Elion sat on a bucket, in the corner of the garage. In the darkness, people muttered and grumbled. A few used flashlights, but most of the room remained dark.


    Gorman grabbed Elion and Keyla, bringing them upstairs. Elion held his breath as Gorman passed the door to his room.


    We need to get away from here before he notices. I need to do something to help Keyla


    Gorman walked by his door, giving gave no indication that he detected anything amiss.


    Maybe she can come with me. Is there room on a skyskimmer?  Elion didn’t know.  Would she even want to go?


    A few people had gathered in the upstairs living space. The large windows here had also been shuttered, leaving this floor in darkness.


    Gorman reached the corner, where the ladder stretched up into darkness.


    “What happened?” Gorman asked finally, staring up through the shaft. Something had shaken him. “I saw a flash from the core, and…”


    “I don’t know,” Keyla said, her eyes wide and innocent as she gazed up at Gorman. “Do you think it had something to do with the Shard?”


    Gorman’s brow furrowed, and he glanced from Keyla to Elion. “Why would it?” he asked, sounding suspicious.


    “Just because they seemed to happen at the same time,” Keyla said. Elion nodded his agreement.


    “I was just sitting on the sofa there, and everything started going crazy,” he added. Keyla elbowed him subtly.


    "Hmm…” Gorman did not seem to believe them. “Let’s get up there and see if we can get some power back up and running.”


    Elion wondered how he was going to know when Zev’s skyskimmer arrived. He was currently locked up in this tower. If it showed up and Elion couldn’t get to it, would they just leave him?


    Gorman led the way up the ladder, followed by Keyla and Elion. The climb in total darkness was disconcerting, but in his Ascended state, Elion hardly broke a sweat. A cool breeze touched Elion’s face as they emerged into the upper room. An odd odor lingered in the air.


    Chaos greeted them. The Threnody Core had partially exploded, blowing holes in the walls. Glass, drying fluids, and tissue from shattered Threnody Modules was strewn across the floor. Wires sparked and crackled, and the sound of the wind filled the chamber.


    Above all else, the smell heaved, the putrid, cloying smell of rotting flesh and decay, mixed with a sharp, antiseptic aroma that reminded Elion of dissection day in his biology class.


    Now that Elion knew what he was looking for, he could see the differences between the Artefin constructed components, glowing with an internal turquoise color, and the sickly, pale yellow-green Festrin parts, where flesh fused with metal.


    Keyla held a hand over her nose. Gorman cursed.


    “Something drew down a lot of power,” Gorman groaned, poking through the wreckage. “We might be able to get some power back on, if we’re careful with it.”


    Elion walked to a hole in the wall, avoiding scattered bits of heart tissue as he walked. He gazed out of the hole, and was greeted by a bird’s eye view of the city, the bridge, and the Shard. His breath caught, and as he wondered why Gorman had no windows in this room, he realized the answer.


    Gorman did not want anyone to know what power the Threnody Core ran on. If the town saw the pale light of the Threnody Core glowing atop the tower, they’d eventually recognize it as matching the color of the Shard. Gorman didn’t want anyone to suspect that he was drawing on the power of a False Sentinel.


    The sun, long set, left the sky in darkness. Shards of the celestial sphere shone silvery and shimmering against the star speckled night. The Shard and its newly grown extension glowed. Dark shapes still ran across the bridge.


    Scavengers moved through the streets below, grouped together in gangs or packs, going from house to house and searching for anyone who had not made it to the safety of the tower. Shouts and the sounds of fighting reached the top of the tower. Below, someone hammered on one of the tower doors.


    Gorman and Keyla discussed what they would have to do to repower the Core.


    “If only we had a fresh module,” Gorman grumbled.


    “We might be able to get a little bit of power from these,” Keyla said. “But they seem strangely drained. Why would they react like that to the Tephalian probe out there?”


    “Tephalian reality warping,” Gorman said. “Obviously.” He squatted beside the core, probing parts of it with his finger. “Anyone dying downstairs?” he asked grimly.


    Elion caught Keyla’s eye and she scowled.


    “That’s a dark thought,” Keyla said. “Let’s just see if we can get the lights on with what we have, sir.”


    “Elion, make yourself useful and go get something to clean up this mess with. There’s a vacuum in the garage,” Gorman ordered.


    That didn’t seem like the most important thing they could be working on at the moment, but Elion didn’t protest. He made the long climb back down the ladder to the garage. He looked for a vacuum, but didn’t see anything that he recognized.


    Kasm moved among the people, doing his best to heal minor cuts and scratches. Elion touched his pocket, feeling the gemstones inside.


    “Kasm,” Elion said, pulling the boy away from a woman whose arm was bleeding profusely. Kasm looked frail, faint, and clearly did not have the energy or power to heal the woman’s arm.


    “Kasm, can I talk to you for a minute?” Elion asked.


    Kasm nodded, following Elion.


    Elion patted his pockets, looking for the Ascendency stones, but they weren’t there. He felt a tinge of panic, then realized that he was still in his Ascended state, and the stones were in his other pants pocket, the ones that disappeared when he summoned his armor. He hoped they were still in that pocket.


    “What do you need to do to use an Ascendency stone?” Elion asked. “You need to bury it?”


    Kasm nodded. “In a special place,” he said.


    “If I can get one for you, will it help?”


    “Yes! That’s a good idea,” he said. “I’ll be able to heal people much better!”


    “It’ll level you up?” Elion asked.


    Kasm grinned enthusiastically. “I’ve been practicing a lot. I got one XP this morning, so an Ascendency stone will get me to level one.”


    “You did?” Elion asked. “That’s amazing, why didn’t you tell us?”


    “I was going to when I saw you.” Kasm said, “But didn’t get the chance till now.”


    “Where do you need to bury a cend to use it?”


    Kasm’s smile faded. “Oh, that might be hard. How can we get out of the tower?”


    “Is it far?”


    “No, it’s just in our yard, by the house.”


    “Okay, I think that’s do-able. I’ll see what I can figure out,” Elion said.  If I can help Kasm level before the skyskimmer comes, then at least I’m not totally abandoning them.  “And take a break. Don’t overdo the healing.”


    Kasm took a deep breath. “Fine,” he said. “I might need my strength.”


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    “I’m looking for a vacuum?”


    Kasm pointed to a device in the corner. Elion picked it up, and discovered shoulder straps attached to a chrome cylinder. A hose connected the cylinder to a broom-like appendage. Elion thought he’d seen industrial vacuum cleaners like this before, so he slung it over his shoulder and headed back.


    He climbed up the ladder, wearing the vacuum and trying to keep the broom attachment from clanging on the rungs. The feeling of strength and energy that he received from his Ascended State, Manifest Armaments, still coursed through him. He felt a growing weariness at the back of his mind, but he figured that was just aftershock from the emotional extremes of the day.


    I actually feel great, all things considered. I should Ascend more often, not just for emergencies.


    Three rungs before the top, Elion found himself growing lightheaded. The ladder swayed and rippled as he climbed, panic welling up inside of him as he imagined falling all the way back down. In desperation he pulled himself up into the Threnody Core room where Gorman and Keyla worked, then collapsed on the floor.


    “Hey are you okay?” Keyla exclaimed, running to his side.


    “Is it the smell?” Gorman wondered, waving the air by his nose.


    “No, look, he’s still Ascended,” Keyla said. “His eyes are glowing. Elion, you have to power down.”


    Elion groaned, overwhelmed and sick to his stomach. His body shook, drained of energy the same way it had been when he cast Save a Friend too many times.


    “Elion,” Keyla said, placing her hand on his arm, “You’ve been ascended for too long. You need to power down. Disarm, I mean.”


    Trying to mentally pull up the appropriate Praxis menu, Elion laid his head on the ground and closed his eyes. The mental effort proved to be too much, so Elion resorted to muttering his commands out loud.


    “Disarm.”


    A tingle on his skin and the shifting of fabrics signaled Elion’s change of state. The clothes he wore over his golden loincloth disappeared, like they were part of his armor. His original outfit returned, and he immediately began to feel better. He sat up and looked around, breathing deeply.


    “What was that?” he moaned.


    “If you stay in your Ascended state too long, it can overwhelm you,” Gorman explained, not looking up from his work. “It’s called Ascendency Fatigue. The higher you level, the more you’ll be able to tolerate it.”


    “I did not like that,” Elion groaned. “Ugh.”


    He felt his pockets, and found that the Ascendency stones were still there. He breathed with relief. Where did his clothes go, anyways, some kind of pocket dimension? He wondered if there were any unintended uses for the ability. If he had an ice cube in his pocket would it melt?


    “Where did the vacuum go?” Keyla asked.


    “I brought it—” Elion felt at his back, but the vacuum was gone.


    “Interesting,” Gorman said, walking over. “You’ve adopted it as a part of your armor. I’ve read about how Aurelians upgrade their kit, but I’ve never witnessed it before.”


    "Where did it go?” Elion asked. “The vacuum turned into my armor?”


    “As far as I understand it,” Gorman said. “Aurelian armor exists in an extradimensional void, waiting for a summons. It seems like anything you’re wearing while Ascended gets sent to that void.”


    “So how do we get the vacuum back?” Keyla asked.


    “Can you Ascend again Elion?” Gorman asked.


    The thought of it made Elion sick. He took a deep breath. “I can try,” he said. “Briefly.”


    He called up Praxis.


    << Manifest Armaments >>


    His head spun, and he felt the weight of the vacuum as it materialized on his shoulders. Keyla clapped her hands and cried out in delight.


    Elion unslung the vacuum and immediately disarmed. The Ascendency fatigue faded rapidly. The vacuum remained on the ground in front of him.


    Intricate golden designs had been etched into the metal of the cylinder. Golden fibers wove through the fabric of the shoulder straps.


    “You can probably summon specific parts of your armor separately,” Gorman mused.


    Keyla inspected the designs of the vacuum. “It’s been imbued with power,” she said. They all stared at the vacuum. The golden designs faded away.


    “Not a part of your armor anymore I guess,” Gorman said.


    “Well, back to work.” Keyla took the vacuum from Elion and started sweeping glass shards and heart tissue into a pile. Most of the liquid had dried into an amber crust. With a bit of kicking, Keyla broke this off the ground and swept it into her pile.


    “Pass me that power wrench,” Gorman said, and Keyla handed the tool to him. Gorman grunted, then stepped back from the Threnody Core. “Hit it,” he said, and Keyla flipped a switch.


    The device hummed and pulsed, then about a third of the Threnody Modules began glowing with their sickly, pale yellow-green glow, clearly Festrin, now that Elion knew what he was seeing. Teal lights flickered around the contraption, the Artefin constructions which contained the modules and channeled their power into something the city could use.


    “That should be enough for lights and rifle recharging,” Gorman said. “Probably not to cycle the doors.”


    He’s created some kind of fusion between Festrin and Artefin power.


    Keyla caught Elion’s eye from behind Gorman. She grimaced at the core, uncomfortable with the use of a false Sentinel’s power.


    We have to get out of here.


    A wooshing sound from a hole in the wall drew Elion’s attention. He climbed to his feet and peered out the hole, wondering if Zev’s skyskimmer had already arrived for him. The view out the hole revealed nothing, the sound merely the wind blowing past the tower.


    “You two finish cleaning this up.” Gorman said, holding his head. He headed to the ladder. “We need to get organized down there.”


    “Yes sir,” Keyla said.


    Gorman climbed down the ladder, his boots clanging on the rungs. Keyla switched on the vacuum and sucked up the detritus.


    She turned it off, then they both stood quietly, listening. No sounds came from the ladder. Elion peered down the hole. With the lights now on, Elion could see all the way down to the bottom.


    “He’s gone,” Elion said, his voice quiet, tense.


    “This is horrible,” Keyla said, gesturing to the Threnody Core. “I always felt strange about it, felt like it wasn’t very Artefin, but Gorman insisted. He swore that his study of mechanics allowed him to understand the human body as though it was a machine. Now that I know… I just feel sick looking at it.”


    “How long before he notices his door?” Elion asked. “He’ll know it was us.”


    “We still need his help to destroy the Shard,” Keyla said.


    “What if he’s lying about that too?” Elion asked. “The bomb, everything?”


    “I know him,” Keyla said, then she reconsidered. “Or I thought I knew him. But I can tell. He’s worried, stressed. Things have gotten away from him. He’s trying to blow up the Shard as a way to fix things.”


    “I’m worried about you,” Elion said. “What are you going to do? If Gorman’s plan works tomorrow. If you blow up the shard, if all the infected go away, are you going to stay here?”


    “Gorman is a great teacher,” Keyla said.


    “You broke open his safe,” Elion said. “Won’t he know it was you?”


    “I can tell him you threatened me,” Keyla said, her eyes falling. “He’ll understand. He’s been like a father to me.”


    “He’s also cutting people up and using their hearts to generate power.”


    “I know,” Keyla said, staring at the ground between her feet. “And I need to help my mother. Find her, cure her.”


    “Maybe blowing up that Shard will release her from the infection,” Elion said.


    “That’s what I’m hoping,” Keyla added. “Or that Kasm really can heal the infection.”


    “Here,” Elion said, pulling the pouches of Ascendency stones from his pocket. He dumped the first bag out, Tears and Skillstones tumbling into his hand.


    “I’ll keep my two Tears,” Elion said. “And three of these are yours, right?”


    Keyla took the three Skillstones, leaving four in Elion’s hand. He pulled out the other pouch and dumped three Festrin Shards into his hand.


    “Will these work the same? Increase your experience, even though they’re not from one of the Seven?”


    “I have no idea,” Keyla said.


    Elion looked at the gems in his hand. Two blue Tears, five teal Skillstones, and four pale Shards. If he used them all, enough experience to take him to level eight. Would that be sufficient power to face down Dorian? To fight through the man’s warlocks, and rescue Liora?


    No way. He’s probably one of those legendary level forty guys.


    Every level was supposed to be twice as powerful as the one before it. An Ascended who had reached level fourteen would be sixty four times stronger than Elion at level eight. But every point counted; every step forward was a better chance of success.


    He thought about Kasm, down below, trying to heal the wounded. Kasm, just trying to help others out, and truly being a hero.


    “I want to help Kasm use these,” Elion said. “We need to get him out of the tower so he can bury it.”