naturally, I didnt say it out loud. Not that he was a sore loser, more with thebination of cautious y and cheating, he <em>should</em> have been winning. And he wasnt.


    Just out of curiosity, I started, tossing five-hundred selve worth of chips on the table and raising the pot. If you wanted to make sure no one in this room was tossing messages back and forth, how would you do that?


    Are you tossing messages back and forth? Stuart asked, point nk. He called, evening out the pot.


    No. Not the point. The question is, how would you stop it?


    His expression was impassive. But not without the slightest glimmer of perplexity, as if Id asked how one might invert gravity if they were so inclined.


    I do not have this concern. But in an increasinglyplex situation, the simplest solution is best.


    Meaning?


    Limiting variables. To start, I would send everyone but the two of us out of this room. He drummed his fingers on the table. And instate a timer to increase the tempo of the game. Naturally, this carries with it other risks. Stuart grimaced. Not to mention questions of intention.


    Like why a person who wasnt cheating would bring up counter-measures during a card game.


    <em>Okay, Ive got plenty to work with.</em> Azure returned, a slight imprint in the shadow at my feet.


    Region neen and twenty had been fighting since the transposition. Neen ripped the other region off, potentially screwing them in thete hours, only for twenty to almost immediately make aeback. The resource region neen won, forpletion was titante, a rare metal with a high mana resonance that could hold significantly more potent enchantments than something like steel, seeded within the naturally urring realms of uros within the region.


    Of course, it wasnt that simple. If the forge fire ran too cool, the metal wouldnt melt, and a forge fire that ran too hot would obliterate the magical properties that made it desirable. The difference between the two was only a matter of degrees.


    There was only one reliable method for stabilizing the forge fire at a perfect temperature. Kolbor. A substance which, to the knowledge of everyone present, only existed within region twenty.


    Cue the ensuing clusterfuck. Which was, coincidentally, the only thing allowing the Galleria to remain untouched. They were an entrenched, otherwise unaffiliated third party. Neither region neen or twenty could afford tomit to an extended engagement with them, for fear of creating an opening for the opposing region to swoop in. Not that they hadnt tried. Both regions had sent envoys to the Galleria, all of which were politely but firmly turned away. An utterly prudent decision, if you didnt have a manner of controlling the flow of information.


    The steward and his people existed in a perilous bnce.


    Of course, none of this was my problem. But in a vacuum, I was more inclined to help these people than either of the surrounding regions. Both neen and twenty had turned their regions into wastnds out of little more than short-sighted greed.


    The Galleria folk, by contrast, just wanted to exist.


    I increased the tempo of y, slowly, but surely draining Stuart of his chips through the blinds. He maintained stoicism better than most, but after a while, his irritation shone through.


    I have a proposition. I said, finally sensing the desperation I was looking for.


    What sort of proposition? There was a growl in his throat.


    I lowered my voice. I have no desire to embarrass you in front of your men. But its obvious where this is going. In less than an hour, the game will be over. And you will have nothing to show for it.


    The money is not the point.


    Sure, I leaned forward. Its about evaluation. So, evaluate. Im in a hurry, so next hand, after the flop, Im going to raise my bet. If you win, it will be enough for you to break even and then some. If you lose, you keep the remaining chips. We never agreed to y until one of us was out, correct?


    He nodded slowly. So. That would be thest hand?


    Exactly.


    This proposal is nted. The onus of time is on you. I have no such constraints, and if I wait, the cards may turn.


    Fair enough. Then I propose we make a side-bet. One that will be invalidated if you dont call. I smiled. Win or lose, Ill give you a key piece of information that will make your current situation far easier to manage. If you dont find that information useful, then you may consider this agreement invalidated.


    Interest sparked in his eyes. That is a lot of power to leave in my hands.


    Lets just call it a demonstration of trust.


    The Steward didnt seem to like that framing, but it wasnt an offer he could realistically ignore. Apletely unscrupulous person could simply absorb the information, deem it unworthy, and call the game off on a technicality. With the terms Id set, a more scrupulous person could still evaluate the cards they were holding after the flop and back out if they had nothing. And a person in-between, with a spotter, held almost no risk at all.


    He held a stack in his hand, flipping a chip from the bottom to top mindlessly. The longer we sit across from each other, the more I am inclined to believe you are the devil my angel suspects you to be.


    <em>Damn patrons.</em>


    I leaned back, feigning disinterest. Maybe. Purely geographically, youre surrounded by devils. How many of them offer unconditional aid?


    As he reshuffled the cards and dealt, he didnt respond. But the doubt in his eyes spoke for him. If I did this right, when the time came, hed make the bet.


    It was already over.

 Chapter 259

    Chapter 259


    I pulled up the corner of my freshly dealt cards slightly higher than necessary, shing a two-seven nothing to the spotter. Or at least, that was what Azure made him see. Off-suite, it was possibly the worst hand a person could have in a game of Hold em. To dissuade any notions of too-good-to-be-true, I paired them as double-diamonds, opening up the possibility of a flush.


    <em>This would be a lot more interesting if I understood what was happening.</em> Talia grumbled in my mind.<em> "From my perspective, the two of you are doing little more than shoving y circles and throwing uniform pieces of parchment around.</em>


    <em>Even if you understand the rules, thats what theyre doing.</em> Azure pitched in.


    <em>Cut the chatter. I need to focus.</em> I quieted them.


    Across the table, Stuart looked at me with something approaching sympathy. My temporary hesitation and his knowledge of my cards probably made for a sad sight.


    Doubly so when we reached the flop.


    An ace of spades, a four of hearts, and a jack of clubs.


    Before we continue, I will allow you to walk back your bet, if you wish. Stuart said. From anyone else, that would have been trash-talk, or goading, but he seemed to have an authentic sense of honor about the whole thing. An honorable cheat. I could respect it, even if the rationale behind it was beyond my understanding.


    I let the silence ring. Recalling a childhood memory of a talent show I was forced to perform in on repeat, focusing on the most ufortable, agonizing aspects until a bead of sweat dripped from my forehead.


    Instead of answering, I shoved a pile of chips forward. Enough that The Steward would end in the lead if he won the hand without forcing him tomit everything he had left.


    Disappointment shed in his expression. To this point, you have yed a cautious game. More cautious than most. It would be unfortunate to see this ethos youve presented tossed away at thest possible moment, for the sake petty of haste.


    I brought a hand down on the table with an audible thump. Littlete to talk trash.


    His mouth worked. I was not


    Then call. Or fold. Do <em>something,</em> for fucks sake. I let full-fledged irritation into my voice.


    The Stewards eyes hardened, and the finger that idly tapped on his face-down cards grew still. If I was right, Id just crossed the threshold from an odd stranger to a fool who needed to be taught a lesson.


    Carefully and methodically, he collected chips into uniform columns and pushed them into the center. I look forward to uncovering the face you are somitted to hiding that it is obscured from even the gods themselves.


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    I crossed my arms and waited, tapping the table to signal no further bets as The Steward dealt thest two cardsinternally breathing a sigh of relief as he did not raise the pot further. The fourth card was a king of hearts, and the ultimate card, five of spades. To his credit, he didnt so much as twitch when the card dropped, waiting until I tapped myst check, officiating the end of the round.


    A satisfied expression broke the stoicism on his face, as he revealed his cards face up. A two and a three, giving him a straight. Let this be a lesson. No matter how clever one might be, it is impossible to bullshit through every obstacle.


    I sighed, steepling my hands beneath my chin. Disappointing.


    Stuart did a double-take. Youre taking this well.


    Its fine. Just seems anti-climactic. All that build up I flipped my cards, revealing an identical hand. To end it with a draw.


    The table jostled as Stuart stood upright, bashing his thigh against the table and sending piles of neatly stacked chips clinking into an orderless mess. How did His anger faded quickly, as he realized the situation he was in. He knew, definitively, that I had cheated. But voicing that usation would be the same as admitting hed done the same. The Steward fell back into his chair and looked at me. Now that he was over the initial shock, bemusement had taken its ce.


    <em>Why cheat a tie, when you could cheat a win?</em>


    Other than the clinking of chips, his already quiet men grew quieter as we divided up the winnings. There was a sense of tension that grew more palpable as we tallied the total.


    I held my breath as Stuart recounted his total, murmuring to himself with a frown. Then counted them again.


    A boisterous bellyugh ripped out of him, honest as it was deafening, startling everyone in the room. Heughed until there were tears in his eyes. It appears that I have lost. He exploded in another fit ofughter, then scowled, waving away what I assumed was his patron. Help is no longer needed in this matter. Begone.


    I sent The Steward an in-depth description of Squelch, and where in the feat list most sses could find it. His eyebrows shot up, and he whistled. This will solve many problems for us.


    He fiddled with his UI, and a prompt popped up on my screen.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Now, I would advise you to be careful, He leaned forward conspiratorially. This is not technically arbitrage, but if you leave the Guild within a month, the system will consider it so, your bounty void.


    Perish the thought, I said.


    The Steward nodded. And should you leave and return, I could not offer you another stipend.


    Damn. This was the closest Ide to a loophole for the Gifting Selve restriction. Good to know, but a shame it was so limited.


    Interesting. I smiled. And your judgment?


    You are a good man to know, and a terrible one to y cards with. He cocked his head. And while I cannot not definitively speak to where in our home your quarry lives, I can certainly guess. Though this feels a bit uneven as you will absolve problems for me as well.


    I shrugged. If its that much of a bother, Im already a temporary member of the guild. Just make a quest only for experience.


    It would also allow The Steward to set parameters for our stay within his walls, a fact that surely wasnt lost on him.


    Soon enough the quest was created and epted. The Steward assigned us an armed escort, and as they directed us towards the Galleria proper, my mind was miles away, reliving memories of a bloodstained tunnel. A long-burning ember within me caught fire. Hed threatened my family. Killed a teammate. Kidnapped my friend.


    No matter what happened, if Sunny was here, hed finally pay for it. In full.


    Tonight.

 Chapter 260

    Chapter 260


    Taking a little extra time to develop new contacts is rarely wasted effort. At worst, you end up with a much better idea of the person youre dealing with, and the world they live in. And at best, you end up with a helluva lot more support than you would have had otherwise.


    This was thetter. The Steward was so delighted with the discovery of Squelch that he offered to assign a few of his men to use in our favor. I let Azure loose, finally, and allowed him to take a peek inside The Stewards mind as that set of circumstances could screw us just as easily as it would screw Sunny. Other than some unrealistic ideas about the benefits a long-term rtionship could yield, the upside being that he was thinking long term, no hints of betrayal or ns to sell us out.


    The downside was, he suspected I was the Ordinator. I didnt know how other than guesswork, rumors, and whatever the hell his patron was whispering in his ear. The suspicion didnt seem to carry the usual stigma. He seemed to see it as a potential benefit and point of leveragefrom the systems announcement the Ordinator was presented as a powerful threat. But the nature of the announcement alienated him, made him a target. And pragmatically, the Steward was more interested in him as an ally than a ticket out.


    Either way, I had no intention of confirming it for him. The Driftless were in deep shit, the sort of shit I couldnt afford to get mired in with everything else on my te.


    But, if things ever went cataclysmic and left mepletely burned with everyone I knew either dead or gunning for me, I had a ce to go.


    There was a slightfort in that.


    They escorted us through the Galleria proper, finding the interior almost entirely transformed. The skeleton of the mall itself was still there, glossy floors, esctorssome of which were still workingbut almost everything else was altered. On the ground floor, there was a massivemunal crafting area superimposed over the wide-open space that was once arge skating rink. A few storefronts were untouched, but most were heavily modified, ss windows removed, reced with finished wood or brick, adorned with a three-digit-number card ced somewhere on the front.


    <em>Commercial turned residential.</em>


    And unless I was misinterpreting the purpose of the handful of tanks that towered at regr intervals, they had running water going as well.


    All of it was far more borate, clean, and permanent looking than Id expected. It was no wonder the Driftless were so attached to this ce, clinging to it stubbornly despite the hostility of the surrounding environment.


    Theyd put down roots.


    Check it out. Our civilian escort grinned. The sides of his head were shaved, remaining hair curving up and bouncing as he walked, like a cockatiels crest. Went by Cisco. He pointed the muzzle of his fuck-you-very-much shotgun toward the center floor. The weblike metallic piping and spouts arranged over plots of dirt arranged directly beneath the skylights were immediately recognizable.


    Hydroponics. I raised an eyebrow.


    Are you growing weed? Sae asked, suddenly very interested. <em>Please</em> tell me youre growing weed. When I gave her a skeptical look, she shrugged. What? I havent been able to take a damn breath since this shit started.


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    Hah, I wish. Cisco shook his head. Be nice to get a proper chill on. There are some herbs and medicinal shit, but its mostly food. We wanna be independent of the market ASAP.


    You dont trust the market? I asked.


    Do you trust food that magically appears in your pockets after you pay for it with Monopoly money? Cisco shot back, then seemed to hesitate. Maybe thats unfair. Supposedly, girl who runs it did everyone a solid when she shed the prices of healing items during the fucksposition.


    Probably saved my ass. Max admitted.


    I dunno. Just seems like a bad idea to take it for granted. Cisco continued. The cabal of divine dingos running this show have changed the rules more than once. And from what little I know, merchants get most of their inventory from nowhere, shipped in on the sky fairy express. What if, at some point, the powers that be decide they want us a little more desperate, a little less prepared, and start limiting the merchants inventory?


    No more shipments on the sky fairy express. Sae said wryly.


    Thats what Im saying, sister! Cisco eximed, either unaware of Saes irony or unaffected by it.


    Buried beneath a significant portion of tinfoil, he had a point. The small, unstable economies that had developed around the city atrge were almost entirely dependent on merchants. If whoever was running the game disabled merchants, or hell, even hamstrung them, everything would go to shit in short order.


    Self-sustainability is the way man. Cisco reaffirmed, talking to himself more than any of us.


    Astridwhod been mostly silent up to this pointsuddenly spoke up. Are you taking us in circles so you have more time to spew hippie shit, or are we close?


    Stop it. Astria hissed.


    I shot Astrid a look. This confirmed we needed to have a talk after the mission. There was a serious bug up her ass, but taking that out on our hosts wasnt going to help anything.


    Thankfully, Cisco didnt seem to take it personally. Its a big mall little girl, were getting there. Chill. He nced over at Sae. Tense group.


    Why do you think I wanted weed? Sae groused.


    Fair nuff.


    Most of the poption of the Galleria were shut up inside, given thete hour, though there were a handful out and about. Many ignored us, though I felt a handful of lingering looks.


    Up ahead


    Body. I stopped in ce, immediately tensing. Up ahead, a middle-aged man in civilian clothing syed out on the ground, one leg at an odd angle. Scarlet pooled around his head, but there was no shine to it. The blood had dried.


    Yup. Cisco said grimly. Jumped about a week ago.


    <em>And you just left him there?</em>


    And you just left him there? Astrid said, aloud.


    Cisco nodded slowly, smirking a bit. Tell you what, girl boss. Walk over and see if you can figure out why we left him there.


    Astrid, hold. Proximity? I snapped, looking to Max.


    Close. Max squinted at his UI. But Im getting conflicting readings.


    <strong></strong>


    The difference between a coin flip and near-guaranteed sess. But why?


    I glowered at Cisco in the way I found made most people exceedingly ufortable. Given that were on good terms with your Guild Leader, it would be prudent to tell us what were walking into.


    He took a step back, holding up a hand defensively. Its not a trap, if thats what youre thinking. Its just weird. Some sort of persistent area-of-effect. Our magic types cant hack it. No one really knows what it does, other than that it affects memory and seems to be limited to a small radius around this section of the ground floor. Cant dispel it, cant identify it.


    <em>Be my eyes?</em> I asked Azure.


    <em>You got it, boss.</em> Azure chirped back. There was an odd sensation, as I felt him take root in my mind, my vision fraying at the fringes


    I approached the body.

 Chapter 261

    Chapter 261


    <em>What was I doing? </em>


    I felt disjointed. Like my mind had gone on auto-pilot and my body had followed along. Slowly, I swiveled, looking back. Our escort, Sae and the rest of the team were still behind me. There was nothing inherently wrong with that. Id started walking ahead without them, scouting out the area immediately in front of us. They were holding, waiting for me to motion that it was clear.


    Ashamed to say it, but I nearly did. Until I spotted the body, somewhere around fifteen feet behind me. The man with a broken leg and a scarlet halo.


    <em>Right.</em>


    I hadn''t just been walking ahead, I was walking <em>towards</em> him.


    <em>What the hell happened?</em> I asked my summon.


    <em>Hm? Nothing happened. You nced over the body and kept walkingOooooh. Wasnt what you intended to do?</em>


    <em>Not even a little.</em>


    <em>Let me out, Ill take a peek under the hood. </em>


    I did as he asked, extending my arm and ignoring the sensation of oil trickling down my wrist as he slipped into my shadow. Considering illusions and misdirections were Azures specialty, him not picking up on the effect was downright unsettling.


    Everything alright? Sae called over, shifting uncertainly, about to take a step forward.


    Stay put. I called back. A shadow, almost imperceptible to the eye, flitted across the walkway, and back, and across again.


    <em>How delightfully insidious.</em> Azure mused. <em>Whatever it is, it doesnt affect me as strongly, but it''s definitely there. Compulsion. One that forces the belief that there is absolutely nothing interesting here and to keep moving. Cant even stay in the center for long without subconsciously drifting to either side. Its kind of amazing that they noticed this at all. </em>


    If there wasnt a body, they probably wouldnt have. <em>Can you trace the origin point?</em>


    <em> If it functions the same as the average wardstronger at the centerthen somewhere in the center of the walkway.</em>


    I absorbed that. <em>Is it permanent?</em>


    The shadow flitted back and forth a few times, then circled.<em> Probably not. Permanent wards are exorbitantly expensive and take time to set up, and Im guessing this was set up in a hurry. Temporary wards are simple enough to deal with. Anchored to something physicalIm guessing, a section of the floor, possibly a specific tile. If we destroy that, the effect should dissipate.</em>


    <em>Then whats the problem?</em> I asked. Hair raised on the back of my neck. If Sunny put the ward in ce, he was close. Very close. Probably hiding in one of the unupied storefronts within the radius of the wards.


    Watching us.


    <em>Its taking the lions share of my concentration just to stay in the radius. I dont think I could maintain a corporeal form, and even if I could, Id also need the strength to shatter concrete.</em> Azure said, clearly annoyed with the situation.


    I could rte. The setup posed a lot of problems for us, and a lot of advantages for Sunny. Nimrod solution was to have the twins blow up tiles from outside the radius. The area of effect wasnt that big,prising around three-dozen tiles, far less if they focused on the center. Problem was, that was both loud and would take time. And if Sunny had a backdoor, which he almost assuredly did, hed have more than ample time to get clear before the ward was offline.


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    It was aplex problem. I returned to the others, shaking off the mental effects of the ward and rying what Id found.


    Well, shit, Max said. He thought for a moment. Think thats whats causing the borked read?


    Gotta be. I agreed. Upshot is, we take it out, our chances suddenly get a lot better.


    Astria crossed her arms, considering the tiles and the surrounding storefronts. I get we cant take them out piecemeal. But what if we just went big? Like, really big?


    Shocker, she wants to nuke something. Astrid mocked.


    Whats the point of being able to cast powerful spells if you never use them? Astrias eyes shed as she turned on her sister.


    Dunno. Being a reasonable human being, maybe?


    I held out a hand, stopping the argument before it got started. Ordinarily I wouldnt have a problem with that. Its a question of coteral damage. I nced at Cisco. Anyone live in this section? Most of the storefronts seem intact.


    He swallowed, suddenly looking out of his element. Uh. A few did. Asked for relocation on ount of, you know, the unrecoverable body. Theres a lot of us on the upper floors though. And we figured out real quick that a ce thisrge has support beams <em>everywhere.</em>


    Astria deted. Okay, so bigs a bad idea.


    Solid concept, just not what we need right now. I patted her on the shoulder. She perked up at the praise.


    Sae crouched down, knocked at the tile beneath her feet. Not to steal the mages thunder, but Im pretty sure I can break a bunch of these in quick session. She peered up at me. And the effect is isted to this floor. What if I went up a level, jumped down and smashed it?


    Same problem. Max sighed. You fuck up, hit the wrong tile, he rabbits before we have time to fix it.


    Speaking of which. I turned back to Cisco. Lets say someone was hiding in one of the storefronts. How would they leave if they didnt want to go out the front?


    Well. He pointed to the left side. If they were on that side, theyd be straight-up screwed. Theres a few back rooms but nothing that connects to any sort of exit.


    And the right?


    Theres a connecting hallway that runs through most of this wing. Cisco confirmed.


    Hes on that side then, gotta be. Sae realized, openly staring in that direction before she caught herself. Max seemed openly unhappy with that, but kept whatever it was to himself.


    The solution hit me all at once. It wasnt ideal, and would take a good deal of cooperation from Sae. But if she was willing, it was doable.


    I leaned in and asked her quietly. How bad do you want to get this guy?


    More than Ive ever wanted anything. Sae stared me dead in the face. There was no lie in her expression, no hesitation.


    Whatever it takes?


    She nodded.


    Then I have a n.


    Max finally spoke up. The right side could be a misdirect. He expects anyone whoes looking and knocks down the ward to search the stores on the right first while he slips out behind them. Max said.


    Theres a difference between going for a fake out and being stupid. Choosing a tactically hamstrung option because its unexpected would be straight up stupid. Sae argued.


    Youre both right. I cut in. Sunnys smart. But hes also unpredictable. However wee at this, we need to leave someone in the open, preferably with an upper floor vantage, ready to sound the rm if he slips out of somewhere unpredictable.


    Ill go up. Astrid said, almost immediately. When I hesitated, she continued. Were more independent than we used to be. Astria will have ess to most of our heavy-hitting spells if Im nearby.


    It takes a few things off the table. Astria said slowly.


    Not many. Astrid countered.


    For the moment, I ignored the fact that shed jumped to volunteer for the assignment that put her the farthest from the action. Fine. We move in two minutes. Monitor your interface and get in position.


    Astrid scampered off towards the esctor, taking the moving steps two at a time.


    Max I started.


    Back hallway? He interjected, already moving towards the service door our escort pointed out.


    Yep.


    That left Sae and Astria. I trusted them both, probably more than anyone else in the group. Sae had been with me from the beginning. While Astria was a more recent addition, it was clear she saw meor Myrddin, at leastas a mentor and friend.


    But some things were better kept secret.


    You okay with clearing with me and Sae once the wardes down? I asked Astria.


    Yep!


    Then head to the other side of the ward.


    Coms are squelched. How will I know when its down? Astria asked, looking between us.


    Trust me. I said, feeling a surge of anticipation. You wont miss it.

 Chapter 262

    Chapter 262


    Like any kid from the south, I grew up around an overpoption of game hunters. Some were the exact redneck stereotype youd expect. Scruffy beards, beater trucks with mounted antlers, mouthy bumper stickers haw-hawing their truth to anyone with the misfortune of being in the rearview, and more grant open-carry than a third world war zone. Others were less rote. Bankers, managers, government officials skipped the outerment, bute November, would pack up their transit and join the oil-slicked expedition to Somervell County, eager to get the jump on Whitetail season.


    Id always regarded both varieties with a sort of distant caution, unable toe to any other exnation for the enthusiasm beyond a primal excitement to legally cull something.


    Thest month had granted perspective on the topic.


    It was about so much more than the kill. It was about the anticipation. The patience. Long periods of waiting, tracking, and searching, all building up to an often terrifyingly brief window to act, where the painstaking efforts of the lead up could be lost with a single misced step. It was the adrenaline ofnding the final blow, and the internal satisfaction that came with knowing that in order to get here, you did <em>everything</em> right.


    There was still a part of me that resisted. Recognized that Hastur and the Order put me in this position. Of the Users in Sunnys faction wed hunted, Id spared who I could. Naturally, a person backed into a corner would do or say anything to keep breathing, which made Azure a priceless resource when it came to evaluating them on a case-by-case basis. The psychopaths, predators, and truly loyal we put down. The rest were remanded to Kinsleys custody. I told myself that I wasnt beyond the pale. That I was just doing what needed doing, and once it was done, I could bury it and pretend it hadnt happened, just like before.


    I hoped that was true.


    Even a floor above the hideout and out of range, I could feel the tug, the insistent reminder that there was nothing there and I was better suited moving on. It was getting easier to identify and ignore, but the strength of the enchantment had me worried.


    Because Sunny didnt seem like the type to cast it himself. He was abination of speed and brutal strength that typically required sacrificing all avenues of arcane development. Either hed somehow stashed and spent an astronomical amount of spells on a magic item capable of casting the enchantmentunlikely, given how swiftly and decisively hed been cut off from his resourcesor there was an unknown third party who just happened to be a powerful mage.


    Neither felt right. Wed been methodical in isting him from contacts and allies. If there was someone else in there, they werepletely unknown by the rest of Sunnys people, and unless wed missed something huge, they werent with the order.


    <em>So who the hell are they?</em>


    I watched from above the abandoned walkway, as Sae traveled through the affected area, eyes nk, and tensed, fingers gripping the railing tightly.


    Almost exactly in the center, with no warning, Sae stopped a couple stores down from me. I moved further down the walkway, lining myself up a little off to the center of where she was standing. Once I was in position, Sae slowly turned. Her insectile eyes refracted red behind her mask, and her mouth split in a wicked smile that was all Azure.


    <em>Crack.</em>


    Sae dropped to one-knee, a blurring fist shattered the tile beneath her feet. The feeling of forced disinterest dissipated, and I vaulted over the railing and down, twisting in mid-air to face the storefront as Azure released her from his possession, leaping from shadow to shadow until he was inside.


    Practically emanating spite, Sae took a step forward.


    <em>Trap!</em> Azure screamed, his mental voicemingling with an alert from <strong></strong> I dropped, scissor kicking Saes legs out from under her and sending us both to the ground just as the ss disy windows exploded, screeching tinnitus overtaking almost everything else. Sae grasped my forearm and hurled me clear of the opening with superhuman strength, ss shards skittering beneath her as she scrambled into cover after.


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    Thanks. She grunted.


    Yep.


    Was that a fucking shotgun?


    Shotguns. Spread was too wide for just one.


    Astria slid in beside us. Her wand was shaking, but I knew from past experience the nerves would subside as soon as the fighting began in earnest. Inside doesnt look too big, but there are a lot of obstacles. Could freeze them out?


    I nearly agreed. Geminis frost spells were devastating. A low tier blizzard spell limited to the interior of the store could easily trigger or otherwise disable any remaining traps, allowing safe passage. With such a small contained area, the temperature would drop dangerously low quickly, potentially severely injuring or even killing anyone inside. But I couldnt shake the feeling that my earlier instinct was right. There was someone else besides Sunny in there, potentially independent of the order. Razing the ce without knowing that variable didnt feel right.


    It took a monumental amount of effort to shake my head. Wait for recon.


    Precious seconds ticked by. Azure called out the traps right off the bat and had been uncharacteristically silent ever since. I still felt his presence, so he wasnt deadbut with the gap in time, he was either waid or tied up with someone.


    <em>Need to make a call.</em>


    sh and breach, I said. I drew my dagger and a handful of crossbow bolts, extended the metal edges towards Sae. With a wave of her hand, they glowed sickly green, noxious fumes. The poison wouldntst long, so we needed to move quickly.


    Astria muttered something unintelligible. A breeze swept through her hair, motes of light forming around her and drawing inward, towards the wand clutched at her chest, illuminating the silver rod gold. Once the spell was charged to max power, she pushed against the wall, exposing as little of herself as possible and dipping the wand towards the opening.


    Instinctively, both me and Sae covered our ears and braced.


    The resulting scream was hair-raising as always, and even facing away from it, I opened my eyes to numerous purple blotches, leaned around the corner, threw <strong></strong> with a flick of my wrist, low-trajectorynding the de between two racks of womens clothes. Talia emerged snarling in a cloud of smoke, triggering two more shotgun traps and darting into the darkness. There was a low hiss of escaping gas, followed by a yelp.


    <em>Theres somethingthe bastards blinded me!</em> her voice resonated in my mind, pained and enraged.


    <em>Return.</em> I recalled the de as Talia shifted back, snatching the hilt out of the air, breathing deeply, then turning the corner, bringing my crossbow to bear.


    No movement. Nothing but darkness and silhouettes. With my tainted vision, every outward facing piece of metal and cylinder shape looked like the barrel of a shotgun. I pushed further in, relying on <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> to highlight any actual threats, ignoring the surging thrill that tempted throwing caution to the wind.


    Towards the back of the store, behind the counter, a rectangle of light shot open.


    <em>Door.</em>


    Sunnys panicked face came into focus for a half-second.


    I fired.


    There was an audible grunt, then a metal ng as the door mmed shut.


    From outside, the distinctive thwip of a crossbow fired twice more, undercutting the sound of heavy boots pounding down the hallway


    Runner! Max screamed out.


    Sae sted by, tucking her head and lowering her shoulder like a linebacker. She mmed into the back door, chitin impacting metal as she knocked it clean off its hinges, pausing for only a second before she disappeared through the door frame and around the corner, running at an Olympic sprint. She was faster than me, but only just, and I followed closely, seconds away from the exit.


    <em>He said runner. Singr.</em>


    The hair on the back of my neck raised, and I dropped into a roll, smelling ozone. A fiery red gash cut through the sidewall, exactly on my left. Somehow, it hadnt triggered perception. I whirled, training my crossbow on the obvious origin pointbehind the counter.


    A boy, no older than twelve, awkwardly holding a staff stared defiantly back at me.

 Chapter 263

    Chapter 263


    My finger tightened on the trigger. Put it down.


    Fuck you, the kid said, all spite and vitriol. His face was flushed red, and he was wearing civilian clothes. A t-shirt and cargo shorts, both ratty. From the gauntness of his cheeks, he hadnt eaten in a while. Hunger always looked the same.


    I dont want to hurt you.


    His hand trembled, green gem at the top of his staff swaying, constantly on the verge of moving off target. He looked angry, tired.


    Dangerous.


    I called out to my summon. <em>Could really use your help here, Azure.</em>


    <em>Short stacks got some serious firepower. His illusions blocked ourmunication. Trying to take control.</em>


    <em>More serious than the fireser?</em> The spell that nearly skewered me had gone off instantly, without enough lead time for <strong></strong> to trigger. If that was the cheap seats in his arsenal, I didnt want to see the VIP.


    Mana shifted, as the green gem crowning the staff glowed.


    <em>God dammit, I dont have time for this.</em>


    Last chance. I said, putting as much menace in my voice as I could muster. Put the staff down.


    The safe option would have been to fire. This sort of thing was inevitable. Both my brother and sister were evidence that the system didnt exactly discern by age. And like the firearms of the previous age, magic was the great equalizer of this one. It was only a matter of time before a kid with power ended up on the wrong side with more guts than sense.


    Please. I tried.


    His expression shifted to something I recognized. The moment of resolve transformed to action.


    <em>Shit.</em>


    There was a burst of light, and a bludgeon of energy curved from behind me, mming into the boys chest. He grunted, the staff in his hand spinning away as he mmed backwards against a shelf, knocking a stic disy-case of knock-off jewelry free and tumbling to the ground.


    Behind me, Astria gaped, her chest heaving from the exertion. WhyWhy is there a kid here?


    Dunno, I shook my head, then started moving towards the door. Eye-in-the-sky says hes powerful. Make sure he stays down?


    Ill keep watch. Astria nodded, her focus returning as she shrugged off the residual shock.


    The kid murmured something barely intelligible. Almost impossible to make out.


    Almost sounded like Dont hurt him.


    I took off down the hallway, moving at a dead sprint. There was no sign of Astrid, Sae, or Max, and no way to check in with them as the Galleria folk were still running squelch. Multiple lockers and doors had been thrown open, probably Sunny trying to throw obstacles in the pursuers path. I followed the trail, falling deeper into the mask, suppressing the ramping anxiety.


    I was pretty sure Id hit him with a poisoned, armor piercing bolt. While Saes poison wasnt generally lethal to Users, it was a debilitating paralytic. After a matter of minutes, hed have trouble moving. After ten, he wouldnt be able to walk. If Sunny was as clever as he acted, hed figure that out in short order.


    And hed make a move.


    As it turned out, Sunny hadnt made it far. His once perfectly coiffed salt-and-pepper hair was wild. Both Sae and Max had backed off, given him space. For good reason. The most likely scenario yed out in my mind. Sae and Max had chased him from behind, while Astriahearing the callout, had circled around to nk. Either shed frozen, or miscalcted how quickly Sunny would close the distance.


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    Now he had an arm around her throat, steel barrel of a 1911 pressed to her head. Wheres the fucking bogeyman? Come on, bring him out.


    Jinny whimpered.


    I went cold. In that moment, the day of the tunnel yed on repeat in my mind, over and over. Only now, I could see him for exactly what he was.


    A throwing knife twitched in Saes hand, charged and green. Max had a crossbow trained at Sunnys head.


    I crept up, sticking to the wall, using Maxs frame to obscure my approach.


    Lets just take it down a notch. Max subtly angled, trying to get a shot.


    Landing a bounty isnt going to help you get out of this. Sae added. Her voice was casual, but from the tension in her shoulders, the way every muscle was poised to spring forward, I could tell she was feeling the same weight.


    Riiiight. I look stupid to you? Sunny spat, shifting his human shield erratically, making it next to impossible for either of them to find an opening.


    File I read said youre a great fighter. A genuine threat with a sword. All the leveling, and questing, be a shame if it all went to waste because you wanted to y hostage negotiation. Max heard me approaching out of the corner of his eye, and held a hand behind his back, sying out five fingers.


    <em>Low chances we save her as things stand.</em>


    Put the gun down, let the girl go. Shell sit this out. Big guy like yourself can handle a two-on-one. Max dialed up the ent and smiled, shrugging towards Sae. Shes most of the firepower here anyway. So really, itd be more of a one-and-a-half on one.


    Wheres the bogeyman? Sunnys voice escted into a shout. Come on out, fuckface. I know youre here. He sounded unhinged. Off his god damned rocker. And I didnt think he was faking it.


    I could appreciate what Max was going for. But it wasnt going to work, not with the state Sunny was in. Once upon a time, I would have questioned the wisdom of using my powers here. It was the best way to subvert Maxs reading, but all three of them were too close not to realize there was fuckery at y.


    But we were far past that. The strike-team had gotten me this far, and to their credit, they were all decent people despite our business. Astrid and Astria were just trying to survive, level up and amass the power necessary to make it through the next event. Max was the kind of guy who knew how to shut the hell up when he had a line on a good thing. And Sae already knew everything.


    I was done hiding. I reached into his mind with Suggestion, amplifying his fear, stabilizing his hand.


    Picked apart. Pinned down with nowhere to go. How does it feel? My voice reverberated down the hallway, echoing.


    Sunny stiffened, then crouched lower, his expression a twisted sneer. There he is. The conquering hero. Figured you had to be the one going through my crew like tissue paper. Everythings gone to shit in since the day I met you.


    It took a moment to connect that he was talking about the day Id invited himself into the backseat of his car and chatted him up about joining the transposition, not the incident outside the trial.


    In fact he continued.


    Just, uh, whos the kid? I cut him off, ncing back the way I came. The one you left behind. Unstable as he was, Id picked up in the tunnel that Sunny was a seasoned negotiator. And the best way to deal with that kind of person was never letting them get their footing.


    There was a long silence, as Sunny glowered with a look that could kill. He alive?


    For now. I smiled. Who is he?


    Nobody. Just some street trash I paid for the wards. From the nk expression, to the apathetic tone, the lie was supremely convincing. Without context, it might have passed. But even if the kid hadnt been worried enough to potentially throw his life away, Sunny fucked up when he asked after his well-being.


    <em>Family. Id put money on it.</em>


    Uhuh. I stared at him nkly. Look, whoever he is to you, I really dont care. Things dont have to get nasty. The way I see it, you have one of mine, and I have one of yours. Theres potential for an even trade. Well call this a draw, and you can go on your way.


    To his minor credit, for a moment, he seemed to seriously consider it. Then his expression hardened. So you and yours can regroupter and pick us off on our way out, once this poison cuts my legs out from under me? Nah. Were not gonna y it that way. I dont give a shit what you do to the kid. Im gonna walk away with the girl. If I see a single tail, shes done. And if I dont, maybe you get her back. He smiled cruelly. So confident he held all the cards.


    If I was the same person I was when we shed in the tunnel, that might have been true. I might have let him go. But we were long, <em>long</em> past that. The truth was, I didnt need to threaten the kid, or buy time. Because the longer Sunny ran his mouth, the more opportunities he was giving me for cast after cast of <strong></strong> cementing his fate.


    You know what? I tilted my head. I would have negotiated. But I was <em>really</em> hoping youd say no.

 Chapter 264

    Chapter 264


    Some part of me was disappointed Sunny was such a mess. He made a habit of preying on the weak. Pressing others into the corner, threatening them, forcing impossible decisions upon people whose lives simply hadnt equipped them to handle it. Given that, youd think hed at least have a theoretical idea of what to do if the tables were turned.


    Id built him up in my mind as some scenery chewing viin. Id expected him to shift into a higher gear, be invigorated, perhaps even ted, as he rose to the challenge.


    Instead, he just ran.


    By grabbing Astrid, engaging in this pointless stalling tactic, all hed done was give himself the illusion he was in control.


    Azure cutoff his supply of adrenaline while I strummed the whispers of sleep in his mind, amplifying them into a symphony. Easy enough. He was already exhausted, on the tail end of weeks on the run and what I guessed was several days awake. Probably hadnt managed a full night of sleep since the body fell at his doorstep. Even now, his eyelids drooped, and his weapon wavered, signaling to me Id done enough in that regard.


    Specks of dust, glimmering in the haze, were drawn to his face and nose like moths to amp.


    Several applications of <strong></strong> on hammer, trigger, and slide, insured the handgun would never fire again. Redundant, perhaps, but contingencies paid dividends here.


    His focus slipped. For perhaps a fraction of a second, sleep took him, and his vice-like grip on the small mage loosened.


    <em>TWANG</em>


    A bolt from Max took Sunny in the shoulder of his gun arm. He dropped the 1911 with a pained grunt and stumbled backward, pinwheeling at the loss of bnce, his face twisting in disbelief. I watched asas if in slow motionhis heel caught the floor at an odd angle, and he twisted to catch himself. Only he twisted the wrong way. A bone in his leg snapped with an audible crack.


    Sae reached out, ushering a stricken and sobbing Astrid behind us before she pulled her throwing arm back.


    <em>Not yet.</em>


    There were still questions that needed to be answered. I caught her arm and shook my head. Give him a minute.


    With difficulty, Sunny climbed to his feet. He turned his back and began to limp away, reaching out to steady himself. But he just couldnt seem to keep a good grasp on anything. The wall was too slick. And when his hand slipped off that, the table he reached out for toppled, thumping against his thigh and sending him back to the ground in a tangled heap.


    Jesus. Max breathed. We didnt even have toe.


    Hm? Sae murmured.


    All that build-up and this assholes already dead. Max shook his head. Good-fuckin-riddance.


    His observation was unexpectedly cutthroat for someone typically jovial and good-natured, but I shouldnt have been surprised. The one piece of scant information Id shared with him about the Order was that our ultimate target was behind the soul-harvesting operation during thest transposition. Theyd been ambushing entire convoys of Users trying to secure their regions, killing them wholesale. Max had lost nearly his entire squad to the effort, with only half of them returning home alive after the rescue.


    With the target neutralized, I checked on Astrid. Shed retreated a small distance down the hallway, and gasped for breath, hand clutched to her chest. You good? I asked.


    Yeah. Astrid straightened up slightly. Careful. I just blinked and he rushed me down.


    His rushing days are over.


    Myrddin. Sae snapped.


    I turned, half-expecting to see Sunny on his feet, sprinting down the hallway, defying all expectations. But no. He was on his stomach, having apparently giving up on walking. But he was crawling, and seemed to be doing so with a destination in mind, trailing diagonally toward the right side of the hallway. All the exits were at the far end or to the left, through the stores. Instead, he seemed to be making his way toward a door marked Utility Closet.


    Whats the n, Sunny? I circled around him at a leisurely pace and paused at the door, waiting for <strong></strong> to warn me. It didnt. Rigged to blow? I pulled the door open. Guess not. Is there a portal back to the order? Something stashed in here?


    <em>Last one got a reaction.</em> Azure informed me.


    Well. I dragged him inside by the back of his armor, pushing him up against the wall in a sitting position. Not sure whatll give you a chance in hell at this point, but better safe than sorry. Where is it?


    He looked at me, his gaze radiating hate.


    Here? I pointed to the left side of the room.


    No reaction.


    Maybe here? I pointed to a cluster of dirty mops, stacked in the corner.


    Not even a flicker.


    Thats alright, weve got time. I paused dramatically. Please tell me you didnt hide it behind the power cab.


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    Despair filtered into his expression.


    <em>Bingo.</em>


    Behind the cab, beneath ayer of torn up instion and covered in ayer of dirt and dust, was a forest green duffle bag. Again, I waited, half-expecting a Title warning not to touch it. When none came, I pulled it out.


    <em>Casting something</em>


    I spun, pulling my crossbow and firing. My aim was dead-on, but the bolt impacted with a fuzzy thud, bouncing off his head and falling to the ground. In its wake, he was covered with a dull red glow.


    Trouble? Sae did a double-take when she saw Sunny. What the hell?


    Sunnyughed. For the first time, he seemed calm, more like his old self. Better get moving, asshole. You and yours havent exactly been quiet. In case you missed it on the way in, the subhuman trash running this ce are jumpy and well-armed. With all the noise, Im guessing theyre gonna have questions.


    Ah. So there was a n. Just, not a good one. Hede here without informing the residents, and assumed wed do the same. Like me, it probably wasnt his first choice, but if n A through n-whatever-the-fuck fell through, he could raise a ruckus and pop whatever this ability was. Hed be captured and interrogated, but with his charisma, talking his way out of it was a real possibility.


    <em>Sorry. Didnt even think, he just went for it. </em> Azure said.


    <em>What is it?</em>


    <em>Adrenaline got going again, so hes a little harder to read but its a shield spell. Like Nicks Sanctuary. Temporary impermeability.</em>


    <em>How temporary we talking?</em>


    <em>Depends on how much mana he poured into it but Im getting ten minutes, tops.</em>


    Eh, Id rather look through the bag, thanks. I unzipped the duffel and started rifling through the contents, feeling Sunnys incredulous gaze.


    <em>A shitton of healing potions, status potions, couple throwables, cracked smartphone, and what are you?</em>


    There was a rectangle rubber-backed zip case with a cloth exterior and ck and gray crosshatching. It had a decidedly modern feel, like something from before. I opened it up and paused, sizing up the unexpected contents. It was a handheld gaming console with pink and green siding. For curiositys sake, I pressed the power button. The screen stayed ck, with nothing but the reflection of the mask staring back at me.


    I tilted it towards him. Not yours, I take it.


    Are you delusional? Sunny tried again. Theyll be here any minute.


    Theyre noting.


    What do you mean?


    I left him to ponder that and returned to the doorway, where the others were looking in. Good news, he doesnt have shit. Bad news, were gonna have to hold tight for a while.


    There was relief in their faces, but also difort at the idea of staying in one ce. We generally didnt, and that strategy had worked out for us so far.


    Sure were not gonna have a third party problem? Max asked warily.


    I shook my head. The Steward wants this problem off his doorstep. He wont order anyone to interfere, but that doesnt mean one of our new friends isnt gonna get curious.


    Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Sunny dete.


    Got it. Ill keep the voyeurs away. Max confirmed. Do what you gotta do.


    Beside him, Astrid was shivering violently, clinging to the sleeves of her robes. I discarded my previous order and softened my voice. Check on your other half. Make sure we dont have a containment issue.


    She searched Sunny up and down, teeth chattering. H-h-hes not going anywhere?


    Its over. I reassured her.


    It was only half-true. By the time I locked the door, pulled over a stool and settled in, Sae cross-legged beside me, I got the feeling that Sunny knew exactly how dire his straits were. His body had gone ck during the exchange, his visage meek and nk as a pious martyr. Saint Sebastian, tied to the execution post.


    Itste, and I have a long day tomorrow. Wanna take the shield down save us all some time?


    Ask. Sunny said.


    Hm? I cocked my head and cupped an ear.


    You arent stupid enough to gloat. Im still breathing he wheezed, because theres an itch you cant scratch. Either youve got something to say or a question to ask.


    Wasting a lot of breath for a guy who doesnt have much to spare. Sae growled.


    No, hes right. Id gone back and forth on whether engaging him at all was worth it. Id bought my way out from underneath the geas, but Sunny hadnt. There was a limit to what he could tell me. And the question I had, the one that kept me awake, made me sick didnt strictly matter. It wouldnt change the end result. And it wouldnt buy him more time.


    I asked anyway. While back, you and a couple crackpots ambushed a much smaller group. His brows knitted together. A confrontation that led to a kidnappingright, probably doesnt narrow it down. Lot of kidnapping going on in the Order. But maybe this does. I leaned forward. A mage died. Freaked out at the unexpected confrontation, tried to fight back. Took a bolt in the throat for her trouble. Bled out in seconds. Ringing any bells now?


    His jaw worked silently. As the reality set in, I could almost see him searching for a lifeline, looking for any angle he could use to leverage his way out of the situation.


    Finding none.


    When he had no objection, I continued. The thing I couldnt get out of my head was how damn unprofessional it seemed. Clearly your group was experienced, nobody there batted an eye at the violence, and other than that one, monumental slip-up, you ran a tight ship. Maybe it came down to the individual, and considering what a miserable conniving fuck you are, I have to imagine youre also not the sort of guy who keeps one token idiot on your team. Meant to ask the shooter myselfah fuck, what was his name? I looked to Sae. Dean? Dan?


    Darren. Sunny rumbled, the wording out in a gravelly sigh.


    I snapped my fingers. Right. Thats it. Only when we set out to interview Darren on t


    his dire absence of trigger discipline, he declined.


    Made toast in the bathtub. Enjoyed it so much hed stayed in for days by the time we found him. Sae added.


    Wait. Sunny frowned. That wasnt you?


    It wasnt you? I asked. When he shook his head, I smiled thinly. Well, he wouldnt be the first in the dome to sign off that way. Must have caved to the stress. Or the guilt.


    Of course he takes the cowards way out. Always was a pussy. Sunnys lip curled.


    Sometimes theres wisdom in being a coward. I gestured to him, and the surrounding room. Take your situation, for example. This is the end of the road for you. The finale. Terminus. All thats up for negotiation is how cleanly you shuffle off this mortal coil. Given the circumstances, the brave thing would probably be to m up and take whatever you haveing on the chin. I nced at Sae warily, Considering my friends <em>ample</em> motivation to make that as unpleasant as possible, it would be braver than answering.


    Disbelief shadowed his face as I took off my mask.


    The question is, how wise do you want to be?

 Chapter 265

    Chapter 265


    <em>You.</em> Sunny exhaled, staring openly.


    <em>Me.</em>


    For a moment, I let the silence hang. The look on his face oscited from anger, to bewilderment, to despair, unable to settle on anything for longer than a few seconds before it finally settled on rage.


    I <em>spared</em> you. He snapped, flecks of spit peppering the inside of his shield.


    Cut the shit. If Daphne hadnt stepped in, we both know how it would have gone.


    Thats where youre wrong. It was my call. He argued, insistent. Aarons whelp stuck her nose in, but leaving you alive was my decision alone. Could have slit your throat and walked away, and aside from her, no one would have cared.


    So you let me go out of what? I mocked. The kindness of your heart?


    Out of <em>respect.</em> Sunny growled. Your entire party was losing their shitincluding the so-called Ceaseless Knightand there you were in the middle trying to cut a deal. Earnestly. Felt wrong to tline someone so rational just for falling in with subpar people.


    <em>Subpar?</em>


    A chill of rage traveled down my spine, barely suppressed. And <em>Jinny</em> wasnt worthy of respect?


    Doesnt matter what she was worthy of. We had background on you guys. Not a lot. But enough to know the girl was dying.


    Were all <em>fucking dying,</em> Sunny, Im gonna need a little more, how does that factor in ordering your redheaded stepchild to <em>murder her?</em>


    Another sigh. Just think it through. We need people in his position to be solid. Stable. With the goal of eventually giving them autonomy. Our shrinks and psych-freaks are good at the brainwashing shit, but they arent miracle workers.


    A wave of nausea rocked me.


    What? I dont understand. Sae looked between us, more confused than angry. How does that even make sense?


    Nicks a knight in their fucked up court. Not the highest possible position, but critical for securing the upper echelon. I filled in coldly, gesturing to Sunny. Go on. Tell her the rest.


    Despite the prompting, Sunny stayed focused on me. It was like he wanted to convince me that what he was hinting at wasnt monstrous, like if he could just put the right spin on it, it would all make sense. Its easier to rebuild someone whos broken than convince them to abandon a dying loved one. The girl was a ticking time-bomb. She starts to check out, at best hepletely loses focus, at worst we lose him. Better to make it look like an ident and tear the bandaid off early. If anything, we did him a favor


    Sunnys shield picked that exact moment to drop. In a blur of motion, before I could even rise from my stool, Sae moved before I could, mming a fist into the side of his head, toppling him to the ground.


    I turned, clenching my fist and staring at the wall, listening to the heavy impacts. Part of meand not a small partdidnt want to interfere. Just let things take their natural order. Cause and effect.


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    <em> Only rely on your ruthlessness when you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it is needed.</em>


    Stop, I said.


    There was a hesitation, followed by one more painful thud, before Sae stepped away.


    The fuck even is she? Sunny hissed.


    I retook my seat on the stool in front of him. His face was bloodied, bruises already forming from the impact. A slight crater where a prominent cheekbone used to be. The <em>other</em> casualty of your decision that night.


    He rubbed his face, then put it together. Youre her. The girl who slipped back into the trial before it copsed. Jeeeesus Christ, heard you got worked over, but that wasnt the half


    Matt? Sae snapped over him.


    Yup.


    I couldnt help but wince as the brutal haymakernded right on his chin, mming Sunny into near-unconsciousness. He groaned, then slowly pushed himself back up to a sitting position. There was a long pause. You look great. He coughed. Really.


    Sae looked at me again. This time, I shook my head.


    Are Sunny swallowed, struggling to stay lucid. Are all my people dead?


    You care?


    He managed a nod.


    Some. The real monsters, anyway. I shrugged.


    And the others?


    Theyve thoroughly forgotten the oaths they took, and moved on to more productive things.


    He stretched his mouth, jaw emitting a painful click. Clever. No reason to waste good talent. Thank you for that. His once-winning smile looked slightly cockeyed. You know, this doesnt have to be a one-way street. If you did that for them, you could do it for me.


    I stared at him. And why the hell would I do that?


    Because youre smart. And anyone with a pair of eyes and an IQ higher than their shoe-size can piece together that no matter how bad I am, Aaron is just as bad if not worse. Dont pretend youre hispdog. He pointed a finger at me. All this is the start of something, not the end. Youre nning to turn on him, eventually. It wont be easy. If you make me forget, same as my people, I could help you. I know so much more than he believes.


    Only if I did, you wouldnt remember it. Thats kind of how forgetting works.


    That stumped him, but only for a moment. He raised a hand and waved it dismissively. Even still. I hated him for a long time before the world went to shit. A long, long time. A halfugh, half-moan escaped his lips. Hell, could probably forget the alphabet and still remember how much I hate that backstabbing bastard. His motions were sluggish as he reached out, pointing toward the center of the room. My phone?


    Why? I asked, wondering exactly how far gone he was. The towers had been down for months. If there wasnt cranial hemorrhaging from the beating, he at least had the mother of all concussions.


    Pictures.


    Begrudgingly, I fished the iPhone out of his duffel. Code? I prompted, after holding it in front of him for Face ID didnt work, and punched it in when he gave it to me. The phone unlocked, and I pressed the photo button on the Home Screen. I had to scroll through several pictures of badly mangled bodies before finding one that stood out. Sunny and the kid from earlier. Sunny wore overalls and a straw hat, while the kid holding a pitchfork was dressed as a scarecrow. Both were trying to keep a straight face, the pose a y on American Gothic. Instead of handing it over, I ced it on the ground in front of him.


    Sunny smiled, then all at once seemed to panic, remembering the lie he was supposed to be sticking to.


    No ones gonna hurt your kid.


    As pissed off as I was that hed threatened my family, that was a line I wasnt willing to cross. Not out of spite. Not ever.


    It spoke to his state that he immediately rxed, seeming to believe me without a second thought. Decent. Rules help to keep it together. Keep you alive. I had rules, once. He squinted, staring at the picture for a long time before he spoke again. You know why I didnt want to kill you, Matt?


    Why?


    Because wee from the


    <em>THUNK</em>


    Blood spattered the phone. Sunny reached up in confusion, tips of his fingers gingerly brushing the bolt in his neck.


    I released my finger from the trigger.


    And then he was gone.

 Chapter 266

    Chapter 266


    There was a hollowness to it. Not in the traditional cliche sensethere was no part of me that regretted what we did to Sunny, and regarding the act itself, I felt nothing but satisfaction. It was good that he was gone. Right, even. Nothing he could offer us as a prisoner mitigated the risk of keeping him alive. And now that he was gone, I was all but certain I would sleep better.


    It was the way he went that felt anti-climactic. No actual n, no sudden, unexpected yet brilliant strategy to prolong his life. It almost felt like hed been hoping wed just forget about it all. Move on in lieu of a greater threat.


    Only we hadnt.


    All throughout the trek back through the Galleria, I expected a wrinkle. Some buzzer beaterplication to throw us back into the shit. For the Driftless to turn or simply for the Steward to suddenly require more payment for the hunting license.


    None of that happened. I got the sense that unlike a lot of guilds operating in the city currently, the galleria-folk simply didnt have the energy to start shit. They were stuck on defense, between two camps of assholes that wanted them gone. I came in with a team, solved a problem cleanly, and left the Steward confident hed made a friend. Realistically, he had.


    I was starting to owe too many people favors.


    Greg had already left, so we drove the spare SUV Sae kept in her inventory out. At Astrids prompting, we paused a few blocks away, pulling into the drive-through of a now derelict food chain. She and Max got out alongside me while the others waited.


    Sorry. Astrid winced, one-eye half-closed, and reached out to steady herself on the bumper. Whatever hes doing in there, its sapping my mana. If hes doing it on purpose, he <em>clearly</em> doesnt realize that me running out of mana means him running out of air.


    Guessing he missed that fine print. Max stuck his hands in his pockets.


    I scanned the night, looking for the odd passerby or faces peering through windows. Finding nothing. Bring him out. Well keep squelch up and put him in the trunkpartment. The main reason wed relied on Astrids pocket dimension spell in the first ce was to obscure the kid altogether. No matter how flexible they were being about their human infestation, anyone would ask questions if you were carting a kid away.


    Hes gonna remember the car. Max warned.


    Doesnt matter. Were ditching it after this.


    He sighed reluctantly. Maybe we should consider other options.


    No, we really shouldnt


    Before I could finish, Astrid rounded on Max, shoving him hard. What the <em>fuck</em> are you talking about? No really, what are you suggesting?


    Max held his hands up defensively, backing up in a circle as Astria advanced on him. Look, I like kids as much as the next guy. Got a couple myself. But thats not a kid youve got locked up in the shadow realm. Thats a child soldier. One almost guaranteed to have a fucked up childhood with plenty of motivation to hate us.


    He didnt see our faces. I said, trying to keep things low-key.


    Which clearly didnt work, as Astrid rounded on me next, hands clenched into fists at her side. And if he had, then what?


    Hypotheticals are pointless. We were careful. We did it right, and he didnt see shit. Let it go.


    Astrid crossed her arms. I want to hear it. What would you have done if he saw our faces, Myrddin? Because up to this point, your go-to response to inconvenient problems hasnt exactly been pacifism.


    Max rolled his eyes. Girl joins hit squad. Is shocked when theres hitting involved.


    You fu


    <em>Enough.</em> They both jumped at my tone, Astrid frozen with a finger nted on Maxs chest. I stared down Max first. The rest of you are more or less anonymous. Sure, he saw your height and build but thats all hes got. Sunny was running scared for weeks. Im the bogeyman in this scenario. If the kids gunning for anyone, hell be gunning for me first.


    Max grimaced. This isnt just self preservation. Ive worked for a lot of guys. You pay better than most, and never treated us like we were expendable. Pulled my ass out of the fire more than once. So Id be a shithead to not point out what might be a fatal mistake, just because its unpleasant.


    Okay. But you agree that Im right? I held his gaze. That Im holding the lions share of risk here?


    From the kid, maybe. Astrid muttered.


    Yeah. Max said, his voice clipped. I suppose you are.


    I stared at Astrid next, resisting a subtle temptation to use <strong></strong> on her. Not to lie, just to ensure she believed my next words as truth. Most mages with high int would be able to shrug it off, but Astrid was deeply unsettled, and the ability worked better on ted emotional states. Especially when I was familiar with the person in question.


    But that was a slippery slope, and I knew it.


    If he saw our faces, I couldnt just let him go. I started with an admission. But Ide up with something. A safe ce to keep him within my circle of trust.


    A prison cell. Astrid stated with obvious distaste.


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    No. Somewhere humane, a ce where he could contribute and have some semnce of a life while managing the potential threat.


    And if he takes advantage of thatpassion toe after you? Max prompted.


    I locked eyes with him. Then thats my problem to deal with.


    Whatever. Just trying to keep you alive, chief. Max waved over his shoulder. After a couple of seconds, I heard the hum of the low radio as the door opened and shut.


    With Max gone, I turned to Astrid. Satisfied?


    The van shifted slightly as she sat down, fight draining out of her, leaving her drawn and pale. Im all fucked up.


    Why?


    She wiped her face, fingertips cloying at the sides of her eyes. Its just I always knew the world was a scary ce. Like I knew that, even before. Astrid and I wouldnt have survived if we were that nave.


    Youve had to be strong for a long time. I filled in, almost automatically falling into therapy mode. In truth, it was far easier to empathize with Astrid and Astria than most people simply because of their history. Like me, theyd grown up fast out of necessity, been left with the lifetimes worth of baggage that went hand-in-hand with elerated growth, and now werent really sure where they fit in the world. Weve seen some shit. Some real monsters too. And while it might be scary to see that first hand


    You told us once that we could quit. Step away for any reason. Astrids voice was quiet.


    Of course. Though thats a little beyond the point, considering.


    Because were done now.


    Yes.


    And if I said I dont want to stay on retainer?


    At first, I said nothing. Id been open with the Strike Team about what we were setting out to do. Maybe it would have been wiser to obscure that. But I thought it was important that they knew there was an end in sight, and even more vital, that there was something for them when they were done. Sae I didnt have to worry aboutshe was already a member of the merchants guild. Max had a cushy consulting position waiting at the adventurers guild, with a third-party ready to make the introduction.


    The twins didnt like big groups, so hooking them up with a Guild was out. Instead, Ide up with the idea of keeping everyone on the strike team on retainer. Theyd get a monthly payout in the form of easily achievable quests, and Id have an emergency resource if the situation called for it.


    But I knew <em>why</em> she was asking like this. While she held something potentially problematic for me in her pocket dimension. It was leverage.


    Astrid was afraid of me.


    Have I caused you any hurt, or frightened you somehow? I asked.


    No. She shook her head, then shook it again. No, youve been great to us. God knows Astria really looks up to you.


    Then can I ask why?


    Astrid wiped her eyes again. If its about firepower, Astria will stay on retainer. Probably couldnt talk her out of it if I tried. I dont think youre going toe after me. Its not about that. Before the strike team, I thought I was a realist. Like I knew how temporary life was. How quickly it could all be over.


    But knowing and seeing are two different things. I filled in.


    Yeah. Guess they are.


    It was difficult to stay rational. At the end of the transposition, when the less appetizing actions Id had to take to fill the receptacle came to light, Astrid and Miles were the only two people whod gone to bat for me. Id helped her first, but it cost me nothing, while shed burned her entire guild telling Rodrick to back off.


    Okay.


    If taking her off retainer was what she wanted, Id abide by that. But I would not use her reticence as an excuse to ignore my debt and let her twist in the wind. Id give Astria her share, doubling the remaining member of Geminis payout, which would trickle down as resources for Astrid one way or another.


    What, thats it? Just okay? Astrid blinked several times.


    Thats it. If we have to part ways, Id much rather do so amicably. On one condition.


    She braced, setting her jaw as she waited for the other shoe to drop.


    Dont be a stranger, stupid. I lightly swatted the back of her head, and smiled as she scowled back at me. Regardless of how you feel, I see you as a friend. And I owe you. If youre ever in over your head, you have my contact info. Just shoot me a line. Ill be there.


    With that, Astrid managed a smile, and all the weight shed been carrying melted away. Astria trusts you a lot. The way she used to trust me.


    I thought of Ellison. Its probably just a rebellious phase. That tension will fade.


    <em>Probably.</em>


    If you do end up calling her in for something, Ill stand by so she can use the whole mana pool. Just take care of her, alright?


    I nodded and put a hand on the trunk. Ready?


    When she confirmed she was, I opened the bottompartment of the SUV. It was a secondary storage spacerge enough to hold two spare tires, a lot of gear, or an average-sized person. The sound proofing and carbon reinforcement were obviously after market. Astrid cast a spell, removing the kid from her pocket dimension directly into thepartment. He seemed hazy, out of it somehow, until his eyes locked on me.


    The hatred in his gaze as we closed thepartment stuck with me long after I dropped the others off and they went their separate ways. Id intended to talk to Sae about the potion that night, but by the time we got to the exit point, she was fading, barely awake.


    Still, I couldnt just leave it. Id talk to her tomorrow, barring some greater disaster or unexpected bullshit. Actually, probably better to justmit to having that conversation tomorrow, regardless. If I kept procrastinating every time life threw me a curveball, Id never get anything done. Max gave me a knowing nce as he left. He was more used to this line of work than Astrid, and probably assumed that regardless of what was stated, I was going to be professional and make sure there were no loose ends.


    It bothered me because he was right. Blood had been spilled. The sort of blood this kid would never forget. Reality wasnt fiction, though. There was no guarantee hed go the Monte Cristo route. It was far more likely hed either die the same way dozens of Users died every day in the dungeons, or simply be too upied with surviving the chaos of the system to do anything else.


    But I was all too keenly aware that there was a lesser chance I was making the same mistake Sunny made in the tunnel. The grave misstep of showing mercy to the wrong person.


    <em>Do the kid.</em>


    The voice from a distant memory left an unpleasant taste in my mouth as I drove mindlessly, looking for an isted spot. No. No matter how bad it got, there had to be rules. And no matter how inconvenient his existence was, the kid was an innocent.


    <em>Were you an innocent?</em>


    I ignored Jaded Eyesmentary as I drove up to the top floor of an abandoned parking ramp overlooking a park. Btedly, I realized this was the first ce Id spoken to Sunny, when I was still looking for a way into the Order. Less that six months ago, but it felt a lifetime away now.


    <em>Done.</em> Azure told me.<em> Didnt take much to calm him down. I think whatever Sunny told him must have scared the shit out of him. He seems genuinely shocked hes still alive.</em>


    <em>Lets get this over with.</em>


    I left the engine going and killed the lights, got out, and popped the trunk.

 Chapter 267

    Chapter 267


    Within weeks of the asteroid hit, most ces lost power. There were backups, of course, but cut off from the outside and isted as we were, the emergency power was routed to critical infrastructure first, leaving the once vibrant skyline filled with perpetually dark monoliths jutting up towards the sky.


    The light was returning now, albeit a glimmer of what it once was. The skyscrapers of now-derelict multi-billion dorpanies were repopted with smaller businesses, guilds, and crafters. Several regionsspecifically three and nineacquired methods of ample power generation gleaned as rewards for their performance in the transposition. They couldnt be paid directly in Selve for their power, instead leveraging the resource for alliances and trade. The recent additionthe gilded toweremitted no light of its own, but never stopped glimmering.


    I tried not to think about how Id be there in less than three hours and returned to more pressing matters.


    The kid was quiet. My intention was to take him somewhere open and unconfined, but I couldnt help but wonder if he was worried that if he made a scene Id throw him off. He squinted slightly, then ced a pair of sses on his nose, removing them to wipe them on his shirt before recing them on his nose. They sat slightly crooked. With the set jaw and dark eyes, he reminded me of Sunny.


    Maybe it was cruel, but I said nothing. Just sat beside him and waited.


    Whats wrong with my magic? He finally broke the silence.


    I reached over to point at the manacles on his wrists, and when he flinched, pulled my hand away. The bracelets dampen and drain your mana pool to almost nothing. Easier to talk withoutsers burning ozone. You get it.


    The slightest tip of his head. And what happens to me now?


    That depends. I mused. Do you have people? A ce you can go?


    I already knew the answer. Sunny didnt have any close friends or family, so far as I could tell. However, his ex-wife did. She had plenty of rtives that lived around the metroplex, and several within Das itself. Despite hating Sunny with a passion, several of them were friendly enough with the kid to take him in. Assuming they were still alive.


    The kid didnt answer.


    If not, theres a few groups thatd be willing to take in a stray mage


    I have somewhere I can go. The kid said quickly.


    I jingled the key, showing it to him. Then we take in the scenery for a bit, have a chat, then I take those off and go our separate ways.


    His eyebrow raised, and he seemed unsure. Okay.


    Whats your name? Again, I asked a question I already knew the answer to.


    David.


    Sorry we had to meet this way, David.


    I really was.


    Is he dead? David asked. Something in his tone seemed off. Almost resigned.


    Hes gone.


    <em>Fuck.</em>


    The silence lingered, ented by distant sirens and the sound of traffic dozens of floors below. There was nothing I could say to help him through this. Any words offort or support I offered would be seen as condescending at best, cruel at worst.


    Tears formed, receded, then formed again, threatening to spill down towards white lips pressed tightly together, trembling with rage. Of course. He he David frowned. Why cant I remember your name? Dad said it. Im sure he said it. He wouldnt shut up about you. What the hell? He sounded confused, rather than usatory.


    The name Myrddin was the one thing I let Azure take from him. Tragic as it was, losing a parent is a formative experience. Youre simply not the same person after as you were before. From my experience with memory edits, tearing the entire memory away would be like bringing a hammer down on his psyche. Hed be unable to function, his intelligence would be hamstrung if not outright obliterated, and even if he survived with minimal damage, hed never be able to escape the feeling that hed lost something integral. So Azure removed my name from his memories of Sunny, otherwise doing nothing more than blunting the harder-to-stomach aspects.


    Hed already lost enough.


    Suppressed memories are the minds way of protecting a person from trauma. I told him. It maye back to you. But if it doesnt, thats probably for the best. Some things are better left forgotten.


    He shook his head. Why would I remember everything else other than that?


    It doesnt always make sense.


    For that matter, he didnt remember everything. Azure was pretty sure hed overheard the beating. Listened to it happen. Yet when my summon had poked around looking for the memory, hed found it as neatly packed away as if hed suppressed it himself.


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    The mind was an unknowable thing.


    David didnt ept the exnation, but didnt seem to know what to make of it otherwise. I sat quietly as he cycled between rage and depression, and back again, the cycle of grief alternating frames in a film wheel.


    Its okay if you want to scream. Tell me to go fuck myself.


    <em>Whatever you need for closure.</em>


    David shook his head. He wasnt a good dad. I was always getting in his way, you know? Always inconveniencing him. We hated each other. Some days less than others.


    He hit you?


    No. Just screamed at me sometimes. But I gave as good as I got.


    I hesitated, torn on whether to reveal more. He tried to protect you, in the end.


    Davids head snapped around. What?


    imed he didnt know you. That you were some street kid he picked up for the runes. Didnt want us to take the sins of the father out on his son.


    Why would you tell me that?


    Because in your ce I would want to know. Even if he wasnt the best father. He tried to do something selfless in the end.


    Whatwhat the fuck even is this? David snapped, leaning in, all but spitting poison. You coddle the families of everyone you murder?


    <em>Damn.</em>


    Gently I put a hand on his chest and pushed him back. Easy.


    His face screwed up, and I felt the beginning of a tirade.


    I cut him off before he got there. You have the right to be livid. This was not the result of anything youve done. This should not have happened to you.


    So tell me why? Why?! What the hell did he do?!


    I paused, deciding whether or not to address the thought Azure found in his head. There was nothing wrong with the rune. It was cleverly ced, and the central tile was objectively the best spot you could have anchored it to. Just like the only reason you missed me in the store was because I flinched. Sunny didnt need one mage running his defenses, he needed twenty. It wasnt your fault


    The kid let out a cry and threw himself at me, bashing his forehead into my chin, nearly unseating the mask.


    Okay, fair. I grunted, sitting him back down with a little more force than necessary hoping hed stay there. He did. That was your free shot.


    I expected him to bite back. But he just sat there seething, taking big heaving breaths. Most peopleespecially kids his agewould have beenpletely irrational. Hed handled himself exceptionally well up to this point, even with whatever brain chemical cocktail Azure had served up to keep him calm. I stood up, leaving him alone in the trunk of the SUV, standing directly in front of him while still giving him distance.


    Probably time to make my exit.


    Now Im going to say some things. And its important that you listen.


    He red, but held his silence.


    I continued. First. If you go back to the grind, Sol Mages have a branching path at level fifteen. I know this because Im friends with one. The branching path essentially forces you to choose between a significant boost in power and passive regeneration. Itll be tempting to take the power boost, but youll want to take the regeneration path, because the passive regeneration <em>scales.</em> Theres an entireundry list of upper level spells youll be unable to utilize properly if you forgo the regen for a short-term power boost. Were talking magnitudes of difference in the endgame, depending on which path you take. Verify what Im telling you with someone. Dont ignore it out of spite.


    What


    I held up two fingers. Second. You dont have to believe me. You can hate me for saying it, but I need to be clear here. Sunny had iting. He got a lot of people killed, both directly and indirectly. The kids face screwed up in obvious pain, and I softened my voice. If thats not good enough and you decide you can''t live without hearing all the gory details,e find me.


    How am I supposed to find you when I dont even know your name? The kid snapped.


    I ignored him and approached with the key. David flinched, but didnt do more as I freed his arms and stowed the manacles in my inventory. Last thing, then were done. Im letting you go. No conditions. Youll find your things as well as Sunnys in the bag beside you. He nced at the bag. When he looked back, I tossed him his wand.


    He stared down at it as if Id just handed him a loaded gun.


    I basically had.


    My rmendation is to bunker down, protect yourself and anyone left in the city you care about, focus on leveling, and try to forget this ever happened. But Im aware my rmendation doesnt mean jack shit right now. So if instead, you somehow manage to track me down? Great. Youll have another choice. Come to me in good faith and Ill answer every question you have about what your father did. I owe you that. But dont mistake my mercy for weakness, I stepped away. The shot in the trunk was free. The next one will cost you.


    With that, I turned and walked towards the rear stairwell, fighting every instinct I had to look back. The SUVs suspension squeaked behind me.


    <em>Hes aiming at you.</em> Azure warned.


    <em>I know.</em>


    <em>Youre just gonna stroll away at wand point?</em>


    <em>He has to make a choice.</em>


    <em>Why?</em> Azure sounded mystified.


    <em>If he doesnt do something now, every time he reconsiders, hell remember that he chose to let me go.</em>


    <em>And if he fires?</em>


    <em>Shouldnt have enough mana for the bullshit beams from before. Anything elsewell cross that bridge when wee to it.</em>


    Youre just gonna leave your car here? David called after me, a slight warble of tension betraying him. I smiled, despite myself. It was clever. If I stopped in ce, itd make me an easier target for an inexperienced mage. He was using the car as an excuse to get me to stand still and turn around. Give him more time to work the nerve up.


    I didnt stop. Key FOBs in the passenger seat. Take it.


    Hey! Asshole! David yelled after me. I kept an unhurried pace, waiting for hell to break loose. But he didnt fire off a spell. Didnt give chase.


    Good. He was smarter than Sunny.


    Smarter than me.


    I walked past the door and hopped up on the concrete median then plunged downward, activating the flight charm halfway to the ground, and flew into the night.

 RE: Monarch Webtoon is Live!

    RE: Monarch Webtoon is Live!


    Hi all. Just wanted to announce that my other story, RE:Monarch, has officially made its webtoon original debut! There are currently 4 chapters up avable to read for free. If you have a chance to scroll through those free chapters, the early support, clicks, and read-throughs will be clutch. Obviously the more support it gets, the higher our chances for a second season AND MORE INSANE ART.


    I made a post about what this means for Re:Monarch and Royal Road fiction in general, as well as more reasons to get excited about it. If you missed that post or want a refresher, you can find it here.


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Short version, as an early test-caseunch bankrolled by my publisher, theres a lot riding on this, including how likely it is that Double-Blind or your other favorite Webfiction is adapted to a visual medium.


    This is a dreame true for me. And while Im thrilled, Im also a nervous wreck. Going to take a quick breather, and well resume the typical (atypical) posting schedule this Wednesday.

 Chapter 268

    Chapter 268


    The Gilded Tower had an annoying tendency of relying on themes. If this was a traditional gameits variety would beuded. From the cabana-esque vibes of the first floor, to the crypt where Ellison and his attach fought the Nosferatu. What annoyed me was there didnt seem to be any consistency from floor to floor. We went from the over-saturated sheen of a silver city,plete with eldritch-touched horsemen spouting tendrils, to the current setting.


    Which was ants.


    A giant ant mound filled with ants.


    Come the fuck on.


    And while the inherent ridiculousness of this ce paled inparison to the pastel murder-unicorn floor, it still carried forward the same problemthe average User didnt take them seriously. The murder-unicorns, who held the collective talents of being fast and carrying a sharp armor-piercing horn on their heads, had still managed to seriously wound Nick.


    Yes, it only happened because he tried to ride them.


    Yes, it worked out exactly the same way youd expect.


    The difference between Nick and the others was that Nick learned. Quickly. When wed run into a forest colony of anthropomorphic bears on ater floor, hed been wary. And when their invitations for porridge turned violent, hed been ready.


    Trouble was, we now had to convince a mix of strong personalities who had never worked together that they needed to progress slowly and not judge the monsters based on appearance, and needed to take the colony of ants seriously rather than turning this floor into apetitive pissing contest. As a result, Id barely be able to speak with him since Id shown up as Matt.


    At the moment, he was helping two inexperienced members of the adventurers guild, the bodies of dog-sized ants strewn around them. Only one had been stung severely, skin turning ck around his abdomen, while the other had a handful of bruises and scrapes from mandibles.


    Nick shifted away to flick the bug guts off his sword, sheathed it with a flourish, then helped them both up.


    Thanks. Scrapes said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.


    They just piled up out of nowhere. Biteined.


    Anytime. Nick held onto Bites arm, pausing before he released it. But this is why we rmended sticking in groups of four. Come on, if youre local, youve seen your share of ants. They swarm.


    Both rescued Users nced away in obvious guilt.


    Scrapeswho I was guessing had heard of Nickseemed to be trying to put his best foot forward. Well head back to base camp, see if we can pick up any stragglers.


    No. You wont. I interjected.


    Both of them stiffened. Scrapes puffed himself up, trying for a macho put-upon. I understand that youre a region leader. But were not in your region. Were members of the adventurers guild on a field missionmeaning the only person who can bench us is someone with Guild Authority.


    Technically, Tyler told me I had authority to order around practically any of the rank and file if the need arose. But this guy didnt know that, and jumping through the hoops to prove it would be inefficient at best.


    I took a deep breath and stepped into Scrapes personal space. He was a head taller than me.


    Uh oh. Nick muttered, taking a step away.


    I stuck a finger in his chest. Look here, motherfucker. I dont give a shit what you do. Go back to base camp and pick up some aphids to fill out the spots on your team for all I care. Not my business, not my problem. Without breaking eye-contact I pointed at the other user. But youre gonna need at least three, because hes not leaving camp.


    Im fine. Sting argued, wincing slightly as he shifted on his feet. Just jabbed me a few times. It burns, but I can keep going.


    Hes fine. Scrapes repeated, using his height to loom over me.


    I didnt back down. We dont know what the bites do yet. If youd listened during the briefing, youd already know that. What I can say after seeing them up close is they look a lot like fire ants. What do you know about fire ant venom, big guy?


    To his credit, he listened as I went through a perhaps too explicit description of what the necrotizing alkaloidsmon in fire ants would do in drastically higher quantities to living flesh. By the time I was finished he seemed shaken, though not entirely ready to swallow his pride and drop it.


    Uh. Craig? Sting interjected, drawing Scrapes attention. I want a cut of the loot as much as the next guy, but Im also not crazy about the idea of rotting holes in my torso.


    Smart man. Nick said, nodding sagely. Chicks dig scars, but rotting holes? Not saying you couldnt find someone whod be into that, but uh, they might not be <em>into that</em>, if you catch my drift.


    <em>Craig! </em>


    Thanks for your help, Ceaseless Knight. Craig said smoothly, nodding to Nick as he took Sting by the shoulders and escorted him away. He paused next to me long enough for a withering stare uttering the words, Page, before he walked away.


    We watched them go.


    The fuck did I do? I asked, after they were out of earshot.


    pped down his pointless-bravado peen with your epic-knowledge peen.


    I rolled my eyes. If Im right, it may save his friends life. And for the love of christ stop saying peen. Youre supposed to be doing a rousing imitation of a heroic leader, not a twelve-year-old.


    Nick smirked. And now Im being assailed with your half-hearted-decorum peen.


    Ugh.


    As intentionally annoying as Nick could be, I wouldnt trade his presence for anything. Id almost lost him a little more than a month prior. His charisma and easy-going nature was tempered somewhat by the trials hed endured, but in exchange he was more driven, and thebination of charisma and drive drew people to him with a maic pull that might have been even stronger than before.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Since we discovered the prophecy in the tower, wed more or less stuck to the rules of operation. Nick as the figurehead, me operating in rtive secrecy, cleaning up the unpleasant, ambiguous problems, keeping his head clear and his hands clean. It worked surprisingly well. For the most part, Nick was smart enough not to ask about my moonlighting as Myrddin, and I knew better than to tell him.


    Though the events of the previous night, Id decided, should be an exception.


    Its done. I told him.


    Nick stopped mid-stride, trying to ascertain my meaning. So hes gone, then?


    Along with anyone who would have created an obstacle to the Orders current agenda of cooperation.


    On the rare asion I reported to him, this was typically as far as it went. Hed absorb the end result, acknowledge my efforts, and move on without asking for more details.


    Which was why it surprised me when he stopped, leaning against a root-strewn wall. How did he pass?


    Sure you want to know?


    Nick nodded, looking ashen.


    The same way she did.


    I half-expected him to judge me for it. Hell, I judged me for it. There was no question that what happenedst night had been a vition of my code. I didnt kill if I had the resources and ability to detain. If the risk could be justified. And if the risk couldnt be justified, I tied off the problem as quickly and humanely as possible.


    My mind reyed the moment I shot him. The split second in time Id aimed for his eye, intending to euthanize him instantly. Only for the bolt to strike him in the neck instead and leave him bleeding all over the ground.


    In the grand scheme of things, it barely mattered. A difference of ten seconds, if that.


    Well, first of all, thank you. Seriously. Cant even describe what a relief it is. Nick said, eyes darting back and forth as he processed the information. I got it. Itd been a relief for me, and unlike me, hed known Jinny for most of his teenage years. His mouth tightened, as if a thought had suddenly urred to him. Wasnt exactly thinking clearly at the time, but in retrospect, its weird that he kept the shooter around. Never saw his leadership in action but from the rumors, he was a one-strike-and-youre-out-kind-of-guy. Did he say anything?


    About that night? I stalled.


    Nick deserved the truth. But it was my job to protect him.


    Yeah. Nick said, waiting expectantly.


    I looked Nick dead in the face, long enough to sell it without going overboard. No. We got in, did what we came for and left. Not a lot of room for a confessional.


    He chuckled nervously. Pretty cold, bro.


    Next time Ill bring a priest and a hallmark card.


    Easy. Im just asking.


    Yeah. I hesitated, squinting and forcing my vision to focus. Sorry. Didnt sleep much. Got knives in my eyes.


    Do you regret it?


    No. I said, the statement almost a reflex. It needed to be done.


    <em>Just maybe not the way I did it.</em>


    He took me by both shoulders and stared me dead in the face. Dont y it down. Its not like it was when you were alone. Yeah, sure, were on a timetable, and paid vacations gone the way of the dodo, but you have me. Not to mention a handful of other reliable people to lean on. If it gets to be too muchbe that quantity or qualitywhatever, just let me know. I can sub-in whenever you need.


    I shrugged him off. Im fine.


    Youre not. Nick chuckled and looked down. But youllnd okay.


    Always do.


    It sounded more dismissive than I wanted. If Im honest, the check-in meant something. Letting him take over even a portion of my side of things would be almost as disastrous as me trying to take his ce as the charismatic hero. It just wasnt realistic. But knowing he was willing to try, and maybe more importantly, offer a non judgemental ear made all the difference in the world.


    Heard anything from Vernon? Nick asked, anxiety peeking through his otherwise calm facade.


    About our mutual project?


    Yeah.


    I shook my head. Thest time Id spoken with the necromancer, the man hadnt seemed optimistic. Admittedly, I hoped it was temporary. His work speed had taken a serious hit ever since he found out his daughter Kinsley was still alive. Hes at a progression wall. Having some trouble breaking through. If he figures it out soon and continues at his previous pace, we should have an answer.


    Nick chewed his lip. Its gonna suck, if it turns out we enabled a necromancer for nothing.


    I offered the only words of reassurance I could. If theres a way to bring her back, well make it happen.


    A long silence passed between us.


    What if she doesnt want toe back? Nick asked. The question blindsided me.


    Why wouldnt she?


    Dunno.


    Nick wasnt going to say it, but I could guess. Jinny had been diagnosed with a terminal illness in her teens, and it had been impliedthough never directly statedthat her home life left much to be desired. Even back then, the world shed left was already cruel. But it was a far darker ce now, one that irreversibly tainted those struggling to survive in its grasp. Even the cores I turned over to fuel Vernons research almost without thinking would probably give her pause.


    Jinny wanted to make a difference in the world, before she left it. Maybe shell seed. Maybe not. But the least we can do is give her the chance.


    Yeah. Yeah. I know youre right. Nick rubbed his eyes. And even if Vernones up dry, we have a backup now.


    A backup?


    The moron who threw a barrel of nasties at your region. Gotta be high level, and Im guessing its only a matter of time before you find them.


    Right. The other necromancer. Id put out feelers, and even now Miles was already kicking down doors, but the unfortunate reality of the matter was that hunting a necromancer was a waiting game. We had to find the correct trail of bodies, and bodies werent in short supply. Ill let you know if I need the muscle.


    Nick coughed awkwardly. Then coughed again.


    Fuckingwhat?


    Its unrted. Youre gonna tell me to fuck off.


    Im about to do that anyway.


    Well He waggled his eyebrows. Any chance youll spill the tea on your <em>other</em> conquest of the evening?


    Fuck off.


    Who could have seen thating? Nick elbowed me. Come on, dude. Meeting and approving your homies girl is a sacred t of the bro-code.


    This was so not what I needed right now.


    One, shes not my girl. Two, I dont need your approval. Three, the fucking second transposition is in thirteen days which doesnt leave us much time to live out your Judd Apatow buddy-movie fantasies.


    Maaaaaatt. Nick whined.


    I rolled my eyes. Youll probably meet her at some point. She lives nearby and Kinsleys putting her on the merchants guild payroll.


    Nick stiffened and stared at me in disbelief. Dude. Youre not supposed to <em>pay</em> them.


    For services unrted goddammit.


    Uh-huh.


    She has a unique skill setactually, just shut up.


    Copy that. Nick waggled his eyebrows. Definitely need to stop by now though. Make sure everythings on the up-and-up. Ready for your court debut?


    Nick, along with the rest of the court, was saving his strength for the boss. Wed been making our way towards the base camp setup at the return elevator, and other than a few of the knights, most of the court would be there. Id met a few of them already, as Myrddin, but Myrddins reputation blew up any chance of a copacetic rtionship. Matt, Nicks politically well-positioned Page, was much more innocuous.


    I breathed out through my teeth. Hopefully it goes better thanst time.

 Chapter 269

    Chapter 269


    A new game meant new yers. And new yers meant unknown quantities.


    When Id first considered how to approach members of the court, I resolved to treat them with a modicum of goodwill. Unlike the rest of the order, most werent there because they chose to be. Theyd all been aggressively recruited. Some more forcefully than others, as Nick stood in clear evidence of.


    Still, that was only how they started. Post recruitment, they were elevated, informed of their status, and treated as nobility with all the luxuries and kid gloves that implied. From what I understood, most of them hadnt set foot outside during thest transposition, let alone contributed to the efforts.


    In short, they were coddled.


    Case-in-point: the base camp.


    There were the usual trappings for an extended dungeon crawlmedical tents, cots, crafters and quartermasters for both guilds. But past them, was the court lounge.


    Their servantsand yes, of course they had servantshad only just finished hauling up a ridiculous assortment of furniture, luxuries, and a banquet spread arranged in the center atop patternedvish rugs in garish purples and deep reds. They had personal tents, glittering gear, and countless attaches running about. It urred to me that the Order hadeither intentionally or unintentionallycreated an almost bizarro version of the Stanford prison experiment, only the prisoners in this case believed themselves the ruling ss, forming a Costco-brand lottery bourgeoisie. To be fair, the efficacy of this varied person to person. Some stayed grounded, took their luck for what it was, and were trying to make the best of their circumstances.


    Others were so deep in the fantasy Kool-aid they couldnt separate the food-coloring from the cyanide.


    A scattered cheer went up as Nick strode into the lounge, back straight, armor nking in a steady march as he cranked his gigawatt smile to nigh-unbearable levels and waved to the handful of heads that turned to greet him as they passed.


    Only a few of them noticed me, fewer still for longer than scant seconds before they returned to their business. In a sense, being Nicks shadow wasnt so different from wearing the mask. Prime difference being, if I screwed up and brought suspicion on myself, theyd remember it.


    Without breaking stride, Nick threw back both ps of the central tent and entered. I caught the covering before it could hit me in the face and followed him.


    There were five sitting around the table, one pointing emphatically at a map in the center. Nearly half of the court had shown up for thiswhich was more than Id expected, less than Id prefer. The pointer was a redheaded guy in his early twenties, sporting expensive looking light armor and ring at the rest. Im telling you, the boss room <em>has</em> to be here.


    <em>Julian. The Prince.</em>


    Sure. The gruff response came from an older man in his thirties sitting near the back. He had a muscr build and somehow seemed simultaneously focused on the conversation and bored. HONOR danced on the knuckles of his right hand, tattooed letters cascading as he tapped his fingers on the table. Thing is though, we dont have confirmation. No recon whatsoever, beyond your guesswork, Julian. A schoolboy hunch. This is our first official joint op with these peopleyou really want to go out on a limb and be wrong?


    <em>Nathanial. The Duskde Knight.</em>


    Perhaps apromise is in order? A girl said. She was wearing skull-themed mages robes, interweaved with tinum thread inplex patterning, her hair and eyes both dark, ented by goth-adjacent makeup. A scouting party, lightly armed and armored, small enough to slip through one of the narrower passages undetected. They could stick their heads inconfirm a high-level entityand disengage.


    <em>Charlotte. Princess of Malediction.</em>


    There was a loud scoff, as an unshaven man who clearly thought he was the smartest person in the room pushed horn-rimmed sses up the bridge of his nose. And youll what, cast something on the poor bastards so the door doesnt m shut behind them? Oh, thats rightyou only do curses.


    Somehow, Charlotte kept her cool, though her mouth turned downward at the edges. Denigrating as always. My repertoire has only grown. For that matter, this floor is an anthill. From my limited knowledge, there are few doors to speak of.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Then the tunnel will cave in behind them, or theyll be cut off by a force-field, or some glorious deity will m their big swinging dick down and block the passage. Whatever. If theres a boss, most dungeons find a method to trap whoever goes in first. Why dont you let the grown-ups talk and go grab us all a tter? He chucked his thumb at the door.


    <em>Lucas. Heedful Knight. Subssed in asshole.</em>


    I have as much of a right to be here as you do. Charlotte said, clearly seething.


    Beside her, a wrinkly old man stared down at the table, holding on to his gnarled staff for support. I will beseech Hastur for his guidance this day. And should he deign not to answer I will atone.


    <em>Paul. Priest of Thorns.</em>


    Julian rocked back on his heels, looking skyward at the crowning canvas. Appreciate that. But lets remember that our patron wants us to be self-reliant. Guardians to the city. He cant be expected to make every decision for us. Just, please, for the love of god, stop whipping yourself.


    It is <em>for</em> the love of God that I worshipsh to flesh. His score on my temple.


    Is it really a legitimate mea culpa if that mark arbitrarily disappears when you heal yourself after the fact? Lucas asked, shrugging when the others red at him. Just saying.


    Pauls eyes flew open. Oh. Hm. Perhaps there is wisdom in


    <em>Enough.</em> A regal voice boomed out from the back, cutting the chatter immediately. The source was a woman, pushing six feet tall. The many braids in her long blonde hair made her look more Norse than Arthurian, and with what seemed like near-zero effort, she mmed one side of her double-headed axe into the table, burying it to the haft.


    Everyone jumped.


    Shit. Someone grumbled.


    Seriously? We just had that patched.


    <em>Silence.</em> She scanned the group with a fierce re, and this time they stayed quiet. With all this chirping and chattering you forget yourselves. Your ce. Julian is the heir apparent. You will all treat him with the fealty and respect he is owed.


    Regarding delusion among the court, Queen Mari was Patient Zero. Id asked Azure to look into her, convinced the grandstanding LARP had to be an act, rtively certain her intelligence would be low enough that he could do so unimpeded.


    Id been right on the second count, wrong on the first. In the short time he perused her mind, Azure found that the Queen of the Court believed in her charter, mission, and authority <empletely.</em> There was no part of her that questioned the system or the circumstances that led to her ascent. The padded walls that came before, the orderlies that forced medication down her throat, the electrodes mped to wet sponges against her scalp, the endless days that stretched on like lesser eternities staring out the window while figures dressed in white shambled in and out of her vision: <em>that</em> was the delusion. She had almost no memories from before, no present family or life to speak of. From what I could tell from Azures findings before she ejected him through pure willpower alone, she suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, the sort of fringe extreme that seldom manifested.


    After the meteor, her title kicked in and cured the most severe symptoms. She, a nk te, no longer forcefully detached from reality, but only loosely tethered by it. Until Hastur spoke to her. She was the only member of the court that had sought Aaron out, rather than the other way around.


    She was a true believer.


    And in my experience, true believers were as rare as they were dangerous.


    Until the King is either found or made, I am the reigning authority. My son speaks with my voice and you will treat him with respect. She scanned the table, as if waiting for rebuttal. None came.


    <em>Not that cured. Still thinks Julians her son, and they cant be more than ten years apart.</em>


    More of note, was that other than a quiet sigh, Julian didnt challenge her at all.


    Ceaseless Knight. Queen Mari lifted her eyes to where Nick stood.


    Right on queue, he gantly dropped to one knee in a respectful bow. Your Grace.


    I nearly followed him but decided not to. They hadnt noticed me or didnt care enough to, but either way it was better not to draw unnecessary attention to myself.


    Its a relief to see you returned to the fold. I missed you. There was a tenderness to the statement that disappeared just as quickly. You heard our conversation, yes?


    Only thest of it.


    What would you advise?


    Yes, lets consult the favorite. Lucas muttered, cutting off in a grunt as someone kicked him beneath the table.


    Well. Nick said, turning back to look at me.


    <em>What the hell are you</em>


    As it happens, my Page is an <em>excellent</em> tactician. And with that as an introduction and a giant grin, he rose to his feet, ced a hand on my back, and shoved me forward.


    <em>You actual bastard.</em>

 Chapter 270

    Chapter 270


    Theyd missed the early briefing, so as far as I knew, this was the first time they saw me in person.


    There was a considerable silence as the group took me in. At best, a few of themJulian, Charlotte, and Lucasseemed politely interested. Paul and the Queen were less engaged but willing to hear me out.


    Nathanial, though? The grizzled knight was pissed. He was making some effort to hide it behind cold rationality, but all the signs were there. Hed been leaning back in his chair this whole time, barely engaging with the others. Now he was sitting with his back ramrod straight, piercing gray eyesncing through me.


    He spoke to Nick, never shifting his gaze. This is your Page?


    Yup. Nick grinned obliviously. Ask him whatever. Hes wicked smaht.


    <em>Im not a genie, asshole.</em>


    Sorry. Nathaniel rested his chin on his thumbs, still staring me down. Im the old man in the room, so maybe Im just slow or missing something here. Isnt your Page also the leader of Region 14?


    Thats him. Nick affirmed,pletely walking into it before I could stop him.


    Right. Nathaniel nodded, unimpressed. And on an unrted note, didnt the leader of that region directly oppose the guild alliance?


    A wave of realization rippled through the group, ambivalence shifting to caution and even distaste.


    Uh. Nick stalled, probably realizing how badly hed flubbed the introduction but otherwise unsure how to salvage it. He came around?


    The air of skepticism grew. I couldnt even me them for it. If Kinsley brought a random stranger into the Merchant Guilds inner-circle with that weak of an exnation, Id be looking for my first chance to get them out of the room so we could have a conversation about proper vetting. Unfortunately, passive-follower-Mattthe role Id intended to maintainwasnt going to work now. It would look like I was a trojan horse, doing what they wanted in the short-term until I gathered what I needed to breakup the alliance.


    Better to y it aggressively.


    I didnt. I stared them down in distaste.


    Oppose the guild alliance? Nathanial asked, raising an eyebrow, preparing to catch me in a lie.


    Come around. I corrected testily, ncing at Nick with an annoyance that was all too real before addressing them again. I still think this is a stupid idea. Instating a court and king and establishing a ss system we collectively left behind centuries ago. Aaron pulling my regions ass out of the fire didnt change that.


    I let that linger, watching until I was sure I was about to be thrown out of the room.


    <em>However,</em> I spoke to Hastur. And that experience widened my perspective.


    Bullshit. Nathanial countered.


    Charlotte seemed to agree. Not to be rude, but our patron doesnt speak to outsiders often. As far as I know he never has. Even as one of his chosen, it takes a considerable effort and a multi-step process to contact him at all.


    Fair. I made a show of considering that. If only there was someone here with a more direct-line ofmunication with management. So you could verify my im.


    There was a long silence before Lucas sighed and elbowed the doddering old man. He means you, dumbass.


    Oooh. Paul straightened. He appearedforck of a better wordsenile most of the time, but as soon as he was called on to engage with the gods, he seemed to gain some rity. Some percentage of the doddering was an act. The question was, how much? Paul raised his staff upward, and everyone else seemed to cringe. I had half a second to wonder if there was a loud noise or other unpleasant magic effects involved before Paul brought the staff down, striking something beneath the table with a meaty thump. Most likely his foot. His eyes literally clouded, a cumulus gray-white rolling over both pupil and iris, and a bead of sweat formed on his forehead while his free hand gripped at his chest.


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    Is he okay? I asked. Given the amount of stress contacting the other side seemed to cause and the mans advanced age, it wouldnt be surprising if hed had a heart attack.


    Hes fine, Nathaniel said. Short. Clipped. Making it clear he didnt trust me.


    When I didnt seem satisfied with that, the queen strode over to the priest and pulled a handkerchief from her inventory and used it to wipe his brow. It takes more effort to speak to any patron within the bounds of the tower. We dont understand why. Paul can do it. He is Hasturs ordained chosen. But it takes considerable effort


    She stopped mid-sentence, caught t-footed as Paul took the handkerchief from her. His eyes were still clouded over and nothing physical had changed, but his entire demeanor had shifted. The shaking, half-there old man from before suddenly seemed alert but rxed. He dabbed at his forehead with a practiced motion, far smoother than before. All at once, a dense weight seemed to manifest, pushing my shoulders and neck down until I gripped the rounded table in a forced bow. Several members of the court knelt, while others remained seated, holding onto their cushioned armrests for dear life.


    Now, now. Paul chuckled, but I had a strong suspicion it wasnt really <em>Paul</em> anymore. He reached down and patted Maris head. Rise. No need for kowtowing amongst friends.


    <em>Hastur.</em>


    The presence seemed to ease some. Beside him, the queen rose first, expression stricken with adoration and gratitude. I am unworthy.


    Nathanialto my surpriseseemed almost as affected. He rose from his kneeling position, all attention shifted off of me and onto Hastur. We did not intend to summon you, my lord. We only sought confirmation.


    I was aware of that. Hastur assured him, then winked at me. But a father doesnt need an excuse to visit his children. Forgive my self-indulgence.


    Several heads turned back towards me once they realized I was being included in the statement, and I inwardly sighed. While I appreciated the backup, this was drawing far too much attention, potentially solving one problem by creating another. The more people were aware of me, the harder it was to operate in any meaningful capacity. And if Aaron ended up catching wind of this, I wasnt sure what conclusions he would draw.


    How are you, Matthias? Hastur addressed me directly.


    I allowed a small smile, if only to cover up the internal screaming. Odd question, from the omniscient.


    My nature allows for great insight, not unlike yours. But were both aware thats hardly a recement for hearing it from the source. He tapped a spot on the table to his right. Come. Speak with me.


    Fuck. I didnt know how to y this. He wasnt giving me anything to go off of. While part of me was terrified he might say something to out me as Myrddin, I knew refusing him here in full view of the court would be beyond stupid. Begrudgingly, I approached and leaned against the table beside him. When he stared at me nkly, I realized he was still waiting for an answer to his previous question.


    <em>Fine. If he won''t give me anything else to go off of, may as well be honest. </em>


    I was all too mindful of the eyes on the back of my head as I answered. Stressed. Conflicted.


    Hastur gave me a proud smile. Yet you performed admirably, regardless. There was an undercurrent of pained sympathy in the statement.


    I only did what was required.


    And that was no small matter. He looked past me, addressing the room now. Matthias had his doubts about our institution. Doubts that were entirely justified given a history I will not share out of respect. But this is a new age. One where it is unnecessary tobel skeptics as heretics. More importantly, he holds the same spark of potential within him as the rest of you. I sought him out after the assault on his holdings, we conversed, and in the wake of our recent intervention I asked him for something incredibly difficult. Something only he could do. And he came through. While he may not be a member of the order on paper, make no mistake. He is one of us.


    Just like that, Hastur was gone, leaving a bleary, disoriented old man blinking in his wake.


    I turned, facing the rest. They were still stunned and tfooted from their patrons sudden appearance, and I needed to strike before they recovered. Again, I have my doubts. But same as the rest of you, I still have people living in the dome that I care for, people I dont want to see put through another transposition event. From the way their expressions darkened, they understood. A tenth of us died during the first event, and if the trajectory of the game is anything to go on, the second will be worse. Stopping it is all I care about. And despite my position, theres not a political bone in my body. So long as were inside the tower, Im not here as the leader of Region 14. I inclined my head towards Nick. Im here as Nicks attendant. A page of the court.


    It was a big swing, putting myself in the same boat as them. Risky enough that I wouldnt have dared to do so, if Hastur hadnt interfered directly.


    For a long time, no one spoke. The inside of the tent was deadly quiet.


    Mari broke the silence. Perhaps, a simple test. To establish if you are as capable as the Gilded Knight believes you to be.


    Go ahead. I said, half-expecting the giant of a woman to challenge me to a duel, right then and there.


    You heard our earlier discussion. She tapped the round table. The issues broached and solutions given. With that in mind what is the best path forward?


    Arbitrary as it was, <em>unearned</em> as it was, these people obviously cared about rank. I declined to answer and stared down at the floor. As an attendant, it is not my ce to say.


    And if it was?


    <em>Well, you asked.</em>


    Dropping the faux modesty, I looked over to Charlotte. What sort of curses can you cast?

 Chapter 271

    Chapter 271


    I tapped my foot impatiently just outside the tent. Inside, the court was still arguing, voices only partially dampened through the tents thick canvas. It sounded like a few were in favor of my n, others more vehemently opposed. It wasnt surprising. The strategy Id cobbled together was unorthodox and required a certain flexibility and willingness to put ones self in danger.


    Id studied up on curses out of diligence after learning from the Adventurers Guild doctor the Witch ss existed, mainly because they were one of the few forms of magic I couldnt directly counter or affect with In short, they were a pain in the ass for both caster and target. They took forever to deploy and had a heinous number of difficult to fulfill requirements that varied depending on the cursesometimes requiring hair, skin cells, in more extreme cases blood or even teeth. They also required line of sight. Casting without the target present was possible, but high enough level that the witches I spoke to seemed to think of it more as a pipe dream than a realistic goal.


    But if you managed to get the curse off and the requisite time passed without the target seeking the services of a priest, the possibilities were terrifying. Temporary and permanent polymorph, blindness, cancer, liquefaction of organs. Even deaththough the death hex was high level and required so manyponents from the target that if you died that way, you probably had iting for ignoring the old woman cackling over the boiling cauldron.


    The less rming options were more interesting. Along with lower requirements, they created situations that were still distressing to the target but had curious and often practical side effects. Obvious examples included causing the targets skin to harden into a shell-like form, or sprout gills, or grow a tail.


    And while few people would sign up to be a turtle-fish-monkey hybrid, the alterations always functioned. The tail would be strong enough to support their weight and prehensile, the gills would allow them to breathe underwater, and the shellwhile bulky and hideous to look atwould provide some protection.


    Hell, Id probably ask Charlotte for permanent gills if it didnt mean struggling for air every time I wasnt out of water. It just seemed too useful to pass up.


    Most witches ignored these options for obvious reasons. They were already barely a support ss, they couldnt afford to waste their development and feat points on curses that wouldnt pack a punch.


    But, given her position as a member of the court and the fact that Charlotte <em>only</em> had ess to curses, Id guessed that she had something we could use.


    And I was right.


    The tent p opened. I half-expected it to be Nick calling me back in, or Nathanial telling me to shove off. Instead, Julian emerged from the tent, nodded to me, and pulled a small gray square from his pocket, holding it to his lips. The light at the bottom illuminated green as he breathed in, breathing out a puff of vapor.


    He saw me looking and held it out in a silent offer.


    I considered saying no, then realized I had no real reason to decline and took a pull. The nicotine went straight to my head, a temporary buzz taking the edge off the stress headache gnawing at my temples since early morning.


    Strawberry?


    Strawberry milk. Julian confirmed. Very princely.


    I took another pullentirely aware I was trading mental rity for the possibility of an unnecessary addictionand passed it back to him. Thanks.


    Sure.


    The voices from the tent lost focus as I prepared for him to try to work me. But he didnt. No side eye, no sudden observation to pry information out of me. He just stood on the other side of the tent p and puffed.


    Something you want? I asked, giving him a lead-in. Being social wasnt in my blood, but Julian was an unknown quantity I needed to get familiar with as soon as possible.


    Julian nodded. A break from the noise.


    I frowned. He was among the members of the court most interested in my n. Having him out here seemed less than ideal. They dont need you in there?


    Hah. No. He waved me off. Already made my case. Now its Mother and Nathanials turn to argue it into the ground.


    Queen for, Nathanial against?


    Yep. He blew out a puff of vapor. You dont miss much. She likes it because its ballsy and interesting and new. Nathanial hates it for the same reasons. Its Charlottes chance to shine, so shes obviously hugely in favor, which almost automatically means Lucas is against it, but that doesnt matter much. Nathaniel and Maris opinions hold the most weight.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Paul? I couldn''t imagine him as a tiebreaker.


    Nah. Paul goes with the majority. Barring that, hell throw his lot in with Mari. Theyre on simr wavelengths. Julian smiled apologetically.


    <em>Out of their minds.</em>


    Id already gathered most of what hed told me, but it was good to have their dynamics confirmed. Julian was being oddly open, and I was tempted to exploit that, but people with authority were often more sensitive to that sort of thing.


    Gotta wonder. I said finally.


    What?


    How Lucas isnt covered in sores or transformed into a toad by now.


    Julian coughed out augh. He cleared his throat and bared a tired smile. Same. Honestly, I think the only thing keeping him out of the crosshairs of a voodoo doll is Charlottes astronomical self-control. Keeps trying though. Everything short of straight up asking for it.


    ying with fire.


    Hes just a contrarian. And an asshole. Socially, hes miserable to be around, but he snaps into shape when shit hits the fan.


    Absent-mindedly, I pulled up my messages to Ellison. There was nothing new since my message this morning, checking for what had to be the tenth time if there was any sign of life. My little brother is kind of like that. More contrarian, less asshole.


    Most of the time? Julian asked knowingly.


    Most of the time.


    Is he still with us?


    The question startled me. It was presented carefully, almostpassionately. But I could count the number of people Id told about Ellisons disappearance on one-hand.


    Sorry. Julian winced, seeming to kick himself. Just I dealt with something simr when I lost my grandparents. The whole past-present tense confusion thing. Wasnt trying to stick my nose in.


    I ran back the conversation in my head. I was certain I hadnt said was. But Id hesitated slightly on the is. It was either more obvious than I recalled, or Julian was an empath. Still, I couldnt walk it back now. Not with him paying that much attention. Hed either suspect the lie or catch it outright. The whole point of meeting the court was to build trust.


    Hes still alive. Just missing.


    For how long?


    Since the attack on my region. When Julian jolted and stared at me, I shook my head. Unrted. He was elsewhere when it all went to shit.


    Youre sure?


    Positive. Plus, he kind of has a history of disappearing for extended periods of time and then popping up out of the blue. Thats probably all it is.


    So youre not sure.


    <em>Again with the read. Getting too reliant on the mask covering my reactions. </em>


    No. I answered.


    Well Julian stretched as my mood grew darker with thoughts of Ellison. Assuming were not all about to get rolled over by giant ants, I know some quality trackers. People outside the order. I can call in some favors. Maybe even help with the search.


    Of all the things Id expected a Prince of the court to say, that wasnt it. It was so far out of my realm of expectations the confusion must have shown on my face, because Julian snorted and looked away.


    Funny. I finally said.


    Not a joke. Days are pretty packed but my nights are free. Dont sleep much anymore.


    Me neither.


    With the strike team retired, barring the asional Myrddin outing my evenings were also free. I already intended to budget at least a portion of that time to search for Ellison, but I had no clue where to start. Id thought about asking Nick for help, but by the time he was finished with the tower for the day he was usually one long blink away from passing out. I couldnt ask him to extend himself more, especially when Ellison might just show up one day, with no exnation for the absence.


    Why help me?


    Again, Julian shrugged. Hastur says youre a member of the court, which puts you under itsand by extension mypurview. You have missing family, which kind of speaks to me personally. Not to mention were united in our dislike for Lucas. Exnation enough?


    Not even close.


    Dont you have more princely things to attend to?


    Please. Julian rolled his eyes. They keep me cooped up most of the time unless I have a reason to go out and be a glorified adornment. Youd be doing me a favor.


    Out of every other member of the court, Julian was the person I needed to have a handle on. Because when Nick reported the prophecy to the court, hed left out a key detail: that he was the one whod pull the sword out of the stone. As the person holding the Prince ss, Julian was the legitimate, heir. Which in a very real way, made Nick the usurper.


    Of course, Nick was convinced Julian was a good guy. That he didnt really buy into the court and had no interest in being King. But Nick often thought too highly of people. And if Julian turned out to be unhappy with the sudden shift of power and became a threat?


    I needed to be ready.


    Ill talk to your trackers, at least. See if they can offer any resource I dont already have. I said.


    Great! Julian seemed oddly happy at the idea of another responsibility. Ill send you my contact


    There was a rustle of fabric, and Julien jumped as Nathanial thrust his head through the ps with a tant scowl. Perhaps it would be wise not to ignore your duty in favor of a smoke break, your highness.


    Whatever you say, Elder Knight. Julian muttered, giving me an apologetic look and returning within.


    Nathanial stared at me for a moment, sides of his mouth turning upward in a subtle smirk. Well. Come on then, new-blood. Lets get you cursed.

 Chapter 272

    Chapter 272


    Compared to some of the other shit Id pulled in recent weeks, this was a simple ploy, a solution to the original problem. If the court sent in core muscle and got stomped, it made them look weak. Alternatively, if they sent in a scouting team that got locked in the boss room and torn to pieces, it made them look stupid.


    It helped that we were up against monsters rather than humans, which was a refreshing change of pace. The monsters of uros could be nightmares, sure. A singlepse of attention duringbat or scouting could spell instant death. What made them easier to deal with was their single-mindedness and uniformity. Every type of monster was different, but once you understood their core objective and mandated behaviors, it was easy enough to predict what they could do.


    It helped that we were up against monsters rather than humans, which was a refreshing change of pace. The monsters of uros could be nightmares, sure. A singlepse of attention duringbat or scouting could spell instant death. What made them easier to deal with was their single-mindedness and uniformity. Every type of monster was different, but once you understood their core objective and mandated behaviors, it was easy enough to predict what they could do.


    Not so much with humans.


    The greater issue was, we didnt know shit about the ants. They had plenty of familiar Old World analogues to extrapte fromthe ones wed seen behaved identically to fire antsbut making an assumption of a system monster based on the creature its inspiration stemmed from was a potentially fatal mistake.


    Charlotte gave us an avenue of better observation and simultaneously pulled back the veil on what she could do.


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    Linking chains of mana loosened with an ethereal rattle as they fell away from my face and shuffled off the rest of me,nding with a tter on the floor. Now that the chains were off and the curse was cast, I felt different. More apathetic. The closestparison was probably when I first wore the mask. Nothing new, but what was far more interesting was how the curse affected my perception of myself.


    I held up my hand, studying the results. It looked more or less the same, minus a few scars and blemishes. The swelled knuckle of my thumb that had persisted ever since it healed after a break had receded. It didnt feel like my hand. More like someone elses had been attached to mine, yet that fact struck me as utterly disinteresting. Which made it all the more significant.


    How does it look? I asked Nick. Chiefly because despite going first, his appearance didnt seem to change much. Some of the more striking aspects of his features had dulled, but beneath theck of polish, he was still clearly the same person. Either the curse was less effective than Id hoped, or one of my feats was allowing me to see straight through it.


    Who are you again? Nick asked, scrunching up his faceically.


    Hrious.


    Beside him, Julian whistled, looking me up and down. Unbelievable.


    Look alive Matt, Prince charmings making a move. Nick whispered conspiratorially, then grunted as Julien shoved him lightly.


    Just cant handle the rare asion hes not the center of attention. I shrugged, ignoring Nick and focusing on Julien.


    Hey! Nickined.


    Unperturbed, Julien circled around me, hands behind his back. Its uncanny. Youre so unassuming. Like a person Id pass on the street and nce at out of the corner of my eye, only to never give them a second thought. The only reason I know who you are is because of context.


    It was like he was describing the person I used to be, before I identally staked my im on a region.


    How do I look? Lucas asked.


    Exactly the same as you always do. Julien said, not missing a beat.


    Before Lucas could rise to the bait, Charlotte stepped in. This curse is unique because it tailors itself to the observer. She put a hand to her chin, surveying her handiwork. If Julian and a hexed monster were standing side-by-sideyoud see a human, while the monster sees another monster.


    Hard rule? I asked.


    Havent had a chance to test it extensively, though from what Ive seen? Yes.


    What about solitary hunters? Predators that avoid or prey on their own kind?


    The question stopped Charlotte short. From the way she cocked her head, she hadnt considered the possibility before. Not surprising, considering how many curses shed probably umted by this point. Charlotte pulled up her UI, sifting through the description beforeing back with an answer. Unclear. Dammit. The descriptions are always so oblique.


    Youve never used this on a boss before?


    Charlotte scrunched up her face. There was a group of Gnollswhich from a distance appeared to have some sort of dominance hierarchy


    They do, I confirmed.


    She nodded thoughtfully. I hexed their chieftain. Once he was hexed, the pack ignored him. Not right away, of course, but the longer the curse stayed in ce the less deference the pack showed him.


    Juliens eyes widened. Thats what you just cast on us? That hex from the barrens? When Charlotte confirmed it was, he grimaced. A little warning would have been nice.


    Id gotten the sense that Charlotte was hiding something, when shed excitedly exined how the Indespectus curse functioned. Because from the way she told it, it had nothing but benefits. Id intended to push her on the topic once we were locked in, but from the looks of it, Nick and Julien would do that for me.


    Nick blinked several times as he looked between the princess and prince. Hes freaking out. Ive heard you guys talk about the barrens. He pointed to still ck-jawed Julien, then pivoted to Charlotte, who was grimacing. You look like you just got your hand caught in the non-vegan cookie jar.


    Im vegetarian. Not vegan. Charlotte argued, in the way people argue over something unrted to bbor a point.


    Same difference. Nick waved her off. Problem is, all I know about the barrens is that theyre a terrible ce for people with coulrophobia, and that mentioning them is a great way to get the two of you to shut down. He shifted towards Charlotte and took a single step into her personal space, his expression friendly. And if its all the same to you, Id like to go into this with as much sense of the situation as possible.


    I had to respect it. I almost always pushed too hard when there was a possibility of critical information at y. While this approach worked to keep the subject off-bnce, it often created a hostile environment difficult to deescte from. Nicks aw-shucks mentality allowed him to achieve the same results with minimal enmity. Not realistically achievable for an introvert like me, but something I could learn from.


    Charlotte blushed furiously at Nicks proximity, ncing everywhere but directly at him as he waited patiently.


    Definitely not something I could achieve.


    The princess swallowed. I wasntuhhiding anything. Assuming the scouting is done in less than six hours, which realistically, it should be, the floor isnt thatrge, there shouldnt be any problems.


    Nick smiled, nodding acknowledgement. Great. Maybe Im just anal-retentive, or its this guys influence, He chucked a thumb at me, But I like to know what sort of timetable Im working with. Its really helpful.


    Definitely a luxury these days. I added.


    I dont get a lot of chances to contribute, Charlotte breathed. Curses work slowly, and so far, at least, weve steamrolled over almost everything really fast. Im just trying to help.


    With a motion that was almost obscenely suave, Nick reached out and gently tipped Charlottes head upward, prompting her to look at him. Nauseating, but from the star-struck expression and red cheeks, clearly not to her. Youre a <em>big</em> help. Your specialization is better suited torge-scale threats, the really scary shit. Makes me feel better just knowing we have you on our side. He grew serious, still maintaining the charming facade. But power is a double-edged sword. We have to wield it responsibly.


    <em>Way, way too much. Jesus Christ, Nick. Youre going to kill her.</em>


    Id identified Charlotte as kin almost immediately. A fellow studious introvert. As such, she was not prepared for the sort of nuclear shit Nick was throwing her way. If cartoon-style steam started pouring out of her ears, it wouldnt be a surprise.


    To Charlottes credit, she didnt short circuit as Id expected. Instead, she took a step back and seemed to take a deep breath, steadying herself. Uh. Okay, it wont apply to this situationagain I wasnt hiding itbut I get wanting to know all the details. So, the barrens. It was supposed to be a routine clear. In-line with the sort of softballs the order was tossing us early on to help the court level with minimal risk. The report from the survey team counted twenty Gnolls. A few captains and some special mobs, but nothing particrly powerful, and despite fewer numbers the initial team cleared the dungeon with no incident and okayed it for court assignment.


    Guessing it didnt go down that way? I prompted, giving Charlotte an escape from Nicks perpetual smolder.


    She shook her head, grateful to have someone else to focus on. No, it really didnt. System barred the door behind us by the time we realized the count was closer to fifty. Far more organized than the reports implied. To make matters worse, they all reported to a chieftain, one apparently strong enough that even our assigned reconnaissance specialist couldnt see his level.


    I frowned. One hell of a disparity.


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    To this day were still not sure what happened. Julien added. The Order questioned the survey team after the fact, and despite considerable pressure, they swore they were thorough and that original reports were urate. He paused thoughtfully. Its almost like the dungeon just changed.


    I weighed the pros and cons of filling in the nk for them. On one hand, even acknowledging the existence of the Adaptive Dungeon increased the likelihood that someone else would find it. On the other, I had the only key, and considering what happened on myst foray, had very little interest in returning. After a moment, I decided the risks were minimal and sharing would only raise my perceived value.


    Ive heard from a reputable source that theres a variant of dungeon that scales.


    Juliens head whipped around. Wait, <em>what?</em>


    Scales based on level, or number of Users? Charlotte asked, leaning forward.


    Both. It adjusts initially, based on party count and level, tailoring the rewards. Resets after. Sounds like you might have encountered something simr. I said, trying to bring the attention back to them.


    Suppose so. Julien mused. Either that, or the system was intentionally out to screw us.


    Alsopletely possible. Nick muttered.


    Julien shuddered again. Like Charlotte said. She hexed the chieftain, and for a while, it worked great. We kept an eye on him as he ran from scruffy a to scruffy z, trying to get anyone to listen to him, acknowledge his authority and presence, whatever. And then things got weird.


    Weird how? I asked.


    Charlotte breathed out a long breath. Keep in mind this was over the period of several days. Before we went in, I think we all still had a sense of things. That there was a Gnoll chieftain, and we needed to monitor and avoid. By the time we started to clear, we could barely remember what he looked like. But after wedpleted it, all we could remember were the signs.


    Scrawling on the wall in anguage we couldnt understand. Julien filled in grimly. First using the sort of tribal paint they wore on their faces, andter... written with other substances. And the writing wasnt the end. We found a Gnoll with his throat slit, destroyed rooms. Eventually the chieftain must have lost his mind, because he started throwing shit. Tossing around furniture, buckets, even a few swords.


    Nick and I shared a nce. If Id known all the detailswell, I probably still would have signed up for it. There were risks to be sure. As long as Charlotte remained safe and safeguarded, the hex gave us a serious advantage. The fact that shed withheld the details, though, and that she was still withholding them, gave us a point of leverage we simply hadnt had before. As much as I wanted to hand-wave the slight away and act like it was no big deal, that simply wasnt the y here.


    Jesus <em>Christ.</em> I pressed a palm to my forehead and walked a few steps away.


    Itll be fine. Nick said, assuring Charlotte more than me.


    Yeah. I hissed. Thats what you always say.


    I used the awkward silence to think through my next steps. If Im honest, I didnt have a problem with the deceit or the potential downside of the spell. What I had a problem with was that Charlotte seemed like the wrong sort of person to hold the only key to undo the hex. Shed hidden the downsides out of ack of self-worth and desperation to contribute. Even now, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the way a hand clenched at the front of her robe, bunching up the fabric violently.


    It urred to me now, seeing them in this context, that Id been thinking about the court all wrong. In my mind they were the systems version of children of privilege, handed the keys to the kingdom with little care or oversight simply because of who they were.


    In reality, they were closer to the golden goose. Show animals held in cushioned captivity. And no matter how you sliced it, a gilded pen was still a cage.


    I waited.


    <em>Come on. Give me what I need to trust you with this. Show a spine.</em>


    Charlotte approached, though she maintained a respectful distance. Reversing the hex is easy. Its


    Sensing she was about to give me an outthe opposite of what I wanted, I interrupted, intentionally misinterpreting her words. And if something goes terribly wrong here at camp while were gone and it ends up taking you out of y?


    Charlotte winced, almost shrinking away before her expression hardened. Look around. She gestured to the bulk of the Users in the center. The bulk of the Orders and Adventurers Guild Users were milling around. There was a sense of camaraderie among the group. It didnt surprise me that the Adventurers Guild had warmed up to the Order, what was unexpected was that it appeared to be mutual. Everyone liked heroes, and everyone enjoyed the experience of being a hero, even if you were only following orders. Maybe that was all it was. No matter what the agenda or underlying motivations were, what the Order had done in my region was undeniably heroic.


    Beyond the friendliness on disy, the collective gear they wore was undeniably high tier. Just from where I was standing, there were dozens of sheathed weapons and worn armors that emitted a soft glow or odd sheen, a mark of Epic rarity or above.


    With the Orders shady head start and the Adventurers Guilds connection to Kinsley, I was probably looking at the best equipped Users in the dome.


    Slowly, I crossed my arms and faced her. Yeah. Theyre a tough bunch. Camp is probably safe. None of that matters if the only person who can undo this shit gets bored and wanders off.


    Hey. Charlotte moved, circling until she stood directly in front of me. For one thing, Ive been caught tfooted one too many times to be the wandering off type. And even if I was, I take this responsibility seriously.


    <em>There it is. </em>


    Okay.


    And for that matterwait, what?


    Sidebar. I switched gears and moved out of earshot of the rest of the group, not giving her time to backpedal. Hold anything back when we went over your curses?


    Charlotte blinked. Some of the trivial and less powerful. Nothing of note. Why?


    Because of the way her nose was perfectly in proportion with her face. How everyone besides Julian was walking around with a full set of luggage under their optics, and Charlotte didnt even have a shadow. The swell and natural glisten of her lips. All without a single blemish, frown-line, freckle, or mole. She was an LA 10 and a Das-does-not-exist. No matter how you looked at her, the beauty was uncanny. Maybe that was a side-effect of being a member of the court. But judging from the Dusk Knights grizzled visage, I was inclined to believe otherwise.


    And the more I thought about it, the lessfortable it felt leaving Saes fate up to Hasturs whims. After everything shed been through, everything shed contributed, I couldnt juste back to her empty-handed. She deserved better than that.


    Anything cosmetic?


    The reaction and confirmation was instantaneous. Charlotte looked down, cheeks flushing in embarrassment. I overdid it.


    She had, but only slightly.


    Not really. Just gathered from context.


    Huh?


    I chucked a thumb at the rest of the room. Most of us are out here looking like the walking dead, while you could have walked off the set of some CWwork post-apocalypse. When she said nothing in response, I tried to soften thementary. Just seeing the group with fresh eyes. Guessing no one else has noticed.


    And what do you intend to do with that information?


    No matter how tactful I tried to be in negotiations, people always ended up zeroing in on the ckmail conclusion. Find out more and make a business arrangement, if possible. Assuming the hex isnt fleetingly temporary or exclusively self-cast.


    For you? She looked up curiously.


    God no. Not my bag. I chuckled self-deprecatingly. My looks and appearance even post system changes were decidedly average, and despite that I was still getting far more attention than I wanted. Rather not talk details out in the open, but a friend of mine has an ongoing dysphoria thing. I owe her a lot, so


    Charlotte chewed her lip. Sculpere could work for that. But a hex is still a curse by nature. It takes multiple applications to get right and the process is painful.


    I paused. Like, break every finger one at a time painful or could drive a person insane painful?


    Depends on the extent of the changes.


    Realistically, it wasnt a full recement for Hasturs potion, then. But I was pretty sure Sae wouldnt mind if we did this piecemeal.


    And if the changes were focused around the face?


    Couldnt say for certain, but I was pretty sure it was thepound eyes that gave Sae the most trouble. Mandibles being a close second. With Iriss more recent, functional adjustments, Saes chitinous body held a convincing human form and could easily pass as slick armor. But the eyes made sunsses in public entirely mandatory. And while that worked in a pinch, it was a ticking clock until they got unseated in a critical moment.


    Should be manageable. Charlotte confirmed. Then, hesitantly. And if I do this


    The groan was reflexive. For once, I didnt bother holding it in. What, I wont out you for being the most attractive person in the room? JustIf you help my friend out, Im going to pay you. If you dont, I wont.


    Oh.


    Uh-huh.


    It would be nice to have a legitimate excuse to get away from the court. Especially legitimate because Id be making inroads with a new ally. Charlotte mused. Itll probably take a few hours at least. Factoring in the time andponents, knocking off a bit because it seems to be for a good cause twenty-five thousand selve?


    It took all the self-control in the world to not immediately jump on the offer. Weird as it was to say considering where I came from, twenty-five-k was nothing to me, even less to the merchants guild. I was all but certain Kinsley spent at least that on her monthly allotment of white truffle lobster Mac-and-cheese. It was an extreme lowball, and I was pretty sure Charlotte was only offering the service at that price because she was relieved not to have another foot on her neck. If she had any self-awareness at all, shed realize that eventually, which created space for resentment to grow.


    Make it fifty thousand and we have a deal.


    Done, Charlotte said automatically. Then paused, confused. Wait


    Its aplicated case, and I dont want you to feel like I fleeced you after the fact. I stuck my hands in my pockets and turned back towards the group.


    Just, off-record for a second. Charlotte called out to me. More than anything else, she looked ashamed.


    What, too low?


    No. The offer is more than generous. But you really dont judge me for wasting slots on something as trivial as appearance?


    The fact you did works out great for me. Why would I?


    Only from the downtrodden expression that wasnt what Charlotte wanted to hear. From what shed implied, shed used the hex on herself extensively. Extrapting the introvert energy andck of confidence, it was a safe bet she was less than thrilled with her previous appearance and still adjusting to the new one. And now she was looking for absolution from the one person who knew the truth.


    <em>Its like despite being the most fucked up person here, Im the only one who actually went to therapy.</em>


    I sighed, running a hand through my hair. For one thing, my thoughts and judgements shouldnt matter. Im a guy. Rtively speaking, the only real societal expectation we have and cant do anything about is being six feet tall. Compared to the pressure you and yours get on a daily basis, thats a drop in the bucket.


    Youre not <em>that</em> short.


    <em>Thanks.</em>


    Sorry.


    Point being, I cant know what its like. I mused, trying to strike a bnce between dismissive and thoughtful. But self-doubt, self-loathing? The way the intrusive thoughts tend to crop up at the worst possible time? Those are things I can speak on definitively. I nced at her. Any of that get better after your adjustments?


    Charlotte nodded.


    Then it was worth it.


    I genuinely believed it was. Maybe sping for vanity wasnt exactly optimal, but eliminating anything that could distract you in the heat of the moment, even for a second, absolutely was. Charlotte would be a far better ally, teammate, and potentially, friend, if she wasnt regrly splitting her focus outward and inward. That, at least, I could rte to.


    She paused for a long moment and swiped at her eyes, then peered at me curiously. So, you really think Im the most attractive person here?


    I have a girlfriend.


    Leaving Charlotte behind in an awkward retreat, I returned to Julien, Nick, and Lucas. From Nicks shit-eating grin, hed overheard my parting words at least. My <em>boy,</em> melting the ice princess He grunted at my drive-by elbow in his gut.


    Lets get this over with before we disappear.


    Fucking finally. Lucas rolled his eyes.

 Chapter 273

    Chapter 273


    Talia padded alongside Nick, ears up, nostrils ring. She was manifested in her true form, white and gold fur rippling as she kept pace at his thigh. The two of them together made a picture straight off the cover of a fantasy novel: The Ceaseless Knight and his elegant talking animalpanion.


    Other than Nick and Talia, the rest of us maintained a single-file marching order, not unlike the ants we supposedly mimicked, trying to match behavior to appearance. Lucas took up the middle in front of Julien, while I brought up the rear.


    I watched mutely as a small trail of ants passed by us, each approximately waist height. So far, at least, between the hex and the marching order, our precautionary measures seemed to be working. The invertebrates were oddly scarce and for the most part paid little attention to us.


    It was odd, though. Because despite the honebingwork of passageways and tunnels, there didn¡¯t seem to be nearly enough of them. Part of me wondered if this was nothing more than my own bad habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth, but every time I was about to disregard the notion, there was a slight buzzing from <strong></strong> Not enough to sound the rm, but from my prior experience with the title, I kept my guard up.


    For the most part, the team we¡¯d put together seemedpetent. Julien and Lucas both had no issue with following Nick¡¯s cues.


    The only problem¡ªand I hesitate to call it a problem¡ªwas that Lucas seemed dissatisfied with theck of action, and couldn¡¯t seem to stop running his mouth.


    Once the most recent ants were far in the rearview, he started up again, like clockwork. ¡°As usual, Charlotte¡¯s ¡®help¡¯ waspletely unnecessary. These tunnels are a ghost town.¡±


    From behind, I saw Julien¡¯s fist clench at his side.


    ¡°Whole point of prep is it¡¯s better to need it and not have it, then have it and not need it.¡± Nick shrugged. ¡°And we may still need it.¡± Julien agreed. ¡°Not exactly a bug expert, but I¡¯m guessing we¡¯ll see the most resistance closest to the queen.¡±


    ¡°Dunno big guy.¡± Lucas elbowed Julien. ¡°Could definitely see you as an insectologist.¡±


    ¡°Entomologist.¡± Nick corrected, at the same moment I said ¡°Myrmecologist.¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°Same difference, tighter category.¡±


    ¡°Fuck me, I¡¯m surrounded by nerds.¡± Lucas groaned.


    ¡°One in every group.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Nothing.¡±


    The jab at Lucas was unnecessary, but if I was honest, he was wearing on my nerves as well. I knew what he was. The sort of person who agreed to a difficult task almost exclusively because it gave them something toin about. Harmless. But that didn¡¯t make it any less annoying.


    Lucas walked backward, doing his best to stare me down. ¡°Got a problem, Page?¡±


    I snorted. ¡°The second transposition event is a problem. Organizing the regions before said event hits is a problem. <em>You</em> are not a problem.¡±


    From the way his face darkened, Lucas didn¡¯t like that. He was about to say as much before Nick interrupted. ¡°Speaking from experience, I can confidently advise <em>not</em> starting an argument with the guy who runs practice LSAT questions to pass the time.¡±


    ¡°Whatever.¡± Lucas turned his back to me. ¡°It¡¯s always the smartasses that crumble fastest when the action hits.¡±


    <em>No self-awareness whatsoever. It¡¯s honestly kind of impressive. </em>


    Julien slowed, staring down a side passage. Further down the tunnel was the silhouette of an ant, roaming in panicked meandering circles. It wasn¡¯t the first time we¡¯d seen this behavior, but the queer feeling of wrongness washed over me just the same.


    ¡°Another off the trail. How many does that make now?¡± Julien asked.


    ¡°Four.¡± I answered. ¡°Thirteen if we¡¯re counting the ones that seem sluggish and drunk.¡±


    ¡°You kept count?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    He nodded in approval, lips quirked in concern. ¡°It¡¯s a little weird, right?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± I wanted to say more, but for the moment all I had was a gut feeling with little evidence to speak of. ¡°If there''re hundreds, it might not be that strange for that many to have a screw loose. Odd that we keep seeing them, though our sample size is in the low fifties, so we may not have an urate picture.¡±


    ¡°So, bide our time and assume system fuckery.¡±


    I raised an eyebrow. Having thoroughly learned my lesson about keeping my paranoia to myself, I¡¯d been on the verge of voicing something simr. Julien kept hitting all the right notes, like he wasn¡¯t even trying. Suspicious. But not unwee.


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    For once, Lucas had nothing pithy to say. Maybe the sense of uneasiness had gotten to him like the rest of us, or maybe he was just tired of the sound of his own voice. Nick froze in ce and held a fist up, directing us to the cover of an upturned mound of dirt before a half-dozen ants scampered through the intersection in front of us. It took a second to identify them as the addled, scrambled variety,rgely because they were moving quicker and less aimlessly.


    ¡°Okay, <em>that</em> looked organized.¡± Nick squinted, stretching up to take another look before dropping back down.


    ¡°Something pissed them off.¡± Julien agreed. ¡°Or someone.¡±


    ¡°Nobody should be this far in.¡± I shook my head. Then waited, giving my mind time to work as I isted a single image, no more than a flicker from thest ant to cross our paths. Like the rest, they should have only had three segments¡ªabdomen, the lumpy, trunk-like center, and the head. But I could have sworn I¡¯d seen four. I poked at Lucas, using the disruptive element of the group to stall while I worked through it. ¡°Thoughts?¡±


    ¡°How the fuck would I know? Maybe it¡¯s aphid milking hour or something?¡±


    I cocked my head. Despite fully expecting the verbal equivalent of hot garbage toe spewing out of his mouth, that wasn¡¯t the worst theory. It was wrong of course. But not half-bad.


    However, Nick and Julien were both holding inughter.


    ¡°Milk them? Like¡­ cows?¡± Nick wiped a mirthful tear away as Lucas scowled.


    ¡°I¡¯m imagining a full factory farm setup, only with aphids instead of livestock.¡± Julien grinned.


    ¡°To be fair, some species do that. Not saying that¡¯s what¡¯s going on here, but it¡¯s possible.¡± I spoke up despite myself. It wasn¡¯t about helping Lucas, exactly, just making sure the others weren¡¯t dunking on him when he was actually throwing out legitimate ideas.


    ¡°Ah.¡± Julien elbowed Lucas as his eyes zed over and he reviewed the route the Court had cooked up. ¡°Who¡¯s the myrmecologist now?¡±


    Lucas muttered something almost imperceptible that sounded like ¡°fucking magic school bus.¡±


    ¡°Well. We have two options. Follow the war party, or stay on route.¡± Nick chewed his lip.


    ¡°Or both.¡± Julien said, still focused on the map. ¡°Easy detour in the direction they headed. Assuming their end destination isn¡¯t too far away, we could follow, observe, then be back on the path.¡±


    ¡°Not gonna reveal the origins of this highly convenient map?¡± I pushed a little, keeping my voice casual. A route directly to the suspected boss room was one thing. But Julien seemed to have in-depth knowledge of the tunnel system. Anything I could glean about a highly ced User¡¯s abilities or ss was valuable information to have. But the way Lucas visibly recoiled, I got the sense that I¡¯d touched on something sensitive.


    ¡°Told you.¡± Julien grinned, giving nothing away. ¡°We have excellent trackers.¡±


    Nothing I picked up even hinted that the question bothered him. But from the way Lucas¡¯s head swiveled like a spectator on a tennis court, I decided on instinct not to press further. ¡°Fair enough. More information is always better than less.¡± I looked to Nick. ¡°Let¡¯s divert¡ªfollow until we have a better idea of what they¡¯re doing and why, or it takes us too far out of the way.¡±


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    We followed the train of ants from a distance, trailing, the feeling in my stomach growing more sour the longer we observed them.


    ¡°Try to rx.¡± Julien looked over to me, pitching his voice low. When I red at him, he shrugged. ¡°Stress is bad for your skin.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll exfoliate.¡± I snapped back, a little more vehemently than I needed to. Still, he didn¡¯t seem to mind.


    ¡°Something about there being two distinctive groups of these things bothers you.¡±


    Hesitantly, I nodded. ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Care to share with the ss?¡±


    When it came to dungeons, the system didn¡¯t care about creating a realistic or viable ecosystem. Not unlike a video game, the intention was to create set-dressing convincing enough that the User clearing the floor didn¡¯t couldn¡¯t see the matrix. Given that, it often relied on stereotypes to create a false sense of security, emphasis on false. Because there was always some sort of twist. The fact that it was telegraphing something off this early alone made me uneasy. I did my best to convey this without sounding like a crazy person, and Julien just nodded, looking troubled as he absorbed it.


    Instinct, rather than logic.


    ¡°Matt, worst-case scenario?¡± Nick said. From the curtness in his voice, he was feeling the same thing.


    ¡°Won¡¯t be great for morale.¡± I warned him.


    ¡°We¡¯re past that.¡±


    I blew air through my lips. ¡°Absolute worst case? Some y on zombie ants.¡±


    ¡°What the actual fuck?¡± Lucas said.


    ¡°There''s a real world basis to draw from. A type of fungus and parasitic wasps.¡± Almost thoughtlessly, I reached in my inventory and withdrew four antifungal philters, passing them around. Nick downed his immediately while the other two hesitated. ¡°Obviously, I¡¯m leaning more towards fungus than wasps. We haven¡¯t seen anyrvae and the wasps use that to propagate. Fungus would be a serious problem, because there¡¯s no guarantee it only works on ants, and there¡¯s no guarantee the spores would be visible.¡±


    <em>In other words, we could already be infected.</em>


    At that, both the new additions from the court popped their philters and drank, grimacing at the taste.


    My heart sank, as I watched the trail of agitated ants suddenly curve, skittering legs taking them directly down a side passage.


    ¡°It¡¯s a side chamber with no outlet.¡± Julien said, frowning at the map. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s the end of the line?¡±


    Emboldened, Nick approached the chamber, the rest of us following behind. There was an audible crunch that echoed down the tunnel and he cringed. We waited, listening for movement. After hearing nothing, he muttered. ¡°Floor¡¯s different here.¡±


    Something twisted in my gut. Forgoing the marching order, I jogged up next to him, eyes glued to the ground. From far away, it looked no different than the dirt. Studying it up close, however, revealed something as alien as it was rming. Layers uponyers of chitin, folded on top of each other to give the appearance of terrain. I could make out bits of legs, eyes, and antennae mixed in with the slurry.


    I nearly lost my bnce as my stomach flip-flopped, leaning against the side of the tunnel for support, a wave of nausea overtaking me as a very different memory rose from my subconscious, suppressed but never fully gone.


    Nick bent down next to me and whispered, his voice barely audible. ¡°Is it¡­¡±


    <em>Not a fungus, not even close. It¡¯s eldritch.</em>


    I forced myself forward, taking the first look inside the chamber. Despite their formerly clunky movements, the sporadic ants were organized in their efforts, forming a half circle. They surrounded a major, easily three times their size. The major backed away in confusion until his abdomen pressed against the chitinous back wall.


    As one, the aberrations curled their abdomens over their heads, spraying the major with a dark ck gunk. Therge ant in the center recoiled and turned in an immediate attempt to run, only to copse.


    Its aggressors didn¡¯t attempt to savagely pull it apart, as I¡¯d half expected. They peppered it with a multitude of bites, but the bites were firm, held for a second and then released, not unlike the method a mother dog might use to discipline her brood.


    <em>They¡¯re trying to keep it intact</em>


    More than enough for confirmation. I gestured for the rest of them to follow back to the main path, barely keeping the nausea and terror at bay. Thanks to the overseer¡¯s broadcast of the situation in region six, it didn¡¯t take long before they connected the dots.


    Nick looked like someone punched him in the face, while Lucas looked as close to the verge of panic as I was.


    ¡°We have to go back. Warn everyone.¡± Nick said, looking fully prepared to sprint all the way back to Basecamp.


    ¡°No. That¡¯s exactly what we need to avoid.¡± I clenched a fist.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for coy shit, Matt¡ª¡±


    ¡°<em>Listen to me.</em> Word gets out before we have our ducks in a row, it¡¯s chaos. Especially the region six connection. More than anything else, keep that to yourselves. Someone infected slips down the elevator in the mayhem and the entire city is fucked.¡± I looked to Julien and Lucas. ¡°You¡¯ve both spent more time in camp than I have. How many people have been injured, leaving room for error?¡±


    They exchanged nces. After a moment, Julien cleared his throat. ¡°Less than ten, on the conservative side.¡±


    ¡°Assume <em>twenty.</em>¡± My mind raced as I recalled the encounter with the Adventurer¡¯s Guild Users earlier, how they¡¯d wanted to get back into the action immediately. ¡°Cross-reference with the healers. Keep in mind there¡¯s a good chance that not all injuries were reported. Look for anyone walking in a strange way, favoring one side or another, wincing as they move, any tell. Lock the exit down. No one gets in or out.¡± I started to pace. ¡°The Duskde Knight and the Queen. How are they in a crisis?¡±


    ¡°Their arguments suddenly disappear.¡± Lucas rolled his eyes.


    ¡°Will they stay put?¡± I rounded on him.


    ¡°If we hint how important it is, they will.¡± Julien said.


    I nodded. ¡°Park them in front of the elevators. Out of everyone, theymand the most respect and they¡¯re the most intimidating. We need a full ounting of everyone present and anyone that might be missing. Any User who¡¯s received medical care since arriving needs to be isted, sedated, and monitored.¡±


    ¡°Guessing you¡¯re telling us all this here instead of back at camp for a reason.¡± Julien observed.


    I ground my teeth. The point of going over it this way was burying the lede, because I knew Nick wouldn¡¯t like the next part.


    Julien continued to jump ahead, understanding dawning in his eyes. ¡°You still want to scout the boss.¡±


    Lucas¡¯s eyes bugged out. ¡°Are you <em>insane?</em>¡±


    Just as expected, Nick immediately squared off with me. Trauma-fueled terror took over. ¡°Hell no. No way we¡¯re splitting the party for a scouting op. This takes precedence.¡±


    Judging from their collective bodynguage and the way they hesitated, it was obvious I was losing them. Best bet was to put everything on the table. ¡°Think about how fast this thing spread. An entire region was overtaken in a matter of hours. Just because there¡¯s less right now doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯ll stay that way. I¡¯d stake my life on that. So, no, we¡¯re not scouting the boss. We¡¯re killing it. And we have to do it <em>now</em>.¡±


    ¡°Matt¡ª¡± Nick started again. He had every right to be afraid.


    It wasn¡¯t a card I wanted to pull. But I leaned in and whispered in his ear, ying it anyway. ¡°We¡¯re out of time. Let. Me. Work.¡±


    Nick stiffened and pulled away, his mouth tight, looking vaguely hurt. He knew I was referencing our deal tobine our methods to do whatever was needed to end this before the second event. In that detached, theoretical moment, he¡¯d agreed. Simple fact was, it was a lot more difficult in practice.


    But Nick didn¡¯t argue. When he spoke, he purposely looked away from me. ¡°Okay. Where do we go from here?¡±


    Julien mused aloud. ¡°More importantly, how many people do we send back?¡±


    ¡°Much as I hate to say this¡­ it has to be me.¡± Nick rubbed the back of his neck. ¡°People in both camps listen to me. I¡¯m already going over the order of who I need to talk to and how.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with him.¡± Lucas immediately volunteered, visibly sweating.


    Julien rolled his eyes. ¡°Of course. Not like we could use the extra firepower.¡±


    Talia stepped forward, giving Lucas serious side-eye as she gravitated towards the center. ¡°As a summon, I am immune to most status effects and can simply be re-summoned if I die.¡± She looked at Nick. ¡°May I remain with the attack team?¡±


    Nick nearly missed the fact the question was being directed at him instead of me, but recovered quickly. ¡°That¡¯s probably for the best.¡±


    ¡°Can you handle a boss?¡± I turned and asked Julien point nk. From context and some whispers I¡¯d heard around the Order¡¯spound, I already knew he was monstrously strong. On the upper echelon alongside Nick. But more importantly, he seemed to have a better-than-average head on his shoulders, with little ego to speak of. Given the stakes, further bolstered by the fact he appeared to be in deep thought rather than answering immediately, I¡¯d probably get an honest answer. ¡°If you can, I¡¯ll do everything possible to support you. I¡¯ve seen Talia in action enough to know she¡¯s fairly strong, so between the two of us you won¡¯t be solo. If you can¡¯t, that¡¯s okay. My instinct is to have all four of us return together, wrangle a few other heavy-hitters and do this the hard way. But we¡¯ll lose the benefits of a stealth approach.¡±


    ¡°¡­ And significantly increase the group¡¯s risk of exposure. A group filled with strong Users. Fuck.¡± He rubbed the bridge of his nose. ¡°Uh. I feel¡­ <em>ufortable</em> making that assessment.¡±


    <em>Good.</em>


    ¡°Realistically, there¡¯s no way for me to know.¡± The color of his eyes was almost clear in the lighting, entirely unreadable. ¡°Assuming the boss is a simple bump in difficulty from the floor below, then, yeah. Easy enough. But there¡¯s no guarantee it will be. And if you¡¯re right about this floor beingpletely overtaken in a short time, whether we throw twenty people at it or two people and a summon, this is our only shot.¡± He cocked his head. ¡°It¡¯s a question of harm reduction now. And, being frank, if the three of us can¡¯t handle it together, I¡¯m not sure throwing more people at the problem would do anything other than increase our casualties and put both groups in a worse position for the second event. I think we go for it. Do or die.¡±


    This was the oue I¡¯d wanted. But something about it made my mouth go dry.


    ¡°Then we need to move.¡± I said.


    Julien nodded.


    He¡¯d repeated my reasoning almost verbatim. Between an anti-eldritch summon, the Ordinator, and a high-ranking member of the court, I was pretty sure we had this. But Julien shouldn¡¯t have known any of that. To him I was just a low-ranking member of the court, and Talia was a magical wolf. I thought back over our interactions, reviewing everything I¡¯d said and done since our first encounter, finding nothing he could have possibly drawn the conclusion from.


    Maybe he really was just that confident in his abilities, and had included me and Talia in the estimation to be polite.


    It was either that, or we had a serious fucking problem.

 Chapter 274

    Chapter 274


    Tunnel after tunnel blurred by. We were moving faster now, less concerned with being detected than getting back to camp.


    I was concerned, anyway. Julian seemed to be having the time of his life. He¡¯d been edgy, uncertain until we had a n in ce. But now, he seemed to revel in the moment, smiling to himself. He was approaching a level of speed that was making it far more difficult to justify my supposedly lower level self keeping pace. This was something I¡¯d never had to worry about with Nick. Despite the two of them sharing simr energy¡ªinfuriatingly good-natured and positive¡ªNick¡¯s high-pressure sports background and subsequent injury meant I never had to worry about him screwing up when shit hit the fan. As long as no one close to him was dead or dying, Nick locked the fuck in. Julien, on the other hand, was an unknown quantity.


    At least he wasn¡¯t paying attention to me¡ª


    ¡°Dex build, huh? Nice!¡± Still making distance at a ridiculous rate, Julien craned his neck back to look at me and grinned.


    ¡°If I wasn¡¯t, you would have left me in the dust by now.¡± I answered dryly.


    ¡°Sorry. Gotta prioritize killing the boss with or without you. Lives at stake and all.¡±


    ¡°Less talking, more running.¡±


    <em>At a reasonable pace. So you don¡¯t remember thiste at night and start wondering how theter had so much agility.</em> I added silently.


    As if he was simultaneously psychic and antagonistic, Julien lowered his head and picked up speed, only slowing once he reached the next cross-tunnel, boots skidding across the earth as he dropped to a knee and checked the corners. I made a show of cutting speed a few seconds early and catching up to him, panting slightly. ¡°Clear?¡± I pitched my voice low.


    ¡°Few normal drones heading that way, looks¡­ pretty clear.¡± His brows furrowed as he stared at the passage ahead. It widened gradually, leading into arge circr chamber that was inundated with boulders that resembled pebbles in everything but scale, and bits of barkrger than me. ¡°For now. That¡¯s gotta be it, right?¡±


    ¡°Seems too easy.¡±


    ¡°We did kind of cheat.¡±


    ¡°Still.¡± I stared into the room, trying to suss out exactly what was putting me off. Then it hit me. So far, the Gilded Tower had shown a strong tendency toward single-target bosses. There¡¯d been a few duos and even a melee trio, but only one other floor that had lower-level minions active during the boss encounter. Generally, dungeons were as unpredictable as they were dangerous, but if you looked closely, certain patterns emerged. For one, the boss was <em>always</em> on theme. If there were werewolves, you¡¯d probably be fighting either a werewolf or a human with the capacity to shift. And considering how the enemies on this floor wereprised of ants and the red eldritch corruption that gued region 6 controlling those ants¡­


    No way there weren¡¯t adds, right?


    ¡°Any scents?¡± I murmured to Talia. When she shook her head, I gestured for her to move closer. She crept forward, nose low to the ground, until the swishing of her tail suddenly ceased. She slowly raised her head and backed away, a growl deep in her throat when she returned.


    ¡°Not sure how you knew, but yes. There are nine creatures lying in wait that smell simr to the infected hexapods. Both their aura and smell are subdued, but they are there.¡±


    Not good. The bark scattered across the floor created a lot of hiding ces for something not-quite-human-sized. If they were just normal monsters that was one thing. But if Talia was right, and the bugs were infected, that put us in a rough spot. Because a single hit could be lethal.


    I slipped across the hallway, studying the passage. At first it looked exactly like the rest of the smoothed out tunnels. But the longer I stared at the earth, the more subtle cracks and fissures stood out to me.


    ¡°Shockingly, your friend was right about something.¡± I told Julien.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the vition.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°The second we go through, the tunnel will cave in.¡±


    ¡°Shit.¡± He thumbed the hilt of his sword nervously. ¡°Look, when I told you I could handle a boss I meant it, but¡­¡±


    ¡°Maybe not with a small horde of ankle-biters peeling the flesh off your shins?¡± I said.


    He nodded, his eyes flicking back and forth before they finally closed, and he put a hand on his forehead. ¡°Okay. Okay. Like you said earlier, the more contact we have with this floor, the higher chance the corruption will spread. We have to clear this now. There¡¯s no choice.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re going to get bit if you just charge in.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll charge in, brute-force my way through everything. If I make it through unscathed, great. It¡¯s possible even if I get bit, I can shrug it off. If I don¡¯t, I¡¯ll take care of it. But I need you to stay behind until it¡¯s over.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because I need you to make sure I¡¯m dead if they get me.¡± He stared at me, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°Can you do that?¡±


    A mental sh yed in my mind of Jinny stepping off the bridge.


    ¡°Fucking altruists.¡± I pinched the bridge of my nose.


    ¡°Almost right.¡±


    ¡°How about we skip the noble sacrifice part and just get through this?¡±


    /////


    Julien watched, quiet for a change, as I set things up, removing twenty firebombs from my inventory and cing them in a pile. It was around half the supply I¡¯d obtained from an earlier boss, a fire wyrm that Nick and I had struggled with and ultimately brought down. Chastity typically charged an exorbitant rate for her work though in this case, she¡¯d given me a discount due to the pleasure of working with such a rare material. The result was a round sphere bisected in the center, silver liquid on one side and ava-like substance on the other. They were impact grenades, which simultaneously made the setup harder and the payoff easier.


    <em>¡°Be careful to make any use of power seem ordinary. He is observing you closely.¡±</em> Talia warned me.


    <em>¡°Got it.¡±</em>


    This was a task that was easy enough to pass off as simple human dexterity. System grenades varied a great deal. Even if he identified them as an impact variant, he didn¡¯t know the material, and wouldn¡¯t realize they should be breaking when they weren¡¯t.


    <em>Ambush pile first.</em>


    I used an area cast of <strong></strong> on the pile to avoid any possibility of idental discharge, held my breath, then rolled one underhand. It rotated in a blur, traveling across ground and slowing to a stop around six feet into the opening. I would have preferred a little farther, but my abilities rarely gave me exactly what I wanted.


    Now that I had a focal point, it was easier. Nine more joined the first, forming a neat pile in the center. I paused, listening for movement.


    <em>Nothing.</em>


    A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead as I rolled the rest, eaching to a stop adjacent to a piece of barkrge enough to serve as a hiding ce. With the initial ambush pile in ce, I was prepared to prematurely start the encounter. Instead, it went smoothly. So smoothly that I wondered if <strong></strong> was wrong and the corrupted monsters were pulling the ssic ¡°Hide beneath the floor¡± trick.


    As I rose, Julian and Talia took their ces. Julian stood beside me with his sword at the ready, while Talia prowled further back, iming a spot in clear view of the boss room.


    ¡°Sure you can hit those?¡± Julian leaned over and asked quietly.


    I fought the urge to scoff. With a hand crossbow and <strong></strong> paired with my quick draw ability, hitting every single impact grenade¡ªeven the ones that had rolled farthest on either side of the room¡ªwould be trivial. However, Julian was watching me closely. He passed it off as idle curiosity. Maybe it was, but I¡¯d spent much of my teenage years watching my brother use a simr persona to lucrative ends.


    ¡°Who am I, Hawkeye? No. We let the expert do it.¡± I shifted my head back towards Talia.


    ¡°Maximize the mour¡¯s effect. Picking up what you¡¯re putting down.¡± Julien grinned at Talia, who scowled at him openly. ¡°Alright, show us what you¡¯ve got, captain.¡±


    The light show started, motes of holy fire circling around a prismatic halo that appeared around Talia¡¯s neck. As they elerated, Julian leaned in and whispered. ¡°Uh, heads up. Once the boss shows itself, I may do and say some stuff that won¡¯t make sense. Just need you to know I¡¯m doing it for a reason.¡±


    ¡°System thing?¡± I realized immediately.


    ¡°Almost right. And I¡¯d appreciate it if¡­¡±


    ¡°Not my first rodeo. Or the first time I¡¯ve worked around a difficult title. I¡¯ll keep it to myself.¡± I reassured him, waiting for a denial. He showed nothing beyond in relief. Figured. My assumption came with experience. Most sses¡¯s general abilities and skills were rtively straightforward, except for a few outliers. It was the Titles that always threw a wrench into things and gave the Users quirks that ranged from debilitating to outright overpowered.


    The first projectile loosed, smashing an impact grenade and setting the nearby ground aze. And the screeching began.

 Chapter 275

    Chapter 275


    I barely heard the insectile whining keen before Talia¡¯s other projectiles hit, each emitting a sound simr to a bottle rocket with far more devastating effect. ming segmented bodies, some farrger than others, scrambled out in a squealing dash, mandibles clicking, feet skittering as they raced towards the only visible source.


    Talia fired projectile after projectile, moving more than necessary to hold their attention, while Julian and I pressed ourselves against the walls.


    A <em>BOOM</em> and subsequent rush of heat escaped from the boss room as Talia detonated the ambush stockpile. ming ants heavy with pheromones and chemical scents brushed against us as they passed, unsettling Julian and nearly knocking me over. Either the mour worked, or they were too angry and unsettled to notice the two lesser threats holding up either side of the tunnel.


    ¡°Now.¡± I snapped.


    I leapt over a ming ant as Julien shoved it aside and dashed through the doorway. This time, he actually kept pace with me, and we entered the boss chamber at the same time. There was a deep rumble and a cascade of falling rock and soil crashed down behind us, crushing most of the adds. A few probably still made it through. But in smaller numbers and away from prying eyes, Talia could handle anything Eldritch in nature easily.


    Julian evaluated the cave-in behind us, taking a step back. ¡°That worked <em>way</em> too well.¡±


    ¡°Twelve o¡¯clock, hanging upside down from the indentation of rock.¡± I spat out tersely, my bow at the ready.


    A praying mantis clung to the ceiling, pinprick eyes barely visible with its rock and soil colored camouge. It swayed slightly, mimicking a leaf in the breeze. Tendrils of oozing red were wreathed around its body, digging into its limbs and carapace.


    I sighted its head. It was a usibly easy shot from here with the thing being sorge. ¡°Let¡¯s get this started.¡±


    Julian put a hand on my bow, pushing it down.


    ¡°What the fuck¡ª¡±


    ¡°My thing, remember?¡±


    I fell quiet, annoyed at the interruption. A system quirk that forced you to fight differently was one thing. Losing the benefit of surprise when it was the only advantage we had was an entirely different level of irritation.


    After waiting until he was confident I wasn¡¯t going to fire, Julian raised himself up and approached the mantis. ¡°Are you intelligent?¡±


    A set of human teeth clicked impatiently. Its voice was a harsh noise, forced out through a throat clearly not designed for it. ¡°I am a servant of the disruptor. There is no me. Just as there is no you. Merely the wills and ideals we are driven by.¡±


    As if that was somehow satisfactory, Julian sheathed his sword.


    <em>What the hell are you doing, idiot?</em>


    I nearly said something inmmatory, but didn¡¯t want to draw more attention to the opening. <strong></strong> suddenly proc¡¯d, informing me that Julian was using a skill. But there was no further sign of one. ¡°You¡¯re intelligent enough to speak eloquently, and can grasp abstract concepts such as the erosion of self. Surely you must hold some sort of belief of your own ord. Some will.¡±


    The creature chortled. ¡°All willing springs fromck, from deficiency, and thus from suffering. Fulfillment brings this to an end; yet for one wish that is fulfilled there remain at least ten that are denied. Further, the desirests long, and demands are infinite; the fulfillment is short and rarely measured out.¡±


    The statement gave me a chill. The added context of what this thing was¡ªor rather, what it was controlled by¡ªmade it worse.


    Julian chuckled back, as if the creature had just told nothing more than a clever joke. ¡°That¡¯s a direct quote. Schopenhauer, right?¡± He frowned. ¡°Though I suppose you may or may not be aware of that. In my opinion, it overlooks a lot. Cruelty and suffering might spring fromck, but so do empathy andpassion. One side cannot exist without the other.¡±


    <em>Are you seriously arguing philosophy right now?!</em>


    I told myself it was some sort of stalling tactic. He¡¯d cast an ability, so he was doing something. Right?


    ¡°Which is why I¡¯m prepared to offer clemency.¡± He said, oddly solemn.


    ¡°You offer <em>us</em> mercy?¡± The mantis asked tly.


    ¡°I do. We have an entire region of people afflicted with a simr condition. And it¡¯s possible, given your control over others and retention of self, we may be able to learn how to cure them by studying you.¡±


    Completely silent, I slowly moved, shifting counter-clockwise until I had a decent view of the mantis¡¯s side profile and gripped <strong></strong> hilt, leaving the knife in its sheath. The mantis had no obvious weak point. If it had any, they were hidden beneath thework of red that looked vaguely like a circtory system. Just like the victims of region six, the Eldritch Infection was the only thing left the weapon¡¯s magic effect considered critical.


    I was nearly to the point of abandoning any concern for Julien and striking out on my own. Starting the fight on my own terms before he got himself captured or controlled, or worse. The fact that he even thought he could reason with something clearly so malevolent and barbaric cast a permanent shadow on his potential as an ally.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    ¡°Strangely, we hear truth in your words. Had youe to us alone¡­ perhaps we might have considered this¡­ offer.¡± The boss hissed, head flicking towards me with inhuman speed. ¡°However, we suspect yourpanion does not harbor the same sentiment.¡±


    Julian¡¯s smile grew thin. For the first time I noticed how pale he was. The way his hands shook. He was clearly terrified.


    <em>But¡­ not by the boss.</em>


    For the sake of the small, infinitesimal chance Julian was taking a page out of my ybook and pursuing a misdirect for the sake of an opening, I yed along.


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter what I want. Julian¡¯s in charge here.¡± I shifted my head towards him, making a show of acknowledging his position. ¡°I do what he tells me.¡±


    It rotated its head until it was nearly upside down. ¡°Because of your boon, I will make this offer only once. Leave now.¡±


    ¡°What boon?¡± Julian turned to me in confusion.


    ¡°Does that apply to both of us?¡± I asked. Leaving it alive wasn¡¯t an option, but if it was shortsighted enough to open an exit for me to shove my misguidedpanion through before the fighting started, I would not turn it down.


    ¡°Only you.¡±


    Unfortunate. The old me would have jumped on the opportunity in a second. In-part, I was still tempted. Julian had blown this in so many ways he¡¯d essentially made his own bed. The cold rational option would be to leave him here to lie in it, eventually returning with a stupid amount of firepower, casualties be damned. But there were countless ways that coulde back to bite me.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good to get out of here.¡± I shrugged and inventoried my bow.


    ¡°Matt?¡± Julian called after me, his concern clear.


    ¡°Don¡¯t.¡± I snapped at him suddenly. ¡°Whatever you¡¯re trying to pull here, this half-assed it¡¯s-a-small-world horseshit wasn¡¯t part of the n.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    I ignored him as he looked down, hands still shaking and addressed the mantis. ¡°Where¡¯s the exit?¡±


    It chortled as it extended an insectile leg towards the wall. ¡°This way, kindred. Though I do wonder how many days this mercy will grant you. Not long, most likely.¡±


    I trudged through the soft dirt, all business, in the direction the mantis indicated. Disappointment swept over me as I realized where he was directing me¡ªtowards the only patch of stone-looking wall in the arena.


    I kept talking. ¡°Strange to warn me if it¡¯s true. Stranger still to threaten me if it¡¯s not.¡±


    ¡°This is neither a warning, nor a threat. Simply an observation. The lithid¡¯s scent is strong on you.¡± It leaned down, body proportions allowing it to simultaneously tower over me while it stared me in the face. ¡°It will grow stronger still until one is no longer distinguishable from the other. After that? It will no longer have need of you.¡±


    My mouth tightened. ¡°Thanks for the warning, then. May I go?¡±


    There was a grating of stone on stone, and a human-sized passageway opened up. It was barelyrge enough for an average person to fit through. More annoyingly, the stone that surrounded it was thick and solid. Dungeon infrastructure tended to be anywhere from five to ten times as strong as its real world equivalent to prevent sequence breaking, so it might as well have been steel.


    I¡¯d hoped getting the boss to reveal the exit would give us an avenue for retreat. Not so much. The door itself was thicker than the average support beam. We wouldn¡¯t be forcing it open in a pinch.


    Realistically, abandoning Julian here wasn¡¯t an option. On the off-chance he made it out it would create animosity between our factions. And if he died, he was too beloved and central for the people around him to not take his loss personally. Too valuable as a foothold into the court. Those were all sound, logical reasons to help him.


    That it kept me from having to take advantage of someone who was misguided and na?ve was just a lucky coincidence.


    If the battle went badly, and I was forced to rely on Ordinator abilities in a manner that was obvious, I¡¯d <strong></strong> him in a second.


    ¡°There are no traps. My kind might be devious by nature, but we do not offer boons often. Thus, in the rare situation they are encountered, we treat them seriously.¡± The mantis said, looking between me and the tunnel, misinterpreting my hesitation.


    The fight was inevitable. There weren¡¯t many angles left to y. I was well within range for something devious, but a sneak attack wouldn¡¯t mean much if there was nothing critical to target. Moreover, Julian seemed to be taking the betrayal <em>really</em> hard. Like I¡¯d catfished his mom and kicked his dog on the way out hard. The only y I had left was turning this moment into something cathartic and stirring, something that would etch me in his mind as an ally. Wouldn¡¯t help us with the fight, but it would pay dividends if this didn¡¯t end with subjugation.


    I sighed and resigned myself to channeling Nick. ¡°Well, Mr. Prince? Hope you¡¯ve legitimately got something up your sleeve, because we¡¯re not brute forcing our way out if you don¡¯t.¡± Julian¡¯s head snapped up, and I knocked on the solid stone of the exit for emphasis.


    ¡°What¡­ is this?¡± The mantises¡¯s eyes seemed to bulge, and the mandibles around its human mouth clicked nervously. ¡°The way is open. It will not open again unless I am in. <em>Leave.</em>¡±


    ¡°Hear that?¡± I said, discreetly stepping out of swiping distance. ¡°Clear cut and inly stated. Never intended to negotiate, after I left. Probably just wanted a clear shot at infecting you as a host.¡±


    <em>When in doubt, poison the well.</em>


    Julian shook his head, his mouth pursed. ¡°Why?¡± He asked me.


    ¡°If I¡¯m honest, I don¡¯t really have a reason.¡± I stuck my hands in my pockets, crossed the room, and returned to him, fully prepared for the boss to strike at my back. It didn¡¯t. ¡°Maybe because you seem like a decent person. Or maybe it¡¯s just that you got under my skin back at base camp. Felt like we made a connection, but I wasn¡¯t born yesterday. Could have been nothing more than savvy maneuvering.¡±


    He blinked several times. ¡°What? No, not at all.¡±


    ¡°Then you treated a stranger and outsider as a friend. And I don¡¯t abandon friends.¡±


    Drawing on Nick in this moment felt so sharine I could almost hear the stirring cinematic strings, crescendoing to a fever pitch. It was all I could do to keep my cringing internal. It felt so over-the-top and inauthentic I couldn¡¯t imagine <em>anyone</em> taking it seriously.


    Julian grasped my shoulder, his expression stoic and serious. ¡°I won¡¯t forget this.¡±


    <em>Someone please kill me.</em>


    ¡°What entertainingpany.¡± The mantis cackled. ¡°A system-borne so earnest and straightforward it is a miracle it still lives¡­¡± One pinprick eye rotated towards Julian, while the other remained trained on me. ¡°And another that lies as easily as it breathes.¡± Its cackle grew louder. ¡°Had you never wandered into myir, I suspect the pair of you would have reached the same inevitable conclusion.¡±


    Regaining hisposure somewhat, Julien stepped to the forefront. ¡°That being?¡±


    The mantis smiled widely, showing the dark, unhealthy looking gums that surrounded its human teeth. ¡°Tragedy.¡±


    <strong></strong> screamed, milliseconds before four crimson spears buried themselves in Julian¡¯s torso.

 Chapter 276

    Chapter 276


    <em>Multiple attacksunching from a ridiculous number of angles. Can¡¯t dodge. Can¡¯t even see where they¡¯reing from.</em>


    Overwhelmed by the feedback from <strong></strong> I grabbed the flight charm in my pocket and activated it, shooting straight up. A mess of red tentacles exploded out of the now-torn-open cavity of the Mantis¡¯s torso, several barely missing regardless of flight.


    Julian was less fortunate. In the tunnel I would have guessed his agility was on par with mine, but the boss¡¯s initial onught was inescapable, andcking a charm, he was still bound by thews of physics. Four pulsing tentacles speared through his chest at an angle, pinning him in a kneeling position. He painfully clung to them for support, his face pale and drawn.


    This was bad.


    But it wasn¡¯t the first time the system had dropped the floor out from underneath me, and it probably wouldn¡¯t be thest. In a way, I expected it. It forced me to do what I¡¯d always done. Improvise, take stock, and survive.


    Barring an insane stroke of luck, Julien was infected. As good as dead if not worse, no matter what happened here.


    I needed to end this quickly and efficiently to avoid exposure. Nothing else mattered.


    I dismissed all of my summons including Talia and stayed mobile, zipping across the chamber in corkscrews and zig-zags, preparing for the taxing mental process of bringing all three summons back at once. I saved the flight charm for unexpected escapes most of the time, but its utility inbat couldn¡¯t be overstated. A few tentacles gave chase,shing out at air, but only barely. The misses were getting closer and closer to hitting their target, but the unexpected verticality presented an unusual avenue of attack. If I could just buy a second to grab an impact grenade and throw it¡ª


    Something sharp and hot pierced my calf, followed by the sensation of countless stinging barbs. I lost focus and plummeted to the ground, barely rolling with the impact. It¡¯d only been a ncing blow, but¡­


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The boon bought me breathing room. But not much. Even an indirect hit had blown through my armor and left a golf-ball sized crater in my leg. The wound bled and twinged as I dove away from another onught of tentacles and pulled the entire satchel of grenades from my inventory, prepared to throw the entire thing. Even if I aimed slightly behind the mantis, the fire would likely spread and kill Julian. But we were past that. He¡¯d asked me to wait outside the boss room to finish him if the worst happened.


    In a way, doing this honored that wish.


    Before I could, Julien mouthed something inaudible.


    <strong></strong> went off, despite no visible sign of a skill.


    The mantis stopped, tentacles freezing where they were. I swore quietly and held the satchel by my side, prepared to throw it as soon as the fight started again.


    <em>If you actually have something in your back pocket, now is the time.</em>


    Surprisingly, the mantis seemed just as frustrated. It peered down at Julien, its expression indecipherable. ¡°There is no point in this. Whatever power you are using to prolong your life, we can sense its nature. It will crumble shortly. And when it does, the battle is won.¡± It shifted its tentacles, jarring the prince slightly for emphasis and opening the wounds wider. ¡°Are you really so craven?¡±


    ¡°Maybe.¡± Julian coughed blood, raising a fist to the red that lingered on the edges of his mouth. It lowered to reveal a grim smile. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you. We¡¯ve never met, never even had a conversation. The only reason to kill you is fear. Fear that you¡¯ll kill me first. That you¡¯ll hurt my friends and family if you escape. If you were mindless, or incapable of reason, I¡¯d do it. But you¡¯re intelligent enough to hold a conversation. So there¡¯s still a chance we cane to an ord.¡±


    Another flesh spear struck him through the gut. They seemed to have some sort of tensile strength, because without the support of the spears pinioning him to the ground, he likely would have fallen.


    ¡°This world does not favor mercy any more than thest. Those who cling to it will find their final moments wanting.¡±


    Julian looked up at the creature and grinned through bloody teeth. ¡°Then why haven¡¯t you finished it?¡±


    The mantis growled in frustration. ¡°Because of this¡­ inconvenience.¡±


    ¡°The power only holds if there¡¯s something left unsaid. A desire I can grant, something that might tip the scales before drastic action is taken. Already put my cards on the table. Where are yours?¡±


    Despite the insanity, a small part of me admired the way Julian was holding himself together. Dignity was a luxury most people lost the second they took a serious hit. He was covered in blood now, and still negotiating, still clinging to his ideals.


    Na?ve as they were.


    Yet the creature didn¡¯t deny it. The longer the stalemate went on, the more obvious it became that it wasn¡¯t letting Julian live out of cruelty or puzzlement. The mantis looked up, his pinprick pupils staring towards the ceiling but not focused, as if they were searching beyond any physical constraint.


    ¡°We wish¡­ to see the sky.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± Julian forced a smile. ¡°I was under the impression you were a hive mind. Can¡¯t you look through the eyes of a human under your control in Region Six?¡±


    ¡°It can¡¯t.¡± I realized. ¡°The region six outbreak happened during the transposition¡ªafter the sky had changed. It¡¯s back to normal for now, but if you get around the containment measures and look up from inside the region itself, it looks the same as it was back then.¡±


    ¡°The realms of uros are intertwined with our nature. We have taken root in many worlds. Each time, the sky grows red and deste, long before we develop the strength to overtake a host capable of vision.¡±


    This was already a clusterfuck. Might as well gather information before I had to deal with the rest of the shitshow.


    I frowned. ¡°I¡¯ve heard from the more adventurous in my circle the hosts say things, reference events and specifics from their life before. That implies memory retention. Hard to imagine all the people you took over were chronic shut-ins.¡±


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The mantis shifted slightly, then bowed its neck in a motion that could have been a nod. ¡°There is truth to that. It was once our way to wipe any hosts clean, producing entirely empty vessels. That turned out to be nearly as harmful as letting them keep a degree of agency. We absorb them into the fold, add their knowledge to ours. But the process is not perfect. Many extraneous details are lost.¡±


    As bad as the current situation was, I felt a long-held weight lift from my shoulders. I finally had an answer to what would have happened if the remnants of region six finished their receptacle. Though it wasn¡¯tpletely clear, it seemed obvious now. The vessels¡ªthe people they used to be¡ªwere gone. And no amount of lux or cores would have returned them to their previous state.


    At the time I¡¯d made the only choice I could. Blindly.


    Now I knew the truth.


    ¡°Got any copies of National Geographic in your inventory?¡± I asked Julian, partially to keep things moving, partially to remind him how stupid this was.


    ¡°Next best.¡± His arm stirred at his side, shedding blood from his fingertips before it went ck again. ¡°Phone in my front satchel pocket. Grab it and pull up the photos?¡±


    I approached, using the excuse to inspect the damage. Five perforations that were anything but small, located around his chest and abdomen. It already looked bad from a distance. After seeing how sodden his armor was and the blood pooling on the ground beneath him, it was dire. I leaned in to unzip the satchel¡¯s zipper, using the proximity to pass a message.


    ¡°Not sure how you¡¯re still coherent¡ªthe pain alone would be enough to put anyone under. Going off what I can eyeball, you¡¯re losing blood fast. Might be pushing two. Gonna lose consciousness soon. So I¡¯ll say it again. If you¡¯re going to do something, you need to do it now.¡± He grunted, and I fished the device out of his pocket, an iPhone a few generations old.


    The screen¡ªa golden, ethereal background behind a clock that looked oddly meditative¡ªshook as the facial unlock failed.


    ¡°Code?¡± I asked


    ¡°1-0-0-2-6-9.¡±


    I plugged it in, silentlymitting it to memory as I discreetly thumbed the screen, immediately scrolling through his pictures before he could direct me. There were a few idental blurry shots, a couple pictures of animals in a domestic setting¡ªeither his pets or someone else¡¯s¡ªbut those made up maybe ten percent of the reel at most. The majority was¡­ndscape shots. Sunsets, sun rises, cityscapes, some from Das, some from elsewhere. The absence ofposition and borderline hostile rejection of the rule of thirds told me they were amateur, pictures he¡¯d taken rather than saved. At the end of the reel, there was another selfie of him and an older woman with gray-hair with oxygen tubes in her nose, smoking a cigarette.


    ¡°What am I doing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Pull up my photos. Should be a few pictures of the big blue.¡±


    <em>A few?</em>


    I closed the photos app and opened it again, scrolling to somewhere in the middle. He¡¯d taken a picture from one of the taller buildings in the city but angled the phone upwards too much. ¡°This work?¡±


    ¡°Y-¡± He trailed off in a fit of coughing, looking paler by the second. ¡°¡­that¡¯s perfect.¡±


    I stared at the mantis coldly. ¡°He¡¯s happy to give you what you want without bartering. Probably on ount of all the blood he¡¯s lost. Unfortunately, I¡¯m holding the goods, and I don¡¯t give things away for free. Need assurances you can sustain him in this state. Otherwise, no deal.¡±


    For a second Julian was about to argue, but his eyes lost focus, and any disagreement he might have offered went with it.


    ¡°We have rebuilt hosts from atoms. Extending one¡¯s life is a simple matter.¡± There was a slow hiss, followed by a low, thrumming hum and the spears fixing Julian in ce glowed orange. rity trickled back into his expression, and the bleeding slowed.


    I tried not to take it as a good sign. It would still kill him as soon as whatever ability he used to force this stalemate had faded. But buying him time was all I could do.


    ¡°Great. Thanks. Maybe take the skewers out of him while you¡¯re at it.¡±


    The mantis¡¯s head swiveled, and while its expression was neutral, I could sense the distaste. ¡°No.¡±


    I bristled. ¡°Then go¡ª¡±


    ¡°Matt, it¡¯s okay.¡± Julian murmured weakly. ¡°Show them.¡±


    <em>Fine.</em>


    Not wanting to make an easier target, I bent low and tossed the phone screen up, watching in odd fascination as the mantis bent down and scrutinized the picture from inches away. ¡°Such a grand view to be contained in something so small.¡±


    Julian chuckled between heaving breaths. ¡°If youe with us and we findmon ground, I¡¯ll make sure you get to see it for yourself.¡±


    ¡°Impossible. uros is a part of us.¡±


    ¡°Just because it¡¯s always been like that doesn¡¯t mean it has to stay that way.¡± Julian argued. ¡°We have scientists and researchers now who can do things they never could in the old world. When was thest time you worked with someone who wanted to help you, someone who had ess to vast resources? It¡ª¡±


    Julian trailed off, coughing again, as the orange light faded. His eyes widened, reacting to something only he could see.


    ¡°We appreciate¡­ the gift.¡± The Mantis said slowly, almost begrudgingly. ¡°Unfortunately, it is not enough.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡± Julian trembled and stared at the ground. I put a hand on his back to steady him, arm bumping the hilt of a sword-


    I did a double-take. The hilt was covered in white and gold cross-hatching and the weapon¡¯s aura buzzed at my mere proximity. He had his original de still sheathed on the left side. More importantly, I was <em>certain</em> the second sword hadn¡¯t been there before.


    ¡°Vague promises of a future that might be better are nothing in the face of a more achievable destination.¡± The mantis said.


    ¡°The merciless domination of the host.¡± I filled in tly.


    ¡°Our way is the only way.¡± It agreed.


    ¡°d we fucking humored you.¡±


    In a manner that would have almost been funny in a less direfort, the monster shifted ufortably. ¡°This favor will not be forgotten. We will allow the prince to keep more of his personality than most once he has joined the collective.¡±


    <em>How generous.</em>


    All at once, Julian¡¯s demeanor changed. The desperation and weakness drained out of him and he red up at the creature with pure conviction. His hand stirred by the sword at his side, blood still dripping from between his fingers. ¡°There seems to be a misunderstanding.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± The monster¡¯s mandibles clicked. ¡°Exin.¡±


    ¡°If it was just me in here, things might be different. I don¡¯t have anyone depending on me. But he does.¡± Julian shifted his head towards me. ¡°I dragged him into this and asked for his trust. He¡¯s had multiple chances to walk away, and he hasn¡¯t.¡± His eyes were nk, cold, as the dynamic in the room seemed to change. ¡°So. For his sake. We are leaving this room. One way or another. Please let us. <em>Please.</em>¡±


    Thest word was more prayer than demand.


    ¡°And if we don¡¯t¡ª¡±


    A tentacleshed out with a deafening snap. The attack came immediately, without warning. If it was the first time seeing it I might have moved too slow.


    But I¡¯d been coiled like a spring since the beginning of the standoff.


    <strong></strong> moved in confluence with my martial skill, entirely on instinct. <strong></strong> activated reflexively, amplifying my aim as I hacked through the tentacle, severing it in a gout of ck, vile looking blood that covered Julian from chest to forehead.


    He didn¡¯t blink. Didn¡¯t react.


    I hurled an impact grenade at the creature¡¯s face as time slowed down, watching out of the corner of my eye as Julian¡¯s mouth pulled up in a sad smile. When he spoke, his voice amplified through the room, final and authoritative.


    ¡°Be at peace.¡±


    He gripped the new sword, blood marring the white cross-hatching. I only saw it for a split-second. A de made of a material so foreign and unknowable my mind couldn¡¯t make sense of it.


    There was a pop as my eardrums ruptured.


    And everything went white.

 Chapter 277

    Chapter 277


    My first thought upon regaining consciousness was that it shouldn¡¯t have happened. <strong></strong> was a simple skill. Clear cut. You could still sleep, be willfully or forcefully sedated, but no amount of pain, shock, or damage could put your lights out until your body or mind gave out and you died. Divine energy had struck me at the end of thest transposition, and despite being the most agonizing experience of my life, <strong></strong> kept me lucid through it.


    <em>I wasn¡¯t even the target.</em>


    It felt wrong. I collected myself and struggled to a sitting position slowly, taking stock. We were still in the boss room, but the mantis was nowhere to be found. There was a massive crater in the back that had destroyed the sliding stone door entirely, as well as expanding the back half of the room in an amalgam of charred rubble and dust. And in the center of the room, where the boss stood previously, was a small stone structure that put a chill through me. I¡¯d only seen one other. But it had given me the mask.


    I looked down to find Julian kneeling near me. A light glow epassed him as he seemed to meditate, his expression ck and rxed. Still pale. But somehow not dying.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± He said without opening his eyes. ¡°Just finishing up here.¡±


    The perforations were closing slowly. There were still trace amounts of blood seeping from the wound, but far less than there should be. He was healing, or something analogous.


    ¡°Sure.¡± I licked my lips, mouth dry and stood shakily to my feet, still gripping <strong></strong> tightly in my hand. ¡°Take your time.¡±


    I genuinely hoped he would. Because this might be the only shot I had at containment. There was no blood, no insect legs strewn around, no goddamn trace that the boss had ever been there. It¡¯d been vaporized. The only remaining evidence that <em>something</em> had happened was the crater in the ground and the back wall. Even the wound on my leg was closed. A disy of absolute power unlike any I¡¯d witnessed, and that was a high-fucking-bar.


    And the person who held that power was infected. That was too big of a threat to ignore, even for a second.


    I gripped <strong></strong> tightly, taking audible steps to the side before circling around silently, positioning myself behind him, de at the ready.


    His vitals lit up.


    ¡°Matt?¡± He said.


    I didn¡¯t answer, unsure of what to do. My proximity was too close to be exined away as anything other than threatening, so I held my tongue.


    Julian spoke again, his expression conflicted. ¡°There¡¯s something I want to ask. I have no right to put this on you, but there¡¯s no one else.¡±


    ¡°Go ahead.¡± I murmured.


    He started at the sound of my voice, but didn¡¯t move. ¡°Tell Charlotte I love her. And tell her¡­ that she was right.¡±


    I scanned his vitals again, not entirely believing what I was seeing. Pissed off, frustrated, and confused, I stalked away. ¡°Tell her yourself, asshole. The hell¡¯s the matter with you.¡±


    With that I started sorting through my notifications as Julian stared after me like he¡¯d misread the room and had very little idea why.


    ¡°It got me.¡± He said.


    ¡°It did.¡± I agreed.


    ¡°I should definitely be infected.¡±


    ¡°You should.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m not?¡± He cocked his head like Talia did when her ears caught a high frequency.


    I sighed. ¡°I have an item with an effect that highlights anatomy. Natural armor, vitals, and so on. Used it to scope out the mantis during my not-betrayal and got a solid read on what an infested creature looks like. It¡¯s not subtle. Thework of¡ªwhatever¡ªis impossible to miss. You¡¯re clean. No idea how, guessing it has something to do with the ability you cryptically hinted lets you shrug things off,¡± I said, then looked at him pointedly. ¡°Just consult with a healer at camp? Guessing they have better diagnostic resources than a fucking magic knife.¡±


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the vition.


    Annoyingly, Julian seemed chagrined. ¡°I will. You¡¯re very cross when you¡¯re angry.¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m cross when I¡¯m confused and have no way to process or even remotely understand what I just saw.¡± I red at him. ¡°When I¡¯m angry, it¡¯s something else.¡±


    He blinked. ¡°I took care of the boss.¡±


    ¡°No. You <em>one shot</em> the boss.¡± I corrected.


    <em>If you could do that, why the hell did you wait so long and put us both at risk?</em>


    ¡°And that makes you angry?¡±


    ¡°<em>Not</em> angry¡ªyou know what? Let¡¯s just skip to the contemtive, <em>quiet</em> part thates after a battle, shall we?¡±


    I was being shitty, and I knew it. But I needed to get my head straight. Part of me¡ªthe thrumming drumbeat that always lurked beneath the surface¡ªtold me this might still be the best opportunity I had to deal with someone like Julian. Especially considering the reality that he and Nick mighte into conflict over control of the court. And if Julian ever lost his mind, hardly an impossibility if he was tearing his hair out trying to pay with every half-sapient creature he met, the rest of us were in serious trouble.


    <em>God knows he¡¯s willing to fall on a sword at the slightest justification. Tell him you were wrong. The infection is there. It¡¯s small, so small you missed it at first. He¡¯ll ept that. Christ, he¡¯ll probably thank you for it.</em>


    I frowned, double-checking my title screen to make sure I hadn¡¯t somehow selected <strong></strong> by mistake. After a few seconds, I confirmed that I hadn¡¯t. <strong></strong> was still in ce.


    The annoyingly gentle sound of Julian¡¯sughter floated through the room.


    ¡°You¡¯re definitely angry.¡±


    ¡°Shut up.¡±


    There was a long silence before he spoke again. ¡°There are a lot of conditions, before that¡­¡± he cringed, ¡°<em>avenue</em> is avable to me. A wholeundry list I have to work through.¡±


    I peered at him over the notification screen. ¡°d to hear the tactical nuke has a safety.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like that.¡±


    ¡°The atoms of the boss you obliterated suggest otherwise.¡±


    I forced myself to bring it down a few notches. I didn¡¯t have any legitimate ground to stand on for keeping shit close to the vest. His power terrified me, but my power¡ªmy actual power¡ªwould undoubtedly terrify him as well. Sniping because I didn¡¯t like the way he yed this would do nothing at best, erode the good will I¡¯d umted at worst.


    I forced a smile that felt false. ¡°We prevented a disaster. More urately, you did. I¡¯m a little freaked out, but I¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Julian frowned. My answer hadn¡¯t satisfied him, likely because I was too rattled to lie well, and he was too perceptive to buy it. He leaned back on his hands and gave the altar in the center of the room a long look. ¡°What do we do about that?¡±


    ¡°Fuck all.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a Shrine of Elevation. Priceless. They¡ª¡±


    ¡°¡ªAscend amon-ss item to something higher. I¡¯m aware.¡± I hedged. ¡°And we found it in a boss room of a tower floor also containing an eldritch monster with delusions of grandeur. Guessing the deity that put it there isn¡¯t the goddess of cookies and good cheer.¡±


    Just because I had various items with eldritch resistance and matching boon didn¡¯t mean I was safe if something got through, and an eldritch deity¡ªone with a justifiable bone to pick with me¡ªwould absolutely be capable of that.


    But Julian could.


    He couldn¡¯t seem to tear his eyes away from the shrine. ¡°Assuming the tower sequesters this floor, we probably won¡¯t be thest people toe across it. Everyone knows how valuable they are. Wouldn¡¯t it be safer to use it up?¡±


    I swiped the notification screen with a groan and thought about it. Put my biases aside. He was right that someone else would eventually use it. Whether it was the Tower¡¯s staff, whatever cleanup crew they sent up to salvage this floor, or some asshole who broke in out of curiosity. Didn¡¯t like it, but Julian was, perhaps, the only person capable of depleting it safely without bing a walking viral load.


    ¡°Look. I¡¯m not conveniently immune.¡± I grumbled. ¡°So I¡¯m not touching it.¡±


    Instead of calling me out or balking at the idea, he limped towards the shrine and circled it, studying it from all angles. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look evil.¡±


    ¡°That changes things, then.¡±


    ¡°Are you always this sarcastic?¡± He squinted, immediately moving on without waiting for an answer. ¡°What should we, uh, elevate?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re taking the risk. Your decision.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m kind of geared. Nothingmon on me.¡±


    I scanned my inventory, not entirely displeased with that turn of events. ¡°Pretty loaded myself. Some consumables that aremon, but that would be a waste. Usually I pick upmon drops just to sell them, but I offloaded everything earlier this week and this floor was a wastnd¡ª¡±


    Something at the bottom of my inventory stood out, and I froze. Because I did, in fact, have a single item consideredmon. I¡¯d yed with adding additional weapons to my kit as a method of delivering various magical effects and debuffs. Problem was, as Icked magic myself, someone else had to apply the effects ahead of time. And not a single person I consulted with could figure a way to make the magicst long enough for that to be practical. Surface area and weapon-type didn¡¯t seem to matter. I¡¯d already sold a variety of knives, swords, bows, and crossbows back.


    But there was a single knife left. A basic,mon knife that I¡¯d somehow missed, despite being sure I¡¯d cleared everything out.


    There it was again. That feeling that I was ying into someone else¡¯s n.


    ¡°I have one.¡±

 Chapter 278

    Chapter 278


    I retreated the equivalent of several rooms down the exit hatch. My previous experience with a shrine of elevation taught me to be wary of them¡ªthest and only time I¡¯d used one, I¡¯d met the Allfather in person. That he happened to be my patron was a lucky break, tipped in my favor by the Adaptive dungeon.


    Feelings of disquiet washed over me, as I imagined what may or may not be happening at base camp.


    <em>How long has it been?</em>


    An hour total. Fifteen minutes of that since I left Julian alone with the shrine.


    ¡°Jules? You dead?¡±


    Nearly a full minute until he answered. ¡°Uh. No.¡±


    ¡°You done?¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡± He sounded strange. Troubled. ¡°But I think the Eldritch gods might not like me too much.¡±


    I returned to the boss room, footsteps echoing on stone, half-expecting to see some corrupt abomination waiting, parroting Julian¡¯s voice. Beyond the pale face he looked more or less the same. He was holding a te-gray gunmetal karambit in both hands away from him and observing it with a mix of wonder and dread. It had no discernible aura. When he shifted it back and forth, however, the knife blurred, the way it would look if it was moving at high speeds, even though the movement itself was slight.


    ¡°Interesting.¡± I hedged. ¡°Itpletely changed form.¡±


    ¡°Watch.¡± He shifted it back and forth. ¡°Faster it moves, the harder it is to see. Almost like camo, or an active cloak or something. Not that useful for my purposes, but useful.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡±


    I waited, and when he didn¡¯t seem keen on offering a further exnation, prompted him. ¡°You said something about the Eldritch Gods?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Julian stirred, his brows furrowed. ¡°They really don¡¯t like what I did to their vessel. I think.¡±


    ¡°You think?¡±


    ¡°On some level I was hoping to pick up negotiations where we left off, but it wasn¡¯t much of a conversation. They weren¡¯t speaking their ownnguage half the time, a lot of what I did understand was threats, insults, and more talk of conquering and consumption.¡±


    ¡°Well, you trash-canned yet another incursion attempt, so kind of makes sense they¡¯d be sore about it.¡±


    ¡°I think you might have been right, about leaving it alone.¡±


    I nced at the knife warily. ¡°Is it dangerous?¡±


    ¡°Not the sort of threat you¡¯re thinking. No properties that imply it might start sprouting tentacles.¡± His eyes widened. ¡°Actually, this might be perfect. You¡¯re nice enough to downy it but the way I killed the boss shook you up.¡± Before I could deny it, he shook his head. ¡°I get it, I¡¯ve seen that reaction before. <em>I</em> know the requirements and myself well enough to believe I don¡¯t pose a danger to everyone around me, but with the limitations of what I can exin, you¡¯d be forced to take my word on it.¡±


    ¡°Not sure I¡¯m following.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a knife expert, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±


    ¡°Uh huh.¡± Julian smiled knowingly. ¡°Someone who¡¯s casually slicing tentacles moving at mach speed out of the air isn¡¯t just okay.¡± He held the de by the safe side and extended the handle towards me. I took it, curiosity winning over caution.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Description: A weapon stolen from the expansive armory of a fertility deity and reforged in the fires of malice. It loathes armor nearly as much as its original creator, and while capable of changing form, will never lose its edge. ording to legend, once coated in blood, it will sing a song of insurrection, deafening and disorienting any who oppose its wielder.</strong>


    <strong>Item ss: Artifact</strong>


    <strong>Item Value: S???</strong>


    <em>Christ.</em>


    ¡°A lot going on there.¡± I observed.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I¡¯ll say.¡±


    ¡°Even if they were pissed, at least they didn¡¯t give you trash. Although the description making it sound semi-intelligent is a little concerning. If you let it go, you¡¯ll need to test it and make sure there¡¯s no discoverable ¡®quirks...¡¯ but assuming there¡¯s not? You could sell this for a <em>lot</em> of selve.¡±


    <em>I might even buy it.</em>


    Julian was already shaking his head when I looked up. ¡°Not sure that¡¯s a great idea, unfortunately. Uh. Among the more general insults and inter-dimensional trash talk¡­ I received a very specific warning from the tentacle-monsters-upstairs.¡±


    ¡°Which was?¡±


    ¡°This knife will eventually kill me.¡±


    ¡°The User, or you specifically?¡±


    ¡°Me.¡± He paused. ¡°Unless it meant ¡®feckless orphan¡¯ in a general sense, which is an odd demographic to intentionally target.¡±


    I blinked several times. ¡°Yeah. Maybe don¡¯t sell it.¡±


    He sighed. ¡°Keeping it on my person seems like a bad idea. And as much as I like most of the other members of the court, none of them are really rogue-types.¡±


    <em>And you don¡¯t fully trust them. You can¡¯t. Not without knowing how things are going to shake out. You¡¯re a central foundation of a power structure that has no clue how its hierarchy or session works.</em>


    ¡°Which is why I want you to take it.¡± He finished.


    I did a double-take. ¡°Excuse me?¡±


    Julian shrugged. ¡°You¡¯re good with a knife. I have a good feeling about you in general¡ªwhich sounds stupid, but trust me when I say good feelings about people are getting harder and harder toe by. You¡¯re smart, cautious, and capable of making hard decisions. It holds intrinsic value to you, which means you¡¯re less likely to sell it. And given the level of power I just demonstrated which also can¡¯t be exined, I figure you¡¯ll be a lot morefortable with a kill switch.¡±


    <em>You barely know me.</em>


    Regardless, his estimation was half-right. But taking it was a bad idea if it was going to make him more paranoid around me.


    ¡°And if I said fuck the court, might as well start with Julian?¡± I tested.


    The brittle smile returned. ¡°It would have been easier to just tell me I was infected.¡±


    There it was. I nodded and took the de. There was just onest thing I needed to quash a distant possibility. Bracing myself, I pulled up my title screen and swapped into <strong></strong> As we were out of direct danger, it did what it always did.


    <em>Oh no. Wow. Get a load of this guy. Talk about a fish out of water. He doesn¡¯t belong in this era. Doesn¡¯t belong in any era, really. He¡¯s trembling, uncertain, afraid. But not of death. He¡¯s upset because he couldn¡¯t findmon ground with the eldritch hive mind freak dead set on the Borg imperative. How offensively stupid can one person be¡ª</em>


    I forced myself to filter it out and refocused on the present. ¡°They straight-up told you this knife would eventually kill you?¡±


    ¡°They did.¡± Julian confirmed.


    <em>True. No hesitation or micro-expressions. The strange part is that he believed them. Doesn¡¯t track. Should have seemed like an idle threat, or poor sportsmanship on the part of the deity intended to deny an invaluable reward, but he bought it entirely. The only lie he¡¯s telling is one of omission. There was more to their conversation, either personal or ss rted. Something he intends to take to his grave.</em>


    ¡°And you really trust me to hold on to it?¡±


    ¡°I do.¡± He grinned. ¡°Sure, maybe we haven¡¯t known each other for very long, and maybe you were just ying for the cheap seats to get a look at the boss, but what you said really struck a chord.¡±


    <em>He doesn¡¯t. But he hopes he can. He knows trust goes both ways, and he¡¯s willing to earn it. It¡¯s only partially political. He likes the way you challenge decisions and take him to task for them. For some unknowable reason he also seems to like your cantankerous attitude. Have to wonder if he¡¯ll ever realize how big of a mistake he¡¯s making giving it to¡ª</em>


    Thank you, cruel lens. As much as I disliked the way it said things, it was telling me everything I needed to know. Julian was a bit of a fool, but even ignoring the one-shot, he brought something to the table we desperately needed. A non-merchant ability tailored around negotiation would have been invaluable during the first transposition, and likely would be just as useful in the second if it came to that.


    ¡°Okay.¡± I inventoried the knife forter study and looked up to find Julian swaying on his feet. ¡°Uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Feeling a little¡­ woozy¡­ all of a sudden.¡± He squinted at me, eyes losing focus. Then fainted. Somehow I caught his head before it hit the ground.


    ¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake.¡±


    /////


    ¡°Why do I have to carry him?¡± Talia grumbled, padding down the long exit hall.


    ¡°Can¡¯t carry him while he¡¯s wearing te. Azure is generally around as strong as me physically, so he can¡¯t carry him. Audrey could, but I don¡¯t think either party would enjoy that process. This was clearly a job for a magnificent, mighty she-wolf.¡±


    She preened at the ttery until she caught me looking. ¡°The chamber was sealed and secure. Could have just left him.¡±


    ¡°Almost did.¡± I inclined my head, ncing over the prince¡¯s ck form draped over my summon. ¡°But I want a healer to take a look at him sooner rather thanter.¡±


    am¡¯s razor said it was abination of blood loss and exhaustion. As a general rule, healing potions and spells could repair most physical damage, given enough time. They amplified regeneration of blood but didn¡¯t rece it immediately, meaning the body still had to do its part. The proximity of the fainting spell to his encounter with the shrine god, however, set my teeth on edge. <strong></strong> was still showing normal, human vitals, but it was possible something more subtle had been done to him, and I wasn¡¯t willing to roll the dice on that.


    Talia¡¯s ears perked up and she stopped, straining to listen. Secondster an angry voice carried down the hallway. ¡°Trouble at camp.¡±


    Now that I was listening, I heard more voices, many more, all forming a low indecipherable din of anger and fear. I started running.


    And as the hidden exit unsealed, I found myself in the center of an absolute shit-show.

 Chapter 279

    Chapter 279


    ¡°Let us out you fucks!¡±


    ¡°The longer we¡¯re here, the more likely this thing is to spread!¡±


    ¡°My kid is by herself alone. Bastards can¡¯t just lock us up, there¡¯s people outside relying on us!¡±


    Panic was spreading quickly. In a way, it was oddly nostalgic of the early days when we first discovered the dome. I spotted Nick by the elevators doing his best to hold back a small crowd of increasingly irate adventurers clustering around him. Not good.


    <em>Factoring time, they¡¯re too panicked. Did someone turn? Or¡ª</em>


    A howl came from a closed medical tent¡ªa man¡ªfollowed by a more feminine scream from another tent that was almost blood curdling.


    <em>Now</em> it made sense.


    Most of the Court was clustered outside their outrement, holding defensively and doing nothing to quell the panicing from members of the Order.


    <em>God dammit. Okay. Think. Triage. Whoever¡¯s being operated on in the tent is lowest priority. Good chance they die or they¡¯re too far gone to save. If I waste time on them first, Nick may lose control of the situation and then we¡¯repletely fucked. Priorities are Julian¡¯s mour, elevator, court, tents.</em>I fired off <strong></strong> tagged with calming thoughts and images towards some of the loudest voices in the elevator crowd and waded in, simultaneously looking for Charlotte. I found her near the back, her eyes wide.


    ¡°Princess!¡± I waved her over. She started towards me, then froze in her tracks when she saw Julian. ¡°He¡¯s fine. Just needs to be checked out, low prio. Better to dispel him now if you can.¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± She rushed over, pushing hair out of her face as she began to cast something.


    ¡°Took a beating and did his thing.¡± I said, staying vague in case she was out of the loop. With the way she jerked up and looked at me, she knew. ¡°Passed out after he healed himself.¡±


    ¡°You <em>idiot.</em>¡± Charlotte hissed at Julian, then finished her casting. As soon as she was done, she reached towards me.


    <em>Wait.</em>


    ¡°Later.¡± I told her, making the decision immediately. ¡°I need to get a lid on this.¡±


    ¡°They won¡¯t recognize you¡ª¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll circle back.¡± I paused, realizing the position I was in. With the mour in ce most people wouldn¡¯t recognize me, but Charlotte could. While the Ordinator¡¯s abilities were mostly imperceptible, if I didn¡¯t give her anything other to do than watch me from afar, she¡¯d inevitably pick up that I was doing something to work the crowd. I looked towards the tents. Might be able to kill two birds with one stone. ¡°Actually, do you have a muffle? Anything that could dampen sound in an area?¡±


    ¡°To quiet the screams.¡± She realized, looking back and forth from the tents to me.


    ¡°The louder they are the more people are going to feel trapped, and the more they¡¯ll panic.¡±


    ¡°Uh, shit.¡± She stared at an invisible screen, scrolling through. ¡°I have an envelope hex, but that cks out an entire area.¡±


    ¡°Counterproductive, probably.¡±


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Charlotte grimaced in annoyance. ¡°Have a few points to spend, let me check the list.¡±


    Another scream echoed out of the tent. I cringed. ¡°Why the fuck aren¡¯t they being sedated?¡±


    ¡°They can¡¯t.¡± A nearby man said. He was tanned and enormous but unarmored, smoking a tiny stub of a cigarette that seemed even tinier in his hands. From the shell shocked look in his eyes, I immediately realized he¡¯d been inside the tents. ¡°Nothing they give the sick ones puts them under.¡±


    ¡°Who are you and why are you here?¡± I asked him, trying to sound terse rather than rude.


    ¡°Phineas Briggs. Alchemist, crafter, and supplier extraordinaire.¡± He said, his voice a calming baritone.


    <em>Less trustworthy than he looks. But with the gentle giant schtick, he looks very trustworthy.</em>


    ¡°Yourself?¡± Phineas asked.


    ¡°Matt.¡±


    ¡°Pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡± He squinted in recognition. ¡°Matt as in¡ª¡±


    ¡°Found it!¡± Charlotte interrupted excitedly. ¡°Creates an invisible barrier outlining an area of the caster¡¯s choosing. Filters out any vocalizations not amplified by magic.¡±


    ¡°Perfect, you¡¯re a lifesaver.¡± Charlotte made a selection and hurried towards the tent as I turned my attention back to Phineas. ¡°Yes, that Matt. Got armor on you?¡±


    Phineas hesitated. ¡°I¡¯m not abatant.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t need you to fight. Just need you to stand somewhere and be friendly-yet-impassable.¡±


    He barked out augh. ¡°Been doing that my whole life. I got armor, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Wanna help me out here?¡±


    ¡°Not to be a total piece of shit given the circumstances,¡± Phineas said slowly, dropping the cigarette butt and stamping it out. ¡°But what¡¯s in it for me?¡±


    <em>Merchants.</em>


    ¡°Allegiance?¡±


    ¡°Here assisting the good ol¡¯ AG. Few friends inside that vouched and since folks can¡¯t use the system store inside the tower, figured I¡¯d provide my services as a stopgap.¡±


    ¡°Then the offer is a preferential contract with the Merchant¡¯s Guild and a metric fuck-ton of goodwill.¡± I tried.


    ¡°Done. Word is Miss Kinsley¡¯s been driving a hard bargaintely, I¡¯d be a fool to pass that up.¡± Phineas grinned and his body blurred as he equipped a set of chrome armor that gave the impression it was more shy than practical.


    ¡°Circle around,¡± I pointed to the elevator. ¡°Get next to the big guy with the aww-shucks face, join him from the side so it¡¯s clear you¡¯re with him, but don¡¯t push in on them. Just let him know Matt sent you.¡±


    ¡°Present myself as a force multiplier but don¡¯t fence anyone in. Got it.¡± Phineas waved at me and lumbered towards the elevator. I waited, creating distance and checking my surroundings and Charlotte before I pulled the <strong></strong> out of my inventory and put it on. Immediately, it amplified my Title¡¯s voice so loudly itpeted with my thoughts. I waded through the crowd of twenty-something adventurers all but invisible, trying to filter out any titlementary and listen for the loudest voices.


    Uwfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°There¡¯s something they aren¡¯t telling us.¡± Someone announced loudly. A middle-aged man balling meaty fists. ¡°We¡¯re all fucked if it¡¯s airborne. That¡¯s why they¡¯re not¡ª¡±


    <strong><em>¡°Shut the fuck up.¡±</em></strong> I hammered him with <strong></strong> tagging it with a mental image of the crowd he was in the middle of trampling him in a blind panic. Sensing eptance and little resistance, I moved on.


    ¡°My daughter is <em>alone.</em>¡± A woman this time, mage¡¯s garbs. Not great. Mage meant high intelligence, and that could be a problem if it was higher than mine. Struggling with the mess of feedback from my abilities and title in the emotional crowd, I grabbed her shoulder to help iste her mind from the noise.


    <em></em><strong><em>¡°And you¡¯re discing guilt because YOU left her alone. Could have left her with a friend and didn¡¯t. That was your choice, no one else¡¯s. Stop making your fuckup everyone else¡¯s problem. If you want to ensure she still has one parent around to protect her during the second transposition, cooperate.¡±</em></strong>


    She jerked away from me subconsciously, her eyes wide. Then her expression hardened.


    <em>Fucking INT.</em>


    No choice. Just had to hope her stats weren¡¯t too high for the alternative.


    <strong></strong>


    The woman stopped, frozen in time, slowly turning towards me as if seeing me for the first time, waiting attentively. Waiting for orders.


    I gave them silently through suggestion.<em> ¡°You are a bastion of calm. You¡¯ve always been that way, keeping your head when everyone else is losing theirs. It¡¯s a good thing you¡¯re here and willing to help keep the crowd in check, because leadership clearly can¡¯t handle it all themselves. That¡¯s why I picked you. Because you¡¯re special. I need you more than anyone else has ever needed you.¡±</em> The woman nodded and even smiled a bit, pleased with herself. Btedly, I added the postscript I¡¯d used ever since I discovered it worked when <strong></strong> was used in a simple context. <em>¡°I may have more orders for youter.¡±</em>


    ¡°Anything you want.¡± She said aloud and winked, leaving me with a vaguely nauseous feeling.


    Thest, loudest voice in the crowd was both the most difficult with the worst justification. Another mage, yelling about untended experiments. His INT was high enough that neither <strong></strong> nor <strong></strong> made a dent. Even worse, he seemed to notice the intrusion, looking around in rm.


    <em>Fuck it.</em>


    I pulled the <strong></strong> out of my inventory, slipping it around his neck as discreetly as I could and holding it with one hand, keeping it tight enough for a consistent drain but not so tight he¡¯d drop on the spot, yanking his head back so I could whisper in his ear. For once, I let <strong></strong> speak directly. ¡°One word, one single cry of rm or whimper of distress and every single person in this dome will find out about the weird sex golems you have cooking in the basement.¡±


    The man went limp,pletelypliant.


    ¡°Put your arms down.¡±


    He released the garrote string and stood, awkward and ufortable, but still cooperative.


    ¡°Turn.¡±


    I guided him, still holding both sides of the garrote with one hand and walking him out of the crowd. Once we were far enough, I tightened the ck, sapping what little mana he had left until his eyes lost focus, then helped him sit down propped up against a wall. I walked away then returned, crouching in front of him and snapping my fingers, borrowing Phineas¡¯s rich baritone. ¡°Everything alright buddy?¡±


    ¡°Uh.¡± He came to and peered around through thick sses in confusion, hand going to his naked throat. ¡°I¡¯m not¡­ really sure what happened.¡±


    ¡°You just wandered over here out of sorts, all lost. Lightheaded or somethin¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Someone¡ªI think someone just threatened me.¡± He scanned the room suspiciously. ¡°Did you see anything?¡±


    ¡°Nope.¡± I patted his shoulder. ¡°From a distance it just looked like you misced a few marbles and the mental gps lost service, but it¡¯s a high-stress situation. Bound to happen to anyone, eventually. Just d you didn¡¯t fall or hurt yourself. Grace of god and all. Maybe don¡¯t push it and catch a breather for a while.¡±


    It took a second, but his suspicion ebbed into exhaustion. He leaned his head back against the wall. ¡°Got any water?¡±


    I smiled and put my thermos in hisp. ¡°Course. Don¡¯t worry about returning it, I got others. And feel better pal, alright?¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± He said, clearly unhappy but too disoriented to push things further.


    ¡°Hey,¡± I grinned back at him and winked as I walked away. ¡°My pleasure.¡±


    With the key instigators disarmed, the crowd calmed, losing steam. I ducked into an empty tent to remove the mask and exited, approaching where Nick stood at the front. I sighed and said the pass-phrase.


    ¡°Thundercats.¡±


    ¡°Woah-ah-oh.¡± Nick returned, jerking around to look.


    ¡°Here.¡± I stood beside him, hands in my pockets.


    ¡°Matt? You still moured?¡± He asked, squinting at my face.


    ¡°Not for long, but yeah. What the fuck happened?¡± I asked, my voice low.


    Nick looked over to severalrge members of the adventurer¡¯s guild standing at the side. ¡°Take over for me? I¡¯ll be back, just gotta bring someone up to speed.¡± As we walked away, his face turned grim. ¡°We may have screwed up a little.¡±


    ¡°How many infected?¡±


    ¡°Only two, way better than it could be.¡± Nick bit his lip. ¡°Healers figured out this was out of their wheelhouse real quick, sent for an expert. Contacted Tyler as well. He¡¯s in a meeting with the tower folks.¡±


    ¡°Expert being¡ª¡±


    ¡°Someone with the hazmat crew working region six. Prim, Pam?¡±


    I waved him off. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll get the nameter. What was the mistake?¡± A secondter, I realized it before he told me. ¡°You had to send someone down the elevator to get word out.¡±


    Nick winced and gazed towards the medical tents. ¡°Yeah. Then the screaming started, which¡­ really didn¡¯t help. Thankfully, the crowd seems to be cooling a bit.¡±


    ¡°Lucky.¡±


    ¡°You alright?¡± Nick asked. ¡°Boss a pushover?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­ no. Need to get this mour off and get in the med tent, more detailster. Anything else pressing?¡±


    ¡°With all this chaos I have the irresistible urge to binge eat and not nearly enough food in my inventory to make that happen.¡±


    I stared at him dolefully, then slowly handed him the sandwich I¡¯d packed.


    ¡°That¡¯s a start. I should probably get back to the line.¡± Nick grinned.


    ¡°Stay safe.¡± I paused, twisting around. ¡°Of the two infected, who¡¯s worse off?¡±


    ¡°That would be tent numero uno.¡± Nick grimaced. ¡°The dude you dressed down. Not sure who the woman is, but she got hit wayter.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Heads up though, Ansari¡¯s the one in there. It¡¯s spreading too fast for them to wait.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡±


    I left Nick to hold the line and returned to Charlotte. She started at my appearance, and I got the sense she¡¯d been looking for me for a while.


    ¡°Ready?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Hit me.¡±


    The dispel acted quickly, leaving an unpleasant buzz in my fingertips as I shed mystyer of anonymity.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t sure where you went.¡± Charlotte fished, but her curiosity seemed innocent enough.


    I rubbed the bridge of my nose. ¡°Everywhere.¡± Absentmindedly, I nced at the now silent tents. ¡°Good fucking job Charlotte. Between the mour and the mute you really came in clutch today.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± She seemed surprised and thrown off. ¡°It was nothing.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t.¡± I paused, ncing up at the crowd. It¡¯d stilled and a few people had walked away, but there were still too many. ¡°And I hate to keep asking for help, but any chance you¡¯d be down to loop some of the court into admin duty?¡±


    ¡°Sure. Most of them just aren¡¯t sure what to do, but they¡¯ll help.¡±


    I breathed out, leaning back and forth on my heels. ¡°We need to pull people away from the elevator. I¡¯m thinking¡­ two tables set-up in the center. First one designated for anyone who has pressing business outside that can¡¯t wait. Emergencies, dependents, so on. Write them down, note their full names and the full names of anyone pertinent, and once we have someone cleared, we¡¯ll send them down to send messages and coordinate with our people outside.¡±


    Charlotte pulled an old android phone out of her robes and jotted down notes. ¡°And the second table?¡±


    ¡°Sign-up for takeout, when it arrives. Barbecue, pizza, something universal. Complimentary.¡± I looked at her meaningfully. ¡°For anyone that¡¯s already seen a healer, of course.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡± She paused. ¡°Okay. Just, I have to ask. What did you do before this?¡±


    ¡°Eleventh grade.¡±


    With that, I jogged towards the first medical tent and braced myself. Then unzipped the p and stepped inside.

 Chapter 280

    Chapter 280


    A man in a blood-spattered doctor¡¯s jacket nearly bowled me over, white-knuckled hand sped over his mouth, eyes zed with shock as a woman¡¯s ented voice yelled all-manner of colorful expletives after him.


    ¡°Come back around once the hard part is over to get scanned, you simpering fuck.¡± Ansari yelled. Judging from her blood-soaked appearance she¡¯d seen better days. Her forearms bulged as she leveraged considerable strength to hold down the writhing figure on the operating table. The man was conscious but not lucid, actively fighting her as he struggled against the straps that fastened him to the gurney.


    ¡°Tighten the bindings!¡± She grunted at me.


    I moved on instinct, seeing the issue and grabbing his leg before he slipped a foot free, fumbling with the corresponding strap beneath until I figured out what to pull to tighten it. The man on the table was in terrible shape. The surgical incision on his ribcage was a clean cut, but all his struggling had torn it open wider than intended. Despite that, he was giving as good as he got, mming his weight from side-to-side¡ªthe table started to tip, and I mmed my weight down on the rising side, barely stopping it from flipping over.


    ¡°Why isn¡¯t¡ª¡± He slipped out of my grip, and I grunted, readjusting my hold and applying more pressure. ¡°Why isn¡¯t he under?¡±


    ¡°This infection is unlike anything I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Ansari grimaced, ¡°<em>Nothing</em> works. My ¡®colleague¡¯ miscalcted and gave him enough morphine to kill a horse, and he¡¯s still conscious.¡±


    <em>Shit.</em>


    My mind raced. ¡°Then how do we deal with it?¡±


    ¡°You need to go out there and make sure no one leaves. With the noise he¡¯s making it won¡¯t be long before people start losing their minds.¡± Her brow furrowed. ¡°Already handled.¡± I said. The healer stared at me nkly, clearly not putting much stock in my words. I was reminded again how she¡¯d had the misfortune of healing me after the first transposition event. Despite having no memory of it, I¡¯d been sedated while <strong></strong> was active, and whatever I¡¯d said in my subconscious state hadn¡¯t made a positive impression. ¡°The crowd is contained, we¡¯re organizing short-term necessities, and there¡¯s a muffle hex on the medical tent.¡±


    Ansari blinked. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a relief.¡±


    I nodded and tapped the table. ¡°What next?¡±


    The doctor nced down at the man and shook her head. ¡°Nothing good. The growths are tumorous. In ordinary circumstances it would be simple enough to operate and remove them, debriding and disinfecting along the way. The inefficacy of sedation poses a multitude of problems. Despite that, I wanted to try¡ªuntil that spineless <em>chutiya</em> lost his nerve.¡± She stared down at the man, a vein standing out on her forehead. ¡°It was always going to be a long shot, regardless. The only humane course of action is to ease his suffering.¡±


    Seeing how the usual hospice option¡ªstacking him with meds until he passed from natural causes¡ªwasn¡¯t possible in this case, it wasn¡¯t hard to read between the lines.


    Cracked fingernails wed at my forearm. The adventurer stared down at me, mouth breaking a rictus of agony as he struggled to form words. ¡°Please. <em>Please.</em> It hurts. Keep her away from me. It hurts.¡±


    <em>Ansari already hates you. She¡¯ll be watching you closely. Anything you can do to help could raise suspicion. He didn¡¯t listen, earlier, now this is the price he pays.</em>


    I shook my head, trying to ignore <strong></strong> even as part of me wondered if it was right.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been uwfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Look, doc, I get we¡¯re not exactly friendly. Regardless of our history I genuinely want to help here.¡±


    ¡°Are you a medical professional, Mr Matthias?¡± She mocked.


    Technically no, which she probably assumed. I had an extensive repository of knowledge on the subject of anatomy and biology, but my advanced medical knowledge was entirelycking in real-life experience. ¡°I know enough to assist.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± Ansari challenged, clearly not ready to take me at my word. ¡°You¡¯re too young to have gone to nursing or medical school. Unless you are some sort of prodigy, which frankly, I doubt.¡±


    The bar was already on the ground. A little honesty wouldn¡¯t make her like me more, but it might help my case here. ¡°Not a prodigy. I¡ªuh¡ªI just¡ª¡°


    ¡°Spit it out.¡± Ansari snapped.


    ¡°I scored well-enough on the MCAT for admission to med school.¡±


    Again, the doctor seemed surprised. Until her eyes narrowed. ¡°And why would someone who should be more concerned with college achieve such a goal?¡±


    ¡°Because I needed rent and my clients were willing to pay for it.¡±


    ¡°You cheated,¡± She used.


    ¡°They cheated.¡± I scoffed. ¡°I did it the hard way.¡±


    An awkward silence followed. This admission was a gamble. No medical professional who¡¯d put in the all-nighters, godless amounts of study, and put up with years of skull-fucking-stress would look kindly on their fellow professional who took shortcuts, and by proxy the people who made those shortcuts possible. But it was my only move. All I could do now was hope Ansari¡¯s desperation and rationality overshadowed her pride.


    ¡°To be clear¡­¡± I added, as she was taking too long to answer. ¡°I could never do this without you. No question. I¡¯m not telling you this to flex, or belittle your position. Hell, I¡¯m not even sure if what I know would be of help.¡±


    ¡°Then why offer?¡± Ansari snapped.


    ¡°So you can make the call.¡± I sighed, leaving it entirely in her hands. If she had a godplex¡ªand to varying extents, most doctors did¡ªshe¡¯d appreciate the deference. ¡°I can stabilize and assist however you need, and I have a method of detecting the corruption. I¡¯ll do whatever you tell me to.¡±


    Ansari squinted, something dangerous glimmering in her eyes. ¡°And if I tell you to get the hell out of my operating area?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you the detection item and fuck off.¡± I shrugged.


    For a moment, she was about to. Then the reality sunk in. Operating solo was difficult enough when the patient was unconscious. Without an extra set of hands, she simply couldn¡¯t hold him and operate at the same time. Her tone changed, rapid-fire and stoic. ¡°Did you study the questions or the material?¡±


    ¡°Both.¡±


    ¡°Switch ces with me and hold him as still as possible.¡± Ansarimanded. Now that she¡¯d decided, her hostility disappeared almost instantly. I did as she asked, bracing the man¡¯s shoulders. As soon as hertex-d fingers touched his chest he thrashed, moaning in panic.


    Ansari swore. ¡°I <em>cannot</em> help you if you keep fighting me.¡±


    From the shellshockedck of focus and full-blown panic, he wasn¡¯t processing anything, entirely fixated on the possibility he¡¯d soon feel pain again. Not great. But the primal state made him far more susceptible to <strong>.</strong>


    I leaned down and whispered in his ear. ¡°Go somewhere else.¡±


    Slowly, I cycled through the usual images that often worked when I needed to impart tranquility. A library, the faceless warmth of a mother¡¯s embrace. The usual go-to¡¯s didn¡¯t work. I kept iterating, trying one after another until something stuck.


    <em>The forest at night. Light of a stone-circled campfire glowing orange, crackling, casting long shadows into trees that shelter owls and other creatures of the night. Solitude. A little cold, but with your warm jacket and its fur hood, you barely feel it. There¡¯s no ambient noise, no people, only you. No demands, no quests, no expectations or transpositions. The purest peace. Nature is your church, and it epts you into its silent arms, asking nothing, imparting everything.</em>


    All at once, the struggling stopped. The man¡¯s face went ck, his expression nk, as he slowly surrendered reality for fantasy.


    ¡°What did you do?¡± Ansari asked. She was looking between me and the man on the table, scalpel held loosely in her hand.


    ¡°Talked to him.¡± I said, forcing a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve had some practice managing panic.¡±


    She stared at me for a moment, then moved on. ¡°Well, keep doing that. This is the most rxed he¡¯s been since the beginning.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    Slowly andboriously, Dr. Ansari cut. Over time, I got the sense that she was acting as a surgeon by necessity rather than choice. After onest dubious look over the mask, she seemed to resign herself to the situation.


    ¡°Think you can handle changing the IV?¡±

 Chapter 281

    Chapter 281


    It was not a fast process. For every section of corrupted flesh that was excised and removed, another growth began. Most of my time was split, half of it spent beneath the operating table, using de of Woe¡¯s ability to track our progress and call out new growth before it could metastasize and spread closer to vitals that would render removal impossible, the other half spent keeping the patient entrenched in his fantasy.


    Minute-by-minute, the auric red mass illuminated by <strong></strong> grew smaller.


    The smallest splotch of red drew my attention, barelyrger than ama. ¡°Fresh growth in the mediastinum, between the left lung and heart.¡±


    Doctor Ansari clicked her tongue, the noise muted from behind her mask. I watched the new splotch, waiting for it to disappear. It didn¡¯t.


    I slid out from beneath the table. ¡°Problem?¡±


    ¡°Do you have steady hands, Mr. Matthias?¡±


    ¡°Steady enough. Why?¡± I slid out from beneath the table, careful not to jostle anything with my movements as I emerged. The first thing that stood out was how exhausted Ansari looked. Beneath her beleaguered eyes, she gripped the scalpel tightly, the blooded razor trembling in the light. ¡°Shit.¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s a reason I went into general practice.¡± Ansari grimaced. ¡°The damn tremors.¡±


    God dammit. I quickly went to her bag, sifting through a countless number of bottles and tinctures, looking for the only thing I knew of that would help, sorting through an ocean ofbels until I found what I was looking for ¡°Propranolol, right?¡±¡°Two tablets.¡± Ansari confirmed.


    I forcefully twisted the childproof lid and shook two round pills into my hand, then tossed them into Ansari¡¯s waiting open mouth. She grimaced while she chewed, then forcefully swallowed. Eyes closed, seemingly at war with herself, she paused before she spoke. ¡°Did you learn from your studies how long it takes to work?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± I said quietly. ¡°Guessing it¡¯s not instant.¡±


    Almost nothing was.


    ¡°Correct.¡± Ansari nodded. ¡°I have an overactive metabolism, and chewing them helps. It wille on faster for me than the average person, but fast, in this case, is not nearly quick enough. Hold a hand out palm down if you would.¡±


    I extended my right arm as instructed, my hand level and steady. She scrutinized it and sighed. ¡°This is not fair to ask. Realistically¡­¡± she dropped her voice, ncing at the man on the table, ¡°It may end badly. But there are no alternatives. If we wait, he will die. If I leave this to you, it at least alters that certainty to a possibility.¡±


    My eyes were drawn to the man¡¯s open chest cavity. The once generic blotch was a dark mass, around half the size of a grape. There was blood, so much blood it set my teeth on edge, sung to the dark vestiges in the depths of my mind. ¡°Not sure that¡¯s a great idea, doc.¡±


    From the look on her face, she wasn¡¯t either. ¡°As I said. It is not fair to ask.¡±


    I strapped on a cloth mask and pulled a fresh pair of nitrile gloves from a box and put them on, using the makeshift wash-basin and pumped an ample helping of sanitizing foam onto my gloved hands, washing as thoroughly as I could.


    The scalpel felt solid in my hand. Natural. On some level it made sense. A knife was a knife, regardless of its purpose. ¡°What now?¡± I asked.


    Methodically, Doctor Ansari¡¯s low voice walked me through the steps of several careful,plicated cuts. Initially, I was afraid. Scared shitless that I¡¯d slip, or worse, that I¡¯d <em>want</em> to slip. But as I followed her directions exactly, that fear slipped away. It felt like picking up an old habit. The motions, the movements and their purpose made sense to me in a way few things ever had. By the time the problem splotch was nearly gone I was breathing hard, more from the mental drain than anything else. I ced thest chunk of infected tissue in the biohazard bin, on top of what had already been harvested.


    <em>Where now?</em>


    Wordlessly, Ansari pulled my arm away and took the scalpel.


    I blinked. ¡°Is something wrong?¡±


    Ansari shook her head. ¡°The opposite. The imminent threat is removed, and my hands have steadied.¡±


    <em>Oh. Right.</em>


    /////


    When it was over, I nearly sprinted out of the tent. It was small to begin with, and that feeling only intensified into full-blown ustrophobia with the thick scent of blood and the disquieting looks the doctor kept sending my way. A heavy weariness clung to me, which was, perhaps, why I didn¡¯t realize the obvious.


    Every person in the staging area immediately looked over as soon as the tent ps opened. It tracked. We¡¯d been in there for hours with no breaks, and while the joint group was no longer on the verge of a riot, they were all anxiously waiting for news.


    Somehow, I managed my usual indifference, stuck my hands in my pockets and made the announcement. ¡°It¡¯ll be a long recovery. Our mutual friend isn¡¯t out of the woods yet, but thanks to Dr. Ansari, the surgery was a sess.¡±


    There was a few cheers and some scattered apuse, but more than anything, an almost tangible sense of relief. Without the slightest clue of what else to say, I awkwardly walked away, bee-lining to the nearby table and loading several slices of pizza onto a paper te. As Charlotte had predicted, the court members had spread out some in my absence and appeared to be helping to keep things in order, which was good. Unfortunately, they nced my way far more often than I¡¯d like.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    <em>Good job, idiot. You drew too much attention. Again.</em>


    As if responding to my thoughts, a gravely voice spoke. ¡°Julian seems to be under the impression you¡¯re some kind of badass.¡± The Dusk de Knight said, holding up a wall a few yards away from the table.


    ¡°Julian is very generous.¡± I said between bites. ¡°And possibly concussed. I¡¯d check back with him after he¡¯s recovered a little.¡±


    ¡°He told us all about how you lured the little bastards out and secured thebat area.¡±


    <em>Why is it so hard for some people to keep their mouths shut?</em>


    ¡°Just basic strategy.¡±


    ¡°Basic or not, it was quick thinking.¡± Nathanial tapped his fingers, tattoos rolling with the motion. ¡°Impressive. How¡¯d the fight with the boss go down, anyway?¡±


    Every single rm bell went off in my head like a chorus. ¡°Quickly.¡±


    ¡°Not to sound ungrateful, but from where I¡¯m standing, it seems like he got the piss kicked out of him while you got out more or less unscathed. That a ¡®strategy¡¯ too?¡± Nathanial asked, an audible growl in his voice.


    <em>Ah. So you¡¯re not just the surly obstructionist.</em>


    It was an elegant trap. Obvious. But elegant.


    I gave Nathanial another once over as I processed the new information. He was on edge, but not nearly as much as he was pretending to be. Nathanial didn¡¯t actually give a shit how much of a beating Julian took. The intention was to make me <em>think</em> he did, panic that my standing with the court might be called into question, and scramble to correct him, detailing exactly what happened in the boss room.


    Either he was testing my ability to keep Julian¡¯s secrets, or he was fishing for information.


    <strong></strong> was confident it was thetter. Nathanial had seen glimpses of Julian¡¯s abilities, aftermaths, results with no exnation. But like me, he had no idea how it worked.


    I red at him defensively. ¡°It was a single-target slug fest. I peppered it with arrows from a distance while our resident prince fought it in melee and kept its attention. Of course he¡¯d take more hits than me.¡±


    ¡°Anything unusual happen?¡± Nathanial prompted.


    ¡°Other than it being the tentacle monster version of pandora¡¯s box instead of an ant?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Not really. It attacked us. We hit it with sharp things until it died.¡±


    Nathanial snorted. ¡°You¡¯re not much of a storyteller.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± I asked, ¡°Because I really should go check in with Nick.¡±


    The older man stretched, giving me onest scowl. He didn¡¯t want to drop it¡ªguys like him rarely did¡ªbut I¡¯d given him no reason to be suspicious, and he was smart enough to know this wasn¡¯t the time or ce to push his luck.


    ¡°Good work today.¡± He finally said and stalked away.


    <em>You too gramps.</em>


    /////


    The rest of the already waning evening was lost in a flurry of activity. Tyler¡¯s meeting with the tower¡¯s administration was a begrudging sess, and a team of Users from the tower arrived to seal off the elevator exit behind us. They seemed to take the task a little too easily in stride, which left me wondering when and why, exactly, they¡¯d closed off a section of the tower before.


    Everyone else on the floor was evaluated, and no one showed any signs of infection.


    A notification popped not long after I left the tower region in the passenger seat of Nick¡¯s Charger. Every part of me wanted to talk to Nick about Julian¡¯s one-shot, but my friend didn¡¯t have much of a poker face and he spent more time with the prince than I did, so it more made sense to keep it to myself for now. He seemed withdrawn¡ªprobably just worn out¡ªso I pulled up my messages as we drove in silence.


    There were a few updates I¡¯d missed from Kinsley, a message from Miles, and a couple from my mother. But the one I least expected sat clearly at the top.


    <strong><em></em></strong>


    I leaned my head back on the headrest and groaned.


    ¡°What?¡± Nick asked.


    ¡°I might have fucked up.¡±


    ¡°How bad is it?¡±


    ¡°Two out of ten.¡± I thought about it. The most questionable thing I¡¯d done was the way I¡¯d used <strong>.</strong> From Ansari¡¯s perspective it looked like I¡¯d spoken to a dying man in drastic pain and somehow persuaded him to be unreasonably calm. Dodgy perhaps, but not damning.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    She hadn¡¯t fully answered my question. That could have been bait, testing to see if I pushed for more info, but my title didn¡¯t trigger, meaning it probably wasn¡¯t.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    ¡°Three out of ten.¡± I amended unhappily. ¡°Or she¡¯s just being vague and we¡¯re fine. Hard to tell.¡±


    ¡°Need help?¡± Nick asked.


    ¡°No. Well, probably not. If Ansaries to you and asks about a certain standardized testing business¡ª¡±


    ¡°Deny it.¡± Nick filled in automatically, then paused, puzzled.


    ¡°Actually, just corroborate.¡± I corrected him wryly.


    ¡°Why, exactly, would the adventurer¡¯s guild doctor be asking about that?¡± He turned to look at me, aghast. ¡°More importantly, you want me to <em>tell the truth?¡±</em>


    ¡°Shut up.¡± I rolled my eyes. Then noticed for the first time where we were. ¡°Uh, Nick. You missed a turn.¡± Now that I was paying attention, he looked straight-up nauseous.


    ¡°You forgot.¡± Nick grimaced. ¡°Guess it makes sense with everything going on.¡±


    <em>Forgot what?</em>


    The answer came to me slower than I would have liked, as did the reason Nick looked so ufortable. I pinched the bridge of my nose. ¡°That¡¯s today, huh?¡±


    ¡°If she¡¯s there, we just give our condolences, make sure she¡¯s settled, give her some stuff and tips on where to go and what to do during the transposition, then we leave.¡± Nick said, reassuring himself as much as me. ¡°Quick and easy.¡±


    ¡°And if she¡¯s the monster Jinny said she was?¡±


    ¡°Jinny never called her a monster.¡± Nick argued.


    <em>She didn¡¯t have to.</em>


    Time gets away from you, one way or another. Nick would have gone the day she died if he wasn¡¯t kidnapped, imminent transposition be damned. But the transposition happened, then the sh with the feds, then power-struggle after power-struggle. After we¡¯d made the deal with Hastur, Nick tried to contact the mother multiple times through messages and voice calls. Theck of response meant one of two things. The woman was either dead or ignoring us.


    Either way, we¡¯d know before the night was over.

 Chapter 282

    Chapter 282


    It took an argument, but Nick and I split ways not long after. I pulled off the highway and navigated my system-knock-off Prius towards the curb until rubber ground concrete, then ced it into park. The te-blue car was part of my recent initiative to further separate the identity of Matt, the low-level User, from Myrddin, the Ordinator and public enemy. In truth, I should have hammered on that venture far earlier, but there had been little downtime to speak of, as I¡¯d been juggling crisis after crisis to the point that I¡¯d started dropping things that weren¡¯t life-threatening, but were still important.


    Which was partly why I was here, in the middle of a suburban wastnd that stretched on for miles. There was evidence of quick evacuations all around me. Trampled gardens, a few homes burned to the ground, abandoned half-packed cars with the trunks still open, the gaping maws of multiple unlit garages.


    Byparison, Jinny¡¯s house looked pristine. The grassywn had yellowed some, but there was still a sparkling pre-system SUV parked in the driveway, and from the looks of it, lights on inside.


    <em>Figures.</em>


    I sighed. The now-familiar purple light of a notification hung in the corner of my vision, and I focused on it, pulling up a slew of messages from the legend himself.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Thest message was time-stamped a minute earlier. <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    A few minutester.


    <strong></strong>


    I rolled my eyes.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I snorted, imagining calling in backup for a surly old woman who lived alone.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I banished the message screen, and centered myself, trying to carve through the unease and anxiety. Conveying utter confidence was the only way to get Nick to piss off, but at the moment I felt nothing of the sort. My father¡ªa career cop¡ªlost a partner once. Not to violence, or something as rote as a shootout. It started with a headache, then the man¡¯s speech slurred as heined about someone burning something in the precinct kitchen, right before his head hit his desk. The massive stroke finished the job before the paramedics could even load him onto a stretcher.


    And as his partner, it was my father¡¯s duty to deliver the death notification. From his ount, it was by far the hardest thing my father ever had to do.


    <em>¡°They look at you like it¡¯s your fault. And some part of you wonders if they¡¯re right. Even if it makes no sense. Obviously, I didn¡¯t give him the stroke, but the stress of the job contributed. You wonder if you could have done more, all while delivering the worst news in the world.¡± </em>


    In a way, he¡¯d been fortunate, my father. Because he at least had the luxury of doubt. He couldn¡¯t say, definitively, that he¡¯d contributed to his partner¡¯s death. It was unknowable.


    My case was much clearer cut. It was early days, I hadn¡¯t known what I was doing, and Jinny had paid the price for my mistakes. I hadn¡¯t pulled the trigger, or pushed her in front of the bolt, but she would be alive today if I hadn¡¯t made those mistakes.


    And now I had to own it.


    There¡¯d be rpense, of course. Assurances that many of those responsible were already dealt with, the rest would be shortly, and enough selve for a single civilian living within reasonable means to sustain themselves indefinitely.


    But, having been on the other side of it, I knew the truth.


    Nothing would rece the daughter she¡¯d lost.


    I stepped out of the car and climbed the steps of Jinny¡¯s suburban home, preparing to deliver the news.


    /////


    Once I told her I had news regarding Jinny, Marjorie ushered me in.


    The three-bedroom house looked like a snapshot, captured from a more modern time before Users roamed the street with swords and maces. The nts nking either side of the door were well-watered and healthy, and the expensive-looking wood paneling was polished and untouched. This region had a wealth of strong Users, and with most of the violence urring closer to the city center, there was a good chance Marjorie could likely hide in her home.


    I shifted, ncing over the door and finding no evidence of forced-entry, more or less supporting that assumption.


    There was a glinting metal card above the door inscribed with a flowery font:


    <em>Be Kind to One Another ¡ª Ephesians 4:32</em>


    Bounding, scrambling footsteps thundered across the tiled floor as two Huskies with ssic coloring, tall as my waist, raced over to greet me with wagging tails and lolling tongues. I reached down and let them smell me, then crouched down and scratched them both behind the ears. A third¡ªolder, judging from its cloudy eyes, raised its head balefully in greeting.


    From the little time we¡¯d spent together, I knew Jinny loved her dogs. So it was a relief to see they were intact. A bit thin, judging from the loose skin, but intact.


    ¡°You have a lovely home, Miss Stiles.¡± I said automatically. At some point I¡¯d shoved my hands into the kangaroo pocket of my hoodie.


    ¡°Thank you, dear.¡± She smiled at me from behind the counter, rummaging around unseen. The first thing that struck me walking in was that she was older than I¡¯d expected. She¡¯d given up on dying her hair, and let what was once tinum blonde fade to a regal silver, ented by a plethora of gentle wrinkles and crow¡¯s feet ¡°Tea? Or Coffee?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not necessary.¡± I said quickly, not wanting to put her out before I delivered the worst news of her life.


    ¡°None of that.¡± She gave me a stern look. ¡°Have a seat. It might be Disnend outside but some of us still care about southern hospitality.¡±


    I cut right to it. ¡°I have bad news.¡±


    She stilled, her movements and rummaginging to a slow stop. Her face and subsequent expression were shielded by an open cupboard. ¡°Yes. Gathered that from the messages.¡± There was enough bite in the words that it caught me off-guard. Secondster, her voice was back to normal, carrying the subtlest edge. ¡°Columbian or French Roast?¡±


    ¡°Uh. Columbian would be lovely.¡± I said, surrendering. Of course she¡¯d realized that something had happened to Jinny by now. People grieved in their own way, and ritual¡ªwhether it was a funeral or pre-discussion coffee¡ªwas a simple way of expressing and managing that grief.


    ¡°Columbian it is.¡±


    As she went about the process of brewing it, even going so far as humming a tune that sounded ancient and repetitive, I felt my uneasiness grow. It was possible Marjorie was in denial. That she was expecting me to tell her that Jinny had been injured in the transposition, or that she needed help. If that was the case, this was likely to turn explosive quickly. Jinny had hinted, though never outright stated, that she and her mother had a difficult rtionship, though she¡¯d been vague around the details.


    I needed to be ready to handle this as smoothly as possible,fort her if she cried, and be an empathetic andpassionate ear.


    None of which came naturally and made me profoundly ufortable to even think about.


    By the time she returned with small steaming cups, I was almost ready to leap out the window.


    ¡°Try it,¡± she urged, pushing the cup closer to my mouth. ¡°It¡¯s the perfect temperature. Won¡¯t stay that way for long.¡±


    I did as she asked, and kept my expression stone-neutral as the ndest, stalest coffee I¡¯d every tasted washed down my throat.


    ¡°Good,¡± I said.


    She sipped from her cup and wrinkled her nose. ¡°Beans are a bit old, but I like to think I still have the knack.¡± She fixed me with a cool stare. ¡°Now, what were you in such a hurry to tell me?¡±


    I took a deep breath andunched into the version of events I¡¯d rehearsed. Staying surface level but as close to the truth as possible and censoring critical or gory details. Jinny was a User. She was part of a small group of Users early on who undertook a trial and overcame it. I paid special attention to her achievements during the trial, how she¡¯d done well and saved multiple lives. And grew vague again, when I described how the group was attacked on exit. Fibbing a bit when I described her death as quick and painless.


    Because while it might have been quick, nothing about it was painless.


    Marjorie¡¯s expression remained neutral throughout the telling. When I reached Jinny¡¯s death, I thought I saw something sh through her eyes.


    <em>Regret?</em>


    But it was gone too fast for me to identify. Slowly, Marjorie lowered her cup and ced it on the dark-wood table between the two sitting chairs, stillpletelyposed.


    ¡°And where¡­ is her body?¡± Marjorie asked, voice a million miles away.


    ¡°Gone.¡± I said. For a brief moment, I considered mentioning the User core before discarding the notion. She¡¯d likely ask for it, and there was no guarantee she¡¯d return it¡ªespecially if Vernon¡¯s necromancy research bore fruit and we told her why we needed it back. ¡°The Users that ambushed us covered their tracks.¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± Marjorie sniffled, thenughed. ¡°Can¡¯t even put a bow on it and bury her properly.¡± Slowly, her eyes trailed to me. ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences.


    I blinked. ¡°To¡­ notify¡ª¡±


    ¡°Not that.¡± She held up a hand. ¡°You specifically. For that matter, why were you with her in such a dangerous ce?¡±


    ¡°Acting as support¡ª¡±


    ¡°So you weren¡¯t the boyfriend?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Were you <em>fucking</em> my daughter?¡± The edge in Marjorie¡¯s voice overtook her quiet demeanor.


    <em>What the hell?</em>


    I was too taken aback to do anything other than gape. Eventually, I managed to shake my head.


    ¡°Good for you.¡± Marjorie said, staring towards the wall. ¡°Always told her there¡¯s no charm in a trampled field. Not that she listened. Chances are you would have caught something.¡±


    It took a helluva a lot at this point to throw me this far off axis, but she¡¯d managed it. Finally, she seemed to notice how utterly taken aback I was. ¡°You must think poorly of me.¡±


    <em>Yes.</em>


    Aloud, barely able to string the sentence together, I said. ¡°We all deal with tragedy in our own way.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not grieving.¡± Marjorie shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ve already grieved.¡±


    ¡°Because of the illness?¡± I asked, trying onest time to give her the benefit of the doubt.


    Marjorie rolled her eyes. ¡°That excuse for the evil she did? No. I¡¯d be surprised if it was even real.¡±


    ¡°It was an <em>auto-immune disease</em>. She had <em>medication</em> for it.¡±


    ¡°Doctors prescribe pills for anything these days.¡± Marjorie stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°My grief was for the innocent daughter I lost. I feel nothing for the whore who took her ce.¡±


    It was then that I realized two things. The first, was that Jinny¡¯s mother was not the sort of person who could be reasoned with.


    The second, was that I needed to leave.


    Now.


    I sent her the pre-written contract that followed ayout one of Kinsley¡¯s researchers discovered, one that allowed the transfer of selve from one party to another without arbitrage restrictions. ¡°Confirm that for me, if you would.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s it for?¡±


    ¡°Transfer of assets.¡±


    After she confirmed the prompt, I withdrew a bag of fifty-thousand selve. Given physical form it was as heavy as blood money and made for a more dramatic disy than I would have preferred as I lifted it with one hand and dropped it on the ground with a loud clink. ¡°This should cover your necessities for the next few months. Half a year if you stretch it, give or take. Stay inside. Especially during the transposition. If the current trend continues, most of the really bad shit pops up around downtown. In the meantime, don¡¯t get sick. And I¡¯d start thinking about what you intend to do when it runs out.¡±


    She stiffened. ¡°I don¡¯t like your tone, or your profanity. And don¡¯t need your assistance.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just the foulmouthed courier. The selve is inheritance, courtesy of your dead daughter.¡±


    ¡°Take your pity and get out.¡±


    ¡°Course you think of it that way. Any sort of help is a handout.¡± I stood, pushing my hands in my pockets, eyeing the stacked up column of Charmin toilet paper next to the hall, far more than any single person could reasonably use in over a half-decade. She¡¯d been one of the early preppers, the people snagging everything they could get off the shelves and maxing out their amex¡¯s before the economy copsed. I stared through her. It was so obvious, despite her airs, how small she was. ¡°Sucker¡¯s bet you¡¯ve never struggled. Never had to lift a finger for anything. Probably worked a few years out of college at most before you locked it down with a rich guy who paid off your grants¡ª¡±


    ¡°¡ªAs if your generation ever worked a day in their lives¡ª¡±


    ¡°He knocks you up, you cut him loose. Congrattions, you¡¯ve escaped the middle-ss.¡±


    White hot rage told me I¡¯d struck a bullseye. ¡°He left <em>me.</em>¡±


    ¡°Obviously.¡±


    Marjorie stood, fists clenched at her side. ¡°You have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. And you have <em>no right</em> to judge me.¡±


    I observed her coldly. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get me wrong. I don¡¯t have a problem with what you did. If anything, I respect it. You yed your cards well. At the end of the day a hustle¡¯s a hustle. But I¡¯m not the one cowering in my ivory tower calling other people <em>whores</em>.¡±


    As she simmered and shook to the point she was nearly vibrating, the small voice in my head told me that this was enough. I¡¯d made my point clearly enough that the bug in my ear would stop chittering after I¡¯d left.


    But Marjorie wasn¡¯t done. She advanced on me, all fire and venom. ¡°How old are you, seventeen, eighteen? You think you¡¯re toughing in here, bullying a grieving old woman?¡±


    ¡°Thought you¡¯d already grieved.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re <em>all</em> mourning.¡± Her lip trembled. ¡°As we should be. People are killing each other in the streets. The beasts of the apocalypse walk among us, and creatures from the beyond deign to tell us we are in need of <em>correction.</em><em>Us.</em> Gods children, created in his image. And every day we stray further from him. Not that someone as arrogant as you would give a single thought towards a power greater than himself.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t that she was religious. Speaking as a lifelong resident of the south, there were plenty of normal, well-adjusted human beings who were devout in one faith or another. The problem was that Marjorie was an extremist with no one left to burn on her pyre. And I didn¡¯t catch easy.


    ¡°Your beliefs are none of my business. And as an agnostic¡ª¡±


    She scoffed. ¡°¡ªatheist with extra steps¡ª¡±


    ¡°¡ªI¡¯ve given it <em>plenty</em> of consideration.¡± I talked over her acidly.


    Images of the torment Jinny must have endured at the hands of this woman proliferated through my mind. Jinny herself was one of the kindest people I¡¯d ever met, bordering on na?ve but never quite crossing into it. And to see the naked hatred she¡¯d endured, and the person she¡¯d be despite it?


    I twisted the knife. I had to. ¡°Gotta wonder, have you truly thought this through?¡±


    Marjorie took a step backward, seeing something in my expression she didn¡¯t like. ¡°What¡­ do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Guessing you¡¯ve bunkered down and stayed static since this all started. Haven¡¯tworked. Few people in your old circles left, if any. Which means it¡¯s just you, a bag of money, and whatever else you squirreled away at the beginning. And six months from now, you won¡¯t even have that.¡±


    The gears in her mind turned as she looked from the bag, to me, to the bag again. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault the world has changed.¡±


    ¡°True.¡±


    ¡°I never asked for this. None of us did.¡±


    ¡°On that, we actually agree.¡±


    Her cold fingers gripped at my forearm. ¡°That¡¯s a system car outside, isn¡¯t it? And I can¡¯t imagine my daughter was clever enough to earn all that money. Clearly you¡¯ve done well for yourself.¡±


    <em>Here¡¯s the windup.</em>


    I looked down at her hand on my arm until she removed it.


    Marjorie almost scowled, but she¡¯d had practice, and the sweet, demure facade held. ¡°Surely you have parents of your own. They must have struggled with how quickly everything moved. It¡¯s harder for older folks, dealing with drastic changes in the world.¡±


    <em>Lady. My mother¡¯s a convicted felon and recovering alcoholic who¡¯s spent more time rpsing than breathing and hasn¡¯t held down a steady job in nearly a decade. And if I had a choice, I¡¯d still choose her a thousand times before I chose you.</em>


    ¡°It took her some time, but she adjusted.¡± I said aloud.


    ¡°Because you were there for her. Now imagine what it¡¯s been like for me.¡± She pressed a hand to her chest. ¡°A mother whose daughter would barely speak to her before she died.¡±


    <em>And the pitch.</em>


    ¡°That how you see it?¡± I asked, unimpressed.


    ¡°You took her from me. You and the rest of her shitty little friends. You all decided to y hero and took her from me and left me with <em>nothing.</em>¡± Marjorie raged, shifting on a dime, spittle flying from her mouth as she screamed in my face.


    I didn¡¯t budge, my forehead inches from hers. ¡°Miss Stiles, are you fishing for a handout?¡±


    ¡°You¡ª¡±


    ¡°No one wants to work anymore. Why don¡¯t you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Network. Put the effort in. Keep sending in resumes, eventually you¡¯ll find something. I¡¯m sure the qualifications for most jobs these days are reasonable. Maybe even more reasonable than they were before. Hell, we have yet to see any real intion yet, so that¡¯s one-up on the old world. Once you find a ce willing to hire you, make sure you keep your nose to grindstone even if the pay sucks. If you can¡¯t afford basic cost of living just find another job. Plenty of people work two jobs these days¡ª¡±


    Slippers scuffed carpet as she backed away, her eyes zed over. ¡°Callous. Callous and cruel.¡± I watched emotionlessly as she wandered away from me, back to the kitchen. Her echoing tone was almost dreamlike. ¡°I had a bout of narcolepsy a few years back. Better these days, but I kept the pills. Powerful stuff.¡± She grunted and rose up to reach for something, and a stic rattle followed. ¡°almost ¡­took them all during thest event. I know it¡¯s a sin. But with all the <em>sounds,</em> and the gunfire, and the monsters lurking in our streets¡­ I was tempted. Imagining it all happening again? And that it might not even be thest time? Maybe that was the right idea.¡±


    Tempting as it was, I wasn¡¯t going to tell her to go through with it. But I sure as hell would not y this game.


    Nick¡¯s voice reyed in my head.


    <em>It¡¯s what Jinny would have wanted.</em>


    The pile of leashes next to the door caught my eye. When I looked up all three huskies were syed out on the hardwood floor, panting. They¡¯d picked up on the elevated atmosphere but seemed more confused than stressed.


    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s skip the back and forth and cut a deal.¡±


    There was another rattle as Marjorie ced the bottle down immediately and returned to the living room, victory in her eye. ¡°What kind of deal?¡±


    I crossed my arms. ¡°I¡¯ll put you in touch with a single contact. He¡¯s highly positioned, in the process of rebuilding and rebranding, definitely needs the help.¡±


    ¡°Sounds promising so far¡­¡± Marjorie trailed off, expecting more, because of course she did.


    ¡°The negotiation of your role and pay is entirely up to you.¡±


    She hesitated, ¡°That¡¯s all you¡¯re willing to do?¡±


    ¡°That is the absolute limit of what I¡¯m willing to do. If you want to tell me that¡¯s not good enough and take a mortal shot of Xanax out of spite, that¡¯s your prerogative. I tried.¡±


    Her eyes flicked towards the kitchen before they returned to me, and she glowered, dropping the weak and feeble act. ¡°Fine.¡±


    ¡°Not so fast. This is a trade.¡± I tilted my head towards the huskies. ¡°The dogs, along with their cors, leashes, and bowls.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re lineage breeds. Purer than purebred. Jinny would have settled for mutts, but I insisted. They¡¯re worth far more than that.¡± She argued.


    ¡°Any of them know a guild leader you can bum work from?¡±


    ¡°Bastard.¡± She clenched her fists.


    Realizing this was likely the closest we¡¯de to an ord, I gathered up the leashes. All three dogs wandered over, more excited by the prospect of a walk than they were concerned by the presence of a stranger.


    ¡°Check your messages. I¡¯m sending a contact.¡± By the time she pulled up her UI, I was already walking away. ¡°See? Networking already.¡±


    /////


    I leaned against the Prius, awkwardly holding three leashes and letting the night air wash over me as the dogs ran a train on the nearby postbox. Some part of me still hated the suburbs, the astroturfed grass, the HOA¡¯s, how fake and artificial everything felt. Lately, I kind of got it. It was still normal and mundane. But normal and mundane were getting harder and harder toe by.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The call came in immediately, and I answered. ¡°On second thought, I might have needed backup.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Nick prompted.


    ¡°She would have torn you apart.¡±


    ¡°That bad, huh?¡±


    ¡°Worse.¡±


    There was a pause. ¡°Did she get under your skin?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± I grunted. ¡°Yeah. A little. It takes a special kind of person to make me want to dismantle their life in minutes.¡± Choosing my words carefully, I gave him the rundown, abridging some of the conversation and blunting Marjorie¡¯s more venomousments.


    There was a long silence. ¡°Man, I wasn¡¯t even there and I¡¯m boiling.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Kinda surprising you helped her at all.¡±


    ¡°Help is a strong word. Other than the selve, which was rightfully hers if we¡¯re going by old worldw, all I really did was steal the dogs and refer her to Roderick.¡±


    ¡°Poor Roderick.¡± Nick chuckled. ¡°What are you going to do with them?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°The lodge isn¡¯t even on my radar right now.¡±


    ¡°Talking about the dogs, Matt.¡±


    ¡°Oh. Still figuring that out.¡± I admitted. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t mind having them around the apartment, assuming Talia¡¯s fine with it. I¡¯ll prep the same meals Jinny did in bulk at the beginning of the week, and I think there¡¯s a dog park nearby. So everything they need is either order-able or in walking distance.¡±


    ¡°Uh. Wasn¡¯t expecting the dog heist, otherwise I would have warned you. They gotta get, like, multiple hours of exercise. Daily.¡±


    ¡°They sure as hell weren¡¯t getting that from Marjorie. I¡¯ll do my best, get someone to handle it when I can¡¯t.¡± I wrinkled my nose. ¡°Pretty sure she was feeding them Purina.¡±


    ¡°Yikes.¡± Nick groaned. ¡°We should have checked up on them earlier. I¡¯ll sub in whenever I can, help out. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡±


    ¡°Sae probably will, too.¡± Another silence followed. When he didn¡¯t say anything or hang up, I knew there was more. ¡°Talk to me.¡±


    ¡°I dunno.¡± Nick sighed. ¡°Keep thinking about how you¡¯re the most unppable person I¡¯ve ever met, and it all it took was a single conversation to get your blood up.¡±


    ¡°And how Jinny dealt with that every day?¡± A cold gust of wind chilled me, blowing hard enough that it created static on the line.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ man. On top of all the shit she was dealing with, one thing after another, she had that demon breathing down her neck. But despite all the judgement and maniption¡­¡±


    ¡°¡ªnot to mention psychological abuse, emotional extortion, gaslighting¡ª¡± I filled in, barely making a dent.


    ¡°Despite all that, she still somehow managed to be the best person I knew. She was vulnerable, and honest, and real. No matter what life threw at her, she never gave up on trying to make the best of it. And then¡­¡±


    ¡°And then she fucking died.¡± I finished, trying to tamp down on the anger as soon as it surfaced, only partially seeding. ¡°I know. I know it sucks and nothing about it is fair. But try to focus on what we <em>can</em> change. Vernon¡¯s making progress. In the low fifties now, and everything¡¯s advancing faster since he unlocked the ability to work with multiple cores. The abilities are looking promising.¡±


    ¡°Promise me.¡± Nick said, his voice dead serious.


    ¡°Can¡¯t promise what I can¡¯t know, Nick.¡±


    ¡°No¡ªJust that we¡¯ll do everything we can to bring her back. Even if it¡¯s a limited resource, and the smart thing to do would be to save it. Even if it costs us. We owe her that.¡±


    ¡°Jinny was always first in line. But. Yeah.¡± I closed my eyes. ¡°I promise.¡±

 Chapter 283

    Chapter 283


    The problem with being an introvert is that, short ofmunicating that detail explicitly, most people won¡¯t intuitively pick up that you are one. There are markers and coinciding behaviors, sure, but almost all of them can-sh-will be misinterpreted as dislike, disinterest, snobbery, or standoffishness. Before the dome my solution to this issue was simple: keep my head down, act like I¡¯m in a hurry¡ªin most cases, I usually was¡ªand be polite yet short with anyone who approached me.


    To some extent that still worked. At least until the end of thest transposition event, when I was unexpectedly thrust into a highly visible leadership role. I tried to make it clear it was the Adventurer¡¯s Guild and Merchant¡¯s Guild that were more or less calling the shots with region management. But, that didn¡¯t seem to matter. People around the region would linger by my building to catch me for a quick conversation. Some wanted something. More perplexing were the ones that didn¡¯t have an agenda at all. I got the sense that they were curious or simply wanted to be acknowledged by a person who seemed rtively ordinary and had some degree of control over their daily lives. It could be difficult to manage, especially after a long day when I wanted to do nothing but flop into bed and surrender to the void.


    Apparently it was time to batten down the hatches. Because something I¡¯d learned within minutes of stepping out of my Prius and heading into the building was that, evente at night, leading three, goofy looking dogs around notched the introvert setting all the way up to hard mode.


    ¡°So cute!¡± An old man ruffled the pure-white husky¡¯s face. ¡°And such intelligent eyes as well.¡±


    ¡°Yep.¡±


    I eyed the path to the elevator, where another woman blocked my way, petting therger female dog, several more people crowded around behind her. ¡°Where did these sweet babiese from?¡±


    ¡°Boarding them for a friend.¡±


    A father with terrible paternal instincts who carried a small child bent down so her face was inches from thergest dog, a ck-tan mix that was mostly ck. ¡°Doggy!¡± She giggled excitedly, thrusting small fingers into the animal¡¯s nose.


    When a nascent growl started in the dog¡¯s throat, I reached out to him with <strong></strong> immediately, sending an entreaty for calm tagged with an image of a pup awkwardly waddling around, exploring her environment. Almost immediately the growling stopped, though the dog still didn¡¯t look pleased. Instead of snapping at the child, he reached up with a paw and¡ªsurprisingly gentle¡ªpushed the girl¡¯s arm away. ¡°What are the doggies'' names?¡± The child asked, unbothered.


    <em>Uh.</em>


    If I¡¯d known there was going to be a test, I would have studied. As it was, I settled for cheating and scanned the dogs¡¯ tags discreetly. ¡°The white one¡¯s name is Ghee, brown-and-white is Marmde, ck is Truffle.¡±


    <em>Thanks for that, Jinny.</em>


    With growing despair, I watched as more people emerged from the elevators with ns for the night while others returning home for the evening cut off any avenue of retreat. Even if I was direct as possible it was going to take hours to extricate myself from this and I could see my fantasies of a long, uninterrupted sleep slowly slipping away. Someone stepped forward from behind, well within my personal space, and, before I could react, wrapped their arms around me. Something soft pressed against my cheek, followed by a smacking noise. ¡°Ditching our ns to show off your new pals?¡±


    Tara¡¯s timing was impable. She slipped her arm through mine with casual intimacy, looking at our many observers with bemusement, and giving me the out I¡¯d been looking for.


    ¡°Never.¡± I squeezed her arm and smiled. ¡°But I should get these guys settled first. They¡¯ve had an exciting day.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re not the only ones. Heard things at the tower were rough today. Surprised you¡¯re not dead on your feet.¡± To anyone else, it sounded like an innocuousment. But I didn¡¯t miss the way she projected slightly, ensuring her voice carried to everyone else around us.


    ¡°We should get out of your hair.¡± The old man stopped petting Ghee and stood straight, hand on the small of his back.


    ¡°It¡¯s no bother.¡± I assured him, hoping he ignored that for the pleasantry it was, feeling nothing but relief when he did. The crowd dwindled until there was enough of an opening that Tara could pull me away. I let her lead, quietly reviewing how easily she¡¯d extracted me from the situation, pondering if I would have been capable of doing the same thing. I wasn¡¯t sure I could. The innate awkwardness I felt with others¡ªespecially when I didn¡¯t fully understand why they were there and what they wanted¡ªwas just something Tara didn¡¯t share. She had a way of defusing people,municating important information without being direct or creating conflict.


    I eyed her as the elevator slid shut. ¡°Just happened to be nearby, huh?¡±


    <em>She¡¯s hiding something.</em>


    <strong></strong> voice skewered the reverie like a spear.


    <em>Even worse, she seems to think whatever she¡¯s keeping to herself is incredibly funny.</em> My title chuckled in the back of my mind, uncharacteristically slow to provide useful information. A slow anger started in my chest, spreading out to the rest of me until my fingers tingled. I¡¯d been suspicious of Tara from the start, but that suspicion had faded quickly. Now it was back, alongside the realization that whatever this was, I was being yed.


    ¡°Well, I got off an hour ago, figured my not-boyfriend was probably on his way home and waited for him.¡± She yed with a lock of hair idly, giving me the samee-hither smile she¡¯d maintained for most of our ¡°date.¡±


    <em>Everything she¡¯s saying is true, from a technicality standpoint. If that¡¯s her preferred way to lie it makes sense that your other titles would have difficulty picking it up.</em>


    ¡°And now you¡¯re following him to his suite. A more chaste person might wonder what your intentions are.¡± I said, taking a few steps closer and narrowing our proximity until I could feel her breath on my cheek.


    Instead of reacting negatively, Tara shivered. ¡°Well, I¡­ saved you. Don¡¯t deny it, they might not have noticed you getting ready to run out the door at a moment¡¯s notice, but I sure as hell did. Provided a service. And as I¡¯m not officially on payroll yet, it¡¯s only right to pay me some other way.¡±


    ¡°Like?¡± I raised an eyebrow.


    Tara let the tension linger for just a while longer before she spoke. ¡°I want to see your ce.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Why?¡±


    ¡°It helps.¡± She nced down at the dogs. ¡°They¡¯re adorable by the way. Not to mention a great first step in making your public image less mercurial, but if you¡¯re serious about putting me to work as a PR consultant, it helps if I have a foundation to draw from. Need to get a better sense for who you are as a person. I could probably get that just from talking to you, eventually, but there¡¯s no better shortcut for getting to know someone than seeing how they live.¡±


    Still not entirely urate to her motivations, ording to my title, but the substance of what she¡¯d said was dead-on. Breaking into the home or quarters of a powerful User almost always provided key insights to their routine, their agenda, and their psychology. If I was hunting someone stronger than me, it was absolutely necessary.


    If youe across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The prospect would have worried me more if I hadn¡¯t already tangled with feds in a world that operated without warrants. <em>Everything</em> was locked down tight. Any critical records or documentation were kept off-site. I¡¯d even arranged the ce strictly ording to Feng Shui to throw off the pseudo-science types. If anything, it was psychopathically clean, but all that could realistically be read from that was that I was a stickler.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My heart skipped a beat. <em>What the fuck?</em>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    My pulse quickened. At first I thought myms were being shuttered by a new, more subtle form of <strong></strong> when I spied a new message from Roderickining about a woman he¡¯d never met before harassing him for work after she name dropped me.


    I spent the rest of the elevator ride messaging everyone else that mattered, getting the same error message over and over. Regardless, I kept trying. Because if it wasn¡¯t something interfering withms, everyone in my circle was either off-line¡ªwhich I couldn¡¯t imagine any circumstance where that would happen simultaneously¡ª


    Or dead.


    Out of everyone, Miles responded just as the elevator opened.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I stopped mid-step a few units away, staring down at the ck space beneath my doorway. Because it <em>shouldn¡¯t</em> be dark. I always left the bathroom light on, and the bathroom door open. It should have been visible from beneath the door. There were any number of people who had ess and could have stopped by, turned the light off, and left, but there were too many things adding up in ways that wed at the back of my mind. I reached into my inventory and withdrew the remote, toggling the lights on.


    ¡°Something wrong?¡± Tara asked, noticing my hesitance and cocking her head.


    ¡°Dunno. Just¡­ got a little dizzy.¡± I leaned against the wall, buying time.


    It was only a matter of time until this happened. A single missed camera or overlooked tail was all it took. I tried to imagine how they would do it. Put myself in their shoes. Team of four, minimum. Three if they were all heavy hitters. Question was, where to put them? There wasn¡¯t much cover in my suite. The couch on the back wall was the obvious choice, and could work in a pinch, but magically enhanced bolts and arrows¡ªwhich they¡¯d expect¡ªcould prate it easily. They¡¯d ce a ranged User there, but they¡¯d want others nearby to stop me from running or firing back as quickly as possible. The wide-open space in the center left two options, and if they were smart, they¡¯d pick both. One in the bathroom, one posted up next to the door.


    Three down. Now where was the fourth?


    It wasn¡¯t Tara. Even if she was a special ss, none of my titles, detection abilities, or even Azure had picked up the slightest suspicion that she posed a threat. No one was that airtight. Most likely, her role was to distract and deliver me. A second shooter fit the scenario better than another melee, and the only reasonable cover left beyond the couch was off to the right side, behind the kitchen ind.


    In any case they¡¯d want the lights off for this. The hallway was brightly lit, and they¡¯d want to strike during the short transition from bright to dark, when my vision would be worse. They¡¯d need to ount for mess, which meant someone capable of creating an instance if they were thorough, a thick sheet of stic on the floor if theycked greater resources. Either way, any second now¡­


    Like clockwork, the lights in my suite switched off.


    I angled carefully, going down on a knee to retie my shoe, shoving broken legacy¡ªand Talia, contained within it¡ªbeneath the door.


    <strong><em>¡°How¡¯s it look in there?¡±</em></strong> I reached out to my summon through our mental connection.


    ¡°Matt, you alright?¡± Tara peered down at me. ¡°You seem off today.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± I made a show of looking for my key. ¡°Just can''t get something out of my head. There was this unaffiliated merchant kid Kinsley was gonna bring into the fold. James, Jim, something old school. At first everything seemed more or less copacetic. Popped up at an ideal time, had a corner on key resources Kinsley¡¯s beencking for a while. Seemed flexible enough in negotiations, but not so flexible he was a pushover.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Tara said, following along.


    ¡°<em>Then</em> he got desperate. Starting pushing for things to move quicker¡ªwhich didn¡¯t at all make sense in context, cause, so far as we knew, he was already getting everything he wanted. So she had someone look into him and then it all fell apart.¡±


    <em>¡°Talia.¡±</em>


    Again, no answer. That was somehow more rming than the lights.


    ¡°The kid was trying to rip her off somehow?¡± Tara asked.


    ¡°Sort of. Some of it was true. He was a merchant. But he wasn¡¯t at all unaffiliated. Those key resources weren¡¯t his. They were held by another group of merchants that gave Kinsley the finger, regretted it, and were nning to use the kid as an alternate pipeline for selling on the online market.¡±


    ¡°Geez. That sucks for Kinsley. In that situation and the greater context. Always having to question peoples¡¯ agendas when they approach you.¡±


    ¡°Sucks for everyone.¡± I agreed. ¡°But especially the kid. Because Kinsley¡¯s literally been where he was, you know? A kid with shit people want to take and no way to give it without payment. It¡¯s a bad situation, and Kinsley knows that better than anyone. She probably would have brought him in even if the only thing he had stocked was toothpaste. But as he was beholden to another group¡ªone prone to poor decisions¡ªthey put pressure on him, and because of that, instead of using his best judgment, he rushed and ended up fumbling the bag for everyone.¡±


    <strong></strong>


    And here I thought we were making progress. It was obvious he was lying immediately, before my title started crowing falsehood. Nothing about it made sense. Et tu, Miles?


    ¡°Tragic. But for how messy everything post-dome has been, the chain of events is oddly fable-like.¡± Tara observed, smile ebbing slightly. ¡°It even has a moral at the end.¡±


    <em>Fuck you, I had seconds toe up with it.</em>


    Problems rarely resolved themselves. And if Tara was a problem now, almost guaranteed she¡¯d be a problemter. But for some reason¡ªmaybe her greater hustle and sense of drive I¡¯d connected with, maybe because she also had a kid that wasn¡¯t hers that she¡¯d nevertheless taken responsibility for¡ªI wanted to give her the chance to reconsider.


    ¡°Do you want to go somewhere else?¡± I asked, point nk.


    ¡°<em>Matt.</em> We¡¯re literally already here. And it¡¯ste, where would we even go?¡±


    ¡°My ce is pretty bare, and I haven¡¯t cleaned in a while. Wafflehouse is always open, unless that¡¯s beneath your pte. The boba ce closes at three. And if you¡¯re not hungry or thirsty¡­ we could always go to yours.¡± I said knowing what that implied. Implying it anyway, because it would tempt her, even as the thought made me nauseous.


    A silentmunication passed between us, and Tara cocked her head as if trying to pick up an almost imperceptible frequency nested in my offer. ¡°Not a great idea. Any other day, I¡¯d be down. But if we go now, I¡¯ll start to wonder. What, exactly, was in Matt¡¯s suite that day he was trying so hard to keep it secret?¡±


    ¡°Not hiding anything.¡± I grunted.


    ¡°Maybe not. But I¡¯d wonder.¡± Tara insisted.


    It was a solid reversal, one that effectively pped away my olive branch and strengthened her position, narrowing my options to one. Between the contingencies scattered around my suite and my experience being on the other side of this exact sort of ambush, that even with Talia out of y, I felt confident I could handle the immediate threat. It was everything that came after that was the big, blinking question mark.


    Screw it. Not happy, but not seeing any other way, I dropped the dogs¡¯ leashes¡ªit was a closed floor, so short of someone opening the fire-escape or escorting them down the elevator, they¡¯d be out of danger and couldn¡¯t wander far. Before Tara could react, I turned the lights back on.


    Utched the door.


    And threw it open.

 Chapter 284

    Chapter 284


    <em>It was going to catch up to me, eventually.</em>


    I cut the power in the building first. In the old days it would have been harder. The local power-grid was horrifically inadequate, but even that terrible system had more contingencies than the generator setups providing power now. As it was, a rtively non-destructive use of <strong></strong> bought me at least a few precious minutes to work with. The fact that I¡¯d turned the lights on earlier¡ªeffectively blinding the would-be ambushers before they turned it off again would help me. They¡¯d had a minute longer than I had to adjust, but <strong></strong> enhanced my perception in the dark, which put me one up on the rest of them.


    ¡°Matt?¡± Tara said, squinting at shadows, trying to pick out my silhouette.


    With seconds to decide, I left the mask off. Whoever was waiting inside was waiting for Matt. And Matt was a region leader. Unfortunately, that also meant a hard breach wasn¡¯t an option. There were too many people I knew off-line, too high of a chance there was a hostage.


    Leaving Tara behind, I opened the door and slipped inside. The security shutters that covered the expansive skyline view were lowered, keeping the pitch-dark interior insted from any external light.


    Still, I could sense them. A grunt towards the back of the room, quiet breathing just loud enough to make out as a slight rasp. The smell¡ª


    <em>Were they cooking in my fucking kitchen?</em>


    Either they hadn¡¯t heard mee in, or they were slower than I¡¯d expected. From a brief scan there was no stic on the ground, and the best ambush point¡ªthe bathroom¡ªwas clear. Most of the noises I picked up seemed to being from the back of the room, behind the long couch.


    Carefully, I pulled a crossbow and leveraged the dull-green dot just above the back cushion. I could see well enough now to put down the first head that popped up.Talia¡¯s voice suddenly resounded in my head, a mix of rm and amusement. <em>¡°Do not fire. Do not use any further abilities. Put away your weapon and attempt to smile.¡±</em>


    <em>¡°Now you fucking talk.¡±</em>


    There was a snapping buzz as the power switched back on.


    ¡°Okay, not gonna lie, my life shed before my eyes.¡± Someone who sounded exactly like Nick said.


    ¡°Speaking from experience, jumping out at him is a terrible idea.¡± Sae agreed, sounding equally unhappy. ¡°We really ought to just spread out, hands on our knees, in clearly non-threatening positions.¡±


    ¡°Really doesn¡¯t like surprises, huh?¡± Was that <em>Julian?</em>


    ¡°Dios mio, my knee is killing me.¡± Abuelita¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Maybe we should just take it as a sign.¡± Kinsley suggested. ¡°Grams can stretch out¡ª¡±


    ¡°Pendejo, I am not that old!¡±


    Slowly, I put a hand to my face, turned around and opened the door, allowing both a confused Tara and the dogs she¡¯d apparently chased down and collected inside, then closed it loudly. A collective ¡°Surprise!¡± rang out, as an absolutely stupid number of people jumped up from behind the couch, only partially contested by Sae¡¯s ¡°Don¡¯t shoot!¡±


    /////


    Iris, Sae, and Charlotte sat cross-legged on the floor, intent on befriending the dogs. Sae and Charlotte kept shooting me apologetic nces¡ªalbeit for different reasons¡ªwhile Iris seemed totally fixated on the animals,ughing as they sniffed her curiously and pushed her with their noses. Julian and Nick sat on the couch across from Professor Estrada, watching the girls awkwardly, as Nick turned repeatedly to check on me, ncing away when I looked at him.


    There were enough people here that I should have been angry. Most knew I was jumpy on the best of days, and today had certainly not been the best of days. But tempering that with the fact that my mother was here, the story told itself.


    I leaned against the wall next to her as she prepped a tray of tacos on the counter. ¡°So¡­ you mad at me?¡±


    ¡°Of course not, sweetheart.¡± Mom smiled thinly, as she portioned chicken and distributed it. ¡°Your eighteenth birthday was weeks ago. We had to do something special.¡±


    My birthday had always been a non-event, quietly acknowledged but rarely celebrated. It said a lot for how chaotic things had beentely that I hadn¡¯t even realized, otherwise, I probably would have put it together.


    ¡°Guess I¡¯m just wondering why you went with this format.¡±


    ¡°Because you don¡¯t like surprises?¡± Mom rolled her eyes.


    <em>Yup. Her idea. Probably roped everyone else into it and insisted, and no one wants to shoot down the recovering alcoholic.</em>


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Unbothered, she continued to slice the chicken. ¡°I barely hear from you anymore, let alone see you. If I¡¯d messaged you about it, what would you have said?¡±


    I shrugged. ¡°That we should do it after the transposition deadline.¡±


    The knife came down hard enough that the poor chicken probably felt it in the afterlife. ¡°And then there would be something else in the way. Another crisis, more problems demanding your attention at all hours of the day. Not to mention,¡± She waved her hand towards the living room. ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee any of these people¡ªpeople who clearly love you¡ªwill be here then. You need to treasure what you have while you have it.¡±


    Pretty sure Julian and Charlotte barely knew me and had probablye by only to be dragged into this as coteral, but realistically, she wasn¡¯t really talking about them. Or anyone else for that matter.


    ¡°If you feel like I¡¯ve neglected you, or taken advantage of your contributions in any way, I¡¯m willing to have that conversation.¡±


    Suddenly changing the topic, she pointed out a tray of brownies. ¡°I was warned not to eat those. You probably shouldn¡¯t, either.¡±


    ¡°Mom.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about me. Even if it was, a region leader is an important person. The more important you are, the more time bes amodity.¡± She turned her back, continuing to prepare the food.


    <em>Tell that to the bug up your ass.</em>


    More annoyed that I didn¡¯t understand why she was doing this than that she¡¯d done it in the first ce, I pulled up my messages from her and scrolled up. Beyond the usual parental hovering and check-ins, most of which I¡¯d responded to, I found it. A message from the night we took down Sunny.


    <strong></strong>


    Damn. I¡¯d seen it. I¡¯d even replied to the next unrted message she¡¯d sent. But I¡¯d never acknowledged the progress. Scrolling through the screen caps¡ªhow the hell was she using the UI to send photos, anyway¡ªit looked good. More old Reddit than IRC, but seeing how the point was creating a resource for the general public, that was a good thing.


    Mom strode over and put her wrists on my shoulder, grease-glistening fingers precariously raised over the red fabric and pushed me towards the living room. ¡°Get out of my kitchen and enjoy the party.¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure it¡¯s my kitchen,¡± Iined, even as she pushed a tter of tacos into my hands and pushed me out. Eventually I gave up and sat down next to Nick and Julien, ncing towards thetter curiously.


    ¡°Sorry¡ª¡± Julien started.


    ¡°Here for other reasons and got roped in by gunpoint?¡± I filled in.


    He opened his mouth, closed it, then nodded.


    ¡°Your mother¡¯s a very persuasive woman.¡± Charlotte added, leaning back and squinting as Marmdepped at her face. She chuckled. ¡°After I was¡ªum¡ª<em>recruited, </em>I needed to go back to theplex to grab some ingredients, and she barely let me leave.¡±


    Nick waggled his eyebrows at me. ¡°Always nice to have someone who bakes in the friend group, am I right?¡± As usual, his double-entendres veered closer to single.


    I shook my head. ¡°Are you high?¡±


    ¡°Nooooo.¡± Nick lied, then grimaced, head bobbing slightly as he narrowed his eyes at Charlotte. ¡°That really just the usual stuff? It barely tasted like anything other than chocty goodness, and I am <em>sent</em> right now.¡±


    ¡°Technically, yes.¡± Charlotte hedged. ¡°Warned you to eat half.¡±


    ¡°I was hungry!¡±


    Across from us, Abuelita was cracking into thest of what looked to be several brownies, so far entirely unaffected.


    ¡°Technically?¡± I asked Charlotte, more for Estrada¡¯s sake than my own.


    ¡°It¡¯s the oil. Had a¡­ uh¡­ questionably legal side hustle before the dome¡­¡± Charlotte trailed off, scanning faces for judgment.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    ¡°Join the club. Trust me, he doesn¡¯t care.¡± Nick said automatically.


    ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± I agreed.


    ¡°It started as a hobby. Something I just did for friends who kicked me a few bucks in return. But friends refer friends, who refer friends, and so on. When the statewide bans on the delta-alts went through, demand was at an all-time high.¡± Charlotte shrugged. ¡°I started making serious money and decided to actually take it seriously. Sourced better stuff, learned the whole decarbing-double-boiler-filtration process. What no one warns you is that it takes a while to dial it all in. Threw the weak batches away, and most of the dialed in stuff I¡¯d already used up.¡±


    So all she had left with was the strong stuff. I pped Nick on the back, ¡°Sounds like you¡¯re fucked.¡±


    ¡°How is she fine?¡± Nickined, pointing at Estrada.


    ¡°J¨®dete, gilipos.¡± Estrada shook her head.


    ¡°Well first off, unless my Spanish ispletely rusty and I¡¯m mistranting, I¡¯m not sure that she is.¡± I gave her a long look as I addressed Nick. ¡°Second, the professor¡¯s been dealing with back issues for longer than you¡¯ve been alive. Tolerance is probably way higher than yours.¡±


    Julien shifted awkwardly. ¡°Much as your mom means well, this is obviously meant for close friends and family. If Charlie and I are at all imposing¡­¡± he trailed off, leaving it open-ended.


    I fought a strongpulsion to take him up on the implicit offer to leave. Parties were ufortable for me. Parties where I was the focus with near-strangers in attendance were even worse. But my most recent rant to Jinny¡¯s mother on the importance ofworking was still fresh in my mind. Matt needed to be able to do this¡ªbe congenial and weing to neers, meet and greets, cordial political shit that didn¡¯te naturally to me. Somehow, irrelevant yet equally important, Iris seemed to like them.


    Surrendering, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. ¡°No, that¡¯d be a special kind of shitty. Don¡¯t feel like you have to stay if you¡¯d prefer to go¡ªif that¡¯s the case we can talk about whatever you came here to talk about before you leave¡ªbut you¡¯re wee.¡±


    ¡°Must have made quite the impression.¡± Sae called over, eyebrows raised over her sunsses. ¡°It took him weeks to warm up to me.¡±


    ¡°Try getting a date. Month¡¯s wait minimum.¡± Tara winked, serving herself two tacos from the tter and plopping down in the over-size arm-chair next to Estrada. She bit into a taco and grimaced slightly.


    That was something else I needed to get used to. ¡°You guys all meet already?¡± When the answer was a mixed no, I did a round of introductions, including Tara. Iris came out of her shell enough to politely greet Julien and Tara, then seemed to withdraw again, standing to the side awkwardly.


    ¡°Kiddo.¡± I signed. ¡°Want me to get you something to eat?¡±


    Iris gave one quick shake of her head and signed back. ¡°Not really hungry.¡±


    ¡°Wanna just sit with me instead?¡±


    A nod. I waved her over and she mbered onto myp, settling in, seemingly content to just absorb the festivities passively.


    Nick absorbed this, oddly somber for how intoxicated he was. He stared at Tara seriously. ¡°Never thought anyone would lock Matt down. He¡¯s always been a yer.¡±


    I elbowed him. ¡°Shut up.¡±


    Undeterred, Nick crossed his arms. ¡°I¡¯m almost ready to give the best friend seal of approval, but before that can happen, you need to answer a very important question.¡±


    Tara set her te on her knee and leaned forward. ¡°Mmm. Intriguing. Go for it.¡±


    ¡°What is the best hour of television ever filmed?¡±


    ¡°Subjectively or objectively?¡± Tara asked.


    ¡°Objectively.¡± Nick insisted.


    Sae looked between them, unimpressed by Nick¡¯s sudden posturing. ¡°It¡¯s obviously the end of Six Feet Under.¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Nick shot that down immediately.


    ¡°It is!¡±


    ¡°Says you and the thirty senior citizens still alive that watched it.¡±


    ¡°Michael C. Hall is a national treasure, you dick.¡±


    Charlotte snapped her fingers. ¡°Oh-oh, the intervention episode of Euphoria.¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t there multiple interventions?¡± Sae asked, scratching her head.


    ¡°From season one.¡± Charlotte rified.


    ¡°Great show. But too zoomery.¡± Nick shook his head.


    ¡°Aw.¡±


    Tara made a show of thinking, tapping her bottom lip in amusement. Nick was joking around, but he¡¯d put her on the spot, and she didn¡¯t have time to get a feel for the group yet. Given that, I threw her a lifeline. ¡°Just cold-read him. He¡¯s practically asking for it.¡±


    ¡°Are you¡­ sure? Most people don¡¯t enjoy that party-trick.¡± Tara raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°He¡¯s used to it.¡±


    ¡°What better ce for a party trick than a party?¡± Sae shrugged, watching Tara curiously.


    ¡°Okay. Just going off of energy and limited information, so don¡¯t take anything personal, alright?¡±


    Nick nodded.


    Tara leaned forward, steepling her fingers and studying Nick. ¡°From the zoomerment, I think we can eliminate anything recent. You¡¯re giving bro too cool to like anything from his era, but if you were too far in that direction, I can¡¯t imagine you and Matt being as close as you are. So you¡¯re masculine, likely with masculine tastes, but nothing too overboard. Even for that niche, you have an odd air of vulnerability. Almost like you make a point of it.¡± Her eyebrows furrowed. ¡°It¡¯s something popr, critically acimed, and rtively well-known, older than Euphoria, but newer than Six Feet Under.¡± She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. ¡°But you specified episode. Not finale, not season, episode.¡±


    ¡°It could be a finale¡­¡± Nick attempted to misdirect, looking entirely caught off-guard by the depth of the analysis.


    ¡°Judging purely from that reaction, it¡¯s not. Which is interesting. A lot of shows have good seasons, some have great finales, but there¡¯s not a ton that have individual, standout episodes the typical person can call back to. From what we¡¯ve already established, I think I can already narrow it down to four.¡± Tara held up four fingers, then pulled one down. ¡°The Sopranos is a little old. Even if it wasn¡¯t, the characters probably aren¡¯t to your tastes. You don¡¯t mind gray, it¡¯s the dickishness that puts you off.¡± She closed another few fingers. ¡°We can eliminate Mad Men for the same reasons. The Wire packs plenty of standout episodes, but it was too disjointed and emotionally divorced for your tastes.¡±


    The longer she went on, the more Nick sank into the couch, his eyes wide. He stared at me, genuinely unsettled.


    <em>Don¡¯t look at me. You started it.</em>


    Tara sat back, smiling in victory. ¡°Which leaves us with the obvious choice. Breaking Bad, Season five, Ozymandias. ¡®Boom. Done.¡¯¡± She mouthed thest two words and feigned dropping a mic.


    I snorted at Nick¡¯s abject shock, chuckles growing into outrightughter at how called out and exasperated he looked.


    ¡°Holy shit, she actually out pop-cultured Nick.¡± Sae gaped.


    ¡°You coached her.¡± Nick used me, still reeling.


    ¡°Swear to god I didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°I just¡­ like a good puzzle.¡± Tara pushed a bang behind her ear self-consciously. ¡°Sorry if that was creepy.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re fine.¡± Sae waved away the anxiety. ¡°If that¡¯s the bar for creepy, Matt¡¯s creepy all the time, and we still keep him around.¡±


    ¡°Whose birthday is this supposed to be again?¡± I flipped Sae the bird, and she responded in kind.


    ¡°Do me next!¡± Charlotte said.


    Tara seemed surprised¡ªboth that her so-called party-trick hadn¡¯t put anyone off, and that she had another taker. Nevertheless, she recovered quickly. ¡°That would be Euphoria Season 1, episode 4.¡±


    ¡°Aw.¡±


    ¡°Nah nah nah,¡± Nick leaned forward, rallying. ¡°You¡¯re guessing what we, individually, think is best. Which is impressive. But you haven¡¯t shared your opinion.¡±


    ¡°Well¡­ Breaking Bad¡¯s a great show¡­¡± Tara smirked.


    ¡°Uh huh¡­¡± Nick was on the edge of his seat.


    ¡°And Ozymandias is a great episode.¡±


    <em>¡°Uh huh¡­¡±</em>


    ¡°But ¡®Fly¡¯ is objectively better.¡± Tara finished. Before she¡¯d evenpleted her sentence, Nick copsed over the arm-rest, groaning.


    ¡°Matt. I¡¯ve been mortally wounded. She likes¡­ bottle¡­ episodes.¡± He croaked.


    Tara absorbed his ridiculous disy stoically, then looked to me. ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯m getting the seal of approval after all. We might have to break up.¡±


    ¡°Unfortunate.¡± I waited a beat. ¡°I¡¯m keeping the dogs.¡±


    ¡°Bastard.¡±


    Beside me, Julien had been unexpectedly quiet. I watched him for a moment, wondering if he felt out of ce, until I picked up on the telltale eye-flicker of motionless UI maniption. ¡°Trouble?¡±


    Julien shook his head. ¡°Shopping, actually. If I¡¯m gonna crash a birthday party, least I can do is buy you a present.¡±


    <em>This fucking guy.</em>


    I rolled my eyes. ¡°You are literally the only person here who already gave me something.¡±


    ¡°What? <em>Julien.</em>¡± Charlotte squawked.


    Nick slugged me. ¡°Since when do you do gifts?¡±


    Julien frowned and lowered his voice. ¡°It¡¯s not really a gift if it has a responsibility attached, is it?¡±


    ¡°If the inherent value overshadows theplexity of the responsibility? Pretty sure it¡¯s still a gift.¡± I answered dryly.


    ¡°And it was something nice? Now I look like the asshole.¡± Charlotte huffed, fiddling with her UI for a few moments before swiping it away in frustration. Suddenly, her eyes widened. ¡°What if I don¡¯t charge for the mour work? That could be my present.¡±


    ¡°The-who-what now?¡± Sae¡¯s head whipped around, suddenlyser focused on Charlotte.


    <em>Shit.</em> With the unexpected surprise, I still hadn¡¯t had time to talk to Sae. About the mour or the potion. ¡°Uh¡ª¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a hex.¡± Charlotte chirped. ¡°Um¡­¡± She trailed off as Sae approached her, the other woman¡¯s fists clenched, body trembling. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ a bit like sculpting, only for¡­ appearance and stuff. That¡¯s why I came here. To talk about themission¡­ oh¡­¡± Charlotte trailed off as Sae removed her sunsses.


    ¡°Could it fix these? Make me look normal again?¡± Sae pointed a shaking finger at herpound eyes, almost cringing, expecting a no.


    I was slower than I should have been, struggling with a sensation that felt almost like a mentalg. Finally, I managed to interject. ¡°Sae¡ªwait.¡±


    ¡°Been waiting, Helpline.¡± Sae said, eyes still locked with Charlotte¡¯s.


    ¡°There¡¯s something we need to talk about first. Another more permanent option¡ª¡±


    She¡¯d picked up on my discretion, but didn¡¯t seem to care much. ¡°Is the other option avable now?¡±


    ¡°If you answer the way I think you¡¯ll answer¡­ no.¡±


    For how fish-out-of-water she must have felt in this situation, Charlotte caught on quickly. ¡°It¡¯s painful at first, but the touch-ups are easy, and I¡¯m happy to keep it intact until the more permanent option is avable. Guessing¡­ you didn¡¯t exactly sign up for that.¡±


    The sudden outburst of tears was natural. Almost expected. What was less expected was the way she hugged me. ¡°You might be the best friend I¡¯ve ever had.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the brownies talking.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± Sae sniffled. ¡°Haven¡¯t even had any brownies. Just the tacos.¡±


    Something about the way she said it, then immediately hugged Charlotte, then Nick gave me pause. I nced down at my te and the half eaten taco, then nced around. ¡°Mom? Wait¡ªWhere¡¯s Kinsley?¡±


    ¡°In the bathroom. Been there for a while, hope she¡¯s feeling okay.¡±


    Feeling a growing urgency, I knocked on the bathroom door twice, and when there was no response, opened it. Kinsley was prone on the bathroom floor dead asleep, snoring loudly, wadded up towel beneath her head serving as a pillow. The water was still running from when she¡¯d started to wash her hands and apparently decided to take an impromptu nap instead.


    I turned it off and left her there for the moment¡ªdespite the tile, she lookedfortable enough¡ªand raced into the kitchen, searching thebels and containers for something specific. ¡°Where¡ªWhat did you cook the tacos with?¡±


    ¡°Love.¡± My mother chuckled at her own joke.


    ¡°No, the <em>oil</em>, mom. What oil did you use?¡±


    ¡°The only one I could find.¡± Mom passed me a bottle I¡¯d never seen before,bel handwritten in loopy feminine print. <strong>Cooking Oil: >25 Percent. Use with caution.</strong>


    Slowly I panned the room, noting the numerous empty and half-eaten tes, including my own.


    Well. Shit.

 Chapter 285

    Chapter 285


    I stared at the opening. The upside down "U" shape was perfectly cut and sanded, the interiorvishly upholstered with system-sourced Vicuna Wool, a small cashmere pillow with golden trim creating asymmetry. I turned it diagonally, then back again, deciding after a moment that it looked best aligned with the bedding. It was resplendent, extravagant, perfect.


    <em>And yet.</em>


    "It''s a little off. Something about the roof tiles."


    "I see it," Iris signed grimly, and pressed her hand to the roof. The tiles rearranged themselves. "How''s that?" My vision blurred, everything simultaneously bigger and smaller than it should be, and I blinked, trying to force my perspective closer to reality.


    Behind us, there was a loud thud as arge wooden board hit the ground. I turned and squinted through the bright halo of effervescent light at Nick, flexing as he pped the saw back down on Iris''s worktable. "This saw is fire. I''m on fire. I''m a two-by-four machine bro!" Utterly pleased with himself, he flexed both biceps, then his energy seemed to g a bit. "Hot. I''m really hot. Kinda wanna take my shirt off."


    "Hello? My sister''s here," I snapped.


    "Oh damn, my bad." Nick grinned guiltily.


    "He can cool off if he needs to," Iris signed, still withdrawn but seemingly unbothered.


    "Well¡ª" Nick started."Not happening. He wants to cool off he can go take a cold shower. Keep your damn shirt on," I stuck a finger at Nick.


    Nick scratched his chin, then his eyebrows went up. "What about my pants?"


    <em>"Motherfucker¡ª"</em>


    "Got shorts on underneath bro, chill."


    "Then why the hell even ask me?!"


    Julien snorted, thenughed. "You guys are never gonna get three done if you keep bickering like an old married couple."


    "Bruh," Nick said.


    I looked back to the row of doghouses taking up the back of what was once Sae''s room. "Jules, you went to college right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "They teach you to count in college?"


    Julien did a double-take, ncing back over the row of doghouses and blinking. "Oh no. I am <em>gone.</em>"


    "Leave the man alone, Matt. Might be seeing single but he''s also making history." Nick scooped up the fallen two-by-four and stuck it out to Julien, who took it and fastened it to an ever-growing structure with expert precision.


    "That''s way too easy for you," I said, openly envious.


    "Welp." Julien grunted, tightening a screw. "Helps that I''ve made a few treehouses in my time. Simr concept, different setting."


    "It''s shaking a lot," Tara called down, "If I get tragically paralyzed from installing an inte into a prototype before it''s even built, I''m suing you, Julien."


    "I promise it''s stable!" Julien replied, giving the center pylon a quick shake, grimacing as Tara yelped, then adding on another supporting beam.


    Nick snorted. "Don''t worry, Tara. If that happens, Matt''ll call a bunch of friends over, get everyone high, and remodel the entire apartment to be wheelchair friendly."


    "Isn''t it already wheelchair friendly?" Iris signed, showing a ghost of a smile.


    "It is. And bitch, this was your idea," I snapped at Nick, turning back to Iris''s work after warning Tara to be careful.


    "Like I said it, sure, then you deadass started buying shit wholesale off the marketce."


    "Yeah, yeah, yeah."


    There was a knock. We''d closed the room off for the dogs'' safety more than anything else. "Boys? We need a second opinion."


    I caught Nick''s eye and mouthed, "No matter how it looks, be supportive."


    He mouthed something back that looked like, "I''m always supportive, you mothering bastard." Or potentially "I''m always providing motherless bastards," but I was mostly sure it was the first.


    "Come in."


    Charlotte threw open the door, cheeks tinged from exertion. Then she saw the state of the room and her eyes widened. "Holy shit you guys work fast."


    "Kinsley still doing okay?" I asked.


    "Yup." Charlotte nodded. "Still sleeping like a rock in the living room, but she only had a bite. Breathing and pulse are normal. She''ll sleep it off."


    "And be cranky she missed the party," Nickughed.


    Charlotte turned to the tall, meandering spiral structure Julien had already started putting rails on. "Uh, Julien? What is that?"


    "Greetings Charlotte," Julien said, his voice over-serious and seductive. "What you see before you, is the result of what happens when three brave, upstanding men of the court¡ªand one little sister¡ªidentify a grave injustice."


    "Jules, you are gone," Charlotte put a hand over her mouth, trying not tough.


    "That''s what he said," Nick added helpfully.


    Julien shook his head vehemently, squaring his stance and putting a hand to his chest. "What is gone, Charlotte, is the hopes and dreams of the canine ancestors that came before. We domesticated them. Then betrayed them. And today, we will finally right that wrong. No longer will dogs be forced to observe the bourgeoise trappings of their feline antagonists with envy. No longer will Fido, or Prince, or Wheatley, live out their days in the dust, deprived of any hint of altitude or verticality."


    "Really stirring for the subject matter," I noted dryly.


    "Kinda tearing up a little," Nick agreed.


    Julian grinned and extended his arm toward the structure, then finished in a solemn voice. "I present to you, the first ever, canine arboreal rxation station. The Dog-Tree."


    "Here, here!" Nick raised his giant water bottle.


    "It''s looking great, Jules, it really is," Charlotte bit her lip.


    "Everything alright?" I asked, fighting a sudden upsurge of paranoia.


    "Right. Sorry, you said you needed an opinion," Julien said, dropping the noble prince act.


    "We really fucking do," Sae''s voice announced from outside the room. Trying for the same harshness as usual, but ovepensating. In my addled state, I might have been overthinking it, but Sae sounded terrified.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the vition.


    Charlotte''s smile drooped a bit. "Keep in mind we''re not done. This is like the sketch, before we fill everything else in. It might have been smarter to wait until I was no longer¡­ ahem¡­ chemically altered but¡­"


    "She insisted," Nick said, waving the worry away. "It''s alright. No worries. This is a ce for friends. Judgement free zone. Right?" He looked at me.


    "Judgement is suspended until everyone is sober," I agreed. "Come on Sae, let''s see it."


    "Bring her in, bring her in, bring her¡ªJesus Christ," Nick''s jaw dropped as a beautiful stranger walked around the door frame. Someone who looked sopletely different from either version of Sae I knew that my mind was having trouble keeping up.


    The stranger scowled and immediately turned around and walked out.


    "No, Sae, that was a good Jesus Christ," I raised my voice, ring at Nick¡ªwho still lookedpletely bbergasted.


    Far more tentative than before, Sae returned with her arms crossed. As long as I''d known her, she''d always been eye-catching, but this was something else. From the neck up the insectile features were entirely gone. Thick shining hair framed full lips, high-cheekbones, and a slender jaw-line, thepound eyes she''d loathed traded for a dark, captivating stare.


    "Hot-diggity-damn," Nick whispered.


    "She looks like a celebrity," Iris signed, and even as I conveyed it out loud, I had to agree. Sae gave Iris an appreciative smile before she frowned again.


    "Girl. You look stunning," Tara added, looking down from her perch on the dog tree.


    Sae cleared her throat, then looked away and cleared it again. "You''re all being very sweet and supportive. And as much as part of me has wanted that sort of support my entire life, I kinda need the cold bastard take." She looked to me expectantly. "Give it to me straight."


    "Uh. You sure?"


    "Yeah," Sae nodded.


    "Well¡­" I hedged, trying to strike the bnce between support and what she was asking for. "It''s hard to say. You look kind of perfect? Maybe¡ª"


    "Don''t you dare say too perfect," Tara called down.


    "She asked for the cold bastard take, <em>babe.</em>"


    "I don''t care, <em>sweetheart.</em>"


    "No, it''s fine," Sae shook her head, then confirmed. "Too perfect?"


    I scratched my head. "Remember who you''re talking to and take this with a grain of salt. But the way I''ve always seen it, there''s like¡ªshit, I need a whiteboard."


    "No whiteboards," Nick and Sae said simultaneously.


    "It''s better as a visual," I argued.


    There was a rustle as Iris fished around in her backpack, pausing to sign to me. "I''ve got art pencils and a sketchpad. Would that help?"


    "Yes, you''re a godsend," I took the sketchbook, flipped to an empty page and began to draw. "Our X-axis is attractiveness. Far left is least attractive, far right is most attractive." I drew a line, then scrawled a bell curve on top of it, then drew another vertical line. "And this, our y-factor, is approachability. From a psychological standpoint¡ªand there are multiple studies I''m drawing on here¡ªthe more attractive you are, the more benefit there is. People automatically assume you''re smart, lend more credence to what you say, and are more likely to seek you out and approach you." I turned the sketch and pointed to the above-average section of the bell-curve. "At least until somewhere around here. Once you get above this area, people get kind of weird. Intimidated. They''re far more likely to assume that you''re someone important, or full of herself, or whatever. Result being, they''re more likely to dodge you and make assumptions."


    "Yeah¡­ yeah. That kind of tracks," Tara admitted.


    Sae snatched the sketchbook from me and studied the scrawlings. "Asked for the cold-bastard take, not the nerd-take, but I''m picking up what you''re putting down."


    "Alternatively, they''ll just get confused and ask for an autograph. ck Pink in your areaaaa," Nick drew thest word out, immediately cut off by a collective groan. "What?"


    Julien shook his head.


    "Nick, I don''t care how high you are, you can''t say that," I moaned.


    "Huh?" Nick scanned the room with an expression of betrayal. "Wait¡ª"


    "That''s racist," Iris signed sternly.


    "Iris says you''re racist."


    "I''m not¡ªIt''s not like that¡ªSae I can''t think when you''re mean-mugging me with that face," Nick backed away.


    "What is it like, then, Nick?" Sae crossed her arms, tapping a foot expectantly.


    "It wasn''t a stereotype, I was being specific!" Nick blinked rapidly. "She looks like Jisoo from ck Pink!"


    "Oh shit," Charlotte paced in front, looking at Sae''s face from all angles. "You kind of do." rm came through in her voice. "No. Actually, it''s almost one-to-one. Sae, swear to god I didn''t do that on purpose. Don''t know how it happened but I''m really not like that."


    Chaos reigned, with Nick and Charlotte both taking very different approaches to underlining how not-racist they were, while Julien and Tara formed Switzend, observing from the sidelines and wisely staying out of the crossfire.


    "You idiots," Iid back on the floor and put my hands on my face. "No one is racist. There''s a thing¡ª"


    "A thing, Helpline?" I could almost feel her re through my hands.


    "Yes, Sae, I''m fucking impaired for the first time since middle-school and can''t think of the name, cut me a break. But it happens with policeposite sketches where a person is described to a sketch artist and the result ends up resembling a celebrity."


    "Maybe you should make another graph."


    "Fuck you."


    Julien coughed. Almostughed, then coughed again to cover it. "Uh, just piping in as a totally neutral and politically correct party to say that the term Matt''s forgetting is Celebrity Resemnce Bias."


    "Yes! Exactly," I pointed at him.


    "So it''s an actual thing?" Sae asked.


    Julien nodded. "And while it does happen with sketches, it also happens with stic surgery. You start with attractive features, most celebrities are varying degrees of attractive, they''re a presence in our lives, and that mental image bes a source we subconsciously draw on to fill in the nks. And Charlotte''s a dyed in the wool k-pop stan."


    "Juuuuules," Charlotte whined.


    "Seriously? Would you rather be outed as a racist or a k-pop stan?"


    Sae was about to respond when Talia came staggering in, tail tucked, almost swooning from side to side, her eyes red. "Why does my body feel so sluggish?"


    "Did you sneak a taco off the tray?" Nick asked.


    "No¡­" Talia lied.


    Julien stumbled backwards. "Holy shit, a talking dog!"


    <em>God dammit.</em>


    "What did you call me?" Talia growled deep in her throat.


    Sae put a hand to her face. "Alright, now that I''m mad and apparently have no one to be mad at, I''m gonna let you all exin that." She put a hand palm out towards Talia in a circr gesture, then tugged at Charlotte''s sleeve, clearly moving on from the awkwardness. "Ready to go back to the drawing board?"


    "Yeah." Charlotte looked down at Talia, did something thatnded somewhere between a bow and curtsy, then stage-whispered to Julien. "Fill me inter."


    Relief flooded Charlotte''s features as the two departed and awkwardly reintroduced Talia as Nick''s summon and resumed work on the furnishings. Talia scanned the evolving room, emanating a mix of grumpiness and disdain. "For all the time I''ve been a summon, Nick has never built <em>me</em> a house."


    Nick stumbled, no doubt unhappy that he was catching another stray until he realized Talia wasn''t actually talking to him and resumed his business.


    I pped the top of the closest structure. "Talia. This is a doghouse. For dogs. I''m sure <em>Nick</em> thought about it, and ended up assuming if he did build you a house in which dogs are housed, you''d take it as a grave insult."


    ¡°Can you guys, like, stop saying my name that way? Gonna give me a coronary.¡± Nickined.


    Talia ignored him and sniffed the wool, then entered the house andid down in it. "Regardless of who it''s meant for, it''s a very nice house." She turned her head, all side-eye.


    I put my hands on my hips and sighed, ncing at Iris. "Up for building a fourth?"


    "Yeah," Iris nodded, just looking happy to be needed. "Small structures don''t take much out of me. It''s not a bother."


    "It should be bigger than the others, so those cheerful idiots don''t get any ideas," Talia instructed.


    "Such a choosing beggar," I rolled my eyes.


    "Wait!" Tara eximed. She was stretched out supine on the upper level of the dog-tree, head hanging upside down off the tform, hair streaming straight down. "Talia''s a wolf. What if we did something a simr size to the rest, but made it out of stone instead, and made it look kind of natural-like?"


    "Like a summer-home cave, since she''s over here all the time?" I asked.


    "Yes. I like it. That human is wise." Talia acknowledged and put her head down, nestling into the vicuna.


    Beside me Iris was already drawing, creativity apparently reinvigorated by the idea of doing something with a more natural bent.


    A vibration rattled through the floorboards, emanating three times before it faded any apanying noise squelched by the music and Tara''s voice. "Did someone knock?"


    Tara cocked her head. "Not that I heard."


    "Matt!" Someone screamed from the other side of the door. I jumped to my feet and raced to the living room, only for something to m into me full force. Kinsley grabbed me and shook me, eyes wide in panic. "Matt we''re fucked."


    "Breathe, Kinsley," I brushed aside her matted hair and pressed the back of my hand to her forehead. She felt mmy, but not so hot it was concerning. "Who was at the door? And why are we fucked?"


    "Because we''re all high as balls and the feds are here!" Kinsley hissed.

 Chapter 286

    Chapter 286


    There were worse possibilities for this unfortunately impaired moment in time. An incursion from a rival region with multiple casualties, or a sudden announcement from the Ordinator that they¡¯d changed their minds and the transposition started now.


    Miles'' presence was more like a distant third.


    If I was lucid, it wouldn''t even rank in the top ten. But I wasn''t. Even ignoring the impromptu carpentry workshop and subsequent green-lighting of the dog tree, the fuck-up with Talia served as evidence of that. It hadn''t even urred to me that she shouldn''t be speaking aloud before she gave Julien and Charlotte an existential crisis. And unlike Julian and Charlotte, Miles was a far more serious threat.


    Because he was the real deal. I''d watched him pick a man apart during an interrogation, guess his age, pre-system vocation, and the exactbination of suggestions and threats necessary to break him open like a walnut, allpletely cold. Perceptive, intelligent, and borderline unreadable. On a good day, locked in and focused with the proper title equipped, engaging with Miles was still dangerous. None of my subtler abilities could touch him, implying a special ss he''d kept painstakingly close to the vest.


    To make matters worse, the voices in my head had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since the idental dose. A relief, but one I felt far less strongly now that I explicitly needed them.


    It''s fine. He''s just here because I never messaged him back, or to give his regards, or because mom is incapable of keeping anything to herself. The only reason he''ll have to be suspicious is if I act guilty.


    Internally, I did a double-take. Because that was my own inner voice,pletely unfiltered for the first time in what felt like forever. More confirmation that I was flying blind. I stepped away from the peephole and pitched my voice low, speaking to Kinsley. It threw me off for a second because she''d moved, taking cover behind the counter and peeking out, her pupils blown. "Go in the dogs'' room with the others. Turn the music down and tell everyone to sit tight."


    "The dogs have an entire room now?" Kinsley hissed.


    "It''s not like anyone''s¨Cthat really what we want to focus on at the moment?""No. Fine. But, Matt, you''re not gonna let him in, right?"


    "Rx. It''s Miles. He won''t stay long."


    Unhappily, Kinsley crouch-walked from cover to cover, making her way to the hallway and sneaking down it.


    "Kinsley," I called after her. "Other way."


    Kinsley swore, surveyed her surroundings, then for some undefinable reason, flipped me the bird.


    "What are you going to tell them?" I asked, trying to remind her.


    She thought for what felt like a long time. "To sit down and turn the music tight."


    "Great. Perfect."


    Once she was gone and I''d shot a message to Charlotte telling her and Sae toy low, I braced myself and opened the door. "Miles."


    "Happy gettin-old-day slugger." Miles grinned crookedly. There was a dark green bottle beneath his arm with golden foil over the top. An open-navy zer revealed an old Metallica t-shirt tucked into a worn pair of jeans. In a way, it was odd how normal he looked, when he wasn''t d head-to-toe in system attire or business casual.


    "Thanks. All quiet on the western front?"


    "Mostly." Miles confirmed. Then the smile faded, as he looked past me into the dark living room. "Looks like the party died. Everything alright?"


    <em>There goes any chance of a quick visit.</em>


    "Yeah. Just moved to the back, we''ve been working on a couple side projects. Come in." I waved him inside and flicked on the light, going to the kitchen and rifling through the fridge. "Uh. Someone made a giant pitcher of lemonade, there''s beer¨Cthe cheap shit Nick likes, not-coke, and coffee."


    "Not to mention tacos and dessert." Miles picked up one of the now cold brownies up to his nose and breathed deeply. A secondter, his brow furrowed, and he looked at me quizzically. "Damn. If I knew you were cutting loose, I would have brought something other than sparkling grape juice."


    Briefly, because I wasn''t confident in my ability to hold things together without creating the sort of suspicion more likely to make Miles look closer, I gave him the rundown on the oil mixup. In the old world, this was perhaps the stupidest thing I could have done. A cop would see it as an admission of guilt, and a fed would consider it a point of leverage. To a lesser extent thetter was still true, but with the psychopaths and necromancers running around, I figured it was better than just letting him wonder. He''d grill me for info either way. That part of his job was hard baked into his DNA.


    What was less predictable, was the way heughed until his eyes were red. "And here I thought the surprise party was destined for spectacr failure."


    "It''s been a spectacr something," I muttered, as Miles screwed the cap off his beer and took a long pull, trying not to chuckle.


    "For the record," Miles pointed the top of his bottle at me. "I told her it was a terrible idea. I think everyone did. She was¨Cprivately, of course¨Cbemoaning how ''uncooperative'' your friends were."


    I rubbed my face in annoyance. "Yeah. Generally it doesn''t matter. Once mom gets an idea in her head, no one gets through, and everyone who challenges her isn''t being open-minded enough. At least until it all goes wrong, and she runs away with her tail between her legs."


    "Brutal. But I guess I can see it. That happen tonight?" Miles asked.


    "After we started working on the side-projects, she made somements that it wasn''t what she¡¯d imagined, got antagonistic, and left when no one was looking. Hasn''t answered her messages since." I stopped myself suddenly, realizing I was effectively dragging my mother to the man she was dating. "Not trying to be harsh. It''s not a big deal, really. Just part of recovery. Pink-clouding and whatnot."


    "Guess I can stopposing this break-up message." Miles rolled his eyes. "You''re not usually this transparent."


    "Yeah, yeah."


    Even without the snipe at the end hisment was an obvious joke, but itnded a little too close to a constant source of anxiety. Same as most addicts, my mother had a pattern. She''d get clean,mit to the process, really go all in. With every passing day, she''d grow more confident, and her productivity would rise. Then almost inevitably, something would knock her down¨Ca failed rtionship, a decline email from an interview¨Cand she''d spiral, eventuallynding back at square one.


    There was an awkward silence, and we both shifted ufortably in the lull. We were both greatmunicators in a crisis, far less so when there was no obvious problem to solve. Part of me was kicking myself for not asking Kinsley to pass a message to Tara, asking her to insert herself into the conversation to smooth the tension between me and Miles.


    As if my thoughts were somehow manifesting reality, the dog''s door cracked wide enough for me to see Kinsley''s horrified expression as Tara slipped out. She''d tidied her hair before making the appearance and she shed us both a smile as she raided the cupboard, lifting a bag of pistachios.


    "Can I grab you boys anything?" She asked.


    "I''m fine," I said.


    "Ate on the way, but thanks," Miles answered simultaneously.


    "Babe," Tara said, drawing immediate side-eye from Miles. It was the same word from earlier, but a simple alteration of inflection changed so much. Instead of sarcastic, it sounded confident and familiar. It took me a second to realize she was performing, flexing a little. She waved the bag at us. "Need to coat your stomach with something. You''ll thank meter."


    "Listen to the woman." Miles agreed seriously. "He who parties without eating will not enjoy the party for long, nor the day that follows."


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred tform. Support original creators!


    "Confucius?"


    "More like de Sade." Tara quipped.


    Miles barked augh. "Now there''s a deep cut."


    Tara gave me a withering nce. "Since you''re not explicitly saying no, I''m gonna take your silence as consent¨C"


    "¨CTotally not problematic at all¨C" I interjected.


    "¨Cand fix up a te." She gave Miles a meaningful look. "Make sure he doesn''t just stare at it and actually eats?"


    "Scout''s honor," Miles nodded, agreeing easily. It imparted some small measure of relief that Tara didn''t immediately ping Miles'' radar. More like the opposite. If anything, he seemed morefortable than he''d been before, and continued to make polite conversation until the te of leftovers was delivered and Tara returned to the dog''s room, winking at me over her shoulder.


    As soon as the door closed, Miles turned to me and waggled his eyebrows, absolutely radiating smugness. "Well I gotta say, kid, you really suck at introductions. How long has that been going on?"


    <strong></strong> voice echoed somewhere in my subconscious, dissecting Miles'' sentence. I focused inward for a moment, tuning in long enough to identify the pithy quality it adopted often when it was bored and offeringmentary purely to stir the pot, then tuned out.


    "Sorry. Her name''s Tara. And it''s new," I returned neutrally. "We''re still figuring it out."


    "Well, figure it out quickly. I dated a few waitresses in my day, but none like that. She seems great."


    "How?" I asked the air in frustration. "How the hell do you pick her out as a waitress with less than two minutes to draw from?"


    "Well..." Miles shifted his head from side to side. "Could say it''s the posture, the way she held the te from the bottom and didn''t struggle with the bnce for a second... but I''d be lying my ass off. I''ve had a few work lunches downstairs."


    "Right."


    Suddenly, I felt foolish. And more than ready to change the subject. "Enough about me. How''s everything with you and mom?"


    "It''s been good." Miles said, putting a little too much emphasis on ''been.'' He grimaced sheepishly. "After getting out from under some trouble, I got a little too ambitious for my own good, started talking about making things official... and uh... she was enthusiastically in favor."


    It took a second to parse what he meant. They were exclusive, as far as I knew, so that meant... "Official, as in marriage?"


    "Yeah." Miles put the beer to his lips and tipped it upward.


    "Three wives wasn''t enough?"


    He coughed, almost choking as he wiped his mouth, ring at me distastefully. "The timing had to be intentional."


    "I mean, I''d be worried. Four wives is basically a harem."


    "They''re exes. You''re not usually this funny, either," Milesined. He cocked his head, considering something. "Would you?"


    "Hm?"


    "Be worried, if we took the next step? You''ve been chill until now. But I wouldn''t hold it against you, given our history." Miles said, quietly waiting for my response.


    It was strange to think about. Purely because of how well we knew each other, and how tenuous that rtionship had been. Across the collective experiences of both my identities, I''d seen Miles at his most savage, willing to say or do almost anything to aplish his goals. On the surface, he was controlled, careful, and calcted. The only time he''dpletely lost his cool was when I¨Cthrough Myrddin¨Cthreatened his colleagues. Yet, when given the opportunity and a thorough dose of reasonable doubt, he''d made peace. He was socially savvy, a terrible public speaker, and a fantastic mentor. Whatever else he was, I got the sense that, more than anything, he was a protector at heart.


    <em>We''ve had our problems, but you''ve always been fair. Really, I should hate you on principle, but in a way I look up to you. It''s weird to say that. My generation, most of our heroes are either fictional or dead, so really, that''s not nothing. You always have your eye on the ball. Do the necessary thing even when it''s hard. But you''re not all rough edges. If you''re wrong, you cop to it. If someone''s suffering, you try to help. You''re a natural leader, and the people who follow you do so out of trust. Of course I approve.</em>


    "Jesus Christ." Miles leaned all the way back in the chair until it creaked. Almost defensively, he tossed a small ck box onto the table. "Was just gonna check in, drop these off, and be on my way, but, uh, you wanna get some air?"


    What? Why the sudden change of...


    Slowly, I put a hand to my face. "How much of that did I say out loud?"


    Miles looked up thoughtfully. "From, ''we''ve had our problems'' onward."


    "It''s the weed talking."


    Miles grinned. "Well, let the weed know that''s the nicest thing anyone''s said to me in years."


    "Eat shit."


    "Aaaand he''s back."


    /////


    A wind current cut the humidity of the midsummer air. The roof of the building, despite the bar, swimming pool, and swathe of waterproof furniture that surrounded us, it was entirely abandoned. Miles'' gift was a pair of aged Cuban cigars, the "real deal" I was told, repeatedly, as he cut and lit them. His second, more concerning present was a small portion of spiced rum, which I eyed with distaste.


    "Rx, Mocktail. You don''t have to finish it. Just sip enough to get the vor profile. Authentic experience and all." Miles set his ss down and vaulted back over the bar, putting a hand on the small of his back and stretching before he picked it up again. We walked over to a bench near the railing that encircled the rooftop and took in the skyline. Miles tapped his ss against mine, resonating ''ting'' lost in the sound of ambient wind as he raised it and drank. "Puff, then sip," he told me.


    Cautiously, I did so.


    The result wasplex, a nket ofyered richness that was difficult to pin down¨Cvani, nutmeg and cinnamon all warred for prominence, the underlying cloying taste the only point of rtive consistency.


    "That is way, way sweeter than I expected it to be," I said, staring down at the rum.


    "Pretty good, right?" Miles pointed a finger at me, waiting for¨Cconfirmation.


    It was. Too rich and extravagant to enjoy more than once in a blue moon, but it really, really was. I raised my ss, letting the honeyed liquid coat my tongue.


    "Did you know I''m impotent?" Miles asked.


    I choked and coughed, unable to stop myself from spritzing rum all over the pavement below. "Beyond the obvious payback, that''s relevant to this conversation, how?"


    "Everything still works. But yeah, I''m shooting nks. Have been for thirty years. Went back a few times, and the result''s always the same. Nada. Zilch."


    "Still waiting for the relevance, Miles," I said again. Instead of responding, he waited for me to do the mental math. "Hold on. Are your kids adopted?"


    "Some were," Miles nodded.


    "So the rest..."


    "''Were miracle children, god''s grace, a literal one-in-a-million shot. Providence.''" He chuckled ruefully. "Ashamed to admit I actually believed my first wife, when she fed me that line. The second... not so much."


    "Damn."


    "I had iting," Miles worked his jaw. "Too many hours at work, too many weeks without date nights, way too many weekends spent doing nothing but vegging in front of the TV because I was too burned out to function. All the cliche cop shit. But it''s a cliche for a reason."


    "Not sure anyone has thating."


    "You''re very supportive, under the influence." Miles eyed me, leaning out over the railing. "But save the pity. They''re all my kids and I wouldn''t trade them for anything. My name''s on their birth certificates. Legally, that''s all that matters."


    "Why wouldn''t you order a paternity test?"


    "Oh I did," he snorted. "More than one. Couldn''t believe she''d lie to my face like that. Spent a lot of time at the gym¨Cand in the ring¨Cworking the anger out. Took some time. After the anger was gone... guess I realized a few things. The first was that I needed to file for divorce, ASAP. The second was that I wanted to be a father. Probably most important, there was a reason it was me in the OR, not the other guy."


    "You stepped up," I realized.


    "Why not? By any reasonable standard, I was stable, aplished, and motivated. Not saying it''s been perfect. My eldest... reconnected with his biological father, decided he was a better fit. Calls me Miles, now. Hard pill to swallow. Hard as hell, but it wasn''t up to me. Just like I chose him, it was his right to choose someone else." He made a dismissive notion. "This has all been a very roundabout way of conveying that I have a lot of flexibility when ites to acting as a parent. You don''t have to worry about me elbowing in on what you''ve got going with Iris and Ellison." He stared out at the city nkly, breathing out cigar smoke. "You''ve taken care of them for a long time. And frankly, from the sound of it, done a better job than most."


    I took another sip of my rum. For a moment, the skyline seemed to spin, and closed my eyes, blinking until the nausea faded. "My... history doesn''t put you off?"


    "The details that came out at the panel?" Miles asked, guilt creeping into his expression.


    "Yeah."


    "That deadbeat," Miles said, disgust leaking into his voice, "Beat his woman until she was ck and blue and shot a cop. Dipshit was doomed any way you spin it. If nobody stabbed him, he would have offed himself. In the likely scenario hecked either the wisdom or courage to off himself, he would have ''offed himself.'' If somehow he didn''t bite the bullet either way, the judge would have punched a one-way ticket to the needle express faster than you can say capital punishment."


    "So you would have done the same?" I challenged, not entirely sure if I believed him.


    "It''d be wrong to say that without being there." Miles'' brow furrowed. "But I sure as hell would have looked the other way."


    <em>It''s not like it was. At the beginning, he was an unknown quantity. It got worse and for a while, he was an enemy. But it''s not like that anymore. We''re on friendly terms with and without the mask. Myrddin helped him clear the bounty and they''ve been working together behind the scenes, which makes us at least a valuable asset. Maybe it''s time to finally level with him.</em>


    "Close call at the tower today bothering you?" Miles asked. Like he genuinely wanted to know. Like he cared.


    "Not really." My throat felt tight. Constricted.


    "So, talk to me," Miles scratched his head. "Because you look miserable. Like something''s eating you from the inside out. If there''s anything you want to share, I''m a good listener." He scowled and puffed his cigar. "And no, this isn''t fishing for intel. Believe it or not, I genuinely, authentically give a shit."


    It was a perfect opening.


    <em>I''m Myrddin.</em>

 Chapter 287

    Chapter 287


    <em>¡­ And when he finds out about the nursery? What will he think of me then?</em>


    A second of hesitation was all it took to rein myself in. The most concerning part of it all was that if the earlier slip hadn''t happened, I might have seriously considered it. But thanks to the Talia mishap, I knew I wasn''t all there. And Miles¨Cintentionally or not¨Chad created the perfect moment for me to confide in him. The over-share, the fact that he''d pulled back the veil on something not only personal, but deeply vulnerable and painful, made it feel wrong to hold back. But by the same token, it''s exactly what I would do if I was trying to get information out of a neutral party and needed to use a light touch.


    It bothered me that he was so hard to read. The fact that he was established as a great liar really worked against him, here. Because it all felt genuine. Even now, as he waited for me to answer, arms crossed casually over his legs, framed by the scattered lighting of various skyline buildings behind him, there was no tell, no restrained anticipation, zero anxiety, or dubious bodynguage.


    Maybe it was real. And the fact that I''d never know for sure legitimately annoyed me. I''d been so careful until now, and if I put that in jeopardy the one time in years I cut loose a little, I could never forgive myself.


    The transposition was imminent. Nick and I were doing everything we could to stop it from happening, but even with Hastur''s backing, our chances were about as good as a coin flip. I got the sense that Hastur had been on this "perfect future" kick for a while, and it''d never seemed to work out for him before. There was no reason to assume it would work now.


    No matter what the details of the greater game they based it on were, the chaos of the first transposition had been so all-epassing it''d been far easier for the spectating gods to skirt the rules and target me more directly. Realistically, the second would be more of the same: Filled with indirect (and not so indirect) attempts to get me killed and draw negative attention to my continually unwanted presence.


    I was seemingly in Miles'' good graces now, but that didn''t mean it''d stay that way after the second transposition. There was no telling what I''d have to do, or how the greater powers would spin those actions in the worst possible light. If for some reason, that didn''t happen, I''d revisit the topic then and only then.


    But now I had a problem. Because sidestepping this or changing the subject would be the worst possible call. Almost worse than telling him directly. Miles wasn''t stupid. He''d already called me out for acting strange, considering the circumstances. If I didn''t give him something he''d draw his own conclusions, if he hadn''t already. The better option was to pivot. It had to be something I felt genuine guilt over, so I couldn''t just make something up on the fly, either. Especially in my state, he''d read anything fabricated as false. It had toe from the heart.


    And I was terrible at from the heart.I cleared my throat, then cleared it again. "My sister''s deaf."


    "I''d put that together," Miles said, his expression rxing slightly. While clearly puzzled, he also almost looked relieved.


    "It''s never been a problem. Hell, learning signnguage might''ve been the smartest thing we ever did."


    "Being able tomunicate silently at a moment''s notice? I can see the benefits."


    "Iris couldn''t." I shook my head. "Spent years working with her, hammering self-eptance, making damn sure she never felt like an inconvenience... but I always had the sense that she never fully bought in."


    A shadow crossed Miles'' face. "When you''re a kid, everything that makes you different from others is seen as negative. It takes a lot of growing up before you''re able to see those differences as advantages. Other kids really don''t help."


    "No, they don''t. Little shits."


    I rubbed my eyes, trying to force the jumble of feelings and memories into a coherent thought. "Point is, I''ve spent years trying tomunicate to Iris that her disability isn''t a problem. That it doesn''t make her a lesser person, and that anyone who makes her feel like an outcast or unworthy because of it can go pound sand. It doesn''t need to be fixed."


    "This have something to do with that necromancer attack?" Miles asked, reading between the lines.


    "In part. This is the other half. It fell into myp a while ago, Kinsley''s people just identified it." My hand went to my inventory, and I hesitated, before finally fishing out the radiant golden potion and passing it to him. Miles took it, studying the newly revealed description, his jaw ckening the more he read.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    "Holy shit," Miles murmured. He peered up at me after a moment. "You''ve been keeping this under wraps, right? No way you haven''t."


    "Yeah."


    "This is big enough that I''m gonna need specifics. Who knows, exactly?" He pushed, more insistent.


    "Me and Kinsley. A few researchers on her science team, wellpensated to be discreet."


    "Not good enough. Anyone in the dome with a functioning head on their shoulders would be frothing rabid to get their hands on this. Assume there''s already a leak." Miles left the cigar in his mouth, puffing idly as he held the potion up to the light and rotated it. "Hell, if this were up for grabs I''d do a lot to lock it down, just for the insurance policy." He paused, peered at me. "You''re clever enough to put together that you either need to bury this so deep that no one could possibly find it, or it needs to be used. Immediately. Too great a risk otherwise."


    "Rationally, yes."


    He held the potion out to me, wiggling it by the top. "Yet here it is. Why?"


    When I spoke, it was difficult. Painful. "Iris almost died during the attack. The big fucker, the one that kept hounding us down, targeted her before I even realized anything was happening."


    "That much I''m familiar with. We''ve been looking into it from our side, but it''s a slow process. A lot of potential degenerates in the mix," Miles nodded along.


    "There was this moment---she was on the yground, just, being a kid again for the first time in forever, and I saw the shadow, and there was just... nothing I could do. No surfaces that I could bang on that she''d feel the vibration from, no way to catch her attention and sign a warning. Nothing."


    "It was that close?"


    "A hair''s width. Ever since, all I can think of is how if she could hear, I could have warned her so much earlier. It feels horrible to think along those lines, but I can''t help it. The obvious answer is to give her the potion and be done with it. But..."


    "You''re worried about the message," Miles filled in. "That by ''fixing'' the problem, you''d basically be confirming what she''s always believed to be true."


    "Exactly."


    There was a rash of sirens below, a line of police cars and firetrucks traveling down the long city road that led to the interstate. We both watched them shrink into the distance and Miles pulled up his UI, skimming through his messages. He squinted. "Looks like my surprisingly rxing evening ising to an abrupt end."


    "Necromancer?"


    "I wish." Miles said, stubbing out his cigar and cing it on the ashtray. "Lots of people cracking because of the countdown. There''s some pyro freak in the center regions, losing his shit, taking the bounty as a challenge."


    "Need a hand?"


    "Nah. Even if you were clear headed, me and the reformed DPD can handle one moron with a godplex. Small potatoes. Probably won''t even wake Sara up for it. She''s handled thest few." He stood and stretched, scowling at something in the contents of the message before he stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at me. "As far as Iris goes? I wish I could tell you the right call, but I can''t. No one can. All the history''s on your end, and inevitably, I''d be speaking from ignorance. But I''ll leave you with a question."


    "Shoot."


    "Are you the same person you were, when all this shit started?"


    "No."


    "Be precise."


    I thought about it. "Because the world was changing, and I chose to change with it. Mentality first, system abilities and augmentationster. Anything that could give me an advantage."


    "Body and mind, right?"


    "Yeah."


    "Why even do that in the first ce? There was nothing wrong with you, before. As much as you might believe otherwise, you were a rtively normal kid, forced to grow up in less-than-ideal circumstances. Why were you so hellbent using the system to fix yourself?"


    "It had nothing to do with fixing anything," I argued, annoyed by his wording. "It had everything to do with power and potential. I''d be stupid to just ignore an avenue of advancement, knowing that other people can and will. Refusing it outright out of paranoia or principle would have put me at a profound disadvantage---ah."


    Miles nodded slowly, letting the meaning sink in. "It''s one thing to make the best of a difficult situation. It''s another entirely to continue to do so and ignore an obvious solution because there''s something about it you find distasteful." He studied the concrete, scuffing at something with his dress shoe. "That''s the thing about kids. Try too hard to inste them from everything that could hurt them, they''ll act out and sneak around. Try too little, and the result is the same. But even if you strike the perfect bnce, you can''t shelter them forever. From the world or their choices. A day wille when they bite off more than they can chew, talk to the wrong person, or hell, just happen to be in the right ce at the wrong time. And when that dayes, you have to hope---and pray to god, or Ah, or the devil, whoever the hell you pray to---that you''ve done everything possible to prepare them for it. And if you haven''t?"


    For just a moment, the confident easy-going demeanor disappeared along with any trace of a smile. "Well, you get to live with that."


    Seconds passed, whatever was left unsaid thick enough that I could almost feel it. I almost asked before Miles'' mask slid back into ce. "Uh. Anyway, whatever you do with that thing? Do it soon. And for chrissakes, kid, don''t keep it on you. You''re a heist waiting to happen."


    "Got it." I waved goodbye as he left in a hurry, descending footsteps echoing down the stairway.


    I knew what I wanted to do. My conversation with Miles had only reinforced it. The only variable that remained was whether Sae would see it that way.

 Chapter 288

    Chapter 288


    I returned to my suite, surprised to find it nearly as dark as it was before the party. As my eyes adjusted, I spotted Nick''s silhouette, barefoot, shirtless, and passed out on the far end of the long couch with a pillow over his face, nked on either side by two of the dogs¡ªwho notably, were ignoring their ridiculously extravagant domiciles in favor of smothering Nick.


    Warm light from the end tablemp illuminated Sae''s face. Not the face I''d grown ustomed to seeing, but her old one, finally free of the alterations that gued her. It sort of shook me, seeing her like that. She''d kept most of her original features, save a few cosmetic tweaks for vanity.


    "Damn," I said aloud. Initial snafu aside, Charlotte did great work.


    Sae put a finger to her lips, her movement and expression serene. I looked down and saw Iris, bundled up in a nket, eyes tightly shut as she dozed, head on Sae''sp.


    I heel-toe walked to the couch so the vibrations of my footfalls wouldn¡¯t be disruptive, and sat down carefully, trying not to jostle them. "What, I leave for ten minutes and the party dies?"


    "Try two hours, helpline," Sae pointed to the digital clock on the stove that read 3:01.


    It''d been longer than I thought. I winced. As much as I''d not been in the mood forpany, some part of me regretted abandoning my guests. "Anyone still here?"


    "That idiot," Sae pointed to Nick. "Kinsley passed out in one of the dog beds. But Julien and Charlotte called someone to take them home, Tara too."


    "How were they, when they left?" I asked.Sae made a dismissive gesture. "The hobbit made sure everyone knew you were ''dealing with a matter of great importance,'' and they genuinely seemed like they had a great time. Just got tired is all. Was gonna see myself out too¡ªnot really thest person at the party kind of girl¡ªthen the other hobbit fell asleep on me."


    "I can take her."


    "She''s fine for now," Sae ran her fingers through Iris''s curls, "Way I see it I owe her a lot. The mirror doesn''t lie. I looked scary as hell and she never even hesitated. Just epted me and did whatever she could to help."


    "That''s Iris."


    Iris moaned, grimacing as she clung to the nket. It was a small, distressed sound, and Sae gently shook her shoulder until she roused from REM sleep, settling back down into quiet snores.


    "Always have this many nightmares?" Sae asked.


    I shook my head. "That¡¯s new. Ever since the attack."


    "Bastards," Sae''s tranquil expression soured. "I get that the strike team is temporarily retired, but..."


    "You''ll have the info as soon as I do," I assured her.


    "And we''ll go in hard?"


    "Like always." I paused, wanting toment more on her appearance but not sure how to do so politely. "Are you... happy with the end result?"


    "Still in shock, but over the moon, really," Sae shook her head in wonder. "I''de to terms with it. The way I looked. On some level I''d even started appreciating the benefits. Like sure, I''m a freakish monster, but I''m armored as hell with built-in defenses to match." She held a dark chitinous hand up, extending the ws on her fingertips before retracting them again. "Never been so deep in the denial sauce to actually see it as an improvement, but it''s saved my life more than once. The one thing I just couldn''t take without getting nauseous¡ªthe face¡ªis gone. As long as Charlotte''s around, anyway."


    "For the record, I never thought you looked like a freakish monster."


    "Yeah, yeah," Sae gave me a yful shove.


    "There''s something I need to talk to you about. Something we probably should have talked about earlier, but there just wasn''t time."


    "Kind of scary, but go ahead."


    I breathed in deeply and began. It helped that this was mostly familiar ground. I''d already told Sae about Hastur''s pitch, along with the at-the-time-unidentified potion and promise of an eventual second. Now it was just a matter of filling in the nks. Throughout the retelling, Sae was uncharacteristically silent, absorbing the information stoically. It was only near the end that she finally interrupted, revealing a growing annoyance. "Helpline, can we skip to the part where you exin how this is all a bad thing? Getting tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop."


    Whatever reaction I''d expected, that wasn''t it. I blinked. "That... is the bad part. I only have one, and Hastur''s stringing me along for the second."


    "Okay..." Sae stared at me with growing disgust. "Please tell me this isn''t you struggling with whether to give the first one to your sister or take it yourself."


    "No¡ª"


    "Because no one deserves it more than her," Sae growled, surprisingly heated. "Putting aside the fact that she''s your sister and this would significantly improve her chances of survival right before an event that will absolutely put her in jeopardy if it happens, she''s not like us."


    "Just wait¡ªwhat''s that supposed to mean?" I asked, getting a bit irritated at how dismissive thestment sounded.


    "Try looking around?" Sae said, equally annoyed. "I have a lot of respect for you, Matt, but at least a part of the reason we work so well together is because we''re the same. We''re both great at breaking things, picking people apart, being as brutal as necessary to get the job done. If thest month has proven anything, it''s that."


    "Not everything was a bloodbath," I hissed and leaned back on the couch, white leather creaking beneath me. "We showed mercy when we could."


    "Yeah, I''m sure Buzzcut and the rest of targets you whisked away to ''interrogate further'' are all living happily on the farm upstate," Sae rolled her eyes.


    <em>Not exactly.</em>


    She continued without waiting for a response. "It doesn''t make any difference to me. As far as I''m concerned, every member of the order who wasn''t Shanghai''d into the court is scum fully deserving of whatever bad shites their way. But there lies my point." She jostled Iris gently, stirring her from another nightmare, waiting for a few seconds until she snored again. "Your sister''s a builder, in a time people actually trying to rebuild shit to make life better and not as some method of raking in selve are hard toe by. Just look at the hospital. We need people like her. And we need them to survive whatever''sing."


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Yeah... she is," I agreed, suddenly at a loss for words. Hearing not one, but several of the arguments I''d intended to makee out of Sae''s mouth because of the misunderstanding.


    "So you agree."


    I snorted. "If I say another goddamn word without clearing this up, you''re going to actually hate me."


    "Clearing what up?"


    "Read the description again, Sae." This time I handed her the potion. She seemed as irritated with the obliqueness as always, but as she scanned it again, the sense of irritation faded.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    "Oh," Sae said.


    "Yeah."


    "You... were never considering using it," Sae groaned.


    "Not for a minute."


    Then her brow furrowed, and she looked up at me in shock. "Wait¡ªwas this some dark psych setup to get me to argue against myself?"


    "Jesus. Not even a little. It caught mepletely off-guard, and someone decided toy into me before I could correct the assumption. You already said a lot of the things I was nning to point out. The only reason I was being circumspect at all was to present all the information and let you decide." I eyed the potion, feeling some degree of relief now that it was literally out of my hands. "As much as it might seem otherwise, I don''t actually know how you''re doing. You mask too well, and tempting as it is to pry, I generally resist temptation."


    "Generally?" Sae raised an eyebrow.


    "Generally," I reiterated. "But how you''re handling things? How bearable or unbearable each day is? There''s only one person who can really know that."


    Her mouth pressed tightly together. "What happened in the tunnel wasn''t your fault. My dumbass ran away into the worst possible ce. I panicked. Big whoop, shit happens. The only reason I''m even here is because you came back for me and fished me out of the dark. You''ve already helped plenty. So why do you keep trying to make it your problem?"


    I thought back to the early days, from the first meeting at the Turkish coffee ce onwards. Casting spells around Nick''s backyard, strategizing against monsters, discussing system abilities and possible synergies. It felt like decades ago, even though in reality, it was less than six months.


    "Just feel really bad for breaking your nose."


    Carefully, so as not to wake my sister, Sae cocked her arm and slugged me hard enough to leave a bruise. I stifled augh. "Ow."


    "Real answers only."


    "Dunno, it¡¯s¡­ hard to exin." I breathed out, feeling more tapped out and exhausted with every exhale. The events of the day and the substances of the evening were catching up to me. "For a cop, my dad was prettyid-back aboutying down thew with us. Not really the authoritarian type. With one exception."


    "Wear a condom?" Sae guessed.


    "Campfire rules," I corrected. "Leave it better than how you found it." Despite myself, Iughed. "Real stickler for it too. Ellison would bitch about how we always ended up cleaning up other people''s trash¡ªother campers who hadn''t followed the code¡ªand my dad would say, ''remind me what the definition of better is, son?'' And Ellison would just grumble and go back to filling his bag. Anyway, it stuck with me. Even after he was gone and we didn''t really have time to go camping anymore."


    "Don''t tell me you were one of those weirdos walking around a park with a bag and an extension grabber."


    "Nah. It wasn''tpulsive or anything. Just every once in a while, if I was somewhere scenic¡ª"


    "¡ªlike a park," Sae wiggled an eyebrow.


    ¡°Like a park,¡± I sighed, ¡°And there was litter or something that wasn''tpletely out of my way, I''d pick it up and toss it. I''ve never really thought of people that way. When I met you all, though, I got the same feeling. As a group you had this bond, this feeling of closeness and camaraderie that was just foreign to me. Freaked me out a little. Both because it was foreign, and I didn''t want to somehow mess it up.¡±


    ¡°Please.¡±


    ¡°Like you said, I break things. And there was so much potential. I was still up my own ass aboutpartmentalizing, doing it all on my own, so the n was always to leave, eventually. Help Nick clean up the trouble he was in and move on to whatever was next.¡±


    "Campfire rules," Sae said.


    "Exactly," I said, reaching down to tuck a stray tuft of hair behind my sister''s ear. "But things didn''t go as nned. On multiple levels. Maybe it''s not possible anymore, but I guess, in some ways I''m still stuck there, trying to make sure everyonends okay before my luck runs out and someone punches my ticket. Or I end up crossing lines that can''t be uncrossed, and you need to walk away."


    Sae raised her fist, and I tensed, waiting for the hit. Instead, she bumped it against my shoulder, gently. "For the record, asshole? If you died? My life would be considerably worse. So if you''re stupid enough to go get yourself killed, take that into the afterlife."


    "Ah, existential emotional ckmail, the rarest variation."


    "Could have just skipped all that and said ''because we''re friends.'' Hell''s the matter with you?" The words were all bark and no bite, and after a moment, Saeid her head on my shoulder. "Maybe you somehow missed this, or need to be reminded, so let me make it clear. You''ve gone to bat for me more than any friend ever has. I¡¯ve seen you do some really, really dark shit, and I¡¯m still here. We''re ride or die, Helpline. Nothing''s gonna make me walk away." She cracked an eye and looked up at me. "And of course we give your sister the potion, headass. Even if you had both right now, I''m not sure I''d take mine."


    "Why?"


    "Because we''re days away from a potential apocalyptic throw-down, and I don''t want to go into that wobbling around, trying to getfortable in my own much-more-cozy but much-less-resilient skin."


    That... was pretty well reasoned, now that I thought about it. More to the point, something she''d briefly touched on gave me an idea. "Do you want to?"


    "Wobble around?"


    "Give my sister the potion."


    The eye cracked again. "For real?"


    I shrugged. "In a way, you kind of already are. Don''t see any reason it can''t be literal. If you''ve got somewhere to be in the morning, we can wake her up now. Pretty sure she''ll understand."


    "Morning''s good. Close to morning as we manage, anyway," Sae readjusted, gettingfortable. "Tinnitus is a bitch. Put some music on?"


    "Sure," I picked up the remote. "Only have what was already in the CD yer."


    "What''s a CD?"


    "Ignoring that. Your options are oldies, older oldies, and the secret third option."


    "If you say oldies again, I''ll punch you."


    "So one note," I rolled my eyes.


    "Just like your music collection. Pick whatever, I don''t care."


    The guitar intro to California Dreamin¡¯ began to trickle from the speakers and I set the remote down. As much as it was clearly tonic, this was more physical contact than I was used to. Yet it wasn''t all bad. Somehow it feltfortable, warm, being surrounded by people I cared about, apanied by a feeling I couldn''t quite recognize. The TV idle screen read five-neen, thest vestiges of consciousness unspooling before I realized what it was.


    Peace. Soplete and all-epassing that <strong></strong> voice was little more than a distant echo in my mind.


    <em>What happened thest time you felt safe?</em>

 Chapter 289

    Chapter 289


    A whirring grind stirred me to consciousness, bright over-saturated light blinding me and rendering my greater surroundings indecipherable. Composite stic scratched paint as the electric outlet''s facete dropped from where it was previously mounted, screwing loose and nestling somewhere deep in the plush carpet.


    "Who''s still doing construction?" A small voice moaned from beneath a pile of nkets in the nearby bed.


    "Uh." That was as far as I got before realizing that the answer was probably me. There was a drill in my hand, and below the bedside end table was another dismantled outlet,ponents arranged next to it as if someone had nned to put it back together only to get distracted halfway through. "Don''t worry about it."


    "Is this what a hangover feels like?" Kinsley asked, her small muffled voice ragged and ufortable.


    "Probably."


    "People sign up for this?" She croaked.


    "I think it''s the before part that they''re after."


    "I don''t even remember the before part!"


    "You didn''t miss much. I''ll close the curtains, just try to sleep it off.""Kay." There was a grunt as Kinsley rolled over and wedged herself further into the covers, breath regting then bing a quiet snore.


    On some level, I had to agree. Beyond the cooking oil mishap I''d barely drank, and between the pounding in my head and the warped fishbowl visual perspective, the punishment didn''t feel at all proportional to the crime.


    Something ttered in the kitchen, unsettling me more than it should have. For better and worse¡ªmainly worse¡ªI remembered the previous night''s proceedings with stark rity, all the way through to crashing out on the couch. Objectively, I knew there were other people here. Kinsley of course, and Nick and Sae were probably still around. But knowing did nothing for the thick knot of anxiety lodged in my chest.


    Just gonna confirm.


    I pushed the cracked door open with my foot, and the intense ambient light magnified, washing everything out.


    "Heads up, here hees again." I made out Sae''s silhouette, still lounging on the couch we''d fallen asleep on. Further back, there was a tter as a blurry outline of Nick dropped what he was doing, picked up a metallic object and pointed it at me.


    "No toaster," Nick said, jabbing the¡ªspat, maybe¡ªtowards me. From thebined gesture and tone I got that it was a warning, but the meaning was almost impossible to parse. Behind him, my toaster was an unfocused blob of silver on the counter.


    "Okay... didn''t have any ns for it, but sure. And are you seriously wearing an apron?" I asked.


    He was. A pinkcy apron that read Kiss the Chef in red print across the front, embroidered with a heart. Thankfully fully clothed beneath. Besides Charlotte, who kept putting the brownies away like they were nothing all night, Nick had partaken the most, and was seemingly affected so little by the aftermath that he''d gotten up before everyone else and started cooking breakfast.


    "''Doesn''t have any ns, he says,''" Nick stabbed the spat at me. "Like he hasn''t been stalking it like bizarro Bob the Builder."


    "Matt, you with us? Like, actually lucid?" Sae observed, slouched low on the couch where the backing shielded her from thete morning light.


    "Guess I was sleepwalking?" I asked, still trying to catch up.


    They both nodded, and Nick went back to his cooking, hovering over it.


    "Mumbled for us to fuck off when we tried to get your attention. Look around," Sae said.


    Once more, I tried to wipe the sleep from my eyes. It worked better this time, and though my perspective was still warped, I could make out far more detail. Every electrical outlet had suffered the same fate as the ones in the guest room. From the TV stand to the bookshelves, everything with a door ortch had been opened, interior contents either removed or rearranged in a hurry. Three metal vent covers had been hastily stacked on the coffee table, beside five smoke detectors that were gutted, stripped down to their internal circuitry, nine-volt batteries arranged next to them.


    "The hell?" I asked no one in particr.


    "There''s a couple working theories," Nick announced, skillet sizzling as he chased what smelled like eggs around with the spat. "Either your subconscious and impaired mind went into loot goblin mode, and started taking this ce apart the same way we handle a dungeon if we''re being thorough¨C"


    "¨COr you were looking for bugs," Sae provided dryly.


    Thetter made far more sense, given the feeling I''d had from the moment I''d woken, and the areas I''d apparently focused on. On some level, I understood. Because as I''d been reying it in my mind, it was obvious that I had fucked up. From the unfortunate surprise to the invitation from Miles I''d mostly just been ying the cards that were dealt. But epting that invitation and subsequently leaving Julien and Charlotte unattended, created a blind spot that was entirely through human error.


    Should have asked them to leave earlier, idiot.


    <strong></strong> voice sounded even more edgy than usual, as if somehow sentient and unhappy with its earlier suppression. I wondered, grumpily, if this was the result of some sort of interaction between the party favors, my title, and <strong></strong>. There were aspects of that theory that didn''t track, of course. But it was at least a partial exnation for thepse in time, which was better than none.


    "Obviously, we were all kind of sted, but did¨C"


    Sae interrupted impatiently. "Either Nick or I had eyes on the court people most of the evening. Almost the whole time. Charlotte took a couple breaks from working on me to use the bathroom, but not often. The toilet flushed both times, hands were damp when she came back."


    "Jules was just vibing all night," Nick agreed, portioning the scrambled eggs and bacon onto tes and serving up coffee. "Followed me around after you ditched us for the ndestine rendezvous. Kept that up until they called it."


    "I asked this earlier," I realized.


    "In a dryer, more zombie-ish fashion, yeah. Side note, what did Miles want?" Sae asked, peering over the nket. "Anything we need to worry about?"


    "Other than asking perfunctory permission to marry my mother? Nothing, really. I think we''re clear." There was an internal prodding from <strong></strong>, almost passive-aggressively drawing attention to the fact that I was missing something without spelling out what it was. It took a full second to put my finger on it. "What about Tara?"


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Sae scoffed and pulled the nket overhead, emerging momentster when Nick brought over the food.


    "You mean your girlfriend who did nothing but help things go smoothly and talk you up all night? Your fake girlfriend? That one?" Nick scowled at me, clearly annoyed, shoving a te at me before he settled down and began to eat.


    "What crawled up his ass?" I asked Sae.


    "Halfway through the night he decided the chemistry between you both was too real to be fake. Went full degenerate shipper until I crushed his head-cannon and he''s been low-key tilted ever since," Saeined, forking the first bite of fluffy yellow into her mouth, wincing preemptively. She nced over at Nick. "What is this?"


    "Ehhgs?" Nick answered, mouthpletely full.


    "Yeah but it isn''t terrible," Sae said, staring down at the te in disbelief. "It''s actually kind of good."


    I took a few experimental bites. Between the salt, pepper, and something I couldn''t quite put my finger on, it was perfectly seasoned. "Sae''s not wrong. Since when did you learn to cook anything that wasn''t a ckened husk?"


    "Not gonna misdirect me, toaster assassin. Been dodging your shambling ass all morning, waiting for confirmation. Is the fake girlfriend actually fake, or is there a little somethin'' somethin'' happening there?" Nick made a vague, circr motion with his fork and stared at me with a determination thatmunicated he had no intention of letting this go.


    "It''s weird," I admitted, annoyed with how Nick seemed to hang off every word.


    "Uhuh," Nick said, leaning forward.


    "First of all, she''s an employee. It wouldn''t be appropriate."


    "Totally right," Sae nodded along sarcastically. "No one in the history of humanity has ever crossed the ethical lines of dating their boss."


    "Technically, Kinsley''s her boss. And whose side are you on?" I red at her.


    "Mine. Obviously."


    I thought about it. There was a lot I couldn''t say. Partially because they were details my sober mind didn''t care to share, partially because some of my observations were too personal and subsequently cruel to give voice to. Because all three of us had known someone who smiled the same way Tara did. Someone who was kind, clever, and had an eye for detail. Someone who could walk into a room and capture the hearts of everyone in it effortlessly, just by being who she was.


    Someone who was gone.


    "But..." Nick prompted, steepling his fingers.


    "I''ve never seriously entertained the idea of, you know, sharing my life with someone. Part of that is an issue of domain. Istion is how I recharge, recoup. If I don''t get that time, little things that should be minor irritations be bigger problems, and after there are too many problems I end upshing out. So the idea of someone constantly being there, sharing that space, has never appealed to me."


    "And yet..." Nick raised his eyebrows.


    "Tara doesn''t... bother me. Like at all. There''s definitely friction. We''re too different for there not to be... but somehow it''s not tiresome the same way it is with other people. So far, our points of conflict are productive. Beyond that, she''s scary smart, somehow genuinely seems to like me despite my quirks, and is one of the most proactive people I''ve ever met."


    "Which has all lead to the realization that..." If Nick leaned forward any further, he was going to fall off the couch.


    "In some alternate universe where we actually have a chance to retire and step away from all this? I guess I could see myself settling down with someone like her as a partner."


    Nick leapt to his feet, contents of his still-held te shifting erratically as he cocked his free-arm, ready to pump it.


    "Hold up. That''s an intentionally broad term, dumbass," Sae raised her voice, interjecting just shy of a full-blown preemptive celebration from Nick. She gave me a withering look. "For fuck''s sake, stop edging him before he makes a mess."


    "A partner purely in the non-romantic, tackling life together, sense," I admitted, suppressing augh as Nick copsed back onto the couch, crumpled and defeated.


    "But she''s so hot, bro," Nick protested hoarsely.


    "Such is life," I shrugged. Maybe now we could finally stop talking about it.


    "No one''s stopping you from dating Tara," Sae observed, growing cranky from Nick''s antics.


    Nick twisted in his seat to face Sae, actively horrified. "Never. I''d never date my friend''s fake girlfriend. Even if she was his ex. Fake ex. Whatever."


    "Because you''re fucking Matt?"


    "What? Weird segue, and no. Because friends don''t do that to friends."


    "So," Sae nodded along, tapping her lower lip with a finger. "You''re saying it''s possible to have a meaningful rtionship and genuine connection with a person you have no intention of banging?"


    Nick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ease up, Socrates. Just seems like a waste is all."


    "To you, maybe. But just because you''re wired to need both doesn''t mean everyone else does. Let him be who he is."


    "You right. Just want my boy to be happy."


    "Same," Sae squinted at me. "However itnds¡ªeven if it''s messy, don''t write the concept off. Every failed rtionship helps rify what you''re looking for in the future."


    "Thanks," I said, realizing after a moment that I truly meant it. It was an odd topic, trivial in the greater scope of everything happening around us, but the eptance felt gratifying, somehow. "But we should probably refocus on surviving the next few weeks. Other than Iris, what do we have on the docket today?"


    "Tower''s out," Nick shook his head. "Started blowing up both Aaron and Tyler''s messages first thing this morning and got a firm negative. Aaron''s game, but Tyler thinks people are still too shaken by what happened yesterday and more likely to make mistakes. Pushed but he wouldn''t budge."


    "Probably the right call. But at the rate we''re going, I''m not sure we''ll make it," I muttered.


    "Yeah. nning to go in swinging as soon as we have the go ahead but, might need to consult with Hastur, start talking about n b." Nick''s brow furrowed. "What''s, uh, happening with Iris today?"


    The pillow Sae chucked at me like a throwing axe sailed harmlessly by my head. "Seriously?"


    "Felt wrong to tell him until I talked to your grumpy ass. Really gonna give me shit for that?" I asked defensively, catching the second pillow thrown in response and tossing it back. It caught the air unnaturally, swooping up at thest second and clipping her chin.


    "Bitch! I just got this face," Sae snapped back, real fear shing for a second before she covered it. "Who brings User powers to a pillow fight?"


    I hadn''t, had I? Subconsciously, I nced down at the bound ring on my finger. <strong></strong> significantly reduced both the stamina costs and spin-up time of my ordinator abilities, at the cost of giving me a permanent mental hair-trigger. There''d only been one slip up since I''d equipped it early on, and ever since it had more or less worked wlessly. But...


    "Guys, hello?" Nick looked between us nkly, still waiting for an answer.


    Sae groaned in annoyance, then started to convey what the potion did and our ns for it. She''d only made it about halfway through before Nick suddenly bolted upright, his eyes wide. He hustled towards the door, stripping the apron off, tossing it aside, and pulling on his shoes. He addressed us both over his shoulder almost as an afterthought. "Text where you''re going and don''t start without me!"


    "Nick. The first thing this little girl hears cannot be your guitar store rendition of Smoke on the Water. Nick!" Sae sat up straighter and barked after him, the nket covering herp sliding off and unsettling my sister, who blinked awake and immediately began wiping sleep out of her eyes. But Nick was already gone, the vibration of heavy footsteps growing more distant as he jogged down the hallway.


    "Mightpromise with Stairway to Heaven, if ites to that," I offered, more than a little amused with how protective Sae had grown of my sister. Nick being this enthusiastic was a given, considering how long they''d known each other. He''d watched her endure a lot of the hardships. But this was new for Sae.


    "That''s not better," Sae argued.


    "It''s a little better."


    "What''s wrong? Why are people yelling?" Iris signed, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Though still tired and beleaguered, she somehow seemed less troubled than before. I chose to take it as a positive sign. Maybe something good hade out of the party after all.


    "Everything''s fine," I spoke aloud as I signed, mainly for Sae''s benefit. "There''s breakfast, and after you grab a bite, we''re going on a little field trip."


    "To where?" Iris asked.


    "You''ll see."

 Chapter 290

    Chapter 290


    While technically the same park Iris and I visited during the necromancer attack, the winding cement path circled arge enough area that both the hospital and tainted yground were entirely out of sight. In truth, I wasn''t sure how else to do this. There were no books to reference, no studies or data to consult, forcing me to make do with forethought andmon sense.


    The car slowed to a halt, not-Prius''s tires perfectly aligned with the fading white lines of one of the south parking lot''s countless open spaces, and Sae immediately hopped out, fishing a still groggy Kinsley out of the trunk in a flurry of bickering and excitement. In the back seat, Iris didn''t move, eyes glued to the window.


    I undid my belt and twisted in the driver''s seat, tapping gently on her shoulder to get my sister''s attention. She started, wide-eyed, panic hidden as quickly as it appeared. But Iris''s curls always bounced with the slightest motion, and she couldn''t quite hide the shaking.


    "Talk to me," I prompted.


    "Haven''t... been outside in a while."


    "And?"


    "It scares me. In a way it always did, but it''s different now."


    I waited, giving myself a moment to parse. Iris hatedining almost as much as she disliked keeping other people waiting, to the point it drove her crazy every time Ellison went on one of his stonewalling crusades. For her to be doing both? My sister wasn''t just afraid. She was terrified.


    "Well, I had a reason for taking us out here, but if it''s too much, we can go home.""But everyone''s already here," Iris protested, scowling at the suggestion.


    I snorted. "Like I care? I''ll go out there right now, tell them I''m too hungover and that we need to save this for another day."


    "Then they''ll be mad at you," Iris shook her head. But her seatbelt was still locked firmly in ce.


    "They won''t. Even if they were, your wellbeing is more important. What do I always say?"


    "''If I want to take care of other people, I have to take care of myself first,''" Iris''s gesture was so practiced it was almost dance-like, with a trace of mockery.


    "That applies to mental health as much as it does anything else. Maybe more. If you''re truly ufortable with something¡ªand I''m talking about the visceral sort of difort where pushing through feels like breaching a physical barrier¡ªyou owe it to yourself to stop, evaluate how you''re feeling and why, and if necessary, walk away. No matter who''s present or what promises you''ve made." The sentiment felt hypocritical even as I signed it. Because as much as I believed it to be true, I rarely upheld it myself. It hadn''t always been that way. For most of my teenage years, you could have put me in the hall of fame of removing myself from a bad situation before it went radioactive. At some point over thest few months, I''d lost that. These days, I was more likely to run into a burning building than get clear of the smoke. In some ways, it was an improvement. In general, you tended to make a much bettersting impression on people when you stuck with them through the hard shit, and realistically, before, I was probably too quick to drop everything.


    That didn''t change the fact that eventually, I was going to get burned.


    "No. I''m going," Iris unbuckled her seatbelt and murmured aloud. "Just wish my stupid brain wasn''t so afraid."


    I tapped my fingers on the dull gray pleather of the steering wheel before raising them to sign. "And if I told you we¡ªme and Sae¡ªwere about to give you a new tool that would help you better manage that fear?"


    "Like, a User Ability?" Iris signed curiously, her seatbelt still winding back into the sidewall.


    "Something like that."


    In retrospect, it was better to not blindside her with this. Not in front of other people. There''d be more pressure once we were out of the car, a greater onus to just do what the crowd expected and less focus on what she actually wanted. I opened my inventory and scrolled to the potion, then sent her the description, observing her reaction in the rear-view.


    Her small face cycled through several emotions in quick session. Puzzlement, at therge block of dense system text. Excitement for the benefits it could offer her ss. Then a slow, dawning realization as she put the pieces together. Silent tears welled up, spilling down her cheeks, and she made a noise that was half-cry, halfugh. I awkwardly crawled over the console and into the backseat to put my arm around her, surprised as she pushed her face into my chest fiercely.


    "Happy tears?" I asked, wanting to be sure.


    Iris nodded frantically.


    "And you know it''s just because we want you to be safe, not for any other reason?"


    My sister nodded again, then stopped, using what seemed like a monumental effort to temper her overflowing excitement. "It seems... really powerful. The sort of thing that could help out a lot of people. People who probably need it more than me." Her hands wavered, trembling towards the end.


    "It''s not that simple," I said, and when she looked to me, not understanding, I continued. "In truth, if it were up to me, it''d go to you no matter what, even if you were still just a civilian. Right or wrong, that''s my bias. It''s true that countless people were severely injured or maimed during thest transposition, sustaining the sort of harm that healers can''t fix. And even ignoring the unfortunate, there''s plenty of powerful Users on our side that could use the benefits to push the bnce of power further in our favor. If there were hundreds, I imagine there''d be a lot more discussion about who to distribute them to. But there''s not hundreds." I shrugged, switching tact. "Do you know what people call you?"


    "The overbearing deaf girl?" Iris tried, a fragment of genuine insecurity behind the half-joke.


    "Maybe a few felt that way when you first started and the construction crews still had a stick up their ass, but when they started seeing the results, those people got quiet real fast. They call you the architect. But they talk about you like you''re a traveling genie, roaming around granting wishes." I gave her a pointed look. "And it''s not just people in our region who feel that way, is it?"


    Iris squirmed in her seat, the picture of guilt. "Professor Gideon says I''m at the stage of development where I should take on as much practical, hands-on-work as I can, even if it''s not lucrative. There''s only so much to do around here, and..."


    "People get your contact info through word-of-mouth and reach out for help, and you don''t like turning them down." I finished knowingly. Beyond being Iris''s employer, Kinsley and Iris were close friends, a rarity for them both. Given that, Kinsley rarely breached trust and reported what Iris confided in her, notable exception being any time Iris left the region with an armed escort. There''d been more than a dozen such trips in thest few weeks, covering everything from a fixing a busted sewage line to recreating the framework, foundation, and blueprints for several hospitals identical to the one in our regions. I''d nearly stopped her the first time, and monitored from a distance every time she was in a region we didn''t have an established rtionship with in case the request was bait for something more malevolent, but in reality, that''d been mostly unnecessary.


    Because Iris didn''t charge for her work. She''d graciously ept gifts, and asionally payment if the region was wealthy and Kinsley negotiated for her, but for the most part, she provided her services free of charge, taking the experience as payment. As much as I wanted to disapprove, it was a mix of altruism and practicality that made sense. In a way it was almost safer, as along with the goodwill, there was no reason to abduct and force someone to do something they were already willing to do for free.


    "I know it''s stupid," Iris mumbled aloud.


    "There was a time in our lives I might have agreed." I nodded, frowning. "If you reach mastery levels and never start charging for your hard work, or take on projects that potentially give other regions a tactical advantage over us, I reserve the right to give you shit for it. I probably will. But... our circumstances have changed. Monsters and system-bullshit aside, we''re not living hand-to-mouth anymore. We started the most lucrative guild in the city, have the added security of the adventurer''s guild at our beck-and-call. As bad as things might seem from time to time, we''re in a better ce now than we ever were. Our basic needs are met. Which means you have more freedom to be who you want to be, rather than who you have to be."


    "You don''t disapprove?" Iris blinked.


    "Don''t get me wrong, it''s probably smart to back-burner any new requests for the moment until we get a better idea of who attacked us, just for your own safety. But after that..." I ran a hand through my hair. "Do you like helping people?"


    Iris hesitated, then nodded agreement. "I don''t want to sound ungrateful. You took really good care of us. Sometimes, when things were bad, I tried to imagine how much worse it would be if it was just me, and mom, and Ellison, and that helped. But there were so many problems, and even though you always found a way for us to scrape by, it wore you down. Ellison too. So many times, I wished¡ªprayed¡ªsomeone amazing would just swoop in and take care of the big things so we¡¯d finally have a break, but that never happened. Because for us, that person didn''t exist. For the longest time that made me angry. At some point after I got my powers, I realized that in some small, specific way, I could be that person. For people who need it just as badly as we did." She finished, looking equal-parts embarrassed and ashamed. "And I like that."


    I exhaled a long breath. "On some level, I''ll never fully understand your perspective. I''ve been mired in cost-benefit-analysis for so long it''s practically grafted to my DNA. Part of who I am. Thing is, though, my understanding doesn''t matter, and more importantly, you don''t have to be like me. It''s better that you''re not. That outlook is the exact reason you should take the potion. There are selfish reasons, sure, but in the long run, over the course of years, you''ll do a lot more good than some power-leveled User."


    Iris nodded, absorbing that thoughtfully. "So it''s not just a gift, it''s a responsibility."


    "If thinking of it that way makes it easier to ept, sure."


    There was a squeal of tires as Nick peeled into the parking lot, hopping out the driver''s side of his aunt''s truck in a hurry, hefting a duffel bag over his shoulder and lugging a guitar case towards where Kinsley and Sae had already sat a nket down on a soft-looking section of grass at the crest of a hill. He hollered something inaudible, jogging over to them in a half-sprint.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Why''s he in such a hurry?" Iris asked, peering after Nick.


    "Because he''s a well-meaning dork, and he doesn''t want to miss the fun part." I rested a hand on the door-handle. "Are you ready?"


    /////


    It''s funny, how unfounded fears can be. Caution, being slow to trust, and a small helping of paranoia can serve you well. But unproductive fear can summon imaginary mountains that feel unsurmountable, whether the source of that fear is irrationality, hate, or deceptively simple circumstances blown out of proportion. From the car, to the small sanctum of the pic nket, to the second my sister drank the potion, I kept waiting for her to make the same connections as me, and see it as a betrayal. Iris never did. She was all nerves, sure, trouble staying still and shaking just as badly as she had been in the car. But the moment of damnation where the excitement died and she drew into herself never came. If anything, from the way Iris chugged the potion until she almost choked, pausing only when repeatedly reminded to slow down, she was even more excited than she''d let on.


    Kinsley leaned over the bizarre, out-of-ce stick in herp and wordlessly handed Iris a canteen of water, nodding encouragement as she took it, guzzling some down between ragged breaths. "Did it taste as bad as it smelled?"


    There was a long pause as Iris reluctantly lowered the Canteen, looping the strap around her wrist so she could sign. "No, it was... just kind of overpowering. Weirdly sweet?"


    "Like Candy?"


    "Maple syrup. But, like, maple syrup that''d been left on the shelf for too long."


    "Ew," Kinsley wrinkled her nose. "I''ve got snacks if you need something to wash it down."


    Next to me, Nick¡ªstill in the overlong process of tuning his hybrid acoustic-electric¡ªleaned over and whispered to Sae. "What''s happening? What''s she saying?"


    Sae leaned away from him. "Well, as I''m not a merchant with a highly convenient universal trantion feat, what I do know I''ve learned the hard way. None of it seems to be ''hello, goodbye, I love you, a spelled out name, or get fucked,'' so it''s out of my vocabry."


    Nick blinked. "Haven''t learned much."


    Sae made the ng sign for get fucked vehemently. "Memorizing the alphabet is like the first section of the massive ASL book they let me borrow, and you''re supposed to internalize that first. That shit takes time."


    "Fair enough."


    "It hasn''t kicked in yet," I summarized, still watching Iris carefully. She was swaying a bit, favoring one side. It could have been nothing. A leg muscle that fell asleep while she was sitting cross-legged earlier. But on the off-chance it wasn''t, and something went terribly wrong, I''d coordinated with Dr. Ansari, calling in a favor to ensure she was waiting with her equipment in a parking lot nearby.


    For perhaps the fifth time, I checked my messages to make sure she hadn''t been pulled away. It wasn''t that I doubted the potion. If anything, I was confident that this one, at least, would work, given the safe assumption that Hastur wanted me on the line for the second.


    Just like every other time, there was no further message from the doctor beyond her typically brief, "I''ve arrived."


    What was new was the message from Julian. Which I might have overlooked, if the first word in the message preview wasn''t "Tracker."


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Unexpectedly, I realized I was smiling.


    <strong></strong>


    Julien sent back a fist pump emoji. Which was odd, because as far as I knew, it was the absolute first image I''d seen in system chat. And beyond a prompt that allowed the manifestation of an on-screen keyboard for those who preferred to physically type their messages¡ªclunky at best¡ªthe rest of the text screen was pretty bare.


    "Pressure," Iris said. Loudly. I snapped to attention, swiping my messages away so my vision was clear. My sister''s hands were over her ears, her eyes wide as she swayed on her feet.


    "Is that supposed to happen?" Sae coiled, her casual lounge immediately abandoned as she shifted to get her feet beneath her, ready to spring into action. "She looks like she''s in a lot of..."


    Pain. I finished mentally, crouching in front of Iris as Kinsley helped her sit down, waving in front of her eyes and holding up ten fingers once she focused on my hand.


    "Seven," Iris whispered, eyes focusing and unfocusing on my fingers.


    "Where?" I mouthed clearly.


    She cringed. "Everywhere."


    Fuck, not good. My sister''s bad habit of overlooking her own suffering included self-evaluation. So, realistically, a seven out of ten on the pain scale was closer to a nine. It wasn''t necessarily indicative of a serious problem, as most system-rted transformations including summoning or level ups hurt like a bitch, but that wasn''t something I was willing to bet on.


    "Fucking Hastur. We need to get her to the doctor, now," Sae hissed, fists clenching and unclenching.


    "Better not to move her until we understand what''s happening," Nick dropped the guitar and stood. Like a switch had been flicked, his easygoing expression disappeared into the calm visage of a leader. "Matt, consensus?"


    "Calling now," I said aloud, even as I pulled up Ansari''s contact. "Keep herfortable, don''t let her stand because her bnce is probably fucked, and whatever you do, don''t panic and stress her out more."


    Sae propped Iris up and Kinsley held her hand as Nick sprinted towards the parking lot, returning with the entire removable back seat of his truck and cing it down. Iris settled down on the bench, emitting a small whimper that yed me to my core.


    "Breathe," I made the corresponding sign, speaking it aloud simultaneously.


    There was an audible pop, and Iris suddenly stilled, slumping on the truck bench, her expression nk. It spoke to the severity of the experience that she seemed to have forgotten we were there, stirring after a moment and signing. "It stopped."


    "You sure?"


    "There''s so much text," Iris squinted, scanning the imperceptible scrawl. Suddenly she froze, standing shakily to her feet even as Kinsley supported her arm, trembling growing more severe even as her head whipped around, her eyes frantic. "What is that?"


    I looked around, heart-dropping as I spotted a familiar person in gray-sweats milling beneath the shade of a tree around ten yards out, partially obscured, doing a near-perfect job of appearing like he wasn''t watching us. It wasn''t a threat, but he wasn''t supposed to be here. Or anywhere near me, really. I reached out to Talia, directing her to drive him off.


    But on second look, Iris didn''t seem to be staring at the man at all. She was still looking around wildly, reacting every time the summer breeze¡ª


    A surge of emotion tore through me, nearly spilling over before I forced it down. "That''s the wind, kiddo."


    /////


    The result was an overwhelming sess, though there were aspects of it that were mixed. Iris seemed to mostly understand spoken speech, though I suspected that had more to do with her talent for lip-reading than trueprehension. Speaking aloud was harder, as processing the sound of her own voice seemed to trip her up more than when it was entirely absent.


    Though conversing was a bit stop and start, the experience Iris seemed to get the most kick out of was the sound of our voices. Kinsley was sassier than she''d expected, while Sae was more alto than the soprano she''d conceptualized. I, apparently,cked much of the intensity she''d assumed, and was far more aloof. Only Nick sounded exactly as Iris had imagined, something he took as a point of pride.


    "Wonder what mom''s voice sounds like," Iris signed, hesitantly.


    I sighed. "Well, you''ll have to wait for her to stop crying. That''s why she''s not here, figured it would be less overwhelming without her losing it." I paused, remembering our tense discussion on the night of my birthday. "Might be better to leave this little gathering out, so she doesn''t feel excluded."


    Iris gave me a thumbs up, immediately getting it. "I''ll just tell her you gave me the potion and had to go do Matt things."


    Kinsley snorted, "She''ll definitely believe it."


    "Hey," I protested.


    "Almost got all of that, but what was the thing you did with your nose just now?"


    "What thing?" Kinsley asked, confused.


    "This?" Sae said, cocking her head back, and snorting in a near perfect imitation of a pig.


    Kinsley nched. "That''s not what I sound like."


    "It''s kind of simr," Iris signed, nodding to Sae in appreciation.


    "No fighting," I gave them both a weary look, before signing for Iris. "Kinsley snorted. A snort is like a fractionalugh. Something you do when something is either a little funny, or an outrightugh would be rude. It''s not entirely dissimr from the sound a pig makes, which is the connection Sae is making, and the reason Kinsley looks mildly horrified."


    ¡°Oh. I mean I know what it is, I''ve just never heard it before. You don''t sound like a pig,¡± Iris immediately encouraged Kinsley, who only scowled at Sae more intensely.


    "It''s just gonna take time to gather the mental context," I added btedly, leaving it at that.


    She looked up at me, daunted. "There''s gonna be a lot of things like that, isn''t there?"


    "Remember, if you ever get overwhelmed and it starts to be too much, you have those," I pointed to the earmuffs around her neck.


    "I will," Iris agreed easily, twiddling her fingers in idle hope. "But I''d really like to hear another song. Can you ask Nick if he''d be willing to y another?"


    Damned as I was, I tranted the message for Nick, who seemed to melt at the request.


    "Absolutely," Nick smiled widely and hefted the guitar, strap around his neck loosening as he strummed the strings, fiddling with the tuning for what felt like the millionth time. He spoke quietly, low enough that only I could hear, pointedly not looking behind him. "You already clock that guy behind us?"


    "Yeah," I answered, angling my head so Iris couldn''t read my response.


    "Didn''t want to look too long, but something about him is familiar."


    "It''s nothing. Talia''s dealing with it."


    "Yet he hasn''t moved," Nick murmured. "And she can be a scary bitch when she wants to. Sure there''s not a problem?"


    I risked a nce to confirm that Nick was right. He was, though I could make out a patch of bright fur through the bushes that covered them both. The man''s bodynguage hadn''t changed, he still lookedpletely rxed, but Nick was correct that he''d been rooted to that exact spot for far too long. After a moment, he even gave an awkward wave.


    "Talia? There a reason he''s still here?"


    Her mental responsegged, taking a bit longer than it should have. "There''s aplication. It''s contained. This is an important moment for your kin, your focus should remain on her."


    "Gonna step out for a second," I announced, checking in with Iris. "That alright?"


    "S¡¯okay," Iris confirmed, still overtaken by the possibility of another song.


    Nick suddenly spoke up, over-serious. "Thest few have been light fun, but I want to sing you the song of my people."


    "Nick, please, please, please, no Nickelback," Sae groaned.


    Instead of responding, Nick plucked out the first few notes of Free Bird, and as soon as I was certain Iris was transfixed on the performance, I slipped away, taking the long way around and slipping on the allfather''s mask so she lost track of me. I tamped down on my growing annoyance, reminding myself to be as kind and level-headed as possible.


    When I circled around the brush, the truth of Talia''splication became clear. Talia and the man in the gray-sweats were conversing in low-pitched voices. But the real kicker was the third party¡ªa man in sses, a button up, and a tie,id supine, the sweat suit''s foot pressing down on his neck. The blood and bruises were all fresh enough that the altercation likely happened here. He''d been stripped of his wallet and other items in his pockets, a scan card that listed his name and identified him as one of Kinsley''s researchers lined up beside them on the ground.


    "Don''te any closer," Buzzcut said, watching me carefully. "Identify yourself."


    I took the mask off, and Buzzcut smiled widely, suspicion draining away. "Thought so. Getting better at picking you out when you''re wearing it, but it''s still hard to tell sometimes."


    "You organized his things."


    "Not exactly," Buzzcut protested. "Just,id them out in an orderly manner. Only once. Still making progress."


    "Good," I stared down at the unconscious researcher. "What the hell happened here, initiate?"

 Chapter 291

    Chapter 291


    I watched, positioning myself to block the subdued man from view of the busy street not far away, warring with internal impatience as Buzzcut very intentionally used the breathing technique I''d taught him. Three short breaths in, one long breath out. As he rxed, he lifted his foot pressing down on the researcher''s neck ever so slightly, suddenly more cognizant of the pressure he applied. "Well, I was out, picking up groceries. Small goods merchant acquaintance was in the area, and since we''re not supposed to use the online vendor unless it''s an emergency, figured it was a good opportunity to stock back up before things go apeshit."


    Somehow I resisted the urge to tell him to get to the foot on neck part. "Good so far, go on."


    "Did my business, yed it safe, and was in the middle of checking for tails before heading back when I uh..." He smiled apologetically. "Felt the pull. Realized you were nearby. And I know you''ve told the others, uh, that it''s alright if they check up on you so long as they aren''t seen and keep their distance¡ªgenerally I''m better than that, not some needy child like some of the twits¡ª"


    "What have we said about judgment?" I asked him, keeping my tone soft and tranquil.


    Displeasure reared its head for just a moment as Buzzcut grimaced, rubbing the back of his head. "To show kindness and understanding to my brothers and sisters, bearing in mind many of theme from more difficult circumstances than I do. It''s a hard one for me, boss. But I''m uh... working on it."


    "Thank you for acknowledging your shoring so frankly. Self-awareness is a necessary step to enlightenment. Continue."


    "Sure, sure." He nodded emphatically, happy to move on. "Anyway, I felt the pull. Figured you were busy and didn''t need me poking my nose in, but it was on my way, and I thought, ''what the hell, might as well swing by, make sure everything''s on the up and up.''" He pressed down on the researcher''s neck with his heel for emphasis, scowling. "Which was when I saw this dipstick skulking around like baby''s first army ranger. Literally hiding in the bushes with a pair of binocrs."


    "And you intervened," I finished, curbing a torrent of frustration.


    "No sir. If looking was all he was doing, he never would have made my acquaintance. Got enough of a read on him to confirm he wasn''t much of a threat, woulda just messaged you if you were on your own. But he started creeping up, real slow like, so I followed. And once I got close enough to make out the little one, bumped his threat level." Buzzcut scowled, lifting his foot to give the researcher a kick, pulling the blow at thest second. He reced his heel on the man''s back, suddenly anxious. "Did I overreach?"For a moment, the earnestness of the question caught me off-guard. Buzzcut was more advanced than the others, and almost never directly asked for validation, to the point I sometimes forgot he needed it just as badly as they did.


    The Nursery started innocently enough. In theory, it was part shelter, part rehabilitation. An imperfect solution to a growing problem. The day of my first foray into the tower, I had to handle someone. A mother with a troubled history. Someone who, in a perfect world, I would have spared. But, being a mage, her high intelligence build made her almost impossible to manipte, narrowing my options to one.


    I don''t regret it, really. To this day, I still think it was the right call. It was the underlying implications that drove the sliver deep. Realistically, she wouldn''t be thest person I wanted to leave alone and couldn''t, simply because their continued existence could create future problems. And once you start killing people not because of what they''ve done, but because of what they might do? The slope was slippery enough that I needed something else.


    It came to me in pieces.


    The first piece was, surprisingly, Keith, another mage from The Order. Unlike the first, he hadn''t done anything wrong, didn''t pose a threat beyond the organization he hailed from. I''d subjugated him in a desperate attempt to keep Nick from doing something he''d regret, and once the crisis was averted, I figured that would be the end of it. Subjugation wasn''t supposed tost long, and I''d... encouraged Keith to forget the interaction before it expired. As far as I could tell, he was more or less blissfully unaware that anything had even happened. Yet, he lingered. Always seemed to be nearby whenever I was at the Order''s HQ, like a shadow I couldn''t shake. Eventually, out of sheer annoyance more than anything else, I confronted him.


    His exnation was as simple as it was vexing. "Just wanna be avable if you need anything."


    At first, I wrote it off as some odd attachment issue. Keith was a second child to absent parents and a more charismatic¡ªI.E. Shitheel¡ªbrother. The inferiorityplex was practically baked in, as was the subsequent tendency totch onto practically anyone who treated him as more than an eyesore. As exnations went, it fit, and for a while, I almost believed it.


    Until I caught him shadowing me maskless in my own damn region.


    Once confronted, the answer was the same: "Just wanna be avable if you need anything."


    This time, obviously, I didn''t write it off. We took a long drive with an uncertain ending, while I grilled him on what his intentions were, Azure riding shotgun in the passenger seat of his mind. From what my summon could tell, his answers, while perplexing, were entirely forthright. Keith admitted, in a mix of embarrassment and excitement, that he''de away from his experience in the tower more fulfilled than he''d ever been in his life. That it felt as if he''d been given a difficult task and instead of shrinking away or being paralyzed by inaction, he''d aplished it perfectly. That was the reason he kept trailing me, hoping for another task, wanting to experience that feeling of aplishment again.


    When pressed on how he''d found me, after a ridiculous amount of apologizing, the mage imed there was something almost analogous to a beacon in his head. It wasn''t always on, but when it was, it was directional, and after he was close enough, it felt almost like a tangible pull.


    It wasn''t until I asked him if I had to worry about the possibility he might reveal my identity to others that his cheerful, forthright demeanor vanished. "I''d never do that. Never in my life. Not for any reason, even if whoever was asking was hurting me. I''d never do that to you." He repeated it over and over, regardless of how I phrased the question.


    And after, Azure confirmed what I''d already begun to wonder. It was almost identical to a geas effect. The only fragment of truepulsion that remained after his primary directive had long since faded.


    The second piece came in the form of testing. Because Keith''s ount, while jaw-dropping in scope if it turned out to be a fraction of what it hinted at, needed to be confirmed. Most of my days were filled with the mind-numbing process of climbing the tower with Nick, and my nights were spent testing extensively. And the results were curious.


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    First thing I learned was that the sort of maism Keith exhibited varied greatly. If I told someone to do something as insignificant and universally advisable as looking both ways before they crossed the street, they would do as instructed without protest, seem briefly pleased with themselves, and forget me immediately. But if the task given was more difficult while still falling within the lines of something they would do, or rather, something they would do if they were an idealized, better version of themselves? They''d follow me around like an imprinted duckling, simr to Keith.


    It took some tinkering to find a solution to the multiplying shadows. Initially, I tried asking the imprinted subjects to avoid me, which proved problematic. Not because they didn''t listen¡ªthey did, a little too well, and the average person is neither as sly or subtle as they believe themselves to be. But giving them the assignment of carrying out their business as usual worked like a dream. It both fulfilled their expectations for another task, and had no definable endpoint, meaning they''d carry the "task" of living their usual lives out in perpetuity.


    The next discovery was that the maism effect could be reversed. This took far more prep-work to test, because of the ethical issues of giving some poor schmuck the worst night of his life in the name of research. I needed a deserving subject. And a deserving subject I found. Ex-con, triple homicide, got off on a technicality because the cops got too eager. Mustache that deserved a cell of its own. No noteworthy connections.


    I let myself into Chomo-stache''s apartment and, after a brief interrogation and subjugation, directed him to prepare and eat grape leaves¡ªthe food he found so revolting even the smell made him gag¡ªuntil his stomach ached.


    Had a mission with Sae and the strike team that night, so I only stayed long enough to confirm he''d carried out the order and left, intending to follow up the next day.


    It took three to find him again. When I finally did, another interrogation with Azure confirmed my suspicions. Like Keith, Chomo-stache also had a beacon in his head. Only when he''d sensed me drawing closer, hispulsion was to clear out and get as far away as possible. He didn''t seem to understand what happened, even seemed tough at himself a little for overreacting. The only concrete conclusion he seemed to draw from it was, in his own words, "Ain''t your fault. But if you get too close, get the feeling I might end up doing something unpleasant again." Approaching him without the mask triggered the same result, though he couldn''t understand why or connect me to Myrddin.


    All of this was troubling. Using <strong></strong> before knowing any of it already felt questionable, and the idea of using it after felt far worse, brushing against something borderline mephistophelian. It was one thing to steal someone''s agency in a crisis to ensure a better oue, another entirely to do it knowing it had the potential to permanently alter their perspective and adhere them to me.


    If nothing else happened, it might have ended as a cautionary experiment, the result underlining the importance of keeping the Ordinator power in my back pocket until absolutely necessary.


    Enter Buzzcut.


    In the long interim between Cameron''s imprisonment and our first meeting, he''d apparently listened to the edited version of the recording I left of Aaron greenlighting his death, reyed it countless times, growing increasingly despondent. Surprising, because for someone who acted like such a hardass, the betrayal cut him deeply. He wouldn''t tell me, or couldn''t, because of the geas, but I gathered enough context to fill in the nks. Aaron had a certain way of engaging you on an individual level. He was so obviously brilliant and confident that when he carved out time for you specifically, or sought your opinion, it made you feel special. Important.


    Making it all the more jarring when Aaron suddenly threw you away.


    I probably don''t need to spell out why I wanted to help Cameron. Commonalities in our history aside, his OCD grew worse, aggravated by his imprisonment, and his already dwindling supply of meds didn''t seem to be doing a damn thing. I sat with him, talked, brought plenty of books and DVDs for the ancient portable yer in his cell. Despite anything I tried, including calling in a favor from Hastur to remove Cameron''s geas, he kept asking me to kill him.


    Taking me right back to that shitty day in the tower.


    The pieces came together, then. A potential long-term solution for all the problems I couldn''t bring myself to solve permanently. I''d spent enough time with Azure riding along that I knew almost everything about Cameron. His past, history, traumas, motivations and desires and the psychology underpinning it all. It would take time and effort, but between Azure, my ordinator abilities, and the unexpected side effects of <strong></strong> I could, in theory, fix him. Erode his traumas, suppress distressing memories, deaden impulses that made his everyday life difficult. Impart a renewed sense of fulfillment and purpose.


    So just like I had with Talia, and Audrey before her, I gave Buzzcut a choice. He could take the easy way out if he wanted. Or he could roll the dice with me and potentially have the chance to stick it to Aaron.


    It took a while to decide, but eventually, he chose thetter.


    "Not at all," I smiled, addressing the question of whether he''d overstepped and pped him on the back. "You evaluated the situation, escted only when you had to, and kept my sister safe. Well done." I leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "If anything, you''re ready for graduation."


    Buzzcut''s eyebrows shot up, mouth forming a slight frown. "I get the whole point of the ce is to move on eventually. Hard to gather information and act on orders if we don''t. But what if I screw up, or backslide and end up losing all the progress I''ve made?"


    I gripped his shoulders gently, fighting a wave of nausea that struggled to surface as I realized I''d done something simr with my siblings, countless times. "You were the first, Cameron. The others all look up to you and respect your judgment. They''re eager to see the example you set, watching for footsteps to follow. I''m taking a risk here, yes, but I wouldn''t take it if I didn''t have the utmost confidence in what you''ve achieved so far."


    "You really think I''m ready?" He rubbed the gray sleeve of his sweatshirt across misty eyes.


    <em>Hard to say. Kind of in uncharted waters here. I''d prefer a few more months to make sure there are no wrinkles, but we''re out of time.</em>


    "Of course you are." I encouraged him, shoving my hands into the pocket of my hoodie awkwardly as he reined himself in. "I''m heading to headquarters today. If you''re good to go, I''ll take you with me. But if you need more time to settle your affairs..."


    "No." Cameron sniffed, stretching his arms out with a few idle swings and centering himself. "Ready to get back in the game. Just gonna go back and say my goodbyes."


    "The nursery''s your home. Your family. You know you can alwayse back, right?"


    "Yeah..." He shook his head, ncing up seriously. "But if I''m gonna do this right, probably best to keep my distance for a while." With a heavy sigh, he stared down at the researcher. "So, we instancing this guy?"


    I gave the unconscious researcher a long, displeased look, then crouched down to check his pulse again. Still steady. "Pretty sure I know who he works for, and why he''s here. His vocation is pretty rare, and he shouldn''t be a problem once he finds out what he''s looking for is gone. Guessing he''ll be out for another hour, at least. I''ll call some mercs to pick him up."


    "Once I do the rounds at the nursery I''ll stay put, just shoot a line when you''re headed to HQ." Cameron removed his boot from the researcher''s back, wiping it on the ground as I walked away.


    Grass crunched beneath my feet and I waved behind me as I walked away, smile sliding into an expression that was far more troubled. There was a part of me that still wanted to believe that what I was doing was ultimately good. That it was better to be alive¡ªalbeit deeply influenced¡ªthan dead. But if it was me in the cell, and someone made me choose between keeping my own agency or being enthralled by someone else?


    There''s no question what my answer would be.

 Chapter 292

    Chapter 292


    Kinsley was biblically pissed about the researcher. To the point we ended up calling it early, after a few minutes of listening to her scream behind a copse of trees at some poor sap over a voice call. Judging from the ear-muffs mped tightly over Iris''s head and her bleary expression, my sister was verging on overstimted anyway. She stuck it out for a long time, and it helped that I''d chosen a rtively quiet area, but the sounds of the city were still deafening to the unustomed.


    After dropping Iris off at the apartments and making sure she was okay, I finally allowed myself to look at the timer. <strong></strong>


    It wasn''t terrible. Eleven days and change left plenty of room to maneuver. But, as Nick had observed, the problem was theck of momentum. Hastur wasn''t keen on specifics, meaning we had no idea which floor housed the real Excalibur. We also had no clear insight on the process of stopping the transposition, only that the sword and "Prophecy" were key factors in stopping it. The first joint foray into the tower had been a halting, rming affair that hadn''t aplished much beyond clearing a single floor, and now the leader of the Adventurer''s Guild was dragging his feet.


    If I had to guess, Tyler was already getting second thoughts about the arrangement after the timer started. The alignment of the Order, Adventurer''s and Merchant''s guild already ced us in a powerful position for theing storm. Tower expeditions took focused effort and consumed resources, and if we faced significantly more resistance, or got entrenched with a difficult floor that incurred a high casualty count, I could see him battening down the hatches and dying further attempts until after the second event had passed.


    <em>More than anything, the timing is questionable. All the floors cleared without issue before the alliance, yet somehow the first one wee together for with more firepower than ever, ends up containing an existential threat? It''s almost as if¡ª</em>


    The sound of a horn red through my musing, startling my foot off the brake pedal as traffic bristled behind me, cars edging up, waiting for me to move. I elerated from the standstill, leaving the green light andplex, cog-riddled workings of the region behind, taking a shoulder road to a highway I''d driven countless times before, feeling a growing degree of disquiet as the gritty scenery grew more familiar.


    Things in region 2, my old home, had improved significantly, since I''d left after filling the receptacle. Even from the elevated view on the overpass, I could see countless streets¡ªonce cracked and riddled with potholes¡ªnow perfectly paved, the dark green of stubborn growth reced with verdant grass and trees, with an infrastructure facelift to match. It no longer resembled the post-modern slum I''d grown up in, and I felt a twinge of nostalgia. Region 3, alternatively, was a mess. No one in my circle of power had spoken to the leader of Region 3 since the first transposition. Their decisions during thest event, from hoarding lux after they''d already achieved the objective to hosting a group of paramilitaries harvesting User cores, hadn''t been conducive to poprity.


    But what really boggled my mind was how little it had changed. It started as a low-ie area with shitty infrastructure and high crime rates, and despite being among the first toplete their receptacle, hadn''t taken a step beyond that. The only new additions here were cheap, neon signs advertising various system and crafting rted businesses. Several newly minted bars that appeared cobbled together with scrap wood and repurposed windows red thumping music, and on the streets, people staggered between them, substance abuse and homelessness on full disy.


    Whatever the leader of Region 3 had selected as their reward, it certainly wasn''t anything that improved the region itself.I pulled up in the dpidated parking lot of a small, shoebox of a building. The fading red and white sign read: "Butcher." And in smaller print, "Kosher meat avable on request." I stepped out of the car and inventoried it quickly, falling into old habits. I learned a long time ago that when you find yourself in a potentially dangerous ce, it''s best to blend. Keep an eye on your surroundings, but not too emphatically. Move like you have somewhere important to be.


    There was still too much I didn''t know about Julien. But the one thing I was confident of was that there was an astronomically low chance he''d try to lead me into an ambush. It just didn''t make sense with our history. That wasn''t to say I trusted him, exactly. It was impossible to truly trust anyone without extensive understanding of their motives and underlying history.


    I tugged open the dirt-encrusted handle of the back door, gagging for a moment as the scent of iron and viscera washed over me, frigid air rushing out as I passed through.


    There was a thunk as a cleaver came down, wet squelch echoing off the white walls. Blood trickled down from the headless corpse of a hulking furred creature suspended from the ceiling by chains, wound draining directly into a bucket below. A smaller version of something I''d encountered only once in person, but between the muscture and stocky frame, it was unmistakable.


    "A lot of demand for troll meat in these parts?" I asked.


    "Hardly," A stocky dark-haired man with thick eyebrows in a blood spattered apron scoffed as he answered, his voice a deep vic ent. "There are far better options for sustenance. Razor rabbit, low gnolls, even skull-backed turtles if prepared and stewed correctly. Troll is too..." He half-flexed. "...to be edible. No respectable establishment would sell. Their pelts though?" The man thumped a stack of furs on the nearby table proudly. "Make a fine cloak. Naturally magic resistant, and hardy. The tanners and tailors can''t get enough."


    "I see." I nodded along nomittally, even as my stomach roiled at the thought of taking a page out of Audrey''s book. Judging from the sheer variety of creatures, skins, and mounted skulls, as well as countless bs of hanging meat of various exotic shades that appeared entirely alien, business was bustling.


    The man''s considerable eyebrows furrowed together as he looked me over. "The stink of death follows you, even in ce such as this. It will taint the meat. State business, or gawk elsewhere."


    <em>What the hell?</em>


    "I was supposed to meet someone¡ª" I started, before a familiar face ducked through the stic ps in the back, carrying an open-topped metal container in front of him. The dark bags under Julien''s eyes were the only giveaway to the previous night''s activities. Otherwise, he looked bright and chipper, staring over the sloshing contents of the tin thoughtfully, sporting a simrly messy apron.


    "All the good bits are brining, Yakov. And more of the offal than usual, and yes, I double-checked. Should I toss it?" Julien asked, looking to the older man for instruction, only noticing me after he''d already spoken. He grinned, about to speak before the butcher cut him off.


    "Leave it," The man said, never taking his eyes from me. "Good opportunity to try making hot dog. Show this tourist the door."


    Julien cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. "No, uh, Uncle, this is the friend and potential client I mentioned. The one looking for his brother."


    <em>Uncle? They look nothing alike.</em>


    "We cannot help him." Yakov wiped his hands on his apron, still subtly standing his ground until Julien took him aside, and a series of furious whispers were exchanged, in a mix of Polish and English. While most of it was obscured, I got the general gist that Yakov was displeased with Julien bringing "Trouble" into his shop, and Julien arguing that he hadn''t. Finally, Yakov turned back to me with a displeased expression. "Name?"


    "Matt."


    "That real name?"


    My blood went cold. "Yes."


    He studied me for a long moment, then broke eye-contact. "Too busy to drop everything for new client. If interested in services, sit and wait."


    I nced around the butcher''s shop, noting the utterck of seating in the otherwise dingy environment, and offered a thin smile. "Not a problem."


    With a huff that expressed he would have probably been happier if it had been a problem, Yakov pulled the string at the back of his apron and strode back through the ps Julien had entered from, sparing a few suspicious nces before he was gone.


    "Sorry." Julien grimaced, looking back towards the ps. "It''s nothing personal, promise. Yakov has trouble trusting outsiders. He was already paranoid and a little superstitious even before the dome. Nothing crazy, just, kinda old school. If he gets a bad vibe for whatever reason, he ms up."


    "And I gave him a bad vibe." I finished, feeling uncertain whether it was wiser to stay or make a quick exit.


    Julien rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Both you and the olddy who came in earlier asking for a bulk discount on gizzards. Proper viins."


    "Honing my evil n as we speak." I stated dryly, "Kinda left out the part where the tracker was family."


    "Does that make a difference?"


    "It could." Not knowing what kind of shit Ellison had gotten himself into was a problem. It could be as simple as crossing paths with the wrong group, overestimating his abilities and incurring a serious injury. Or he could be mired in something moreplicated, something a tracker might have a great deal of questions about. Questions he might let slip to his nephew. "I have no idea what Ellison might be jammed up in, and my brother has a history of questionable decision making. Thest thing I want is to put you and yours in danger."


    <em>More importantly, they have a dearth of shared attributes. Different speech patterns, andplete societal disparity. Hard to imagine they''re actually rted.</em>


    "Yakov''s an experienced professional. He handles more than his share of clients with... difficult issues... and alwayses away unscathed. Part of that is the way he works¡ªin terms of search and identify, exclusively. He won''t retrieve people or objects, he''ll just tell you where they are and let you do the rest." Julien stripped off rubber gloves and shuffled to the basin, pumping ample soap into his hands and scrubbing them thoroughly. He looked back at me and grinned. "You''re dying to ask how we''re rted, huh?"


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    I shrugged, hoping he''d tell me anyway.


    "It''s a long story. Or short, depending on how I tell it. Heard of those, uh, sites you can send a sample to that give a breakdown of genealogy, as well as your percentage rtion to others who share a portion of your DNA?"


    <em>Enough to know they provide governments with an excellent secondary database to subpoena, sure.</em>


    Aloud, I confirmed that I''d heard of them.


    "They''re not quite the fad they used to be, but I was a..." His eyes slid to the side. "...Member of a support group that wouldn''t shut up about them. Generally, I''m pretty self-reliant, kind of had to be, but I kept reading all these sess stories, and started wondering if I wasn''tpletely alone. Wasn''t looking for a family or anything. Nothing big. Just, like, maybe someone I could swing by and visit for the holidays. So I spit in a tube, mailed it, and to my absolute shock, the results came back with someone nearby. A few monthster I met Yakov, and the rest tells itself."


    It didn''t, really. I''d already pieced together that Julien''s childhood left much to be desired. Despite his odd demeanor and entricities, I knew a survivor when I saw one. But the picture that glossed over more details than it borated on, was still more indicative of a deep, metastasizing loneliness than anything else. The fact alone that he''d sought out the butcher over a DNA connection that had to be tenuous and several generations removed practically spelled it out.


    After a great deal of awkward small-talk that consisted of me, trying not to probe, and Julien, struggling not to over-share, Yakov mercifully returned. The removed apron revealed a well-worn, craggy Megadeth t-shirt depicting a white-winged skeleton. Again, he pointedly ignored me as he spoke to Julien. "We are out of storage."


    "There was room in the corner freezer." Julien leaned back, mouth quirking in confusion.


    "Not anymore."


    "Shit."


    "Demand not keeping up with supply?" I asked. It was tempting to leave the negotiations to the Order''s Prince, but I got the feeling he believed his uncle would help me out of the goodness of his heart, and Yakov seemed to have missed that memo. Meaning it was time to probe for a need.


    Yakov grimaced as I spoke, as if unpleasantly reminded that someone beyond him and his distant nephew was still present. "Apologies. Need to acquire new freezer. Perhaps, more than one. It will take time to source. Cannot take on more until the issue is resolved."


    Julien looked between us, wincing. "Uncle, there are quicker options. I know you''re not the biggest fan of the merchant''s guild¡ª"


    <em>Why?</em>


    "Not fond of brats who walk into business and tell how to run it, more like." Yakov sneered, reflexively disgusted."


    "From what you said, you kicked her out before she could exin herself." Julien sighed.


    "Did not need to hear more about selve could be making harvesting monsters for crafting and alchemy." Yakov snapped, "Little girl does not care for what I do here. Cares for nothing but money."


    "She might have if you gave her a chance." Julien nced towards me for help.


    They were clearly talking about Kinsley. Only it didn''t sound like her, at least not entirely. Kinsley was transactional, but she was more than capable of hearing someone out given the chance, especially if they have good intentions. But there''d been ample friction from other merchants since the beginning, fellow traders trying to strong-arm her and force extortionate prices. With the amount of temper between the two of them, it was easy to see how something might have been lost in trantion.


    "What exactly do you do here?" I asked, looking around. "Why is it so important?"


    A little blunt, maybe, but when there was anguage barrier, it was better to be direct.


    His cold blue eyes bore into me. "Community poor. Monster meat cheap. People here kill monster. Sell parts to me and others. I prepare it, and sell back for fraction of system food cost. Better money if I sell to little girl, but no food. More people starve."


    As good as things were now, you never forget how it feels to go hungry.


    "Give me a minute."


    I stepped out the door, shooting an immediate message to Kinsley.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong><strong><em>why</em></strong><strong> he told you to kick rocks?></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    Fifteen minutes after going into great detail over a voice call of how badly Kinsley had bungled this particr situation, she showed up in force, rolling dark with a half-dozen ck Hummers and a moving van. Judging from the shouting, Kinsley and Yakov weren''t hitting it off any better than they had the first time, but at least now, there was an understanding.


    "What aren''t you getting? The grinders and slicers are top of the line, probably better than anything we had before." Kinsley stated vehemently, on the verge of shouting.


    "These?" Yakov indicated his arms and hands. "Top of line. Better, period. Also cannot be stolen."


    Kinsley gave him a t look. "Come on. I''m not an idiot, there''s no way you don''t already have some kind of machine. If the point is feeding people in bulk, you know there''s a natural limit. I''m not trying to tell you how to run things¡ª"


    "¡ªOnly when mouth is open."


    The merchant girl''s eyebrows shot sky-high, and she took a good thirty seconds to center herself. When she spoke again, her voice was rxed, calm. "I am trying to help you achieve your goal."


    "Why?" Yakov challenged.


    "Because you''re doing important work here that helps people, and I didn''t get that before, and I''m sorry!" Kinsley exploded, fists clenched at her side.


    "Oh." Julien''s Uncle seemed taken aback by the admission. He looked down at her for a long moment, still guarded. "There is no longer problem with phoenix breast?"


    "No... not at all." Kinsley pinched the bridge of her nose, barely hanging on. "Of course, it''s a sapient animal, whose feathers have more potential medicinal and arcane uses than a fucking bezoar, so if there''s alternatives I''d really love to get my hands on it, but if that''s the line between civilians starving or having something to get them through the next day, go ahead, grill that fucker up."


    Yakov shook his head. "Butcher. Not cook."


    "Do you want the machines or not?" Kinsley extended her arm towards the open moving van, where several people I recognized from our region''s construction crew were waiting next to an industrial grinder propped up on a dolly.


    "Yes." Yakov said finally, still looking uncertain. "But theft is real threat. Thieves watch expensive thingse into store. Come backter, at night, to take them."


    "All members of the merchant''s guild get the benefit of assigned security." She held a hand up, quickly, warding off the inevitable rejection as Yakov''s demeanor grew dark. "I know, you''re not interested. But I can offer coverage on a trial basis."


    Yakov sneered. "This, I know. Protection rescinded when renegotiation fail. Then ruin."


    "I''m not the fucking Mafia, sir." Kinsley pressed a hand against her chest. "There''s an army of these guys. They''re strapped, disciplined, and they know their shit."


    "Not mafia." Yakov muttered.


    "My point is, it costs me nothing to have two of them swing by every night on rotation. Not gonna pull the rug out. Take as long as you need."


    Again, Yakov seemed off-put by the generosity. He looked away. "Maybe some parts¡ªinedible, though useful¡ªcould be sent back with these men end of day. Fair?"


    "That''s all I wanted in the first ce!"


    Julien and I looked on, mutely from a distance as the movers began to haul the old equipment out and rece it with the new. I was more or less happy with how things had yed out. Yakov was getting his freezer, and then some, which yed in my favor. Meanwhile, Kinsley, who''d been increasingly hard-edged as ofte, was learning the invaluable life lesson that not every problem could be solved with the diplomatic equivalent of a hammer. It wasn''t really her fault. People had been trying to take advantage of her from the start, and her abrasiveness¡ªsometimes cruelty¡ªwas a product of that environment. But after you attain a certain level of power and influence, the hammer bes less necessary. And by that point, it''s a lot harder to put it down.


    "I, uh, don''t really know what to say." Julien stared down at his shoes, fidgeting back and forth, the very picture of guilt.


    I snorted. "Please. There''s a reason you didn''t mention this shared history the other night. You knew this could happen. Practically orchestrated it. It''s probably why you offered to help find Ellison in the first ce. I''d be pissed if it wasn''t for such a good cause."


    "No, Matt, seriously." Julien shook his head. "I wanted to. Help, I mean. It only urred to meter you might glean what happened from context, maybe put in a good word for him once he pulled through. It wasn''t maniption. Just... hoping for a happy ident, I guess."


    Did I believe that?


    Almost. The most clever thing a gifted liar can do is learn to act like a bad one. Still, it felt authentic, and despite pulling off something that was almost objectively positive, Julien really did look guilty as sin. He wasn''t falling back on any repetitive tells that are generally bullshit, such as looking up and to the left, dodging eye-contact or keeping it too consistently. In short, he just looked like he felt bad for using me for my connections and resources. And after dealing with people like Aaron on a daily basis, something about that was refreshing.


    "Kind of sucks, having to say this, but I''m aware of my image." I leaned back on my heels, squinting in the downpour of sun. "Obviously I''m no altruist. More often than not, the opposite is true. When shit hits the fan, there''s a lot I''m willing to let burn for the sake of people I care about. If I can''t do shit about something, no point in nailing myself to a cross trying to make it happen anyway. The perfect is the enemy of the good. But if it''s something like this? Just, fucking tell me. Don''t waste time being coy or trying to draw attention to it slowly. Not promising I''ll always be able to contribute, especially if there''s a conflict of interest, but if people are suffering and there''s a simple way to help? That''s an easy call."


    Julien absorbed that, sides of his mouth quirking up in the ghost of a smile. "Gotta say, you''re kind of a good person."


    <em>And you''re a terrible judge of character.</em>


    But I let it pass, as beyond the usual prosaic of not correcting someone who thinks highly of you, Yakov was approaching us.


    "New freezer fit the bill?" I asked, stuffing my hands in my pockets.


    "Yes." The burled man checked behind him, watching dazed as Kinsley''s guys packed up, already through with the makeover and preparing to leave. "Eventful day."


    "So you''re going to help... right?" Julien said, smiling a little too pointedly to be subtle.


    "Okay." Yakov tentatively agreed. "Come back in few hours. Need... uhm. Objects. Belongings of person being found. Also, aspects of person. Blood best. After that, nails, or clump of hair."


    "That''s doable." I said, shifting my head from side to side. My brother wouldn''t be thrilled about it. There was little Ellison hated more than me, overstepping his privacy, but he''d been missing for nearly two days now, and wouldn''t¡ªor couldn''t¡ªrespond to messages. Not to mention I was pretty sure the stern warning he''d given about meddling in his affairs didn''t apply when he was in danger. "Not trying to rush, but how quickly will we see results?"


    "Here, easy." Julien''s uncle made a broad gesture, likely indicating the city atrge. Then he frowned. "Elsewhere, less so. Either way, should know more after."


    "Elsewhere as in a realm of uros?" I confirmed, musing the limitation quietly as therge man nodded. It wasn''t perfect. The realms were massive as they were varied, potential entry points in the city¡ªportals, dungeons, and trials¡ªjust as dynamic and numerous. If Ellison was lost in a realm somewhere, the likelihood I''d find him unassisted dropped to almost zero. In that case, if the tracker could give me even the briefest, blurriest snapshot of where my brother was, it would be invaluable.


    <em>Time to get some answers.</em>

 Chapter 293

    Chapter 293


    Ellison''s penthouse, perhaps unsurprisingly, was serial-killer clean. A brief rifle through his cupboards revealed rows of ssware and tes coated with ayer of dust, moving air discing enough of it that it swirled in thete afternoon light piercing through gaps in closed shades and drawn curtains.


    The only evidence that he''d even lived there at all was the way his bed was made, and the simple ck box left behind at the foot of it. On closer inspection, it wasn''t exactly ck¡ªjust the deepest, most somber navy. The box, so far as I could tell,cked any discernible way to open it. No keyhole, uneven surfaces, or sections that gave any flex. Not so much as a seam. I inventoried it and moved on, finding little beyond a growing sense of unease that was impossible to ce until I looked at the room as a whole, and realized what was bothering me.


    It was the asceticism. When I''d moved in, my ce had been pre-decorated. Either by the previous upant or the owner of the building. Nothing beyond the stock kitschy Eat-Pray-Love shit and pop-art still lifes. It wasn''t exactly to my preferences, but it was color and texture, and as I wasn''t exactly keen on taking a few days off to redecorate the ce, I''d decided it could stay as it was. The irony was amusing. And at the very least, it made me look like less of a psycho.


    Judging from the bundle of assorted art, hanging word-pieces, and a number of tertiary appliances I found in one of his closets, Ellison, by contrast, had stripped the walls and cked out the mirror in his bathroom with masking tape. Someone''s personal space says a lot about who they are, and as far as I could tell, either Ellison was making an intentional effort to say nothing, or he was doing worse mentally than I''d realized. My brother got like that, sometimes. When he was frustrated, particrly with his own failures, he''d strip away distractions, carving away at any variable that could even fractionally affect his focus, throwing away sentimental treasures or pawning pored over books close to his heart.


    It seemed over the many lifetimes he''d supposedly lived, he''d perfected that approach.


    I could have spent hours there, turning everything over, cutting open mattresses and removing floor lining, checking all his typical hiding ces. My brother was asionally sloppy and prone to oversight, but the room itself told me that wouldn''t be the case here. Generally, when he was making this much of an effort to be fastidious, the results were impable. So I moved on, hoping he''d been too busy to bother with the one ce I might find traces of the brother I had before.


    Our old ce. Much as I''de to hate the cramped walls and cracking foundation, it''d haunted my dreams as ofte. The brass knob turned easily in my hand, hinges emitting the tell-tale squeak that''d so often given away myings and goings.


    It felt strange, being back. Doubly so with the mask on. I slid it off, seal breaking as cool air rushed in, chilling my cheeks, a wave of nostalgia pouring in as the emotional suppression effect faded. Not entirely intending to, I stared down at it, feeling a familiar weight pressing down on my shoulders. Without the all-father''s interference, there was no question I''d be dead. Bing Myrddin had allowed me so much more flexibility and ck than I''d be afforded otherwise. Beyond that, the identity created a near-perfect outlet for the more vtile aspects of my personality. Myrddin could thrash and burn, escte as much as necessary without fear of reprisal, and stamp out potential threats before they gained momentum. It''d been a worthwhile undertaking, and with a few notable exceptions, I didn''t regret it.


    But for the first time since I donned the name, Myrddin''s future was murky. The purpose he''d served was more or lessplete. Matt had established rtionships and clear in-roads with both the Adventurer''s Guild and The Order of Parsae. Contrasted with Myrddin, who was held at cautious arm''s length by the first, and almost universally reviled by the second.After thest mission with the strike team, my alter-ego had effectively served his purpose. Now he upied the awkward space between hindrance and help, sliding more towards hindrance with every passing day. If he was truly another person, an ally, I''d start looking for ways to shelter myself from the half-life. Wouldn''t cut ties or burn bridges, exactly, but there was no doubt I''d start distancing, relying on others where I might have turned to Myrddin, instead.


    Of course, I didn''t have to worry about doing any of that. It wouldn''t be messy. I could just let it go. Retire the identity and be Matt again. It wouldn''t even be that big of a change. My umted power and Ordinator abilities would persist. I''d need to be more careful about how I used them, of course, but caution was nothing new.


    Once Vernon achieved a high enough level to uncover whaty at the top of the necromancer tree, and Jinny''s death was resolved, one way or another, there was a real possibility it was time to move on. Grow up. Stop giving myself carte nche to do whatever the hell I wanted, whenever the hell I wanted.


    Learn to put the hammer down again.


    For the moment, I retired the train of thought and carried on my search. As I''d hoped, Ellison''s room was mostly untouched. Clean, but not impable the same way the penthouse was. I gathered enough hair from the creases between the carpet and beneath his bed, filtering them into a stic bag until I had something that resembled a clump, and moved onto the second, more difficult piece of the puzzle.


    "Object of great importance," I murmured. Yakov''s description implied a degree of sentimentality, which was going to make this hard, as my brother tended to keep anything he truly cared about under wraps. There were a number of books that potentially qualified¡ªa fraying, goodwill acquired copy of <em>The Name of the Wind</em> that he''d reread so many times the spine was in tatters, along with several battered volumes of <em>The Stormlight Archives</em>. Problem was, Ellison''s tastes were mercurial. He''d alternate betweenuding an author''s praises to bashing them vehemently, expressing vitriol that bordered on loathing. After a moment, I inventoried both books, deciding to aim for quality rather than quantity.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    I did a double-take. Through the gap in the books, a miniaturized cartoon figure holding a book beneath its arm stared back. Its head was coiffed with long, flowing white hair, pointed ears extended out to either side, the points long enough that it had to be elven, or at least elf analogous. Red smudges marred a flowing white tunic fringed with gold, perhaps depicting wounds. Tentatively, I picked it up, inspecting it in greater detail. The faintest scent of iron gave it away before my mind even made the connections, and the slow, growing sense of rm I''d felt since his disappearance elerated exponentially.


    The figurine''s wounds weren''t wounds at all.


    /////


    "His blood?" Yakov confirmed, inspecting the figurine in the overhead light of the butcher shop.


    Wordlessly, I nodded, still reeling from the revtion and fighting a sensation of growing nausea. At some point in thest few days, after our window ofmunication had closed, Ellison hade home. I''d found more traces of blood in his bed and beneath a flipped over couch cushion. The cache of cleaning supplies beneath the sink had been unsettled, meaning he wasn''t injured so badly he couldn''t afford to cover his tracks, but most of the gauze and bandaging materials in the first-aid kit above the fridge were gone. "Will this be enough?"


    The older man ced the figurine on the counter, looking it over. "Blood best source. Will work. Statue, important?" His expression was dubious.


    To be honest, I still wasn''t certain. Ellison had never mentioned the figurine, but that didn''t mean much. What stuck out was that in spite of whatever dire straits he was in, he''d sought it out and clutched it, not unlike the way a person might hold a precious memento or rosary forfort. "Pretty sure."


    "Okay." Yakov squared his shoulders. "Should be enough."


    I tailed him, moving at a brisk pace to match the man''s long strides as he led me past the new machines glinting in the dim light. Yakov moved a clothes-stand overloaded with aprons and other apparel, opening a small door that led to a stairway down. He paused in the opening, giving me a long, cautious look before he spoke. "Clients like results. Way to get them, less so. Trouble for squeamish. This problem?"


    If Julien''s bleeding heart could handle whatever methods his Uncle used well enough that he was happily making referrals, I got the feeling I''d probably be fine. "Not at all."


    Yakov acknowledged that with a nod, not looking particrly surprised. His mouth formed a grim line, and he chucked a thumb towards the stairway. "Follow."


    With a small amount of trepidation, I followed Yakov down a set of creaking wooden ts that served as stairs. The walls of the dimly lit basement wereprised of dingy tile and drains. A braided line of seeping organic material formed a wide circle, approximately eight feet in diameter, and within it, a crystal basin of dark blood sat squarely in the center. If I''d simply stumbled upon it, the ritualistic disy would have looked much more sinister without context. But the intestines that formed the circle were too broad and thick to be human, and Yakov''s vocation went a long way to exining where the materials were sourced from.


    I knelt across from Yakov, as the butcher arranged the items I''d brought with no discernible pattern, cing them perpendicr to the basin, scowling as he made minute adjustments to the circle to better suit some highlyplex and unknowable schema only he could perceive.


    "Hold snapshot in mind. Real memory, no imagination. No fear. Familiar," Yakov instructed.


    As I did so, he began to chant guttural, primal words in an ancientnguage. The mental image I''d chosen was a mundane one, Ellison and I walking home after I''d picked him up from the local library, casually navigating the moonlit street. He was half-smiling, overtly trying not tough at something I''d said, adjusting the strap of his backpack¡ª


    A psionic scream overwhelmed me, as the familiar surroundings within the memory ripped away. The scent of gore and oozing flesh grew stronger, more prevalent. The city streets that surrounded him fell away, my brother''s jovial face reced with a more modern visage. Dark bags weighed heavy beneath his eyes as he sprinted, darting through countless burned out husks of trees that formed a dead forest, the sky overhead burgeoning with storm clouds. Rustling followed him, unseen creatures pursuing through the underbrush at blistering speed, just out of view. Ellison stumbled, swearing furiously as he lost his footing and tumbled head over heels down a long slope, mming shoulder first into a tree and uttering a pained cry.


    "Not... yet," Ellison muttered through grit teeth, pulling what looked like a high-tech crossbow out of his back and jerking it towards a thick copse of nearby trees. He fired, the immediate explosion loud and sudden enough that I nearly opened my eyes.


    "Focus," Yakov broke from his chanting long enough to bark.


    I held firm. Even as the scent of smoke filled my nostrils and the acrid smell of burning flesh made my eyes water, I forced myself to stay with it. Just a little longer.


    Ellison dropped the crossbow, shifting upward against the tree he''d hit, bracing his back against it. Several creatures emerged from the ming circle of trees, screeching, struggling to put themselves out before falling to their knees andying still. They were familiar. Part animal, part person. It was difficult to say from the aftermath, but these looked almost exactly like the same sort of chimeras that attacked my region only a matter of days ago. In the distance, after my vision cleared, I could make out some sort of gargantuan structure, lined with parapets.


    Shakily, Ellison rose to a standing position and began to retreat from the fire, right arm hanging uselessly. His breathing was ragged and bare, everybored inhale tearing at me as he limped towards the castle. Above him, I felt my stomach turn as something fluid and flexible dropped from the branches in a brown-spotted, camouged blur.


    The oversized constrictor snake seized Ellison, encircling him tightly. For a moment there was hope, because my brother was fast. He managed to get his forearm vertical, quickly drawn knife glinting as he struggled in the snake''s grip, waiting for an opening.


    Then three more slithered out from beneath the underbrush. Ellison saw theming. I waited, holding my breath, as he pivoted, struggling under the massive snake''s weight, buying time and distance.


    It was mostly obscured. If I hadn''t seen one before, I might have missed it entirely. But there, in the distance, was a runed, circr pir that looked exactly like an elevator tform. And despite the many realms of uros I''d entered, there was only one ce with lifts that looked like that.


    <em>The tower.</em>

 Chapter 294

    Chapter 294


    "Sara, I need to talk to Tyler." I barreled down I-20, swerving around traffic, pushing eighty-five, Buzzcut humming to himself in the passenger seat.


    "Uh. Can I ask what this is regarding, Matt?" Sara said, her voice carrying the typical tinny undertone that coincided with a voice call.


    "Are you¡ªdoes he have you screening his calls like a fucking secretary?" As usual for fucking I-20, two cars were turtle crawling the far leftnes, cruising well under the speed limit. I dropped back, crossing over to the third and gunned it.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>The text fired back in the blink of an eye, distracting me momentarily until I realized how long Sara had been silent.


    I cleared my throat, switching the blinker for anotherne change. "Maybe that was out of pocket. But what''s the deal? He''s dodging calls, stonewalling Nick¡ªI don''t get it. We''re in a strong position right now, but there''s no guarantee it''llst if we don''t push the advantage."


    There was a cutoff noise as Sara started to speak and stopped, then tried again. "Uh. There''s a bit of organizational drag happening. Too many chefs in the kitchen."


    "Pertaining to what?""How to proceed," Sara said carefully.


    A chill cut through me. If there was some sort of high-level disagreement on how to approach the tower, that was one thing. But this didn''t sound like that. This sounded more like the Adventurer''s Guild getting cold feet.


    <strong></strong>


    "Define proceed," I asked tly.


    "There''s been a lot of questions regarding the best course of action for everyone," Sara answered.


    "Then exin it to me, because I''m not getting it." I punched the horn and held it, noise ring at an oing wall of cars until the one driver capable of tying his shoes without drooling picked the pace up enough to form a hole. "We take the tower, solidify our alliance with the Order, and potentially stop the transposition events for good. Bearing in mind thest transposition wiped out almost a hundred thousand people, the alternative is what¡ªsitting around with our dicks in our hands?"


    "The alliance will hold," Sara argued. "The Order confirmed it, in writing. They''ll support us during this event and any that might follow so long as we don''t undermine them and continue to work towards clearing the tower."


    <em>And you think they''ll fucking stick to that after everything goes to hell?</em>


    Another text came through, interrupting me before I could retort.


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    Iplied, sending back as much information on the castle as I could recall, hoping he''d connect the dots andtch onto it.


    "God, like today hasn''t been stressful enough," Sara muttered, voice call barely picking her up. Then, louder: "Matt, I''m not saying we''re throwing in the towel. We''re not. There are already ns in-ce to tackle the next floor at dawn tomorrow. But try to put yourself in Tyler''s shoes here. Just a bit."


    "The man has giant feet, Sara. Do me a favor and help bridge the gap."


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Pressed as I was, I nearly jumped on it. Started forming a message in the quick-response screen without even double-checking the body of text. My own instincts stopped me a split second before could start screaming about a trap, and I expanded the screen, revealing a second series of texts between Matt and Myrddin.


    <em>Shit. Almost missed it.</em>


    I nced at the console clock on the dash, setting a mental six-minute dy before Matt could respond to Miles. Wasn''t sure if Miles would actually seize on the simr, near-instant responses as a potential connection, but I wasn''t willing to risk it.


    Sara was already talking, but I only caught half of it. "...has to worry about. He also has to worry about the city atrge. If we run ourselves ragged, take heavy casualties and expend resources trying to climb the tower, fail because we run up against something impossible, or end up facing the sort of threat we simply can''t handle in the remaining time, we''re in serious trouble."


    The vein stood out on my forehead. "And if we actually work together through joint effort now, and stop the events, it won''t matter how many resources we expend."


    "You''re right," Sara admitted. She sounded exhausted and frustrated, and not necessarily with me. "That''s why we''re hitting the tower at dawn tomorrow, as scheduled. Believe me, Tyler wants this done just as badly as you do. Assuming we don''t hit any serious snags like thest floor and can strategically push through the rest of the climb, there''s nothing to worry about."


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    <em>Trantion: One more fuckup and we run away to bide our time with our heads between our legs.</em>


    "Great," I bit off a longer, more scathing retort. "Guess we''ll get started then."


    "Guess so." Sara paused, whispering to someone near her for a few seconds before she spoke. "Iris doing better?"


    "Yeah."


    "d to hear it. Hope she''s getting all the rest and care she needs. She''s a sweetheart."


    "I''ll let her know you asked. See you in the AM."


    "Try to get some rest," Sara counseled, the line disconnecting momentster.


    As much as I appreciated the thought, my concerns were more focused on Ellison than Iris right now. Just because my brother could usually take care of himself didn''t mean this wasn''t the one time he''d bitten off more than he could chew. ording to him, he''d never made it through, so it was going to happen eventually. When I''d called Sara, I''d hoped to buy a few extra hours of progress. Only now, apparently, there was a possibility the Adventurer''s Guild might pull support entirely.


    They were making a lot of assumptions I couldn''t get behind. Chief among them that there''d even been an Adventurer''s Guild or Order of Parsae after the uing event. A strange assumption to make, probably rooted in how rtively rxed things had beentely. Other than the necromancer attack on my region, which was shockingly ineffective in terms of casualties, everything had been quiet. They''d growncent, and as it always did,cency led to inaction. As if they''d almost entirely forgotten how severely the first event had kicked their collective asses.


    I exited the highway, pulling into a full parking lot beside the dive bar adjacent to the tower, ncing at the longer-than-usual cordoned line that led to the entrance. As tempting as it was to just say fuck-the-guild and go in, I''d already tried that with Nick''s backing, and we''d gotten our asses handed to us.


    No. We were here for another reason.


    Beside me, Buzzcut''s cheerful humming hitched before it disappeared entirely as I slipped the mask into ce, getting ready to exit as I tied up my conversations with Miles.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I held my breath, waiting for him to bite. If I could get Miles on board, there was a chance. He had more experience organizingrge groups for strategic purposes than anyone else in the dome, and more than that, was capable of doing so while navigating the more tenuous, political side of things. If anyone was capable of getting Tyler to take this more seriously, it was him.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>The next message came in before I could answer. As usual, Miles was spot on.</strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    So close. It was important that Miles didn''t feel like I was pushing him into helping. The second he did, he''d suddenlye up with a half-dozen other, more important things to worry about. Bearing that in mind, Iposed the next message carefully.


    <strong></strong>


    I held my breath.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I leaned my head back, letting the mask gnaw away the buzzing sensation of stress pressing down on my temples. Beside me, Buzzcut had picked up on my mood, growing more nervous by the second. "Maybe we should do this another day. Aaron''s going to have a coronary when he realizes I''m alive, and it kinda sounds like there''s already too much to manage."


    <em>No matter how frustrated I am, no matter how much I want to scream, none of that is Cameron''s fault. He''s ready for this. But he''s reliant on me. If I lose my shit in front of him, he''ll be rattled for weeks.</em>


    "Tell me your cover story again," I said, keeping my tone soft, instructional.


    "Myrddin abducted me from my home," Buzzcut recited, expression cold, bordering on furious as he inhabited the lie. "Cut my finger off, interrogated me. Got a little rough, sometimes, nothing that topped the finger. Didn''t really have to go that route. Bastard made me breathe something¡ªa spell or potion, or something else before he started. After it took effect, things got hazy, difficult to focus. He kept asking the same question different ways. The same damn question, over and over again. Eventually, I feltpelled to answer¡ªnothing that betrayed the order and vited the geas¡ªbut definitely information I wouldn''t have volunteered otherwise. After a while he got bored and went missing for weeks. Showed up one day, said we were done, blindfolded me, threw me in the back of a vehicle. Drive was around twenty minutes, give or take. Didn''t bother to take the cuffs or blindfold off when he kicked me out."


    "You can visualize everything?" I checked.


    "In detail."


    "If you were imprisoned indoors all this time, why¡¯s your skin tone darker than it was?"


    Buzzcut shrugged. "There was a skylight. If Iid under it and kept my eyes shut, it almost felt like being outside again."


    "Why didn''t you use the skylight to escape?"


    "Because it was a high ceiling for fuck''s sake and he wasn''t stupid enough to leave me somethin'' to climb."


    I paused long enough to give him an encouraging smile. "And how do you feel about Myrddin now?"


    "Grateful he let me go." Buzzcut cracked his knuckles, a hint of his old mean-streak peeking through. "Genuinely, truly thankful. Because now, there''s a second chance to tear his fucking throat out."


    "Perfect."

 Chapter 295

    Chapter 295


    <em>In and out. Merchants section, Vernon, then back here. Ten minutes. Fifteen at most.</em>


    My pulse pounded in my neck as I stepped out of the gateway into the portal room. As my mind absorbed the incessant humming from the concave arrangement of magical entryways, it was a relief to find it empty. Not even Sybil was present, the woman that served as Hastur''s surrogate and mouthpiece.


    When I first joined the order, for the most part, people ignored me. Those out of the loop saw little more than a shady neer. The rare few with close ties to either Aaron or Sunny that knew Myrddin was the Ordinator gave me a wide berth. Not surprising, as I''d joined soon after the system powers that be drew the connection between the Ordinator and the mass casualty event that defined the first transposition. There were reasonable concerns that I''d snap at the first sign of confrontation, tapping into whatever god-forsaken powers I apparently had to transform the entire silo into an eldritch hellscape.


    Despite the considerable bounty on my head, the smart ones stayed away. But impatience is the downfall of intellect, and eventually, the potential reward of power and escape from the dome grew too tantalizing to bear.


    I''d dealt with the threats proportionally. Not equally¡ªI''d learned quickly, in early days, if you only match what you''re given, it eventually catches up in a bad way. By the same token, if the response is too devastating, you risk souring general opinion. Users here had friends, connections, people they were close to. A perfect, proportional response is one that left those friends and connections quietly shaking their heads as they visited you in the infirmary, not seething with anger and plotting vengeance. Thinking, "Damn, that sucks, bute on. You had iting."


    The real trick was making it look effortless. And that the mercy wasn''t mercy at all.


    For a while, it had worked. In contrast to the Order''s many rules, Aaron didn''t seem to care much if we fought among ourselves, fostering his old-world hedge fund philosophy of letting the strong rise to the top.


    Lately, despite my best efforts, the random attacks and confrontations had gotten worse. Rumors circted. There was too much blood in the water. And I had a feeling the members of the order would be feeling the stress of the timer as much as anyone else. Possibly more. Because unlike everyone who existed outside the order, it wasmon knowledge now that if you didn''t want to deal with city-sized horseshit, there was one ticket out. And his name was Myrddin.


    The double-security doors sequestering the portal room whooshed open to the third floor of the order''s silo. Padded impacts echoed up from the half-dozen fenced-in octagons on the bottom floor, the stench of sweat mingling with cooking meat from the nearby cafeteria as dozens of conversations blended into a constant din of anxiety and paranoia."Well shit, y''all. The friendly neighborhood Ordinator''s on deck!" someone bellowed with a raucous cackle. Conversations died as heads turned. There was plenty of wariness in their expressions, but there was something new, too. A hunger that perhaps had always been there. Difference was, no one seemed interested in hiding it.


    I kept my presence small and moved at a steady, unhurried pace, not bothering to hide my disdain as I scanned faces and monitored for threats. By now I could spot the markers from a mile away. An intentional nudge, a muttered word, usually followed by some muscle head standing to his feet and moving to intercept me.


    Oddly, no one made a move. There were plenty of Users around that looked scared enough to try something, but not a single one of them budged.


    <em>Elevator''s got a lot of people around it. Guess that means stairs again.</em>


    The long, windowless stairwells weren''t much better in terms of safety. Key difference was space. Room to maneuver. Unlike the boxed-in metal coffin of an elevator, I could do a lot with three flights of stairs.


    I kept a grip on the rope in my pack, forming a n to secure the upper door, so if there were people waiting at the bottom, I couldn''t be nked from above.


    murmured, and I saw the point of a de in my mind''s eye, plummeting towards my neck.


    <em>A rogue today, huh? That''s new.</em>


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    I yanked the coil of rope from my pack and tossed it straight up, the length unfurling overhead. With the momentum from the turn, I knocked the iing de aside, catching the throat of my attacker with my free hand, getting a good look at him for the first time. Pissed-off gray eyes stared back, perfectly coifed ck hairpleting a look somewhat stereotypical for the ss. But there was a frantess behind the hard edge, like he''d known he was out of his element this whole time, and gone through with it anyway.


    "Who put you up to this?" I scanned the cafeteria behind him. It was almost certainly someone watching nearby, possibly one of the shadowy faces whispering in the cafeteria.


    "Kill yourself," the rogue spat back.


    "Disappointing." I shoved him back and released my hold, narrowly dodging the shing de as it struck towards my neck. The rope overheadnded, Audrey''s blind spirit following my instructions as one end tightened around the rogue''s neck, looping around his shoulders, the other tying itself to the base of the nearby railing. "Beingpletely honest here, I hate shooting the messenger, but there''s no time to be picky."


    "Huh?" The rogue croaked, eyes widening as the noose tightened around his neck.


    "Solidst words."


    He made onest desperate, awkward lunge at me, and I caught him, directing my movements as I repurposed his momentum and, almost effortlessly, tossed the man over the railing.


    Secondster, the rope snapped taut.


    As tempting as it was to lean over the edge for confirmation, I reminded myself that the casual callousness of the violence was the point. So instead of looking, I stuck my hands in my pockets and returned to my previous destination. The stairwell.


    The doortched behind me, my own footsteps echoing off the stone walls as I murmured to Azure. "Status."


    Azure''s chipper voice resounded in my head. "Alive and healthy! Though delightfully convinced that he''s choking to death."


    "He''s not though."


    "Not at all," Azure chuckled. "Our mutual friend has loosened her grip, and the vines masquerading as ropes around his shoulders are bearing most of the weight. Not that anyone in the growing crowd below has made that connection. The rogue''s name is Chris, if you care."


    "I don''t. Get anything from him?"


    "Nothing telling." My summon''s shadow flickered as he walked alongside me in the stairwell. "The rogue''s de is coated with a potent paralytic."


    "Why paralytic and not poison?"


    "As you surmised, he was strong-armed by another user. Big man upstairs towards the back of the cafeteria. Tau. Took a shot at you a few weeks ago. Once you were incapacitated, Tau intended to follow up for the kill."


    I paused to think.


    "You broke his legs," Azure provided.


    "Right." A tattooed face came to mind. The man was built like a mountain of muscle and almost entirely absent neck. "Doesn''t make sense. I remember him now¡ªand he was scared shitless. Why the hell is heing back for more?"


    "Unknown. Largely because Tau seems to have suddenly wised to the practice of integrating mental shielding to his build," Azure said meaningfully.


    "Fucking Aaron." I realized, remembering how stressed he''d seemed in my region, when he''d asked Matt to speak to Myrddin on his behalf. Turned out he wasn''t just micro-managing. The strike-team''s effectiveness unnerved him, and he''d gleaned more insight watching from a distance than he should have.


    "My guess as well. Shall I track him down? See if I can catch him monitoring the situation?"


    I weighed the options for a moment, then shook my head. "Aaron''s too smart to just wait around ck-jawed. Even if he wasn¡¯t, it doesn''t tell us anything we don''t already know. Monitor the surface thoughts of the people in the crowd, sift for anything valuable. Half the order will have their opinion of Myrddin front and center, and that doesn''t happen every day."


    "Roger that." Azure''s cheerful expression melted back into a cluster of shadows on the wall, disappearing entirely.


    There was a time walking through a waiting crowd¡ªespecially an angry one focused on me¡ªwould have given me no end of anxiety. Now, as I threw the stairwell door open and walked through them, cidly scanning the dozens of faces that panned me withtent hostility as they parted beneath the red-faced rogue struggling for breath, I felt little beyond tacit annoyance. All things considered, it didn''t take much to intimidate them. The problem was an issue of retention.


    "Ay. You gonna let him down?" someone groused, the speaker conveniently hidden by the crowd.


    "Depends."


    "On what? He''s dying for chrissakes."


    A glint of metal on the concrete ground caught my eye. Not wanting to stoop over and present an easy target, I wedged the toe of my boot beneath the hilt and kicked upward, catching the hilt. I studied it ndly. "On whether the knife he tried to stab me with is poisoned." Casually, I hurled the de towards the hanging rogue,te application of ensuring its slow rotation hit the mark de first. The knife hit with a thump, sticking about an inch through the rogue''s calf. He emitted a strangled cry of surprise, and almost immediately began to seize, his iling limbs stiffening almost immediately.


    "Shame." I took onest look at the rogue before entering the smithery.

 Chapter 296

    Chapter 296


    Kai and Erik had expanded since myst visit. Open forges created a billowing heat that flowed outward, jumping the temperature at least twenty degrees from the silo''s room temp. Several apprentice smiths, enchanters, and artificers attended various projects behind the open counter. Kai was dressing one such artificer down, his high-pitched voice and colorfulnguage barely audible over the din of metal and buzzing of magic.


    Erik was leaning forward on the counter, burly arms crossed beneath him, crumpling his ck apron. His gaze shifted between me and the crowd outside the ss windows with a mix of caution and curiosity. "Busy morning?" he asked gruffly.


    "Nothing out of the ordinary. Looks like you guys stepped it up a notch." I looked around in quiet approval. "Several, for that matter. Business that good?"


    Erik kneaded his forehead tiredly. "Steady. Been up to our necks inmissions for a few weeks now, hence the extra help. Trying to get them out before the transposition." Suddenly, seeming to remember that I was a customer, he straightened up. "Yours are more or less ready to go."


    "More or less?"


    "Aye. But it being a prototype, new design and all, I''d like a few more days to tinker if I''m honest."


    "And a few days from now, you''ll want a few more." Kai called over as he approached the counter, his flowing, colorful robes shing with his surly expression. He crossed his arms and looked at me, then seemed to finally notice themotion outside. "Can I get that loaner back¡ªwhat the fuck is happening? What are they all doing? Is that a shoe?"


    Before anyone could respond, Kai was already around the counter and peeking his head out the door, looking up at where the rogue user was still hanging. After a moment he retreated, slowly closing the door and peering at Erik. "I''ve been bitching about aesthetic for weeks now, but now I really have to put my foot down. Why is there a human pi?ata decorating our shop?"


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Erik brush his fingers horizontally across his throat."What does this mean?" Kai repeated the same gesture back, unimpressed.


    Annoyed, Erik thumped a fist onto the counter. "It means whatever happens outside the shop is none of our business."


    "And if it''s hanging above the shop?"


    I blew out air. "The guy tried to stab me, I threw him off the third floor. Used the rope so he didn''t make a mess." Casually, I nced over my shoulder. The crowd had moved back some to make room as someone ced adder down, while someone else tested the stability of the bottom step, then began to climb.


    "Oh." Kai tilted his head from side to side, then raised a hand and made a thrusting motion. "Why didn''t you just stab him back?"


    "Kai¡ª" Erik hissed.


    "Like I said, didn''t want to make a mess." I pulled the <strong></strong> out of my inventory and tossed it to Kai, who caught it, a brief squeak of surprise quickly silenced. "Assuming you''ve got a knife for me along with everything else, here''s the loaner back."


    "And how. You''d be shocked how many idiots miss the ''Cannot be sharpened by ordinary means'' small print on the vorpal enchantment and try to hold on to these." Kai slid the de out of the sheath, studying its waning edge with a frown. "Though I suppose it''d be hard to miss, given the state." He pressed his thumb against the edge, sliding it down slightly, incurring nothing but an indent. "This sort of wear usually takes longer. You really put it through its paces."


    "Been busy." I watched the de in Kai''s hands, feeling a small pang. "The armor pration paid dividends. Part of me is d the enchantment isn''t widely used¡ªthe arrogance full-te gives certain targets can''t be understated. I''d rather they keep strutting around like walking tanks, thinking they''re invincible."


    "Full-te, really?" Kai stared at the de uneasily. "Surprised it worked for that."


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "Most of the time it wasn''t necessary. Generally better to aim for the weak points, gaps. But if the armor''s high rarity, and there are no gaps?" I tapped my breastbone. "It did its job."


    His mouth pulled down in a pout. "My desire to upsell is battling with my survival instinct."


    I snorted. "Go ahead. I''m not gonna throw you off the side of something for trying to do business."


    "There''s a reason we only use that enchantment formission loaners." Erik interjected cautiously, eliciting a sigh of irritation from Kai. "As you''ve seen, it will eventually lose its edge. Sharpening the de and reapplying the enchantment doesn''t take long, but that process requires both a talented enchanter and a smith capable of working with enchanted items. At the end of the day, most people prefer a good de that will retain its sharpness indefinitely, rather than one that will eventually fail them."


    Admittedly, I saw the wisdom in that. Were the dulling process more binary¡ªsharp one second, blunt as soon as the magic faded¡ªI''d probably agree. If you were inattentive, or inexperienced, it would probably still be a bad idea. But I''d been able to gauge the de''s waning effectiveness over repeated uses. And with the new artifact-ss acquisition of <strong></strong> I had one hell of a backup.


    Kai grimaced. "I''ve¡ªwe''ve¡ªput together an already excellent weapon for yourmission. Beyond the immediate requests, metal processed through the new lunar forges is particrly receptive to mana. Naturally, I took advantage of that, andyered as many potentially useful effects as I could."


    "At no additional charge," Erik hastily added.


    "Why would you do that?" I asked, genuinely curious.


    "New forges weren''t a variable when you sought us out. Wouldn''t be right."


    "I''m happy to pay more for a better product."


    "Trying to screw yourself out of a deal?" Erik red at me for a moment, before averting his eyes again.


    Kai cleared his throat. "What big-handsome-and-awkward''s trying to say, is that recently we were mainly selling pre-mades. Then on his first day, the scariest motherfucker in the dome walked in and made amission. Suddenly, everyone and their grandmother wants something bespoke. Experience frommissions is better, not to mention money, so we''re sitting pretty. Well, I''m always sitting pretty, but you get my meaning." He switched back to business mode. "The dagger is mostly done, but the vorpal enchantment doesn''t take much space. If you''re willing to bring it back for discounted maintenance every few weeks, I can probably make it happen."


    "I''m willing." Generous as all this appeared, I wasn''t born yesterday. "Guessing you guys are still looking for a way out?"


    They shared a look and nodded.


    "It''s not... urgent, exactly," Kai answered haltingly. "No one''s strong-arming us the way they used to, but the vibes around here? Well..."


    "The sooner the better," Erik murmured.


    "Okay." I pped my hands together. "Let''s see what you''ve got. If it''s good, I''ll see what I can do."


    "If it''s good? Prepare to eat your heart out." Kai rolled his eyes, gesturing for me to follow.


    Past the series of forges and several immersion tanks with various luminescent elements, the smith''s storage area had been expanded. Approximately half of what was once a basic stockroom had been blown out through carved stone, the new half doubling as a testing areaplete with mannequins, padded targets, striking posts, and the dangling ropes and pulleys of various tension mechanisms I could only assume measured flexibility and resilience. The room itself was sequestered from the open format of the rest of the smith, an armored door secured with a series ofplex locks that were at least partially magical in nature.


    "So," Erik''s eyes shed with anticipation. "Between the armor and weapons, where would you like to start?"


    I raised an eyebrow. I''d ced the second order nearly two weeks after the originalmission for the weapons. "I assumed the armor wouldn''t be ready yet."


    He grunted, a pep in his step as he ced arge box on a wide, sturdy table, and wheeled over a mannequin with a rolling base, covered in a sheet. "Frustrating as it is to admit, the armor you brought in for alterations was already solid. There wasn''t much room for improvement beyond the modifications, though we did manage a few notable improvements. It didn''t take long."


    "The silhouette¡ª"


    "Was the biggest issue, we remember," Kai called over. He''d busied himself working on something out of view beneath a nearby shelf, hands glowing as he made adjustments to the box below. Possibly the knife. "Trust me, you''ll be happy with the results."


    "Enchanting aside, Kai''s an artist with a needle," Erik agreed with the sort of easy confidence that was difficult to fake.


    "I guess we should start with the originalmission. The weapons." I mused. My original issue wasn''t an easy one to solve. was an invaluable ambush skill in almost anybat encounter at close to medium range. The problem was, I generally preferred engaging at range, and typically did so. If whatever I was shooting at survived the initial volley and closed range, my ranged weapons often already needed to be reloaded, forcing me into melee. My initial, more economical idea was to sacrifice inventory space and simply buy cheap crossbows to rotate through. An idea the cksmith had talked me out of. Now, I was curious to see what he''de up with.


    Erik grinned. And opened the box.

 Chapter 297

    Chapter 297


    The contents were, at first nce, a little disappointing. Four simple ck outlines, the pistol grip, trigger, and body, weren''t much morepact than a typical hand-crossbow. The greatest reduction in size was the body itself,cking the thicker, more ample mid-section of a typical self-reloading hand crossbow shaved down to almost nothing. The limbs of all four bows appeared to be folded back for storage, creating a look more reminiscent of some sort of high-tech slingshot, than a crossbow.


    I dislodged one from the foam and attempted to extend the wings, finding them firm and unyielding. On second look there were no hinges and the string was taut, but surely it couldn''t be permanently locked in this form.


    Puzzled, I pulled up the description.


    Description: Though these four diminutive¡ª


    "Hold on," Erik shook his head sternly, snatching the loosely held weapon out of my hands before I could read the description in full. "Respectfully, I busted my ass. Already knew they were gonna be special halfway through, but these little beauties ended up being my second vocational capstone. Let me give them a better breakdown than the pre-filled system tripe."


    I inclined my head, trailing behind him as he approached one of the padded targets, finger resting on the trigger-guard. "Someone a lot smarter than me once said that limitation breeds creativity. Never put much stock in that ¡®til now." He smirked. "Could be wrong, but the day you walked in, I got the sense you were frugal. Loaded, but frugal. Also gleaned you didn''t give two-fucks about ornamentation. So a big part of the design phase was sussin'' out how, exactly, to make these things worth the cheddar to ya." He extended his arm towards the target, less than two feet away from the crossbow''s barrel, and fired.


    There was no sound. No telltale twang. Nothing but a blur and ample thud as the padded target suddenly jerked upward against the back leg of its tripod base, ttering hard against the ground.


    Interest piqued, I tried to lift the target with the toe of my boot, and discovering it was too heavy for that, crouched down and lifted it with both hands. It was more weighted than it appeared¡ªsomewhere between seventy-five and a hundred pounds.


    "First piece of the puzzle was stopping power. Probably don''t gotta tell you this, but outside of some very specific use cases, hand-crossbows are generally outssed by their bigger, more urate siblings. The bigger form factor allows for greater power, but it''s a new age. Material options with appropriate tensile strength aren''t nearly as limited as it once was. Ever run into a Dopki?"I shook my head.


    "Not the nastiest bastards the system has thrown at us, probably not even in the top ten, Nasty nheless. Lizards, around the size of a small dog. Chameleon style camouge. Ambush hunters. If they feel threatened, they''ll jump out at you, generally from a wall, try to get their jaws on your head. If they do?" Erik snapped his fingers. "Lights out. Crush strength that would make an alligator blush. Thankfully for the Users paling around the low-level eco-dungeons they''re mostmon in, their preferred diet isn''t meat."


    "They eat rocks for minerals, their stomachs are insane, which makes for stupidly good gut-string. Get to the cool part already!" Kai called over, covering augh as Erik red at him.


    "How much pressure?" I asked, ignoring the enchanter''s grumbling.


    "Three times the usual amount." Erik grinned.


    "Bullshit." I worked my jaw, absorbing the idea that it was even possible. Something urred to me. "Even if it wasn''t, wouldn''t that much force just shatter the ammunition?"


    "It would. And it did." Erik chuckled nostalgically. "Pulled my hair out trying to get conventional bolts to work. Tried everything. Denser wood, materialposites. Everything either broke or bent the second the trigger was pulled."


    "What finally hacked it?"


    "Something a little closer to home. See for yourself." He pointed to the target.


    The back of the bolt¡ªstill protruding from the target¡ªwas atypical, absent the stereotypical fins. I gripped it tightly, immediately feeling a distinct drop in temperature seep through my glove.


    "It''s metal." I realized at least a third of the small crossbow''s heft must havee solely from the bolt. After considerable effort, it finally dislodged. "Solid all the way through?"


    "Yup." Erik nodded, taking the bolt from me and recing it in another crossbow. "Tried hollow, same issue as the conventional stuff. Iron was too heavy, steel was closer to what I wanted, but still not quite there. Landed on Tridium. System analogue for a tungsten alloy, far as I can tell. Dense. Doesn''t handle sustained abuse well, which makes it a terrible choice for armor, but a brief moment of intense pressure?" He adjusted something near the sight, then fired the second crossbow at a more distant target. Again, the bolt rocketed forward. Unlike the first, closer target, the bolt shot forward about five feet before it plunged downward, metal screeching as it slid across the floor. "Imagine you''ll get anywhere between fifteen to twenty uses per bolt before uracy bes a concern. Course, that leaves the biggest problem of using solid metal bolts."


    "Range." I frowned. Diversifying my kit, using different tools for different problems, was nothing I wasn''t used to. But the distance was practically non-existent. It''d make me an even better fighter than I already was in close quarters, but from a realistic standpoint, did nothing to solve my mid-range issue and risked redundancy.


    "Went back to the ammunition drawing board for a bit, eventually decided I''d need outside help a bit earlier than I thought."


    "Nuh uh." Kai reced the lid of the item he''d been adjusting, smirking all the while. "Tell him. Tell our favorite customer how many days you spent banging your head against the wall before you remembered you had a talented enchanter on staff."


    "...Several." Erik growled.


    "I''m not just a pretty face. And I''ve been very curious how, exactly, the order creates their portals." Kai provided, approaching the table and looking over the crossbows, glowing with pride. "The only teleportation enchantments I have ess to can only be applied to inanimate objects. Organic material is a no-go, but I''ve been ying with it, trying to find a way around the limitations. Not there yet, but I''ve learned the practical applications inside and out. Coupled with an enchantment that works like a range-finder¡ªwhich was coincidentally, another enchantment Erik demeaned as useless¡ªand we found our solution."


    I gave up trying to piece it together myself as Kai, barely able to contain his excitement, unseated the third crossbow and passed it to me butt first, gesturing towards the more distant target.


    Curious how it would function in my typical use case, I inventoried the bow. Then activated It snapped into my hand. The pistol grip¡ªwhile seemingly identical at first nce,nded perfectly in my palm, the few barely perceptible indentations ensuring the weapon nestled perfectly in alignment. Bearing in mind the faster drop off, I focused slightly above the target and fired, not bothering to aim.


    The boltunched beneath the raised sight, blurring, seeming to shrink for fractions of a second before it disappeared entirely. Momentster there was an impact as the metal bolt mmed into the cushioned back wall behind the target, exactly at the height I''d aimed.


    My jaw dropped. Barring enhanced perception, there''s no way I would have caught it.


    Even with amplified senses it was difficult to parse precisely what, exactly, happened. But I knew two things for certain. The first was that, for a millisecond, the bolt disappearedpletely. The second was that it had reappeared, closer to the target, retaining velocity and effectively tripling the range.


    "Sorry." I slowly turned to look at Kai. "What the fuck?"


    "Uhuh." Kai preened, clearly delighted as he took the crossbow from me. "It''s naturally intuitive. If you pull the trigger and the rangefinder enchantment detects a target within three meters, it fires like a normal crossbow. If the target is outside of three meters, the bolt teleports, reappearing approximately a meter away from the target." His brows pulled down in consternation. "Real bitch of a time making the teleport destination pinpoint urate, main reason beyond enchanting real-estate and the sheer power it would cost I couldn''t just give it a more impressive range, but the end results speak for themselves. What''s more, there are identical, less precise variations of the same spell here," He pointed to the butt of the crossbow, then the two limbs, "here, and here."


    "To what end?" I asked.


    Suddenly, Erik reached over and pped the bow out of Kai''s hand in a gesture that could have been yful, openly grinning as the small enchanter yelped. Kai shrieked something obscene I couldn''t be bothered to catch as I watched the small, delicate work of art plummet towards the floor.


    And slip through it like a rock into water.


    I went to one knee, examining the concrete below. There was no indication that something solid had passed through the surface. Not even a scuff.


    "To that end." Erik provided cheerfully.


    "What the fuck." I repeated.


    "There''s a simple on-off enchantment in the grip that detects if the weapon is being held or not." Kai babied his wrist, still ring daggers at Erik. "If it''s dropped, the rangefinders will activate at thest possible moment to trigger the second return-state teleport a split-second before the object hits the ground, or is close to exceeding the maximum distance of approximately twenty meters. Once those parameters are met, it returns to the control stone." Kai gestured toward the box with a half-hearted magician''s flourish.


    All four crossbows sat as if they''d simply been there the whole time. I picked out the one I''d fired, noting that it was once more locked back into the firing position.


    "I was wondering how I''d manage to reload these with the weight involved." I felt a slow creeping smile. "So I keep the control stone in my inventory, fire, drop, the bow returns to the inventory ready for another bolt. Don''t tell me they fully reload themselves, given the ammo?"


    Erik cleared his throat awkwardly. "We uh, couldn''t quite crack how to get these beauties to p in another bolt on their own inside a User''s inventory. In theory, it''s possible, but there''s a lot of restrictions on the inventory that don''t apply anywhere else, probably for good reason. You''ll need to do that part yourself."


    The weapons presented so many new possibilities it made my head spin. I stood there, silently working through them all until I realized both Erik and Kai were fidgeting ufortably, and spoke my current ponderance aloud. "So there''s effectively two firing modes. Close and extended. Any way to lock it to one or the other?"


    "Hm?" Erik cocked his head, not grasping my meaning.


    "In case I need to shoot through something or someone."


    They traded a look, before Kai answered. "Does that... uh...e up a lot?"


    I shrugged. "More than you''d think."


    "It''d be difficult to add at this stage." Erik nodded slowly, considering it. "A manual toggle is possible. Technically, the function is already there, but Kai did the enchanting work with the self-activation in mind. How long would it take?" He crossed his arms, wincing as he waited for his partner to answer.


    "Weeks. I''d have to scrap most of what I already have and redo it." Kai recited emotionlessly, soul seeming to leave his body with every passing word. "It would cost a lot of resources, and I don''t even want to think about the alignment process after doing this four separate times, but sure, totally doable."


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the vition.


    "Would you like to tell our favorite customer who broached that very question, and was squawked at to get out of the Etherworks and go hit something with a hammer?" Erik asked ndly, a sheen of spiteful mischief in his eye.


    "No." Kai said.


    "I''ll take them as is," I rified, deciding that specific use case didn''t really merit the additional time and aggravation.


    Their sense of relief was immediate and palpable.


    "Could probably spend all day testing these, but we should probably move on. What else you got?"


    /////


    The answer was quite a bit. Starting with the knife. sporting a bowie-style form with Persian trappings, its shining de covered with runes, finally solved my absence-of-variety problem. It wasrger than I preferred, but this was necessary for all the moving parts. The crystalline knob at the base served as a magical battery and rotating mode switch. ording to Kai, electricity and fire in small-ss weapons caused too many potential problems for the wielder to be viable¡ªif I stabbed a monster with a live knife coursing with thousands of volts of electricity, and taking obvious issue with this, the monster grabbed me, the problem was obvious. Same with fire. Instead, he''d started by deconstructing one of Mile''s draining garrotes, and reverse engineering a simr enchantment that fed into the knife''s internal mana battery, making up the first of the de''s three modes.


    The second was imbued with thest of the Matriarch spider''s venom I''d harvested a lifetime ago. The effect was less potent than the venom in its original form, but the upside was that it wouldst as long as the de had charge, which could be restored by switching back to the first mode.


    We''d discussed dark, or potentially even eldritch as a third option. Unfortunately, they were so difficult to work with that in the end Kai hadn''t been able to manage it. The alternative he''de up with¡ªparameters being a ruinous, devastating option that countered quick regeneration¡ªwas mildly horrifying.


    Kai demonstrated, turning the crystalline core on the hilt to the third setting. Unlike the first two, there was no dull green or violet glow, coursing through the runes. The metal remained static, though there was a certain reflective sheen to it I was uncertain had been there before.


    Gripping the knife tightly, Kai took aim, and plunged it into one of the waiting targets. There was an audible SHINK. Bracing himself and nting a foot on the target base for support, Kai gripped the hilt of the knife with both hands, and yanked. The target tore, two inches of padding and material pouring out of the gap, leaving a gaping hole around a fist wide. In his hands, the weapon no longer looked like a knife. Rather, a rod of the same length with countless metallic barbs emitting at countless, asymmetrical angles.


    "Jesus."


    "Transmutation. Kind of brutal," Kai nodded, watching as the spines on the de folded back in, expending the rest of its power to reforge. "Spines are thin enough that at least some of them should break off, yet they never do."


    "What was the base material?" I asked, fighting a growing queasiness.


    A few feet behind, Erik cleared his throat and answered. "What was the damaged weapon you brought in made of?"


    That was a surprise. Erik was referring to a shattered faux-artifact we''d found in the tower. The sword was meant to be a facsimile of Excalibur. When Nick picked it up, it fell to pieces in his hands. It was supposed to be fake. A prop. I''d brought it in for Kai to study the enchantment traces Kinsley''s teamcked the specific expertise to identify. Kinsley was still hurting on the weapons crafter front, and as the de material was correctly identified as some sort of low-grade mix of iron and something else, we figured it would make a good show of goodwill.


    Apparently we were wrong.


    "Which is a nice, gentle lead-in to another topic we''d like to speak to you about." Kai crossed his arms. "The wood you brought in? We''d like more of it. A lot more. Metal too, but we''re guessing that was all you had. "


    "I''m listening." I ventured, figuring it was better to withhold information until I had a better idea of where this was going.


    Erik circled around the table, standing next to Kai, forming a cohesive unit. "The Wraithwood is staggeringly strong."


    "And immensely enchantable." Kai added.


    "In typical system-fuckery fashion, it doesn''t burn. It melts." Erik shook his head slowly. "The molten¡ªshit I don''t even know what to call it."


    "Pulp?" Kai tried.


    "Close enough." Erik agreed. "The pulp interacts with other materials strangely, when melted down andbined. Still toying with the potential alloys, but I iid it on the bows for additional support. Otherwise, they''d be breaking as often as they fired, and Kai wouldn''t have been able to use a fraction of the enchantments he managed."


    "And the metal?" I asked.


    "You''re one-hundred percentmitted to not telling us what it was or where it came from?" Erik asked again.


    I inclined my head.


    Kai sighed, surveying the dagger with the barest hint of wonder. "This stupid thing. Your people were correct. Broken and decrepit as it was, there were hints of an enchantment. And not just any enchantment. Whatever the original purpose, it''s moreplex than anything I''ve worked with, and it''s not even close."


    "You couldn''t crack it." I filled in.


    "No." Kai snapped. "Well, yes. It was impossible to fully identify, let alone recreate, but I was able to parse enough of the internal schema to piece together the type of enchantment. Transmutation."


    "Pretend like I have no enchanting background and fill me in on the significance."


    Again, they shared a look. This time it was Kai who spoke. "Transmutation enchantments are generally a poor choice for ded weapons. Maces and war hammers see some benefit, but the downside is arguably still not worth it. It''s not as simple as transforming one thing into another. Technically, you can have a ymore that transforms itself into a scythe¡ªnot sure why anyone would want that, but you could¡ªbut every time you swapped from one form to the other, there would be a small degree of base material lost in the process, ounting for energy spent for the transformation itself. The immediate loss isn''t noticeable, but cumtively, it adds up. The structural integrity degrades, and one day, "oops" my novelty weapon fell to pieces."


    "Tracks with how I found it." I admitted.


    "We¡ªor I, rather, was convinced it was just well-enchanted iron." Erik took the dagger from Kai and looked it over. "Felt, smelt, and melted identically." He grinned, ncing towards the door that led to the forges. "If I hadn''t been testing the Wraithwood pulp that week we might have never thought to melt it down and test it."


    I shifted ufortably. "Doesn''t deconstructing a weapon... destroy the supposedly priceless enchantment?"


    "It would." Kai sniffed. "If I was a novice and stupid." He reached in his robes and nonchntly tossed me a crystal disc. Both the top and the bottom were convex, giving it the shape of a basic UFO, emitting a light green glow that felt appropriate.


    "Wasn''t aplishing anything in its broken form," Kai shook his head. "But by copying everything I could¡ªeven the parts that were utterly iprehensible¡ªsomeone can potentially fill in the enchantment''s nks and make use of itter." Even as he spoke, Kai looked mildly envious at the prospect. "Erik alloyed the ''iron'' with wraithwood pulp, because Erik now wants to alloy everything with wraithwood. The results were more drastic than every other material he worked with. We still don''t know what to call it, but it sure as hell isn''t iron."


    "Still in favor of Omnium." Erik scowled.


    "And if we were naming a knock-off super hero instead of a god-tier alloy, I''d agree with you." Kai rolled his eyes. "More importantly, I tested a small sample with a basic transmutation enchantment for days. Pretty much anything falls apart after fifty alterations, but whatever this is, it''s still rock solid." He lowered the in its box, uncharacteristically reverent. "One of a kind. The mode-switch enchantments barely took space. Iyered on strengthening, ergonomic, and muffling enchants¡ªwhich would normally be a pick one or two situation¡ªnot to mention vorpal and the weak-point identification enchantment you wanted cloned, and this mean bastard still has room."


    "So you could still potentially improve it in the future." I filled in, hiding a smile.


    This was a reminder. It wasn''t just that, of course. Their enthusiasm, for the most part, was too unbridled to be anything other than authentic. But the entire reason they''d gone so above and beyond was because I''d broached the possibility of getting them out from under the Order if the results spoke for themselves. And the results were screaming that I''d be an absolute dumbass leaving them under Aaron''s thumb.


    "You have my support." I wiggled the disc that Kai couldn''t seem to keep his eyes off of in front of his face. "And on that note, I''m getting the feeling you''d like to keep studying this?"


    "God yes." Kai breathed.


    I tossed it back to him, noting the barely suppressed shriek as he all but dove to catch it. "Couple of conditions. I''d like you both to keep what you''ve discovered about wraithwood to yourselves. Is that going to be a problem with all the new hires?"


    "Not at all." Erik smiled, seeming to finally shed his anxiety. "Don''t have to tell me we can''t trust this lot. I''m the only one who''s worked with it. Uh. Few of ''em might have seen me throwing wood shavings into a fire and asked questions¡ªto which they were told to mind their business¡ªbut other than Kai, no one knows the value at stake."


    "Perfect." I pulled up my UI and sent the contact cards from the woman handling Merchant''s Guild talent acquisition. "Message thest contact first, only reach out to the others if there''s no answer. The second condition is that from this moment, we only talk about this subject through text. There''s a lot of eyes and ears around here. I didn''t linger the first time, so they''re probably not listening now¡ª"


    "Definitely not." Azure confirmed, the slightest ripple of shadow visible as he slipped back into mine.


    "¡ªBut I drew some attention on my way in, and at least a few people outside are going to realize I''ve been in here longer than the average customer. Assuming the transition goes smoothly, you''ll have ess to more wraithwood than you can shake a stick at."


    Erik pounded a table in excitement and paced back and forth. "When?"


    "During the event." It was the safest answer. If the joint initiative managed to stop the event, or dy it, we''d need another n. But if we failed¡ªand there was enough uncertainty with the AG''s newly uncovered reticence that I wasn''t willing to bet on it¡ªthere was no better time to poach crafters than during the chaos of the transposition.


    Judging from Erik''s wince, he didn''t agree. "ce''ll be empty, so we might be able to get the forges out. But if it''s anything like the first, the roads will be terrible. Plus, we''ll need a cargo truck. Getting from point A to point B through that hellscape in a slow-moving vehicle could be tricky."


    "Can you make more forges?" I asked.


    His eyes widened. "They''re exorbitantly expensive."


    "Yes," I said patiently, "And the faction you''re about to defect to has materials and selve to spare. So what are our real problems?"


    "Competition," Kai noted glumly.


    "If we just... abandon ship." Erik''s lips thinned, betraying difort with the theoretical. "Even an unspecialized cksmith can get a lot of use out of the existing facilities. Might even make it easier for him to choose a specialization, considering there''d be no overhead."


    "Could you disassemble them?"


    "Not without losing the materials."


    I studied the fingertips of my gloves, idly. "Interesting. Assuming you talk to the contact I sent, like what you hear, and have the foresight to get a formal agreement in writing, that would solve thepetition issue at no real cost, wouldn''t it?"


    Erik turned slightly green at the prospect of destroying his forges, but eventually nodded. "I suppose it wouldn''t."


    "Good." I pped my hands together. "Reach out to that contact. When we move, we need to move quickly."


    /////


    We settled for two-hundred thousand selve, which still felt like highway robbery. They¡ªKai more than Erik¡ªwanted to go over the details of the armor before I left, but I had to see a necromancer about a girl, and I''d lingered too long as it was.


    On the second floor, beyond the row of onlookers pressed up against a long railing, I caught a light sh of the back of Buzzcut''s head, nked on either side with various hulking escorts, mostly melee Users, that made up Aaron''s personal guard. The glimpse filled me with trepidation. We had a solid n, but Aaron could be unpredictable. He wasn''t the sort of guy to take luck at face value. Never had been. He''d be intrigued by the possibility of an inside look at the so-called rabid dog he''d unleashed, tempted by the opportunity presented. After that, though? It really all came down to how well Cameron could sell it.


    When ites to developing an asset, menace and friendliness both y a part. Too intimidating and abusive, and they''ll jump ship. Too friendly, and they''ll assume there''s no stick. Trust is key. Bnce. They need to hold the belief that you¡ªor the people backing you¡ªare scarier than the people you''re turning them against, and simultaneously believe that you''lle running if they stick their necks out and the axees down, even if you won''t. To be clear, I''m not encouraging the practice of burning assets. There are a lot of people on government payroll I don''t associate with because they''re too quick to do exactly that. Sometimes you can''t help them and that''s a tough pill to swallow. And no matter how pragmatic you try to be, you will swallow it. Because if you did it right, you''re the only hope they have.


    With Mile''s voice echoing in my head, Iposed a quick message.


    The bell above the cksmith''s door rang before I could send the message. He stepped through awkwardly, half twisted around, speaking to someone in a low-tone before the familiar face was revealed.


    "Heard there was some dark and broody celebrity hanging out around here. Seen anyone like that?" Julian smiled.

 Chapter 298

    Chapter 298


    In a way, it was a relief to see cracks in Julian''s visage. The way his fingers drummed nervously against his leg. The little stress lines around his mouth that betrayed worry, despite considerable effort to stay aloof. Beyond conveying that he wasn''t exactly thrilled to be talking to me like this, it was more evidence to the fact he was exactly what he presented himself as.


    What was less of a relief was that I''d so recently spoken to him without the mask. The mask would alter the sound and pitch of my voice, but Myrddin and Matt had simr speaking patterns, a precedent I''d established before realizing how many problems that was going to cause.


    Julian was perceptive. I needed to amplify the differences that did exist, or the connection would be in as day.


    Leaning into that, I tried to push past him. "Out of the way, dickhead."


    Instead of trying to stop me, Julian reached out a hand. "We''ve never met. I''m Julian. Prince of the Parcae Court."


    "And I''m in a hurry."


    "Better get to the point then." His voice was firm but calm. "There''s a kid outside slowly choking to death. Me and some others have been trying to cut him down, but it''s hard to get leverage on adder and the rope is shockingly resilient."


    "Didn''t you get the memo? The court wants nothing to do with me, they made it perfectly clear. Didn''t want to add more shady associations to the already sketchy origin when they''re about to make a public debut." I hit him with the facts, letting them speak for themselves. "New boss, same as the old boss."


    Again, the rogue was in no real danger. Audrey would send a warning if he was. I''d nned to leave him hanging there like a living gibbet until my business was concluded, then dismiss the summon and wash my hands of it.If nothing else, the usation that the court seemed more worried about their public appearance seemed to get under his skin. "Some members felt that way, yes. Not all." His eyes slid to the side. "And I also get why you''re being such a hardass." Julian breathed out slowly, cocking his head. "It''s been hunting season around heretely, I get it."


    I leaned forward and growled. "Move."


    "In a minute." He stared me down. "The wild animal schtick might be keeping you alive, but beyond that it''s not doing you any favors. Think about appearances. A lot of people who got what''sing to them aren''t copping to their part in it. Some, even a few with considerable pull, are iming you attacked them unprovoked. Add in the fact that the Order''s rules don''t seem to apply to you, and one of these days you''ll catch more trouble than you can handle."


    "I''m shaking."


    <strong></strong> trumpeted a warning as Julian''s shoulder and arm twitched.


    <em>A sucker punch? Really?</em>


    The exchange was lightning fast. I shifted slightly, dodging the would-be attack before realizing it wasn''t there at all. He''d never moved. But both <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> had triggered.


    I activated <strong></strong>, sudden resistance halting the typically smooth-as-ss movement¡ªDespite my speed, he''d caught my arm, stopping me from withdrawing a crossbow from my inventory. This time, he actually moved, reaching back towards his inventory.


    Returning in kind, Ished out and kicked it away, following up with a flurry of blows aimed at his unarmored face and neck, each deflected at thest second, one after another.


    The response was pure calcted defense, which with experience, meant a serious attack wasing. I disengaged and instinctively lowered my center of gravity, ready to absorb or avoid. Only to realize Julian was doing the same.


    Kai''s shrill voice broke the standoff as he shouted from behind the counter he was half-cowering behind. "No fighting in the smithery!"


    "Sorry ma''am." Julian said, suddenly chagrinned.


    "I''m a boy!" Kai snapped at Julian, irate.


    "He started it," I said begrudgingly.


    "Did I?" Julian asked, the slightest hint of a smirk plying at his mouth.


    "Sure felt that way." I watched him for any indication of deception and found none. Annoyed and unsure what exactly happened, but not wanting to escte, I dulled Myrddin''s edge. "Look, let''s be real. I don''t care what happens to the kid. What I care about is the impression it gives if I go out there post scuffle and let him down. It''ll look like I''m running away with my tail between my legs."


    Julian absorbed that, nodding slowly. "People like me around here. They don''t always listen, but sometimes they do. y ball and I can maybe quench the heat a little. Get them to refocus elsewhere. And if they don''t listen, and I catch wind of some kind of bading your way, I''ll warn you. Plus, it''ll give the impression you''re capable of listening to reason if you toe the line a bit. Humanize you."


    "Not sure that helps me."


    "At the very least, it makes you look less like an existential threat that needs to be put down," Julian pointed out.


    It was strange, despite being a terrible liar, he was a great negotiator. Before Julian, I''d argue that was impossible. Negotiating always required some level of deceit. Yet along the same lines of giving an ancient eldritch hive-mind enough doubt that it actually hesitated, he''d picked up quickly that I was more concerned with appearances than actually being an asshole, and immediately switched tact, absorbing that knowledge into his strategy. He was also seemingly immune to being shrugged off, a strategy I''d spent most of my life perfecting.


    And I had to admit, he wasn''t wrong. The mercy of my previous course of action¡ªletting the kid hang as a cartel-style warning until I left and releasing him¡ªwould be lost on most people. But not everyone. There were too many witnesses for them all to be stupid. At least a few of them would connect the dots.


    As much as I hated it, this yed better.


    "Do you care if I publicly threaten you?" I checked.


    "Not at all."


    "Fine."


    /////


    That didn''t mean I was going to be nice about it.


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    There was a thud and a whimpered cry as the rogue dropped a solid six feet and hit the ground on paralyzed legs, immediately toppling. Julian, as expected, was there to catch him, protecting his head from a potential concussion. Even as the prince winced from the harshnding, he offered a smile. "Thanks for the assist."


    A current of whispers went through the gathered crowd. I forced myself not to look at them, focusing on Julian instead. I raised my voice slightly, making sure the onlookers could hear. "Just keep your end of the bargain. If you don''t, it''ll be you dangling next."


    To his credit, he paled a bit and inclined his head. "Message received."


    I was mostly ignored as several people pushed by to help Julian with the downed rogue. He''d get a boost in poprity from this, which was fine, as it also sent the message that Myrddin could be reasoned with.


    I took onest look at Julian, happily chatting away with several Users helping him carry the petrified rogue and disappeared into the crowd, ignoring a sense of growing unease as I approached my next destination. Vernon''sir.


    Applying as much active concentration as possible, I followed the back wall, searching for the telltale indentations and outlines of the hidden door.


    "Dark wizard!" A high-pitched voice chittered, rousing me from my search. A small capuchin that I was almost certain hadn''t been there before rested in a sitting crouch, reaching back to pluck something out of the dark tuft of hair that crowned its head, stuffing whatever it was into its mouth and biting down with a crunch. "It is the dark wizard, yes?" He asked, suddenly unsure.


    "It''s me. Afternoon Jeeves." I bent down and studied him. "Coat''s looking better."


    Jeeves was one of Vernon''s more sessful experiments. The mind of a dying kobold, transnted into the damaged corpse of a monkey. Part of what made him a sess, in my eyes, at least, was that while the monkey was technically undead, he seemed to be growing more lively over time, rather than falling apart like the norm. His previously patchy, mussed fur had grown longer from thest time I''d seen him, covering much of the scar tissue of pre-death injuries.


    "Groomed it myself," he proimed proudly, then nced away distractedly, listening to something I couldn''t hear. "Master Vernon will see you now."


    "Thanks Jeeves." I patted the monkey on the head, then left through the now visible double-doors.


    When I''d first met Kinsley''s father, hisir had been near-identical to a hospital wing,plete with sterile tile, bright fluorescent lights, and surprisingly modern medical equipment. Pretty much the opposite of what I''d expected to find, but ording to Vernon, a necromancer''sir was a reflection of who they were.


    It hadn''t changed much since then, but the key differences were hard to ignore.


    Large bubbling suspension tubes lined one side of the room, the liquid that suspended various corpses and writhing forms an odd light blue. Some of the creatures were intubated, some simply floated, perfectly suspended in the center.


    The other side of their was lined with reinforced wall and heavy-duty containment doors, connected by alternating panes of security ss.


    Vernon rushed past me in a surgeon''s smock, sleeves and neoprene gloves soaked with blood held upwards and away from him, gaze hard and assiduous. "Where the hell were you? Been sending messages for days."


    "Busy," I answered, struggling internally with whether it was worth asking what left him in that state or simply ignore it. "But I''m here now. What''s the problem?"


    Vernon scoffed. There was a sudden spray of water on metal and he aggressively scrubbed his hands beneath a downpour of water from an industrial sink. "Who said there''s a problem? If anything, this should be a pleasant surprise."


    "So pleasant you''re covered in more blood than Carrie''s prom?"


    "Unrted," Vernon stated begrudgingly. When I didn''t respond, he rolled his eyes. "An abomination couldn''t assimte the organs I chose. Of course if a necromancer was allowed to properly anesthetize subjects and still use their fucking abilities, it wouldn''t have even been a problem, but I can''t, and it was."


    I steered the conversation away from whatever failure had frustrated him. "Jeeves is still holding up well. Greatmunication, strong sense of self. Seems to be regenerating rather than rotting, and hasn''t dropped any limbs."


    "It''s all him, really." Vernon''s edginess subsided somewhat. "Something of a blessing the original kobold had an intelligent, flexible mind long before he endured the misfortune of ending up on my table." He smiled for a moment as he removed his gloves, until he sniffed at his hands and grimaced, pumped out more soap and thrusting them back under the downpour of water. "It''s like he intrinsically understands that while my methods and abilities are... unpleasant, I''m trying to extend his life. Most of them don''t. Uh." He pinched the bridge of his nose with wet fingers, grimacing again at the smell. "What were we talking about?"


    "When was thest time you slept?" I asked, fully aware of the hypocrisy.


    Not hearing me at all, Vernon snapped his fingers. "Right, the simcrum." He seemed to retreat from the excitement, fixing me with a cool stare. "We''re close to our original goal. Very close. It''s imminent."


    "How imminent?" I asked cautiously.


    "Unless my most recent acquisition was a red herring¡ªand that''s never happened up to this point¡ªit should be next level. I''m already more than halfway there." Vernon said, with the confidence and detachment of a professional. He held onto that detachment as he continued. "Forgive me. There''s more I''d like to show you. Real, tangible progress. But given that our goal is in sight and our alliance ising to an end taking my leverage with it, I''d like to speak to her."


    "Kinsley?" I stalled, knowing the answer was obvious.


    "Yes."


    I chewed my lip. "The original condition of telling you she was alive, was that you''d wait until after you were done here to get in contact."


    "I want to speak to my daughter, god <em>dammit!</em>" Vernon roared, and hisir came alive. The monstrous abominations in the suspension tanks squirmed violently, throwing up a storm of bubbles that obscured their movements. Several inhuman silhouettes pressed up against the frosted security ss on the other side, constant low-pitched moans bing more audible. The overhead lights dimmed as a dark wreath of shadows descended from the corners of the ceiling down the walls and approached me, tendrils reaching.


    <strong></strong> fired reflexively, and I battled through a barrier of sky-high intellect to send Vernon waves of calm, images of him reunited with Kinsley tagged with patience and serenity. After a moment, the creatures in the tanks stopped writhing, and the silhouettes pressing against the security ss wandered away. Vernon buried his face in a hand. "I''m sorry. It feels like I''ve been strung along for ages. But that isn''t your fault. You''ve been a man of your word so far. Hell, you''re the only reason I even know she''s alive. I just... really need to talk to her."


    "I''m on your side, Vernon." I hugged him. It didn''te naturally. If anything, it was stilted and awkward. But it''s what Kinsley would have wanted me to do, and I did. "With the way things stand now, arranging that would be difficult. I''m not saying I couldn''t make it happen, if it''s pressing." I released him. "Is it pressing?"


    "No." Vernon took a step back and wiped his eyes. "There''s just some things I need to say to her. Things she really needs to hear. But the timing doesn''t really matter, so long as she hears them."


    I heard him. Both what he was saying out loud, and the quiet part. Realistically, we could have arranged a meeting weeks ago. Listed it as a requirement of the alliance, but in the end, Kinsley refused. Because, as this most recent outburst had shown, while Vernon had gotten far more adept at appearing stable, he really wasn''t. When this first started, he''d awakened, looked over the grim macabre nature of the necromancer tree, and swore never to touch it. The only reason he''d finally stooped to it was that the Order allowed him to believe that his daughter was dead and dangled the concept of true resurrection in front of him like a twisted carrot.


    Eventually, I found him on the other side of a crossbow, but by then, it was toote. He''d crossed the Rubicon. Killed dozens with the order''s help, harvested their cores, all with the intention of reaching the height of a necromancer''s power to bring back a daughter that was still alive.


    Mostly innocents.


    The abject cruelty of the maniption was part of a very long list of reasons I could never see myself working with, or for that matter, sharing a world with Aaron long term.


    Sooner orter, however the chips fell, Aaron had to go.


    The sterling result of that cruelty was the same reason Kinsley wanted to dy speaking to Vernon until we were in a controlled situation and could ensure his safety. Because she was certain his real intentions had nothing to do with reuniting or reconnecting with her.


    More urately, he wanted to say goodbye.


    "Let''s¡ª" He sniffed. "Let''s put a pin in that, and I''ll show you what I''ve got going."


    Wordlessly, a hand on his back for support, I followed him into what appeared to be an operating room.


    One look at the pale, feminine face of the person on the table ripped my breath away.

 Chapter 299

    Chapter 299


    Blood burbled from her mouth, leaking down the side of her face as a sea of crimson pooled around the wound of her ruined throat. The arterial blood faded away with the memory, leaving only the pale, lifeless expression of a person, small and motionless beneath a wrinkled white nket that came up to her chest, an oxygen mask over her face.


    Beneath it, Jinny''s eyes stared straight up, cold and lifeless as the day we''d lost her.


    I put a hand on the table for stability,pensating for the sudden weakness in my knees. "This is why you asked for pictures. So... the new ability..."


    "We theorized before that, with her body being instanced, there was a good chance we''d need a vessel." Vernon nodded. "That''s looking to be true. This is, for all intents and purposes, a functioning body." He pointed to the IV and the heart rate monitor. "Cycling fluids, heart beating on its own. Can''t see it, but the neurons are firing." He waved a cautious hand, warding off the obvious question before I could ask it. "The body can''t breathe on its own. Brain activity isn''t much higher than a person who would be considered clinically dead."


    "How did you even pull this off?" It was almost impossible to keep up. I couldn''t stop looking at her.


    "Simcrum allows me to create a living form, but it''s horrifically unintuitive. The rest was a result of practicing keeping things alive that shouldn''t be, not to mention countless hours of bone and flesh sculpting." Vernon hesitated. "Drew from the references I had, tried to stay as faithful as I could, but deviations are inevitable. If it works... she''ll probably experience a degree of dysphoria regardless of uracy¡ªafter all, no matter what it looks like, this isn''t her body. But she''ll be alive."


    "If the system doesn''t pull a bait and switch and give you something else," I recalled, doing whatever I could to manage expectations.


    "Yes." Vernon frowned. "There''s also an issue of cost. My recent abilities have been ramping up in requirements, demanding escting tiers of User cores."


    "Anything legendary?" I asked, dreading the answer."Not yet. But I suspect we¡¯ll know when we need one." He nced at me. "You still have it, right?"


    "I do." I fumbled with my inventory. "Want it now, orter?"


    "Later." Vernon answered, a little too quickly. When I gave him a questioning look, he breathed out a long sigh. "It''s nothing too rming, but worrisome nheless. I''ve taken a number of necromancer feats centered around efficiency. Reduction of downtime. Nothing too sinister on the surface..."


    "...But?" I asked.


    "There''s been side-effects. Some can be exined away by stress and sleep-deprivation, others, not so much. The most prominent urrence being somnambulism."


    I shrugged. "A lot of people sleep walk."


    He pulled at the smock at his throat uneasily. "Less, I suspect, navigate to their operation rooms and begin working with sharp implements in a subconscious state, utilizing precious resources on questionable endeavors."


    My eyebrows rose. "Yeah, okay, point taken. I assume you''ve established precautions?"


    "Oh yes." Vernon chuckled. "One of the unexpected benefits of being a necromancer is that they, apparently, spend a great deal of time and energy securing theirir. Didn''t have much use for security before, but I''ve since gained an interest. The security doors containing this room and a few others are on a daily rotating cypher. The solution is sent every day, but it''s pre-scrambled in an odd, esoteric way that requires working it out on paper, referencing a key."


    I squinted. "I get it, infinitely harder to work through a puzzle if you''re half-asleep, but why would a necromancer even want that in the first ce?"


    Vernonughed again. "To ward off psychics from ripping it straight from their minds, apparently. Ridiculous paranoia if you ask me."


    "Sure." I agreed carefully.


    "Anyway, for this, it works to my purposes." Vernon shrugged. "The sleep-walking is probably just stress. But you can understand why I want you to keep the core."


    "I''ll keep it safe." I patted my thigh. "What other side-effects have you been experiencing?"


    Vernon smiled thinly, and shook his head. "Nothing really. Not tangible, anyway. It''s more..." his face fell, dejected. "It doesn''t matter. Nothing that will affect our work. But the quicker we finish this, the better."


    <em>So you can talk to Kinsley and punch your ticket. Azure?</em>


    <em>"Woah."</em> Azure whispered into my mind. <em>"The suicidal ideation is on full disy. Same motivation as usual, despair, guilt, an endless outpouring of guilt¡ªbut when ites to whatever he''s hinting at, he''spletely closed off. Actively not thinking about whatever "it" is, even though you''re talking about it indirectly. That''s incredibly difficult. Whatever it is, he buried it deep."</em>


    <em>"Repression?"</em>


    <em>"Definitely."</em>


    <em>"Could you crack it?"</em>


    <em>"A necromancer''sir is simr to a realm of uros, but it isn''t quite the same. In a realm, I could, given time. Here? Probably not..."</em> There was a pause, pregnant as theye. <em>"Unless you''re willing to use mindspi¨C¡±</em>


    <em>¡°No.¡±</em>


    Leaving things as they were, on a question mark, made me profoundly ufortable. But unstable as he was, I didn''t want to risk pushing him. And switching to <strong></strong> was likely to push him more than I could reasonably justify.


    As I made up my mind, Vernon slowly circled the table, clinically surveying his work. When he spoke, his voice was distant, curious. "It''s such a strange thing. This vessel has muscture, organs, and a mind. Its reflexes function. Even now, her mind sends signals directing her lungs to breathe, her heart to beat. There''s a part of me that wouldn''t be surprised at all if she just woke up, stretched out her arms, and walked away."


    Jinny''s head turned towards me at a sharp angle as she smiled through bloody teeth.


    "You''ll bring me back. Won''t you, Matt? It''s the only way to keep your promise."


    I forced my eyes shut, holding them closed for several seconds. When I opened them again, Jinny was back to the way she was, the hallucination banished. Vernon, still surveying his work, hadn''t noticed. "But she can''t."


    Vernon shook his head. "It will never not be vexing, that after thousands of years of argument and discourse the philosophers were right. Even if you have all the pieces to make a person, and assemble those pieces perfectly, there''s still something missing. Something no science or magic can replicate. Bastards."


    <em>The spark.</em>


    "Any resources we should be on the lookout for, anything else you need for prep? Anything at all?" I asked casually, trying to cover my difort and move on.


    Vernon didn''t answer right away. Rather, he seemed to be mulling over something important, working up the nerve to ask. "Would you like to speak to her?"


    <em>What?</em>


    "What?" I asked sharply, sure I hadn''t heard him correctly.


    <em>"What?"</em> Azure repeated, signaling that, apparently, I had.


    "I''ve been carving a rather direct path up the necromancer tree, only branching out when strictly necessary or advantageous. But I read each potential acquisition in detail. Some are trite, most are macabre. Others bear passing interest." For perhaps the first time, Vernon didn''t sound quite as revolted as he typically did, discussing necromancy. "A few¡ªbarely more than a handful, stick, like pinions in the back of my mind."


    "What the fuck are you talking about, Vernon?" I asked, trying to stay calm.


    He winced a little. "There were other options adjacent to simcrum that, while not as directly practical, might still hold value for us." The difort faded as he argued his point. "It''s a bit expensive, yes, but barely a drop in the bucketpared to the points I''ve saved."


    "How." I said tly.


    The doctor chewed his lip, then swiped at his UI, pulling something up before he made a flicking gesture towards me.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    I worked my jaw for a moment, mouth suddenly dry. "How... uh... much would it cost?"


    "Roughly a third of what I''ve set aside." Vernon''s answer was quick enough that he must have been considering this for some time. "I''ve never made a body for a person before. Only monsters. Could be worth acquiring just to consult the subject on her vessel, better chance of a smoother transition that way."


    "And the reason you''ve waited until now to mention it?"


    With a sigh of frustration, he inclined his head for me to follow him.


    I gave Jinny''s potential body onest look, some strange, irrational part of me still convinced she might suddenly stir, and patted the outline of her hand through the sheet that covered it.


    <em>Won''t be much longer.</em>


    The metal containment doors slid shut as I left, a series of heavy-duty thunks and clicks echoed behind as I followed Vernon up to a series of smaller ss panes and punched a button. The ss grew translucent revealing a small chamber within that resembled a lizard terrarium in both size and presentation, dirt, moss, and bits of dry wood shaping a faux forest floor, green leaves and ivy above forming an uneven canopy. Tiny humanoid figures contained within emanated a soft silver glow as they darted around, short stints of flight taking them to perches at various elevations, leaving trails of sparks that blinked and faded like fireflies.


    As if actively aware of the observation, several of the creaturesnded in front of the ss, pawing at it with tiny hands. Up close, they looked like the glowing silhouettes of tiny impish humans, nk eyes shining with mischief as they crowded the ss, pushing and shoving to get closer to Vernon, who smiled down on them dotingly. Now that they were closer, it was distinguishable that the light that formed their bodies wasn''t perfectly continuous. All of them were bisected by asymmetrical dark lines. Lines that almost resembled sutures.


    "Dinner time, children." Vernon announced, withdrawing an ordinary ss Tupperware filled with perfectly squared cubes of meat. He grabbed a fistful and opened a smallpartment at the top, securing it again before pressing another button. There was a brief whirr, and a hidden hatch dumped the contents.


    They moved before the cubes even hit the ground. Like sharks, the tiny figures leapt, sharp teeth shing in the white light as they snatched the meat out of the air, gobbling cubes asrge as their throats in seconds and shoving in more.


    "Pixies?" I asked.


    "Sprites." Vernon corrected, mouth quirking slightly. "Though the team that brought them in called them flying piranhas, which is equally urate. These came from a pack of around twenty felled with an AOE. Most dropped cores, so they salvaged the bodies and brought them to me." He wiggled a finger at one, smiling as it paused from its meal to nip at him through the ss. "Endearing little things. Uh. The reason I''m showing you this, is because it''s a rarity to receive so many of the same creatures at once, let alone ones killed identically at the exact same moment."


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    It clicked. "Less variables and arger sample size. Rtively."


    "Exactly. An opportunity I intended to put to good use." Vernon wiggled his finger again, leading the ambitious sprite still trying to gnaw on him to a small cube of meat that had fallen in the corner. His smile faded. "Unfortunately, these are the lucky ones." He reached past me to another panel, and the frosted ss pane on the left became transparent.


    From what I could tell, the small creatures in the second enclosure were also sprites. But these only glowed a fraction as bright as the others. Their movements were sluggish. Several were curled up on the ground, unmoving, save small stirrings of breath that indicated they were still alive. Or undead, rather.


    "Will you eat for me today?" Vernon murmured quietly, repeating the same process, albeit with a much smaller volume. The internal hatch dropped open, dumping the cubes onto the terrarium detritus, where they tumbled to a stop.


    None of the dimmer sprites stirred. One stood, but only to stumble away from a cube that hadnded at her knees, mouth tight in a rictus of pain.


    "Same diet, environment, and I assume reanimation process. But the difference is drastic. Any corrtion between the behavior and the rarity of their cores?" I leaned forward, all but pressing my face against the ss. Towards the back, one of the small creatures turned to look at me, then nced away, the tuft of light that formed a facsimile of hair covering her face.


    In the reflection, Vernon shook his head. "It was the first thing I thought of, but both groups are a mix ofmon and umon cores. If they were more intelligent, the contrast could be attributed to differences in personality. I''ve studied and tested them in various ways, and in most, they are functionally identical¡ªdriven by instinct and a basic hierarchy of needs."


    "You''ve had experiments fail before." I said, recalling a few particrly unpleasant visits to their. "Every necromancy process you''ve described is difficult and esotericpared to the straightced arcane. This could be within the margin of error."


    "As you''ve witnessed firsthand, failures in this field are as spectacr as they are violent. Obvious." Vernon bit his lip, wiggling his finger in front of the ss by the nearest sprite, to no response. "This is a third result, somewhere between sess and failure. I''ve seen it before. The despondency, the¡ªfor ack of a scientific term¡ªbrokenness. Sometimes even as an oue of routine processes I''ve perfected."


    Curious, I reached out to one of the smaller creatures with <strong></strong> opening the mental connection wider than I typically would, tagging an image of a pleasant meadow with serenity and warmth as a simple greeting.


    A psychic scream mmed back.


    <em>LIES. ALL LIES. THE DARKNESS NEVER ENDS. CAN''T FEEL, CAN''T SEE, IT FREEZES, GNASHES WITH TEETH OF IRON AND ICE. DON''T MOVE OR IT WILL FIND US AGAIN, RIP OFF OUR WINGS, SLITHER INTO OUR SKIN, MELT OUR INSIDES TO JELLY, QUENCH THE LIGHT. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT¡ª</em>


    A fortified mental barrier mmed down, severing the connection. Azure. In the aftermath of vertigo and mental static, he made a scathing remark about the danger of what I''d just done, my mind too confounded to fully grasp the words.


    "Are you alright?" Vernon asked, staring at me quizzically.


    "Could¡ª" My voice caught as I tried to purge the imprint of terror. "Could some souls be more degraded than the others? If reincarnation is a factor¡ª"


    "¡ªa categorically massive ''If,'' but continue." Hemented.


    "Hypotheticals are all we have. We know definitively that the system reuses assets, so reincarnation¡ªor some sort of continuation of the soul along those lines¡ªcould create an unseen variable."


    "I have two theories." He lingered for a moment before pressing the button on the panel, concealing the crestfallen monsters behind a frosted pane once more. "The first, the one I like, is along those lines, though reincarnation as the vehicle of deterioration did not ur to me. A varying, hidden attribute that cannot be measured or identified through means we simply do not have ess to. For perhaps selfish reasons, I''d prefer that to be the case."


    "And the one you don''t like?"


    His eyes panned to the first enclosure. "Beneath all the ritualisticplexity and gruesome mysticism, true reanimation¡ªthe practice of reanimating with part or all of the soul intact¡ªis crude, almost workmanlike. Putting it metaphorically, imagine the soul itself as a ball of yarn. When a living being dies, the ball of yarn disappears, embarking somewhere unseen. It doesn''t always do so cleanly. It unspools, leaving behind an infinitesimal length of string. An anchor, or core." He pulled a glowing orb from his pocket and held it up to the light. "For a practice so entrenched in mortality, necromancy cares little for what lies beyond the curtain. It pays no mind to where the ball of yarnes to rest." He closed his hand, obscuring the core and yanking it towards his chest. "Instead, its focus is finding the most efficient method of drawing the necessary material back from oblivion."


    A slow, dawning horror washed over me, as I understood. "After the sprites were killed, their souls didn''t necessarily go to the same ce."


    <em>THE DARKNESS NEVER ENDS</em>


    "Eschatological pluralism is nothing new. Heaven and hell. Elysium and Tartarus. The House of Song, and the House of Lies. Valha and the phonebook of possible realms the vikings had." Vernon snorted. "The concept of posthumous stratification in the afterlife has been around for nearly as long as humans themselves."


    I nodded slowly. He was right, of course. But it was a little different seeing potential evidence for something that, previously, had to be taken entirely on faith. Colder.


    "Again, it''s just a theory. And not a particrly good one, at that." Vernon insisted, still clearly shaken. "None of the monsters capable of intelligent thought I''ve reanimated recall anything but darkness. There''s no way to know for sure."


    "Unless," I hedged, as I reyed his uncharacteristic offer in my mind. "You couldmune with a soul that remained in its resting ce."


    "I''ll admit, it''d be nice to have confirmation." Vernon smiled thinly. "Along with having the opportunity to speak to your friend again, you''d be able to verify that she''s well..." He tapped the ss, and the frolicking sprites stirred and chased after his hand. "And that resurrection wouldn''t end up being a tragic extension of suffering."


    For a moment, I seriously considered it. I''d blindly fought for this for so long that even the smallest breadcrumb of reassurance would mean everything.


    <em>And if, instead, you discover it was all for nothing?</em>


    There was that to consider, yes. But, perhaps more importantly, it wasn''t my ce. It was Nick''s. From the description, <strong></strong> could onlymunicate with a given core once. If Vernon''s second theory was correct, and through an astronomical case of cosmic injustice the most humane thing we could do for Jinny was to leave her where she was, Nick needed to be the one to speak to her.


    Because he''d never forgive me, if I took that from him.


    Rightfully so.


    Slowly, <em>painfully</em>, I shook my head. "Tempting as it is, we don''t know how many points true resurrection is going to cost. Even if you''ve looked at the tree and worked out what it should potentially be, I wouldn''t be shocked if logical progression gets thrown out the window when we''re talking about something this game changing. Better to bank everything you have until we know for sure."


    He held my gaze. There was something there. An ember of anger, indignation, maybe. Before I could work it out, it was gone.


    Instead of arguing, Vernon sighed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t a little disappointed."


    "If it turns out there''s enough to get both, we absolutely should. You''ll get your answer then."


    He nodded, satisfied, an odd cheerinessing over him as he rearranged several implements on his desk. "It''d be nice to have that curiosity sated beforehand. I think I''ll ask Kinsley to give me a tour of her aplishments." He grinned at me, eyes hollow as he retrieved a clipboard and held it under his arm, signaling our meeting hade to a close. "It''s one thing to be told how well she''snded, another entirely to see it for myself."


    <em>Settling ounts. Again.</em>


    I resisted giving knee-jerk approval. "Just because she''s wealthy and well-positioned doesn''t mean she doesn''t need you."


    "That''s exactly what it means." Vernon shrugged. "Children grow up. It''s inevitable."


    "There''s a world of difference between getting older and growing up early because there''s no alternative." I thought back to the most recent fiasco, then further, to the pavement puddle researcher''s supposed attempt to flee directly out of a ss window, and Kinsley''s emphatic ims that she hadn''t ordered him thrown. "She''s struggling."


    Vernon stilled. "What do you mean?"


    I hesitated, trying to find a way to convey what I wanted without fully understanding it myself. "I mean she''s struggling. She bends over backward to cut deals, cooperate with others, only to see it thrown in her face. Everyone wants what she has and is looking for a way to take it from her. Kinsley, aware of the threat, eats like shit, never stops working until she passes out and wakes up for work again. Keeps taking on more and more responsibilities even though she''s already drowning. But she''s a survivor, so she sucks in water and keeps going."


    Slowly, Vernon ran an idle hand through his hair, unknowingly leaving it askew, giving him a slightly unhinged look. "Funny." He chuckled in a way that clearly indicated he didn''t find it amusing in the slightest. "When I first expressed my doubts about continuing my work after discovering my daughter was alive, I was told¡ªinformed rather inly¡ªthat she had support. ess to everything she could possibly need, plenty of protection, and an impressive umtion of wealth. You''re saying that''s not the case."


    I shook my head, aware that he was repeating some of my wording verbatim. "You''re not hearing me. She has money and power in spades. Her delegation could use some work, and she''s cheap enough that she''d rather ckout her schedule than drain the coffers hiring an adequate amount of staff. No one''s perfect."


    "Then what''s the problem?" Vernon asked. His voice, while deceptively calm, was undercut by the fists clenched at his side.


    "No one tells her when to stop. Where the lines are." I said simply, sticking my hands in my pockets. "No one challenges her. No one she respects, anyway. She''s surrounded by people with their own agendas who won''t risk jeopardizing their positions by confronting her, because they have vested interests they''re not willing to lose. They smile and nod along with whatever she does, and when she fucks up¡ªrare, but it happens¡ªthey say nothing."


    "I see. And you, Myrddin? Are you one of the people who nod along?"


    I fixed him with a cold stare. To this point, I''d been doing my level best not to judge Vernon. On the scale of hard-left life turns he''d spun outpletely, and in my experience, getting pissed off at someone who was already shit out of luck and more depressed than a Russian novelist was counter-productive. But his reaction, and general irritation at the possibility that reuniting with his daughter would require more effort than whatever short, sentimental goodbye he was envisioning?


    Well, it was really pissing me off.


    "Who do you think taught her how to cross those lines? It''s not my ce to suddenly flip the script and tell her to rein it in. Kinsley needs a touchstone, Vernon. Someone who prioritizes her well being over everything else. Her soul. Otherwise..."


    <em>She ends up like me.</em>


    Still staring at a corner, he murmured something I couldn''t make out.


    "What?"


    "The irony of what you''re asking." His teeth ground audibly, and he pounded the desk so hard it made me jump. "When any reasonable person, knowing what I''ve done, would say the best thing I could do for my daughter is stay the fuck away, you want me closer, ying the role of parent and moral paragon. I''ve harvested people. Torn apart monsters¡ªno, living creatures capable of thought and speech, no matter how monstrous they appear¡ªsimply to study their biology and catalog potential use-cases. I''ve... done other things. Terrible things. Simply because I was curious."


    "Capone, Escobar, Mussolini," I countered, rattling off names one after another. "All inarguably bad people who somehow found their way into being decent parents."


    "Pablo Escobar''s a little thin." Vernon rolled his eyes.


    "Yeah, well, Capone isn''t. Stayed the same person until the end, never really stopped doing heinous shit until his downfall. But he wanted more than that for his kid. Tried to show him the road not taken."


    "And that''s your idea of a good parent? A hypocrite?"


    I shrugged. "Authentic, self-driven transformation is hard. Even if you have the motivation, it takes a level of doggedness and grit that''s often impossible to sustain. So sure, it''s not ideal, but sometimes being a hypocrite is the most effective role a parent can y. The next best thing."


    "The next best thing." Vernon repeated. He buried his face in a hand, the portion still visible ck and haggard. "My reserves are still tapped from work earlier today. I need rest."


    That was my cue to leave. I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned towards the door. "It''s about to get busy, so this may be thest time we speak in person before we finally get answers and you get a much needed vacation. I''ll be in a ce with a lot of high-level monsters, so if I bag any rare cores I''ll hold them for you. But is there anything else you need?"


    "No." Vernon said, clearly wanting some space. He spoke again just as I started to walk away, eyes peering over his hands as he leaned forward in his chair. "Actually, your friend was a mage, yes?"


    I nodded.


    He stood and walked over to a nearby cab, opening the panel and revealing a row of shining, meticulous medical equipment. "If you''re going to be around high-level monsters¡ªparticrly creatures with magical abilities¡ªI need blood samples for reference. It''s not strictly necessary, but if you want to ensure she''s brought back exactly as she was, I may need to manually graft leylines into the vessel. Had to do it for a few of the sprites that were more damaged than the others, and with them, I at least had their original bodies to draw from."


    Absorbing that, I avoided looking down at his blood-soaked sleeves. "Surprised you''re not inundated with samples to study."


    "Unfortunately, simple monsters are the easiest to capture. I get a lot of those, brought in muzzled and restrained. Anything higher level tends tond on my table as either a corpse or a core. The corpses are usually dead too long, bloodpromised by coagtion." He rummaged around for a while before retrieving a small metal tube.


    There was a button directly below a small LCD disy, and two circr openings on either convex end, bottom aperturerger than the top. With practiced ease, he took a small ss vial and screwed it into the bottom.


    Though it was different than others of its type, I immediately connected the resemnce. "Lancing device?"


    "Essentially." Vernon nodded. "Another new acquisition. Draws more blood than a typicalncet, intended for posthumous use. The interior of the vials are coated with apound that should halt degradation entirely for at least a week."


    "Shouldn''t slow me down too much. How many do you need?"


    His head wobbled back and forth in thought. "Uh. Ten, perhaps. To give me the clearest picture."


    <strong></strong>


    <strong>Quest: Dubious Tithes</strong>


    <strong>Primary Objective ¡ª Assist Vernon, Necromancer, in gathering samples for his research.</strong>


    <strong>Obtain 0/10 Unique Blood Samples from High-Level monsters</strong>


    <strong>Secondary Objective: Obtain additional rare cores.</strong>


    <strong>Threat Level: ???</strong>


    <strong>EXP GAIN: Significant</strong>


    <strong>Time Limit: N/A</strong>


    <strong>Reward: Increased rtionship with Vernon, Necromancer.</strong>


    <strong>Reward: ???</strong>


    My mouth went dry, even as I mentally navigated the steps to ept it. On the surface it was simple enough. A literal fetch quest. It''d been a while since I''d received any direction from the system at all. To the point I''d begun to wonder if it was being intentionally denied. Suddenly receiving one after weeks of nothing felt significant. But what was more significant was the absence of something that had always been there.


    The personal objective that warned me to keep my ss a secret from other Users, present in every quest I''d received since the dome came down.


    It was gone.


    Somehow, I managed to form a coherent sentence. "Message when you hit the top of the tree. Won''t be able tomunicate much, with realm interference, but I''ll try to check-in as much as I can."


    Muttering something that sounded like an agreement, Vernon stretched and walked away as I departed, whistling something ssical in a minor key that sounded a little like a nocturne.

 Chapter 300

    Chapter 300


    I left the Order''s headquarters in a hurry, taking a portal exit that put me a few blocks away from one of the few coffee shops still up and kicking. After a bit of dark roast and rumination, I came to the conclusion I could worry about what the absence of the Personal Objective meantter.


    There was a good chance it was nothing. Supporting that, none of my existing, outdated quests disyed the objective as failed. Perhaps it''d been long enough that keeping my identity guarded was meant to be assumed, and the objective had only been there as an early guard rail.


    More to the point, I''d already failed it, intentionally. As a merchant, Kinsley¡ªthe first person I''d divulged my secret to¡ªwas a bit of a gray area. But Nick and Sae were Users, and despite belonging to the exact group of people I was supposed to shield my identity from, I''d told them explicitly.


    Smart or not, Nick needed to hear it.


    Simrly, Sae was so vulnerable and alone at the time that keeping her in the dark would have been borderline exploitation.


    I told myself it made sense. I''d received unachievable objectives in quests before, but never¡ªto my knowledge¡ªbecause the criteria itself was simply inurate to reality. I received the quest to help Jinny before she died. Her death was imminent, and given the swiftness with which it happened, there was little anyone could have done to stop it barring some form of precognition. But up until the moment she died, it was still achievable.


    <em>"You''re going to bring me back, right?"</em>


    I drained the coffee, trying to force the caffeine to clear my head through sheer power of will. All it left me with was jitters and an empty cup. I''d been too deep in my headtely. And when I found myself lost in the feedback loop of my own thoughts, there was generally only one thing that helped.


    Getting back to basics.I pulled up my UI


    <strong>Matt</strong>


    <strong>Level 24 Ordinator (25 Pending)</strong>


    <strong>Strength: 6</strong>


    <strong>Toughness: 12</strong>


    <strong>Agility: 33+</strong>


    <strong>Intelligence: 20+</strong>


    <strong>Perception: 14</strong>


    <strong>Will: 21</strong>


    <strong>Companionship: 3</strong>


    <strong>Active Title: Jaded Eye</strong>


    <strong>Feats: Double-Blind, Ordinator''s Guile II, Ordinator''s Emtion, Stealth II, Awareness I, Harrowing Anticipation, Vindictive, Page''s Quickdraw, Squelch, limation, Hinder, Escting Fire, Assassin II, Mind Spike, Decisive Action.</strong>


    <strong>Skills: Probability Cascade, LVL 21. Suggestion, LVL 32. Command, LVL 15. One-handed, LVL 34. Negotiation, LVL 29. Unsparing Fang (Emted), Level 23. Bow Adept, LVL 13. Twilight''s Nocturne, LVL 16. Subjugation, LVL 31. Riposte, LVL 11.</strong>


    <strong>Boons: Nychta''s Veil, Eldritch Favor, Ordinator''s Implements, Retainer''s Guiding Hand</strong>


    <strong>Summons: Audrey ¡ª Flowerfang Hybrid, Bond LVL 11. Talia ¡ª Eidolon Wolf, Bond LVL 15. Azure ¡ª Abrogated Lithid, Bond LVL 20.</strong>


    I''d noticed the pending level earlier, a little after my horrific hangover had loosened the vices on my mind. It wasn''t like me to miss a notification, especially one as significant as a level-up, so it had to have happened in the tower after Julien''s boss one-shot caused me to lose consciousness.


    Unamused by the memory, I lingered on <strong></strong> silently cursing the problematic perk.


    <em>Keeps the user conscious until the moment of death my ass.</em>


    It''d been a questionable selection from the beginning. I''d picked it out of pure necessity, needing a way to keep myself conscious and functional in a critical moment. Having endured the unpleasantness of patching me up after the fact, Dr. Ansari railed on the stupidity of the perk with searing veracity.


    <em>"The mind loses consciousness for a reason, Mr. Matthias. It may keep you conscious, but it could kill you just as easily. Elevated stress hormones and the potential for psychological trauma alone are not to be trifled with. Maintaining awareness in the midst of something truly agonizing could easily give someone as young as you a heart attack. It could kill you even when the physical trauma itself would not."</em>


    Despite that, I''d been hesitant to get rid of it. If it hadn''t so recently shown itself to be unreliable, I probably still would be. With lingering reluctance, I pulled the respec charm from my inventory¡ªa gift from a crafter in my region¡ªand selected Vindictive from the dropdown.


    <strong></strong>


    Huh. Not what I expected. The system was so often malicious that it was a surprise when things worked in a logical, not-out-to-fuck-you-over manner.


    The additional points opened up some options. I''d nned on banking the feats for this level, but there were a lot more expensive options that were suddenly viable choices.


    As I scanned them, I felt the familiar buzz behind my eyes that indicated Azure was looking through them directly.


    "Need a consultation from a nosy summon?" Azure asked.


    "By all means." I leaned back in my chair and scrolled to the top of the list. "Gonna take the whole night, otherwise."


    A slight shudder went through me as Azure assumed control, ncing over the level information as he went down the list. My eyes nced towards the pastry bag that now housed only crumbs. "If I was petty and unwise, I might demand another scone as payment."


    "Take human form after we''re done, I''ll buy you one."


    He said nothing, and I internally sighed. "You want to eat it in my body."


    "I just want to taste it the way you taste it. Mimicking a human is easy. Recreating functional taste buds that are as vast andplex as a human''s is pretty much impossible. But I won''t ask for that because you''ll say¡ª"


    "¡ªIt''s weird, yeah. Especially when you start moaning. With my voice."


    "It was my first time experiencing pizza, but <em>fine</em>, keep holding it over my head." Azure whined, continuing to scroll the list. "You don''t really need more Perception, or feats thattently achieve increased Perception. It''s a little low and I know you''re worried about it, but the fact that you have both <strong></strong> and summons¡ªmultiple sets of eyes watching all around you at any given time, all of whom are capable of sending an immediate silent warning, puts you far above average."


    "Great. What else?"


    The many feats blurred as Azure scanned through them.


    There were a few promising options. <strong></strong> potentially paired quite well with <strong></strong> ensuring any attack to a pain or nerve center was more likely to disorient and stun the target. It wasn''t a straight damage increase, but it created more potential windows for attack, so in an oblique way, it kind of was. Azure spent a few minutes arguing for <strong></strong> the feat that bestowed enhanced melee uracy and critical chance while dealing damage from above, until I sent him a mental image of me, jumping down from the rafters on top of a knoll who moved at thest second and left me face nted on the ground, and he begrudgingly moved on.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Azure idly flicked from one page to another. "There''s an obvious choice. Not something you''ll go for, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense than bulk dumping points into intelligence."


    My stomach dropped. "No."


    "Yeah, it''s a touchy subject." Azure sighed, still toying with the feat page. "But the point is, there''s options. Some of them actually make the core ability more ptable."


    I paused. But only for a moment. "The only reason I have <strong></strong> is because we needed a trump card. The capacity to tip the scales in a critical moment after every other avenue fails. And <em>only</em> after."


    "Perhaps," Azure said, in the way he often did when there was moreing. "But by creating such tight criteria, you are, in a way, admitting that if specific circumstances ur you are willing to use it every time they do, yes?"


    I caught a glimpse of him in the window''s reflection, leaning over my shoulder like a concerned sibling. A bit inurate¡ªso far as I could tell, when Azure and Imunicated mentally, it was entirely internal. He wasn''t hanging over my shoulder like Casper. But these projected hallucinations weremon, likely a subconscious rumination on his part thatmunicated a sense of camaraderie.


    Begrudgingly reminding myself he was looking out for us, I forced myself to answer honestly. "Yes."


    "Then I''m not understanding why you''re so vehemently against making that¡ªarguably inevitable oue¡ªless horrifying."


    I wrested control from him for a moment to rub my temples. "Let''s just stop talking abstractly, this is already giving me a headache. The variant of <strong></strong> you want me to look at. Does it offer any practical benefit to us beyond lessening the long-term impact?"


    "It does," Azure said immediately, the pitch of his voice rising with cautious excitement. "It slightly lessens the initial damage, but the real kicker is it won''t permanently disable ranking up the stat anymore. Obviously a big benefit to the target. Simultaneously, if you <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> a mage, they have the potential to build themselves back up. Eventually, given enough levels and steadymitment to recovery, they could be as capable as they used to be. It''s a¡ªah fuck, you''re baiting me." He realized, sourness seeping into the mental connection.


    "Just making a point." I smiled at the waitress as she filled my coffee, suddenly in control of my faculties again as Azure retreated. "The entire point of a nuke is the capacity for catastrophic destruction. It shouldn''t be conventional, have multiple use-cases, or be easy to justify. The second you getfortable with the idea of pressing that button is the second you''ve lost."


    "Please spare me the Kissinger rant." Azure said, still sulking.


    I sipped the coffee. "Dead motherfucker aside, I always found the counter-arguments to the tactical nuke take kind ofpelling. Esction, for one. p someone across the face and they punch you in the jaw? Take it to civil court all you want, maybe there''s even a case, but no one''s gonna genuinely believe you didn''t have iting. Because escting is human nature."


    Azure drifted into my sightline and lounged beside the table, mental apparition ghostly and orange, his expression the picture of false calm. "I''m aware of the necessity of rules when ites to engagement. There''s a reason you let Sunny''s boy go. Why I''ve never considered proposing we go after Aaron through his only obvious weakness."


    "Careful. If Daphne heard that, she might beat you to death in an alley."


    "She''s not weak." Azure rolled his eyes. "Just more vulnerable than him. But I get it, why we can''t use her. For the same reason I would rather it be literally any other human on earth than the necromancer who targeted your sister."


    "The gloves tend toe off. And they always take it farther than you think they will."


    "What I don''t understand," Azure said, hovering closer to the ground and literally putting his foot down, "is why you can''t recognize the difference between a weapon capable of ending countless lives that is impossible to conceal, and an untraceable single-target ability that affects one person at most."


    "Does it, though?" I set my coffee down unevenly, sending ripples across the surface. "Because I''d argue it affects the lives of everyone they rely on, people dependent on them, the victims of any idents their diminished acuity may cause. Their children."


    "As it would if they were killed or maimed in a pedestrian way." Azure''s head lolled to the side, eyebrows knitted in exasperation.


    I felt for Azure, I really did. To him, my caution must have seemed utterly irrational. It just wasn''t something we would ever see eye-to-eye on. His logic and reasoning excelled at mimicking a human''s, but like his sense of taste,cked nuance. Spared little room for undefinables.


    And somewhere between <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> was an undefinable I couldn''t shake. <strong></strong> wasn''t permanent. It could be used in a way that instilled a dogmatic sort of loyalty, but that was entirely optional. <strong></strong> and <strong></strong> if used responsibly, all had the potential to leave the victim''s psyche unharmed.


    <strong></strong> was theplete opposite. It battered the psyche, inflicted permanent harm to the sheer, ruthless purpose of lowering the target''s stats enough to give my other abilities a foothold. I''d tried it only once, on a small group of hostile goblins in the tower. At the time, I figured testing on dumb, hostile mobs was kinder than targeting something neutral. It was necessary¡ªfor one thing, I would have never realized, possibly until there was zero room for error, that it was the only Ordinator ability I''d encountered that deployed a visible projectile.


    As it worked out, neither was kind.


    "I don''t want to make it easier to use. More convenient or justifiable. Easier to stick to the rules that way."


    "And I''ll respect that, for now." Azure phased through the booth''s wall, checking the perimeter for the second time that hour, his troubled voice still perfectly clear. "Because it helps you function. Right and wrong doesn''t factor, for me. We could dangle Daphne off a building by her ankles tomorrow for all I care. I abide by your wishes because I care about you. And objectively, there''s wisdom in being careful."


    "But?" I prompted.


    Azure, still facing away from me, breathed out, his shoulders slumping. "There''s too many rules. They''re too restrictive, and eventually you''re going to paint yourself into a corner."


    "I''ll break them if I have to."


    "Exactly." Azure looked up, watching the fading golden glow of the skyline, hands stuck in the ghostly manifestation of a hoodie. "You''re capable of it, sure. But it weighs on you. Every time you cross a line you''ve set for yourself, the... hope... dulls a little more. It''s dim enough as it is. Maybe this is a stupid sentiment, but I don''t want to see it gone."


    "...What hope?" I pretended not to understand. Not out of cruelty. It was just easier than the alternative.


    Azure rubbed at his face with his sleeve then snapped out of existence. After a few seconds, I felt the buzzing behind my eyes again. "Just take <strong>.</strong> It pairs nicely with <strong></strong> and you''ll get practical value out of it quickly."


    "Was thinking the same thing." I said quickly, scrolling down the page. "Still leaves us with two points though."


    "Nothing else stood out. Maybe just bank them."


    "What about this?" I pointed out a feat I''d been considering for a while.


    "Transmogrify Equipment?" Azure asked, puzzled. "Why? It''s entirely cosmetic."


    I pulled up the description while I waited.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    The light came on. "Unless," Azure realized, "You''ve recently upgraded your arsenal and don''t want those recent, rather distinguishable acquisitions locked to Myrddin."


    "Like you said, I have too many rules." I tried to offer it as an olive branch. "Maintaining different sets of equipment, leveling up skills for said equipment, it all splits too much focus. I''ve been pissed as hell at the Adventurer''s Guild for dragging their feet, when in reality I''ve been doing the same thing in a different way. I''ll still work on archery, of course. That''ll only open up more options for me, and bows are a good fit."


    "As we''ve observed before, Knives and Crossbows are rtively ubiquitous." Azure disembarked, reclining on his back and floating in front of me with his hands behind his head as if carried by an invisible cloud. "But the list of skilled, high-level Users who rely on them instead of switching to a sword is far shorter. Myrddin sits at the top of that list."


    "Yeah. Gonna need to misdirect. People have already noticed that my page abilities aren''t that different from a rogue''s, so no point in going overboard. Need to style myself differently without sacrificing effectiveness. Just can''t stand in the middle of a storm the same way. I''ll give it some thought."


    "Take your time," Azure raised his wrist, looking at an imaginary watch. "You''ve got... twelve hours, give or take?"


    I tried not to let that get to me. Tomorrow needed to go well. I didn''t even want to imagine the clusterfuck that would y out if there was a repeat of thest floor.


    It was a defining moment.


    And there were only a million more things I needed to do to get ready.

 Chapter 301

    Chapter 301


    Fog rolled in from the east, darkness of the early morning bestowing the festive, carnivalesque atmosphere of the tower with a decidedly creepy ir.


    The tower was still up and running. As far as anyone could tell, it never closed, and even now there were four early risers decked out in system gear making their way through the empty queue. Ravens¡ªor crows, though they seemed too big to be crows¡ªflitted around the sticky, confetti-littered square, pecking at detritus, eyeing their fellows with jealousy as I tossed the small murder hopping around my feet bits of torn-up bread. They gobbled it down, sparing Talia fleeting nces where she''d curled up and dozed a few feet away.


    I''d arrived a little after four in the morning, sleep already a distant fantasy. Most of the previous night had been spent messaging everyone I could, calling in favors, coordinating.


    It still didn''t feel like enough.


    But as much as it felt like I should be doing something, there was nothing left to do now but wait.


    Heavy footfalls scuffed concrete. Nick approached the tower from the front, looking half-awake and a little lost. From the looks of it, I wasn''t the only one who¡¯d used the recent lull to upgrade. Both the sword and gleaming silver armor looked entirely new. More unexpected was the small luminescent creature wiggling under his arm.


    I whistled low. He started, a little, then made his way over to join me.


    "Couldn''t sleep?" I asked, as he took a seat on the stool beside me.


    "Nah." Nick grunted as he hiked himself up on the adjoining stool, metal support beam groaning beneath the heft of his armor. "Too in my head. Got the yips, as the old folks say. Haven''t felt like this since the night before myst game.""And the plus one?"


    "Oh, right." Nick removed the creature from beneath his arm. It looked to be a semi-translucent, lightly glowing crab identical to the nners, onlyrger. He ced it down on the metal counter of the cart, where it skittered back and forth, rotated a few times and plopped down, active camouge adapting to the stainless steel surface as now barely visible eyestalks flitted between us and the region beyond. "Mr. Crabbington."


    "Mr. Crabbington," I repeated slowly.


    "Remember all the detailed, 4k, borderline cinematic footage Slenderman and co had of thest event?"


    "Trust me, I remember."


    He chuckled. "Well, I''ve been brainstorming our Adventurer''s Guild problem, and in the middle of that I got a bug up my ass about it. Didn''t seem right that they could sling highly-edited shit at us from the skies while we''re down here stuck in the stone ages. So after asking basically everyone I could think of, I reached out to the big man himself." Nick reached over and patted the crab on the head. "He hooked me up."


    I stared at the creature. "It... records?"


    "It does."


    "Is it recording now?"


    "No. It''s pretty much a magic robot with organic bits. Doesn''t even have to eat. There''s amand phrase to start and stop, and it can only hold so much before it has to offload it somewhere, so it''s inactive."


    "You uh... sure he wasn''t just fucking with you?"


    "Yeah," Nick trailed off, brows furrowed. "It was weird. He had it all locked and loaded. Sybil brought one in as soon as I said something, like he knew I was going to ask. Answered every question I had."


    "Even if Hastur isn''t perfectly omniscient, he has more foreknowledge than any of us do."


    "But why that, though?" Nick pointed out, puzzled. "If we''re right that his power is limited until he ascends, or whatever, and he only gets, like, snapshots of possible futures and the steps to get to them in the current moment, why the hell would he waste two seconds of attention on some dipsticking in to talk to him about a crab?"


    He had me there. "You said this had something to do with enticing Tyler and didn''t exin how."


    Nick sat up excitedly, foisting the crab off the counter back onto hisp. "Right. I was racking my brain, trying toe up with ways going into the tower now instead ofter could work to his benefit. Problem is, it''s kind of a raw deal for an iffy oue. He deploys the guild uncertain of how many floors we have to clear, with only our and the Order''s word to go on that it''s worth his time. If Tylermits he can''t really prepare for the second event, and if we fail, he''ll be weaker for it."


    "Yeah. I''ve beening up empty on that too," I admitted.


    "But what if going into the tower and fucking up monsters for themon good actually bags him more recruits. Think about how fucked up people were over the footage. Part of that''s because it was explicit, footage of a violent tragedy, sure, but part of it was also because most people haven''t had shit to watch since the streaming services croaked. Video affects us more than it used to." Nick shook the crab for emphasis, which wiggled its arms unhappily in response.


    "Huh." It was out there. But not so much that I couldn''t smell the opportunity.


    "We have it film the big battles. Make the Adventurer''s Guild out to be badass heroes, raging against the fading of the light." He puffed himself up,ically heroic, before slowly slouching back again. "Course, I uh, have no idea how to go about distributing it. Or how to edit it even." He rubbed the back of his neck, tired and a little shell shocked. "Was so convinced that I had <em>something,</em> but this was all probably a stupid idea to begin with. Guess I ran out of time."


    Splitting my attention, I pulled up my DMs andposed a message.


    <strong></strong>


    The answer, one I''d expected back by noon at the earliest, came back lightning fast.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    Okay, message received.


    "That why you didn''t message me about it? Worried it was stupid?" I guessed, feeling a little guilty.


    "No. Well¡ªis it stupid?"


    Seizing the enemy''s propaganda machines and repurposing them for themon good?


    "Not even a little."


    "Oh." Nick said, encouraged, then scrunched up his face. "Wasn''t afraid of making a fool of myself. Not just that, anyway. You''re doing a lot you can''t tell me about and even if I''m not getting the y by y, I can see how busy you are. Just trying to be choosier about when I blow up your DMs."


    I held my fist out on my leg silently, and he bumped it. "As much as I appreciate the discretion, never hold back when we''re talking about something with this much potential."


    "Look at us." Nick pped me on the back with a grin. "Communicating, establishing boundaries like grown-ass adults."


    "Got the ass part right."


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    "I always get the ass part right." Nick grinned, in a manner not so different from his old self, before the smile faded. "We have to show up, today."


    I agreed. "Carry, if needed."


    "I think..." Nick hedged. "I''m gonna cut loose. Really tackle the first floor full bore. Inspirational hero shit. Opinion?"


    It was obvious he was waiting for me to advise caution, expecting a warning to pace himself. But we were past that. The AG was already on the verge of throwing in the towel. Their members had likely already picked up on the uncertainty from leadership. We needed more than a win.


    We needed a victory.


    "A lot of bad shit happened in the trial." Noticing the way he immediately stiffened, I hurried on. "Because of that, we don''t think about the rest of it much. And it wasn''t all bad."


    Nick scoffed, gaze unfocused, full of regret.


    "You saved my life."


    He rolled his eyes. "Another hour and you would have figured out a way to handle old stretch-neck yourself."


    "These days, maybe." I shrugged. "Back then, I''m not so sure. It was a weak start. Fewer summons, less resources and contingencies. And the spider wasn''t weak. She had me in check. I''ve never told you this, but I was watching the whole time."


    He took a second to recall it, but once he did, his face flushed bright red. "How?"


    "We had the same patron. Convinced her I was on her side and she let me hold the strings. Had front row seats the entire time."


    "Oh." Nick covered his eyes with a hand. "It''s always hazy when I''m that pissed off, but from what I do remember, it got... a little crazy. You saw all that, huh?"


    "I didn''t just <em>see</em> it. It was everything I could do to not just gape, ck-jawed."


    "Stop."


    "I''m serious. And sure, parts of it were a little terrifying¡ªnever going to forget you beating a bug to death with another bug¡ª"


    "¡ªCome on, man." Nick groaned.


    "But it <em>was</em> inspiring. You had this cid fury, this flow, that was humbling to watch. Utter purity of purpose. You were good when we fought together before that, but as soon as I was deep in shit, it was like someone flipped a switch. I realized two things at that moment. The first was that I never wanted to fight you. Ever. For any reason. And the second was that I trusted you implicitly."


    He trotted out the beaten puppy expression. "You didn''t trust me <em>before</em> that?"


    I pushed him lightly. "Shut up. There are levels of trust. What I''m getting at is, if you want to bring that guy back, start the camera up and go for it. Even if we don''t find a way to use the footage, it''ll wake the people who are there the fuck up. So go nuts. Take chances, be shy as hell. And I''ll make sure the cardse up in your favor."


    <em>Be who I know you can be.</em>


    "Much as I appreciate the support," Nick stared at the ground, his smile fragile. "I''m not sure I have that guy in me anymore. It changes a lot, knowing..."


    "...how quickly you can lose someone." I finished. In the recesses of my mind, <strong></strong> stirred.


    <em>Tell him.</em>


    <strong><em>No.</em></strong>


    I shook my head ever so slightly, trying to banish the thought from my mind.


    "We just said that we need to give this our all." Nick said, voice strangely calm. "If you thought of something that could help¡ª"


    "It won''t help." I snapped. "It''s cruel, and shitty, and maniptive." Nick was already holding the weight of the world on his shoulders. Add any more, and there was a real chance it would break him.


    "Damn, I didn''t realize it was all lip service."


    "Fuck off."


    "Matt. We''ve been here before." Nick lowered his arms to either side and pushed a few times, mimicking rolling a wheelchair. "No one''s ever been honest with me the way you were then. It scared the life back into me. If you have a way to get in my head and help me lock in, cruel or maniptive doesn''t matter."


    "I don''t <em>want</em> to." My voice wavered as I slipped off the stool and backed away from him. He was nothing to me, when we met in rehab. An idle curiosity with an inevitable end. And even then, I''d only gone through with it because nothing else seemed to work.


    Funny. How different things are with time.


    Now, hurting him was thest thing I wanted.


    "Okay, okay," Nick gestured with both hands palm out, as if warding off an attack, suddenly looking haggard and fatigued. "My bad. That was a shitty thing to ask. You only came at me that hard because we weren''t really friends yet. I just thought... you know."


    Talia''s voice echoed in my mind. "<em>I cannot know how you intended to motivate our packmate. With the recent developments, I can only guess. What is certain, is that he will continue to wonder what you might have said. And imagination is often far crueler than reality."</em>


    Fuck.


    Talia sprang to her feet and took off, heeding the mentalmand to scout the perimeter. I waited there quietly, praying that I''d somehow beencking and there was an entire survey unit parked on a roof somewhere.


    Eventually confirmation came back. We were in the clear.


    I reached into my inventory and withdrew the <strong></strong> feeling the signature coldness as it tightened beneath my chin.


    "This really what you want?"


    "Yes."


    "Vernon''s close, Nick." I didn''t bother turning around. Didn''t need to. His jaw was on the floor, and he was on the verge of falling off his stool. "All signs point to resurrection being the next skill he unlocks."


    Like clockwork, metal smacked against metal as he held onto the counter to steady himself. "What?"


    "Did I stutter?"


    "You¡ªyou told me he was at a progression wall. That it wasn''t promising!" His eyebrows furrowed, surprise shifting to anger.


    I turned then, giving sound to the silent voice that tormented my fears, my failures, my every doubt. Aiming outward, instead of in. Leveraging it like a weapon. "Yeah. I fucking lied. That really surprise you at this point?"


    "Why would you¡ª" His lip trembled, "What the hell is wrong with you, man? I''ve been worried sick!"


    Nick put his hands on me, but I knew the shove wasing long before he moved. I broke his grip, mming against his center te with my palm, sending him back pedaling until his armor collided with the cart and he hit the stool. "Come on, let''s hear it. Go ahead. Tell me how it wouldn''t have been a problem. How you wouldn''t have started counting down the days, dropped in on Vernon at every opportunity and tipped our hand. That the dim prospect of resurrecting Jinny bing not only real, but imminent, wouldn''t have been a constant distraction that could have easily gotten you killed."


    He bit his lip and looked away.


    "Exactly. So yes, I kept it from you. The only reason we''re even talking about it now is because I can''t stomach the sniveling anymore."


    "You don''t mean that."


    "Sure I do. For once, I mean every, fucking, word." I grabbed him by the cor of his chestte, pushed him back. "This is what you wanted. Honesty. Well how''s this for honesty, Nick? You''ve been so screwed up over whether or not you might be able to bring back a dead girl, that you haven''t even considered what you might be bringing her back into."


    "Of course I''ve considered it! We''ve been trying to make things better. Trying to put an end to this." Nick snarled. He had a lot more fight in him now than he had in rehab. That meant I had to peel the resistance back,yer byyer.


    "Then actualize, motherfucker. Because we are running out of time. And the difference between you stepping up or tripping over your own feet could be the difference between bringing Jinny back to a mending society or a hellscape."


    He gripped my wrist tightly, trembling with rage.


    I leered at him outwardly, feeling nauseous as the guillotine''s de began to slide. "The second event will be worse. I barely lived through the first, Nick. <em>Me.</em>" I jabbed a thumb into my chest. "Jinny had a lot of firepower in the early days, but every User still breathing hase a long way since then. She''ll be weak at first. Vulnerable. Maybe you can protect her. Maybe you can''t. But if you really want to protect her, you can''t just fixate on her alone. You have to end this. Save <em>everyone.</em> And if you''re too selfish to see that, then you may as well not even try."


    His grip around my wrist rxed. But his eyes were fathomless. Cold as forged iron. "Remove your hand."


    I almost didn''t. But the message beneath his impassive expression sent was crystal clear. If I kept going, finished the thought? I didn''t know what he''d do. But it scared me. He reached out. Too slow to be anything aggressive, but I still fought the urge to back off, create space. The sense of danger he was giving off was almost palpable.


    Fresh air hit my skin, as he tugged the mask off.


    "Thest time someone tried that, it didn''t end well for them," I joked, catching a chill.


    Nick embraced me in a rough hug, the cool metal seeping through my armor. "Sorry I pushed. It wasn''t fair."


    "I wanted to tell you the necromancy details. It''s been driving me crazy. But you''d already been through a lot, so I held off, and... the right time never came."


    "You were right." Nick said simply, sitting back down on the stool. "About everything. I''ve been short-sighted. Just,pletely focused on an endpoint that isn''t even the end. Even if it doesn''t pan out, and the next ability Vernon unlocks is sentient jack-onterns... it''d suck to say goodbye to her without knowing I''d done everything possible to end this. Jinny didn''t talk about her life much."


    Nick was saying all the right things. Making jokes, setting low expectations, engaging in self-deprecation. But I knew what I''d done. The cruelest thing you could do to a person, when the future was uncertain. Beyond the cajoling and crudeness of the wake-up call, I''d given him hope.


    And he burned with it.


    Nick held his arm out, checking how steady it was, lowering it satisfied. "Good news. The yips have been vanquished."


    In the distance, the fog brightened, parallel high-beams casting long fingers through the haze. Another pair appeared behind it, and another.


    "They''re here."


    My friend stood, somehow seeming both younger and older than he had minutes ago. "Let''s get this party started."

 Chapter 302

    Chapter 302


    The turnout was astounding. I''d expected a fraction of what we had¡ªtwo-thirds on the upside. Looking around the lobby now, it was like half the people I personally knew in the city had shown up. Miles arrived first, fully decked out, Audrey hanging from his belt like an organic satchel. He was chatting with Azure¡ªwhose chosen form for this particr assignment was a muscled but slight looking goblinoid with gray hair in rogue''s clothes, nked by several Users who read as feds I didn''t recognize.


    In apletely unexpected move, Miles had reached out to me¡ªto Myrddinte the previous night, and invited Myrddin to help with the tower. Guaranteeing oversight and protection from any potential hostilities.


    All told, it was a good sign that my once pursuer turned mentor no longer felt the need to keep Myrddin at arm''s length. I was naturally forced to decline. But the request presented an opportunity to get all my summons on the board without arousing suspicion when I''d already been brainstorming a way to do exactly that. Myrddin couldn''t make it.


    But his summons could.


    Both the Adventurer''s Guild and the Order of Parcae had mobilized en masse, Guild heads both present. I didn''t have to guess why Tyler was there. The perpetual scowl and mask of skepticism made it perfectly clear. He was here to make the call on whether or not the tower was worth pursuing. Evaluate the floor on a hair-trigger.


    Aaron was the bigger surprise. Delegation was his religion, and he was the very picture of devout. Seeing him here, roaming around in his high-thread-count business casual, working the room, slowly gravitating towards me was both irritating and disconcerting. If he was going to act as a force multiplier, I didn''t have a problem with his presence, but I had a feeling when shit hit the fan, he''d be lingering in the back as usual.


    I caught glimpses of Astrid and Astria on the periphery. Miles spotted them just as quickly, and never forgetting a face, sidled up to them, likely reconnecting over their joint efforts during the transposition.


    No sign of Max. He hadn''t responded, when Myrddin messaged him, so to some extent that was to be expected. It rankled because Max was probably one of the few people in the dome who could have set Tyler''s mind at ease, if the numbers were good, but he was either busy or ready to move on from strike-team business, even if our purposes here were pure.


    Julian and Charlotte showed with the rest of the court, Queen Mari striding before them, giant club resting on her shoulders as she pursued a cotton candy vendor who seemed to be doing his best to evade her. There was no sign of the Duskde Knight, but if that was the court''s only absence, it wasn''t a big one.Somehow, there was less division. Everyone seemed more keen on socializing, groups mixing and merging in a way the previous cliquey standoffish atmosphere hadn''t allowed before.


    <em>They got their asses kicked, collectively. In a way one specific group can''t be med for. Somehow it turned into camaraderie.</em>


    There were shockingly few people on the outskirts. Nick separated from me almost as soon as we got in the doors, and was parked on a bench, his armored fingers steepled in front of him, head bowed. Part of me wanted to check on him. The other part was too distracted by another person mingling on the outskirts.


    Bandages on his arms, an odd cloth cloak, and curly hair. I''d only seen him once.


    But he''d left one hell of an impression.


    I was less concerned with where he was than where he wasn''t. At my brother''s side, deeper in the tower. If he was here there was a good chance my vision was correct, and Ellison waspletely alone.


    Being angry with him was irrational. I had no information and didn''t know what their rtionship was. For all I knew, curly was a hired gun.


    Which was something I reminded myself, as I approached from the side, forcing myself to unclench my fists.


    "Haven''t seen you around here before."


    "We''ve met," Curly said, matter-of-factly, seeminglypletely unconcerned with the bolt of anxiety he''d just sent down my spine. His voice was wistful, and quiet enough that it was difficult to make out over the din.


    <em>Fine.</em>


    "Where''s my brother?" I tried, offering it conversationally, like we were talking about the weather.


    "The Keeper is the wind. He waxes and wanes, going where he likes when he chooses, motives and predilections beyond theprehension of the corporeal."


    <em>Oh good. He''s insane.</em>


    "Any information you have could help," I tried again. "The floor number, or why he pushed so hard into the tower by himself."


    "Will there be vampires today?" Curly looked at his nails. His eyes were milky, and if it wasn''t obvious from the way he surveyed the room that he could see, I''d wonder if he was blind.


    "No." I paused. "Is that a warning?"


    "It is a question," Curly replied, bolstering my annoyance to biblical levels.


    "Well, we haven''t <em>been</em> to the next floor before, so no one knows what we''ll be up against," I said, biting my tongue before I could reflexively add "Asshole."


    "The keeper often knows that which he should not. You do not share this trait. Disappointing."


    "Mothe¡ª" I cut off, grinding my teeth, switching to a customer service voice. "Whatever we''re fighting, we''ll be d to have your support."


    "Support." Curly repeated, as if trying out the word out for the first time. He drew out a pack of Marlboros from within his haggard, raggedy tunic and parked a cig between his lips, absentmindedly holding the pack out to me. I took one as he lit his own and made no offer to light mine. He took a deep draw and breathed out smoke. "You''ll be heading to the highest floor currently avable?"


    I nodded, pocketing the cigarette and making a mental note to throw it away before we started climbing the tower. It seemed perfectly pre-system ordinary, and <strong></strong> hadn''t activated, but being handed something that I was, in a way, forced to hold onto set my paranoia on edge.


    "Then I will climb with you, until you lose pace."


    I scanned the room, looking for literally anywhere else to go before I said something regrettable, only to look back and see that Curly had disappeared.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the vition.


    "Motherfucker," I groaned.


    A light, likable chuckle filled me with dread. "The entric types are always a pain in the ass." Aaron had finally made his way to me, casually surveying the room. He was focused on the queue for the queue counter, smile drooping a bit. Curly was somehow already there, slouched and lethargic as he exchanged selve for a monstrous turkey leg. "The way he moved, though... Well it doesn''t matter. Theme of the day ise one,e all, right?"


    The double-meaning wasn''t lost on me. He was testing the waters, seeing if I was desperate enough to disregard our history and ask directly for his help.


    "That why you''re here? To rally the troops?"


    "Not at all." Aaron chortled, brushing off the snipe. "I''m here because my deity believes that climbing the tower will lead to a better future."


    "Of course. Aaron the devout," I mused.


    "That, and the problem dog skulking around my home seems to have lost his teeth."


    "Fancy that."


    He looked at me directly. "I don''t know how you did it, or how involved you were. The fact that you have so much sway over such a frightening individual continues to vex. But thank you for returning Cameron to me. Thest time we spoke about him, I made a decision in haste, and came to regret it. It''s a great relief to see that mistake undone."


    <em>Trantion: You delivered, and I''m returning the favor in kind.</em>


    I stuck to the script. "Like I said before. All I care about is winning and getting out from under the gameshow from hell."


    "Ever the pragmatist. Best of luck out there today." The edges of Aaron''s eyes crinkled, showing the ghost of a smile as he strode towards Tyler.


    Seeing that Sae had arrived, and fighting the ever-present urge to flip the bird at Aaron''s back, I moved towards the center, where Miles had waved Sae over moments ago.


    "...And the old cowboy says, yep, that''s about as far as I got, too!" Miles delivered what sounded like a punchline. Astrid and Astria cackled, while the other feds rolled their eyes and Sae looked vaguely green.


    "Well, I <em>was</em> hungry enough to see what I could scrounge up from the county fair buffet, but suddenly my appetite is gone." Sae rolled her eyes.


    Astria wiped a tear away, shoulders still heaving in amusement. "Just... heh... avoid the chili and you''ll be fine."


    "Hurk." Sae shook her head, ncing at me. "If you still need to eat, I''d steer clear, Helpline."


    "Miles telling weird jokes again?"


    "Ah,e on, a little humor to lighten the mood never hurt anyone." Miles stretched, seemingly without a care in the world. But the single worry-line etched into his forehead. "Ever hear the one about the woman walking home with her three daughters?" Miles asked, and when Astria and Astrid both confirmed they hadn''t, heunched into it.


    Tuning him out, I turned to Sae and pitched my voice low. "When I said you didn''t have toe, I meant it."


    "I know." Sae crossed her arms stubbornly, trying to project confidence and failing. "But this is important. Can''t dodge the realms forever."


    "Take a backseat if you need to."


    Sae had grown exponentially over thest month, in terms of level and experience. She was hard as nails and showed no signs of cracking. But everything we''d done together had urred almost entirely within the real world. I wasn''t sure if the nerves came from showing her face in public after weeks of hiding, or because this was the first time outside of the adaptive dungeon she''d set foot in a realm of uros.


    A text from Miles popped, directed to Matt.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    "For what it''s worth," Miles said to Sae, transition from text to spoken conversation perfectly smooth, "We may not be in there long. Tyler''s putting caution first. Wants to make sure no one''s rushing into something that could p back on us the way thest floor did. It''s a shame, because there''s a big opportunity here to stop what happenedst time from happening again. Totally understandable where he''sing from, just, a damn shame."


    Apparently his talks with Tyler hadn''t inspired confidence. But I had to smile a little, realizing he was already doing what I''d intended to do.


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    <strong></strong>


    /////


    It took nearly an hour of near-constant crowd work between the two of us before I started hearing things that showed promise, organically emerging from conversations neither me nor Miles had directly interfered with. Doubts about the Adventurer''s Guild being here in any serious capacity. Fears centered around what would happen if we simply walked away empty handed. Glimpses of rebellion and determination, stemming from that fear.


    Tyler called everyone over to where he and Aaron stood near the elevators, and began to speak, straightening up from the slouch he''d developed and exercising a level of gravitas I hadn''t seen from him in a while. Sara stood behind him, monitoring the crowd for threats, her expression otherwise immutable.


    "Well, I was gonna wait until nine to do this, but somehow, most of you were actually on time." Tyler announced, smiling a bit as observation drewughs. "There''s a lot of new faces, some of whom belong neither to the Order or the Adventurer''s Guild, so I''ll give you a quick rundown of where we''re at. We believe, collectively, that there''s an artifact near the top of the tower worth pursuing. Not for its inherent value. From what I understand, the artifact itself holds little value beyond being a slight improvement on the average sword."


    That was a clever bit of misinformation. If he outright announced to the crowd that <strong></strong> was at the top of the tower, it''d kick off a gold rush on the name alone.


    The few artifacts I''d encountered had beenpletely game changing, but they were rare enough that it wasn''tmon knowledge.


    "By now, it should be obvious to anyone that the kind folk of the Tower are methodical with their screening processes, so I''m sure no one''s foolish enough to try and smuggle something out." Aaron added, eyeing a few members of the crowd meaningfully. They shifted ufortably under his gaze.


    Tyler stepped forward. "Even if they weren''t, I''d like to believe that not a single person in the group assembled here today would be tempted to do so, given what we stand to gain. An end to the madness. An alternative to simply forging ahead, charging headfirst through the meat grinder that has, for thest few months, kept us and the people we care about in a state of constant peril." He faltered, pausing to adjust his eye-patch. "This is a critical undertaking. One we cannot afford to rush. I want to be clear. Thest time we made an attempt, there was a biohazard incident. One with the potential to threaten the lives of every person within the dome. Given that, Aaron and I are cing serious emphasis on the importance of caution. Several experienced scout teams will survey the floor first, while the core force holds at the entrance. After we have a clearer picture, a decision will be made."


    I groaned. And, unexpectedly, realized I wasn''t the only one. There were disapproving murmurs, even a solitary boo.


    Miles and I had talked to a lot of people. But not that many. And no matter how persuasive you were, it was impossible to start a fire from stone. The kindling had already been there, dry and brittle beneath the surface, ready to ignite. Everyone here had their lives changed by the dome and the transposition in some way. Every single person was tired of being at the whims of the unknown.


    "Make no mistake, we <em>will</em> climb the tower," Tyler insisted, feeling the resistance and trying to counterbnce. "It''s a question of timing, now. We cannot afford to expend ourselves on the precipice of disaster. But even if now is not the right time, we will return."


    He continued on for a while, battling the growing sense of unease and irritation, before seeming to grow tired and calling for everyone with us to embark on the elevator.


    Despite the massive circumference of the lift, by the time everyone filed on it the spacing was tight, cramped.


    Knees bent and whispers circted as the elevator rose, picking up speed, walls blurring with the eleration.


    We emerged at the top of a tall hill, verdant meadows extending out towards the horizons, arge circle of trees encapsting the distant perimeters.


    At first I was relieved. This floor looked exponentiallyrger than thest, but the sight-lines were wide open, meaning I''d be able to alter the flow of any battle more effectively than the previous floor''s cramped interior.


    "Holy shit," Someone mouthed.


    I looked down. And spotted the war camp.

 Chapter 303

    Chapter 303


    I scanned it through a pair of binocrs I''d bummed off a scout, lying prone at the ledge that led to a steep descent downward, scanning the structure. Wooden stakes carved from tree trunks formed high walls, thankfully not so high that they obscured our elevated view.


    What was visible was grim regardless. Hobgoblins ¡ª the goblin''s meaner, smarter cousin. Excepting a few loin-clothed, malnourished variants that seemed to be of a lower caste, they were all either fully or partially armored, and the weapons I could see were of decent quality. It was, by an order of magnitude, thergest group of monsters I''d ever seen in one ce. Five hundred give or take, though the real headcount was difficult to establish as they appeared to be sleeping in shifts, numbers obscured by therge barrack tents. There was a considerable armory, a forge, even a mess hall.


    Beyond the numbers, there were two massive problems. Separated from the rest of the camp was a small defended square that housed eight catapults. Their payloads were nothing special, judging from awkward mounds of "ammo" ¡ª they were using ordinary chunks of rock. Somehow ¡ª despite the considerable noise this many people made ¡ª the hobgoblins were stillpletely unaware of our presence, and the catapults weren''t pointed at the mountain. But the artillery weapons were on wheels, and we were absolutely in range.


    <em>Not good.</em>


    The second, arguably bigger problem, were the prisoners housed in various cages scattered around the camp.


    Nearby, Aaron and Tyler were arguing.


    "Rx," Aaron insisted, dismissing some point Tyler brought up. "We have elevation, and enough firepower with all the mages to level a building. It''ll be bloodless on our side. Just bomb the hell out of them and wash our hands of it."


    "They have <em>hostages,</em>" Tyler fired back.


    "No one''s been this high in the tower before. And even if someone has, look at them all. They''re obviously system-created entities, strategically ced to stop us from taking the obvious solution.""Hearing this?" I murmured to Miles, who was doing the same thing I was a few feet away with an expensive-looking rangefinder.


    "Every word," Miles replied.


    "Got info. But it''s more likely to hurt us than help us."


    Casually, Miles shimmied sideways until he was close enough to whisper, resting prone beside me. "What''s up?"


    I hesitated, not sure whether to share what I was about to. "I''ve seen this setup before."


    "The hobgoblins?"


    I shook my head. "The hostages. Found my way into a dungeon once with a small group, shortly after I got the ss. Owlbears. Had a human hostage in a cage. We were the first ones in, ording to the system notification, so I came to the same conclusion Aaron did."


    "Fake human, generated by the system to create an additional obstacle. Reasonable conclusion toe to."


    I hesitated.


    "Aw, fuck." Miles stared down at the camp. "How''d you figure it out?"


    "Vitiligo."


    "Sorry, what?"


    "He had vitiligo."


    "So does my aunt. The hell does that have to do with anything?"


    "Your aunt and less than one percent of the human poption," I said, blending truth and fiction as smoothly as I could. "It just stuck in my head as odd. Why would a generic, system-created hostage have such a specific trait?"


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Pass the binos. Rangefinder keeps fogging." He took them from me and surveyed the cages in the camp, pausing on each one. "C-section scar. Tattoo. Another tattoo, different color, different artist. Really terrible sses. Surprised they let him keep those. Fuck me." Miles lowered the binocrs, wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead. "Bureau likes to me every missing person on a necromancer, but I''m willing to bet a lot of people who disappeared right at the beginning met a simr fate. You gonna... oh." He leveled a cool gaze at me, seeing, without judgment or affirmation. "Horrific as it is, ttening that camp is the easiest way from point A to point B. And if Tyler finds out, this could be the excuse to back out he''s searching for. A reasonable person might be considering keeping that to himself."


    I looked away.


    "Well shit, kid. Really front-loading the heavy stuff." Miles sighed, giving the camp another once-over before he shook his head. "I don''t have to tell you, of all people, that sometimes life gives you shit choices."


    A slow chill crawled up my spine.


    "You''re thinking about the lives at stake. Trolley problem logic. If you keep your silence, let those twenty people suffer whatever''sing their way, you stand to save hundreds of thousands of lives. What you have to realize is that''s a false binary."


    "How so?"


    "You''re not leveraging the lives of the people down there," Miles pointed, "against the lives of the people outside. You''re leveraging the lives of the people down there for a single step in the right direction."


    "Fuck." It was a relief, in a way. Even if it didn''t make the current situation any easier.


    "You wanna tell them, or should I?" Miles asked.


    I stood to my feet, brushing bits of detritus off my armor and approaching the two guild leaders with my hands in my pockets. "I''ve encountered a simr scenario before. The hostage was a real person, abducted when the meteor hit and we all got our sses."


    Tyler leveled me with a frown. "You''re sure?"


    Aaron looked between us, unconvinced. "Just because it happened once doesn''t mean it''s the case here."


    <em>Too quick on theeback. He already knew.</em>


    I turned my attention to Tyler. "Confident. The hostages all have distinguishing marks. Why the hell else would they give a system-generated human a C-section scar?"


    "To make them more convincing," Aaron argued. "Isn''t that the entire point?"


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick hold the crab up, peering at it intently before cing it down on the ground, where it blended perfectly with the grass.


    My pulse spiked.


    <em>Now?!</em>


    "Much as I appreciate you bringing this to my attention," Tyler rubbed his head, "it changes things. We can''t blindly fire into the camp without risking innocent lives. There''s no approach with cover of any kind, and they have braziers scattered around the meadow, so stealth is out of the question. Even if we descend down the back of the mountain and circle around, they''ll see using, and the catapults will do the rest."


    "What about the people?"


    Heads snapped around, the tone and authority in the voice immediately striking. As far as I could tell, Nick wasn''t doing anything differently. He was standing casually, one foot slightly in front of the other, gauntlets resting on his belt.


    "The situation is tragic..." Tyler said, scanning Nick up and down uncertainly. "But we can''t help them without putting our own in serious peril."


    Nick chuckled, running gloved fingers through his hair. "Guess I''m just confused. I''m not the brightest guy in the world. Or the dome. Sometimes things that should make sense to me, don''t. So help me out a little. If we''re right, and those people down there have been stuck in cages since this all started, they''ve probably suffered a lot. I''ve been held against my will before. It was a picpared to what the folks down there are going through, and I''ll still never forget it. Guess I''m wondering, if the assembled force of two of the strongest guilds in the dome aren''t going to save those people... who is?" The challenge in his voice rang, clear as day.


    Tyler red, swatting at his eyepatch. "You would understand better if you bothered to listen." Beside him, Aaron slowly began to smile.


    Nick shrugged. "Happy to get my ears checked after, but I''m pretty sure I heard the catapults and elevated firing positions were the biggest problems, no?"


    "Well... yes," Tyler admitted.


    "And if they weren''t a problem, you''d feel morefortable swinging that sword around."


    "There''s a difference betweenfort and knowing I''m not marching the people I''m directly responsible for to their deaths," Tyler countered, off-bnce, starting to sense the powder keg but not fully grasping what it was yet.


    "Then I''ve only got one thing left to say to you." Nick leaned forward.


    <em>Here ites.</em>


    I dropped into a crouch, mimicking adjusting my boot.


    There was a blur as Talia darted away, sprinting from Nick''s side towards the twin mages.


    "For Frodo," Nick said, letting it hang for maximal confusion.


    Just as Tyler had recovered enough to speak, Nick turned and took off running at a dead sprint, directly towards the ledge.

 Chapter 304

    Chapter 304


    <em>"Talia, give Astria a message from Myrddin. Tell her if the hobgoblins try executing hostages, send a strong reminder why they spaced them out like that in the first ce. Keep it vertical and off target. Hit Sae, Julien, and Charlotte after, from me. Tell them they don''t have to help. But if they feel like pitching in, we''ve never needed it more."</em>


    Talia broke off from us, darting between onlookers, ducking beneath the wide gate of a gaping tank and she tore hell towards the twins.


    I ran parallel to Nick, keeping pace. But only barely. My Agility was closing in on double his. How he was managing the speed was beyond me, until I noticed the way his armor had changed color.


    He was glowing gold.


    "Whatever the hell you''re doing, I think your patron approves," I yelled over the cacophony of nking.


    "Yeah. Got a lot of juice," Nick panted, sparing a nce at me. "Dunno how long it''s gonnast. We need to go in hard, fuck ''em up as much as we can with the time we have."


    I nced at the rapidly approaching ledge. "Maybe worry about the cliff first?"


    "Nah." He grinned, a manic gleam in his eye. "Just aim for the bushes."


    "It''s a ny-degree incline, motherfucker!""You trust me?"


    "Fucking obviously!"


    "Drop back a bit. Follow my lead."


    "Already... am."


    I trailed off, as Nick pulled ahead, gaining ground without any adjustment of speed on my part, sprinting towards the ledge without so much as a flicker of fear. He hit the ledge and leapt, no hesitation, catching enough air that I knew, instinctively, thending was going to be fatal.


    "What¡ª" I cut off, ck jawed, as Nick shot straight outwards, fists out behind him.


    The friend I''d once watched struggle to walk, flew.


    "You idiot," I murmured, popping my flight charm, trying not to think about all the ways this was a terrible idea, fighting the wind to catch up with him. "Now that we''re weightless and it''ll be three times harder to do a damn thing, any other bright ideas?"


    "Think they realized I didn''t take the short way down?" Nick nced back at the mountain, wincing and wobbling a bit, as the motion redirected the wind current and nearly knocked him off course.


    "Yeah, they''re aware," I said dryly.


    "Then we go low." He swooped down, dropping altitude until we were unnervingly close to the ground, weaving through the waist-high grass and drawing his sword, holding the hilt with both hands, sweeping side to side at seemingly random intervals, like he was searching for something.


    In seconds, he found it. One of the hobgoblin rogues skulking through the grass, d in leathers, staring at the oing hurricane, frozen.


    The collision was a horrifying squelch and resulting squeal as Nick''s sword speared all the way through his shoulder, cross-guard acting like a fish-hook as the hobgoblin was dragged, kicking and screaming, the back of his legs plowing through the soil.


    "Got you a present," Nick said, shifting the sword slightly so the monster was closer to me.


    The hobgoblin''s beady ck eyes hopped from me to Nick, and back again, panicked.


    "I don''t want it."


    "Just fuck with him, I''ll evade for a bit."


    I bit back a sharp retort, catching his meaning. He knew the Ordinator abilities required a lot of set-up, and was trying to give me a window to use them. Granted, it was a depressingly small window, and only a single goblin out of a camp of five hundred. But it was better than nothing.


    <strong></strong>


    I reeled, nearly hitting the ground as psychic feedback snapped back on me, the inhuman squeal breaking my concentration.


    "What the hell?"


    <em>Int/Agi Hybrid.</em>


    "Uh, Matt, I don''t mean to rush¡ª"


    "Then don''t pick up the world''s smartest hobgoblin and expect me to work quickly." I snarled, grabbing the goblin''s head and twisting his neck to the side, giving me a better angle. Drawing a knife, I carved his ear off, ignoring both Nick''s horrified look and the Goblin''s crescendoing howl.


    "Can you go five minutes withoutmitting a war crime?!" Nick shouted.


    I ignored him, opening a connection through <strong></strong> and forcing my way through, feeling for weaknesses and fears. The hobgoblin, whose name was some guttural multi-apostrophized grunt I couldn''t pronounce, was a hedonist first.


    And hedonists were easy.


    <em>PROTECT YOUR CHAIN OF COMMAND. ESPECIALLY THE ONES THESE INTERLOPERS GET CLOSE TO. IF YOU FAIL YOU''LL NEVER SEE THE INSIDE OF A BROTHEL AGAIN.</em>


    His arm was in bad shape. His mind was chaos. If it worked, he''d run himself ragged, haplessly pointing out every goblin that outranked him while doing very little to actually protect them.


    Again, the goblin screeched in fear. Nick carried him in a slow circle, squinting at the camp. It was difficult to see anything with des of grass hitting me in the face every five seconds, but I could hear the footfalls of armored troops converging towards us, and unless I''dpletely lost my sense of direction I was pretty sure we were on the opposite side of the camp from the catapults.


    "It''s working," Nick smiled, wind whipping through his hair. "We''re pulling them away from the artillery." He nced at me, wincing a little as he said it. "Any... chance you can turn him up a little?"


    I considered the Hobgoblin''s remaining ear, then quickly disregarded it. The monster was in a lot of pain already. More and he was at risk of falling unconscious.


    Instead, I hammered his mind.


    <em>THERE WILL BE NO WOMEN. ONLY MEN.</em>


    Somehow, the hobgoblin''s screams rose another octave. Nick corkscrewed, holding the creature straight up, carrying him upright above the grass as he flew blindly on his back, zig-zagging through the grass on a random path. I tried to imagine how it looked from the fort. A single hobgoblin, carried at break-neck speed on an unseen mount, screeching bloody murder.


    It was one hell of a distraction.


    "Ready?" Nick said.


    "Almost."


    <em>WARN THEM. SCREAM UNTIL YOU CAN''T SCREAM ANYMORE.</em>


    In a manner that was almostpliant, the hobgoblin sucked in a deep breath. Nick spun, letting gravity do most of the work as the goblin slid off his sword, tumbling across the ground. It spit out a mouthful of dirt, and immediately started raising a racket again.


    "Guard towers first?" I asked, fighting a growing thrill.


    "Just like the Wilnds days." Nick winked. We split to the left and right, swooping through the low grass, as our abandoned abductee continued to provide cover.


    I flew low enough that the toes of my boots threatened to catch the ground. That was the point. If we were too obvious, it would undo the entire gambit for reorganization. The hobgoblins in the towers weren''t heavily armored, but that mattered less than it usually would. That was the downside of using the flight charm inbat. It was all about momentum. If you were floating and struck a static object, it''d do almost nothing to the object and end up pushing you back.


    Even if you were flying directly at them, it was hard to get a knife to stick.


    With that in mind, I drew <strong></strong> spinning once from the ring to dial in the heft, and spotting the rickety construction of a tower above me through the grass, I shot straight up, evening out in a tight curve, hoping the momentum was enough.


    The tower hobgoblin''s mouth dropped open in surprise as the horizontal sh parted his throat, a curtain of ck descending from the wound. There were two more, equally surprised, but much quicker to react than theirpanion had been. Still floating a little off the ground, I mmed the karambit back into my inventory, and quickdrew two of the new crossbows, firing them both, feeling a mix of satisfaction and panic as bolts struck home, dropping the monsters. But thebined force of the shot sent me flying back towards the wall.


    I iled, dropping one of the spent bows and inventorying the other as my hand caught purchase on one of the spikes of the log wall, waiting for the world to stop spinning, unsure how much attention I''d drawn, if any.


    The next guard tower over, a pale, terrified looking hobgoblin openly gawked, shakily raising a giant sheephorn to his lips and inhaling.


    <em>HOLD YOUR BREATH.</em> I <strong></strong>


    It froze, wide-eyed, cheeks inted, lips still nted firmly on the horn. Unlike the previous sentry, this one had taken the dress code more seriously, an amalgam of iron and leather armor that covered both neck and head, limiting my options. Taking an extra setting to line up the jump, I cast <strong></strong> on my legs andunched towards the tower, elerating, then rotating in midair so my feet were in front of me. My bootsnded square on the horn''s rim.


    I grabbed the overhang for leverage and kicked with both feet, breaking teeth and sending the horn down the goblin''s throat. He fell with an echoing gurgle to the ground.


    This pace was too breakneck. I needed to take stock, get an idea of how Nick was doing¡ª


    <em>CRACK</em>


    Across the camp, there was a thundering splinter of wood and shrieking voices as a guard tower on Nick''s side splintered, armored monsters scattering beneath as it plummeted to the ground, partially copsing on another fallen tower I hadn''t even heard go down. A glowing gold blur shot out from beneath the wreckage, zipping above a small squadron of archers coherent enough to aim before they fired.


    <em>Okay. So much for drawing their attention away from the center.</em>


    <strong></strong> activated, and every arrow went wide, missing Nick by a wide enough margin that he may have not even noticed they fired. He¡ªprobably realizing his tower solution had been too bombastic¡ªmade the best of the situation, deviating from the original catapult destination and flying along the elevated catwalks, holding his arm out, grabbing, yanking, and clotheslining goblins off their elevated positions.


    Not something I could do half as effectively with my current strength, but there was another option. I took flight, dodging an onught of arrows from below, sticking to the shadows beneath the catwalks, nting more than half of my incendiary charges on the thick support beams that supported the catwalks.


    Below, the one-eared goblin from before was nted in front of arger variant, a cruel looking brute with arge mace, never taking his eyes off me, holding a shield with both hands.


    <em>Thanks pal.</em>


    The brute was in the midst of shouting directions in harsh gutturalmands, recognition lighting in his battle-hardened face. "They''re targeting our defenses! Regrou¡ª"


    I dipped low, and bypassing one-ear entirely, quick-drew a crossbow and shot themander in the face. He toppled as I moved on, building momentum back up after nearly diverting into a wall of waiting swords and shields. The incendiary charges went off, one after another, lighting a fire I coaxed to burn brightly, until segments were falling away. Through one of the newly opened holes, I saw Charlotte alone in the distant field, holding her staff skyward.


    A shower of sparks spanning the central camp drifted downward like snowkes, I steered clear, Nick following my lead. Below, in the midst of the churning chaos, I saw a single goblin reach up, catching a spark on the back of his finger. He recoiled as it red, leaving a purple afterimage in my vision, grabbing at his face, mouth twisted in a rictus of pain.


    Naturally, I looked away as soon as the sparks went off, grabbing at Nick''s arm as we met above the catapults. "Flight is getting dodgy. They''re shooting skeet and I can''t stop every arrow. We need to y it tighter."


    "Yep." Nick mused, seeming to weigh a few options before deciding on one that involved dropping straight down, towards a mass of hobgoblins spread out amongst the catapults. He kicked a spear aside andnded on top of the spearman full force, the spearman''s skull cracking beneath his boot.


    I was about to assign that particrly impossible feat to patron bullshit, until I saw him drop the remnants of his torn up flight charm on the ground.


    I''d wondered how he was going to deal with the weightlessness problem. Seeing it now, though, was sobering. The flight charms were an invaluable form of retreat. We could get more through the AG connection, assuming Tyler didn''t send us both packing after this, but that didn''t help us now.


    And once the charms were gone, there was no backing out. No tactical retreat.


    We weremitted.


    I tore mine andnded, ducking beneath a sword, grabbing the attacker by the neck and <strong></strong> him.


    <em>These two are a distraction. There''s arger force that way, hidden in the grass. Gather up as many as you can and GO!</em> I sent him a mental picture of figures hidden in the sprawling field on the other side of catapults, in the opposite direction of the mountain lift.


    He nodded briefly before taking off, barely dodging beneath Nick''s wide savage swings and high-stepping over the snapping jaws of a canine. Talia watched him go, cocking her head before she turned back. "Help is on the way."


    "How much?" I shouted, catching Nick under his arms as he stumbled back, fresh dent in his armor.


    Talia waded in with a snarl, locking her jaws around the club-wielder''s throat and tackling him down, tearing at his throat, releasing once the struggling stopped, dark blood dripping from her fangs. "More¡ª" Her eyes widened. "Look out!"


    Amidst a new storm of sparks, a massive projectile plunged towards us, argent blue corona shimmering with sheer destructive power, and for a moment, my crazed mind thought it was anotheret. I dove to the side, taking Nick down with me as Astria''s projectile impacted a dividing wall and exploded with an ear-shattering <em>BOOM</em>, a radius of ming shrapnel peppering the dirt and catapults around us.


    "I said vertical and off-target, god dammit!" I shouted, my own voice barely perceptible over the ringing in my ears. The explosion left a wake of goblin bodies both in front of and behind the retaining wall. Heated as I was, I knew Astria was deadly urate. If I had to guess, the hostage in peril had been towards the center of the camp. She''d limited the range of damage by targeting the top of the wall. The hostages on the other side seemed terrified but unharmed, and by some miracle neither of us had been hit.


    "Matthias," Talia said, approaching us cautiously.


    "Think... I may have fucked up," Nick said, his voice pained and ethereal.


    <em>No.</em>


    A twisted, ckened chunk of metal jutted from Nick''s abdomen. He touched it, grimaced, then gripped it tightly. Automatically, I knocked his hand away and upended a health potion into his mouth. "Leave it until the potion kicks in."


    "Look at them all," Nick murmured. Beyond us, through both the original entrance to the artillery section and the retaining wall, the hobgoblins had mostly recovered. They were climbing over the remnants, more approaching from the side. Compared to before, they were moving slowly, cautious. But the caution wouldn''tst for long.


    He was in shock. The wound wasn''t fatal, but I''d wager it hurt like hell. I withdrew a sack of incendiary charges. "Come on, buddy. Need you to set these while Talia and I hold them off."


    Nick shook his head, trying to shake it off and failing. "Bad idea. Remember the fireworks?"


    I snorted. The first and only time we''d celebrated the Fourth of July¡ªhis idea¡ªand Nick had almost blown himself up with M-80s. <em>Twice.</em> "Well, somebody''s gotta do it."


    "You go, I''ll..." Nick tried to push himself up and fell back, harried and disoriented. "Shit."


    It was the shock. He wasn''t dying, I''d checked his vitals with <strong></strong> And we couldn''t just retreat here, without taking the catapults out of y. I needed to snap him out of it, somehow. And without using my powers, in my panicked state, there was really only one thing I could think of.


    Talia barked at the encroaching goblins, alternating between the advancing groups, as I whispered-yelled in Nick''s ear. "''You, me, nobody''s gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain''t about how hard you hit. It''s about how hard you can hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. So get. Up. <em>Motherfucker.</em>''"


    Nickughed, cutting off abruptly from the pain. When he recovered, his eyes were more focused now, and the frantess behind them seemed to fade. "Think you... ad-libbed at the end there, coach."


    This time, when I tried to pull him up, he worked with me, boots catching purchase against the ground. Nick straightened, downing another potion before he gripped the shrapnel in his abdomen and <em>pulled</em>, grimacing as it came free, leaving a spatter of red across the soil below.


    "Decision time. Charges or pointy-eared bastards." I prompted.


    "Well I can''t chicken out after all that." Nick grinned, drawing his sword shakily and banging it against his shield. "Talia! To me!"


    Talia skipped away from the encroaching goblins, taking her ce at Nick''s side, ncing at him with concern. I saw it too. It was a brave face. Nick was amping himself up and trying to set me at ease. But the wound had been serious, and health potions weren''t a cure-all. Whatever time we had left, the idental friendly fire had probably cut it in half.


    I sprinted away as Nick drew first blood, drawing charges from the bag and cing them on the catapults, only catching glimpses, worry growing by the minute. Because Nick wasn''t glowing anymore. His patron''s favor was apparently fleeting.


    That didn''t matter. Because he had <em>mine</em>.


    His sword found throats, gaps, openings. Every impact his shield took resonated, jarring the attacker to their bones. The goblins crowded in, blood lust stoked, pushing and shoving to get to Nick when they''d been cautious and orderly just moments before. The fallen clung to those still standing, begging for help or trying to right themselves, only to be stumbled or tripped over.


    A spearman that through the gaps in-between the critical moments I spent between focusing on Nick and working on the charges jammed his weapon into Nick''s back, eliciting a roar of rage as Nick pivoted and rang the hobgoblin''s head with his shield like a gong.


    <em>"Matthias!"</em> Talia roared into my mind.


    "I see it."


    My vision began to gray, signaling my mana was running low. I ced the final charge, retreated, and blew it, covering my ear and the back of my head with an arm. The already sweltering temperature skyrocketed, searing my back as I drew my saber and began to fight, swinging the saber defensively so Nick could afford to retreat. But more goblins were pouring into the square by the second.


    <em>Retreat where?</em>


    Searching, desperate for anything that resembled a choke-point. But beyond the burning catapults, the artillery square consisted of nothing but a shack in the corner. It was either that or running out into the open and hoping the AG had made up enough distance to assist.


    Another round of Charlotte''s sparks bought us a moment of breathing room. If we were going to move, we needed to do it now.


    "Talia¡ª"


    "I''ll hold them for as long as I can. Go!" Talia urged.


    I supported Nick, back straining as I steered us towards the shack, firing myst two loaded crossbows behind us, killing the frontrunners. As we half-limped, half-ran, I lowered my head in supplication, never taking my eyes off the destination.


    <em>Nychta, grant me strength.</em>


    The low, menacing pitch of a woman''s chuckle echoed in my ear, confirming what I already suspected. I hadn''t pinned down all the details, but I knew she was drawn to battle and carnage. She''d be watching.


    <em>"And here I wondered if you forgot about me, little Ordinator,"</em> Nychta whispered.


    <em>I didn''t.</em>


    <em>"Perhaps. What will you offer for this request?"</em>


    <em>"A sacrament."</em>


    <em>"Harvested with the des you hold so dearly?"</em>


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


    <em>"If that will suffice."</em>


    <em>"Dance beautifully to the drums, my sweet. Your wish is granted."</em>


    A surge of acid roiled in my gut. My fingers twitched, every part of me straining to turn around and face my attackers, to demonstrate every facet of the foolishness of their pursuit. I kept moving, somehow retaining enough of myself to help Nick into an overturned crate in the back.


    Nick stared at me, panicked. "We''re trapped."


    I shook my head. "We are the trap. Tell the camera to stay away, cover the rest of the camp or something." The running footfalls grew closer. They''d be going from bright mid-day to pitch ck. Goblins and goblinoids had better night vision than humans, but the difference was stark enough that it would still have an impact. <strong></strong>activated, threads expanded from my vision, the aggressive, percussive beat of <strong></strong> thrumming alongside it. "Nick," I said, teeth gritted as some outside force tugged at the back of my skull, forcing my face into a smile.


    "Yeah?" Nick asked, chugging more potions.


    "Don''t watch, okay?"


    If he responded, I didn''t hear it. I waspletely focused on the n. It wasn''t the worst n ever, but it was close. <strong></strong> wasn''t cheap. My already depleted mana was lower than it had been.


    To make matters worse, the supply shack was the definition of any port in a storm. It wasn''t at all secure. The walls looked thin. If the catwalks and catapults were any indication, a single torch in the right ce would set the entire thing aze.


    With the sudden light level change, it''d be easy to kill the first few hobgoblins through the door.


    But if I did that, they''d get smart. Smoke us out or start shooting.


    So the answer was simple.


    Take advantage of the initial blood lust and kill them slowly. Keep the bodies that did fall away from the door, and let the goblins that persisted raise enough din and ruckus that the battle appeared to be ongoing.


    It wasn''t perfect. But it was all I had.


    The first group pushed through the door in an angry cluster, not even bothering to slow down.


    <em>My turn.</em>


    I shed from shoulder, to sternum, to shoulder again and threw him aside, moving smoothly now, aches and pains from the previous encounter all but forgotten. <strong></strong> carved through armor straps and tendons alike, every strike elerating, the small resistance I did feel paltry, almost nothing.


    The artifact was unlike any de I''d ever used, and at that moment, I cherished it. In the low light, many of the attackers didn''t seem to notice the extent of their injuries. They tried to keep fighting, as their legs buckled on severed achilles, and their guts spilled out, and nicked arteries pumped ck life''s blood onto the ground.


    Myrddin didn''t fight like this. Myrddin was about efficiency. He killed, but he killed humanely.


    This was something else.


    But the drums beat, each strike a swell, drowning out all rational thought as the gods themselves bore witness, and I was undone.


    The first clever goblin tried to run. Would have made it, but he lost footing on the viscera-covered floor. I fish-hooked him with the karambit, flesh and bone of his upper-pte providing enough resistance to yank him back before it parted and gave way.


    The second clever goblin stuck his head in, wide-eyed, and turned to shout a warning.


    I risked a <strong></strong> because it didn''t matter.


    If I died, I died.


    "Long pig''s back on the menu, boys. They''re on theirst legs. Get ''em!" The converted hobgoblin charged in, de lowered, directly into another goblin crawling towards the door, who howled and fell still.


    More followed, trickle renewed to stream, and I met them. <strong></strong> began to wail, glowing dull red in the low light, her voice merging with the beating of the drums, two songs bing one.


    This was who I was. Who I always had been. A de in the dark, waiting to be drawn.


    Nothing else mattered.


    The subjugated goblin fell, ganged up on by its enraged fellows before I capitalized on the distraction and put them down.


    It didn''t matter.


    No one mattered.


    Something... was wrong with that. It bothered me. Dissonance in the song. I tried to kill it and found that while it wasn''t as loud as before, the atonality was impossible to snuff. It remained, buzzing in my ear, marring the melody, even as the bodies of maimed hobgoblins copsed from their injuries, one after another.


    <em>Why aren''t there moreing? Surely, there''s more.</em>


    "From the sound of it, the cavalry''s here. Take a breath." Someone¡ªno... I knew them.


    Nick snapped his fingers in front of my face, smiling sympathetically. The words registeredte, din of battle bing audible over the roaring of blood in my ears.


    The ground shifted beneath me, and I realized we were standing on bodies, simply because there was nowhere else to stand. They littered the floor, stacked two high in some ces. ck blood and other viscera dripped from the ceiling, coated the walls.


    "It¡ª" I started.


    "You don''t have to exin. My dumbass fell short, again. All you did was pick up the ck. It''d be kind of messed up if I climbed up on a high horse andined about how you did it."


    "Come on." I wanted to believe him. But everyone had a limit.


    His smile slipped a little, and he seemed to be intentionally avoiding taking in more of our surroundings than he had to. "It''s another bullet-point in the let''s-never-go-at-each-other-for-real column, if I''m honest. But we''re alive. And once we see this through? You can hang the dark shit up for good." He reached for the tent p, ready to leave.


    I blurted something out. Something that''d been gnawing at me from the beginning. "And if I can''t?"


    Nick paused, turning back to look at me as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. "Then I''ll do the same thing you did for me. Drag you kicking and screaming back into the light."


    /////


    Between the joint efforts of Charlotte, Julien, Sae, and Miles, the goblins were reeling. I''d initially asked for their help because they were all, to some extent, people I trusted. The fact that the six of us worked so well together ended up being a happy ident. Despite varying ages, backgrounds, and philosophies, we all brought something unique to the table that somehow added up to a greater whole.


    Sae and Nick alone were aplementing martial powerhouse. Nick of the hit-me-and-see-what-happens variety, Sae of the good-luck-hitting-me-at-all. They''d found their tempo first, likely because after her alteration, recovery, and the strike-team work, Sae was most simr to me. The difference was, where I excelled in hammering down single targets, Sae had more sustain and endurance. And unlike me, she was a lot morefortable digging her heels in on the frontlines.


    The two fell into afortable rhythm almost immediately. Sae shredding through monsters at close range, baiting and taunting them into Nick, who absorbed the reprisal and returned it exponentially, heaping affirmation and praise onto Sae all the while.


    Granted they kept high-fiving in the middle ofbat, more than once with a number of sharp objects barreling their direction, but that was more Nick''s fault than Sae''s.


    Together, they drew a lot of aggression. More than double what they would have individually.


    Which was good, because without the redirected attention, there would have been an abundance of repeatedly blinded, infested, or disease-stricken monsters that, if not otherwise upied, would be highly motivated to look for the User pointing a wand or staff their way.


    The sheer value of Charlotte''s utility was insane. Coupled with the sheer nastiness of some of the more visceral hexes, and a detached, almost scientificmitment to experimenting and finding the most debilitatingbinations of effects, and she was terrifying. Some of her magic¡ªthe mass blind spell, for one¡ªwas telegraphed. Others, like the painful looking boils and a sudden area of effect pressure shift that ruptured the eardrums of anything with the misfortune of standing in it, were either imperceptible or almost impossible to trace.


    Not to say some of the more afflicted and understandably pissed off hobgoblins didn''t try.


    Which was where Julien came in.


    I liked Julien, as a person. He was friendly, agreeable, less impulsive than Nick and just as quick to listen and contribute to discussions without dominating them.


    After what I saw on thest floor, however, Julien was the only person I''d half-expected to stay on the mountain. He had some sort of hangup with violence, even when it was clearly justified. Either due to ss, personal beliefs, or both. Frankly, if he was going to repeat his previous behavior incessantly, insisting on dragging every monster we encountered capable of speech into drawn-out negotiations, I would have preferred he stayed there.


    Where Julien actuallynded was somewhere in-between. He engaged almost purely defensively, fullymitted to safeguarding Charlotte, aiming to disarm and dissuade.


    His mercy had limits. Which, in my eyes, changed things a great deal. If one of the aforementioned repeatedly blinded, ear-drum ruptured, disease-stricken hobgoblins mistook mercy for stupidity, Julien put them down. The prince was willing to take a hell of a beating for whatever ideals or rules he followed, but he wasn''t callous enough to expect others to do the same.


    I could respect that, even if I didn''t fully understand it.


    Before the dome it might have annoyed me, in the context of an online RPG or tabletop game. Having one person fullymitted to safeguarding another felt like a waste in the context of gamified bullshit like damage per second or encounter scaling. But I''d seen the way system monsters and other Users aggressively targeted magic types. I''d been on both sides of it. It was the natural course of action, given the low defenses and sheer power they wielded.


    So if Julien wanted to stick to Charlotte''s ass, I was all for it. Hell, I''d bring the glue gun.


    It freed me and Miles up to do what we did best.


    Interestingly enough, Miles'' rules of engagement variedpared to what I''d seen in the real world. With people, he yed around <strong></strong> religiously, exercising caution and a slower pace. With monsters, the easiest way to locate Miles was to look for the ce where Hobgoblins were dying in a rhythm, one after another, searching for an unseen assant before an arrow found their hearts, throats, or foreheads.


    I mainly stuck to my crossbows, staying near the members of the group furthest from Miles. In part, it was tactical, ensuring one of us could rotate to help at any given time.


    The other part was nerves. Miles didn''t seem as thrilled or engaged with the team as the rest of us were. Unless I was reading itpletely wrong he was overtly pissed off. It could have been the fact that no one warned him beforehand, but I doubted it. I''d made the decision to cut loose in the tower. Leverage every resource I had, every ability, every summon. What we were doing was too important. If we failed, I didn''t want to look back and regret that decision. I tried to be smart about it. Having Myrddin lend his summons to Miles, letting everyone think Talia was Nick''s spirit guardian. Deploying Ordinator abilities in a more subtle manner.


    Disguised and obfuscated as they were, my cards were on the table.


    And if anyone was going to connect the dots, it was Miles.


    There was no real friction. He was polite to everyone, responding to callouts and proactively rotating for assists. But I didn''t miss the way his eyes followed me, sliding away whenever I looked in his direction.


    By the time thebined force of both guilds arrived, the goblins had been halved. It wasn''t all us. Several Adventurer''s Guild mages had followed Nick''s lead, popping their flight charms and peppering monsters from the air. Queen Mari had, apparently, done exactly what I thought Nick was about to do. Ran down the mountain, across the field, and into the fort, leaving a trail of bashed in skulls behind her.


    Within minutes of the reinforcements arriving, it was over, the elevator''s appearance in the center and a system announcement indicating that the hidden criteria was met, and the floor had been cleared.


    Everyone from the impromptu group stuck together, some mix between camaraderie and the awkwardness of knowing that we''d broken ranks, and an administrative thrashing was inevitable. Sae had Nick in a headlock for somement he made, while me, Julien and Charlotte watched from the cheap seats.


    Tyler''s imposing figure¡ªhead and shoulders over most of the Users overrunning the camp¡ªmade his way towards us. Almost every few steps he would pause, draw his sword, and deliver a killing stroke to a hobgoblin still suffering on the ground.


    "Okay, am I wrong, or is that... a <em>really</em> intimidating way to approach a group of people?" Nick asked, looking a little pale.


    "Probably just nervous because you thumbed your nose at him less than two hours ago," I told him.


    "No, it''s uh... kind of intimidating. He''s not even my guild leader and I''m all kinds of intimidated." Charlotteughed nervously. Horror overtook her expression as she turned to Julien, who was leaning against the same railing she was perched on. "Oh. God. Do you think Aaron''s pissed?"


    "It''s Aaron." Julien shrugged, wincing as Tyler killed another hobgoblin in the distance. "Not even god knows if Aaron is pissed."


    I tapped behind my ear. "Neck gets all bulgy. Pretty much his only tell."


    Both Julien and Charlotte turned to look at me sharply.


    "You knew each other before?" Julien asked.


    "Yep." And that was as much as I was willing to say. "But from what I was hearing earlier, he wanted this anyway. You guys are in the clear."


    "Lucky fuckin'' you." Sae watched Tyler''s approach, growing glummer by the second. "I was chatting up one of their recruiters. nning to join them before this. Fat chance of that now."


    "Eh." Miles said. "Depends on how he interprets it. If he sees it as an act of rebellion, you''re screwed. But Tyler''s a reasonable guy. If he sees this as a tryout, you might even get to skip the assessments. Either way, you''re not gonna get torn up like these two." He chucked a thumb at me and Nick.


    "Not trying to narc, but you were the first one down here with us," Nick said, frowning. "And I''m not even a member of the Adventurer''s Guild."


    "No, but you''re an essory to Matt, so you''re liable to take some blowback."


    <em>"Hey."</em>


    "As for me, I''m a fed," Miles shrugged. "Punishment isn''t really a thing for us. If the fuck-up isn''t up to Waco levels we usually just get promoted in a backhanded way."


    "Asshole." Nick snorted.


    "Fascist." Julien added.


    "Uhuh." Miles agreed. "Y''all want some popcorn?" He pulled an already popped bag from his inventory, grabbed a handful, and passed it back, just as Tyler arrived. "How''s it hanging, chief?"


    "Shut up," Tyler growled.


    "Okay."


    The guild leader gave us all a hard look, before his gaze came to rest on someone in particr. "Sae, right?"


    Caughtpletely off-guard with a mouthful of popcorn, Sae hopped off the fence and straightened. "Yes sir."


    "You''re in." Tyler flicked something on his UI, and momentster, a very stunned Sae did the same. "Let me be clear. The adventurer''s guild does not endorse the sort of maverick, backbiting chicanery that went down today. If I get wind of any issues along those lines you''ll be out just as easily. But I understand you had no previous affiliation and rtionship with the people who so foolishly put themselves in danger. With that in mind, the loyalty and skill you demonstrated today ismendable."


    "No maverick chicanery." Sae nodded. "Got it."


    "Or backbiting." Nick added, unable to suppress the snicker.


    "And <em>you.</em>" Tyler closed distance, his forehead inches from Nick''s. "You''re not a member of my Guild. I cannot discipline or admonish you for your behavior. I certainly cannot tell you you''re an irresponsible, self-centered little shit who put the lives of at least twenty people¡ªarguably more¡ªin mortal danger for the sake of his own vanity."


    Nick winced. "If you could, I''d tell you I''m very sorry."


    Tyler bristled, mistaking Nick''s sidelong apology for lip, and looked ready to pile more on.


    Beside me, Miles raised his hand like a grade school student with a question.


    "Yes?" Tyler asked, his tone dangerous.


    "It got chaotic for a while. Just been wondering, how many hostages did we lose, chief?"


    "None," Tyler admitted, almost begrudgingly.


    "d to hear it."


    Tyler sighed and moved on, pausing in front of me. Unlike the way he was with Nick, he seemed more frustrated than angry. "I''m not even sure where to start. In recent days you''ve been the most vocal about devoting resources to the tower, so my first inclination is to pin all the me on you and nail you to the goddamn wall. Especially knowing how persuasive you can be. But you''re not a god, capable of enthralling the masses to your whims¡ª"


    Coughs echoed as Nick choked on a piece of popcorn.


    "¡ªand in the end, every person here who broke the chain ofmand made their own decision. Looking at that objectively, I''ve failed as a leader, to correctly gauge and assess the needs and desires of my own. Your selfless actions in thest transposition go a long way, and your status as both a region leader and a high-cing member of the merchant''s guild makes you borderline invaluable. Beyond that, we have history. <em>However</em>" His tone changed, and he loomed over me. "If you think those connections are enough to stop me from throwing your scrawny ass to the curb if necessary, you''ve got another thinging. Got it?"


    Reasonable. Fair. Tyler always had been, to the best of his ability.


    "Understood," I said.


    "Good."


    Almost casually, Tyler reached over and pped the bag of popcorn out of Miles'' hands.


    "That was pre-system popcorn," Miles said calmly, staring down at the bag.


    "You think you''re cute?" Tyler asked, restrained calm masking fury. "All the d-handing and congeniality to my face while you stir shit up behind my back?"


    "I''m at least a little cute. Ex-wife one and three thought so. Two women who hate each other but agree on something can''t be wrong."


    "Uh-huh. All of a sudden you''re in my business, dry-fucking my ass, because someone mentioned a necromancer and now you need somewhere to put the hard-on."


    Miles pushed off the fence, getting far inside Tyler''s personal space. "Now that you mention it, it is getting a little stiff downstairs. Stiffer now, because I don''t think I mentioned that particr detail to anyone."


    One of the girls made a gagging noise. Probably Sae.


    "You''re not the only one with sources," Tyler rolled his eyes. "Every time I leave the real world some fresh hell gets thrown in my face."


    "Downside of being a visible leader."


    "We''ve decided to run advance teams beforemitting so many people. It''s just too much power off the board at any given time. Coordinate with Sara, she wants you to spearhead this, given that you''re so motivated to find this fucker. I can''t do it without leaving us open to opportunists, and I don''t want my people going up against a necromancer without¡ª"


    "Every fed avable, once we know where he is. Yeah. Got it." Miles nodded, blowing air out. "So, an advance team, acting in a scouting or clearing capacity. We call in reinforcements as we need them once we''ve established threat. Can I have my pick of your and Aaron''s people, or is this a just yours situation?"


    "It was his idea, so I''d say he''s on board. It''ll spare us both a lot of grief. Though I was told to tell you that members of the court may opt out if they wish."


    Miles shifted his head back and forth. "I''m thinking... ten people, so we have enough for a solid rotation?"


    "Fine by me." Tyler turned and walked away.


    "There a time limit?" Miles asked.


    "You have them for a week."


    With a sigh, Miles bent down, picked up his involuntary litter and shoved it in his pocket. "Not a lot of time. We worked pretty well together. You guys down to be team 1?"


    Nick and I immediately agreed, Julien and Charlotte following suit shortly after.


    "If Aaron really gave the green light it beats being rarified around Order HQ all day," Julien smiled. "Plus, it''s for a good cause." Charlotte nodded agreement.


    Sae wrinkled her nose. "Only if you promise to never talk about your dick again."


    "Reasonable and wise." Miles shot a finger gun at her. "Done."


    He pped his hands, signaling dismissal. "Everyone go home, pack your shit. Keep some inventory space clear, but as a rule, take more than you need. Only gonnae down for air if we have to. Think of it like a camping trip. Run out of food and we will resort to kobold sashimi before we take the time to stop by Little Debbie''s eBay extravaganza, so bear that in mind. Gonna do the same, scrounge up team 2, and we''ll all meet in the lobby at 0800 tomorrow."


    Nick left first, pausing when I didn''t follow him. "I''ll catch up."


    "Aight. Thanks again, for everything today." Nick shifted, taking in the whole group, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I waspletely cooked if you guys didn''t follow me down."


    "Had to. We built a dog tree together." Julien waved back at me. "See you tomorrow."


    "Yessir."


    Would I see him tomorrow? Any of them?


    It was hard to say.


    "Think I''m hungrier than before I ate the popcorn," Saeined.


    "Same," Charlotte said, skipping over to walk next to her. "We''re not expected back for a while. You guys wanna grab something to eat on the way home?"


    "As long as it''s not kobold," Nick walked backward. "I''m thinkin''... barbecue? Burgers?"


    Their voices faded as they grew more distant, figures merging with the din of Users picking at the charred camp, conversation melding into the noise as though it was never truly there at all.


    We watched them go for longer than we needed to. A cool breeze rolled in, sending a sway through the golden grass. Above, the twin suns drifted towards the horizon, light dimming as the long shadows of the surrounding trees crawled across the field.


    "Am I... that... obvious?" Miles asked. The usual charm in his voice was gone, wrinkles around his forehead and mouth more pronounced, like he''d aged years in minutes.


    I shook my head. "Just got the sense you had something to say."


    "Come on, let''s not do this here."


    We trekked away from the camp, perpendicr to the mountain, away from the setting suns. The copse of trees¡ªlikely impassable, if this followed a typical dungeon format¡ªwere decked with round, light green leaves that didn''t look entirely real. Once the camp was a distant anthill of activity, Miles slipped his pack off his shoulders, cing it at his feet and unzipping it. He grunted as he hefted a sleepy looking Audrey out, patting her gently on the back of the head. "Good morning sweetheart."


    "Meat," Audrey said, pouting.


    "I''ve been told you have a big appetite." He pointed to the copse, some thirty yards away. "Spotted some birds in those trees, earlier. Feel like going hunting?"


    Judging from the way she snapped to attention, mobility vines propelling her across the field at breakneck speed, Audrey did in fact feel like going hunting.


    Miles looked down at his shadow. "Azure, you feel like watching over her?"


    "I could." Azure solidified into his goblinoid form, looking between us. "Everything alright here?"


    "Yeah." Miles put his hands on his hips and stretched. "Yeah. No big deal. Just gonna have a chat."


    <em>"You can go."</em>


    Azure nodded to Miles, eyes flicking back to me.


    <em>"Call for help if you need it."</em>


    Then Miles raised his arm. A falconnded on it, puffing out its fluffy white chest and cawing into Miles'' face. He grimaced, and reached back into a pouch on his belt, pulling out a strand of stringy meat and handing it to the bird.


    He''d been wearing the same pouch the day I met him. During the transposition.


    My mouth went dry.


    "Only this one''s my summon. The other two are loaners. Greedy little thing. Helpful, but greedy. Tends to get himself into trouble if I let him roam too long. Eyes far bigger than his stomach." Miles stroked the falcon under its chin. "Isn''t that right."


    It squawked, offended, then took off.


    I said nothing.


    "They''re rare, from what I understand. Summons I mean. Not many people have them, so it''s notmon knowledge how they work." Miles watched the falcon fly away. "God knows I''m no falconer. Reason I can just let ''em go like that is because summons have a maximum range. He can only get so far from me before he has toe back. It makes the realm situation a little inconvenient. If he''s flying around and I enter a dungeon¡ªor any realm of uros, really¡ªpoof, he''s gone. And I have to tap into my mana pool and summon him again."


    I closed my eyes. Opened them again. When I did, Miles was staring right at me, like he was looking at someone he''d never seen before.


    "How do the loaners work, then. If they''re not yours?" I asked, monotone.


    "I''ve been wondering the same thing. A new friend lent them to me, with basic instructions for their care and well-being. Like I was dog-sitting." He chuckled. "Audrey kinda fits that bill. She''s really very sweet. Bristles when anyone walks by the door, talks about as much as a Husky does. Totally unlike the flowerfangs in the dungeons."


    "And the other one?"


    "Not very dog-like. Very, very, person-like. Acts more like a teenager than a monster. Cryptic. Vague. Doesn''t seem to like me much."


    "Maybe he''ll warm up to you."


    "Probably not." Miles rolled his eyes. "I''m terrible with teenagers. And if he finds out I used an analysis ability to piece together what he was hiding behind those question marks, well, might as well cue up "Truth Hurts." Donezo. There''s nothing teenagers hate more than nosy caretakers."


    "He was hiding what he was? The monster type?"


    "Uh-huh. So around five this morning, I had two burning questions I really wanted to get answers to before I came down here and put my life on the line." Miles held out fingers, enumerating. "''What the hell is an abrogated lithid?'' And ''Are there multiple types of summons that can persist across realms?'' So I started making phone calls, pissing off pretty much everyone in my contact list."


    As soon Miles said the word lithid, I drew <strong></strong> and held it casually behind my back.


    "Find anything?"


    "Oh yeah. More than I wanted to, if I''m honest. At its core, a lithid is a parasite. Feeds off suffering. Friend of mine, former cop at the DPD who hopped careers to the twenty-four hour shift at the psych ward really didn''t enjoy her time with one. Said it read her thoughts, twisted her fears into nightmarish realities. Tortured her. The only reason she''s alive at all, is because she was with someone who ran slower. The two guys and the bear in the woods joke."


    "Jesus." Again, my delivery was b-tier.


    <em>Fucking get to it, Miles</em>


    "The effectssted a long time. Certain...pulsions... extended far beyond that initial experience. Hence, psych-ward. Freaked me out a little." He gave me a thin smile. "We''re both cerebral guys, you get it. Anything that fucks with our heads is a no-go. Guessing that''s why you''re straight edge."


    His hand dangled, shifting ever so slightly, revealing the slightest glint of a de behind his thigh.


    "Kinda ballsy," I observed, "Knowing that and bringing it with you anyway."


    "Well, I''m more insted than the average User. Took additional precautions too. Thought my new friend might be trying to get the one-over on me, trojan horsing his way into this mess of neurons." He tapped his head and looked away. "But didn''t notice any attempted intrusions. And they really helped out today. The summons. So now I have no idea what to think."


    "Could have been a genuine gesture of good will," I tried.


    "A gesture of good will? Yes. <em>Genuine?</em>" He shook his head. "Not so sure. Because I talked to a <em>lot</em> of people. Got in contact with or directed to nine Users with the ability to summon. And it''s interesting, because, apparently, they do vary. Range, difficulty, power, how verbal and cooperative the summons are. There''s a ton of discrepancies. But every one of them, from the first tost, were consistent on one point, and one point only. ''Summons don''t persist across realms.'' Which is why I had to take the risk, with the lithid. See what happened. Because if the summons disappeared on the elevator, well, whatever, it was bullshit. And bullshitters are a dime a dozen. But if they didn''t disappear... it meant my new friend was blowing a different type of smoke. From very close by."


    It was circumstantial. And there were holes. Sample size of the summoners, potential interference from the lithid, the hundreds of other people who crowded onto the same massive elevator. The fact that he¡¯de after me over this before and failed. It wouldn''t hold up in a court ofw.


    But there was no court ofw.


    There was nothing but me, and him, and the knives at our sides.


    "It''s gettingte. Why don''t you say whatever you''ve been circling, Miles?"


    "Fair enough." Miles'' forced smile faded beneath his tired eyes. "Are you the Ordinator?"


    "I am."

 Chapter 305

    Chapter 305


    <em>Before.</em>


    Miles <em>ached.</em> He ached in a way he hadn''t since the BUDS physical conditioning phase on the endless beaches, palling around with meatheads, blistering under the Coronado sun, enduring brutal, draining tasks intended for one purpose, and one alone.


    <em>Give the fuck up.</em>


    He hadn''t then, and he wouldn''t now. That was what he told himself after the proctor assigned the task of ferrying soul orbs. On its face, it was a rather simple form of torture in the form ofbor. Pedestrian. Nothing he couldn''t handle. Miles was ordered to sift through the small mountain of orbs at thending station. All he was told was that the red orbs were irrecoverable and had to be carried by hand up a long stairway to the obliteration tform, little more than a wide square pir with a metal indent in the center that acted as a scale. The corrupted orbs were small but dense, spread out amongst their lighter, uncorrupted brethren, naturally sinking to the bottom of any pile they were in. The powers that be were even kind enough to grant him a bucket.


    But the simplicity of the task and granting of tools was where the kindness ended, and the cruelty began. His "work area" was little more than a section of Bastille wall emerging from the dark blue waters of an endless ocean. The nights were cold, damp, and brutal, while the days were windy and bathed in sweltering sunlight. There was no shelter. And while he was free to work at his own pace, a floating hourss in the faraway distance constantly drained sand. It was half full now. Not that much time had passed. As far as Miles could tell, he''d only been here about two days.


    It was an early mistake that cost nearly a quarter of the timer. He''d loaded his pail with approximately twenty orbs¡ªaround two-hundred pounds¡ªand began the long ascent up the stairway. The weight was no problem. In his mind he was taking it easy, taking on the sort of burden he could have easily carried even before the system. But there were two factors he didn''t ount for that he probably should have. The round, thin, metallic handle, and the way the wind grew unnaturally unpredictable towards the top of the summit. He''d been less than five steps away from the scale when the thin handle''s slow bite suddenly grew insufferable just as his foot hit a wet patch. Miles stumbled, nearly losing his footingpletely and halting himself moments before tumbling ass over teakettle off the side. A few corrupted orbs tumbled out of the pail, plunging into the ocean below, their glow disappearing almost instantly. He righted the bucket, releasing the handle for only a moment when it toppled with a gust of wind, sending a cascade of red orbs down the stairs and over the side.


    That was the third factor. The one he couldn''t really me himself for. Because the pail was the first thing he''d checked. It appeared fully metal. The handle was solid, unlikely to break. And when he''d filled it with a few orbs and sat it flush, it had remained upright. Only, the insidious part was that the bottom <em>did</em> have flex. Not a lot. With a few orbs, the difference was barely perceptible. But with more¡ªsay twenty, for instance¡ªthe bottom rounded out and became convex. Meaning he could load the pail with as many orbs as he wanted.


    But he could never set it down until those orbs reached their destination.


    Now, he panted after a sessful trip, bucket tossed to the side and overturned. Small boats helmed by shadowy figures asionally arrived, unceremoniously dumping cargo that consisted entirely of orbs onto the loading tform, undoing any potential sorting in advance he could manage.He wouldn''t give up. It wasn''t in his nature, never had been. But not knowing how close he was to either his deadline, or his goal, was slowly driving him insane.


    The outline of a white door appeared on the far end of the loading area, and a smug male voice called out, distorted as if over an inte. "User, present yourself."


    "I told you¡ª" Miles stopped as his voice cracked, licked his lips, and tried again. "I told you. No breaks. I don''t need a breather, don''t need to eat or drink anything that wasn''t already supplied within the provisions."


    "Really? Shame. This is something of a boring post. I get lonely. Take a few shots of tequ with me, and who knows? I might be able to scrounge up a bottle of sunscreen."


    It was more tempting than it should have been. Miles had ditched his shirt in the early hours, confident that the weight of sodden clothes from the crashing waves would slow him down more than the temporary difort of exposure. His elevated Toughness stat was supposed to help against that sort of thing, and it had. With the constant sunlight, he should have already been redder than the kool-aid man. He''d endured the first day mostly unscathed. But time had a way of highlighting the cracks in your armor. Now at the beginning of day three he was thoroughly burned, blisters already forming on his shoulders and back.


    "What''s the ABV?" Miles asked, suddenly.


    "Hm?"


    "The alcohol by volume. There should be a percentage on the corner of the bottle."


    "Ah, I see." There was a pause, before the voice proimed. "Seventy-five percent."


    "Go fuck yourself." Miles scoffed. "Not even tequ at that point."


    "The bottle says tequ." The voice replied petntly.


    "Well, it''s not. It''s fucking mezcal. And a few shots of that will dehydrate the hell out of me and introduce the possibility of more stupid fucking mistakes. So, respectfully, no thanks."


    The voice sighed. "You''re all so gods damned boring."


    Miles perked up. "There''s someone else there?"


    "Yes," the boy acknowledged. "A visitor, dead-set on seeing you. But I''ve told him you''re fullymitted to not taking any time away from your task, so there''s nothing to be done. Tragic really. He won''t drink with me either."


    "You gonna tell me his name?"


    "You gonna take a shot?" The voice challenged.


    "No."


    "Then I suppose all shall remain a mystery." It sighed, mocking him again. It did this from time to time, popped up to tempt him away from the task, offering false respite. As far as Miles could tell, the boy had never lied to him. He''d omitted, taunted, and twisted, but never outright lied. Which meant there probably was someone out there looking for him.


    There were really only two possibilities. Miles kept the list of people who knew where he was intentionally small due to the exorbitant bounty on his head. The overworld entry-point to this realm was in neutral territory, making it painfully easy to set an ambush, so the secrecy was a necessity until he cleared it. Kinsley¡ªthe child leader of the merchant''s guild¡ªhad secured the services of a high level priest, helping him arrange a method of clearing his bounty through a deity called Char. And while he had no doubt the Priest had reported back the oue, including the destination for his "service," he was reasonably certain Kinsley was wealthy enough to make the bounty on his head paltry inparison. She was also busy, which meant if she did need to talk to him, she''d probably sent someone.


    But Miles was pretty sure the visitor had nothing to do with Kinsley. Directly, anyway.


    "I''ll take five." He announced.


    "Shots?"


    "Minutes." Miles somehow wrung a polite tone from between grit teeth.


    "But you were so intent on not wasting your precious time." The voice mocked.


    "Five minutes, in and out. Whoever it is, I''m guessing this won''t take long. Come on. Let me out."


    "As you wish." The voice replied, vaguely sing song. After a moment a brass handle formed, and the white doorway grew more solid.


    Miles took a deep breath, forced himself to stand up straight, then turned the handle and stepped through.


    Conditioned air hit him first, pouring over his exhausted figure and drawing chills. The Proctor''s office was as luxurious as it''d been before,cquered wood flooring covered in plush throw rugs, long leather couches ample enough to lie down on. The scent of Indian food cooking on a distant stove top caused his stomach to rumble, almostpletely covering the undercurrent of incense that seeped through his nostrils and calmed his mind, urging sleep, slow and provocative.


    "See? He''s fine." The proctor said, speaking to someone else. The boy''s sneakers were still parked on his desk, as he leaned back precariously in an overrge leather office chair, pose and demeanor almost exactly the same as the way he was the day Miles had met him. Either the advanced necrosis that covered over half of his face and¡ªfrom the looks of the way it trailed down his neck without tapering off¡ªmost of his body didn''t actually cause him pain, or he waspletely masterful at covering it.


    Across the desk, a shadow stood with its arms crossed. It wasn''t even that dark in the half-study-half-lounge, yet somehow, he was still difficult to make out, silhouetted features giving the appearance of a void within an otherwise colored photograph. "Really? You call that fine?"


    "This is nothing." The boy drew a file out of a nearby drawer and set to work shaping the unhealthy brown nails on his almost entirely necrotic left hand. "It could have been far worse. Would have, if the merchant girl hadn''t offered our lordship such a charitable donation. So yes. All his bits are still intact and he''s still able to form coherent sentences. Don''t be unreasonable."


    "He''s right." Miles agreed, caution beating out exhaustion. The understanding they''d reached didn''t mean shit. It was a temporary respite. Once either of them were more than capable of throwing away the moment it grew inconvenient. "Compliments to Kinsley, all they really have me doing is hardbor. More than fair. Like I said in the messages, I can handle it. You''re better off handling business elsewhere."


    "See, that''s the problem." Myrddin turned, pale, nondescript features drawn into a scowl. "Personally, I''d love to screw off and mind my own business. Really, I would. But you''re generally more convincing. And even less persuasive in person than over text. So I''m getting the sense that whatever this is, it''s kicking your ass."


    "Fuck you."


    "Put a shirt on before you poke someone''s eye out." Myrddin shifted back to the proctor, who suddenly shrieked and recoiled, losing his devil-may-care attitude and dove to the floor, yanking the middle drawer clear out of the desk,ing away brandishing a ckwood wand. The proctor held it out in front of him protectively as he scrambled back across the ground.


    "Touch me with your power again, and I''ll finish what we started during thest transposition."


    Myrddin raised his hands non-threateningly, to little effect. Because everything Myrddin did looked threatening. "Rx. Just testing the waters."


    The boy chuckled, his voice unhinged, never taking his eyes from Myrddin. "Uh-huh. Miles knows a thing or two about testing the waters, don''t you, Miles? So far, he''s been lucky. If you''d like it to stay that way, the best thing you can do for him is get the hell out of my office."


    "The priest said it''s not umon for a User to bring in outside help to clear a bounty¡ª"


    "Well, the priest can suck my cock and nibble the nads while he''s at it." The boy pushed himself up, leaning against the bookshelf for leverage, keeping the wand trained on Myrddin. "Miles chose not to bring in help at the beginning. And that choice was binding. No mulligan, no take-backs. And if you think I''m gonna make an exception for you of all people¡ª"


    "Man," Myrddin cut in, his voice suddenly cruel and abrasive. "They <em>really</em> fucked up your face."


    Slowly, Miles closed his eyes and put a hand to his head.


    <em>God dammit, you''re making this worse for me.</em>


    "It''s... nothing." The boy''s expression grew hard. "A little temporary difort that will fade with time."


    "Maybe." Myrddin nodded, immediately switching tact, tone soft and understanding. "Necrosis is a serious condition. For mortals, at least. Constant burning pain, swelling. Worse part is, it doesn''t just stay put. Spreads, like cancer. And from what I understand, there''s no cure beyond surgery. Debriding the flesh. Excruciating. You should really get treatment soon."


    The boy trembled "If you think I won''t <em>fucking</em> kill you¡ª"


    "Ah, but I do think that." Myrddin walked away from him, paying no mind to the tip of the wand that still followed him, idly picking up the bottle from the desk and studying it before cing it back down. "I think you got scapegoated for some of the duplicity directed at me during the transposition. They drew attention to your more direct and obvious intervention, using your ''crime'' and subsequent punishment as a distraction from the shit they were pulling, and made you suffer the brunt. How am I doing?"


    "You have no idea how close I am to turning your existence into a living hell." The boy seethed.


    "Emphasis on living. And I''m sure you are." Myrddin shrugged. "Angry, I mean. I outyed you, got your face fucked up, your body stricken. Yet here I am, alive, well, and unafflicted."


    "Myrddin, for fuck''s sake¡ª" Miles started, but the boy immediately talked over him.


    "Are you... trying, to die?" The boy asked, his expression alternating between enraged and perplexed.


    "Not particrly." Myrddin studied him. "Seeing as how you haven''t brought the wrath of the gods down on my head, gotta assume you can''t. Which, I guess, is why I''m confused on why you''d let this rare opportunity slip." With that, Myrddin turned and walked, unhurried towards the exit.


    Internally, Miles scoffed. It was a power move. As ssic and cliche as theye. A way to show you''re willing to walk away from the table. The boy was older than he looked, and while he wasn''t quite a deity, he was far closer to that status than Miles, or Myrddin for that matter. There was no way it worked¡ª


    "What opportunity?" The boy snapped tly, taking the bait.


    Myrddin stopped, not bothering to look back. "We both know you don''t particrly care for the rules. That this station is beneath you. And Miles¡ªwell, Miles is nothing to you. Just another User who shot a gun when he should have used a crossbow, dipped when he should have dodged, slow-rolled the white line when he should have stopped. It''s arbitrary. Petty. And you know it doesn''t matter."


    The wand trembled. "I will perform the duty I have been assigned to the best of my ability."


    "I''m sure you will. And there''s wisdom in that." Myrddin nodded, and faced the boy, puzzlement ying across his lips. "But what I can''t understand is why you''re not willing to bend the rules a bit. Especially when you clearly can''t touch me in any other way."


    "Okay. We''re done. Hole in the sternum time." The tip of the proctor''s wand began to glow red.


    "Sure. They''ll kill you, or bury you so deep you''ll never see a fertile world again." Myrddin grinned, staring down the embering projectile. "Or... you could just give me what I''ve asked for."


    "And why the fuck would I do that?" The tip of the wand grew white from a heat so intense Miles could feel it from where he stood, yards away.


    "Well. You know what I am. Ordinators aren''t generally strong in the traditional sense." Myrddin gestured towards Miles. "Hell, he outsses me on practically every level in terms of physical stats, and despite that, he''s a foot in the grave. I''ll fare far worse. So sure, you could kick me out, kill me. Or you could show a nobody some mercy, and, in the meantime, channel a fraction of your undue suffering to the person who deserves it <em>most.</em>"


    For a long tense moment, Miles believed Myrddin might have crossed the Rubicon. Whatever their history, the boy was <em>pissed,</em> and judging from his reactions, he was the type to get stupid when he was angry rather than smart. The first fingers of <strong></strong> wed at Miles'' psyche, warning of an imminent attack.


    And then the wand''s light faded. It remained in ce, aimed at Myrddin''s chest. But drawingparisons to a firearm, the proctor''s finger was no longer on the trigger.


    "Ignoring, for a moment, that he already opted out." The proctor spoke through clenched teeth. "I can''t assign a transgressor assistance he hasn''t asked for."


    "Fine." Myrddin said. He crossed his arms again and waited for Miles.


    <em>I don''t want your help. Frankly, I don''t want anything to do with you. The only reason you''re here is because you''ve decided I''m an integral part of the bigger game you''re ying, and now that I''m in the shit and you think you''ve turned me, you''re worried about losing all the time and effort invested. Like I said before, you''re in over your head. And thest thing I want is to owe you anymore than I already do. Full stop. Fuck all the way off.</em>


    For all intents and purposes, a solid sendoff, if a bit crass. And Miles had every intention of delivering it, with gusto, until he realized he couldn''t. Something sat ill in the pit of his stomach, a seed of despair he''d either ignored or suppressed, grown malignant with the burgeoning difficulty of the task, utterly despondent at the idea of turning away anything that might lessen it. But Myrddin was too much of an unknown.


    And he was about to say as much, when he found, that, again, he couldn''t.


    Myrddin was an asset. An unreliable one, but still an asset. An unreliable asset with an eye for detail who was textbook anal-retentive. Miles wouldn''t have to worry about him losing orbs, or handling them carelessly. He''d help more than he hurt. And with the unproven but almost inevitable Kinsley connection, Miles had to assume that Myrddin wasn''t hurting for money, either. Maybe¡ª


    "Guess... I could use some help." Miles admitted, almost as surprised at his own sentiment as the proctor pretended to be.


    "<em>Really?</em> And here I was under the impression¡ª" The proctor trailed off, his irises disappearing in a swath of golden light, mouth moving in inaudible utterances before he came back to consciousness. Once he did, his mouth pulled wide in a cunning smile. "Well. As it happens, we''re not the only ones in agreement." He spread his hands wide, pleased with himself. "I''ve received assurance that there will be no further punishment if I massage the rules a bit, and even better, my budget cap is lifted."


    "Meaning?" Myrddin prompted, annoyed, clearly tired of the proctor now that he had what he wanted.


    "Misappropriation, naturally. I''ve needed a bigger cooler for a while." The proctor inclined his head towards the small, desktopputer sized mini-fridge plugged into the side of his desk. Then he tilted to look at Miles, proffering a smile that was anything but kind. "Also, your bounty is now ten million selve."


    "Sorry, <em>what?</em>" Miles asked, his head spinning at the number.


    "Bullshit." Myrddin put both hands on the proctor''s desk, intruding into his space. "He hasn''t done anything. Hasn''tmitted any further infractions. Why are you raising it?"


    "It''smon practice." The proctor blinked innocently. "If a bounty isn''tpleted within a certain amount of time, it only makes sense to throw more money at the problem. Surely it worked simrly in your world, did it not?"


    Myrddin spoke slowly. "Is. He. Safe. Here?"


    "Absolutely. No one gets through that door unless I allow it."


    The Ordinator''s voice dropped another octave. "And if a bunch of assholes just happen to show up with torches and pitchforks, looking to bag this stupidly inted bounty? Are you going to allow them in, <em>Deseric?</em>"


    Something wordless passed between them, a tension almost as thick as when the sub-deity was holding Myrddin at wand-point. Miles had a sense¡ªalmost entirely instinct, but it was there¡ªthat this exchange had less to do with the bad blood between them, more to do with the use of the proctor''s name. He''d never bothered introducing himself to Miles. Didn''t seem to care to. But the moment Myrddin called him by name, it was like a switch had been flipped.


    <em>Why?</em>


    "That would be a gross vition of my duties." The proctor rified evenly, doing a very obvious version of what feds called talking to the tape. "We attend one transgressor at a time. One per adjudicator. My office is closed until Miles either clears his bounty or fails to do so. With the addition of a subordinate, Miles may no longer receive visitors. So as of one minute ago, this office is on lockdown unless the transgressor or subordinate announce their intention to leave prematurely." Finally, he broke eye-contact. "As you established. I''d rather remain with the living."


    "d we understand each other." Myrddin said.


    "Just pointing this out." The proctor spun a pen resting on the desk and watched it swirl. "He''s still in danger."


    "What danger?" Myrddin leaned forward further, and this time the proctor didn''t rise to meet him. Deseric remained lounged in his chair,pletely in control.


    "You tell me. The task is arduous, that''s the point. People die in these things all the time from exertion alone. And¡ªno idea why this is the case¡ªapparently the higher ups want this bounty cleared. It''ll keep climbing. In three hours, it will be twenty million. In six, well, you get it. You''ll be working together, sleeping in cramped quarters." The proctor leered. "Let''s just say you wouldn''t be the first subordinate to get ideas."


    Myrddin scoffed, standing upright and taking a step backward. "Good luck with the face."


    "Fuck you very much."


    ////


    Miles exited the portal door, arguably more troubled than he''d been before. The ocean spray pped him across the face before he could shield himself, stirring the countless orbs at his feet before the overflow drained through the grates at the center.


    Momentster, Myrddin stepped out beside him and froze stock still, almost transfixed by the choppy water. "Great," he said, quickly covering thepse.


    "Comining already? Really? You just got here." Miles observed, ncing at the giant hourss on the horizon, before he started shoveling scarlet orbs into his bucket.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the vition.


    "Yeah, yeah. Give me the rundown."


    "We''re sorting." Miles announced matter-of-factly. "Good orbs stay here, red orbs climb the stairway to heaven. Well, probably not heaven, but you get the point. We transport them to the basin up top. The buckets work well enough for that, though they''ll tip over once you set them down, so don''t take on more weight than you can realistically carry. Once it''s adequately full, we''re done."


    "''Adequate'' remaining ponderously undefined?"


    "Yep."


    "Great." Myrddin repeated. With that, he stooped down and silently worked, shoving red orbs into the bucket. "Jesus, you didn''t mention they''re like thirty pounds a piece."


    "Guess I didn''t." Miles answered, following suit. "So. Not to make this awkward, but uh. If they''re gonna keep raising this thing, I''d really love to have a general range of when you''ll start getting antsy."


    "I won''t." Myrddin answered, plopping another orb into his bucket.


    Miles snorted. "Come on. Ten million''s already a lot of Selve. Maybe you have more than that, but it''s still a chunk."


    For a long moment, Myrddin seemed to consider that. "Thirty million. That''d cover a full set of legendary gear, supplies, shelter, more hired help than I could shake a stick at. Unless something changes with the pricing, that''d be more than enough to leisurely speedrun my way through the rest of this horseshit. I''m not saying I would, but I''d be lying if I said I wouldn''t think about it."


    A system notification popped in the corner of Mile''s vision.


    <strong></strong>


    From the way Myrddin looked into nothing, he''d received a notification too. Miles tensed, staring at Myrddin''s posture, waiting for sudden movement.


    Myrddin cocked his head,pletely still. "Well. I thought about it. Moving on." Then, cradling the bucket in his arms, he turned and took the stairs two at a time, channeling a level of energy Miles had beencking since the first day.


    "Pace yourself," Miles called after him.


    "You''re totally right. The longer I drag this out, the higher the bounty goes."


    "Anyone ever tell you, you''re kind of a prick?"


    "Not really." Myrddin raised his voice, still barely audible over the churning water. "I get asshole, asshat, dickhead, and smug C-word way more often than prick."


    "C-word? What are you, twelve?"


    "I''m neither Australian nor a woman, so it''s not my word to say."


    "That''s... unexpectedly decent." Miles returned, quietly enough that Myrddin likely hadn''t heard him. As it stood, and as reluctant as he was to believe it, ''unexpectedly decent'' summed up a lot of Myrddin''s recent behavior. He''d taken submachine gun-fire¡ªand at least a few of those bullets had to have hit him, then pulled the man who shot him out of serious shit. And was apparently worried enough after the fact to swagger into the proctor''s office and dance all over the kid''s toes. Thest one was more significant than it appeared, because Miles had something of a talent for telling the difference between a truth and an educated guess, and he was confident within a margin of error that until the proctor put the wand down, the danger to Myrddin was very real.


    Having already concluded that passing each other on the stairway was a stupid idea, Miles rested his loaded bucket between his calves and waited for his subordinate to return.


    Myrddin took his time, testing each step for slippage, going out of his way to keep his gaze fixed on the lower tform.


    "Heights or the ocean?" Miles asked.


    "Come again?"


    "What you''re afraid of. Heights, or the ocean?" Miles repeated. In truth, he already knew the answer. Myrddin hadn''t broken a sweat once today until he stepped out of the portal and got a face full of sea-level blue. But people had a tendency to get defensive when you pigeonholed them on topics as personal as deep-seated fears.


    Predictably, Myrddin scowled, walking as far away from Miles as he could, towards the back of the tform. "And talking about this helps us how?"


    Miles shrugged. "Well, we''re gonna be here for a while. Gonna get boring if all we have to talk about is the weather, such as it is."


    Myrddin didn''t budge. Just nted himself at the back of the tform. Miles cursed inwardly as he realized the other man had picked up on his reluctance to traverse the stairway while he was already up there, well within shoving distance.


    <em>Fair enough.</em>


    His waist and lower backined as he leaned down, preparing to lift the bucket.


    "My father¡ª" Myrddin stopped, hesitated, then started again. "My father had a speedboat. Might still, far as I know, we''ve been estranged for a long time. Most of my childhood, he was obsessed with them. It was the dumbest thing. On the road, he was a reasonable driver. Cruise-control on straightaways, never went more than ten percent over, you know the type."


    "Yeah." Miles said, grateful for a chance to dy the never-ending climb. He grinned. "Usually sting my horn at them for clogging up the leftne."


    "To his credit he was a centerne guy, but yeah. Strict, disciplined." Myrddin cocked his head. "Until he sat his ass down in a boat. Then we were zooming across theke, and I was in the passenger seat, bouncing up and down like someone spiked my fruit punch with espresso."


    "Familiar with <em>that</em> guy as well." Miles nodded along. "You were young?"


    "Young enough to be scared. Arguably not scared enough. One day we stopped in the center of theke so he could fish. I uh¡ª" Myrddin grimaced. "I undid my seatbelt, because I had this thing for the water."


    "Define thing."


    "Don''t get me wrong. I''d been subjected to enough horror stories about children drowning in riptides that I knew the dangers. But secretly, I thought it was beautiful. Mysterious. Something about how vast it was, how sometimes, if the sun was in the right ce you could see to the bottom. I guess I liked it because it felt calm, peaceful." He smiled unpleasantly. "And then dad reeled in his line, packed up his pole, sat down, and gunned it."


    "Jesus. You go flying?"


    "Not right away. Might have been better if I had. But no, I held on screaming my lungs out. My father told meter, when we were safe, he thought I was having the time of my life. Never did quite forgive him for that. It wasn''t entirely his fault. If it wasn''t for the upswell, I probably would have made it." Myrddin raised a hand, mimicking something flying high at a wide arc, before it crashed back down. "Hit the water feet first, at an angle. Shot straight to the bottom. Started drowning, cked out and woke up on the shore with some chain-smoking off-duty EMT sticking his tongue down my throat."


    Something about the story ticked wrong. It felt mostly truthful, almost deliberately so, but there were aspects that felt like a convert. A version of a past event retold with the details redirected and sanitized. Still, the trauma behind it felt authentic, so Miles let it go. "You gonna be okay out here?" He looked around over the wide expanse. "If you don''t think you can do it¡ª"


    "There''s no problem." Myrddin emphasized through ground teeth. "If anything, I''ll be more careful. The only reason I''m going on about this is because I don''t need you spending the next however-long getting ideas about why I''m on edge. I haterge bodies of water, and I hate small bodies of water. That''s it."


    <em>Again. Oddly decent.</em>


    "Okay."


    /////


    By the sixth day, Miles hade to ept two simple truths. The first was that Myrddin was, at the very least, unlikely to push him over the side no matter how high his bounty climbed. It had nearly doubled by now, climbing to a hundred million selve over thest eighteen hours, finally falling static overnight.


    The second, was that he''d been overly optimistic with his original evaluation of the task. And for that matter, not only was it simply too much brutal work for any single person to handle, two probably wasn''t going to cover it either.


    They''d worked doggedly over the first day, mutual dislike drivingpetition. As soon as someone''s feet touched the bottom tform, the other guy was already on his way to the top. Begrudgingly, having someone to spur him along had helped. Collectively, they''d achieved more progress over a single day than he had over the two he''d worked alone. Myrddin had slipped only once, foot catching on a patch of seaweed that sent him stumbling to his knees, but miraculously, despite dropping it, his bucket had remained upright, retaining every orb.


    After that he''d finally ditched the ridiculous, billowing dark apparel, stripping down to athletic shorts and a tank top. His form, face, and identifying details still varied greatly, shifting and altering from time to time, but he was no longer prone to bouts of growth or shrinking, height remaining just under six feet.


    "Check in." Miles announced, propping his half-filled pail up against the retaining wall as Myrddin returned. He''d been favoring his left side on the descent, an unpleasant expression stered over his face.


    "Light-headed. Vision narrowing near the summit, mostly back to normal. Legs in a bad way, one-side worse than the other."


    "Yep." Miles pressed a waterskin to his chest insistently until he took it. "Gonna need a little longer than the time it''ll take me to get up and down that thing."


    The other man glowered at him darkly.


    "Rx. It''s not a dig, it''s a fact. Drink."


    Myrddin stalled, prodding fingers testing the volume of the skin. "Less than half in this one. How many do we have left in the provisions crate?"


    "Doesn''t matter. Drink, asshole." Miles waited until Myrddin had taken a long pull, his parched throat aching with envy. "There are a couple skins left. But..."


    "But?" Myrddin raised an eyebrow.


    "Turns out the crate isn''t temp controlled. So..."


    "They''re evaporating in the heat." Myrddin finished, recing the skin''s cork. "Bastards."


    "Sucks." Miles agreed. "But on the other hand, no point in strict rationing. We can drink more."


    "Until we run out."


    "Yeah." Miles agreed.


    Myrddin absorbed the news silently, ragged breathing slowly giving way to meditative inhales and exhales as he seemed to forcefully center himself with the same method he''d used over thest few days.


    A notification pinged. They both pulled it up, scanned the contents, and seeing the same repetitive sort of bounty increase message they''d been inundated with over thest few days, dismissed it withoutment.


    Almost.


    Miles took the skin as Myrddin passed it back, taking a long pull, watching the Ordinator cautiously. "Hundred million... the numbers are getting harder to wrap my head around."


    "After a certain point it''s all abstract." Myrddin mused, still cycling the same, intentional breathing. "The sooner we finish this the better. Once they establish no one''s biting for selve, it gets nasty."


    "What I can''t, for the life of me work out," Miles grunted, retrieving his pail and filling it with another corrupted orb that somehow felt heavier than thest. "Is why if the gods¡ªdeities, whatever¡ªoverseeing this whole thing hate you as much as you believe, why are they willing to hand you everything you need to win?"


    Myrddin grimaced. "Well, for one thing, despite earlierments, I''m not sure any quantity of selve is enough for a full sweep."


    "No?"


    "A hundred million in my pocket means nothing if I can''t spend it. If everything stayed exactly as it was, sure, I''d have a shot¡ªbut they proved definitively in the early hours they''re capable of altering the rules ofmerce. People tried to sell all kinds of shit in the early days for selve and got scammed for it. Anything pre-dome. And if they can cklist items from being traded, they can cklist people. There might be rules against that, but they''ve broken rules before when the stakes are high enough."


    Miles thought that through. "Stakes aside, if they could do that, wouldn''t it make more sense to do it at the beginning, before you built momentum?"


    "It would." Myrddin admitted, drumming his fingers on his knees, lost in thought.


    "And even if the selve is worthless, they''re spending resources to test you¡ªeven if your ss, abilities, whatever, afforded a degree of anonymity from the beginning¡ª"


    "It didn''t. At least a few of them have been aware of who I am from the jump."


    That was unsettling. "How would you even know that?"


    "Early fuckup." Myrddin admitted. "Stumbled into a dungeon before I understood the gravity of the situation,cking the tools to shield myself I have today, and was informed via title that something was monitoring me."


    "And the title''s foolproof?" Miles asked.


    "Solid enough that I''m willing to bet on whatever it tells me."


    "Then maybe you should reconsider your story. From where I''m standing, it''s not connecting. Because if Ordinators are as reviled as you believe, if I was a deity, I''d spend a lot less time trying to test you and a lot more effort trying to kill you." Miles crossed his arms in silent challenge. He half-expected Myrddin to blow him off, tell him to kick rocks.


    Instead Myrddin leaned back and crossed his legs. "Here''s what I know. We''re not the first world to undergo this crucible. Far from it. Barring a consistent and near universal effort to misdirect¡ªwhich frankly is somehow more difficult to believe than the alternative¡ªwe''re only thetest in a long line of hundreds, maybe thousands of worlds."


    "Okay." Miles nodded, thinking back on the overseer''s address and the crypticments his own patron had made. "With you so far."


    Myrddin continued. "Branching out more to theory here, I also get the impression it wasn''t always like this. At some point they <em>were</em> actually trying to help, interceding on behalf of doomed worlds in an altruistic manner. Think Starfleet with Kirk in charge of policy decisions."


    It was difficult to imagine, especially with how sour the system''s most recent "event" sat in memory. There wasn''t much heroism going around during thest transposition. People fought over territory in the same manner they always had. More to the point, the overarching chaos and pandemonium created a lot of cover for heinous, Blood Meridian levels of fucked-uppery the office was still getting vague reports of up to the current day.


    That being said, Miles could kind of see it. Some prehistoric version of this never ending carnival ride spun up to save a failing world, rather than inflict punishment and parade the subsequent suffering as entertainment for bored, bodiless deities. But that left an obvious question.


    "What happened?"


    "Dunno." Myrddin''s brow furrowed. "Half-convinced it has something to do with the Ordinator, but it''s a chicken or the egg situation. Maybe the Allfather of Chaos tired of existing ws with the system and created an antagonistic ss that worked against it as a protest. Maybe he just got bored with the tidy business of saving failings and threw a wrench in things, creating the ws as a byproduct. Either way, Ordinators spent a long time¡ªpossibly centuries¡ªfucking up the system process and ruining everyone''s fun. The Allfather is eventually ousted from his position, exiled to the fringes, where he spends countless mortal lifetimes nning a move. Why he chose me was never revealed. All I know for certain is I''m the first in countless cycles, and that return rms many of them."


    "For good reason, if the footage they showed is urate." Miles said. He took in the ever churning ocean, eyeing Myrddin in his periphery. His first instinct was to keep the man talking, hoping to glean more information. But on second thought, Myrddin would see thating.


    <em>Pump the brakes a little, see if he bites.</em>


    "Broadly speaking, I''ve found that the few of us¡ªmost lucky, some less so¡ªwho have deistic patrons are generally careful not to name them, let alone voice allegations they might find offensive. It''s a little surprising you''re not exercising a simr level of caution." Miles said, keeping his voice curious and inoffensive.


    Myrddin scoffed and waved dismissively. "Please. Talked to him once. Barely long enough to establish he''s dying and unlikely to offer further help. Put that together with the centuries of bad blood he dropped in myp like a murder piece, and I''m guessing he doesn''t care much what I think of him." His jaw clenched for a moment before he sought the center again, cycling his breathing. "The others I''ve met, the ones that have helped, I generally show more deference to."


    "You''ve met others who haven''t smited you outright?" Miles rified tly.


    "Supposedly they can''t. Not that I''m trusting that any farther than I can throw it. Any rule that can be bent can be broken, and it''s only a matter of time before they do."


    Miles nodded along, slowly forming another theory. "Which, again, brings us to square one. Why?"


    "I mean, look at the greater context." Myrddin held a finger out, enumerating his points. "It''s easy enough to piece together that previous Ordinators were monsters. Everyone I''ve met who knows the history paints them as calcted psychopaths who sought power long before the system ever came into y. They were dealt with when the Allfather was exiled, and that counter-measure was effective enough that there hasn''t been one for centuries, only now, suddenly, there is. And this time, the Allfather casted against type.


    Slowly, Miles pulled a hand down his forehead. "They''re fucking curious."


    "Some of them, yes." Myrddin nodded. "Generalizing a bit, but it seems like there''s three camps. The stalwarts, who want me gone no matter what. The spectators, who are happy with any influx in drama and chaos no matter the source. And the curious, enterprising gods, who see the potential in a grounded Ordinator but aren''t willing to put their necks on the line until they confirm I am, definitively, what I appear to be."


    "That being?" Miles prompted, unable to help himself.


    "Just¡ªa fucking guy." Myrddin hissed. "Some guy who was plodding through life with no delusions or grand ns. Maybe not a good person, but not a terrible one, either. Won''t say I never wanted power because that''s a lie. No one <em>wants </em>to be powerless. But the sort of power I wanted¡ªthe ability to make the people I''m responsible forfortable, the breathing room to <em>be</em>fortable, the security to just take a day without worrying about everything crashing down around me¡ªbarely registers on the scale they''re worried about."


    It suddenly struck Miles, that he wasn''t the only one this sudden outpouring of raw frustration was meant for. Myrddin believed he was being tested. Hell, Miles wasn''t sure he could contest that if he wanted to, given the ever-increasing bounty and the fact that there was only one person present who could feasibly im it. It followed that he knew he was being directly observed, and he was using this opportunity to make his case.


    And it put Miles in a rather gilded position to put the screws to Myrddin, in a manner he simply couldn''t before.


    "And that''s how you''ve operated after the Ordinator ssnded in yourp? As just, <em>some guy?</em> Because, to me, it seems like you''ve spent a lot of time and effort working your way into the vital gears of groups that could easily end up as future power structures. Sure, maybe the Adventurer''s Guild fell through for now, but there are still obvious ties to the Merchant''s guild, now the Order. And those are just the ones I know about. Maybe you''re as well meaning as you im, but you can see why others might be cautious."


    "Regardless of what I wanted, it''s mine now. My responsibility. And if I don''t use it to end this thing as quickly and humanely as possible, then I am a fucking monster." Myrddin shut down, frustration suppressed as quickly as it appeared. The thin puddle of water that covered the tform rippled as he stood to his feet, studiously ignoring Miles, kicking up more ripples as he gathered orbs into his pail. "We done?"


    "Sure." Miles grinned, feeling as if he was making progress on several fronts. "What''s another fifty trips up the stairway between friends?"


    /////


    It was on the seventh day Miles found his breaking point.


    The weather was dark, steady torrential rain hammering the tform and coating the already slick stone ruin, thick roiling cloudspletely covering the distant hourss. As before, he knew the stairs at the top would be the most treacherous. This time he didn''t fall.


    But if he took another step, there was no doubt in his mind that he would.


    Slowly, painstakingly, keeping a tight grip on the pail and a protective arm over the top, he turned around, looking for hispanion.


    But Myrddin was already dealing with trouble of his own. His pail had fallen to his feet, corrupted orbs floating in a swell of tide beneath him as he convulsed, eyes white and luminous, mouth moving silently¡ªjust as the boy deity''s had. Myrddin was receiving a message, and while Miles had no way of piecing together the specifics of said message, he had a sinking feeling he knew the purpose.


    <em>Once they establish no one''s biting for selve, it gets nasty.</em>


    There it was. The universal issue with leaning on an asset too heavily, literally ying out before him in a manner that was more Aesop than Grimm. You can uplift them all you want, coach, build a rapport. But leverage, like all things, is temporary. And as soon as either the leverage is gone, or the offer is good enough to nullify its value entirely, they''ll start reviewing every way you''ve failed them in stark rity, leaving the positive by the wayside, abandoned.


    Most of the time, they''ll find more than enough reason to put the knife in your back if it means they can get away clean.


    He could see ruthlessness in Myrddin''s expression as the Ordinator came to, swaying on his feet, the calction. The hatred Miles had always believed existed, suppressed under the guise of apathy, finallyid bare.


    <em>It''s over.</em>


    The smooth-ss feeling of finality crept in as Myrddin took his first steps up the stairway at a measured, methodical pace, breaking their unspoken arrangement of distance. To this point, he''d been remarkably consistent. So it stood to reason there was only one reason to break it now. It was like rewatching a movie you already knew the ending to, but couldn''t quite recall how the preceding scenes had tied up to that final, climactic moment of betrayal.


    He might not be able to change the ending. But he could make the best of the time he had left.


    So despite the burning ache, rampant cramping in his thighs and calves, Miles refused to give in to the temptation to crumple onto the stairs behind him. If this was his end, he''d meet it standing.


    "What did they offer you?" Miles asked, almost afraid of the answer. Because Myrddin appeared anything but ted. His eyes were vacuous and cold, as if something in the unheard discourse had rent his very soul.


    "Doesn''t matter." Myrddin answered, taking another step. Lightning spider-webbed through the wall of clouds behind him, illuminating the grim rictus of his expression before it disappeared, nothing but a silhouette.


    "It mattered to you." Miles tried, eliciting no response as Myrddin continued to climb towards him.


    Quenching the fear outright was impossible. But years of mental conditioning and field experience went a long way to numbing the panic, creating pathways to make the energy behind it pliable, useful. If Miles was going to die¡ªand he genuinely believed he was¡ªhe was going to do it on his feet, ying every card he had until there was nothing left.


    "Maybe you''re right. Either way, I''ve been thinking, it''s probably time to cut the rope." Miles managed, not entirely sure if he was still capable of making sense.


    "What?" From the exasperated expression that took up most of Miles'' vision, he wasn''t.


    "Free-climbing group, once upon a time. Climbed in tandem. Buncha agency guys, a few from the bureau. Spent more of our time haunting the bars than we did climbing mountains. And as cop humor is practically synonymous with dark humor, it didn''t take much for the conversation to turn macabre. We talked about what would happen if the one at the bottom lost their grip. Risked dragging the others down. The conclusion was¡ª"


    "For once, spare me the story." Myrddin interrupted, voice harsh.


    Miles tried again, doing his best not to measure the distance between them in steps. "This is important. What we came down on was, in that situation, is that it isn''t fair to expect the guy above you to do it. We all decided if any of us were sloppy enough to get into that situation, we''d cut our own rope. Save the others. So this is it. I''m calling it. Cutting the rope."


    For a moment, Myrddin stopped, peering up at him through a veil of rain. "Why would you even do that for me?"


    <em>Because I''m dead anyway.</em>


    Miles forced an aloof smile and spoke aloud. "Because I got myself into this situation. You tried to de-escte, made an effort to exin yourself after I''d already tried to ambush you, when that was already more than enough justification to defend yourself. Despite that, you wanted to talk it through. But... I was terrified. Scared I''d believe you only to get itpletely wrong again. So I drew a weapon and tried to kill someone purely out of fear,mitting the cardinal sin of any swinging dick with a badge. Better to end this with a good turn, rather than a bad one, right?"


    "We have no idea how much time is left." Myrddin murmured, his inflection off, whatever took ce in his meditation with the deity still clearly affecting him.


    "I''m guessing there isn''t much. Also, isn''t hard to put together that whoever you spoke to probably confirmed that."


    Myrddin shook his head. "No. It confirmed they''re desperate. They''d never make that sort of offer if the window of opportunity wasn''t closing."


    The argument fell t,cking conviction. Entirely toote¡ªwhich was bing a trend over thest few weeks¡ªMiles realized he might be finally gleaning rare insight into Myrddin''s modus operandi. The AG kills had been rushed, messy, done out of necessity and mutual conflict, giving the impression of a brutal, uncaring methodology. But judging from the way Myrddin was acting now, trying to set him at ease, arguing against the inevitable? He got the feeling Myrddin was the sort that preferred that the people he ended never saw iting.


    In a vacuum, it was better than the alternatives.


    But in actuality, it was really fucking with his angle here.


    Miles switched tact, letting exhaustion seep through. "Beingpletely honest, I can''t do this anymore. Back isn''t what it used to be. Need to rest, but I know my limits. The second I sit down, it''s gonna be impossible to get up again. And you''re barely in better shape than I am. So let me cut my own rope here. Take the money along with whatever else they offered you. And if you can find it in yourself to look back kindly on this oh-so-noble-sacrifice, try to help Hawkins and the rest¡ª"


    The words died in his throat. Because in the time it''d taken him to speak, Myrddin had closed the distance, and ced a hand on his chest.


    A grim reapere calling.


    The end was close now. He was sure of it. His footing and battered legs were so unstable, the stone below them so slick with seawater that the slightest movement would send him tumbling over the side.


    This was it.


    Was he ready?


    Miles wasn''t sure. On the grand, metaphysical rap sheet, he''d arguably done more good than bad. But everyone made mistakes, and Miles was no exception. At the very least he''d been a terrible husband. Failed his families. He''d always hoped that his contributions to the greater good helped bnce the cosmic scale, when it came to tallying up the litany of smaller failures. Missed graduations, recitals, forgotten anniversaries. Neglected people suffering endless disappointment.


    And here, at the end of all things, those small failures felt a lot more significant.


    Cliche as it was, Miles saw the faces of his children sh before his eyes. Most resided outside the dome, relocating either after the divorce in question or after they graduated. He''d tried to keep in touch, and was happy to crack open his wallet if they ever needed anything. It wasn''t enough.


    Not even close.


    <em>I should have been better.</em>


    Miles closed his eyes and waited.


    The long pause stretched on for an eternity. When Myrddin finally spoke, agony tore at his voice,pletely unexpected vulnerability seeping through. "You... have no idea... what I''m giving up. That''s fine. I-I-It''s probably not even real¡ªthey''d just find a way to cheat me, or twist it somehow."


    "If it''s something you want so badly, no one would hold it against you if you chose to gamble." Miles said, mouth on rapport auto-pilot when he was at an utter loss. Thest few days had proven his impression at the transposition wasn''t a one-off. Myrddin was tough as nails. He''d watched him work until his body refused to function, copse, wake up hourster and do it all over again.


    <em>What the hell had rattled him so badly?</em>


    Slowly, Myrddin lowered his head, looking as damned as Miles felt, "Just... know that passing it up was the hardest thing I''ve ever done. And that''s a high fucking bar. So please. <em>Please.</em> Let this be worth it."


    For once, Miles had nothing to say. Noeback, no witty rejoinder. Because in the wake of endless misdirects, double-speak, and lies that had passed between them, this was perhaps, the one time¡ªthe <em>only</em> time¡ªhe''d beenpletely confident that Myrddin was telling the truth.


    He managed a nod, barely noticing as the frigid metal handle of his pail was carefully pried out of his grip, and Myrddin began a slow ascent towards the summit.


    "What did they offer you?" Miles tried again, squinting into the never-ending sheet of rain. Only this time he wasn''t asking because he was fishing for leverage, but because¡ªsurprisingly¡ªhe actually cared.


    Near thest step, Myrddin said something over his shoulder. It was difficult to hear with the worsening storm, but Miles was almost certain he''d made it out.


    "A childish dream. Nothing more."

 Chapter 306

    Chapter 306


    I never put much stock in people who imed they could feel storms before they hit. There''s something to be said for atmospheric shifts, the way the air gets heavy and clings to your skin. It''s easy enough to look up and see the clouds rolling in, hear distant thunder. That''s not what I''m referring to. I''m talking about feeling somethinging with no tangible corrtion. An ache in the bones on a cloudless day, when the stillness makes the hairs on your arm stand on end. Silly. Unscientific.


    But I felt it then.


    "I bought you a <em>fucking</em> milkshake," Miles snapped, the condemnation in his voice echoing across the clearing. His de arm hadn''t budged, but that didn''t mean anything. For all I knew, the barely concealed de was a distraction¡ªmeant to draw attention before he drew a sawn-off and blew me away.


    "You did," I agreed. Wasn''t sure why the milkshake, in particr, registered so highly out of so many other transgressions, but making light of it seemed categorically unwise.


    His eyes darted back and forth, seeking meaning in memory. "It was real. It <em>had</em> to be real."


    "And expensive given the venue."


    "Not the drink, shitheel." Miles'' mouth tightened in revulsion. "When I let it slip that you were about to be interrogated, you had a full-blown, hyperventting, pulse-fluttering-in-your-neck panic attack. You can''t fake a physiological reaction. No one''s that good."


    "It wasn''t fake," I said, unsure ifing fully clean would help me or hurt me. "If there''s anything I have in spades, it''s anxiety. Took a long time to learn to repress it. But breaking a dam is always easier than building one."


    Miles paused, then threw back his head andughed, the sound harsh and brittle. "Right. So you just... let it out. Timed it perfectly to give the sucker turning the screws a terminal case of hesitation. Felt guilty for weeks, by the way. Worried I ruined some poor kid''s life."I was tired of Miles'' pursuit. Fed up with how he was always watching, waiting for me to make a mistake. So it wasn''t wise, but I snapped back. "Might be time to jump off the high horse, Miles, because the way I remember it, neither of us were meless. Was using your insecurity and paternal instinct against you shitty? Sure. Would I have preferred to handle it literally any other way? Absolutely. But some dickhead who thinks his half-baked authority transcends the apocalypse ambushed and caught me out, so my options were limited."


    "Were you just...ughing at me the whole time?" The question was oddly cold. Clinical in the same way a doctor''s might be at the end of the appointment. Checking off the boxes.


    His de hand stirred.


    <strong></strong> activated reflexively, revealing countless crimson strands strung between us, our environment, and our summons. The exchange yed out before me like it was actually happening.


    <em>Miles drew a repeater crossbow from his inventory, firing the first few shots from the hip before he raised the weapon and steadied it over his knife arm. The next shots would be more urate¡ªpredictive, even corrective if I was too obvious with .</em>


    <em>But he wouldn''t have long. Talia and Azure broke out of the tree-line at a dead sprint, rushing him down from behind. Miles would have to split his attention between them and me¡ª</em>


    <em>No.</em>


    <em>Miles is a hell of a shot. Based on our previous encounters, he''ll use something with a payload. Azure goes down with a single bolt to the head, Talia not long after. Audrey has a terrain advantage, but it''s a gamble if she''s even paying close enough attention to factor. His hawk will go for my eyes, slow me down. By the time the summons are dispatched, he''ll lose the range, but still have the garrote and de to fall back on. And a knife fight with Miles ends badly for both of us.</em>


    The premonition faded, and I slowly shook my head. "Listen. I''ve never toyed with you. Not once. Even if I had room to fuck around and was so inclined, I wouldn''t. You''ve been locked onto me since the day we met. And unlike the psychos they train you to hunt at the academy, I''m not trying to get caught."


    "Odd thing to emphasize, given the confession," Miles returned.


    "Please." I bared my teeth in the facsimile of a smile. "It hardly mattered. Even if I denied it, came back with an airtight alibi, pressured your conjecture on summons in a way that would clear me to any other rational person, it still wouldn''t be enough. Hell, literally seeing me in the same room as Myrddin didn''t buy me more than a month. Because you''ve always known. And someone like you doesn''t just let things go."


    A tremor went through him. "If you''de to me, after the transposition, I would have helped you, god dammit."


    "Please."


    "No. I mean it." Miles took an angry step forward, then stopped. "We were in the shit together. I watched you put your neck on the line for everyone in that goddamn region."


    "If things had been different, I might have," I admitted. Looking back, I''d often wondered if I''d taken the system directive to conceal my identity from other Users too stringently. "There was too much I had to do that would have been impossible to manage with a fed monitoring my every move."


    "Yeah. Put a little of that together." Miles half-shrugged, expression growing frigid. "A lot of powerful, yet bizarrely unaffiliated Users closing their own mapstely." He manipted the de in his hand in idle back-rolls, no longer bothering to conceal it. "Vernon wasn''t your first. As it turned out, he wasn''t your second, either. But a guy''s gotta wonder. How many people have you killed, since the three-stooges at the transposition?"


    I stiffened. "Nobody who didn''t have iting."


    "See, that''s the thing." Miles scratched the back of his head. "By what metric? Because from where I''m standing, it sort of looks like you''re making up the rules as you go. Those who abide by the rule of Matt get to live, and those who don''t..." He let it hang.


    "Fuck yourself," I snarled. "We''re an endangered species now, Miles. Anyone who understands that and acts ordingly has nothing to worry about. But if you want to y bleeding heart for the dipshits exploiting others'' desperation and preying on them, go nuts."


    He held my stare for a long time before he looked away. "Let''s just deescte a little. Since you''reing clean, there''s a few things that bear exnation. For instance, how were Peter Parker and Spiderman in the same room, at the same time?"


    Not happening. Not for free. I stonewalled. "I''d be real stupid to exin anything about my abilities or skill set until I have a better idea of how this ys out."


    "Was it the mind control? It''s probably the mind control."


    The words hit like a haymaker. Simultaneously, it urred to me that my decision to monitor Miles less after ourst meet cute in the tower may have been the wrong call. In the moment it made perfect sense. We were no longer strictly enemies, but the neutral ground upied was shaky at best. And since we were in regr contact, there was a real possibility of slipping; subconsciously referring to something either Matt or Myrddin had no business knowing. Miles being Miles, the slightest mistake could give me away. So I''d tapered back, assuming he''d be less relentless after his bounty was cleared.


    Apparently, I''d been wrong.


    I hit back quickly, not leaving room for even a second''s hesitation. A snort, followed by a shortugh. "MKUltra, much? I thought the alphabet agencies left that shit behind in the seventies."


    An icy breeze blew in, ruffling the surrounding trees.


    "So," Miles said, chewing the words. "You <em>do</em> have a tell."


    I weathered a sudden flurry of fear and anxiety, keeping my face expressionless. Because however perceptive Miles was, I was dead sure he was wrong. You can train yourself out of a tell. Teach yourself to notice when your knee begins to bounce, monitor when you break eye contact, heighten your awareness of unwanted facial ticks. The problem with all of this is that it''s artificial, and often counter-intuitive. A still face can be as treacherous as a smirk, and a typically restless leg bes traitorous if still. Because it''s not any single physical action that gives you away. It''s the departure from the baseline. If your baseline is a twitching, stimming, smirking mess, thest thing you want is to stop doing any of those things the moment you''re pressed.


    You have to get out of the mindset of telling a lie. Construct a false narrative in your mind, as close to reality as possible only with the details you want changed. Bolster that narrative with false memories that strike you as raw, grounded, even ufortable. Bonus points if those narratives and memories include some small personal failing you may choose not to divulge. Think about how usible it is. How easily it could have happened.


    Do that, and you''ll never have a tell.


    I''d been following the same advice for as long as I could remember. So, denying the immediate instinct to pivot, I yed it out.


    "Mind control," I repeated tly. When Miles didn''t offer anything more, just watched, measuring my reaction, I continued. "Okay, fine. Let''s run with it. The Ordinator has magical mind control powers." I made a show of mulling it over. "It would put me in an impossible position if I ever needed to prove myself. Makes reaching any level of trust unattainable. You couldn''t even trust your own impressions of me, let alone anything I said."


    Miles nodded, agreeing.


    I drew the de. "I suppose... it''d be convenient, in a way."


    "Exin a lot about how you''ve aplished as much as you have, despite your age andck of experience," he added.


    "And..." I drove it home. "Provides a nice, tidy exnation for how you got yed so easily. Absolves you from me and assuages any personal responsibility and guilt, all in one fell stroke."


    "Ouch." Miles grinned savagely, something predatory behind his eyes. "Thought you were above toying with me."


    I shrugged it off. "People don''t like baseless usations. Maybe the cop in you can''t understand that." A sh of feathers was briefly visible through the tree-line. Miles'' hawk, circling counterclockwise behind me. "I get where you''reing from. We may not be friends, but we''re entangled. And it''s always easier to believe you were manipted by forces outside your control than it is to ept you just... missed something that was right in front of you."


    "Alright, smart guy." Miles took in a deep breath, let it out, clenched a fist at his side then released it. It was part of his centering process, and I''d witnessed the same process dozens of times when we were marooned, clearing his bounty. He''d be more focused now. Less emotional. "I''ll level with you. Unlike the summons, I don''t have anything hard to go off of. What I have is experience." He stared through me, his green eyes piercing and malevolent. "Remember Roderick?"


    "Self-proimed king of the crackhouse? How could I forget?"


    "Uhuh." Miles wandered, pacing in a circle. I mirrored him just to maintain the distance, keeping an eye on my surroundings in case he was trying to intentionally reposition us, jockeying for some sort of advantage. "Word is you <em>really</em> got under his skin during the transposition."


    This tale has been uwfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I''m aware."


    "Undermined his authority in front of his people, threatened his life, forced his cooperation in an operation he probably wouldn''t have volunteered for if not for points one and two. Sat in when Tyler talked to him before the open forum. He was so gung-ho to bring you down I advised the Adventurer''s Guild not to rely on him in any meaningful way. Would have done that regardless¡ªthe man is trash¡ªbut pissed as he was, the hair-trigger would be more hindrance than help." Miles recalled, his expression nk. "Which made it all the stranger when, after weeks of no results, I stopped by again, alone that time, expecting an earful."


    <em>He has nothing.</em>


    "Didn''t get it?" I asked.


    "Hell, I can''t even say for certain that it was really Roderick." Miles shook his head, puzzled. "For someone who¡¯s spent thest decade as the personification of a walking piece of shit, he was suddenly... elevated. Above it all. Seemedpletely indifferent to where we were at, finding you, and even seemed to consider the whole thing a waste of time. He¡ªJesus¡ªactually had the gall to tell me we should focus on rebuilding the city instead."


    Again, I shrugged. "There''s plenty of usible exnations for theck of interest. Could be he lost faith in the authorities and decided to handle it himself. Or, he might have concluded that focusing his attention on a single person was a waste of time."


    "Sure." Miles looked nauseous. "If I didn''t know damn well how long the man can hold a grudge. Roderick doesn''t y nice when slighted. If he decides to handle something himself, it''s hardly subtle. His favored brand of retaliation is impulsive, violent, and swift. You could fill a mausoleum with the ex-associates who learned that lesson trying to drop a dime."


    "Then it <em>must</em> be mind control," I mocked.


    "Yeah. It''s easy to joke about. Presentpany excluded, reading people has always been my area of expertise. And the hate he had for you isn''t the sort that just goes away. If he was hiding it, there would have at least been a trace of resentment." Miles said, a little disturbed. "But there wasn''t. Not even a hint." He pped his thigh. "That''s just one person, of course. But there''s more. Others who met Myrddin on the worst day of their lives and somehow hold very little enmity for that oue."


    "For fuck''s sake." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Miles. If even a fraction of what you''re hinting at is true, why the hell are we standing here? What kind of idiot would I be if I had the ability to just traipse into someone''s literal brain chemistry, alter thoughts and perceptions¡ªand <em>still</em> let you get this close?"


    "A weird one. Could be your own internal rules holding you back, could be some other limitation. Anyone can fall victim to hubris, or the literal opposite, realize the wisdom of not targeting Users with patrons." Miles smiled, natural charm and charisma shining through. "Tempted to start blowing smoke up your ass and start making shit up, but we both know I don''t stand a snowball''s chance in hell of proving anything. And clearly, I''m not infallible. So if I''m wrong, go ahead and tell me that."


    Miles held up a hand as I opened my mouth to immediately deny it, cutting me off. "<em>But.</em> If I''m right, you should really think about what you want to say. Consider taking the opportunity to clear the te. Because I''m willing to have an open mind. There''s a <em>lot</em> I can tolerate. But if I find out you yed me again, there will be no third conversation."


    At first, it was obvious what I had to do. Deny, deny, deny. Miles was sticking to the cop ybook. "<em>You''ve already confessed to a crime, are you sure you don''t want to confess to more? Make the conviction a little juicier for me?"</em> was as obvious as it got. The inevitable response was to push back with a clear, decisive denial.


    But was it really?


    The mind games were folding back on themselves, creatingyer afteryer, each growing exponentially more difficult to parse. If he was already nning on putting me in the ground either way, the answer didn''t matter. But if that was the n, he was taking a huge risk confronting me in an isted location.


    I shot a quick nce behind me, confirming what I already knew. We''d been talking for some time. There was still a small crowd''s worth of people around, some pilfering the goblin base, others lingering near the elevators. The poption was sparse and distant enough that it''d be difficult for a random rogue or stealth User to hide their approach, at least until the artificial suns set, and we were hours from that. The easiest¡ª


    "What are you looking for?" Miles asked.


    I shot him a wry smile. "Just wondering where you put the sniper."


    "No shooters. Went light on contingencies, as far as backup goes. Didn''t want to drag anyone else into the crossfire," Miles imed, earnest as theye.


    But something about the way he said it felt truthful. If it was, he was taking an enormous risk, handling things this way. Factoring in the summons and suspected mind control, it went beyond risk and bordered on stupid. Even if he''d worked out that his patron protected him from mental tampering, he still had too much to lose, going out on a limb like this.


    <em>That''s the wrong way to look at it. What does he stand to gain?</em>


    Feds tend to view people who fall under their purview the same way people view possessions. The average fed doesn''t care why you''re doing what you''re doing. They''ll happily ruin your life either way. Empathy isn''t the job. What they really care about is how much leverage you can give them, and whether or not that leverage leads to a bigger score.


    Theck of backup, and the brazenness of the approach, could only mean one thing. Miles wasn''t looking for reasons to kill me. He still needed reassurance, had to confirm that the abilities I''d concealed posed no threat to him, but his true intentionsy elsewhere. Because he''d already yed it out beforehand, and realized that if it was true, it was <em>everything</em>. Surveince, interrogation, psychological reprogramming. Everyscivious facet of big brother''s wet dream, all unterally essible through my skillset. He¡ªor more specifically, the people he answered to¡ªcould shape the way society reformed, after the games were over.


    For the first time in ages, I felt like myself again. Comfortable. In control. I swapped to <strong></strong>, feeling the patina of cynicism alter my perception like sandpaper. I disliked the title. It tended to skew things negatively and make me edgier, sometimes even less rational.


    But I needed it for this.


    I looked up towards the descending suns, and watched them slowly travel towards the horizon, lost in thought. "It''s gettingte, Miles."


    "It is," he agreed.


    <em>Only to be amicable. He''s fully prepared to stay out here all day and night if it gets him a resolution.</em>


    The title was functioning effectively. If there was any sort of interference, it tended to go quieter, more circumspect. No static from whatever precautions Miles had taken.


    "Part of me is inclined to just... send you my character sheet and be done with it." I rubbed my face, hiding a smirk at the way he immediately perked up.


    "That would save us both a lot of time," Miles agreed, hiding his eagerness well. "You''ll feel better, Matt. Unburdening."


    <em>Fully hooked.</em>


    "Then in the spirit of sharing, I''d like some insights into what will happen immediately after," I said, all perfectly reasonable. "Because again, I''d be a special kind of stupid to hand you the rope you''re about to hang me with."


    Miles'' eyes narrowed. The cop in him didn''t want to budge, didn''t want to cede a fraction of power, especially when he finally held the advantage. In the end, the human side won out. He sighed. "I maneuvered things the way I did, with the Adventurer''s Guild this afternoon, specifically because I haven''t made a decision and don''t want to rush it."


    I thought back to how he''d floated the concept of an advance team earlier in the day, how Tyler jumped on itter, and had to admire the workmanship. "So this is an evaluation period."


    "Of a sort." Miles made a dismissive gesture. "Obviously, stopping the second transpositiones first. That''s the real goal. But it also gives me a perfect excuse to monitor you in a mostly isted, next-to-controlled environment. Get a sense of how you really operate with other people, and without."


    "All the while putting distance between me and the privileges the Merchant''s Guild and being a region leader provides," I filled in.


    "Happy byproduct." Miles shrugged. "But yes, that''s true."


    "Great. What happens after the tower?" I asked, point-nk.


    "Depends." Miles hedged. "If everything pans out, nothing changes. No reason what you are needs toe out. You carry on with one less monkey on your back. Maybe, from time to time, you partner with said monkey on joint interests¡ªin which case, I should really try to see about getting you on the payroll."


    I''d already figured as much, but it was nice to hear it confirmed out loud,cking objection from <strong></strong>.


    "Fair enough. And if you decide I''m too dangerous for that?" I pressed.


    "Then... it gets a little moreplicated." Miles looked down, jaw working as he decided what he wanted to say. "Your mother''s been through enough. Speaking from the heart here, I''d like to keep you alive. Bring you in quietly. Have a little t¨ºte-¨¤-t¨ºte with a few Guild Masters and the rest of the powers that be, figure out an effective method of confinement. Develop measures to ensure you''re not Epsteined for the Overseer''s bounty. That much, I owe you."


    <em>Kept it honest almost until the end. He''d</em> like <em>to keep me alive. But he knows I won''t bend until I break. My behavior during the transposition taught him that if nothing else. He even confirmed it''ll be too difficult to deal with this outside the tower with politics involved. So he won''t chance it. If he decides I pose too much of a threat, he''ll close me out before the finish line. me the tower for my death. Calcted. Not to mention convenient.</em>


    That was fine. So long as he was being truthful about the potential of a positive oue¡ªwhich my title confirmed¡ªthe rest hardly mattered. Barring an ample disy of edge-lord mustache twirling, what I had to offer was too tantalizing for someone like Miles to ignore almost regardless of what I did.


    I was almost certain.


    But as I pulled up my character sheet, my heart hammered in my throat. From experience, only the titles woulde through nked out. Redacted. Everything else would be right there. Every dirty trick, every failsafe, reduced to simple, legible text.


    The textbook of my undoing.


    It wasn''t ideal. And it was beyond ufortable. But it was the only way Miles could realistically believe I wasn''t holding anything back. The first step in building trust.


    "When you read this, you''ll find the answers to a lot of questions. You''ll also¡ªreasonably¡ªbe rmed. Reread the stat requirements of certain abilities <em>before</em> striking out in a blind panic. Also consider that yes, I give anyone with a patron a wide berth." I paused before adding more. "Like you said before, there are hard limitations. But there are also rules. Family, friends, and allies were always off limits. That was the line from the beginning, and it''s the line now."


    Miles nodded, tension between us growing as he stuck his hands in his pockets and waited.


    I sent it. In part expecting, almost hoping that it wouldn''t go through,munication squelched in the Tower''s interference the same way direct messages were. Relocating to the lobby would at least grant the possibility of a head start.


    But from the way his brow furrowed, and his eyes zed over in focus, no such luck.


    "Do you want me to exin anything or..."


    "No." Short. Sharp. "Need to work through this on my own."


    "Then¡­ am I free to go?" I asked, cringing a little at the wording. Even if it was pretty urate to where we were now, it still felt strange to vocalize.


    Miles looked over the invisible screen and gave me a small smile that didn''t reach his eyes. Maybe it was just the fading light, but he seemed paler than before. "Well. I get the sense you''reing back here eventually, regardless of oue. On the off-chance I''m wrong and you abandon the tower entirely, the two of us share the curse of familiarity. Which gives me more than a few ideas on where to apply pressure."


    <em>Bastard.</em>


    "It goes both ways." I thought of Hawkins, the rest of the feds. They were family to Miles. Most of them were civilians, almost entirely unprotected from what an Ordinator could dish out. He had real family too, but I didn''t even want to think about going there. "Better to avoid that if possible."


    "Agreed," Miles said, something dangerous in his tone. "So long as you show up tomorrow and don''t take any cheap shots? We keep this between us."


    "Done."


    He read something else on the sheet, something he didn''t like, before he looked up and added. "Might be best if you head straight back and stick around your penthouse tonight. Ease of mind."


    "Not a problem. Need to crash anyway."


    It wasn''t trust, him letting me go. He had everything he needed to fuck me over, which made him confident enough to cken the lead. It was about not escting before he was ready. An amateur would double down, stick me in a cell or padlocked room for the night as a reminder of who was in charge. But there were eyes everywhere. Inevitable rumors would spread. And if our little outing ended with Miles cashing me out, it would look a hell of a lot worse for him than it would if I simply left the tower and returned of my own ord.


    Miles was ying a different game now.


    So was I.


    Because as much as it was in my nature to spin, to try to exin away every ability and the circumstances in which I''d used them, Miles was sharp enough to draw his own conclusions. Both of what I''d aplished, and what I hadn''t, despite having the obvious ability to do so. Connecting the lines for him would only cast unwanted doubt and convey desperation.


    I passed several Users on my way back to the elevator, waved, reluctantly received numerous ps on the back. Even paused to chat with a small group of Adventurer''s Guild hopefuls a little younger than me. It was important to appear unhurried. Because shortly, Miles would notice there was no simple answer on the sheet to his previous question. A question more critical than he realized. How I''d pulled off upying the same space as Myrddin simultaneously.


    Azure''s ability to act as a doppelg?nger was thest card I had. My summon was morefortable ying Myrddin than Matt under scrutiny, but the performance would be convincing enough to buy me a few priceless hours to maneuver and set my affairs in order.


    I needed to make the most of it.

 Book Three Release!! (and updates)

    Hi everyone!


    Excited to announce that Double-Blind: Nychta''s Favor (Book 3) just dropped on Amazon Unlimited today!


    Double-Blind 3: Nychta''s Favor: (A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure)


    Thanks to Paige and Mallory''s incredible editing, it all came together. While the core story remains unchanged, the final version flows so much better than the original draft. If you''re craving more action or just want to experience the whole thing without waiting for my slow-posting self to dump more chapters, you''re in for a treat.


    Launch day is crucial for any book''s sess. I¡¯ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Reads and reviews are king. If you want to help out, simply copying your existing review to Amazon would mean the world to me. And for those diving in fresh or rereading ¨C I''ll be right there with you, binging on my e-reader.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Also, I wanted to say, Thank You.


    This marks my sixth book in just over three years. While that might sound impressive, the current market moves at lightning speed and is packed with talented authors banging out words at an incredible rate. Your support ¨C whether through Patreon, Kindle Unlimited reads, following on Royal Road, or leavingments and reviews ¨C has made my dream of writing full-time possible.


    In this rtively small niche, every single interaction truly matters.As for what''s next: Double-Blind updates will resume next week (first on Patreon, then Royal Road), and Monarch Book IV should be finished by April 2025 or sooner, along with its regr weekly updates. My health has improved significantly, so you can expect much more consistent output moving forward.


    I¡¯m genuinely excited for whates next. Both stories have some serious payoffsing. Massive shakeups ¨C some you''ve been eagerly awaiting, others I¡¯ve been stealthily foreshadowing forever that will (hopefully)pletely blindside you. Stay tuned.


    And once again, Thank You.


    Eligos

 Chapter 307

    The summons were raucous in my mind, their warring voices muting my trudging footsteps along with the ambient noise of the floor beyond.


    "We''re in trouuuuuble," Audrey groaned. She''d been off happily hunting for most of the exchange, and seemed overwhelmed and stressed out by the other two.


    "It makes no sense. It makes <em>less</em> than no sense. Miles made it clear that he is the enemy of our pack. That he intends to stand in our way and create obstacles. He already knows our den, where we hunt, where we take shelter. What idiocy prompted him to reveal even more?" Taliamented, speaking at an elerated clip that was difficult to parse, let alone offer a reply.


    "Where we hunt?! HOW DOES HE KNOW?"


    "Not really the point, Dree," Azure said, his tone soothing and calm. "I agree that it''s bad. But give Matt a little credit. He''s spent a lot more time than any of us socializing with humans."


    "A practice, by his own admission, he is <em>terrible</em> at!" Talia snapped, her voice growing increasingly shrill.


    "Not when it''s important," Azure turned harsh, losing his cool. "Navigating casual social settings and acting decisively in a crisis are different skill sets. He''s gotten us out of tighter spots before."


    "Tighter than handing a highly capable enemy a neatly organized list of his strengths and weaknesses?"


    <em>"Stop."</em> I halted mid-stride and closed my eyes, trying to filter out the chatter. Surprisingly, it had the opposite effect. Within the darkness behind my eyelids, I found my three summons represented as blue ghostly apparitions arranged in a half circle, paused mid-conversation. "What. Have I just, never noticed? Are you guys always here?""Uh." Azure quickly stood to his feet, his boyish features twisting in a half-smile. "Yeah. This is the void. It takes more effort to ess when I''m in item form, but this is where we spend our time unmanifested. How are you here?"


    "Dunno." I nced over to Talia, who was at least three to four timesrger than her manifested form. "Can you choose your own appearances within the void? Or are you just astralogically huge?"


    "Huge? Huge?!" Talia raged. "This is the size I was before you plucked me out of the adaptive dungeon! It is a perfectly eptable¡ª"


    I opened my eyes, pastel colors of the tower floor flooding in.


    "¡ªDo not disappear when I am speaking to you!"


    "He can still hear you, idiot," Azure said, his voice long-suffering.


    "I could hear you the whole time," I added, continuing to trudge up the hill. They fell silent as I pulled up my DMs and sent Nick a nk message, testing the permeability of the floor, hoping for a spot with service. It didn''t go through.


    "These two, faithless traitors. I never doubted you," Audrey suddenly proimed.


    "Whatever you say, Dree."


    "Stupid nt," Talia snarled.


    "Look. There''s nothing wrong with having doubts, or questioning my actions. It''s better for everyone in the long run if there''s not a chorus of voices in my head, rubber stamping everything I do. Just don''t talk about me like I''m not present," I said, scanning the approach to the elevator. There were enough people around that doing what I needed to do was likely possible, but Miles having me under a microscope made it difficult.


    "To be fair, we didn''t know you were present," Azure pointed out.


    "Noted," I grunted. "Now, obviously, from what I heard, you all have questions. We have a brief window I can answer them, but after that I need Azure."


    "Ooh. What are we doing?" Azure asked. "I could take Miles'' form and start calling guild-masters and associates. Make him out to be a raving lunatic and start eroding his credibility with conspiracy theories."


    "Absolutely not," I shook my head. "You have enough juice regenerated for a couple transformations, though?"


    "In the tower. Outside... it''ll be hard to manage one."


    "But you can maintain it outside the tower?"


    "Yessir."


    "Perfect." I waved to Tyler, the Guild Master of the Adventurer''s Guild, not expecting to find him still here. He seemed to be negotiating with a small group of merchants, all of whom wore the Merchant''s Guild sigil around their necks, a golden coin¡ªGreek, if I remembered correctly¡ªthat depicted a ship traveling diagonal, an olive branch crossing it in the opposite diagonal.


    Tyler seemed attentive to my arrival, and almost looked ready to break from the group and speak to me before I broke eye-contact and smoothly changed directions, routing around the public towards the door. On an ordinary day I''d have no issue taking a few minutes chatting with Tyler, but from the moment I sent Miles my character sheet, the clock was ticking and every second mattered.


    Thankfully, he didn''t follow.


    "Two minutes. Questions, go."


    There was a dull growl from Talia, typically a sure sign she was amping up to something. But Audrey''s warbling voice spoke before she could. "Miles has a summon."


    "Yes," I agreed.


    "A bird."


    "That''s urate."


    "Birds taste good."


    There was a collective groan from Talia and Azure, so I attempted to spur the nt along. "Audrey, do you have questions or just observations?"


    "Yes question. Because Miles'' summon is bird and bird taste good. If someone were to eat bird, couldn''t he just re-summon it?"


    Come to think of it, I hadn''t seen the hawk since I left. I''d been looking for it, half-expecting to find it flying overhead. "Audrey. Did you eat Miles'' bird?"


    "...no," Audrey answered, after a long hesitation. "Just... thought about it."


    "Okay." Given the gravity of what was happening around us, and the intensity Talia was giving off, it wasn''t the sort of thing I wanted to spend a lot of time addressing. But what I''d learned from the nursery was that I couldn''t just shrug off simple queries from people that relied on me and treated my word as gospel. There could be serious repercussions otherwise. "You''re a summon. I can bring you back if you die. Why shouldn''t I just serve you up to Talia whenever she eats, vary her diet with a side of greens?"


    "Because it would hurt!" Audrey eximed.


    "It hurts other things when you hunt them."


    "But once they die, they''re dead," My nt summon argued. "Can''t feel pain anymore. If you let the wolf eat me¡ª"


    "¡ªNot that the wolf would," Talia groused.


    "¡ªI''d feel that pain every time."


    "And it would be worse, because you''re more intelligent than you were as a basic flower fang." I internally apologized to Socrates and hastened the conclusion. "As far as I can tell, most summons are like that. Gain a degree of amplified intelligence that varies based on the summoner''s stats. So not only would you feel the pain, you''d remember it and grow to dread it. How would that affect you?"


    This content has been uwfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Bad," Audrey''s voice held a shudder. "She''s a <em>messy</em> eater."


    "¡ªExcuse me?!"


    "Then, taking everything we just talked about and applying it to Miles'' summon, knowing it likely feels simrly on the matter, should you eat the bird?"


    "No," Audrey pouted.


    "Great. Next?"


    "I''m not even sure that I have a question," Talia spoke quickly this time, reserving her ce before anyone else could. "It''d be more urate to say that I''m resentful. For the fact that we are now ced in this position."


    Azure scoffed.


    "No, let her speak. Talia, what you really mean is that you''re resentful that <em>I</em> ced us in this position, correct?"


    I ignored the part of me that whispered arguing with a summon was pointless. Talia operated best with a considerable helping of autonomy. She''d saved my life before, acting of her own volition. If we were going to survive the next few weeks, I needed to get my house in order. Which made this as critical, if not more, than everything else I needed to aplish before the morning.


    "Yes. I suppose that''s true," Talia relented, breaking the silence.


    "Unfortunately, there wasn''t really a moment to seek your counsel beforehand. I did my best. What would you have done differently?"


    "Killed him," she hissed, her voice vicious and regretful. "Scattered him to the wind."


    "Miles has done a lot of good. Helped god knows how many people. That doesn''t stay your bloodlust?"


    "Bloodlust has nothing to do with it," Talia argued. "He threatened the pack. And all who threaten the pack must fall."


    Okay. This wasn''t the same as Audrey, where there was a simple gap in logic preventing point A from connecting to point B. I wasn''t about to get into the pack stuff¡ªwe''d been together long enough to read between the lines that Talia''s previous pack had met unpleasant ends, which made the entire topic a projectionndmine disguised as a cultural difference. But if the ethical angle wouldn''t work, the practical might.


    "There were a few reasons I didn''t. The one you''ll find most relevant is that Miles is very much like me. Potentially smarter, and definitely more experienced."


    "So you spared him because he was simr?" Talia said, distaste heavy in her voice.


    "No. If I was Miles, the first thing I''d do before confronting a highly ced, dangerous person, would be making sure Kinsley and a handful of others knew exactly where I was going and when it was happening. I''d trust at least one of them with the identity, whoever had the most power¡ªKinsley in this case¡ªand all the information they needed to dismantle the bastard''s entire world if it went sideways."


    "With immediate scheduled check-ins after the fact, so if you miss them, they can start nuking said bastard from orbit before he has time to maneuver," Azure added.


    "Why give him your sheet?" Talia asked, apparently finding her question just as Azure said, "I don''t understand why you didn''t Mind Spike him." There was an awkward silence, and imagining the way they were bristling at each other didn''t take much of a leap.


    "Both answers are rted," I sidestepped another User as I scanned the now mostly abandoned camp for a vacant tent. "Riddle me this. What do we fear most?"


    There was a brief silence before Azure answered. "The unknown."


    "Yes. And in this case, to Miles, I am the unknown. He''s seen me do a lot of shit. Especially as Myrddin. Achievements I''ve made through methods he can''t understand."


    "You could have pieced it out. Revealed abilities over time, like breadcrumbs, instead of dumping them all at once."


    "If our rtionship was better, I likely would have done just that. Problem is, I''ve lied to Miles. A lot. Tried to give him as much of the truth as I could, but right now it''s too personal, and all he can see is the lies. So I gave him something concrete. Something that spells out, definitively, how useful I am, and how much of a threat I pose. Made the unknown ascertainable. Miles has a flexible rtionship with the truth himself, so eventually, he''lle around and realize I was more honest with him than it seems. But I had to take the mystery out of it. The fear. There was no choice."


    "I''m following the reasoning..." Azure trailed off, "But I think he''ll be more afraid of you, rather than less."


    "Because of Mind Spike?" I asked.


    "That and Subjugation. He''s sharp enough to connect the dots, intuit how they work together."


    I sighed and checked back towards the clearing. No sign of Miles yet¡ªhe was either taking his time reading or intentionally widening the space between us. "Yeah. That''s part of why I was in a hurry to leave."


    "Hm?" Azure sounded confused.


    "Miles doesn''t make a move until he feelspletely in control," I mused. "He''s disturbingly patient."


    "He seemed more heated and vulnerable than in control," Taliamented.


    "That''s probably intentional."


    "The anger was genuine," Azure disagreed.


    "That''s what makes it solid bait," I dragged a hand down my face, feeling a wave of fatigue wash over me, along with the aches and pains of a dozen still-healing injuries. "Anger makes you sloppy. Prone to rush things and make mistakes. He''s letting me see it to bait me into capitalizing with the expectation of sloppiness, when really, he''s as locked down as theye."


    "You''re sure?" Azure asked.


    "If there isn''t a fed, or someone fed-adjacent, waiting in the lobby to cast squelch as soon as we get there, you can all collectively call me an idiot."


    "Hm."


    I blocked the entrance, allowing Azure to slip into my shadow and the tent beyond. He stepped out after a moment, wearing the face of an unfamiliar, unremarkable male User with short-cropped hair.


    "Addressing the other point," we continued the conversation silently as I walked side by side with him towards the elevator. "You''re right. Miles is going to connect the dots. It''ll spook him. But he''ll also piece together that I had an easy win and didn''t take it. Ample opportunity to cripple his intelligence and subjugate him into submission, making whatever precautions he''d takenpletely pointless."


    "You''re putting a lot of faith in his capacity to reason without bias," Azure noted.


    "Guess I am." I hoped that I''d showed enough good will through action alone that it was enough to offset any immediate, visceral reaction from Miles, but that was hardly guaranteed.


    "I get why you left."


    "Thinking you were holding the gun the whole time, only to realize you were looking down the barrel is better in the past tense. If I stuck around, it wouldn''t be a discovery. It''d be a threat."


    "If he panics," Azure mused, "it''ll be obvious he can''t let you back into the tower. You hold too much sway with the group he put together, and it''s not much of a jump to see how badly that could go for him. He''ll also realize how easy it would be, with your skill set, to simply disappear into the tower or some other dungeon. If it goes that way he''ll move tonight. Limit the potential for coteral damage."


    "He won''t," I repeated. But the conviction wasn''ting from a ce of logic or reason. It was a hunch. A feeling.


    And feelings could be wrong.


    Finally, we crested the rim of the wide, circr elevator tform. Azure was smart enough to walk a small distance away, so it was clear we weren''t together.


    His voice echoed in my head, as he repeated the earlier question. "Orders?"


    "I need to do... fucking everything," I groaned, overwhelmed by the growing mental checklist. "Can''t knock out any of it with an involuntary escort. Down to be me for a bit?"


    "My favorite role," Azure grinned. "I''ll make the swap in the elevator once we''re clear. Take it me-you is obediently following Miles'' instructions?"


    "Yes," I answered immediately, then reconsidered. "Actually, no. He''ll have several cars running the tail. Three minimum, driver and passenger. Once you''re back at the apartment, they''ll scale down to less. Again three minimum, two on the exits, one on the roof. Miles is eventually going to realize they''re only watching one of me and he never got an exnation. The natural response will be sending the auxiliary to my usual haunts. We want to dy that."


    "So you''re saying there''s room for mischief?" Azure asked, a twinkle in his eye.


    My first instinct was to shoot it down, but I changed my mind. Azure was at his best when he had room to be creative, take something and run with it. "Yes. <em>Mundane</em> mischief. Pick up something to eat. Go shopping. Talk to random people. Nothing out of character. If you can keep them in a state of sustained concern without causing outright rm, all the better. Just keep it subtle."


    "How am I supposed to talk to random people <em>and</em> stay in character?" Azure asked, grinning ear to ear.


    "Just... shut up." I punched the center pylon on the elevator. The ground swayed beneath me as it rose, stimting the growing nausea in my gut. The sky and clouds became more concave, revealing themselves as a masterwork facsimile just as we passed through them, reced by an epassing cone of walls.


    Across the elevator, Azure was facing me. His¡ªmy¡ªdark eyes glittered, reflecting the blue light of the control pylon. "You''re afraid. More than you''re letting on."


    "Who wouldn''t be?" I murmured, letting the chill I''d been suppressing since the confrontation with Miles finally tear through me.


    "Just remember that you have a n. It''s a good n, Matt."


    I cocked my head. "Not that I don''t appreciate it, but what''s with the pep talk?"


    He gripped his arm, hoodie sleeve crinkling beneath his fingers, the calmness in his expression strained. "Nothing. It''s just. You''ve built a good thing here. Grown so much from what you were, before we met. I know when things get bad¡ªwhen they get really, really bad¡ªyour natural inclination skews to the extreme. Because sometimes extreme is efficient."


    A bolt of anxiety shot through me. But my summon''s silence was a period, not ama.


    "We''ve been through worse. This is just... more of the same. Another bump in the road."


    "Maybe. But something about it seems different," Azure said, barely audible over the whir of the elevator.


    He was right about that much, at least.


    I slid the mask over my face, breathing deeply as the artificial wave of calm washed over me and my emotions grew muted.


    "There''s nothing to worry about." It didn''t feel like a lie, when I said it.


    But feelings could be wrong.

 Chapter 308

    Coms were scrambled within thirty seconds of reaching the tower lobby.


    If anything, the fact that Miles was still navigating along predictable lines made me feel better. The brief gap before the scramble meant whoever he''d posted up here probably didn''t have a perfect vantage on the elevator. Paying close enough attention to register "Matt''s" arrival, but not so close that they got a clear look at the person with him.


    The split itself was easy. Textbook.


    I waited in line for a hotdog, blending in with dozens of other users perusing the many vendors, angled enough to witness Azure stick his hands in the pockets of my hoodie and hurry out the front. He''d need to pass through the security checkpoint. It was a low volume day, so he''d be gone in two minutes along with any tail.


    The safest time to leave would be shortly after.


    Biding the time, I thought about next steps.


    No matter how this yed out he wouldn''t catch me t footed likest time. There were contingencies in ce for this exact scenario. Hurricane Miles. Unfortunately, they took time to deploy. Numerous messages to deliver, people to speak with, and contracts to activate. I''d tried to be practical in nning. If I hauled ass, it was theoretically possible to get every te spinning within a twenty-four-hour period.


    I had less than twelve.


    And not every measure was created equal.Notifying Kinsley and the Strike-Team, and getting the nursery squared away for what was shaping up to be a long absence were non-negotiables. I also needed to make sure anyone in my circle who knew the truth¡ªNick, Sae¡ªhad their stories straight. No matter what happened I didn''t want them or my family implicated in my bullshit. They all needed usible deniability, and it was the least I could do to ensure they had it.


    Beyond the basics there were other, unpleasant aspects. Any solid "Oh-shit" n has an escting staircase of safeguards that scale on severity of threat. The bottom step is the most fundamental and critical preparations, passive defenses, careful shoring up of resources and positioning, nothing that can''t be walked back if the threat subsides. As the stairs ascend, subtlety¡ªand any possibility of reversing what you''ve done¡ªdwindles. The counter-measures grow more brutal and destructive, escting until the final step.


    In theory, you should never reach the top. Because being forced to fall back on the most brutish, heinous methods you can imagine is a good indicator you fucked up somewhere in the nning.


    Problem was, Miles didn''t seem interested in letting me climb that staircase organically. Probably by design. With my unwitting help, he''d created a scenario that let him iste me from the outside world and cut offmunications and resources, all without <em>technically</em> holding anyone against their will.


    All of which meant I''d need to use the scant hours I had to guess.


    Pick and choose, based on how bad things <em>might</em> get, take an educated shot in the dark all the while hoping I wasn''t doing the strategic equivalent of dumping kerosene on a forest fire.


    Three minutes passed.


    I sent a dummy text to check,ting a degree of relief when it went through, confirming whoever was jammings had stopped. However, just because they''d stopped didn''t mean they were gone. Lingering behind, trying to pick them out, was rtively pointless. A waste of precious time, especially when Miles wasn''tcking in manpower.


    So I called Kinsley.


    "What?" A curt, groggy voice answered.


    "Hey, mom. Were you asleep?"


    "Oh, shit." There was a rustle of fabric and movement before the voice returned, more focused than before. "How bad is it?"


    "I''m alright. Oh, uh¡ªremember what you said to me the night of the party? When thete guests showed up?"


    There was a small moan. "That we were fucked, because we were all high as balls and the feds were there?"


    "Yep. You were right. About the first andst part, anyway."


    "Shit." More scrambling in the background, "Need to get my go bag."


    "Don''t worry about it," I blurted. It was better that I''d caught her napping rather than somewhere in public, though for this to work, I needed her not to freak out and tip our hand. "He was alright. Pleasant enough, but the whole ce stank like cat piss."


    "What¡ª"


    "Yeah, they had, like, three. Which doesn''t seem like that many, but the little monsters were spazzing everywhere. Climbing furniture, tearing up cushions. Basically feral."


    "Are you fucking serious¡ªoh." Kinsley went quiet for a second. "Cats. Rted to Miles. Category 3."


    "Uhuh."


    "You''repromised."


    "Yep."


    "But there''s no danger to anyone else."


    "For now, anyway. I''ll text more detailster."


    "Why didn''t you just text to begin with?" Kinsley groused.


    It was a reasonable question. Even if they weren''t using the unnecessary gestures, you could often pick out a person navigating any sort of system text in public by the phone-stare sans phone, the way they appeared to look directly in front of themselves instead of the more distant direction they were heading. I made a point to avoid that from the beginning; I was good at it, but Miles'' people tended to be a cut above. Better to avoid the risk since I had seen no one leave the tower.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    I was in the middle of parsing how tomunicate the sentiment in code when Kinsley apparently decided it wasn''t important. "Never mind. Jesus. The adrenaline''s hitting like a truck. What do you need me to do?"


    "Just stick with what we talked about and everything will be fine."


    "The Cat 3 Guidelines."


    "Uhuh."


    "That''s it? Nothing else?" Kinsley sounded ufortable. Probably because of the non-action. There was still a lot for her to do, but most of it involved throwing her vocational weight around, making sure the right people got paid while she ran things in the background.


    I teetered on the verge of a decision and finally took the plunge. "Right. What''s happening with the Grays? They stilling over for dinner tonight?"


    "The Gray Unit?" Kinsley rified, a little worried.


    "Yeah."


    "There was a metric fuck-ton of washouts and knee-jerk butthurt because <em>someone</em> insisted on making the evaluation criteria pretty much impossible to pass. Few made it through. I think there''s like, twenty right now, five to ten more if the current group passes thest round. But I thought we weren''t going to activate them unless¡ª"


    I chuckled. "Well, since <em>you''re</em> cooking, I''d say at least two."


    "Why do I suddenly feel insulted? Whatever. Two mercenaries, hot off the presses. Where do you want to meet them?"


    "Mom. How many times do I have to tell you not to open the door for anyone who knocks? Probably trying to get us to sign with their guild. Basically sales people. Just, send them my details, I''ll let them know we''re not interested."


    "Okay, I''ll give them your contact. What... kind do you need?" There was a moment of silence. "Swear to god Matt, if you say wet-work, I''m about to get really concerned. Those guys freak me the hell out. Honestly, all of them do."


    "Nothing like that. Bushed from the tower anyway. I''ll probably see about fixing the TV first¡ª"


    "¡ªso a tech guy¡ª" Kinsley confirmed.


    "¡ªand then try to find someone willing to survey the house, assuming you still want to put it on the market."


    There was a long silence. "... A recon guy?"


    "Uhuh."


    "Got it. Should reach out to you within the hour."


    "Great."


    "Anything else?" Kinsley asked.


    There was.


    Promises I needed to keep regardless of circumstance. Commitments I''d either made directly, or to myself. Ironically, my life was far fuller now than it had ever been before the dome. There were people I needed to ount for. People who''d gone to bat for me over and over. Even when it hurt them. Only I could no longer assume there were months, or even weeks to pay them back.


    The only day I was guaranteed was today.


    On the long list of people I owed, Kinsley stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was easy to forget, in the chaos, how much I expected from her. How reliably she delivered. An adult twice her age would have struggled under the responsibility, crumpled from stress alone, and yet, she''d never faltered.


    I''d sensed from the beginning that we were kindred spirits. Survivors. In a way that was wrong. Because Kinsley was more loyal than I''d ever been.


    It wasn''t how I pictured it happening in my mind. This was absolutely going to be rushed, probably a little messy. But if I didn''t do it now I might never get a second chance.


    "I''m thinking about going by the office and dragging Dad out. He''s been working too hard¡ªcan''t even remember thest time we all ate dinner together."


    Another long silence. "Okay, I''m stumped. Your dad''s dead and mine''s involuntary live-in Necromancing for the Order."


    "Uhuh. Might want to tidy up his office. After dinner he''ll probably keep working, but at least he''ll be home."


    There was a muffled sound. Almost a whimper. "Is... is this for real? Are you sure?"


    "Yeah. Just... uh... be prepared? You know how edgy he gets when he''s alone too long."


    Kinsley responded in a gush of words with barely any spaces in between. "Of course. I have a ce for him that''s secure and away from prying eyes, there''s already a live-in therapist on payroll and I''m sure I can snap up a few orderlies from <em>somewhere</em>, I should¡ªI should hire a chef to prepare his favorite foods! God there''s so much I want to show him, but I''ll be careful, of course. Maybe¡ªI... I... I can''t believe this is actually happening. You''re actually making it happen."


    "My one redeeming quality. Or so I''ve been told."


    The rational, monstrous side of me whinged at the decision. It was thest piece of leverage I had over Kinsley. With her father back under her roof and care, she was entirely self-sufficient. If she decided tomorrow our working rtionship was too much hassle, I had little recourse.


    But it was better than leaving her high and dry if this went south and Miles put me in the ground. To that point, I knew Kinsley. She would have taken care of my family, regardless. Only this way, there would be no bitterness or regret.


    Kinsleyughed, sniffled again, then stilled. "I''ve heard how you sound scared out of your mind before. This isn''t that."


    "I''m fine."


    "Heard <em>that</em> before too. But what you''re doing and what you''re saying isn''t lining up." Kinsley continued, suspicion punctuating her words.


    "How do you figure?" During our exchange, I''d reached the parking lot. As far as I could tell, no one had followed me out of the tower. Azure had taken the far more recognizable Prius, so that meant it was finally time for the back-up car. I selected the system-clone Chevy Cavalier in my inventory and spawned it in the middle of three open spaces, turquoise wireframe manifesting as soon as the obstruction checks were passed.


    Beneath the otherwise fresh coat of eggshell paint it looked like a beater. Ordinary. Unremarkable. Exactly what I needed.


    "Because you''ve been so tiredtely. And now you''re doing the same thing Dad used to do, when his depression got out of hand. Putting things to rest." Her voice was small.


    I muted myself and swore, resisting a sudden urge to pound the steering wheel with a fist. "It''s okay, Kinsley, really."


    "Yeah. He said that too."


    Surrendering, I leaned my head back on the seat''s blobby, ufortable cushion and gave her a short summary of what had happened, and how it all went down. "Honestly, I can''t really say how bad it is. Miles isn''t some random asshole. We have history, some good, some terrible. I can''t read him consistently. The guy''s got decades of experience and countless des under his belt, so while there''s a possibility I''m overreacting and this all goes away after we establish a foundational rapport, there''s a chance he''s just letting me think that."


    There was a barely audible sigh. "I''ll help however I can. Of course I will. But you''re not giving up? Not just going to ept whatever he decides,y down and give up?"


    If Miles did it right, I''d never see iting.


    "Quitting''s never really been my thing," I assured her.


    "Good. Text everything when you can. Any additional details you can think of."


    "Will do."


    "Don''t waste this time, Matt. As thrilled as I am that Dad''sing home, do whatever you have to do to make it through this."


    "Working on it. Promise."


    "Okay."


    I disconnected the line, quickly info-dumped the events of the tower into text form, and sent it off.


    Then began a long, meandering drive towards Miles'' address.

 Chapter 309

    Compartmentalizing was the only way forward.


    In making the connection between Matt and Myrddin, Miles had done the status quo equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to a load-bearing wall. It left me on shaky ground, and heightened the importance of maintaining theyers of instion that remained, while putting as many as I could in ce.


    So as much as I would prefer relying on people I knew¡ªthe strike team would have been perfect for this¡ªKinsley''s nascent "Gray Mercenary" contingent offered a safer alternative.


    Thex gun-controlws, low cost of living, ess to vet services, and aundry-list of other positives made Texas something of a hotspot for ex-military retirees, regardless of age. With plenty of service-friendly employers around, many made the transition to civilian life with little issue. Others used the state as a temporary hub, leveraging their connections tond a gig in the private sector.


    Kinsley had been snapping up thetter at an elerated rate. They were a godsend in the early days, when you could count the entire Merchant''s Guild roster on one hand. As Kinsley''s poprity skyrocketed, the membership of the guild along with it, she''d continued to recruit them. Nowadays the mercenary poption of the Merchant''s Guild outnumbered the Users 2 to 1. There were no tangible problems <em>yet,</em> but I had a decent enough grasp on history to identify the potential downfall.


    When we finally addressed the topic, I let history make the point for me. Carthage. Renaissance era Italian city-states. As always Kinsley was quick on the uptake. By the time I got to the Byzantine Empire, she was already working through possible solutions.


    The first step was to bolster User recruitment. An average User wasn''t much of a match for a firearm-packing mercenary. <em>Some</em> of them were, however. And as I knew entirely too well, it was difficult to evaluate how much of a threat an individual User posed before they sent their exploding-projectile-of-ear-drum-bursting-skull-fuckery on direct course to your unprepared face.


    This was more of a long-term investment, as many of the stronger Users were already spoken for, and recruitment would slow to a crawl. The second, more immediate step was to establish the Grays. Cultivate an internal division of hired guns, pulling from a list of individuals who excelled in their respective fields and outperformed their peers. They went through rigorous evaluation that ensured anyone who made it through had a wealth of expertise and a minimum degree of social savvy. Unlike a traditional military contingent, the Grays had no chain ofmand. Each Gray Mercenary kept their original ce in Kinsley''s existing defensive structure, answered to their original leadership, got paid exponentially more, and most importantly, kept their mouths shut. In normal times, they acted as watchdogs for dissidents among the mercs, listening for dissatisfaction and any whisper of a coup and rying potential problems to Kinsley.


    And when there was a situation that required discretion above all else, we had plenty of options to pull from. I didn''t know what number she''dnded on. I''d counseled her to keep the amount sustainable, but more than anyone else in the dome could feasibly afford to pay.There were plenty of rumors about the internal recruitment, even the name. But that was where the story ended. No one knew what the Grays were, and everyone who''d undergone the evaluation imed to have failed.


    Which meant whatever the final tally, it was enough.


    I''d met up with my reinforcements a few blocks away from Miles'' address. Not the house in my region, to be clear. If there was even a snowball''s chance in hell he was keeping something critical there, that chance had flown out the window the moment he directed me to it during the transposition.


    No, this was his t. I''d picked it up through my surveince, monitoring his movements on and off for thest few months.


    The two recent additions went by their first names¡ªChuck, the tech guy, and Jackson, the recon guy¡ªboth met me with a degree of caution. The dark-green Graham''s Pest Control jumpers they both wore weren''t exactly intimidating, but the fact they were dead-faced and expressionless, perfectly unreadable and guarded, more than made up the difference. Probably anxious over learning what, exactly, they were being paid so much to do.


    Once I confirmed who I was and exined what we were doing, they rxed a little. Not entirely, but enough to give the sense thatpared to whatever they''d been expecting, breaking into a federal agent''s home and gathering intel was practically a walk in the park.


    Which, I suppose, was a little disturbing in its own way.


    They seemed to mostly disregard me, which worked better for my purposes. I slipped into a matching jumper in the back of the van, listening to the conversation as I changed.


    "Man, all that buildup for this?" Chuckughed. "Gonna sleep easy for the first time in weeks." There was a whisper of specific southern twang to his speaking pattern, something I most typically associated with hillbillies in more rural areas of the state. He''d gone to great lengths to suppress it, which was atypical.


    "Dunno." Jackson took a deep draw from the cigarette and blew the smoke out the cracked window. "Feds can be a pain in the ass. Some of ''em are normal, but I''ve run up against more than a few who think they''re secret agent dipshit. Searching other peoples'' shit gets in their heads, makes ''em think a little too hard about how they''ll know if someone''s doing the same to them. They go full Winchester. Which makes this a good time to reiterate, to both of you, don''t touch a goddamn thing until I''m done taking pictures." He pointed his fingers holding the cigarette at Chuck. "Goes double for your pasty ass."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Chuck stared at Jackson across the dashboard. "You realize that me being here means I passed the evaluation, right? Not my first day in retail."


    "Maybe that thing on your neck makes me question your judgment."


    "It''s not¡ª" In a very practiced manner of a person who''d had this conversation too many times, Chuck threw his head back and sighed. "Not what you think. It corners to the left, not the right. A symbol for¡ª"


    "Wealth and fortune. I know."


    "Then what the fuck are we even talking about?"


    "The wisdom of a man who walks into a tattoo parlor¡ªprobably the second or third, because there''s no way it didn''t take effort to find someone willing to do it¡ªps that design down on the counter, and says ''this is the one. Put it on my neck where the whole damn world can see it and make their own assumptions.''"


    "Great team building." Chuck rolled his eyes. "First time you''ve said more than two words and I hate your guts already."


    "''Who cares if it asionally gets me punched in the face? If I get called out by someone with reasonable concerns, that''s a chicken-dinner opportunity to y the victim.''" Jackson mocked.


    I zipped up my jumpsuit, and once again wished for the strike team. "Let''s just cut the chatter before this gets nasty."


    "Yes sir, Mister Client sir," Jackson said indifferently, flicking his burned-down cigarette butt out the window.


    I ignored the jab and nced at Chuck. "You''re gonna cover that shit up, right?"


    "It''s¡ª" Chuck started.


    "I don''t care. It''s a distinguishing characteristic that looks a <em>lot</em> like the sort of thing people remember. Furthermore, it''s aggravating your associate. For obvious reasons. You''re not being paid to start shit. Stop being a dick."


    Chuck grumbled but followed instructions immediately, withdrawing a square bandage from his pocket and pping it on his neck. The fact that he just happened to have a bandage on hand that covered the tattoo''s dimensions meant he likely intended to from the beginning, just had a bad habit of digging his heels in when questioned.


    With the ring issue removed, Jackson''s focus turned to me, as I slipped a disposable pair of gloves on. "Latex?"


    I paused. "All I had on me. That a problem?"


    "If the fed''s savvy enough to spot powder residue on the shit you''re not touching? He''ll freak. Toss ''em." He inclined his head towards the back. "Nitrile in the box."


    That was fine. Convenient even. I swapped the gloves and took a seat, as Chuck pulled the van out and navigated towards Miles'' t. "Are we sure this isn''t too on the nose? The pest control van?"


    Jackson''s mouth drew tight. Chuck snickered. The only thing they seemed to dislike more than each other was taking orders from a third party.


    After a moment, I added acidly. "It wasn''t rhetorical."


    "Look out the window. How many vans like ours do you see out there?" Chuck asked. Now that he mentioned it, there were plenty. Two parked to the side, one several cars in front of us. When I said nothing, Chuck continued. "Bugs were already gonna be bad this year. And that was before the alien-invasionrping-clusterfuckpletely disrupted regr services. Midtown in particr is <emden</em> with ''em. Flies, bedbugs, roaches. Shit''s out of control."


    "Might as well be wearing ghillie suits." Jackson agreed, studying me in the rear-view. "Don''t spend much time around midtown?"


    "Less than I''d like," I offered nomittally.


    "Uhuh."


    As we grew closer to the destination, I felt a sense of anticipation growing. Anxiety along with it.


    "So what do we do when we get there?"


    "<em>You</em> do nothing." Chuck rified. "Just stay in the back and follow our lead."


    "Slight chance they have theirputers up, but they probably won''t. We park somewhere, walk straight up to the front desk, autograph their sign-in sheet and let them know what ts we''re servicing. None of which belong to the target," Jackson recited.


    "Following so far."


    Chuck cut in. "ce uses swipe cards. Fancier looking than what you''d get at a hotel but just as exploitable. Once we have one, I''ll wipe it and rece the previous authorization with the one we need. I''ll needplete silence until I''ve swept for bugs. Digital, of course."


    "And he can''t do that ''til I''ve done my thing. So it''ll be the two of you, standing there with your dicks in your hands until I signal, because I''m not catching heat from some fed."


    We both murmured agreement, though Chuck''s was far more begrudging. As curious as I was about Jackson''s "thing"¡ªmore specifically how long it would take¡ªit was tense enough in the van that I let it pass. Chuck struck me as more passive instigator than active. Ready to jump in as soon as someone said something he didn''t like, but professional enough that hecked the onus of shit-stirring in a vacuum.


    As we entered the building, my nerves grew. Part of me wished there was something that would turn us away. A suspicious man on the lobby couch,pletely fixated on the screen of his unconnected smartphone. A receptionist that gave us a hardline examination, unable to find any existing appointments in the off-line scheduling app on his miraculously functionalputer.


    But none of that happened. The t''s lobby was unremarkable, ordinary, and empty. Painted in inoffensive off-whites and besotted by clouds of flies. Theputers were down, as my newly gained help expected. And the receptionist was too busy squinting and swatting away at encroaching vermin to hone in on anything but the pest control jumpers.


    It took a matter of minutes for us to wait for the receptionist to hand over a scan card, navigate the hallway, and ascend a rickety elevator that juddered upward, struggling under abined weight far below its card''s alleged max capacity.


    And then we were through.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 310

    Johnny Cash stared out at us through the space-time window of two moderately sized posters. An acoustic guitar hung by its neck on a hook on the wall next to a vinyl collection and sound system that looked more expensive than anything else in the t. Notably, there was no television in the living room. There was a smaller TV in the bedroom mounted too high, but from the dust on the buttons and aplete absence of remote controls, I got the sense he didn''t spend much time watching it.


    The entire apartment had that cozy level of clutter that''s effortless for some and impossible for others. My own spaces were a binary. When I had time they''d always be fastidiously clean, the sort of clean that makes people look at you funny. On the rare asions they weren''t, the umted mess always struck me as horrifically messy, with very little in-between.


    Miles seemedpletelyfortable upying that space. There was a used te and World''s Best Dad coffee mug in the sink, but the counters were polished to a dull sheen. The books on his shelves were arranged alphabetically, but there were gaps, the missing books strewn around on the corner nook''s table or in the bedroom. The books appeared to be in excellent condition¡ªcovers treated well and their spines intact¡ªbut open a page and you''d be assailed by a barrage of colorful highlights, with fragmented, borderline indecipherable thoughts scribbled in the margins.


    Jackson had been working overtime since the moment we stepped through the door. He swept the room with an electronic device mounted on a dark pole, green-to-red readout never showing more than green. He told meter that he was less worried about audio than he was about cameras. Motion detecting cameras were a real issue, as obstructive as they weremon, and in the old days a single motion activated pet camera connected to the inte was more dangerous to a would-be trespasser than a thousand other moreplex safeguards.


    Thankfully, we lived in a time where the inte¡ªand the overwhelming swathe of digital architecture that relied on it¡ªwas obsolete. If there were cameras, they''d either bepletely reliant on internal memory or recording to SD cards, which, ording to Chuck, made the footage child''s y to manipte.


    The odd thing was, there wasn''t any. Footage, cameras, or bugs.


    It made me feel uneasy, somehow. And I wasn''t the only one.


    Jackson redoubled his efforts, scowl only growing as he prowled the apartment''s perimeter. His thing, apparently, involved taking countless pictures, making sure everything remained exactly as it was.


    "Can we talk now?" Chuck asked silently, over-enunciating.Jackson''s mouth tightened before he nodded. "It''s weird." He turned to me. "You sure this guy''s a fed?"


    "One-hundred percent," I confirmed.


    "He sloppy?"


    "Not even a little."


    Jackson swore and returned to the duffel he left near the entrance, swapping the photography camera''s lens for a shorter, wider variant. "Okay. Possibilities." He screwed in the lens. "He doesn''t actually live here, and you got yed, he''s got bad work-life bnce, or he''s the sort of anal-retentive motherfucker confident in his ability to spot an out-of-ce anything in this mess. What sounds more likely?"


    "Column C. Though there''s probably some column B in there as well."


    "You''re sure he lives here?" Jackson reiterated.


    Of course I was. I''d only seen snippets of it directly from Miles'' point of view, but unless he''d been actingpletely performatively over thest month on the off-chance he was being watched¡ªwhich would require a level of neuroticism almost impossible to imagine¡ªthis was his home.


    "Completely."


    "Fine." Jackson relented, though he clearly wasn''t happy about the answers. "Either way, done with the first sweep. I''ll clean up after, but in the meantime, look with your eyes first, brain second, and hands third¡ªor preferably, not at all."


    "And how am I supposed to use theputer without touching it?" Chuck needled. His mood plummeted after Jackson pulled out the booties and hais, and had yet to recover.


    "Check if he has a dictionary. Turn to P, look for ''preference,'' and see if you can work that one out," Jackson replied, watching as the other man scoffed and approached the desk by the balcony window. "Nuh-uh. Don''t sit in his chair. Move it out and grab a chair from the table instead."


    "Look man," Chuck smirked a little. "I get it. It''s probably your first time getting paid this much for a job and you wanna show off for the client. Just dial it back a bit."


    "Excuse me?" Jackson paused, ncing towards me for a moment then back at Chuck, as if he needed time to parse what he was hearing. "Do you have aputer chair at home, Mr. Security Expert?"


    "Herman Miller all the way sweetheart," Chuck replied, continually smug.


    "Nice. Heard about those. Got the knobs and levers dialed in, just how you like it?"


    "Yessir."


    "So if some t-assed dipstick with a shit attitude came into your home, sat in your chair, and adjusted the height so his squat-skippin legs touched the ground, think you''d notice the difference?"


    Chuck''s smugness dissipated as he nced down at the seat, one hand still resting on the back. "Wasn''t going to adjust it."


    "Course you weren''t. But that''s not what we''re talking about, because that ain''t some bougie-ass Herman Miller. The mesh is worn, and the base is made of badly cut stic. It''s bargain bin, well-used, and falling apart. And I don''t expect you to remember this, posh posterior hailing from the gilded throne of HM and all, but shit chairs have shit cylinders. Good chance it''ll sink. And you can guesstimate, try to raise it back up to where it was, but unless you get it perfect, the difference will be exactly the sort of minor detail an anal-retentive motherfucker takes to heart."


    "You know what?" Chuck eximed sarcastically, pulling the chair out and shoving it aside with more force than was strictly necessary. "I <em>am</em> paid enough to deal with this." He re-centered the kitchen chair and copsed into it, facing Jackson with an exasperated look. "Happy?"


    "Delighted."


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    Beyond sharp nces and asionally charged eye-contact, the exchange left them both mostly non-verbal. Judging from expertise and professionalism, Jackson was the exact sort of recruit I was hoping for. Chuck, unfortunately, wasn''t, and I couldn''t help but wonder how he''d passed the supposedly hellish evaluation. Maybe he was just an asshole who was remarkably good at his job, but technical know-how and field-specific expertise alone wouldn''t suffice. Maybe Kinsley had trouble finding someone who was more of a team yer with his skill-set.


    Miles'' password was nine digits. He didn''t use it much in thete evenings¡ªtypically when I had time to check on him¡ªbut I lucked out one night and saw him enter it. Like any modern system the characters were obfuscated as they appeared, and he didn''t look down at the keys while he typed, but supposedly, just knowing the number of characters made the password infinitely easier to engineer.


    Chuck hooked up an externalptop to one of several empty USB slots on Miles'' desktop, along with an auxiliary piece of equipment I didn''t recognize. There was a dark screen as theputer rebooted in desktop mode.


    When I lingered at his shoulder, he turned up and looked at me in barely cloaked irritation. "This is gonna take a while."


    <em>Message Received.</em>


    I walked away, checking the carpet beneath my immediate steps forsting imprints. Part of me had already epted we wouldn''t find a smoking gun. Even if he had sessfully walled the t off from every other aspect of his life, Miles was too smart to keep any real skeletons in his closet here. But if this excursion gave me a glimpse into his mind, his headspace, even the faintest impression of a possible point of leverage, it would be worth it.


    And if you''re trying to get into someone''s headspace, there''s no better ce to start than their bookshelf.


    Miles had several to choose from. He''d struck me as an avid reader, and his selection did not disappoint. From ssic Lit¡ªGatsby, Wuthering Heights, and so on. He had theplete works of Jane Austen, which surprised me, especially ced next to Cormac McCarthy. Further down the shelf, Lord of the Rings was prominently ced, Fellowship of the Ring''s cover facing outward. Below that, the door-stopping tomes of Sanderson, Rice, King. Philip K. Dick had a collection snuggled in next to King, giving the impression Miles wasn''t partial to science fiction. Fyodor Dostoevsky had a rack all his own¡ªand unsurprisingly, Crime and Punishment had seen the most wear.


    At the bottom, the philosophers sat as a cornerstone. Most of them I''d read. Some, I hadn''t. Estimating by volumes alone, Miles seemed to favor Hobbes. But Hobbes also wrote a lot, so maybe he was just being thorough.


    The second shelf was dedicated primarily to crime, fictional and otherwise.


    Bret Easton Ellis, Phniuk, Han Coben, Michael Connolly, Craig Clevenger, and Raymond Chandler all warred for prominence on the top half of the shelf. The bottom half wasparatively less interesting, filled with non-fiction.


    But to the right of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I found an odd number of books pertaining to addiction and trauma processing. Cops and their admins tended to give out Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement like Mormons hawk Bible tracts in Utah, so its presence wasn''t shocking. I was pretty sure we still had a copy somewhere. Its immediate neighbors were less expected. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Beautiful Boy, Dreand, A Grief Observed, and The Year of Magical Thinking were all heavy fucking reads. I had to wonder if Miles had read them to better counsel others, friends and colleagues maybe, or if he''d read them for himself, seekingfort.


    <em>Why?</em>n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Still ruminating, I stepped away, searching for the book missing from the center of the non-fiction section. The gap was wide, indicating whatever was there was disyed prominently, cover out¡ªas Lord of the Rings had been¡ªand I was curious what sort of non-fiction title filled it.


    I found my answer, syed open on the cushioned reading chair near the window.


    <em>No Beast so Fierce</em>


    The title itself was familiar enough to tie it to Shakespeare, though it was a partial quote, and I couldn''t quite remember the entire thing.


    As soon as I picked it up, careful to tuck my index finger between the pages before it could close, losing the marked spot, it was obvious that Miles had read the book a lot over the years. There wasn''t a single page with less than three highlights, and he''d ced several sticky notes.


    At first nce I couldn''t say why. Despite the title, it had little to do with Shakespeare. From the back-matter and a few skimmed paragraphs, the book was a personal ount from a convict, rying his life, imprisonment, and subsequent release.


    But, if it was important to Miles, it was important to me. From the way it was falling apart he''d read this thing countless times over the years, and reading it could give key insights into his psychology.


    I made a mental note to source a copy and moved on from the shelves to the hallway.


    There were more pictures than I''d realized. Miles asionally nced at them while he ambled around the t after a long day, dpressing, but apparently some more than others. There was a coge that¡ªwhen I was observing, anyway¡ªhe''d never so much as looked at. In the pieced together pictures, Miles looked young, far younger than I''d imagined. But he looked even younger in the other pictures. Going off what I was seeing, he''d married straight out of high school, divorced, married again, divorced, married again, all in his twenties. This was his third family, then, much further in the rearview than he''d let on. In a moment of vulnerability, Miles admitted his third wife was in AA¡ªimplying she had a substance abuse issue. I''d assumed alcoholism at the time, but in retrospect that was short-sighted. There were plenty of people with various addictions that preferred the warmth of AA to theparatively dour, ufortable setting of narcotics groups.


    Even if it was just alcoholism, I couldn''t see it.


    The wife was pretty. Fair skin, dark eyes, prominent smile. Telltale signs of addiction would have hit her like a truck, simr to how they hit my mother. Yet as the coge spanned years, there was ack of sudden shift, no trending pallor to her skin, an absence of sunken eyes. Just typical crow''s feet and the growing sense of dejection appropriate to a future divorcee.


    If he''d lied to me, fair y.


    But it was a puzzling thing to lie about.


    Especially when, in the earlier moments of the coge, they both looked genuinely happy. Miles had hinted that the reason his rtionships fell apart was due to the old cop cliche of being married to the job, but again I wasn''t seeing it. There were pictures of the two of them eating at a cafe in what looked like Venice, posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. Pictures from Christmas, pictures from birthdays. It was impossible to tell for sure. As social media has taught us, when you''re looking at snapshots of someone''s life it''s trivially easy to show off the good parts while obscuring the bad. But it genuinely gave the impression Miles had <em>learned</em> from his mistakes, rather than repeating them. He''d even been scrubbed up in the operating room when¡ª


    <em>Hold on. Where are the rest?</em>


    There should have been more. I did a double-take, going over the coge again, focus shifting to their son. Him in Miles'' arms post delivery, eyes still closed, mouth wide in a frozen natal wail as Miles cradled him gently. A few over, he''d grown to adolescence, dark hair and features that took after his mother. The boy''s stern mouth was pulled downward in aedic frown, fending off panic as Miles pushed him along on a light blue bike with training wheels. Towards the center, both Miles and the boy had their feet up on what looked to be a living room table. The boy''s hair had grown in but he''d kept the dour expression into his pre-teens or early teens.


    And... that was it. After that, the boy disappeared from both the foreground and background of the rest of the images.


    "Mr. Client?" Jackson called from the other room.


    "Find something?" I asked, forcing myself to look away from the coge.


    "Depends." There was a pause. "What''s your tolerance level for conjecture?"


    "Moderate."


    I stuck my head in the bedroom door. Jackson had stopped photographing and started searching. He''d removed several lock boxes from Miles'' closet and opened them, stacks of paper and documents divided into orderly piles. He leaned back on his knees and looked at me curiously. "Ever hear anything about career troubles? A ck mark on his record?"


    "No." I shrugged. "If anything, it''s the opposite. Everyone seems to love him, and anyone who works with him is staunchly loyal."


    Jackson cracked his knuckles in satisfaction. "Then he''s dirty. That''s the only thing that makes sense."

 Chapter 311

    "Exin," I said, sharper than intended.


    It was strange. I should have been thrilled, ecstatic, even. Instead, I felt oddly protective of Miles, irritated by the implication of corruption alone.


    "Rx." Jackson rolled his eyes, misreading my reaction. "Dirty cops can be bought, bargained with. It''s better than the alternative."


    "How are you getting¡ª<em>where</em> are you getting that?"


    Jackson looked down at the pile, examining his conclusions with scrutiny. "Big picture shit. But it''s all there in the career path. What we have, anyway. There''s not a lot pre-FBI."


    My curiosity won out. "I''m surprised he kept records here."


    "He didn''t." Jackson shook his head. "Probably does the smart thing and keeps official documentation off-site. What I have is training manuals, articles, shit he was reading, more than half of it dated. It helps that the guy is sentimental. Joe-schmo-blue emails thanking him for his help, he prints it out and sticks it in there." He pointed to a leather file holder, stuffed full of paper.


    I picked it up, somehow still surprised at the heft. "Okay. Walk me through it."


    "Right." Jackson stood, inclining his head towards the pile on the left. "A lot of feds¡ªthe action guys¡ªstart in a small field office. But not our boy. They jumped him in hot. Joined a drug unit covering the Fort Worth area in the early aughts. There''s nothing that spells out what he was doing, exactly, but the bastard got promoted stupid quick for someone who already had a leg-up to begin with." Jackson paused, testing me. "You get what that means?""Undercover." I filled in, immediately frowning at the chronology. "But he''d arguably be under more scrutiny in that role. Drug tests, monitoring his bank ounts. If he came across as sketchy, there wouldn''t have been a promotion. They would have just removed him from fieldwork and chained him to a desk." <em>Not to mention, he was undercover when I met him. And judging from the beef he has with Roderick, probably before I met him.</em>


    "We''re not there yet. Up to this point, I''m guessing it was all above board. The Fort Worth AIC sucked him off, pped his ass, and sent him off with sterlingmendation to a moneyundering and domestic-terrorism unit. Which he must have hated, because despite being aparatively cushy gig, he dipped."


    I asked the natural question. "To where?"


    Jackson spread his arms. "Good question. Unfortunately, that''s where the bread crumbs stop. No correspondence of any kind, no des, no manuals. Spanning a period of almost two years." He stepped carefully through the mounds of paper and crouched down, almost obsessively following the trail. "Almost like he was fired. Only, a fired agent doesn''t suddenly pop back up after a multi-year absence and suddenly find himself in the violent crime division, focusing on serial cases."


    This tale has been uwfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "Shit." I looked over some of the paperwork, finding it more or less pointed to the same conclusions. "So that''s... gotta be international, right? CIA?"


    "Or NSA. Or some other extra-alphabet group, working overtime without oversight. It''s anyone''s guess." Jackson shrugged. "But the typical fed daydreams about joining the behavioral unit the way teenage boys fantasize about anything with a pulse. It''s highly coveted, and even morepetitive. The only way they''d stick him there so easily is if he pulled off a minor miracle, doing whatever he was doing."


    "None of this points to corruption."


    Jackson grinned. "Fed wonder kills it in Behavioral. Works his ass off. Heart of the party, this guy. Still getting plenty of blue fan mail, starts getting letters from the families of victims, too. Real tear jerkers. Absolute height of his career, plenty of sessful years in front of him when most guys who make it that high are already thinking about retirement. And then, poof." He spread his fingers wide.


    "Disappeared again?"


    "Shorter. A year. Only this time there''s no red carpet. Stuck him right back where he started. Drug unit. Out of Das this time."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Still doesn''t mean anything." I shook my head, then shook it again. "Could have been political. From the sound of it, he had nothing but wins. Constant sess gets to a guy''s ego, clouds his judgment. Makes it easy to forget you''re just another cog in the machine. Rub an authority figure wrong, run your mouth instead of backing off, suddenly find yourself humbled and knocked down a peg. Happens all the time."


    "Are you trying to get dirt on this guy or protect him?" Jackson stood, looking me over in disapproval. "Because I''m telling you, clear as day, <em>something</em> happened. And not a small something¡ªthey would have put him back in moneyundering if it was borderline. Sending you all the way back where you started? That''s an obvious go fuck yourself." He panned the documents, losing interest. "Gonna keep searching. If you''re nning to read through these, keep them in order. Exactly as they are."


    "Got it," I murmured.


    What followed was a frustrating, ponderous search through a mountain of fed-filtered text and circuitous jargon. I was realizing from a paperwork and writing perspective, feds had far more inmon withwyers than cops. Police reports tended to be simple shorthand, stripped down ounts ofplex encounters. That didn''t necessarily make them urate¡ªit''s far easier to ignore context and fabricate by omission when the aim is to be as reductive as possible¡ªbut at least they were legible. Feds, likewyers and academics, seemed to enjoy employing as much needlessly specific, umon verbiage as they could fit in a paragraph.


    Nothing I found directly contradicted Jackson''s interpretation of events. To the point I was mentally preparing to ept it as a real possibility.


    Then I found the tax documents.


    Like practically everything else, they confirmed Miles was good at his job. He''d broken six figures in 2018, and every following year showed a reasonable but significant increase in pay. Until two years ago. He''d filed for the exact same amount two consecutive filings in a row. That alone wasn''t terribly significant. Texas employers weren''t exactly well-known for generous pay raises, and plenty of people went years seeing no fluctuation in their ie. The only reason it stood out at all was the deviation from the established pattern. More interestingly, there was no drop in pay.


    If Jackson was right about Miles'' swift fall from grace, and the bureau went out of their way to rub his nose in it, the numbers didn''t track. They indicated <em>something</em>, a stall out or ongoing setback, but the corresponding reason was entirely different from the implied cataclysm.


    It was small. But all the motivation I needed to keep searching.


    And after twenty minutes, I found the needle in the haystack.


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